£33m funding package to take Go Outdoors to the next stage

Barclays Bank's Chris Forrest, Go Outdoors' Chris Matthews, BHP Corporate Finance's Stephen Ingram, Go Outdoors' chief financial officer, Chris Morgan and Jamie Farrell and Pete Wilmer, from Barclays.

The Sheffield-based group said the refinancing is its largest to date.

Chris Matthews, CEO of Go Outdoors, said: “Our agreement with Barclays will enable us to accelerate our growth plans for the business.

“We see significant opportunities within the UK, both in stores and in multichannel.

“In the last 12 months we have transformed our multi-channel capabilities, expanded our own-brand portfolio, opened new stores and created jobs whilst reducing costs and streamlining our processes.”

The financing deal has been agreed for a three-year term with an option to extend to autumn 2018.

Pete Wilmer, Barclays’ corporate relationship director, said: “Go Outdoors has assembled a first-class management team and delivered a robust performance throughout the challenges of the recession.

“The bespoke funding package will provide the management team with the confidence and the platform to continue investing in the significant opportunities which exist for growth.”

Go Outdoors is seeing strong growth in multi-channel sales and said it had seen an encouraging performance from click and collect.

Four new stores were added last year and three more openings have taken place this year, including a flagship store in Milton Keynes, and more openings are in the pipeline.

Stephen Ingram, from BHP Corporate Finance advised Go Outdoors on the refinancing and DLA Piper were legal advisers.

Go Outdoors was founded by outdoor enthusiast John Graham and is the UK’s leading outdoor retailer, with 44 stores.

It reported record turnover of £200m of gross sales for the year to January 31. Underlying earnings rose 11 per cent to £9.4m. The group reduced its net debt from £14.6m to £12.7m despite new store openings.