Rolling Luggage acquired by Samsonite
Airport luggage retailer Rolling Luggage has been acquired by travel luggage brand Samsonite.
Samsonite has bought the UK based business from the Rcapital owned Tie Rack Retail Group for a cash consideration £15.75 million. The move is part of Samsonite’s plans to strengthen its global retail presence and gain share in the travel retail market.
Ramesh Tainwala, Samsonite chief executive, said: “Rolling Luggage is an exciting new addition to Samsonite and is unlike any of our previous acquisitions. It immediately allows us to expand our footprint in the travel retail sector, an area that we see great potential for further growth.”
He added: “With the established retail and brand presence that Rolling Luggage has across some of the world’s highest-traffic airports, we see this acquisition very much as a strategic opportunity to strengthen our multi-brand retail platform, increase visibility for Samsonite products among our target consumers and drive sales by offering better product assortment within an improved in-store experience.”
Rolling Luggage operates 36 airport retail stores in the UK, Europe, and Asia Pacific, including shops at Heathrow, Sydney, Melbourne, Frankfurt and Hong Kong airports. Historically part of the Tie Rack Retail Group, the company became a standalone business following completion of an internal restructuring in April 2014.
Rolling Luggage recorded net sales of £26.7 million for the year ended 31 January 2015, which was an increase of 11.3% on the previous year.
Alex Willson, Rolling Luggage managing director, said: “We are thrilled to be joining Samsonite. Their considerable experience in the travel luggage industry and our passion about travel are a perfect match. We will work together to continue to ensure that we provide our consumers with a diverse and compelling product offering.”
