PROCOOK Cookware line has hot prospects
DANIEL and Michael O’Neill were in their teens when they left home to seek their fortune, but would meet their mother Peggy every Sunday for lunch. A family of keen cooks, they each tried to outdo the other with the quality of their cuisine.
In 1996, their hobby turned into a business when the family launched a mail order firm, Professional Cookware. Shops followed and, in 2005, the firm began to sell online.
The financial crisis sent it into administration but Daniel O’Neill bought it back, cut the number of shops to 13, invested in the website and relaunched it as ProCook. Growth has been steady ever since.
Revenues rose from about £8million in 2008 to more than £53million in the year to April 2021, with sales expected to be even higher this year. Profits have soared as well, reaching £8.5million last year.
Having started with saucepans, the firm sells a wide range of essentials, from knives to dinner sets to chopping boards, all under the ProCook brand. There are more than 50 shops, openings due before Christmas and a thriving website.
Now O’Neill is keen to take ProCook a stage further, via a flotation which should value the business at up to £250million. Shares will be priced early next week and available to retail investors via AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown and other intermediaries. ProCook differs from firms such as Tefal and Le Creuset as products are sold directly to consumers, either online or in its stores. This allows O’Neill to offer similar goods to his competitors at cheaper prices, while still making a healthy profit.
The 56-year-old vowed after the 2008 crisis never to rely on bank debt so ProCook has a robust balance sheet and intends to pay attractive dividends, while delivering long-term share price growth.
O’Neill and his family are likely to sell between 25 per cent and 40 per cent of their business through the flotation, so they will be sitting on a fortune if all goes according to plan. But he has no intention of retiring. Still an enthusiast in the kitchen, he will remain at the helm of ProCook, driving growth here and in Europe.