Victoria acquires Florida-based tile firm IWT

Flooring manufacturer and distributor Victoria announced further growth of its North American division on Wednesday, with the acquisition of Florida-based flooring distributor International Wholesale Tile (IWT).

The AIM-traded firm said the total consideration paid on completion was $28.5m (£24.9m).

It said that, for the 12 months ended 31 March, IWT generated unaudited revenues of $63.2m, and normalised EBITDA of around $7m.

A further, capped, contingent payment would be payable over the next four years, conditional on the business achieving certain growth and earnings targets.

Post-completion leverage remained in line with the group's stated financial policy, with the board adding that the acquisition would be immediately earnings and cash flow accretive.

“Victoria has been profitably selling a significant amount of product into the $29bn - and growing - US market for many years,” said group chief executive Philippe Hamers.

“The acquisition of Cali in July 2021 has proven to be very successful and IWT is a further step for Victoria into North America.”

Hamers said Victoria was “particularly attracted” by the “passion” of IWT's management team and operational philosophy, prioritising customer service, ensuring product was in stock and providing rapid delivery.

“These are values we share at Victoria and which have driven our market outperformance in recent years.”

At 1147 BST, shares in Victoria were down 3.15% at 400p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.