Still basking in the success of its excellent annual result, Super Retail Group has announced it has taken a stake in the retail arm of sports licensing agency Velocity Brand Management, VBM Retail.
Managing director Peter Birtles told SmartCompany this morning the acquisition will expand the company’s presence in the sports market and retail presence.
“VBM as an organisation brings strong relationships with key major sporting bodies across Australia,” he says.
“We’re hoping to look at those relationships to try and develop some joint marketing campaigns, and working alongside them I think we’ll get some strong results.”
VBM is the largest licensing agency in Australia and New Zealand, developing licensing programs for events and properties. Its projects have included the Cricket World Cup, V8 Supercars, National Rugby League and Football Federation Australia.
The company works with licensors and retailers to create partnership programs for events.
“Sports is about driving volume growth…and we think this business has a good focus on strong marketing campaigns, and will be quite successful.”
“It’s a good opportunity to grow the business, and I think we bring not only our marketing and retail skills, but also the opportunity to do some direct sourcing of products.”
The company has been operating for the past 10 years. In a statement, managing director James Ashworth said the acquisition represented a good opportunity for growth in both its online and venue operations.
“The partnership between SRG and VBM Retail will create a unique offering for sporting partners and federations, and will also see the development of a unique online retail offering later in the year.”
The size of the deal was not disclosed, although Birtles commented it was a “fairly small deal”.
The deal comes just after Super Retail announced its $610 million acquisition of Rebel Sport earlier this year. However, Birtles says it’s not on the prowl for acquisitions.
“This is really about developing relationships at an early stage. We’re not anticipating any major investments right now.”
Read more about the business of sport in SmartCompany’s new blog, the Sports Business Insider.
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