The founder of Bath-based glasses designer and manufacturer Inspecs has hailed the group’s “significant progress” as it posted a more than 400% rise in annual sales.
Robin Totterman, pictured, the former bond trader who launched the business in 1988 and is now its CEO, said the increase proved its growth strategy – partly driven by a stream of strategic acquisitions – was the right one for the firm.
Sales for the year to December 31 climbed by 420% to $246.5m (£203.8m) as the group continued to recover from the impact of the pandemic, including ramping-up production in its factories in Europe and South East Asia and by bedding-in its recent acquisitions.
As a result, its loss after tax decreased by 39% to $5.4m.
The firm said high points during the year included its acquisitions – made within weeks of each other – of Swedish licensed eyewear company EGO Eyewear and German distributor BoDe Design.
EGO Eyewear and its subsidiaries – acquired for £6.2m – added operations in London, Osaka and Hong Kong to Inspecs’ bases across the globe, while BoDe Design – snapped up for £1.51m – distributes spectacle frames across the world.
It also snapped up the trademarks, rights and licences to Hardy Amies, the leading British fashion brand, and successfully completed construction and fit-out of a new state-of-the-art lens-making facility in Gloucester for Norville, the historic UK spectacle lens maker it bought in 2020.
It added a second plant in Vietnam, where its existing factory also increased output along with its Chinese plant.
The firm, based in Bath’s old Gas Light and Coke building on Upper Bristol Road, has advanced its plans to build a new factory in Portugal. Its total eyewear units sold globally increased by 112% to 10.4m.
Mr Totterman said: “2021 marked another successful year for Inspecs as we continued to gain momentum through our proven vertically integrated business model.
“Whilst we were not immune from the well-documented global supply chain challenges and the regional lockdowns relating to Covid-19, we were able to navigate market conditions and deliver an exceptional performance.”
He said the group’s commitment to sustainability had been integral to the business. As well as launching its sustainable, eco-friendly BOTANIQ range it had invested in cutting-edge technologies that will enable it to explore and create sustainable products.
He added: “Despite the current macro-environment, we are fortunate to be operating in a resilient market and I am pleased to report that we experienced strong trading in the first three months of the current fiscal year.
“The significant progress we are making proves that our growth strategy is the right one, and I am confident that we will continue to deliver shareholder value in the long term.”
Inspecs’ customers include global retailers, distributors and independent opticians, while its distribution network covers more than 80 countries and reaches around 75,000 points of sale.
