Lekolar AB
Leading distributor of educational supplies in the Nordic region
Lekolar was acquired from Brio AB, the toy manufacturer, in 2004. At that time, Lekolar was the largest supplier of educational supplies including furniture, toys and consumables, in Sweden. It also had strong market positions in Denmark and Norway and a small foothold in Finland. Its end customers were at that time mainly pre-schools.
During Procuritas’s three-year involvement, Lekolar more than tripled in size and became the leading supplier to both schools and pre-schools in the Nordic market. This position was achieved by having the broadest assortment of products, competitive prices, a strong brand name, high customer satisfaction ratings, and by six select acquisitions in the Nordic region. A new CEO and CFO were recruited. Moreover, profit was enhanced by switching to suppliers in low-cost countries. The company’s logistical infrastructure was developed in parallel with its expansion to facilitate a smooth handling of the flow of goods and to ensure that future growth could be managed in a profitable way.
In 2007, the company was positioned for expansion into continental Europe and after a dual track process divested to 3i.
View a video featuring Nikolas Larsson, who together with Procuritas built Lekolar AB from a 300 million crown company into a billion crown company in three years. Transcript
If you are unable to view the video, please see the below transcript.
Hello,
My name is Nikolas Larsson. I was recruited as CEO to BRIO Lek&Lär by Procuritas shortly after they had acquired that company from the BRIO group. BRIO Lek&Lär is a company supplying schools and pre-schools with furniture, interiors, stationary and pedagogical materials. Together with the board, Procuritas, and especially my chairman, we immediately formed a clear vision for the company.
That vision was to become the leading supplier to learning environments in the Nordic region.
We divided our priorities into two areas;
- Growth
- Structure
The most important measures within the ”Structure” area was to form a new identity for the company as well as new name and graphical profile. It also included a new information system, new financial controlling routines as well as coordination of the back-end functions.
Early in the process we identified a clear opportunity to growth within acquisitions. Procuritas had already made several analyses within this area prior to the acquisition.
During three hectic and very stimulating years we managed to do seven different acquisitions taking the company from SEK 300 million to around SEK 1 billion in turnover creating Lekolar, a Nordic leading company. We coordinated back-end functions, the product range and strengthened the management team in four out of seven positions. All this was done within good profitablity and a good cash flow.
I had a very good cooperation with Procuritas over the whole period. They were very constructively supportive especially during the acquisitions. This was also the matter during the exit phase which was very complex and demanding balancing daily routines with the selling process.
All in all Procuritas stands for professionalism, presence and a true interest in its companies. I would without doubt work with Procuritas again in the future or recommend them as a potential owner.