Birmingham-based gold dealer Jewellery Quarter Bullion could be put up for sale after it announced it has appointed Grant Thornton to assist in exploring sale options beyond the UK.
The firm is behind Bullion By Post, the internet dealer of gold and silver in the UK. According to a report in The Telegraph, its founder Rob Halliday-Stein said a sale would make way for international expansion and meet the need for buying physical gold and silver bars and coins in the UK.
Jewellery Quarter Bullion purchases bullion from traditional dealers and sends it on to retail investors the next day.
In its first year Jewellery Quarter made £6 million in sales and pre-tax profits of £20,000. In the year ending April 2012 it reported sales of £55 million with a pre-tax profit of £1.5 million.
A family jewellery firm which has supplied the likes of the Sultan of Brunei, Roman Abramovich and Lewis Hamilton has celebrated 125 years in business.
Alabaster & Wilson was founded by Arthur Alabaster and Thomas Wilson on Vyse Street, Birmingham, in the same year as the British Jewellers’ Association, and also Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.
The company made the move to 9-11 Legge Lane, Jewellery Quarter, three years later in 1890 and since 1983 has been run by Arthur’s great grandsons, Paul and Stephen, and great granddaughter, Wendy.
Over the last 125 years Alabaster & Wilson has manufactured high quality products for many of the UK’s leading jewellers and also exports across Europe, the USA and Australia.
It has also supplied exclusive pieces for the British Royal Family, the Sultan of Brunei, along with Roman Abramovich and Eric Clapton, the British Racing Drivers’ Club and Formula One drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
The company is also the among leading jewellery suppliers to the horse racing world.
