Kenneth Borup has been leading Lomax for the past five years, in the process making it the largest e-commerce office supplier in Denmark.
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2022
Lyreco makes Nordics acquisition
Background information
2022: It’s been a busy year so far for Danish e-commerce office supplier Lomax under the leadership of CEO Kenneth Borup. Celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2022, Lomax is on the verge of another milestone event with the planned acquisition by French operator Lyreco.
The deal – currently in the hands of the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority – is not expected to close until Q1 2023. But even then, the plan is to initially remain independent in terms of both resellers’ brand portfolios. The idea, said Lyreco CEO Greg Liénard, is to “learn from each other and see what works best for our respective customers”.
Lomax’s achievements over the past few years have been quite remarkable. It has posted CAGR of 32% since 2019, driven by an influx of new B2B customers – primarily in the SMB segment – excellent client retention with very low drop-off rates and increasing spend of those clients. Total sales last year stood at €125 million ($124 million).
It speaks to the success of Lomax’s digital transformation that it attracted a buyer of Lyreco’s calibre, an operator which, incidentally, is not known for its e-commerce prowess. Once a traditional mail order company, Lomax now attributes more than 90% of revenues to its online activities, driven by a leading e-commerce platform.
In terms of customer base, there’s little overlap, meaning that, if the deal is approved as anticipated, Lyreco will be able to cover the full client spectrum in Denmark, from one-man bands – completely outside its realm at present – to large multinationals. As Borup says: “It’s a good fit because our two companies are different and complement each other. Whereas Lomax targets the SMB market through e-commerce, Lyreco goes after the bigger players and the public institutions with contract sales.”
With Lomax likely coming under the Lyreco umbrella, there’s arguably a sense of déjà vu for Borup, who has been with the company for 23 years, serving the last five of those as CEO. But he started his career as a trainee at Danish office supplier Barfod in 1997 – bought by Lyreco in 1998!
