Hotter Shoes has been acquired by Electra Private Equity in a £200m deal. Retail Week takes a look at the footwear retailer.

Hotter Shoes is being acquired by Electra Private Equity in a 200m deal.

  • Hotter Shoes started life as a shoe manufacturer in 1959 based at its Lancashire factory. It is family-run and Stewart Houlgrave, the son of its founders, still has a stake in it.
  • The retailer targets the over-50s with its “stylish shoes with comfort built in”. It has an online and catalogue business but focused its recent attention on opening stores.
  • It has accelerated its store opening programme over the past few years, opening 21 stores in 2012 to take its UK estate to 54 shops. Its products are also sold through more than 200 independent retailers in the UK.
  • Gresham Private Equity took a minority stake in the retailer in 2007 and planned to double turnover from £38m within four years.
  • In 2012, Hotter Shoes revealed it grew underlying profit 16% and sales increased 9% to £74.9m. Hotter’s overseas sales also grew, up 44%, driven by its US arm.
  • Hotter is run by chief executive Peter Taylor, who joined the retailer in 2011 from upmarket wellies brand Hunter. He is expected to stay on under Electra Private Equity with Houlgrave and the rest of the management team.
  • The retailer is exploring overseas expansion opportunities in the Middle East and Russia and will start trading in Germany next year.
  • Hotter claims it makes more shoes each year than any other UK shoe maker. Last year, the company made 1.3 million pairs of shoes.
  • Hotter also prides itself on its meticulous manufacturing. It says each pair of shoes are millimetre perfect and are hand polished before they are wrapped, placing the left shoe down first, and then the right shoe, for the perfect reveal for the customer.

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Hotter Shoes to be bought by private equity firm Electra