SPORTSWEAR BRAND LOOKS TO GROW SALES FOLLOWING NEW KIT DEALS
Sportswear brand Castore has increased its sales forecast for 2023 by 30% to $250m.
The Manchester-headquartered brand said the rise has been helped by news deals with the likes of Feyenoord Rotterdam FC, Athletic Club Bilbao and Football Association of Ireland as well as the launch of websites in other countries.
The company added that the growth of its physical retail portfolio as well as deals with wholesale partners such as Very, Frasers, JD Sports, Harrods and John Lewis have also boosted its revenue.
Castore also said that collaborations with boxer Joe Joyce (pictured above), Malaysian professional golfer Gavin Green and Andy Murray have contributed to the sales forecast being increased.
The business, which designs, manufactures and sells apparel and accessories through online, physical stores and wholesale partners, was founded by brothers Tom and Phil Beahon in Liverpool and counts Andy Murray and the billionaire Issa brothers among its shareholders.
It also has commercial deals with the likes of Red Bull Racing, Saracens and Newcastle United.
Co-founder Tom Beahon said: “Castore’s vision is to become the number one premium sportswear brand in the world.
Right now, we’re focussing our efforts on boosting consumer awareness – developing close partnerships with sports teams and performance athletes and, driving organic growth of our mainline brands both digitally and within engaging new in-store environments.”
He added: “This is a really exciting time for us. We’ve the backing, liquidity, confidence and more importantly, the best performance sportswear kit that makes the most of advanced engineering and unique technical fabrics, to realise our strategic goals.”
In January, Castore increased the size of debt facility to £75m after agreeing a new deal with HSBC, BNP Paribas and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).
The company has not commented on the funding since the collapse of SVB and its UK operations being bought by HSBC.
When the deal was announced, Castore said it would give it “additional levels of liquidity to further support the group’s strategic growth ambitions” and “lengthen the maturity of its committed debt facilities, enhancing Castore’s financial flexibility”.
In October 2022, it was reported that its sales and profits had surged as it created almost 140 jobs.
The company posted a turnover of £48.8m in the 12 months to January 31, 2022, up from £17m. Its pre-tax profits went from £3m to £8m over the same period.
