haircare australia

May 25, 2023

Share Mid-market private equity investor Anacacia Capital has tasked Miles Advisory with finding a new owner for its majority stake in Pump Haircare Australia, just 2½ years after it bought the business. Pump Haircare founder and hairdresser Natasha Jay. Sale flyers in front of potential buyers said the up-for-grabs business included two complementary brands, including a bolt-on that Anacacia executed in July 2021. There’s the namesake direct-to-consumer brand Pump Haircare which is geared towards ethically conscious shoppers, and a business-to-business brand The Department that plays in the $US30 billion hair colour market. Together, the two were forecast to pull in $23.2 million revenue in the 2024 financial year. But $3.5 million in promotions and discounts, $11.2 million in cost of sales and other expenses would leave Pump with a slim 6.4 per cent EBITDA margin. Advertisement It posted $27.5 million revenue in the 2021 financial year, up from $20.9 million the year before. But revenues are back where they were three years ago, despite the bolt-on acquisition. Bad hair day Sources said the buyout fund had invested at a $40 million valuation but would be happy to bid farewell to Pump for a fraction of that. Pump Haircare was founded by entrepreneur and hairdresser Natasha Jay in 2017. The flyer said it has 299,000 direct customers (of which 114,000 were overseas) and about 2200 salon or wholesale clients who – all up – had placed 424,000 orders. Its customers spend about $133 with the company across their order history, and had a 46.4 per chance of coming back to shop with it again. Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones. Email Sarah at sarah.thompson@afr.com Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column. Email Kanika at kanika.sood@afr.com.au Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review. Connect with Emma on Twitter . Email Emma at emma.rapaport@afr.com Save