Coats Group buys Pharr High Performance Yarns

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Nov 26, 2019

Coats, the world’s leading thread company, is set to improve its manufacturing capabilities in the US with the acquisition of North Carolina-based Pharr High Performance Yarns.

The $37 million transaction announced on Tuesday will see Coats take over a market leading manufacturer of high-performance engineered yarns with annual sales of $110 million and adjusted Ebitda profits of $5 million.

UK-based Coats has invested thousands of dollars in acquiring manufacturers and tech startups over the past two years in a bid to grow the business both vertically and horizontally.

In 2017 it bought Patrick Yarn Mill, also based in North Carolina, for $21 million. 

Like Patrick Yarn Mill, Pharr High Performance Yarns specialises in technical yarn solutions, but it focuses mostly on the industrial thermal protection, defence and fire service industries.

"With Pharr HP we are acquiring deep expertise in technical yarn solutions helping us to create ever lighter, stronger and more comfortable yarns for the most extreme environments, protecting many of those who protect us,” said Rajiv Sharma, Coats Group chief executive.

The acquisition will boost Coat’s personal protection business, part of the company’s non-core Performance Materials segment. Last year, the segment increased by 7% to $332 million, however it still represented only a small portion of the firm’s revenues, whilst Apparel & Footwear grew by just 4% to $1.08 billion.

Overall, revenues at the firm increased from $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion in the 2018 financial year.