Football kit firm bids to score on stock market

FOOTBALL brand Umbro yesterday unveiled plans to float on the London stock market in a move set to value the England kit supplier at around stg£200 million.

Umbro is planning a June listing as the group looks to build on the revival in its brand following the arrival of a new management team five years ago.

Targets for the group include the development of a presence in the branded footwear market, as well as the growth of business in the United States.

Umbro currently supplies playing and training kit to the England football team, while it is also associated with 150 leading professional clubs worldwide, including Chelsea and Olympique Lyonnais of France.

Alan Shearer and Michael Owen England strikers past and present are among 170 players who endorse the Umbro brand.

The flotation, which involves the offer of new and existing shares to institutional investors, will allow Doughty Hanson the venture capital firm that owns 83% of Umbro to achieve a return on its £90 million investment in 1999.

The move will also leave Umbro's chief executive Peter McGuigan, who currently has an 8% holding, with a stake worth around £10m.

Mr McGuigan said: "Umbro has been transformed over the last five years and is now well placed to benefit from the growing international interest in football.

"Umbro's flotation will allow us to strengthen our brand profile and accelerate our international strategy."

The company, which is based in Cheadle, Cheshire, was founded in 1924 and has been associated with football since the 1930s.

It employs around 190 people in Britain but sources products from recognised manufacturers in the Far East.

Britain represents the company's biggest single market, with a 33% share of the replica kit market.

It expects a further boost to trade from this summer's European Championships in Portugal.

Underlying earnings in 2003 stood at £20.2m an 180% rise on two years ago after a sharp rise in both turnover and margins.