Coats completes OrthoLite buy, announces new divisional structure, Q3 trading to plan

Coats Group has completed the acquisition of premium insoles maker OrthoLite Holdings as the restructuring apparel and footwear components supplier also said Q3 trading is on track.

Coats said the acquisition “strengthens the product portfolio and capabilities of [our] existing footwear business through expansion into the attractive, high-growth premium insole segment”.

It also said the purchase “is highly complementary, with significant overlap in customers, route to market and operational footprint, and opportunities to accelerate growth through innovation and cross-selling”. 

In addition, Coats said it’s targeting initial annualised joint cost synergies of $20 million available by 2028, “leveraging Coats’ experience of delivering significant value from footwear acquisitions”.

The buy also heralds a streamlining of Coats’ organisational structure into two divisions: Apparel and Footwear.

Following the exit from the non-core Americas Yarns business earlier this year, the remaining Performance Materials businesses are being incorporated within this new structure.

This includes the ‘Personal Protection and Performance Threads’ businesses (around 80% of Performance Materials) becoming part of the Apparel division, which Adrian Elliott will continue to lead.

Meanwhile, the ‘Telecom & Energy business’ (accounting for around 20% of Performance Materials) will become part of the Footwear division, alongside OrthoLite. The enlarged Footwear division will be led by Pasquale Abruzzese.

Coats said: “This new organisational structure better aligns the divisions and their underlying technologies and reduces internal operating complexity. The structural improvements in Performance Materials over the last 12 months, which have delivered substantial margin progression and a return to organic growth, will enable the reorganisation to be implemented efficiently.”

David Paja, group chief executive, added: “The acquisition of OrthoLite is an important step in our strategy to build a more growth-oriented group and we are delighted to welcome Glenn Barrett and our OrthoLite colleagues to Coats.

“We will now press ahead with our plans to accelerate innovation and sustainability in the footwear industry as we combine the capabilities of two global leaders in adjacent product categories.”

As a footnote, Coats also said trading through the third quarter at both Coats and OrthoLite “has continued to be in line with expectations”. The group will release its usual trading update for the four-month period (1 July to the end of October) 2025 on 7 November.