Findel plc - Introduction

Introduction

Burley House
Bradford Road
Burley-in-Wharfedale
Ilkley
West Yorkshire LS29 7DZ
United Kingdom
Telephone: (+44) 1943-864-686
Fax: (+44) 1943-864-986
Web site: http://www.findel.co.uk

Public Company
Incorporated: 1955 as Fine Art & Philately
Employees: 2,732
Sales: £368.2 million ($579.6 million)(2002)
Stock Exchanges: London
Ticker Symbol: FDL
NAIC: 454113 Mail-Order Houses; 322232 Envelope Manufacturing; 322233 Stationery, Tablet, and Related Product Manufacturing; 424120 Stationery and Office Supplies Merchant Wholesalers

The United Kingdom's Findel plc operates through three primary divisions: Home Shopping, Education, and Findel Services. Home Shopping represents the company's largest division, at more than 50 percent of sales, and is centered on the company's core Express Gifts Ltd. mail order business. The Express Gifts catalogs, Studio and Ace, reach a customer base of more than one million nationwide, with a focus on the 25- to 45-year-old female with children demographic. Through Express Gifts, Findel sells a variety of clothing, home furnishings, gardening, and other items, and offers Europe's largest "personalization" service. The company also operates online, through web sites linked to its two catalog titles. Since its takeover of Novara plc in 2001, Findel is also the leading independent specialist in educational supplies in the United Kingdom. Under this division, the company manages nine distinct brand ranges under the names Davies Sports, Galt, Hope Education, NES Arnold, Percussion Plus, Philip Harris Education, Step by Step, UNILAB, and, in Northern Ireland, EDCO. In addition to its sales to schools and institutions, as well as to the U.K. government, the Education division also operates in retail sales channels, through its Galt brand, which is distributed in more than 5,000 stores throughout the United Kingdom. Findel's third division, Services, provides fulfillment and logistics support services, ranging from call center operations to product development to pickup and delivery services to mail order and catalog companies, and Internet and television-based marketers. Services represented more than 25 percent of Findel's sales of £368 million ($580 million) in its 2003 year. The company, listed on the London Stock Exchange, is headed by CEO D.A. Johnson and chairman Keith Chapman.