Grimsby seafood business enters administration after abrupt plant closure
Cook & Lucas Frozen (UK) Limited has entered administration.
The company is an established importer, processor and supplier of seafood and whitefish, operating a smokehouse and processing plant in Grimsby.
On 10 January 2023, the company abruptly closed its plant in Grimsby, with approximately 80 members of staff being laid off. Following this unannounced closure, the company’s secured lender took steps to protect its position and sought the appointment of the joint administrators – James Clark and Howard Smith from Interpath Advisory.
James Clark, Managing Director at Interpath Advisory and joint administrator, said: “Given the circumstances surrounding our appointment, our immediate priority is to take steps to secure the company’s assets, while seeking to gather further information about the company’s financial position.”
Infotec Limited sold to Journeo Plc for £8.7m
Flint Bishop has advised the shareholder of IGL Ltd, the parent company of Leicestershire-based Infotec Limited, on the £8.7m sale to Journeo Plc, an AIM-listed information systems and transport technical services group also based in Leicestershire.
IGL Ltd, and its subsidiaries trading as Infotec, is one of the few British-based companies that designs, manufactures, tests and distributes its own passenger information displays to the rail sector in both the UK and abroad.
With more than 15,000 displays in operation and coverage of 80 per cent of the rail network, 2.19 million passenger journeys rely on Infotech’s products every day.
Leading on the deal for Tim Court was partner and head of corporate and finance Martyn Brierley, with support from senior associate Mark Wilcock. Partner David Newborough and associate director Jonathan Williamson, of Ashgates Corporate Services Ltd, provided accounting and tax advice to the selling shareholder on the disposal.
Brierley said: “We are delighted to have advised Tim on this successful transaction. The process was technically detailed at times so we are pleased to have helped bring the transaction to a positive conclusion for both Tim and Journeo plc. With Tim’s ongoing role in the business, we wish both Tim, Infotec and Journeo, the very best for their future together.”
Infotec founder Tim Court said: “Selling a business you’ve worked in and nurtured for near 30 years was always going to be emotional journey. Martyn, Mark and the team at Flint Bishop conducted the transaction with the utmost professionalism and skill. To me personally, they handled the deal with a deft touch which made the process bearable, their input is one I will always be grateful for. I couldn’t recommend and rate Martyn and his team at Flint Bishop more highly.”
Student consultancy project leads to innovation for East Midlands start-up
An East Midlands start-up is planning to modernise its products and revamp its website following a successful consultancy project with students from Nottingham Business School (NBS), part of Nottingham Trent University.
East Midlands Roller Doors was established in 2021 and supplies residential electric garage doors across the region. Following a successful first year of trading, the company is looking to expand into the commercial market with a view to recruiting more local talent to the organisation.
Six students from MSc Management and International Business and MSc Global Supply Chain Management courses carried out a competitor and SWOT analysis and explored the potential size of the market and the scope for the company to enter into it. They also considered steps that East Midlands Roller Doors could take to develop the commercial side of their business.
Their recommendations covered customer finance options, product diversification and the business rationale for developing a strong brand identity.
Greg Spencer, founder and manager of East Midlands Roller Doors, said: “As a new start-up we were looking for fresh ideas on how we could grow our business. We set the students the task of looking at how big the potential market is for roller doors in the East Midlands area. We also asked them to find out what could set us apart from other garage door companies working in the region.
“Throughout the project they were passionate, motivated and it was a pleasure working with them. After several weeks of research, the students presented their feedback to us.
“We will certainly be using some of the recommendations. We are looking at new, innovative features that will modernise our products. We’re also incorporating some of the student ideas into our new website build. We now have some exciting things we’re working on that will be released in the coming months.”
Prajwal Hulikere Mohan Kumar, MSc Management and International Business student, said: “This professional consulting project was a highly motivating experience for a Masters’ student like me to step into the professional world. This project gave us the real time experience to understand the requirement of a real business and analyse their challenges.
“We had an initial meeting with our client to understand their aim and what they wanted to achieve in the next few years. After analysing their requirements, we presented frameworks and recommendations for the best strategy to enter the commercial market.
