Xerox acquires Leicester marketing firm
Xerox has acquired Go Inspire, a Leicester-based print and digital marketing and communication services provider, to grow its global Digital Services presence.
Go Inspire serves customers throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
“We’re focused on widening the scope of Xerox’s Digital Services and Customer Engagement Services,” said Darren Cassidy, UK & Ireland Managing Director and senior vice president, EMEA Global Document Services at Xerox.
“Go Inspire’s capabilities will support the transformation of our transactional and direct mail services into multi-channel communications, accelerate growth in EMEA and create new avenues for us to help current and new clients.”
“We are thrilled to join the Xerox team and eager to contribute to the growth of Xerox Digital Services,” said Patrick Headley, Chief Executive Officer at Go Inspire. “Together with Xerox, we will expand the portfolio of high value services for our expanding client base throughout the UK and beyond.”
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Boost morale at the East Midlands Bricks Awards 2022
Celebrating the region’s property and construction industry, and offering a prime opportunity for networking, the prestigious East Midlands Bricks Awards will return on Thursday 15 September, at the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground.
Nominations for the event are open, and now is the perfect time to make your submissions, ahead of next month’s deadline (August 19th).
Shine a light on your team, reward their hard work, and boost morale.
To submit a business or development for the East Midlands Bricks Awards 2022, please click on a category link below or visit this page.
Thanks to our sponsors:
- Most active estate agent
- Commercial development of the year
- Responsible business of the year
- Residential development of the year
- Developer of the year
- Deal of the year
- Architects of the year
- Excellence in design
- Sustainable development of the year
- Contractor of the year
- Overall winner (this award cannot be entered, the winner will be selected from those nominated)
Book your tickets now
Tickets can now be booked for the awards event – click here to secure yours. The special awards evening and networking event will be held on 15 September 2022 in the Derek Randall Suite at the Trent Bridge County Cricket Club from 4:30pm – 7:30pm. Connect with local decision makers over canapés and complimentary drinks while applauding the outstanding companies and projects in our region. The event will also welcome John Forkin MBE DL, Managing Director at award-winning investment promotion agency Marketing Derby, as keynote speaker. Dress code is standard business attire.
To be held at:
New acquisition for Dains Accountants
Dains Accountants has acquired Barringtons, which has offices across Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Shropshire.
Founded in 1980, Barringtons is a provider of accounting and tax services to owner-managed businesses and individuals.
Richard McNeilly, CEO of Dains, said: “Barringtons is a well-established and highly credible firm with a high-quality team and client base. We have similar values and strongly believe in delivering impressive results for clients and rewarding careers for staff.
“The acquisition builds on our position within the North Midlands marketplace and is the first of several transactions we hope to complete in 2022.”
Dains recently recorded another record year for the business. This follows the recent investment from Horizon Capital in 2021.
Managing Director of Barringtons, Phil Wood, said: “We have continued to invest in technology and in our team in recent years and we have always been determined to deliver the best possible service to our loyal clients.
“By joining Dains, our ability to deliver an even broader range of services is enhanced and we look forward to working with the Dains team for many years to come.”
Luke Kingston, partner at Horizon Capital, said: “Barringtons is a well-respected business and has performed strongly through the pandemic demonstrating its importance to customers and the critical service it provides.
“We are delighted to have supported Dains on this acquisition as they continue their journey to consolidate the fragmented SME accounting and tax marketplace.”
190,000 sq ft warehouse at Junction 28 of the M1 wins planning approval
Rula Developments has won detailed planning consent for a new 190,000 sq ft high specification warehouse unit at Junction 28 of the M1 motorway near Huthwaite in Nottinghamshire, which it will build speculatively.
The proposed warehouse unit is situated on the established Fulwood Industrial Estate and will be built to high specification with strong sustainability credentials, targeting BREEAM Excellent and an EPC A rating.
The development has a target completion date of Q2, 2023. M1 Agency and Burbage Realty have been appointed as marketing agents.
Mark Hawthorne of Rula Developments said: “It is great news that we have secured a successful planning consent and can now move forward with the delivery of this highly sustainable and strategically located warehouse. J.28 is an established and sought-after occupier location, and we are confident of delivering a successful development bringing forward further job creation in the area.”
Toby Wilson of joint agents M1 Agency added: “Obtaining planning approval is a major milestone in bringing forward the delivery of Fulwood 190. With continued strong levels of take-up and an intention to speculatively build out, we are confident of quickly securing occupier interest.”
