Adams on eve of bid for world domination of children's wear

It might not be a household name, but Adams Childrenswear, a retailer and designer of kids' clothes, is bent on world domination.

It plans to open 50 new stores in the UK and 20 abroad within three years, then plans to float the company on the stock market. This would bring the total number of standalone stores it owns to 450.

But Michael Hobbs, the chief executive, has bigger ambitions. "It is not just to be the number one in childrenswear. The ultimate aim is to be number-one global childrenswear player," he says, and he has set his timetable to cover five to 10 years.

Mr Hobbs claims his company has overtaken Mothercare in market share of clothing for children under 10, and has only Next to beat in the UK, which he predicts as possible by the end of next year.

Globally, the market leader is Gap, which has 900 BabyGap and Gapkids stores, so Adams Childrenswear has work to do. It raised £15m when Lloyds TSB Development Capital took a stake, and has borrowed an extra £77.5m. The company is now valued at £120m. The money will fund the expansion and also refurbish its existing stores and improve its delivery infrastructure.

Adams also has joint ventures with Sainsbury's, providing clothes to 120 stores, and with Boots for its children's ranges. The deals, which were announced in April, will provide the company with an expected increase in sales of £20m a year.

In its latest results, for the second half of 2001, Adams reported £133m in sales, up 9 per cent on the corresponding period in the previous year. Although Mothercare had sales of £509m for the full year last year, it also sells other children's items, including prams, nursery items, and maternity clothes.

Adams owns stores and has franchises in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai and Cyprus. It is also in talks to expand within India, Russia and Greece, as well as the US.

Bridgepoint Capital, the private equity company, owns about 60 per cent of Adams. It backed the £87m management buyout of the company from retail group Sears in 1999, after its takeover by Philip Green, the retail entrepreneur who owns Bhs.

Arcadia went on to buy the rest of the businesses in Sears, which included Wallis, Warehouse and Miss Selfridge.