“As a team we were happy that we could achieve our task with hard work and meet the client’s expectation. This consulting project helped me learn how to handle a client and understand their requirements in real time business.”
The project is one of 45 NBS student projects which took place over the autumn. The teams are supported by an academic supervisor who guides them through the process.
During 2021/22 NBS arranged 157 business projects for more than 700 post graduate students – 92% of organisations surveyed said they’d recommend these projects to others.
Greg Spencer added: “It has been a very good learning experience for us and given us ideas to take into the new year that will help us achieve our goals. I highly recommend companies working with NBS on these projects as the fresh ideas can be eye opening and it’s all useful information for potential growth.”
NBS is looking for businesses to host new projects from May 2023. Organisations interested in taking part can email nbsstudentprojects@ntu.ac.uk for further information.
Seven new tenants move into Nottingham office building
Following the £4 million redevelopment of East West on Maid Marian Way in Nottingham, seven new tenants have leased close to 50,000 sq ft of office space.
Equifax has taken 19,045 sq ft across the entire 5th floor, partnering with CEG which is delivering the bespoke fit out on their behalf. Classroom software company, Impero, has taken 3,345 sq ft and Turner and Townsend a 4,260 sq ft office.
As well as letting space to project management company, Faithful & Gould, CEG has also managed and delivered the bespoke fit out of new office space for Worldwide Clinical Trials group (10,500 sq ft).
A further two tenants are taking up CEG’s well-established, flexible offer Let Ready, which provides serviced workspace, which offers the ability to grow your business from 3 to 300 people without changing address. Pick Everard has taken a 1,991 sq ft office and KPMG has moved into the 3rd and 4th floor of the building.
A spokesperson from Worldwide said: “Providing contemporary and flexible workspace for our employees was essential as we return to the office and East West offers a great environment. It is one of the best office developments in Nottingham, with fantastic onsite facilities as well as being an easy walk to the city centre enabling sustainable commuting choices.”
CEG recently transformed the flagship East West development to deliver 175,000 sq ft of best-in-class workspace. The adjacent Toll House pub has been integrated into the development, providing a café bistro and business lounge offering a variety of spaces to eat, meet, drink and work with access to WiFi and plug in points.
This first phase of redevelopment has created a striking new reception area to the east building, as well as improvements to the glazing, lighting, heating and ventilation and new cycling facilities, showers, drying room and lockers.
Alex Goode, investment manager at CEG, said: “East West has been transformed to respond to businesses wanting healthy, sustainable and productive space that will help to attract and retain the best talent.
“We are delighted to welcome seven new tenants and, although the building is so popular, we do have some suites from 1,900 to 9,000 sq ft available over the coming months, ready for bespoke fit out, the costs for which can be managed as part of the flexible rent package to reduce an occupier’s capital outlay.”
FHP is marketing the building on behalf of CEG. Mark Tomlinson, director at FHP, said: “We continue to see strong demand for the very best quality office spaces with many occupiers now seeking to improve the quality of their office environments. Supply of good quality office space in Nottingham is low and East West stands alone in its ability to offer its Tenants a superb onsite business lounge café for informal meetings, hosting client events, staff breakout and workspaces. I’m delighted to say that we are due to bring forward more space within the building in 2023.”
Company fined £100k after man left permanently disabled
A company must pay more than £100k after one of its employees was left with life-changing injuries when a pallet of glass weighing more than one tonne fell on top of him.
Andrew Potts, from Nottingham, was left permanently disabled and reliant on a cocktail of medication after breaking his neck in five places following the incident at a depot in Lichfield on 30 September 2016.
The pallet had shifted during transportation and fell on to the 58-year-old, who has not been able to work since with his wife Dawn having to give up her own job to become his full-time carer.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that United Pallet Network (UK) Limited’s (UPN) system of working was inadequate and not communicated with staff. They also failed to provide adequate training in how to recover shifted loads.
“This has been extremely hard to deal with, emotionally, physically and financially,” Mr Potts said. “I had to stay in Royal Stoke University Hospital for nine days following the incident.
“Dawn used to come home crying, wondering whether I would make it, and how she and the family would cope. I have been left physically, partially disabled.
