“The Rcapital investment in early 2015 has proved to be truly inspirational. Having built the business on my own for the previous 15 years, I hadn’t realised the full value of the resources – both financial and operational – that Rcapital had to offer. I genuinely feel that the company has kicked on more in the last 12 months than in 15 years.”
Summit Media, a UK online retailing specialist, offers consulting, online marketing and sophisticated eCommerce services to leading brands such as Argos, Reckitt Benckiser, Hobbs, Homebase, Carpetright and 3Mobile. In 2014 it delivered over £500 million of online sales for its clients.
Growth story
Summit Media had made a substantial investment in digital technology that would significantly enhance its product offering to its blue-chip client base and enable the company to become a market leader. To capitalise on this investment, the business required funding in an accelerated timeframe to take the new service to market.
Moving quickly to understand the scale of the opportunity, Rcapital was able to recognise its potential and provided funding to support both the short term working capital and the long term growth aspirations of the business. Rcapital provided the energetic and entrepreneurial management team with the support of an experienced chairman and robust financial controls.
Outcome
Immediately post-transaction, with Rcapital’s financial and operational support, Summit Media has experienced rapid growth enabling the company to deploy its market leading digital technology and ensure the business has the resources to win new clients and recruit and train new team members.
In September 2016, Summit was sold to TCC Global, a leading global retail marketing company. A partnership set to create a new generation of digitally-led marketing programmes for retailers. TCC runs campaigns in more than 70 countries, operating from 34 offices around the world. As one of the biggest players in the loyalty marketing field, it is a global leader in creating campaigns that deliver sustainable sales growth and enhanced brand equity for its clients, including many leading international retailers such as Tesco, Carrefour, Lidl, Aldi, Woolworths Australia and 7-Eleven.
“The Rcapital investment in early 2015 has proved to be the critical stepping stone in our growth strategy, and allowed us to demonstrate the true value of our business to our new owners. The hands-on support that they have provided has been phenomenal. We have achieved over 370% growth in profit, and now have more than 160 colleagues providing market leading solutions to some of the world’s largest retailers. Having been acquired by TCC Global, I can only see further growth, and across a broader and more international playing field.” Hedley Aylott, CEO, Summit Media
