By Kristy Dorsey
Rutherglen toy company H Grossman is said to be on a high with the latest playground craze after a difficult 18 months in which it fell to a pre-tax loss of nearly £1.8 million.
The business, which is now part of Norwich-based Tobar International, has placed orders for more than four million of this year’s popular Pushpoppers fidget toy. Designed to emulate the pleasure of popping bubble wrap, Pushpoppers are lines of bubbles that are pushed and then popped back into place from the other side of the toy.
It follows on the success of past crazes brought by H Grossman, such as loom bands and fidget spinners, under its previous family ownership. Tobar acquired the Scottish operation in April 2018 after Martin Grossman, whose parents founded the business in 1946, bought it back from a short-lived management buy-out.
READ MORE: Grossman boss vows to restore growth to toy maker
Now led by Tobar chief executive David Mordecai, H Grossman made a pre-tax loss of £1.77m during the 18 months to the end of June 2020 amid challenges caused by the pandemic, Brexit and a company restructuring.
The closure of non-essential retail to control the spread of Covid cut group sales by half between March and June of last year, while Brexit has “presented its challenges” within the export market. However, the accounts noted that within the Tobar group, there are two EU-based subsidiaries “which minimises the risk and increases the options for trade within the EU”.
As part of the group restructuring to streamline the business while reducing complexities and costs, H Grossman changed the end of its accounting year to June 30. Mr Grossman, who continued as managing director after the sale to Tobar, resigned from the business in December 2020.
READ MORE: Toy firm H. Grossman sold
Mr Grossman, who worked for the family business for nearly 50 years, sold a majority stake in the operation in June 2015 to managers Mark Walls and Daniel McLoughlin. However, he bought the business back just nine months later after turnover dropped following a failure to introduce new product lines.
He returned the company to growth, but with no family members willing to run the business, he decided to sell once again, this time to Tobar. The deal was completed for an undisclosed sum.
Revenues of £16.1m for the 18 months to June 2020 compared to those of £10.3m for the 12 months to December 2018. According to the accounts, H Grossman employed an average of 43 people in the latest financial period.
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