UK mid-market private equity specialist ECI has invested GBP12 million in Croydon-based Stewart Group Holdings Ltd (Stewart) in a BIMBO (buy-in / management buyout) deal that values the business at GBP17 million.
Stewart is the UK market leader in the manufacture and supply of technical plastic moulded products for the gardening, home, professional catering and medical storage sectors. The company offers a large range of products in its portfolio ranging from garden planters and propagators, to food containers and specialist storage products for medical applications. The company employs 75 people in Croydon and enjoyed a turnover in 2010 of GBP15 million.

Richard Butler, who joins as the Group CEO, brings significant knowledge of the advanced technical plastics sector from working for leading manufacturers in the aerospace and automotive sector.
Lee Mowle, the current owner and CEO, will remain with the business as Managing Director of the gardening and catering divisions and retains a substantial shareholding in the company.
Three other senior managers within Stewart are also becoming shareholders in the business as part of the transaction. Ken Lindsay and Eleanor Blagbrough led the transaction for ECI, and Ken will join the Board following completion.
Stewart is a very long-established UK manufacturing business. Its clients include the major DIY stores such as Homebase, homeware stores including Wilkinson, wholesalers such as Booker, and more than 600 independent garden centres, with Dobbies among its clients. Stewart also works with a number of specialist catering distributors. Most people will find they have a Stewart Plastics product somewhere in their home, either in the garden or in the kitchen.
First incorporated in 1945, Stewart has a long and chequered history. Listed on the London Stock Exchange in the 1960s, it was acquired by Bunzl in 1985 and underwent its first buyout in 1999.
Having seen the business deteriorate and become loss-making, Lee Mowle, the current owner, acquired it with a partner in 2003 and became CEO, taking full ownership in 2008. During this time, Lee reversed the company’s declining fortunes, generating strong growth through a focus on new product innovation and outstanding customer service.
Despite the recession, the company has grown strongly on the back of positive consumer demand for gardening products. Its success is driven by trends including an ageing population which has more time to garden, an increasing culture of ‘grow your own’, healthy and organic eating, and growing interest in gardening as a leisure pastime.
With ECI’s investment, the business plans to accelerate its already successful product innovation strategy, and will pursue targeted acquisitions of complementary product businesses in its existing core markets. It will also use Richard Butler’s experience to expand into new markets which can benefit from its unusually strong and wide technical capabilities.
Ken Lindsay of ECI says ”This investment offers ECI the opportunity to be involved with an excellent team running a market-leading company with a strong reputation, a well respected brand and excellent customer relationships. Lee has already done a great job developing the company to where it is today, and we are delighted to back him to accelerate the business further. Richard Butler brings new skills and experience to the business and will be key to driving its expansion into new markets.
“Stewart is exactly the kind of business that ECI’s manufacturing team likes to back. It is a good, old fashioned, British manufacturing company that has moved with the times and developed a strong position in an attractive market, as well as earning strong customer loyalty. It has done that by focussing on making good quality and innovative products, and delivering them to the customer at an attractive price point. It has great potential to continue to grow and develop further. We look forward to working with Richard and Lee to help it do so.”
Richard Butler, CEO of Stewart Group Holdings adds: “Gardening and catering are solidly growing markets, driven by a number of long term trends including aging demographics, more leisure time and an increasing focus on healthy eating. Stewart has reflected this by prospering through the recession, and the business is well positioned in its existing markets to continue to grow strongly.
“Whilst Stewart’s products appear superficially simple, they are technically highly complex to manufacture. The company has an unparalleled range of technical capabilities which it can use to expand its mastery of advanced, technical plastics into new market sectors.”
Lee Mowle, MD of Stewart Gardening & Catering, says: “At Stewart, we have worked hard and successfully for the last eight years, first to turn round the business and return it to growth. We now see lots of new opportunities for the business opening up in both our existing and new markets, and I am delighted to bring in ECI and Richard as partners to help us do so.”
