Barnsley tattoo firm inks secondary buy-out deal

A Barnsley-based business, which supplies body art products, has changed hands in a secondary buy-out.

PHD Equity Partners and Enterprise Ventures have completed the sale of Barber of Sheffield to RJD Partners in a deal which represents a significant return on investment for the vendors equating to an internal rate of return (IRR) of 44.5%.

PHD Equity Partners and Enterprise Ventures backed the owners Tony and Stephanie Crane in a “cash-out scale-up” investment in March 2012.

Barber supplies a range of inks, needles, equipment, aftercare and hygiene products to over 30,000 individual accounts across 67 countries under the Barber DTS trade name.

The company, which employs around 45 people in Barnsley, also provides specialist equipment and products to the medical and veterinary markets.

Barber was set up by husband and wife Tony and Stephanie Crane in 1990 as a medical supplies business but soon moved into the body art market.

In 2006 the business acquired Davis Tattoo Supplies (DTS), a business founded in 1900 by Gorge ‘Professor’ Burchett, regarded as the UK’s first celebrity tattoo artist and whose clients included George V, King Alfonso VIII of Spain and King Frederick IX of Denmark.

Following the investment by PHD Equity Partners and Enterprise Ventures, Barber has been scaled up in partnership with the Cranes and transformed from a UK catalogue store to an export-focused e-commerce business.

The company now operates sites in ten European languages and generates around 70% of its revenue online.

The business has doubled its EBITDA over the past three years through a combination of organic growth, fuelled by investment in premises, international websites and management, and acquisitions including that of French company Northstar Tattoo Supply in 2012 and Hull-based Powerline Tattoo Supplies in 2015.

In 2014, Richard Boston from Shop Direct joined as managing director while Craig Burns moved from Sheffield United to become finance director. Tony Crane will stay on as a director of the company under RJD Partners’ investment.

Andy Dodd of PHD Equity Partners said: “Barber has long set the standards within the tattoo industry and built a reputation as a responsible ethical supplier. With a strong management team and the right infrastructure in place, it is well placed to continue its expansion into Europe.

Wayne Thomas of Enterprise Ventures added: “With a large number of small suppliers and few big players, the growing body art market offers major opportunities for consolidation. Barber has a proven track record to buy and build, and enter new territories.

“The current management team are now keen to lead the next stage of the company’s growth and RJD makes an ideal partner to support their ambitions.”

Dave Graham and Pete Barkley of Dow Schofield Watts provided corporate finance advice to the vendors, while Ian Riggs, Craig Scott, Jonathan Gillow and Rhian Hughes of Hill Dickinson provided legal advice and Colin Smyth of RSM advised on tax.