Swedish investment group Storskogen has acquired a majority stake in Julian Bowen as it looks to benefit from the growth in online sales.
Sales to online retailers made up 70% of Julian Bowen’s £34.9m turnover in the year to 30 June, helping to generate EBIT of £6.9m.
Emmett Lenaghan, Julian Bowen md and Mark Pickup, Julian Bowen will remain in their existing roles.
‘We are delighted that Storskogen have chosen to partner with us. Its support and expertise will be highly beneficial as we continue to deliver our ambitious plans for the company,’ says Lenaghan.
‘Throughout our discussions, we have been immensely impressed with Julian Bowen, in particular its extensive e-commerce operations and capacity to innovate in partnership with customers and suppliers. Julian Bowen is an ideal partner for Storskogen, and we will continue to support the expansion of its flexible and dynamic customer offering,’ says Christer Hansson, Storskogen EVP and head of business area, trade.
‘Julian Bowen is exceptionally well positioned to benefit from the ongoing migration from bricks and mortar towards digital retail channels. We have extensive expertise in the B2B and B2C e-commerce space and are excited to partner with the existing Julian Bowen management team to develop these capabilities further,’ says Philip Lofgren, Storskogen UK ceo.
Storskogen sees itself as a long-term investor in the companies it buys. ‘Business sellers tend to appreciate the fact that we aim to be a stable owner and that we do not have an exit agenda or place a time limit on how long we aspire to maintain ownership of the companies we acquire,’ it says. At the end of the second quarter of 2021 it had 91 investments – 25 of which were made in the quarter – across several categories with annual sales totalling £495m.
