Cath Kidston Limited

Home furnishing retail company headquartered in London

Cath Kidston Limited

Kidston shop window display, with company logo
Company type	Limited company
Industry	Home furnishing
Founded	13 April 1993 (1993-04-13)
Founder	Cath Kidston
Headquarters	London , England
Website	www.cathkidston.co.uk

Cath Kidston Limited was a British international home furnishing retail company with headquarters in London, with a focus on handicraft and vintage themed items that embody a quintessentially British lifestyle. In March 2023 it ceased to exist as a trading entity with the intellectual property acquired by retailer Next Plc.^[1]

Early years

Designer Cath Kidston opened her first shop in London's Holland Park in 1994,^[2] selling hand-embroidered tea-towels.^[3] In April 2011, there were 41 shops and concessions in the UK, two in the Republic of Ireland, eleven in Japan and three in Korea.^[2] Less than three years later there were 136 outlets, including a flagship store on Piccadilly next to Fortnum & Mason, and four stores in China.^[4] Appearing on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs programme, she described her shops as provoking a 'Marmite reaction': "People either love it and want a little bit of it very much, or want to stab us."^[5]

The company's profits jumped more than 60 per cent from £2.9m to £4.6m in the year to March 2009. Sales rose to £31.3m during the period, compared with £19.3m the year before, partly due to new store openings.^[6]

Private equity investment

In 2010, Cath Kidston sold a majority stake of the company to private equity investors TA Associates,^[7] retaining a minority stake and remaining the company's Creative Director.^[7] The transaction was reported as valuing the group at £100m.^[8]

In 2014, TA Associates sold a stake to Baring Private Equity Asia for an undisclosed amount, reported to value the group around £250m.^[8] In 2016 Baring Private Equity Asia acquired the remaining shares of the group in a transaction that saw chairman Paul Mason replaced by William Flanz, former chairman and executive of Gucci Group.^[9]

Under Baring Private Equity Asia's ownership the business struggled, reporting a reduction in Earnings from £11.7m in 2014 to a loss of £17.6m in the year ended March 2019.^[10] After launching a sale process in early 2020 that was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, administrators Alvarez & Marsal were appointed and sold the business and assets of the company through a "pre-pack" administration sale^[11] back to Baring Private Equity Asia in a transaction that valued the assets of the group at £17.8m whilst shedding liabilities of the group including the majority of leases on UK shops, This resulted in the closure of 60 UK stores on 21 April, with the loss of over 900 jobs. Under the arrangement, the company planned to continue trading online and via its wholesale and franchise businesses including overseas outlets.^[12]

In June 2022 the company was acquired by HUK 113 Limited, a recently incorporated Special Purpose Vehicle owned by turnaround investor Hilco Capital for an undisclosed fee in a transaction that also involved Hilco providing a £10m 3-year working capital loan facility to the company.^[13]

Despite the three-year nature of Hilco's funding, a further sale process was commenced less than eight months later. In March 2023 the intellectual property of the group was acquired by Next plc in a further pre-pack administration led by PwC for £8.5 million.^[1]^[14] The four remaining shops in the group would trade until existing stock was exhausted before permanently closing.^[15]

References

^ ^a ^b "Retailer Next buys Cath Kidston in £8.5m deal". BBC News. 28 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
^ ^a ^b "About Cath Kidston". Cath Kiston Limited. Archived from the original on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
^ Burn-Callander, Rebecca (3 February 2009). ""My business came about by happy accident," says Cath Kidston". Real Business. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
^ Garside, Juliette (6 December 2013). "Cath Kidston could fetch up to £250m". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
^ "Desert Island Discs: Cath Kidston | BBC". BBC. 29 April 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
^ "Full accounts made up to 29 March 2009". Companies House. 2 August 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
^ ^a ^b Hall, James (5 December 2010). "Cath Kidston plans Far East push - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Cath Kidston stake bought by Hong Kong private equity firm". The Guardian. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
^ Vandevelde, Mark (3 October 2016). "Cath Kidston sold to Baring Asia". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
^ "Statement of Administrator's Proposal". Companies House. 13 May 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
^ Kleinman, Mark (4 April 2020). "Coronavirus: Vintage retailer Cath Kidston lines up administrators". Sky News. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
^ Butler, Sarah (21 April 2020). "Cath Kidston to close all 60 UK stores with loss of 900 jobs". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
^ "Full accounts made up to 28 March 2021". Companies House. 30 August 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
^ Emma Simpson and Tom Espiner (28 March 2023). "Retailer Next buys Cath Kidston in £8.5m deal". BBC News. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
^ "Cath Kidston to close last remaining stores this week as Next takes over - list of closures". Yorkshire Evening Post. 26 June 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2024.