We recently published the story that Stanley Gibbons had purchased the business of stamp dealers M & N Haworth based in the UK but the collectibles specialist Stanley Gibbons Group PLC has announced this week the acquisition of the Benham first day cover and collectibles business from Flying Brands Ltd for £1.5 million in cash.

Benham trades in Jersey and the UK, and its other activities include mail order collectibles retailing and distributing new issue stamps.

Half of the acquisition price was paid on completion, and the remainder will be paid in 12 months, financed by a bank loan and existing cash reserves. 

Benham’s full year contribution to the results of the Flying Brands Group in the period ended 1 January 2010 was revenue of £2.96m and a profit before tax of £0.41m.

Stanley Gibbons chief executive Mike Hall commented: “The Benham name is as synonymous with quality first day covers as the Stanley Gibbons name is with philately.”

“Benham is a low risk bolt-on acquisition providing a strong return on capital, high level of continuity revenue, good cash flows and diversification of revenue streams. It will provide opportunities for Stanley Gibbons to diversify into other collectibles markets and add specialist skills in volume mail order, collector club management and in-house design,” he said.

Stanley Gibbons sees a number of synergies between the two databases of collectors and the products both businesses sell, with the potential to develop the Benham website and cross-sell products online.

There are considerable opportunities to expand the combined mail order activities of Stanley Gibbons and Benham from Jersey. “Following our recent research into the Chinese collectibles market, we see substantial opportunities to promote and distribute specific China related Benham products there.” the CEO added.

In addition, ommemorative collectible products linked to the London Olympics 2012 are expected to deliver some substantial one-off revenues to the business.

published September 28th, 2010