PORTFOLIO / FOX INTERNATIONAL
Breaking new international ground and bolstering business performance.
Website
Sector
HQ
Greater London, UK
Geographic footprint
Europe, North America
Sales
£50m
Employees
>150
Investment date
September 2015
Status
The company
Founded in 1964, Fox International is the leading independent recreational fishing enthusiast brand platform in Europe. From rods and reels to camping equipment and luggage, it designs, manufactures and distributes products developed by anglers, for anglers.
Growth in Facebook followers
100%
Revenue growth during Mayfair’s investment
70%
The investment
Mayfair invested in Fox International in September 2015, backing a management team who had consistently delivered impressive growth to execute an ambitious plan to expand to new territories. Mayfair exited Fox to Lew’s Holdings Corporation in August 2019.
Our partnership
Mayfair supported the business in several areas including:
- Successful completion of two acquisitions to both broaden the Fox product portfolio and to enter new territories: Salmo, an iconic Polish lure brand and Spomb, an innovative bait dispenser.
- Improving productivity within Fox’s distribution warehouse by 32% by focusing on process improvements and the implementation of a new Warehouse Management System, which elevated same-day dispatch from 70% to 95%.
- Implementation of measures to enhance operational efficiencies and reduce costs which led to an increase in labour productivity of 32%, a reduction of stock days by 16% and supply chain savings of 16%. Overall, operational improvements delivered £9m of shareholder value during Mayfair’s investment.
- Supporting the development of digital marketing capabilities, centred on a new content strategy to increase consumer engagement. This delivered 10 million online video views and built a community of over 200,000 fishing fans, a Facebook following of over 400,000 and drove 1.6 million annual website visits.
“Mayfair has been a great partner. They worked closely with our team to deliver business transformation to drive innovation and accelerate growth. The range of capabilities in the Mayfair team, from operational effectiveness to digital marketing, has made a big contribution to our success.” David Algar, Executive Chairman of Fox International
David Algar, Executive Chairman of Fox International
