Member Article

LiteBulb to acquire £1.5m share of Bluwstuff

LiteBulb Group has announced it will acquire £1.5m worth of loan notes from Hong Kong and London-based Bluwstuff, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of “innovative products.”

LiteBulb itself adopts new products and brands to quickly bring them to market, such as personalised homeware firm, Scarlett Wilson, and football lunchbox maker, Shirt Box Lunch Boxes.

The deal will see LiteBulb take a share of the company, which sells to retailers in the UK, U.S. and Europe, with an initial consideration of 250,000,000 ordinary shares.

Further to this offering, Bluwstuff will sign over another 125,000,000 shares depending on its net assets when the transaction is finalised.

The bought firm claims strong links with big retail names such as Tesco, Debenhams, Mothercare and Toys ‘R’ Us and ended the full year for 2011 with turnover of £4.6m.

LiteBulb said it expects to increase its turnover through the acquisition, as well as enhancing its product offering and geographical presence in Hong Kong in particular, while boosting its customer base using Bluwstuff’s existing clients.

Bluwstuff’s chief executive, Charlie Rudge, commented: “We are delighted to become part of the LiteBulb Group. Through the combined capabilities, we have a dynamic and scaled platform to launch our new products and brands into international markets.”

Sales are expected to significantly improve for Litebulb over the next 12 months, while a rise in earnings has also been anticipated.

Chief executive of LiteBulb Group, Simon McGivern, said: “The acquisition of Bluwstuff is a further step in our strategy of expansion both organically and by targeted acquisitions.

“Given the similarities of the two businesses the addition of Bluwstuff is a natural fit and it further positions LiteBulb Group as a leading developer of innovative branded products that are then distributed through an expanding network of blue-chip retailers and international distributors.

“The strong support from respected institutional investors for the fundraising is a further endorsement of our strategic plan and growth ambitions.”

The company reported losses in December despite 72% revenue rises, although Mr McGivern was confident of growth and strong results in 2013.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .