OFFICE

OFFICE is the UK’s leading young fashion footwear retailer, offering a product range that is mid-priced and affordable.

It sells men’s, women’s and sports footwear and has a broad range of both third party brands such as Converse, UGG, Adidas, Nike, Vans and Supra, which it sells alongside its own brands - OFFICE and Poste.

OFFICE has built a loyal following of style-conscious customers, having consistently identified key trends and anticipated the demands of its target market of 15 to 35 year-olds.

It first opened in 1981 and at the date of our investment had grown to 75 stand-alone stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland and 46 concessions in retailers House of Fraser, Topshop and Selfridges. It also has a high-growth digital business.

Our investment

The company had already established an excellent market position when we acquired it in December 2010. Its range of third party and own brands gave it a defensible offering and good margins.

Value creation

We continued the store rollout programme and launched an enhanced online shop, in-store tablets and click and collect services.

Under our ownership, OFFICE significantly enhanced its e-commerce offering, expanded its retail outlets from 75 to 115 stand-alone stores, six of which were in Germany. This created more than 1,200 new jobs.

Outcome

For the year ended January 2015, OFFICE had sales of £270m, 20% of which were online. The company’s position as the leading young, fashion footwear retailer with a proven multi-channel offering attracted several strategic trade purchasers. Ultimately, South African listed retailer Truworths International tabled a very attractive bid of £256m.

The sale to Truworths generated a 34% IRR and a 3.4x multiple of our original investment.