The integration cockpit — turning acquisition status into an executable cutover plan, workstream by workstream, blocker by blocker, pound by pound.
Integration is the value and the risk: £1.8m of value is still unbanked across 3 in-flight brands at 69% average completion, with 8 open blockers gating the cutover. Clear the critical path and bank the run-rate before the next acquisition.
4 of 4 headline metrics improving vs prior · still off target: Acquisition-Integration Realization 74.0% vs 100.0%, Adj. EBITDA Margin 18.2% vs 20.0%, SG&A % of Revenue 36.8% vs 35.0%
Open blockers hold the cutover — and £1.8m of unbanked value — hostage across the 3 in-flight brands.
Gates the house cutover (and the value it unlocks).
Sourcing / vendor consolidation is leaking run-rate: £1.2m actual vs £1.4m plan (£-0.2m variance) — it compounds into the forecast quarters.
Owner: Sourcing & Craft
Gates the house cutover (and the value it unlocks).
Absorbing Fort Street Studio & the House of Scalamandré onto common systems is Stark's #1 integration priority — it is where acquisition value is created and where it leaks. This view turns "status" into an executable plan: the 3 in-flight brands, their six workstreams (order/ERP, customer master, quoting, PIM, showroom, sourcing), the blockers in the way, and the ~£1.8m of value still unbanked waiting on the cutover.
Do this: work the blocker named in each card first; if none, push the lowest-% workstream to its target date.
Read across each row for the brand's weak spot; read down each column for the workstream that's stuck enterprise-wide. Tint = status; number = % complete.
| Brand | Order / ERP system | Customer Master | Quoting / Specification | PIM / Catalog | Brand / Showroom | Sourcing / Atelier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scalamandré / House of Scalamandré | 90% | 85% | 78% | 88% | 95% | 80% |
| Ashley Stark Home | 70% | 65% | 60% | 72% | 85% | 68% |
| Fort Street Studio | 35% | 40% | 25% | 45% | 70% | 30% |
Do this: assign each open blocker a named owner and a date; the Blocker/High rows are the ones holding the value hostage.
| Severity | Brand | Workstream | Description | Owner | Due | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blocker | Fort Street Studio | Quoting / Specification | Bespoke silk-rug specs run on spreadsheets with no system of record; blocks move onto common quoting. | RevOps · Sales Ops | 2026-12-15 | Mitigating |
| High | Fort Street Studio | Order / ERP system | Atelier order flow (India/Nepal/Thailand) not yet on common ERP; revenue books region-only (West, 50% coverage). | VP Technology & Systems | 2027-01-31 | Open |
| High | Ashley Stark Home | Customer Master | ~150 duplicate trade accounts vs golden record need steward review before billing migration. | MDM steward | 2026-11-30 | Open |
| Medium | Ashley Stark Home | PIM / Catalog | Lifestyle SKUs not yet mapped to common catalog; manual cross-sell into showrooms. | Merchandising · Studio | 2026-10-15 | Open |
| Medium | Scalamandré / House of Scalamandré | Quoting / Specification | Price-book reconciliation: ~60 fabric SKUs priced below governed floor; RevOps reviewing. | RevOps · Sales Ops | 2026-09-20 | Mitigating |
| Medium | Scalamandré / House of Scalamandré | Sourcing / Atelier | Mill lead-times not yet visible in common planning; manual promise dates in some lines. | Sourcing & Craft | 2026-10-10 | Open |
| Low | Fort Street Studio | Brand / Showroom | Customer comms on the acquisition & showroom placement pending sign-off. | Integration PMO | 2026-08-31 | Mitigating |
| Low | Scalamandré / House of Scalamandré | Sourcing / Atelier | European mills not yet on common responsible-sourcing audit; minor compliance gap. | Sourcing & Craft | 2026-09-30 | Open |
Do this: the negative-variance programs are leaking run-rate — put a 90-day recovery plan on each before they compound into the forecast quarters.
| Program | Owner | Plan £m | Actual £m | Variance | % captured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common order & ERP system | Tech · VP Technology & Systems | £1.6m | £1.6m | +£0m | 100% |
| PIM / product catalog | Merchandising | £1.1m | £1.1m | +£0m | 100% |
| Sourcing / vendor consolidation | Sourcing & Craft | £1.4m | £1.2m | £-0.2m | 86% |
| Digital-to-trade platform | Tech · Digital | £0.8m | £0.6m | £-0.2m | 75% |
| Showroom systems / sample library | Showrooms | £0.6m | £0.5m | £-0.1m | 83% |
Do this: protect the ≥1.3x brands as the playbook; for sub-1x brands, freeze discretionary integration spend until value capture catches up.
| Brand | Acquired | Budget | Spent | Value target | Value realized | ROI | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Street Studio | 2025 | £1m | £0.4m | £1.2m | £0.4m | 1.0x | Early |
| Ashley Stark Home | 2021 | £1.2m | £0.8m | £1.4m | £0.9m | 1.1x | In progress |
| Hinson & Grey Watkins | 2017 | £0.5m | £0.5m | £0.8m | £0.7m | 1.4x | Integrated |
| Scalamandré / House of Scalamandré | 2017 | £2.4m | £2m | £3.2m | £2.7m | 1.4x | In progress |
| Stark Studio Rugs | 2014 | £0.9m | £0.8m | £1.4m | £1.2m | 1.5x | Integrated |
| Old World Weavers | 1992 | £0.6m | £0.6m | £1m | £0.96m | 1.6x | Integrated |