Franco Capella of joint agents Burbage Realty finished by saying: “It is a real positive for the delivery of the warehouse that we have now secured planning consent. Combined with the underlying credentials of strong location and labour supply we welcome the development phase now coming forward.”
Business Gateway recruits citizen of change to support Leicestershire’s black business community
Leicestershire’s Business Gateway has recruited an intern from the University of Leicester to help it support the local black business community more effectively. Omolara (Lara) Anubi (20) is in the second year of her Media, Culture and Society degree at the University and is part of the University’s Citizens of Change programme.
The Business Gateway, which is the one-stop-shop for support for all businesses across the city and county, aims to ensure that more black business owners take up its services to help them survive during current challenging times and achieve sustainable growth in the future.
Business Gateway manager, Rachel York, explained: “We felt that black businesses were under-represented among our clients and that our small team didn’t have the knowledge it needed. When we heard about the Citizens of Change programme, we saw it as an excellent opportunity to recruit an intern from the community we are hoping to reach so that they can research the needs of those businesses in an informed way.
“We are very fortunate in that several leading figures from the local black community have agreed to share their knowledge with Lara so that she can give us a full picture of what is needed and how best to provide it in future.”
Intern Lara, who is originally from Oxford, said: “I’m very happy to be gaining experience in my degree subject area and really looking forward to interviewing some of Leicester’s leading black community figures. I think it will be a fascinating experience and if my report can help local businesses, that will be brilliant.”
Financial adviser snaps up Oxford counterpart
Wren Sterling Group, the Nottingham-based providers of specialist financial planning advice to private and corporate clients, has acquired Critchleys Financial Planning LLP.
Under the terms of the deal, the Critchleys Financial Planning LLP team, led by Jason McGuigan, have been welcomed into Wren Sterling, along with their clients who between them represent c. 300 households and c. £150 million of assets under management.
The transaction is Wren Sterling’s second announced deal since its secondary management buyout by Lightyear Capital in late 2021. This follows its announcement of the acquisition of Mutual Financial Management in early June, which together with Critchleys Financial Planning LLP, will add a total of £825m of AuM to the business.
The rebranded business will provide Wren Sterling with a new hub in Oxfordshire to complement its eight other locations around the UK, from which it intends to make further bolt-on acquisitions. The acquisition is in-line with Wren Sterling’s M&A strategy of acquiring culturally-aligned businesses as hub locations in key strategic locations such as London, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Bristol as well as smaller bolt-on acquisitions to existing hubs.
This strategy complements its plan to accelerate its organic growth through improving its brand and proposition, simplifying its business and investing in its people and technology.
James Twining, Wren Sterling’s Chief Executive, said: “I’m delighted to welcome the Critchleys Financial Planning team and their clients to Wren Sterling. Jason and the team have done a phenomenal job for their clients over the years, building a business of ambition and excellence that perfectly aligns to our own approach.
“The UK IFA market encompasses many excellent businesses deciding that now is the time to look for new investors, either to facilitate their own retirement or because they see that their clients stand to benefit significantly from the support of a larger organisation in the face of mounting regulatory, operational and technology costs and complexity.
“This deal shows that Wren Sterling is the natural home for entrepreneurial businesses looking to enhance how they serve their clients, develop their people and be part of a winning and distinctive team.”
Jason McGuigan, Critchleys Financial Planning LLP’s principal financial planner, said: “It was important to us, when considering our future, that we partnered with an organisation that shared our core values of putting the client at the heart of everything we do. It was clear from our very first meeting with Wren Sterling, that this is central to their DNA.
“Thanks to our new partnership, we will be able to strengthen our offering to clients and continue to develop and invest in our people. We also have the exciting opportunity to expand the business further through hiring and bolt-on acquisitions in the Oxford and Thames Valley regions.”
Pandemic-born businesses could add £20.4bn to UK economy
More than £20 billion could be added to the UK economy in future from the number of additional businesses created during the pandemic, fresh data from a joint report by CBI Economics & NatWest Group reveals today (Thursday).
Some 800,000 companies were registered in the first year of the pandemic, a 22% increase compared with the previous year.
Compared with its international peers, the UK is a proven hub for entrepreneurship. Pre-pandemic the number of new businesses created as a share of total firms was 13%, higher than the U.S. (8%) and Germany (11%). Historically, the success and survival of these firms is also well established. In 2018, the one-year survival rate for new business was 89% – around nine percentage points higher than the EU average.
