Joules says Garden Trading meets criteria for additional payment

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 14, 2022

Joules had good news on its Garden Trading acquisition on Monday, although that news is going to cost it £3.5 million. A year ago, the company acquired the online retailer with the purchase price being split between an upfront and a deferred element.

It had been agreed that the deferred consideration would be mainly paid in cash (£3 million of it) and the rest either in cash or shares, at the group's discretion. It was all subject to Garden Trading meeting certain targets between 1 December 2020 and 30 November 2021.

The good news is that it did meet those targets so the deferred consideration will now be paid in full.

It said £3 million will be paid in cash and the remainder in new Joules ordinary shares of 1p each. The number of deferred consideration shares is 243,368.

The news comes after some bruising periods for Joules in which sales may have been strong but profitability has been weaker. The firm had been hit by the “severe inflationary cost environment”. This led it to recently announce it had “a clear plan of action to simplify the business, enhance efficiencies and mitigate the cost pressures that will enable the group to convert the strong levels of customer demand into sustainable, profitable growth.”