Happy End of 2024 & Start of 2025!
As 2024 draws near to its inevitable conclusion, it’s an opportune time for us to look forward to what 2025 has to offer, with renewed vigour and excitement.
What a year 2024 has been!
On 5th December the boards of Warpaint London plc and Brand Architekts Group plc announced that they had reached agreement on a recommended cash offer to be made by Warpaint for the ordinary share capital of Brand Architekts. It is intended that the acquisition will be implemented by way of a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the 2006 Act. To approve the terms of the acquisition, Scheme Shareholders will need to vote in favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting to be held on 14th January 2025, with the 10th February 2025 provisionally booked in with the Court for the second hearing to sanction the Scheme.
Aside from the potential acquisition, we have much to be encouraged and excited by – the Skin & Tan evolution will start to filter through from January and we have had an excellent response from our two largest retailers with regards to the launch of our new Skin & Tan Face Glow collection. On the back of Body Glow’s success, which launched earlier in the year and is now one of the fastest growing value sku in the UK tanning category, we will be launching the new Body Glow Blush. These new products unlock a new audience and makes skincare quality tanning accessible to everyone. We will be supporting Skin & Tan with extensive brand awareness and conversion campaigns.
The relaunch of Super Facialist is complete and it’s great to see our Rosehip Cleansing Balm, our new Vegan Collagen range and Sleep Smart Moisturisers getting traction in the trade. I am very excited by Super Facialist’s TV campaign which breaks on Boxing Day and runs for 6 weeks with a wide potential audience. This will help drive brand awareness and increase ROS, putting us in a great place to launch our new Vitamin C SPF50 moisturiser, Retinol Concentrate and Salicylic Toner.
The digital team did a great job in launching The Solution website earlier in the year and I am really excited by Tesco’s trial of The Solution Menopause range in 90 stores, as part of their MTick Menopause instore feature. In line with our problem-solving mantra, I am excited by the launch in February of The Solution Haircare, which is a capsule collection of in-demand formats delivering effective solutions for a healthy scalp and hair.
The Dirty Works redesign is filtering through, and the relaunch of our skincare range has been very well received by our key North American GM customer. The launch of our new fragrance Mood Magic has been developed to target a Gen Z customer and we expect strong demand from our international partners.
We have broadened MR Expert Solutions problem-solving range by launching Blemish Control Body Wash and Body Gel and personally I can’t wait to get my hands on the new Fish Curl Control Cream, which launches in Boots in the spring.
I recognise that a potential acquisition can be very unsettling given the uncertainly, but by continuing to demonstrate Brand Architekts’ well-established values of collaboration, agility, passion and innovation, I am confident and excited that the business will thrive.
The forthcoming holidays will give you all a chance to rest, recuperate and reenergise and I’d like to thank everyone for their hard work and loyalty. I wish you all continued success and happiness for 2025.
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” — Buckminster Fuller
From a Brand Architekts perspective there is much to be excited about for the next year, but in the interim enjoy the holidays.
Happy holidays!
Quentin Higham
CEO
