New owners backing management team at Brintons Carpets

The new owners, New York-based equity investors Argand Partners, have linked up with Brintons' senior management to buy the company from former owner Carlyle Group.

While the deal may mean fresh investment to help expand the business, the same management team will remain at the helm.

Announcing the job cuts last month the management said it was part of a proposed restructure "as part of our long-term strategy to safeguard the company's future interests."

While 10 of 15 workers may be able to move to Brintons Carpets' factory at Telford, it will leave just 53 working at the Kidderminster plant once weaving of Axminster carpets ceases. Another 89 work at the company's head office in the town.

Brintons said its Stourport Road site in Kidderminster remained an important location to within the group. It will continue to house the company’s dyeing plant, Wilton weaving, the warehousing and distribution of residential carpets and the group’s head office.

It followed the loss of around 65 jobs 18 months ago. At the same time the once-ailing company has been putting in a strong financial performance.

In January it revealed it had gone back into the black at last, racking up pre-tax profits of £3.66 million while revenue rose £14m to £91.5m, in the 12 months to October 1.

And the company says it is on track to 'exceed previous results' in the current year.

Earlier this year the Sunday Times Profit Track 100 ranked the company as one of Britain’s private companies with the fastest growing profits over the last three years.

It is this financial performance that appears to have attracted Brintons' new owners, Argand Partners, which specialises in investing in middle-sized manufacturing and services businesses.

Tariq Osman, partner and managing director at Argand, said: “We were attracted by Brintons’ leading market position within the global luxury carpet market.

"Brintons has a long history of selling award-winning carpet that utilizes the highest quality British wool and their own proprietary manufacturing technology, making it uniquely capable of meeting demand for custom-designed, durable and upscale flooring at a competitive price and within tight delivery timelines.

"To find such qualities in an iconic brand like Brintons was rare.

"Supported by our investment and growth strategies we look forward to partnering with the Brintons’ management team to build an even stronger business in the future.”

Duccio Baldi, chief executive officer at Brintons, added: “The transformation Brintons has undertaken has been impressive thanks to the efforts of our global team.

"We now look ahead to this exciting new chapter, continuing Brintons’ tradition of high quality manufacturing, and working with Argand to build the brand further.

"As CEO I look forward to working with Tariq and his team as we continue to invest and expand from the successful platform we have built.”

Mr Baldi has been in charge since 2014, since when Brintons has bought a Polish carpet manufacturer called FD Agnella and secured a £26.5m recapitalisation backed by HSBC to fund future growth.

The company has design studios and offices in all its major markets around the world and manufacturing facilities in UK, Poland, Portugal and India, employing a total of around 1,800 people.

It was bought by Carlyle in 2011 in a controversial deal that saw links severed with the family that founded the firm in 1783. Brintons was bought in £40 million pre-pack administration deal that wiped out £20 million of debt – including a £10m pension deficit – and saw Carlyle promise another £20m of investment.

At the time of the deal the then managing director, Don Coates, said all 1,670 jobs at Brintons would have gone if a buyer had not been found, as the company faced total collapse.

Over the years Brintons has become famous for presitigious contracts which include carpeting the new Wembley Stadium, royal residences and taking the world’s largest ever woven carpet order, in 1997, for the Chek Lap Kok international airport in Hong Kong. More recently it supplied 20,000 sq m of carpeting for a refit of Cunard Line's flagship Queen Mary 2 and 21,000 sq m for Britain's biggest passenger ship, the P&O Britannia.

Carlyle can boast that since it made its investment in Brintons the company has transformed its performance.

Ian Jackson, managing director and co-head of Carlyle Strategic Partners Funds at The Carlyle Group, said: “Brintons has been a solid investment for us, performing strongly over the last five years in a competitive global market.

"We have invested significantly in product innovation, opening new international markets and building a global talented leadership team who continue to deliver outstanding results and growth in both revenues and market share.”