Red Letter Days

Last updated
Red Letter Days
IndustryeCommerce
Founded1989
Founder Rachel Elnaugh
Headquarters
Farringdon, London
,
United Kingdom
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
Rachel Elnaugh, Theo Paphitis, Peter Jones, Ronan Tighe (MD)
ProductsExperience days
Parent Moonpig Group
Website www.redletterdays.co.uk

Red Letter Days is a UK company which was an early adopter of the concept of giving experience day vouchers as gifts and corporate rewards, based in Farringdon, London in the offices of its parent company, Moonpig Group.

Contents

The company is now owned by Moonpig Group, who offer also own the Buyagift, Moonpig and Greetz brands.

History

The company was founded by former Dragons' Den entrepreneur Rachel Elnaugh, who developed the idea for Red Letter Days after creatively packaging cricket tickets to give to her father. [1] She saw the opportunity for packaging intangible experiences as gifts and established Red Letter Days in 1989. [2]

The business began to take off after placing brochure inserts into national newspapers and magazines in the lead-up to Christmas 1990. [3]

Red Letter Days struggled after a "disastrous over-expansion in 2002." [4]

In 2005, Sir Rodney Walker was listed as chairman in anticipation of listing on the Alternative Investment Market, hoping to float on the stock market later that year. [5]

Administration

After expanding via supermarket distribution, Red Letter Days went into administration on 1 August 2005; [6] the remaining assets and inventory were bought by fellow Dragons' Den entrepreneurs Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones. [7] They revealed on Alan Carr: Chatty Man that they made the decision to purchase the company whilst under the influence of alcohol. Following the acquisition, Jones and Paphitis said that all vouchers bought on a credit card or by corporate customers had been honoured. [8]

Although Elnaugh was at the helm before and at the time of the company's failure just days after the birth of her fourth child, she blames the problems on the actions of a previous CEO, Simon Vincent, whom she appointed in 2002 but who had left the company in early 2003, while she was in a non-executive role. [9]

ITV1's Tonight Programme offered a more critical explanation of the demise of Red Letter Days, citing unpaid suppliers and disappointed purchasers. The programme suggested that the business model failed to escrow or earmark supplier payment equity, instead using it for working capital. Elnaugh blamed the company's bankers, who placed £3 million in a bond they refused to release for use by the firm, despite the fact that some of it may have related to vouchers that had expired and were not recoverable against the business.[ vague ] It was the funds held by the credit card company under this bond that enabled the new owners to honour vouchers issued prior to the company falling into administration. Mrs. Elnaugh admitted in her book Business Nightmares that her finance team had lost track of the company's voucher liabilities and its debts to suppliers. [10] After Red Letter Days went into administration with a balance sheet deficiency approaching £9 million, Elnaugh left the Dragons' Den. [11]

Restart

Since 2005, Red Letter Days has continued to offer a wide range of experiences, including car racing, skydiving, white water rafting, hot air ballooning, paintball, bungee jumping, and spa days. Under Paphitis and Jones' ownership, the company went from administration to an annual turnover of over £20 million. [12] They sold the now profitable Red Letter Days to Buyagift for an undisclosed price, claiming that "the time felt right and the sale will ensure an exciting and progressive next chapter in Red Letter Days' evolvement". [13]

Buyout

Red Letter Days was bought by the French multinational company Smart&co S.A.S in 2017, [14] [15] joining other brands like Buyagift, [16] Dakotabox [17] and Odisseias. [18] In June 2019, ownership of the company was transferred to Buyagift plc, and the limited company was put into voluntary liquidation with a declaration of solvency. SmartBox founder Pierre-Edouard Sterin and CEO John Perkins resigned, and a new CEO, Olivier Fajour, was appointed.

Moonpig Group

In July 2022, the Red Letter Days and Buyagift brands were bought by the Moonpig Group.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heineken N.V.</span> Dutch multinational brewing company

Heineken N.V. is a Dutch multinational brewing company, founded in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. As of 2019, Heineken owns over 165 breweries in more than 70 countries. It produces 348 international, regional, local and speciality beers and ciders and employs approximately 85,000 people.

CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. is an American fast food corporation and is the parent organization for the Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Green Burrito, and Red Burrito brands. CKE Restaurants is headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee.

Coinstar, LLC is an American company operating coin-cashing machines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RedBalloon</span> Australian online retail company

RedBalloon is an experiential gifts company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Elnaugh</span> British entrepreneur

Rachel Elnaugh is a former British entrepreneur who founded the UK gift company Red Letter Days. She was one of the investors participating in the first two series of BBC Two's reality TV show Dragons' Den.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theo Paphitis</span> British entrepreneur

Theodoros Paphitis is a Greek-Cypriot British retail magnate and entrepreneur. He is best known for his appearances on the BBC business programme Dragons' Den and as former chairman of Millwall Football Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bedlam cube</span> Three-dimensional packing puzzle

The Bedlam cube is a solid dissection puzzle invented by British puzzle expert Bruce Bedlam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JD Sports</span> British sports-fashion retail company

JD Sports Fashion plc, commonly known as JD Sports, JD or JD Group is a British sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The Pentland Group owns 55% of the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick M. Byrne</span> Former president, CEO and chairman of Overstock.com

Patrick Michael Byrne is an American businessman and conspiracy theorist.