“I am having to adjust to this new way of being as I continue to struggle to accept what has happened. I had recurring nightmares following the incident – I would wake up screaming, sweating or crying.
“The incident left me severely depressed.”
As well as the multiple neck fractures, which resulted in a halo being screwed into his head for several weeks, Mr Potts also suffered many other injuries including broken bones in his leg and feet. Those injuries resulted in eleven pins being inserted into one of his feet, three of which will remain for the rest of his life.
“I can’t walk very far at all, I use walking poles in an attempt to keep me as upright as possible to walk outside of our home,” he said.
“Depending on where we are actually going, like shopping for instance, I use a powerchair to enable me to get around, even so, all these physical tasks are simply exhausting.
“Our lives will never be the same again, the accident was absolutely life changing. We are learning to live again and adjusting to enjoy a different kind of life, because life is a gift.”
Stafford Crown Court heard how on the evening of 30 September 2016, a lorry containing a consignment of four pallets of glass arrived at United Pallet Network (UK) Limited’s (UPN) pallet hub at Fradley Park, Lichfield. The pallets had not been appropriately loaded or secured and fell out of the trailer onto Mr Potts as he made attempts to rectify the problem.
United Pallet Network (UK) Ltd of Vantage Business Park, Leicester pleaded guilty to Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and it was fined £94,667 and ordered to pay costs of £7,590.34.
HSE inspector Andrew Johnson said after the hearing: “This is yet another tragic, and avoidable workplace incident that should never have happened.
“Had UPN devised and trained its employees in suitably safe systems of work to deal with shifted loads, then Mr Potts would have continued living the life he had before this incident.
“This is why it is crucial that transport companies get their trailer loading and unloading systems right.”
Revenue up at Chesterfield packaging manufacturer
Revenue is up at Robinson plc, the custom manufacturer of plastic and paperboard packaging based in Chesterfield.
According to a trading statement, prior to the announcement of the company’s final results for the year ended 31 December 2022, revenue for 2022 is anticipated to be £50.5m, which represents a 10% increase over the prior year, or a 1% increase excluding the effect of the Schela Plast business, acquired in February 2021.
After adjusting for price changes and foreign exchange, sales volumes in the underlying business are 10% below 2021, affected by changes in consumer behaviour, delisting of certain products by customers and overall reduced customer demand.
Operating profit before exceptional items and amortisation of intangible assets for the year are anticipated to be in line with current market expectations, and comfortably ahead of 2021.
Full year results “marginally ahead of market expectations” at Staffline
Staffline, the Nottingham-based recruitment and training group, says its full year results will be marginally ahead of market expectations.
In a trading update for the year ended 31 December 2022, the business highlighted a revenue increase of 0.4%, to £946.8m, driven in part by new client wins, including BMW, and a full year contribution from Restart.
Gross profit was up 0.5% to £83.2m, while underlying operating profit grew 12.6% to £11.6m.
Albert Ellis, Chief Executive Officer of Staffline, said: “We are pleased to report a solid trading performance across the Group in FY 2022, which is a testament to the outstanding dedication and commitment from all our employees and partners.
“These results not only reinforce Staffline’s position as a market leader in terms of organic growth, but underscore the clear benefits of its highly cash generative business model.
“As the UK cost of living crisis deepens and the much-publicised global macro headwinds continue to swirl, there is no question that our core markets have become more challenging.
“Whilst we are mindful of the challenges ahead, we firmly believe Staffline, supported by our sizable market footprint, sector diversity, and unrivalled track record in service delivery and innovation, remains well placed to capitalise on considerable market opportunities and further grow our market share.”
Record-breaking year for Yü Group
Yü Group, the Nottingham-headquartered utilities supplier, has reported a record-breaking performance for 2022, exceeding management expectations.
Full year revenue has skyrocketed, to exceed £275m, an increase of over 76% on FY21 (£155m).
The company’s adjusted EBITDA margin for the year, meanwhile, is anticipated to be significantly ahead of current market expectations.
The firm also hailed record-breaking annualised contracts.
Yü Group is anticipating its growth to continue in to FY23 and over the medium term.
