Carpetright Limited is one of the largest

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

retailers of floor coverings and beds. The company is owned by Meditor.

History

The company was established by

Lord Harris of Peckham Philip Charles Harris, Baron Harris of Peckham (born 15 September 1942), is an English businessman and politician. A prominent Conservative Party donor, Harris is a member of the House of Lords. He is the sponsor of a large multi-academy trus ...

in 1988 when he opened its first shop in

Canning Town Canning Town is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London. The district is located to the north of the Royal Victoria Dock, and has been described as the "Child of the Victoria Docks" as the timing and nature of its urbanisation ...

.Carpetright History
It was first listed on the

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in June 1993. In 1999, the company expanded through the acquisition of selected shops from Carpetland and

Allied Carpets Allied Carpets was a small retail chain specialising in floor coverings, mainly carpets (80%) and then also laminate and wood flooring and curtains, in the United Kingdom. Following financial difficulties and several changes of ownership, the co ...

. It acquired its first operations in

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in August 2002, and in 2005 acquired May’s World of Carpets. In 2007, it added the Storey Carpets business, a firm based in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, which had 54 stores at the time. Cascade Investment, LLC, the investment vehicle of

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

, acquired a 3% in the company in May 2008. Carpetright expanded again with the purchase of Sleepright UK in 2008. However, in June 2011 it announced significant shop closure plans and that year posted its first loss since 1993. It was reported on 21 March 2018 that Carpetright was struggling after issuing several profit warnings, and that it was looking at possible shop closures. On 12 April 2018, it was announced that Carpetright would close 92 stores, with a total loss of 300 jobs out of the total workforce of 2,700, as part of restructuring measures. In May 2018, Carpetright secured a £15 million

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

to provide short-term working capital. In November 2019, Carpetright announced that its largest shareholder, Meditor, had agreed to purchase the company. A bid of £15.2 million was accepted by the company, amid fears it could not pay off its debt. Carpetright have estimated that the company would need around £80 million to get out of its debt problems. The company’s gross debt was evaluated at £56 million. According to Carpetright, the rescue deal will help the company complete a turnaround plan in the “very challenging consumer market”. The hedge fund that will acquire the retailer is headed by Talal Shakerchi, the former professional poker player and the former fund manager for

Old Mutual Old Mutual Limited is a pan-African investment, savings, insurance, and banking group. It is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, the Namibian Stock Exchange and the Botswana Stock Exchange. It was founded in S ...

. Investec Asset Management backed the bid made by Meditor with more than 11.3 million shares. Carpetright announced the departure of chairman Bob Ivell in January 2020, as the store returned to private ownership after more than 26 years. Several

non-executive directors A non-executive director (abbreviated to non-exec, NED or NXD), independent director or external director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation, such as a company, cooperative or non-government organization, but not a member of the ...

stood down from the board because of the takeover.

Operations

As of 2022, the company has more than 400 shops. It has expanded into

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, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. It sells a wide variety of beds, mattresses,

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...

laminate flooring Laminate flooring (also called floating wood tile in the United States) is a multi-layer synthetic flooring product fused together with a lamination process. Laminate flooring simulates wood (or sometimes stone) with a photographic applique la ...

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

flooring and rugs.

Marketing

Carpetright announced a new partnership in July 2016 with

Lucy Alexander Lucy Alexander (born 3 April 1970) is an English television presenter, known for appearing on the BBC One property show ''Homes Under the Hammer''. Early life Alexander was born in East Dulwich, London. She graduated from the London Studio Cen ...

as its brand ambassador. It was announced in March 2020 that Carpetright would become the new main shirt sponsor for

Exeter City F.C. Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

from the start of the 2020/21 season.

References

External links

Corporate site

Consumer site
{{Authority control Carpet retailers of the United Kingdom Companies based in Essex Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Retail companies established in 1988 Purfleet Retail companies of the United Kingdom 1988 establishments in the United Kingdom