Samarkand Group plc : Acquisition of Zita West Products Limited and Babawest Ltd

 

DATE: 4th May 2021

 

Samarkand Group plc

("Samarkand" or the "Company" or together with its subsidiaries the "Group")

 

Acquisition of Zita West Products Limited and Babawest Ltd

 

Samarkand Group plc, the recently floated cross-border technology and consumer brand group, is pleased to announce the acquisition of the entire share capital of Zita West Products Limited and 51% of Babawest Ltd for a total consideration of £2,414,938 to be satisfied by the payment of £1,914,938* in cash and £500,000 by the issuance of 357,977 New Ordinary Shares in the capital of the Company at a share price of 139.67p being the Volume Weighted Average Price of the Company's shares over the preceding 10 day period. Additionally, the Group has also agreed to provide a shareholder loan to Babawest Ltd up to a maximum of £400,000.

 

Zita West Products Limited ("ZWPL"), www.zitawest.com, is a UK nutritional supplement brand providing specialist consumer products and information for fertility, pregnancy and post-natal needs.  ZWPL was founded by the acclaimed fertility and pregnancy specialist Zita West in September 2000.  Samarkand has collaborated commercially with ZWPL for more than 3 years. The Group intends to use its market knowledge and the NOMAD technology platform to grow ZWPL in the cross-border ecommerce market in China and in ZWPL's home market of the UK.

 

Babawest Ltd ("BW"), www.babawest.co.uk, commenced trading in November 2020 as a collaboration between Zita West and Leo Bamford (founder of the mybaba.com parenting and lifestyle blog). BW specialises in the creation of nutritional products and probiotics focused on the mother and baby sector and children under the age of 12. Zita West and Leo Bamford remain as shareholders in BW and will serve on the BW board throughout the next period of the brand's development.

 

ZWPL and BW are attractive targets for the Group because of the sectors that they operate in of fertility, pregnancy and mother & baby.  The average age of women giving birth is above 30 in many OECD countries. Older people in general have higher disposable incomes and a higher need for supported fertility. Combining ZWPL and BW in an offering from fertility through to 12 years of age, in multiple markets, provides economies of scale for consumer acquisition and lifetime value. ZWPL and BW will also make use of the existing supply chain of Probio7 and thereby increase the Group's overall efficiency. The Group plans to develop both ZWPL and BW in the cross-border ecommerce market in China before the end of 2021.

 

Key metrics:

• For the year ended 30th September 2020, ZWPL generated revenue of £853,957 and adjusted net profit** before tax of £241,438, on an unaudited basis.
• For the 6 month period ending 31st March 2021, ZWPL generated unaudited revenue of £635,901, a 60% increase on the same period in the previous year.

 

Samarkand Group CEO David Hampstead commented:

 

"Zita West is a brand of outstanding pedigree and Zita's reputation as a leading fertility consultant internationally precedes her. We have always believed that Zita West Products has a bright future in the UK and China and I'm delighted that Zita has chosen Samarkand to make the investment. Acquiring Zita West Products with an opportunity to work with Leo Bamford on Babawest was the perfect combination.  We are also delighted to have them as Samarkand shareholders."

 

Zita West, founder of Zita West Products Limited and co-founder Babawest, commented:

 

"Having worked successfully with Samarkand for the past 3 years I know that David and his team are the right people to carry on our growth. I'm so excited to continue the journey of Zita West Products and Babawest and bring our helpful products to so many more people around the world."

 

Leo Bamford, co-founder of Babawest commented:

 

"Zita and I founded Babawest to create products for kids and parents with the care that is at the heart of My Baba and Zita West. I'm delighted to be working with Samarkand on the growth of our brand and look forward to the new products we already have in development together." 

 

 

Total Voting Rights

 

The New Ordinary Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the Company's existing ordinary shares and Admission is expected to become effective on 7 May 2021.  Following Admission of the 357,977 New Ordinary Shares, the Company's enlarged issued share capital will comprise of 51,976,943 ordinary shares, each with voting rights. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company, under the Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

 

*subject to a post-completion working capital adjustment

**adjustment was made to take account of company pension contributions made by ZWPL on behalf of a director.

 

 

For more information, please contact:

 

Samarkand Group plc	Via Alma PR
David Hampstead, Chief Executive Officer Eva Hang, Chief Financial Officer	http://samarkand.global/
VSA Capital - AQSE Corporate Adviser and Broker	+44(0)20 3005 5000
Andrew Raca, James Deathe, Pascal Wiese (Corporate Finance) Andrew Monk (Corporate Broking)	IPO@vsacapital.com
Alma PR	+44(0)20 3405 0213
Josh Royston Robyn Fisher Joe Pederzolli	samarkand@almapr.co.uk

 

Notes to Editors

 

Samarkand is a cross-border eCommerce technology and consumer brand group focusing on connecting Western Brands with China, the world's largest eCommerce market. The Group has developed a proprietary software platform, the Nomad platform, which is integrated across all necessary touch-points required for eCommerce in China including eCommerce platforms, payments, logistics, social media and customs. The Nomad platform is the foundation on which the Group's Nomad technology and service solutions are built. The core products include Nomad Checkout, Nomad Storefront, Nomad Commerce, Nomad Distribution and Nomad Analytics.

 

The Company's current customer base comprises leading European brands such as 111SKIN, Shay & Blue, Omorovicza, ICONIC London, Philip Kingsley, Temple Spa and Planet Organic. Samarkand has also successfully grown its own brand, Probio7, acquired in December 2017.

 

Founded in 2016, Samarkand is headquartered in London, UK with an office in Shanghai employing over 90 staff.

 

For further information please visit https://www.samarkand.global/