Barnsley couple set for £390m windfall in deal to sell DIY Kitchens
The business started out in the early 1980s
A Barnsley couple is set for a £390 million windfall after agreeing to sell their kitchen business.
Alf and Clare Ellis are selling DIY Kitchens to Howden Joinery Group, the UK’s largest supplier of fitted kitchens, The Times reports.
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Howdens described DIY Kitchens as a “highly profitable and growing enterprise” with a “distinct” business model.
The Barnsley couple, in their 70s, were building a family home in 1980 when they went shopping for a kitchen and found themselves frustrated by what they saw as a combination of poor quality and high prices. Rather than compromise, Alf decided to build one himself.
Friends and family were impressed by the result and soon began asking the couple to make kitchens for them. What started as a favour quickly became a business and, in 1982, the pair opened a modest 1,490 sq ft showroom in Barnsley town centre.
Within three years the company moved to a new 10,000sq ft facility on the outskirts of Barnsley and went on to acquire two sites in South Kirkby.
Registered as Ultima Furniture Systems - DIY Kitchens is a trading name - it generated £37 million of operating profit on £136 million of revenue last year, having grown sales at more than 17 per cent a year over the past five years.
The couple also own Northcote, a luxury country house hotel and Michelin-starred restaurant in Langho, Lancashire.
Howdens generated revenues of £2.4 billion and profit before tax of £344.9 million last year.
Completion of the deal remains subject to customary regulatory approvals.