Regulatory News

Lords, a leading distributor of building materials in the UK, is pleased to announce that it is to purchase the remaining 25% minority shareholding in its existing subsidiary business Hevey Building Supplies Limited (‘Hevey’).  The Company originally purchased a 75% interest in Hevey in October 2017 (the ‘Hevey Acquisition’).

As disclosed in the Company’s AIM Admission Document dated 14 July 2021, the Hevey Acquisition included a put and call option over the remaining 25% shareholding interest in Hevey (the ‘Minority Interest’) for a predefined market value (the ‘Hevey Option’).

The Hevey Option has now been exercised and the Company will now acquire the Minority Interest, details of which are provided in the Company’s 2021 Annual Report, for £6.2 million in cash, with 40% payable on completion of the acquisition of the Minority Interest and the remaining 60% paid as fixed deferred consideration in seven equal quarterly instalments over the next two years.  The consideration payable for the Minority Interest is in line with management expectations since IPO and will be funded from the Company’s existing resources.

The purchase of the Minority Interest is expected to deliver further strong returns on investment.

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Notes to editors:

Lords is a specialist distributor of building, plumbing, heating and DIY goods.  The Group principally sells to local tradesmen, small to medium sized plumbing and heating merchants, construction companies and retails directly to the general public.

The Group operates through the following two divisions:

• Merchanting: supplies building materials and DIY goods through its network of merchant businesses and online platform capabilities.  It operates both in the 'light side' (building materials and timber) and 'heavy side' (civils and landscaping), through 30 locations in the UK

 

• Plumbing and Heating: a specialist distributor in the UK of plumbing and heating products to a UK network of independent merchants, installers and the general public.  The division offers its customers an attractive proposition through a multi-channel offering.  The division operates over 15 locations enabling nationwide next day delivery service.

Lords was established over 35 years ago as a family business with its first retail unit in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.  Since then, the Group has grown to a business operating from 45 sites.  Lords aims to become a £500 million turnover building materials distributor group by 2024 as it grows its national presence.

Lords was admitted to trading on AIM in July 2021 with the ticker LORD.L.  For additional information please visit www.lordsgrouptradingplc.co.uk.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information pursuant to Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 as amended.  Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.