Coats : Acquisition

26 November 2019

Coats Group plc

Acquisition of Pharr High Performance Yarns

Coats Group plc ('Coats', the 'Group' or the 'Company'), the world's leading industrial thread manufacturer,today announces that it has signed a binding agreement to acquire the business and assets of Pharr High Performance Yarns ('Pharr HP').

Pharr HP is a market leading manufacturer of high-performance engineered yarns based in McAdenville, North Carolina, US. Founded in 1939, it has around 350 employees. In its latest financial year, Pharr HP's annual sales were c.$110m and adjusted EBITDA of c.$5m.

Pharr HP specialises in providing technical yarn solutions to the growing markets of Industrial Thermal Protection, Defence and Fire Service industries. The acquisition of Pharr HP's manufacturing capabilities and customer base provides further expertise and scale to Coats' existing Personal Protection business (part of the Performance Materials segment). Coats will enhance Pharr HP's performance by leveraging its extensive textile experience, strong industry connections, existing operational footprint in North America, and Coats' strong global brand to deliver high performance solutions for its customers.

The transaction consideration is $37 million. The acquisition will be funded from Coats' operating cash flows and existing debt facilities.

The acquisition is subject to certain regulatory approvals and is expected to complete in early 2020.

Rajiv Sharma, Coats Group Chief Executive, said:

'Pharr HP expands our existing manufacturing capabilities and widens our innovation offering to drive further penetration into the Personal Protection market. With Pharr HP we are acquiring deep expertise in technical yarn solutions helping us to create ever lighter, stronger and more comfortable yarns for the most extreme environments, protecting many of those who protect us. We will draw upon our strong track record of successfully integrating and growing bolt-on acquisitions, including Gotex and Patrick Yarn Mill which form an integral part of our Performance Materials business.'

Enquiry details

UK media Richard Mountain / Nick Hasell [phone]

Investors Rob Mann [phone]

About Coats Group plc

Coats is the world's leading industrial thread company. At home in some 50 countries, Coats has a workforce of 18,000 people across six continents. Revenues in 2018 were US$1.4bn. Coats' pioneering history and innovative culture ensure the company continues leading the way around the world. It provides complementary and value addedproducts, services and software solutions to the apparel and footwear industries. It applies innovative techniques to develop high technology Performance Materials threads, yarns and fabrics in areas such as automotive composites, fibre optics and Oil and Gas. Headquartered in the UK, Coats is a FTSE 250 company a constituent of the FTSE4Good Index Series and a participant in the UN Global Compact. To find out more about Coats visit www.coats.com.

About Pharr HP

Pharr HP is a diverse business with a unique product portfolio which services the military, fire-fighting, and industrial work wear industry which has recently benefited from growth in the domestic oil and gas industry.