The Warehouse Group sells Torpedo7 for $1

Thursday, 22 February 2024

• The Warehouse Group has sold Torpedo7 for $1

• The outdoor brand was bought by retail and hospitality consortium Tahua Partners Limited

• Former Breakers basketball team owners Paul and Elizabeth Blackwell are shareholder directors of Tahua Partners

The Warehouse Group has sold its outdoor brand Torpedo7 to retail and hospitality consortium Tahua Partners Limited for $1.

Torpedo7 has struggled with sluggish sales in recent months, reporting a 25% drop in first-quarter sales.

Its assets, including stock, cash in store and the Torpedo7 brand, and obligations will be taken over by Tahua Partners, and the majority of its permanent staff will be offered work with the new owner.

Paul and Elizabeth Blackwell, former owners of the Breakers basketball team and Albany Pak ‘n Save, are shareholder directors of Tahua Partners.

TWG said the sale would result in a non-cash, pre-tax accounting write-down of $55 million to $65m in its half-year results, subject to audit and final review.

TWG chief executive Nick Grayston said Torpedo7 represented only 5% of the group’s sales and the “tough reality” was that attention and resources would be better spent on its core brands.

As well as The Warehouse, TWG owns the Warehouse Stationery and Noel Leeming brands.

“Torpedo7 has faced ongoing challenges to its performance recently. Lower consumer demand post-Covid, driven in part by a global decline in the bike market, has impacted sales and profitability. We’ve decided it’s time to draw a line under it and we have found an owner who can focus more attention to its turnaround.”

Tahua Partners said it was “delighted” to add Torpedo7 to its business.

“As a 100% Kiwi owned and operated business with a passion for retail and hospitality, we believe Torpedo7 complements our family of well-loved global and local brands.”

The sale is expected to be completed by the end of March 2024.