Warpaint drums up discounted funds to fund Retra acquisition

Cosmetics firm Warpaint London announced on Monday it had agreed the acquisition of colour cosmetics business Retra, for which it will be drumming up as much as £21.2m in new funds.

The acquisition has been agreed for a maximum consideration of £18.2m, using funds from an institutional share placing and the issue of 1,052,631 shares to Retra's vendors.

Retra, owners of three major brands; Technic, Body Collection and Man's Stuff, recorded a pre-tax profit of £2.3m from sales of £17.5m in the year ended 31 December 2016 and Warpaint expected the acquisition to be immediately earnings enhancing.

The placing will see 11.16m new ordinary shares issued at 190p apiece, implemented by broker Stockdale.

Sam Bazini and Eoin Macleod, joint chief executives of Warpaint, said, "This acquisition will provide Warpaint with access to new customers and suppliers, increased numbers of product development personnel and additional exposure to the gifting market, an area of increasing focus for Warpaint."

As of 1030 GMT, Warpaint shares had fallen back 3.15% to 200.00p.