Pentland Brands to streamline global business and invest in London creative hub

Pentland Brands, owner of brands including Ellesse, Berghaus and Speedo, has announced its latest plan to invest in streamlining its global business and harnessing its product innovation capabilities. This includes creating a new central London Hub, located in Farringdon.

The business plan is centred around working together as one global entity, having the skills in the right locations and building a simplified organisation to drive growth. In order to execute the plan, Pentland Brands will let around 90 employees go.

With these plans in place, Pentland Brands will have a unified business that reflects the global and digital nature of its growing organisation. For example, the Speedo brand will now have a global product engine in the US, while brand leadership and marketing operations will remain in the UK.

Chirag Patel, CEO of Pentland Brands, commented: "We’re a growing business with 2023 revenue and profit expected to exceed pre-pandemic highs. Our plans will accelerate this growth and position us at the forefront of digital innovation and consumer engagement, at a moment in time when our brands are more important than ever in helping people to live more active and healthy lives.

"With our new hub in the heart of London, we will create a collaborative space with a strong culture and community. A creative place where our teams and our brands can thrive, grow and deliver on our purpose to pioneer brands that make life better."

The new London hub will be located just a stone's throw away from Farringdon station, making it one of London's most accessible transport hubs. All of the business changes are expected to be in place by the end of Q3 2023, with the new central London Hub opening in early 2024.

This follows the news that Pentland Brands partnered with mission-led start-up The People to form a new youth advisory board to act at the heart of its employee experience, and its internal diversity and inclusion (D&I) networks.