Storskogen, the Swedish firm which acquires and manages well-managed and profitable small and medium-sized enterprises, has snapped up a qualified majority stake in Julian Bowen Ltd.
Julian Bowen is a Nottinghamshire-based e-commerce design and fulfilment specialist for home furniture, with annual revenue and EBIT of approximately £34.9m and £6.9m, respectively. Julian Bowen is Storskogen’s second acquisition in the UK and represents a major milestone in the group’s international expansion.
Established in 1987, online retailers now comprise about 70 per cent of Julian Bowen’s sales, while the company offers a flexible fulfilment model to suit its wide range of customers that includes e-commerce, traditional bricks and mortar retailers, and contract furniture providers.
Amazon, Wayfair, Dunelm and DFS can be found among Julian Bowens customer base. Julian Bowen has also amassed a wide range of international suppliers.
Julian Bowen has a workforce of around 100 employees, while Managing Director Emmett Lenaghan and buying director Mark Pickup will remain in their existing senior roles within the company.
“We are delighted that Storskogen have chosen to partner with us. Their support and expertise will be highly beneficial as we continue to deliver our ambitious plans for the company,” said Emmett Lenaghan, Managing Director of Julian Bowen.
Julian Bowen will join the business area Trade headed by Christer Hansson.
“Throughout our discussions, we have been immensely impressed with Julian Bowen, in particular their extensive e-commerce operations and capacity to innovate in partnership with customers and suppliers. Julian Bowen is an ideal partner for Storskogen, and we will continue to support the expansion of their flexible and dynamic customer offering,” said Christer Hansson, EVP and Head of Business Area, Trade.
Storskogen UK CEO Philip Lofgren believes the UK has an integral role to play in Storskogen’s international expansion plans, and Julian Bowen represents another step towards realising these objectives.
“Julian Bowen represents our second investment in the UK following our acquisition of SGS Engineering in Q2 2021. Like SGS, Julian Bowen is exceptionally well positioned to benefit from the ongoing migration from bricks and mortar towards digital retail channels.
“We have extensive expertise in the B2B and B2C e-commerce space and are excited to partner with the existing Julian Bowen management team to develop these capabilities further,” said Philip Lofgren, CEO of Storskogen UK.
