The premium gardening and lifestyle retail brand, Sarah Raven, has been acquired by its original founder and creative director, Sarah Raven.
Founded in 2008, SarahRaven.com has dispatched tens of millions of plants, bulbs, seeds and horticultural products to nearly a million gardeners and enthusiasts from Shetland to Land’s End. It is the first online garden retailer to achieve B-Corp certification, the business has been a thought-leader in the role gardeners can play, not just in creating beautiful and enjoyable spaces, but as custodians of the natural landscape and biodiversity of the UK.
As a business, SarahRaven.com has been committed to achieving success and doing business well during the toughest of trading conditions as experienced across the British horticultural industry over the last five years. Once the COVID boom retreated, the business suffered a 35% drop in sales but has since rallied to return to growth. At the end of 2023, the business embarked on a digital transformation and earlier this year SarahRaven.com achieved a 15% year-on-year increase in net sales and a 25% uplift in new customer growth, driven by continued investment in e-commerce development, product innovation, and an integrated marketing strategy.
However, post-COVID financial pressures have been compounded by significant cost inflation, increased employers National Insurance, unseasonal weather patterns and the challenges of introducing new ERP operating systems. Combined with the arrival of a significant and unexpected VAT demand from HMRC (which is under appeal) this has forced the business to engage advisors to seek restructuring options. Following the completion of this process Sarah Raven, founder and Creative Director, along with a small group of backers, has successfully acquired the assets of the business, enabling continuity for customers of SarahRaven.com, saving jobs and providing a stable platform for the future of the brand.
Speaking openly, Sarah Raven explains:
“Building this brand has been my life’s work, with the ambition to bring all the pleasures and impact of colour-drenched and environmentally friendly gardening into green spaces across the country. The past few years have been challenging for British horticultural retailers, suppliers, and entrepreneurs, and despite all of our hard work, this is a necessary restructure of SarahRaven.com to guarantee the ongoing viability of the business.
A new injection of capital will facilitate the transition to a new, simpler operating model, focusing on core profitable categories and third-party fulfilment. The acquisition seeks to preserve a much-loved brand, protect jobs, and to enable the business to achieve its ambition to bring quality, environmentally friendly, and uniquely curated products into gardens across the UK.
On the future, Sarah says:
“My ambition is to continue with everything we love about the best of gardening for our hundreds of thousands of loyal customers, for our dedicated and talented team, and for our network of suppliers, large and small, across the UK and beyond many of whom I know have found this period as difficult as we have.”
As soon as the Company experienced financial difficulties, the board of Directors appointed restructuring experts Begbies-Traynor Group (BTG) to advise and have worked with legal advice from Osborne Clark who evaluated all possible options and outcomes and independently concluded that the acquisition by Sarah and management would deliver the best outcome for all creditors, customers and staff.
Alison Doherty (CEO) and Gavin Street (CFO) will both be leaving the business. Stuart Hudson has been promoted to Managing Director, and Dominic Rose will be moving to Executive Chair. Jake Newbould remains as Marketing Director and Sarah Raven as Creative Director.
Source Leila Willingham, Liz Lean PR
