Endless opportunities for TV firm
HIGH STREET TV has completed a management buyout with Endless, three years after the private equity firm initially invested in the business.
The Harrogate-based home shopping retailer, which was previously backed by Yorkshire businessman Gordon Black CBE, had considered an initial public offering before agreeing the buyout.
Founding executives Andrew Malcher and Jim Coleman led the buyout, with Mr Black and other private investors exiting the business. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
Since launching in 2008, High Street TV has grown rapidly into a multi-channel business.
This year, High Street TV is expecting sales of £70m and earnings of £10m. It is best known for introducing popular juicer Nutribullet into the UK market.
It currently runs three 24-hour shopping channels, as well as online and print sales, and sells licensed products in 4,500 sites across 35 retail groups, including Asda, Argos, John Lewis and Selfridges.
The business also distributes own-brand products and TV infomercials to 71 countries.
Executive chairman Andrew Malcher told The Yorkshire Post that the firm decided it “wasn’t quite the right time” for the business to go public.
He said: “We were considering our opportunities for growth and for the next phase, looking at various future options.
“It really was a question of who were the right partners to enable us to maximise potential going forward and we believed private equity was the right option for that.
“Endless was previously an investor and it was the right choice for our continued expansion and ambitious growth.
“It already understands and likes the business and I think it can add tremendous value.”
The performance of the IPO market in 2014 was also a factor in choosing a buyout, Mr Malcher said.
He said: “We felt there economic factors to consider. The IPO market started off very well last year and started to change as time went on.”
Endless is a “good strategic partner,” he added.
But Mr Malcher would not rule out an IPO in future. He said: “We believe the business can continue to really grow substantially over the next three to five years. Certainly our best is yet to come.”
High Street TV will now focus on developing more in-house products, global distribution, in- creasing production capacities and capabilities for TV content, he added.
Garry Wilson, partner at Endless, said Mr Malcher and cofounder Mr Coleman are “two remarkable entrepreneurs”.
He said: “They have built an incredible business under the tutelage of Gordon Black and surrounded themselves with a great team in Harrogate. We believe that High Street TV has the potential for even greater growth in the next few years.”
Mr Black, who was previously non-executive director at High Street TV, is the former chairman of Keighley-based Peter Black Holdings, which supplied shoes, handbags and gift packs to Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Next. It was sold in 2007 in a deal which valued the company at £48m.
High Street TV is the latest in a number of deals for Endless. Last month, it completed a £60m buyout of Adare Group, an £8m investment in travel media company Ink and the £40m buyout of FMG.
Eversheds and KPMG advised Endless on High Street TV deal, while Sentio, Walker Morris and Squire Patton Boggs supported the company.
It really was a question of who were the right partners Andrew Malcher, executive chairman of High Street TV