An omnichannel retailer of baby products including highchairs, prams, and accessories, operating in the UK and US. The Company’s UK business was well-established at the date of valuation and its brand and reputation was widely recognised in the market. The Company’s US business was in its infancy, only just starting to gain commercial traction.
The Company required an IP valuation to inform internal decision-making, in advance of setting up an Employee Ownership Trust (“EOT”). Management of the Company was particularly interested in understanding how its investment in a proprietary order and warehouse management system has updated the Company’s IP valuation. We were instructed to focus primarily on the Company’s brand-related assets and software within the IP valuation.
We valued the IP assets on a fair value basis. Using our Metisology® approach, we identified the bundles of IP assets each relied upon by the Company’s two business streams. Our information discovery identified that the two business streams rely on different bundles of IP assets, and due to the quite different lifecycle of each business, we determined that two separate valuations would better meet the needs of the Client.
The Company’s brand which was utilized predominantly in the UK provided a key competitive advantage. The brand was market-leading and has achieved widespread exposure through its social media presence and consumer reach, and as a result of key strategic initiatives, directly mapped to both increase in revenue and improvement in margins.
We provided a desktop IP valuation for the Company’s internal use. Using our significant experience of building strong IP-backed business models, we also separately advised the client the areas in which the Company could potentially improve IP value, particularly in relation to the newly set-up US business.
