IBS-STL UK to be broken up
December 2009
Clem Jackson reports on the breaking news that John Ritchie, Kingsway, Koorong and CLC have all stepped in to pick up parts of IBS-STL UK’s business operations.
Late on Friday night (18th December) it was confirmed to ‘Christian Marketplace that a number of deals had been concluded to secure the future of a major part of IBS-STL’s UK operations.
Keith Danby (Global CEO of Biblica) told ‘Christian Marketplace’ that he and number of his team had spent the last four weeks working to “protect the continuing ministry and as many jobs as possible”. This follows the announcement in November that Biblica was to sell its UK operations including STL Distribution, Authentic Media and the 40-strong Wesley Owen chain of bookshops.
Ritchie acquire STL Distribution
John Ritchie, based in Kilmarnock, Scotland, have acquired STL Distribution. Ritchie have acquired the total STL-D operation, assets and staff. It is expected that most of the jobs in the company will be saved.
The news that Ritchie will take on the distribution business as a whole does at least offer some hope to independent retailers who are heavily reliant on the Carlisle operation. However the on-going SAP problems still need to be resolved.
‘Christian Marketplace’ contacted John Ritchie’s MD, Ken Munro, on 16th December, for comment but he said he was “unable to comment further [on the acquisition] at this time as he was focused on the final stages of the due diligence and agreement”. However the announcement on Friday (18th) will ease the concerns of many of the employees of IBS-STL UK before Christmas.
Previously Munro had said, in an interview with ‘Christian Marketplace’ (September 2009), his vision was to “sign a number of key distributorships that would drive revenues and broaden the reach of Ritchie.” Clearly this acquisition has accelerated that vision more quickly than even he might have expected.
Authentic to be split
Kingsway Music have acquired the Authentic Music UK business, splitting Authentic Media in two. This acquisition means that Kingsway Music (including Survivor) is now the largest creator, supplier and distributor of Christian music in the UK. Australia’s leading Christian distributor, Koorong, is to acquire Authentic Books UK.
Wesley Owen broken up
The main casualty in this break-up is the Wesley-Owen retail chain of 40 bookshops with, to date only 14 stores having a secured future.
Koorong have made a move into the UK retail market, finalizing a deal to buy eight of the Wesley Owen stores in Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, Bromley, Derby, Glasgow, York and Coleraine in NI.
Koorong, have also acquired wesleyowen.com, are expected to retain the Wesley Owen name ensuring that there will still be a WO presence in the high street. CLC have taken six WO stores (including Bolton, Stockport, Cambridge, Kingston, Guildford and Coventry). It has been confirmed by staff that Edinburgh, Cheltenham and Leeds are to go into administration. However, a the time of writing, there is no firm news on a number of the remaining stores and concerns exists over stores such as Croydon and Manchester which have a high fixed-cost base.
Danby told ‘Christian Marketplace’ that his goal was to see at least 50% of the WO stores, and their staff, saved with some stores being picked up by local interest.
The end of an era
Biblica’s decision to ‘exit’ their UK operations brings to an end a period of 47 years of the increasing influence of STL in the UK Christian retail market.
STL (Send the Light) was established in 1962 as the literature distribution arm of Operation Mobilisation. In 1987 Keith Danby joined STL and under his leadership the business developed into the largest distributor of Christian literature in the UK. Along the way the company acquired a number of bookshops – establishing the 40 strong chain Wesley Owen in the process – and a publishing and music arm (Authentic Media) following the acquisition of Paternoster in 1992, Word UK in 2001 and Alliance in 2002.
In 2007 STL merged with International Bible Society (IBS) to create IBS-STL under the leadership of Global CEO Keith Danby. Recently renamed Biblica, the organisation employs 1650 people worldwide.
Danby confirmed the STL operations in North America and India (including OM Books India), plus Authentic Books outside of the UK were unaffected by the decision to sell in the UK.
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