Alba has sold its leisure division to private equity group Rutland Partners for £51.5m to concentrate on consumer electronic products.
The Pulse Home Products division sells hair-dryers, toasters, vacuum cleaners and other domestic appliances under the Nicky Clarke, Bush, Breville, Dirt Devil, Power Devil, JCB and Hinari brands. It is estimated to be making £9.4m on an earnings before interest and depreciation basis from sales of £118m.
Rutland, which has raised £532m in two funds, is providing £25m from its second with the balance coming from CIT Bank.
The sale is part of Alba’s turnaround plan.
Daniel Harris, chief executive, said: “It’s year one of a three-year plan and we’ve got a lot more work to do. We will be prepared to spin off Carl Lewis (fitness equipment brand) within the next two years.”
Alba, based at Barking in Essex, has eliminated 40% of its workforce in the past year and cut its product range by two-thirds. Along with the sale of Carl Lewis, it plans to divest £25m of property by 2009.
Sales for the three months to June 30 fell 36pc compared with the same period last year, “which was in line with our expectations”, Mr Harris said.
Alexandra Jarvis, of KBC Peel Hunt, added: “They could recover nicely from here. The key issue is can they now turn around the rest of the business? They’re still at the very early stages of that.”