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The Book People acquires gift company Qwerkity
The Book People has acquired gift company Qwerkity, heralding its “natural” expansion into the gift market.
The online and mail order bookseller did not reveal how much it paid for the private sale of the business, which was founded in 1989 by Jane Hudson, but said the company’s revenue hit £9.1m in the year ended January 2017. The Book People's revenue, by contrast, was £71.8m, to the year ended December 2016.
Querkity also operates online and through mail order, distributing 8m catalogues a year. It has a “strong market position with older customers,” The Book People said, and has also recently acquired “significant new customers” through digital channels.
William Wellesley, chief executive of The Book People, said: “Bringing Qwerkity into the Book People family gives us a great opportunity to grow its business using our digital, buying and fulfilment expertise. Our expansion into the gifting market, through this acquisition, also represents the natural next step for The Book People.”
Francesco Santinon, partner at Endless, the parent company of The Book People, said TBP had “great future earnings potential in its own right”.
“We are very happy to be able to support the acquisition of Qwerkity which is an ideal bolt-on and will allow us to fully utilise the core strengths of Book People,” he said.
The Book People returned to profit in 2016, two years after venture capital company Endless made a £10-£20m investment to acquire co-founder Ted Smart's share.
The retailer achieved a profit-after-tax of £3.6m for the year to 31st December 2016, compared to a loss of £5.4m in 2015 - an improvement of £9m - while EBITDA, which it says its “key profit metric”, stood at £8m, up from £3.4m last year. Sales, however, dipped slightly to £71.8m, down from £73m.
It is the first time the company has achieved a profit since Endless made its investment.
TBP’s e-commerce arm now accounts for 50% of its business, with school and catalogues sales combined accounting for the other 50%.
