Ferguson washes its hands of loss-making Soak.com

 

Ferguson, the US-focused plumbing and heating group, said it sold “non-core” business Soak.com in March, but did not disclose the price of the sale.

Soak.com told kbbreview that director Christopher Bale has “reached an agreement” to buy 100% of the online bathroom retailer from Ferguson plc, which was rebranded a few years ago from Wolseley.

Ferguson said the online bathroom business based in Nuneaton incurred a $2 million (£1.5m) trading loss in the six months to end of January 2019.

This was substantially lower than over the same six-month period in the previous year, when Soak.com added $1m of trading profit to the business.

Soak.com is a trading name of Luxury for Less Ltd.

Reporting its half-year results Ferguson said Soak.com contributed $51m towards the group’s revenue, slightly higher than in the same period in 2018, when sales reached $48m.

Recently, Soak.com admitted trading difficulties and said it was embarking on a restructure, which would lead to job losses.

A spokesperson for Soak.com said: “We can confirm that a management buyout has taken place and Christopher Bale has reached an agreement with Ferguson PLC to take 100% ownership of Luxury For Less Ltd.

“No further comment will be made at this time.”

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