Newly-acquired Gill Marine in US push

Gill Marine, a technical sailing clothing brand, has set its eyes on the US market, where it will seek to grow its wholesale business after being acquired by a US-based family office.

Selling specialist clothing for elite sailors, Gill Marine’s roots go back to 1975. In 2013, YFM Equity Partners backed a management buyout, acquiring a stake in the business.

Their partnership ended this week, when the private equity firm sold its stake to the Myers family office for an undisclosed sum.

“These are exciting times for Gill. YFM has supported us through a period of significant expansion for Gill and played a key role in helping us achieve our success. We are now well placed to continue the growth and look forward to working with our new owner to deliver Gill’s full potential as a global marine inspired technical apparel brand,” commented Gill Marine CEO Jamie Tunnicliffe.

“Gill is a fantastic brand and we are sure that the new owners of the business will help drive even further growth,” added Ian Waterfield, Partner at YFM.

Over the last five years, the brand continued to develop its product offering and marketing business, and most recently, it acquired its US distributor.

Now under new ownership, it has plans to push its sailing and shore wear ranges in the US to expand its wholesale business, Tunnicliffe told TheBusinessDesk.com in an interview.

““We will focus on growing wholesale sales in the US which we acquired at the start of the New Year from our long standing US distributor; there are many exciting growth opportunities over there for us to go after, both in marine and within our growing fishing business.

“We will also look to focus more on our e-commerce business which we are significantly investing in this year as well as our key markets of France and Germany working closely with our retail partners on the ground,” he said.

The company’s latest accounts showed Gill Marine made an operating profit of £0.4m on revenues of £14.1m in the year to 30 September.

Newly-acquired Gill Marine in US push

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