Victoria Carpets seals £20m acquisition
Kidderminster carpet maker Victoria has agreed a deal worth £20 million for an Australian hard wood and underlay manufacturer.
The takeover of Dunlop Flooring, which operates sites in Sydney and Melbourne, takes effect immediately, and Victoria said it would be "significantly earnings accretive".
The company sells to a combination of wholesalers, retail groups, and independent stores throughout Australia.
Victoria chairman Geoff Wilding said: "Dunlop is another important and strategic acquisition for us, and one which reinforces our strategy of targeting earnings-enhancing acquisitions in addition to organic growth.
"It will make a positive contribution to Victoria's profits whilst diversifying our market exposure. Post-completion, nearly 30 per cent of Victoria's earnings will come from Australia – a dynamic and growing market and a strong economy."
He compared the deal to one from September 2015 which saw the company take over UK underlay specialist Interfloor. At about the same time Dunlop took over another Australian company, Quest Carpets, which Mr Wilding said was contributing to an "outstanding performance in the Australian market".
The 34 million Australian dollar deal (£20m) for Dunlop adds revenues of A$50.8m (£30m) and EBITDA of A$6m (£3m) to Victoria, and takes the company's workforce to 1,800. It now operates 10 sites in the UK and five in Australia.
"Our strategy of achieving scale through acquisitions and using that scale to extract genuine synergies continues to deliver value for the group and we look forward to developing the Dunlop business as part of Victoria," Mr Wilding added.
