Private equity house Endless leads turnaround at Vasanta
VASANTA, the office supplies business propped up by private equity in the aftermath of the financial crisis, has narrowed its annual losses.
The firm, which survived in July 2009 after Endless injected £30m of new equity alongside the company’s bank group, reported an operating loss of £1m for 2010, down 64 per cent from £2.8m in 2009, according to accounts published this week.
Turnover fell 12 per cent to £385m as it chose to stop working on less profitable accounts.
Garry Wilson, partner in turnaround specialist Endless, told City A.M. he has focused on cash flow but Vasanta was now increasing profitability after cutting its less lucrative accounts.
He expects turnover this year to be similar to that of 2010.
Two years ago Vasanta’s debt was cut, and private equity house Electra wrote off its investment and walked away from the business.
Wilson also said there are still opportunities for Endless to make acquisitions this year as more of Britain’s highly leveraged buyouts get into trouble. The fund has £40m to £50m available to spend in the final quarter of the year.