7days

Throughout Silverfleet’s ownership of just under three years, 7days – a medical workwear provider – proved not only to be resilient during the Covid-19 pandemic, but also to successfully enter and grow in new markets. Today, the company employs over 240 staff across four locations, and generated revenues of over €40 million in 2020, a CAGR of 19% under Silverfleet’s ownership.

Our investment

Founded in 1999 in Lotte, Germany, 7days is a leading designer, producer and supplier of modern and innovative medical workwear. The company offers a range of high-quality products ranging from tunics to lab coats to more than 300,000 medical professional customers in 12 countries, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

At the point of our investment, 7days was already a leader in its home market and it was also focussed on the out-patient sector which was anticipated to grow strongly.

With a large customer base and more than half of sales generated “offline”, there was a significant opportunity to develop 7days’ online channel through targeted marketing.

There was also clear scope for 7days to expand internationally. The company had already successfully entered five new markets while targeting further expansion into Scandinavian countries; markets that exhibited price premiums versus 7days’ home German market.

These growth drivers were further supported by the macro tailwind of ageing populations, one of five ‘megatrends’ that drive Silverfleet’s investment theses. The projected increase in global healthcare expenditure and medical workforce numbers underpinned our conviction in the sustained growth of the medical workwear market.

Company transformation

With the market for medical workwear highly fragmented, Silverfleet identified great potential for sustainable, long-term growth and expansion into new markets, and therefore designed and implemented a successful transformation and internationalisation strategy for the company.

7days gained share in new and existing markets through increased digital marketing effectiveness, brand campaigns and key account management, while the acquisition of Praxis in Denmark facilitated market presence in the wider Nordic region.

We carefully targeted new market segments such as beauty, personal care and physiotherapy, helping the company expand beyond its core customer base (dentist, GP and veterinary). The product portfolio was also broadened to match country-specific customer preferences as well as introduce new products to markets.

Through increased focus on its digital strategy, we increased 7days’ marketing reach through SEO / advertising and implementation of a new product information management system. In addition, a fully integrated multi-channel sales platform was adopted, combining active catalogue marketing with e-commerce, helping to drive strong organic growth.

We also enhanced production flexibility and increased the diversification of sourcing partners, proving to be particularly valuable during Covid-19.

Value creation

Silverfleet supported 7days to undergo a significant transformation, from a catalogue-based business to multi-channel B2B supplier. Through driving international expansion, 7days has now become the European market leader in the medical workwear supply space.

As a result of our investment in the company’s fully integrated multi-channel sales platform and implementing, refining and progressing the company’s value creation plan, 7days has experienced stable and anti-cyclical growth, both domestically and internationally.

In partnership with 7days’ management team, we undertook a series of important steps to expand the market-leading position of 7days, both organically and through a strategic acquisition. 7days has demonstrated not only its robustness throughout a global pandemic, but also its ability to grow sustainably above market.

We exited our investment in 7days in January 2021 to a consortium of private equity firms, Chequers Capital and Paragon Partners, generating a 3.1x gross money multiple.