Electric Business

Hull-based online bathroom retailer Victoria Plum has been bought by Endless, after its owners TPG called time on its unsuccessful investment. TPG spent £200m on the business, then known as Victoria Plumb, in 2014, but struggled to turn a profit since. Its most recent accounts show it broke even on sales of £63m in the year to February 2018. Details of the deal have not been disclosed, however Endless’s Fund IV stipulates that it can pay no more than £80m in a single transaction.

Fintech firm Ebury has announced an acquisition of Frontierpay, an international payroll payments provider with offices in the UK and Singapore. Founded in 2009, Frontierpay delivers payroll payments across 180 countries. The deal will expand Ebury’s capabilities in technologies that automate international payments for SMEs. Ebury employs c. 1,000 staff across 25 offices in 20 countries, and serving c. 40,000 businesses.

Bonmarché has fallen into administration, putting some 2,900 jobs at risk. The announcement comes with news from the British Retail Consortium that 85,000 UK jobs have been cut in the sector in the past year. Bonmarché was bought by Philip Day, the owner of Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, earlier this year, after issuing a third consecutive profit warning in March. Upon completion, Day announced plans to delist from the London Stock Exchange and conduct viability assessments at the company’s underperforming stores. Bonmarché has 318 shops at the time of writing.

QuickQuid UK, the UK’s largest payday lender, is to close, with thousands of complaints about its lending unresolved. The firm’s US owner Enova has stated that it will leave the UK market “due to regulatory uncertainty.” It follows in the footsteps of Wonga, which closed in August 2018, and The Money Shop, which went under earlier this year. Casheuronet UK, QuickQuid’s owner, had net income of £12.3m on revenue of £83.3m in the year to November 2017.

Challenger brand Green Star Energy has been scooped up by Shell Energy, pending regulatory approval. Its 200,000 customers will continue to use 100% renewable energy.

Sportradar, a global leading provider of sports data and content, has announced a deal for sports betting and gaming omnichannel platform business Optima. The deal expands Sportradar's betting services portfolio so it becomes a full service B2B data, betting, trading and player management platform business. As a key element of its growth strategy, Sportradar will offer the entire betting and gaming value chain in both established and emerging markets as they regulate.

Automotive retailer Inchcape has sold its fleet solutions business to Toyota for £100m. Based in Solihull, Inchcape sells brands such as Jaguar Land Rover, Audio, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche. This deal follows a recent spate of disposals of its less productive dealerships, and retail-only deals in Australia and China. Inchcape Fleet Solutions will join Toyota Fleet Mobility.

CEPS has announced that its subsidiary company, Signature Fabrics, has acquired 90% of the issued share capital of newly incorporated Milano International Holdings. The Altrincham fabrics firm has bought the sports clothing business for £1.8m.

Apple has announced a deal for UK visual effects business iKinema. With 20 employees as of last year, iKinema develops motion capture technology that has been used by the likes of Disney, Fox and Tencent. Apple will use the tech to augment its AR offerings, such as Animoji and Memoji.

CMS Distribution has acquired Avesta, a specialist distributor of hardware technologies based on the outskirts of Paris. Focused on the French market for mobile solutions and high-tech products, it employs 32 people. The deal strengthen's CMS's position as one of Europe's leading IT specialist value-added distributors.