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Family owned Stadsing A/S, sells life's work to Swedish OptiGroup

Family owned Stadsing A/S, Denmark's largest company in the development and sale of cleaning and hygiene products, has now been taken over by the Swedish Group OptiGroup AB (formerly known as Papyrus) for an amount in the higher three-digit million range Dkr.

With the purchase, Stadsing's products will be available across the rest of the Nordic countries & Europe within the OptiGroup, and new jobs will be established in Aalborg.

The family owned Danish supplier of cleaning products, hotel supplies and more, Stadsing, will now get new owners. The company has grown significantly over the past 10 years, and today, it is the leader on the Danish market for a large variety of cleaning products and consultancy. Since 2002, Stadsing has been owned and run by the two brothers, Karsten and Henrik Stadsing, who are now expanding the company internationally with the new owners backing them up.

"In the recent years, we have received a number of offers for the company, but we did not plan to sell," CEO Karsten Stadsing explains. "However, the dialogue with OptiGroup has been so positive, that we have now decided to sell our shares and thereby, become a part of something bigger.

"The synergies and perspectives of this acquisition are very big and to us; it is a dream come true that our products and our service concept will be available across the Nordic countries.

"OptiGroup acquires a well-oiled machine that, in 2017 alone, has won new orders of an amount of over 60.5 million euros. Now, we are excited to engage the future with further growth."

Both Karsten and Henrik Stadsing will stay in OptiGroup. Karsten, as CEO in Denmark, where he will be responsible for facility supplies in the Nordic countries, with Henrik, as CEO for trading and export today, responsible for the integration of Stadsing's products within OptiGroup.

In connection with the sale, the two brothers will buy shares in OptiGroup and are now ready for the future with Stadsing.

Stadsing's range of products consists of 12.000 item numbers. As one of the very few in the industry, Stadsing designs and develops private label products in Denmark, Europa and Asia.

OptiGroup, a market leader in consumables in Sweden and with operations in 19 countries across Europe, does not have its own production when it comes to cleaning products, but now, will gain access to some of the market's best products.

Prospectively, OptiGroup will market and sell Stadsing products, first in the Nordic countries, and later in the remaining Northern European countries.
"To a great extent, our international customers demand identical cleaning products across the borders," continues Karsten. "For example, a hotel chain in the Nordic countries would like the same standard and style across Denmark, Sweden, and Norway and so on... Something that is difficult to get today.
"Therefore, this is one of the areas, where we expect significant growth."

At OptiGroup, COO Søren Gaardboe shares this opinion and he sees a significant growth potential in the acquisition," saying:

"In recent years, we have seen a very significant consolidation of the industry, both in Denmark and Sweden. Up until now, the consolidation has been country-specific, but with Stadsing and OptiGroup together, we will be a collected market leader for the entire Nordic countries. It will benefit us, both in purchase and in sales and we are looking forward to bringing these new opportunities and concepts to the customers."

The positive perspective entails an expectation of a larger number of new employees at the main office in Aalborg. Among other things, the central warehouse will be expanded and Aalborg will also be home for the concern's development and research centre.

Says Karsten: "We expect a rather steep growth curve - both in the short and long run. The project design of a new central warehouse here in Aalborg, which will double the storage capacity, is already on the drawing board and at the same time, we need to expand our development and research centre in order to service the OptiGroup corporation.

"The aim is now, via a continuing development of our quality products and a unique Nordic logistic set-up, to be market leader in the Nordic countries in terms of suppling to cleaning companies and the HORECA (hotel, restaurant and cafe) segment."

Stadsing was the first in the Nordic countries to get The Nordic Eco-label for all its products. Today, it is leading in the industry with regard to cloths that do not contain micro plastic as well as in the labelling of all cleaning products that come in contact with the skin, with the label from the Danish Asthma and Allergy foundation.

This pleases Søren Gaardboe for several reasons:

"It is clear that there are both pros and cons in designing and developing the products ourselves," he points out.

"One absolute pro is the speed at which we can optimise and adjust the products. Stadsing has set the standard in Denmark and this is what we will do now in all of the Nordic countries."

Besides having its own range of products, Stadsing is also known for its cosultancy and education concept. When purchasing products, the customer gets personal advice and will be educated in the use of these products and possibly, this will be copied by the other markets:

Karsten adds: "Customers will notice that we are taking the best from Denmark and Sweden and expanding our service - in relation to both products and knowledge."

Stadsing has just completed its 2016/17 financial report with a record-breaking result of more than 6,5 million euros. This is the result of a long-standing growth period and turnover of close to half billion euros. Over the last 10 years, the company has earned almost 27 million euros.
Stadsing's head office is located in Nørresundby at Aalborg and has almost 100 employees.

The financial year of 2016/2017 which ended 31st May, 2016, was the best in the company's history with a turnover of close to 100 mn. Euros.
Founded in 1956 by Olf Stadsing, in 2002, the company completed a successful generational change with the two sons Karsten and Henrik Stadsing as sole owners.

OptiGroup turned over 1.5 billion euros in 2016, and has 1,900 employees across 19 countries in Europe.

www.stadsing.dk / www.optigroup.com

17th August 2017