Second acquisition of 2017

The Conservatory Outlet Group has acquired north west retailer Clearview Home Improvements, taking the group’s combined revenue to over £40 million, and helps CEO Greg Kane and managing director Michael Giscombe realise their goal of bringing together the ‘best of regional’ with the ‘scale of national’.

The purchase of Clearview, combined with the recent acquisition of Pennine Home Improvements, gives the group an inroad to consumer sales, the company reported. This in turn allows fabricator Conservatory Outlet to gain feedback from two retail and installation companies – bringing the customer closer to the business.

“We’re absolutely delighted to welcome our long-standing Network partner Clearview to the CO Group,” Greg said. “With an unbeatable reputation for local excellence in the north west, the team at Clearview will continue to augment their unique approach to home improvement, imparting their innovative solutions with our network to stimulate wider growth we never thought possible a year ago.”

Clearview, with showrooms in Warrington, Preston and Nantwich, has seen its sales double to around £14 million since joining the network in 2009. The new combined turnover represents a six-fold growth for the Conservatory Outlet Group in just seven years.

Exiting as shareholders of Clearview, Chris Mitchell (managing director) and Andrew Ross (installations director) will remain in their day-to-day roles beyond the deal together with sales director Gary Oakes, with a longer-term succession plan to follow.

“We’re thrilled to be part of the Conservatory Outlet Group and the opportunities that it brings for our company,” Chris said. “Greg and Michael were the obvious choice to purchase our business, we trust them implicitly and know that they’re as passionate about our company as we are – this move is very much about accelerating our growth.”

Conservatory Outlet will remain a B2B company with a strong understanding of the retail market – with both Clearview and Pennine running side by side as sister companies within the CO Group. As with Pennine, Clearview will retain exclusivity of its trading area within the network so the deal does not conflict with any of the group’s 23 other retail partners around the UK.