Victoria acquires Spanish ceramic flooring manufacturer

The Kidderminster-based group said the purchase price would be split into a payment on completion and a contingent payment, to be paid in May 2020, subject to Ibero meeting a specific performance target.

Operating from a site near Valencia, Ibero manufactures high quality porcelain ceramic flooring, which is sold both domestically and internationally.

It sells to a combination of wholesalers, retail groups, and independent stores throughout Continental Europe, North America, and the Middle East.

For the year ended December 31 2018, Ibero generated audited revenues of £28.3 million.

Geoff Wilding, chairman of Victoria, said: "Ibero is a very high-quality manufacturer and is an excellent commercial fit with our existing Spanish ceramic operations and I am delighted that Victoria has secured this acquisition.

"In keeping with our acquisition criteria, Ibero is very well invested in terms of its manufacturing facilities and will be immediately earnings accretive and positively cash generative on completion.

"In addition, there are also some material operational synergies with our existing Spanish businesses, which we will realise over the next 12 months. These synergies will not incur any meaningful exceptional costs.

"We have been successful at negotiating a very attractive price for Ibero.

"Post-completion, nearly 75 per cent of Victoria’s earnings will come from outside the UK – continuing our transformation into an international flooring business.

"It has been 12 months since our last acquisition, Ceramica Saloni, which has now been fully integrated within our Keraben operation and is contributing strongly to our performance with the realisation of material synergies. Our strategy of achieving scale through acquisitions and using that scale to extract operational synergies continues to deliver value for the group. With a strong management team in place in Spain, we look forward to developing the Ibero business as part of Victoria.”