In an article published earlier this month by Mark Kleinman, City Editor at Sky News, it is reported that Victoria Plum is in the process of being sold by its owners Endless.
Endless, who also own brands including American Golf and Hovis, is believed to be in the process of formulating an auction for the business, with a number of interested parties prepared to bid for the online bathroom giant. It is speculated that a sale will be agreed in the coming weeks, according to Sky.
The British Institute of KBB Installation has been made aware of growing concerns from a number of Victoria Plum's network of independent bathroom installers, many of whom are anxious about outstanding financial liabilities owed by business for installation work completed.
BiKBBI Chief Executive Damian Walters has today requested a formal update from the senior leadership team at Victoria Plum, with a view to support the communication process with the network of self-employed sub-contrated installers.
In a statement today, Damian said: "It would be wrong, and no doubt unhelpful, for us as an organisation to speculate about the sale rumours. However, I have spoken to a number of concerned installers this morning who fear being left high and dry."
Damian added: "Whilst we have not received any official update from Victoria Plum to date, we have been made aware that senior management have cascaded a 'business as usual' message to its team. We understand that Victoria Plum have not yet made any formal communication to its sub-contracted installers at this stage."
BiKBBI are committed in the support of transparent communication between Victoria Plum and its installers and will update on this situation where appropriate.
Industry newshouse kbbreview reported on the sale following the Sky News story.
In its article published on the 19th September, it reported that in its latest financial results to the end of February 2022, Victoria Plum increased turnover by 46% to £113 million, but pre-tax profits fell to £736,000 from £1.5m the year before. That followed record sales in the 2020 financial year.
It also reported that the Victoria Plum website was ranked as the best performing online bathroom retail site according to the UK 2022 Digital Retail Index and was ranked the eighth best performing retail website out of the top 500.
Victoria Plum says it has more than 30 million users a year, generating more than 62m sessions.
Headquartered in Doncaster, the company employs around 400 people and sub-contracts to circa 200 installation businesses nationally.
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