Bobby Kalar, CEO of Yü Group, said: “I’m thrilled to report a fantastic, record-breaking performance for FY22. While the Board modelled a strong outcome for FY22 we may have underestimated the accelerated contribution our strengthened business would have on the Group’s FY financial metrics.
“Record breaking organic revenues, profitability and forward contracted revenues have all exceeded management expectations. We are now in the fast lane of growth and expect to exceed current guidance that had already been upgraded in March, July, September and November 2022.
“Our balance sheet is very strong, with excellent cash conversion and I’m very pleased to report a fourth consecutive year of EBITDA improvement. Cash has also far exceeded management expectations, more than doubling from FY21. Net customer contribution (being gross margin less bad debt) is being managed as we grow. Adjusted EBITDA margin has also dwarfed the 2.1% achieved in H122 (FY21: 1.1%) and as such we have clear visibility of our stated £500m revenue at 4%+ target.
“As a consequence of our strong cash generation, management intends to make a modest shareholder distribution in respect of the financial performance achieved in FY22, details of which will be announced alongside publication of the Company’s audited results for FY22. In considering the level of dividend management will ensure it does not constrain or hinder our growth ambitions or abilities to take advantage of corporate and other growth opportunities as they arise.
“The impact of our ‘digital by default’ transformation has exceeded management expectations in terms of its contribution to margin and efficiency. Our single platform seamless onboarding has created operational leverage alongside opening up additional profitable sales streams. The full impact will become materially beneficial in 2023 and beyond.
“I’m pleased to welcome the Yü Smart team to our family, after completing the purchase from Magnum Utilities in May 2022 using cash from our balance sheet. The management have worked hard to achieve, from a standing start, full industry accreditation and the necessary licences to install and maintain metering infrastructure.
“Yü Smart installed its first SMETs meter in August 2022 and by year end was achieving hundreds of installs a month. As Yü Smart gains national coverage and full operational scale in 2023 it will complement our retail business in contributing significant Group profitability.
“As always delivering such positive results takes a huge team effort and I would like to thank all of my team for trusting the Board and believing management’s vision. The hard yards continue to bear fruit.”
2023 Business Predictions: Bev Wakefield, owner of Vibrant Accountancy
It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Bev Wakefield, owner of Vibrant Accountancy.
Technology holds an important role in any business and, in 2023, it will become vital across all organisations and industries.
Vibrant Accountancy is a very tech-driven firm. Our clients are on cloud accounting software and we look at apps that we can use to help drive the slickness of their finance function even further. We also use a lot of tech to support us as a business, and I believe that many more businesses will be turning to innovative tech in the new year, too.
Human contact, though, will always be needed; people like to see a friendly face and feel supported.
We have all been through the mill over the last couple of years and a good support network as a business owner is essential.
Ask for help, talk to people who have been there before and remember why you set up in the first place. Ensure that you keep this in mind and do not let your business become a beast and take over!
2023 Business Predictions: Chris Wright, director of OMEETO
It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Chris Wright, director of commercial property consultants, OMEETO.
Despite a more challenging economic backdrop, I am confident that, overall, we will enter 2023 on a positive note – largely thanks to the diverse and robust nature of the East Midlands economy which continues to be reflected in the health of the commercial property market.
There are, of course, fundamental challenges, not least interest rate increases and spiralling energy costs. I sincerely hope that 2023 sees meaningful measures put in place to assist businesses with the latter.
As a commercial property agency practice, we rely on property transactions taking place. We are seeing continuing demand for neighbourhood retail, well fitted and flexible office accommodation and for industrial/warehousing space. In 2023 we are expecting occupier demand to continue in these sectors, particularly for good quality, well positioned properties.
Throughout 2022 the commercial property market was generally starved of freehold stock, with strong competitive demand across all sectors. As a result of the availability and cost of borrowing, the number of proceedable purchasers has reduced. We expect there may be an increase of freehold supply in the New Year. This might be a welcome relief for some and I am aware of quite a number of businesses who have not been able to achieve their owner occupier goals. An increase in freehold supply could also create investor opportunities. The key is being well positioned and confident to take those opportunities.
