New Wave Group, the Swedish parent company of Craft, Seger, Auclair, Derby of Sweden, D.A.D. Sportswear, Speedo and a dozen other sports and leisure brands, as well as roughly three dozen corporate, gift and home furnishings brands, has acquired 100 percent of B.T.C. Activewear Limited, a British promotional, corporate and team apparel company. The purchase price is £33 million (€38m).
B.T.C. Activewear was founded in 2000 through the merger of three regional companies and has its distribution center and headquarters in Birmingham. The company is the U.K.’s third-largest wholesaler in its sector, offering around 50 leading international clothing brands. B.T.C. Activewear’s distribution model demonstrates the potential of e-commerce for B2B sales, with around 90 percent of orders placed through the company’s web store www.btcactivewear.co.uk. Last year, B.T.C. Activewear generated sales of £53 million (€61m). New Wave posted its best quarterly results ever earlier this summer.
“Through this acquisition, we establish New Wave Group as one of the main players in the U.K. market, which feels great, of course. In addition, we will add a very attractive and well-run company to our company group, as well as invaluable industry knowledge that will benefit all New Wave Group companies,” Torsten Jansson, CEO of New Wave, commented in a statement.
B.T.C. Activewear will be a part of New Wave’s Corporate operating segment and primarily focus on the promo sales channel. The U.K. is one of Europe’s largest markets for promotional products, with a clear trend toward an increased focus on private label products. Together with B.T.C. Activewear, which has a broad and well-established customer base, New Wave Group will have a strong platform for distributing the group’s brands in the U.K.
