Entrepreneur to help boost profile of ILA

Mr Black, former chairman of Keighley-based Peter Black Holdings, was appointed corporate adviser to AIM-listed ILA, which started trading in 2008 and supplies branded personal security alarms and devices to retailers.

He told the Yorkshire Post: “I can help them with product development and I can introduce them to major retailers because my connections are still good there.”

Peter Black Holdings, which supplied shoes, handbags and gift packs to Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Next, was sold by Leeds-based fund Endless to Chinese trading giant Li & Fung in a deal which valued the company at £48m in 2007.

“We were a small company, we built it up and floated it so I have got wide range of corporate experience,” said Mr Black.

ILA is a ‘micro-cap’ company with a market capitalisation of around £10m but aims to expand through acquisition. Earlier this year it bought loss-making Premium Factory which specialises in selling licensed products such as Disney to major retailers including Asda. It is also launching a new brand of children’s scooter accessories, called Scootrix, later in the year.

Mr Black, whose stake in the company is less than 10 per cent, said: “ILA has got an exciting product and a good pipeline of new products coming through, the management team is young, ambitious, capable, tenacious and very determined.

“ I like the people and I find it invigorating. I like working with young people.”

Recent weeks have seen a number of high street retailers go into administration but Mr Black said he was not worried for ILA.

“Their product range is not recession-proof but it is recession resistant,” he said. “It is innovative and there are no high price ticket items so this sort of product will continue to sell.”

In a trading update issued yesterday, ILA said it expects full year sales to beat forecasts.

The group said that due to the rapid success and market penetration of the brand, its range of fashionable security products now sell in more than 30 countries, including recently announced deals in Norway, Austria and Germany.

Sales also started in North America during the financial year.

In addition to the core brand, the integration of Premium Factory into ILA has been significantly more successful than first anticipated. The company had a turnover of £2.6m and a pre-tax loss of £120,000 when ILA bought it for £100 in March.

A number of new product ranges are expected to be launched this year, and ILA is seeing some recovery in Premium Factory’s markets.

Chief executive Simon McGivern said: “The integration of Premium Factory into the ILA structure has gone significantly better than anticipated.

“This has led to a number of sales opportunities, including new products and geographic markets.

“As a result, we continue to seek additional acquisitions that will fit into our manufacturing and distribution model.

“ILA’s original product portfolio continues to sell well in existing markets and we continue to access new markets.

“The board is very encouraged by the rapid development the company has made and is determined to continue this momentum in the future.”

Mr Black was first introduced to ILA 18 months ago by British advertising giant BBH, which also backs the company.

BBH provides the firm with a substantial amount of creative input and marketing skills that would not normally be available for a company of its size. BBH’s typical clients include BA, Vodafone, Levi’s and Google.

Mr Black is also a non-executive chairman at home shopping channel High Street TV, which is headquartered in Harrogate.

He said: “Since we sold Peter Black Holdings in 2007, I have been looking carefully for sound, innovative and exciting young companies in which to invest. ILA...ticks all the right boxes and is a real success story.”

Core investors, apart from BBH, include Nigel Wray, who owns Saracens Rugby Club and Andrew Black, no relation to Gordon Black, who founded Betfair.

ILA’s management team includes Sir Richard Greenbury, former chairman and chief executive of Marks and Spencer.

Mr Black said: “At the moment ILA is one of the best-kept secrets on AIM.

“Its policy of steady growth and careful acquisition has proved to be very successful in a challenging economic environment, especially in the retail sector.”

He added: On a personal level, I am especially interested in finding a route to market for innovative retail products. My experience with Peter Black...has provided me with a focused insight into the world of retail.”

Treading path to the top

FOUNDED by Gordon Black’s father Peter in the 1940s in a factory using Army webbing to make shopping bags, Peter Black Holdings floated on the stock market in the 1970s.

It went back into private ownership in 2000 in what was then the third-largest public to private deal in Britain.

The firm went on to develop its three trading operations, footwear and accessories, beauty products and logistics, supplying some of Britain’s biggest retail chains including Marks & Spencer, Next and Tesco.

Leeds-based fund Endless backed a secondary buyout led by chairman Gordon Black and chief executive Stephen Lister in 2006 – the largest done by Endless since it was launched in 2005. Thirteen months later it sold the company to Chinese trading giant Li & Fung in a deal which valued the company at £48m. Endless said at the time it had made three times its initial investment in the company, which had a turnover of £240m.