<i>Dragons Den</i> (British TV programme) British reality television series

Dragons' Den is a British reality television business programme, presented by Evan Davis and based upon the original Japanese series. The show allows several entrepreneurs an opportunity to present their varying business ideas to a panel of five wealthy investors, the "Dragons" of the show's title, and pitch for financial investment while offering a stake of the company in return.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob's Red Mill</span> Brand of whole-grain foods

Bob's Red Mill is an American brand of whole-grain food marketed by employee-owned American company Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods of Milwaukie, Oregon. The company was established in 1978 by Bob and Charlee Moore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USC (clothing retailer)</span> Clothing retailer that sells branded clothing across the United Kingdom

USC is a clothing retailer that sells branded clothing across the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company was founded in 1989 in Edinburgh and has been owned by the Frasers Group since 2011. As of September 2024, the company owns stores in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Belgium and Czech Republic.

Moonpig is an internet-based business whose head offices are situated in London and Guernsey. The company's business model is mainly selling personalised greeting cards, flowers and gifts. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Jones (entrepreneur)</span> English billionaire businessperson (born 1966)

Peter David Jones is an English entrepreneur, businessman, investor and reality television personality, with interests in mobile phones, television, media, leisure, retail, and property. As the last remaining original investor on the BBC One show Dragons' Den, he has also appeared on other television shows with similar formats.

<i>Dragons Den</i> (Canadian TV series) Canadian television reality show

Dragons' Den is a Canadian television reality show based on the internationally franchised Dragons' Den format which began in Japan. The show debuted on October 3, 2006, on CBC Television, and is hosted by Dianne Buckner. Aspiring Canadian entrepreneurs pitch business and investment ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing business financing and partnerships. The show also has a Quebec-only spin-off called Dans l'oeil du Dragon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kendra Scott</span> American fashion designer (born 1974)

Kendra Scott is an American fashion designer. She is the executive chairwoman, designer, and former chief executive officer of Kendra Scott, LLC. In 2017, she was named Ernst & Young's National Entrepreneur of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xperience Days</span>

Xperience Days is an experiential gifts company and was founded in New Jersey in 2004 by Michelle Geib, Gavin Bishop and Robb Young. The business is modelled after the experience gift companies first launched in the UK and pioneered by Acorne. The concept was popularised by Red Letter Days, in particular by the appearance of founder Rachel Elnaugh on the BBC series Dragons' Den.

doTerra is a multi-level marketing company based in Pleasant Grove, Utah, that sells essential oils and other related products. doTerra was founded in 2008 by former executives of Young Living and others. The company's products are sold through independent distributors called Wellness Advocates, using a multi-level marketing model to sell its products. Distributors are eligible to receive commissions based on their own sales and the sales of others in their organization.

Nicholas David Jenkins is a British businessman, best known for founding the online greeting card retailer Moonpig.com, then as a "dragon" for the BBC Two TV business series Dragons' Den in the thirteenth and fourteenth series.

References

  1. ↑ "Rachel Elnaugh interview". 11 August 2007. Archived from the original on 14 October 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  2. ↑ Interview with Rachel Elnaugh, Founder of Red Letter Days Tyler Publishing, November 2004
  3. ↑ "My First Million: Rachel Elnaugh of Red Letter Days". MoneyWeek. 2006-08-01. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  4. ↑ James, Laura (2019-06-28). "Rachel Elnaugh lifts the lid on her failed multi-million pound business". birminghampost. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  5. ↑ "Gift firm calls in administrators". 2005-08-01. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  6. ↑ Osborne, Alistair (2005-08-01). "Red Letter Days experiences a plunge into administration". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  7. ↑ Brodie, Sophie (2007-05-28). "Red Letter Days £7.2m in red despite TV dragons' efforts". Daily Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  8. ↑ "Rescue plan for Red Letter Days". The Guardian. Press Association. 2005-08-02. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  9. ↑ "Dragon still has fire in her belly". The Guardian. September 29, 2005. Retrieved 8 July 2009.
  10. ↑ Page 169 of Business Nightmares by Rachel Elnaugh
  11. ↑ "The City Diary: The Midas â€" or Maddison â€" touch". The Independent. 2010-05-09. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  12. ↑ "Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones sell Red Letter Days". The Retail Bulletin. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  13. ↑ "Red Letter Days sold to Smartbox Group – Travel & Leisure Executive Search". The MBS Group. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  14. ↑ "We're out! TV Dragons sell Red Letter Days". 2017-11-30. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  15. ↑ "Dragons' deal for Irish-based gift company Smartbox". Independent.ie. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  16. ↑ "Company Overview of Red Letter Days Ltd". Bloomberg. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  17. ↑ "Company Overview of Dakotabox Regalos y Ocio, S.L." Bloomberg News . Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  18. ↑ Hamilton, Peter. "Gift company Smartbox plans addition of 100 Dublin jobs". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.