Made up! Market traders to net £23m from cosmetic firm float
TWO former market traders who started out selling cut-price make-up are on course to make £23m when their company floats.
Eoin Macleod and Sammy Bazini spent their teenage years selling cosmetics at market stalls in London in the early 1980s before going into business in 1992.
They grew their venture – which they named Warpaint – into a £22.3m-a-year business by supplying discount retailers TK Maxx, Poundworld and B&M Retail with excess stock from other brands.
The duo later created their own brand of cosmetics, W7, which sells 500 different items, including lipstick, blusher and mascara to high street retailers in the UK, Europe, Australia and the US. That brand, aimed at 16-30 year olds, was named after the postcode of the first office they occupied in West London in 2002, and now makes up 80pc of the company’s sales.
Now Bazini, 53, and Macleod, 54, are floating the business on AIM in a bid to reap the rewards of their hard work. The joint chief executives are hoping to raise £23m by issuing shares at 97p each.
Bazini left school at 16 and started his first business at 18 with £500.
In a statement, they said: ‘Since founding the company in 1992, we have enjoyed a profitable track record and very much look forward to continuing our progress as a public company.’