Ex-asda boss Leighton aims to deliver Simba bounce

TURNAROUND guru Allan Leighton has been appointed chairman of online mattress seller Simba.

The former Royal Mail chairman and Asda chief executive has also invested £1m in the company.

Mr Leighton, the current chairman of Co-operative Group, joins entrepreneur Nigel Wray and advertising heavyweight Sir John Hegarty as investors in Simba. Institutional backers also include Henderson Global Investors and Numis Securities.

Simba is one of a number of directto-market mattress companies to have sprung up in recent years. Rival Eve Sleep floated on the Aim in May with a valuation of £140m.

The shares have subsequently fallen around 80pc, however. Its co-founding chief executive quit in July as the company issued a profit warning. Eve has retreated from a number of European markets to concentrate on UK and French markets.

Simba was founded by chief executive Steve Reid and vice chairman James Cox in February 2016. Since launch, the company says it has sold around 200,000 mattresses, generating sales of more than £130m.

The company had racked up retained losses of £3.3m by September 30 2016. Accounts for the year to September 2017, due to be filed on June 30 2018, have yet to be submitted to Companies House. A spokesman for the company said the delay related to a fundraising round earlier this year.

Mr Reid said securing Mr Leighton’s support represented “a significant coup for Simba”.

Mr Leighton said it was rare to see “growth, traction and a global brand built as quickly as the Simba team have achieved”.