ONEIDA

Background

Oneida International comprised a number of consumer and catering industry tabletop, bakeware and homeware brands, including Viners, RTA Wine Racks, George Wilkinson and Samuel Groves. The business operated from three factories.

As part of an ongoing restructuring of the wider group, the UK business, which was heavily cash consumptive, was deemed to be non-core to requirements. An accelerated sale process was undertaken, which resulted in Hilco Capital acquiring the business and providing access to additional funding, allowing it to continue to trade. During the sale process, there had been little interest in other parts of the business.

Hilco Capital’s role

• Business operated within a single legal entity and did not produce accounts on a divisional basis
• Worked with the management team to quickly understand the profitability of each of the divisions
• Apparent that the business was losing significantly more money than management had forecast
• Largest factory was operating at a much lower margin than was indicated in the management accounts and would need to double production to reach break-even
• Level of working capital required to turn around the business was considerably higher than anticipated
• Management team of the view that the business was not viable as a going concern

Results

• Steps were taken to market the various divisions for sale, using the more detailed analysis which had been prepared
• Going concern sales were achieved of the RTA Wine Racks and Samuel Groves divisions, preserving jobs at both factories
• Separate offer accepted for the Viners brand and inventory
• This outcome would have been highly unlikely in the original sales process as purchasers had been unable to understand the performance of the various divisions
• A significant number of jobs were saved and several heritage brands continue to be made in Britain