North East craft business Katy Sue has bought one of its largest competitors in what it says is a “significant UK and international expansion”.
The South Shields company, which has been on a buy-and-build strategy since receiving significant investment in 2017, has acquired the trading assets of Brighouse-based Kanban Crafts, a papercraft brand made popular on shopping TV channels in the UK and Germany.
The deal for Kanban brings complimentary papercraft manufacturing capability to the Katy Sue business along with more than 20 years of designs and creative content. The brand will continue to trade in both in the UK and Germany.
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Katy Sue founder Sue Balfour said the acquisition of Kanban is one of a number of deals the business is currently looking at as it aims to consolidate the crafting market.
She said: “I have been a Kanban fan for a long time, appreciating their constant innovation and incredible foiling detail. We are delighted to bring yet another quality UK manufactured product range to Katy Sue HQ.
“Our plan is to quickly relocate the business to our factory in South Shields and bring the brand back to TV and online during March. We can assure all Kanban fans that we will shortly return to the airwaves on Create and Craft and QVC Germany.”
Paul Wright, chairman of Hochanda Global Ltd, the owners of Create and Craft TV, said: “We are thrilled to continue our strong relationship with Katy Sue and of course Kanban at this very exciting time for the channel. Kanban has been the premier supplier for card making kits to Create and Craft over many years and we and their army of fans look forward to seeing the new products arriving on our screens soon.”
Katy Sue has grown to over 32 staff during the pandemic and is investing in its TV presence and ecommerce capability. It plans to grow revenues to £10m and employ over 100 staff by the end of 2025.
The deal for Kanban is its third recent acquisition following the capture of Austrian mould manufacturer Alphabet Moulds earlier this year, while it acquired paper quilling experts JJ Quilling at the end of 2021.
