Warpaint London plc (LON:W7L), the specialist supplier of colour cosmetics and owner of the W7 and Technic brands, has announced that it has entered into two new leases relating to the premises at Units A and E, at The Ridgeway Trading Estate, Iver, Buckinghamshire through to August 2026. The Iver site is the location of the Group’s head office and principal southern hub for the Group’s W7 business, and comprises office, showroom and warehouse space.
Terms of the lease agreements for Units A and E
Two new lease agreements have been entered into between Warpaint Cosmetics Limited (a private company, which is not part of the Group, being the owner and landlord) and Warpaint Cosmetics (2014) Limited (a subsidiary of the Company and part of the Group, being the lessee) in relation to the two Units A and E. The annual rent for Unit A is £138,000 and for Unit E, £110,250, in each case plus property and rent insurance expenses. The expiry date for both new leases is 2 August 2026, making these coterminous with the existing leases of the other Units (B, C and D) currently occupied by the Group at The Ridgeway Trading Estate, Iver.
The Iver Lease Agreement for Unit A commences on 8 August 2023. Unit A comprises 11,184 sq ft of warehouse and office space and the entry into this lease allows the majority of the W7 warehouse, office and showroom operations to be consolidated onto one site. The Group has been in occupation of Unit E since September 2020, initially under an informal arrangement with Warpaint Cosmetics Limited, with the Iver Lease Agreement of Unit E commencing with effect from 6 October 2021. The Group has been accruing assumed rent for Unit E since 1 September 2020 at a level consistent with the terms of the lease that has now been agreed. Unit E comprises 9,000 sq ft of office space.
The new leases mean that the Group now occupies the entirety of units A to E at The Ridgeway Trading Estate, enabling its head office, southern operations and the majority of the W7 warehousing to be housed in one location, considerably improving the Group’s logistics.
Related Party Transaction
The entering into the Iver Lease Agreements and the above arrangements with Warpaint Cosmetics Limited are related party transactions pursuant to AIM Rule 13 , as the directors and beneficial owners of Warpaint Cosmetics Limited are Samuel Bazini, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and Eoin Macleod, Managing Director of the Company. The Company’s independent directors, being Clive Garston, Neil Rodol, Sally Craig, Paul Hagon and Keith Sadler consider, having consulted with the Company’s nominated adviser, Shore Capital and Corporate Limited, that the terms of the Iver Lease Agreements and the above arrangements are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company’s shareholders are concerned.
Warpaint London sells branded cosmetics under the lead brand names of W7 and Technic. W7 is sold in the UK primarily to retailers and internationally to local distributors or retail chains. The Technic brand is sold in the UK and continental Europe with a significant focus on the gifting market, principally for high street retailers and supermarkets. In addition, Warpaint supplies own brand white label cosmetics produced for several major high street retailers. The Group also sells cosmetics using its other brand names of Man’stuff, Body Collection and Chit Chat.
