Hornby sells slot car racing brand Scalextric for £20m | Hornby
Hornby has watched Scalextric generate revenue for its hobby business for almost six decades but on Friday the company said it had decided to sell the famous slot car racing brand to a little-known buyer for £20 million.
The model railway company, which also sells toy planes and cars under the Airfix and Corgi brands, has sold its Scalextric business and intellectual property rights to Purbeck Capital Partners.
Kent-based Hornby, which has seen a hobby boom during the Covid pandemic, has owned Scalextric since 1968. The first Scalextric set, invented by Fred Francis, was made in Hampshire in 1956.
On Friday, Hornby’s parent company Castelnau, which also owns businesses such as funeral company Dignity, announced it would sell its car racing business to Purbeck Capital Partners.
Purbeck is led by Mark Brown, the former chief executive of US-based spirits company Sazerac. Owner of brands including Southern Comfort. The deal is the first investment from Brown’s family office.
Hornby, which It dates back to 1901 The company, which produced the first model train set in 1920, said that the income from the sale will be used to pay off debt and invest in other brands.
The company said it will manage the Scalextric business as a representative and support it through its existing infrastructure.
In 2024, Mike Ashley, founder of Sports Direct, Became Hornby’s advisor after retail empire Frasers Group took an 8.9% stake in the business.
Last April, Hornby was delisted from London’s junior stock exchange Aim, ending almost four decades as a public company.
The company, which has been publicly listed since 1986, blamed “regulatory burden and the cost of maintaining an IPO” and said delisting would save around £400,000 a year.
Richard Brown, managing director of Castelnau, said: “Scalextric has made significant progress in recent years and we are really excited about its next phase.
“We look forward to working closely with him throughout the wider transformation process at Hornby. This transaction is consistent with Castelnau’s strategic intent to ensure that our businesses are owned and managed by the best owners to unlock their full potential.”
As part of the deal, Mark Brown, who founded Scalextric Motorsports to house the business, will take on a role helping Hornby in its long-term strategic transformation to create “a range of entrepreneurial, profitable brands that are autonomously managed, sustainable and independently run from centre”.
Scalextric hopes to expand its business into new areas as an antidote to online pursuits.
“As we look to the long-term future with Scalextric, now a family-owned business, we are energized by the opportunity to continue providing competitive racing entertainment to families,” he said.
“During [also] “It expands into new areas of motorsport and helps develop physical and hand-eye coordination skills, especially at a time when families are trying to balance time spent online with real-world activities.”
Mark Brown grew up in the UK but has spent the last 46 years in the US, where he is a permanent resident. Brown spent a total of 37 years working for Sazerac in two stints at Forman, separated by five years. He served as general manager from 1997, when he returned to Sazerac, until he resigned in 2023.
