Accent Group Acquires Glue Store and Next Athleisure for $13 Million

Glue Store has been in operation for more than two decades and sells brands including PE Nation, Polo Ralph Lauren, adidas and Nike.

In addition to Glue Store, Accent Group will also acquire the wholesale and distribution brand business of Next Athleisure. The retailer has distribution rights to Superga, Ellesse, Le Coq Sportif and many others.

The purchase of the youth apparel chain will further diversify the Grops’ audience and solidify its place in the fashion industry across Australia.

Accent Group is reportedly offering a cash consideration of $13 million for the acquisition of both retail brands.

“The NAL acquisition is perfectly aligned to our strategy to grow our leadership position in the lifestyle and youth apparel market in Australia and New Zealand. Glue Store, along with the NAL wholesale and distribution business, provides an established and complementary platform to accelerate our growing apparel business. It also comes with several exciting vertical owned brands, including Nude Lucy and Beyond Her, and a strong portfolio of global distributed brands,” said Daniel Agostinelli, the CEO of Accent Group.

“We see significant opportunity to leverage Accent’s retail expertise to improve the Glue Store customer experience and store profitability. The youth apparel market is highly fragmented with significant opportunity to grow the store network and capture market share over time.”

With this new acquisition, Accent Group will gain access to an estimated 500,000 subscribers from the Glue Store database – this currently makes up 18 percent of total sales. Glue Store generates $90 million in annual sales, with online making up $16.6 million.

“Glue Store, along with the NAL wholesale and distribution business, provides an established and complimentary platform to accelerate our growing apparel business,” said Accent Group in a statement.

The acquisition is set to be completed by May, and the current CEO of Next Athleisure, Darren Todd, will join Accent Group as the new General Manager of Accent Lifestyle. “I would also like to welcome Darren Todd and the Next Athleisure team to the Accent business,” Agostinelli said.

“The move to Accent ownership represents a strong strategic alignment for the Next Athleisure business and the right next phase in the Next Athleisure growth plan that the team has been driving over the last two years,” said Darren Todd about the acquisition.

In addition, Brett Blundy has been re-appointed as Non-Executive Director, effective immediately. “Brett’s considerable experience acquired over many years of building and growing successful vertical branded businesses will provide valuable strategic insight and direction as Accent Group accelerates its strategy to grow both owned vertical brands and a strong presence in the youth and street apparel market,” said David Gordon, Chairman of Accent Group.

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