Home entertainment products distributor MBL has clinched a UK supply deal with world-leading electrical retailer Best Buy of the USA.
Home entertainment products distributor MBL has clinched a UK supply deal with world-leading electrical retailer Best Buy of the USA.
Based in Leyland, Lancashire, and quoted on AIM, MBL (formerly Air Music & Media) has won an exclusive contract to supply its DVDs, BluRays and CDs to Best Buy, which recently announced plans to open an initial five stores in the UK next year. The contract runs for an initial 12 months, with the possibility of extension for a second year.
Steered by chief executive officer and significant shareholder Trevor Allan, MBL, which increased pre-tax profits 44 per cent to £8.1 million in the year to March on turnover up 77 per cent to £144 million, will not say how much it thinks the Best Buy deal could be worth. Since Best Buy says it hopes to create 8,000 jobs in Britain over five years and sees the UK as representing 80 per cent of its planned 100-store European expansion drive, advisers suggest the impact will be ‘substantial’.
Allan says ‘over the coming months, Best Buy and MBL will be working with the industry to share plans and exploit future opportunities’. Over the past 12 months MBL shares have more than trebled to 173.5p, valuing the company at almost £30 million.