To gain greater insights about the hitherto little-known experience of pandemic-born firms, CBI Economics surveyed 543 firms. Key findings include:
- Only 13% cited regulation as a challenge when starting their business.
- Access to finance was a key concern for many burgeoning business leaders, with 55% highlighting this post 2020, compared with 42% pre-COVID.
- 4 in 5 firms report no plans to wind down their business.
- Pandemic-born businesses are more likely to say it is important to adopt the newest technologies compared to their pre-pandemic counterparts (56% versus 71%).
- Pandemic-born businesses are 20% more likely to use both sustainable materials and suppliers, compared with firms established prior 2020.
Boris Johnson expected to resign today
According to sources within the Government, Boris Johnson will resign today – although he may remain as PM until Autumn. A spokesperson for No.10 has said that the Prime Minister will make a statement to the country today.
This follows a raft of resignations including Rishi Sunak, Sajid Javid and Andrew Murrison among others. Newly instated Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi even explosively told the Prime Minister that “he must go now” after accepting the position.
Business leaders are expected to react on the matter after it happens, and we will report on that – if anything – the resignation will mean for businesses in the region. As of yet, a replacement PM has not been selected, though it has even been suggested that Theresa May could return as temporary (or interim) PM. Others have suggested Raab will make a more likely candidate.
New garden village takes step forward as 460 acres of Leicestershire land sold
Plans for a new garden village have moved a step closer after regional agents concluded a sale on circa 460 acres of land in North Leicestershire, representing one of the East Midlands’ largest and most complex land deals.
Acting on behalf of two private landowning families, agents Wells McFarlane, APB and Newton LDP secured the sale of land north of the A46, between Birstall and Rothley, to local housebuilders, Davidsons Homes and Barwood Homes for an undisclosed sum.
A spokesperson for the three agents said: “This sale has been a decade in the making, requiring extensive collaboration and local knowledge to navigate the complexities associated with a scheme of this scale. From the outset, the project was encumbered with significant and numerous challenges including a demanding planning background and highly technical design and infrastructure requirements.
“However, the team addressed the various hurdles to bring forward this substantial new community that will provide much-needed housing together with employment land, education and a new district centre.”
Included in Charnwood Borough Council’s local plan, the Broadnook Garden Village development will comprise 1,950 homes (including 319 affordable), 15 hectares of employment land, a local centre with supermarket and community facilities, a primary school, assisted living retirement village comprising 175 homes and a 70-bed care home, sports facilities, natural open spaces, play areas, allotments, cycle routes and footpaths.
The spokesperson continues: “Broadnook Garden Village has been designed and planned as a self-supporting entity of exceptional quality. Strategic sites like this require continuity, so it was important to assemble a team with widespread understanding of the local market to complete a transaction of this size and scale.
“By uniting three independent, specialist firms, this landmark project has benefitted from multiple resources and a broad range of expertise in rural matters, estate management, planning and development needed to finalise one of the most significant land sales within the region.”
A hybrid application was approved by Charnwood Borough Council’s planning committee in 2020, with the development backed by funding from Homes England to support infrastructure improvements. The scheme will provide a boost to the local economy with significant job creation, and developers also providing substantial Section 106 contributions.
James Wilson, group Managing Director at Davidsons Homes, said: “The agents, Trevor Wells from Wells McFarlane, James Phillips from APB and Richard Foxon from Newton LDP Limited were a pleasure to deal with.
“We have been working on this project for a very long time and, as with any big transaction, there have been many problems to overcome and the agents have acted with fantastic professionalism to help us problem solve in order to make this transaction happen.
“We look forward to seeing Broadnook become a wonderful place and an asset to the area, and we take with great responsibility the task to deliver this over the coming years and potentially decades.”
Construction work is expected to begin later this year.
Nottinghamshire land parcel set for second phase of residential scheme sold for £10m
Harworth Group has sold two residential land parcels at its Waverley and Thoresby Vale developments to Barratt and David Wilson Homes, for a total consideration of £39 million.
At Thoresby Vale in Nottinghamshire, Harworth has exchanged on the sale of serviced land capable of delivering 174 homes, for £10 million.
This represents the second phase of the Thoresby Vale development, following the sale of two land parcels at the site to Harron Homes and Barratt and David Wilson Homes in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Alongside the new homes, Barratt and David Wilson Homes will provide a new surface water attenuation pond and a multi-use path and associated landscaping, which will enhance connectivity and link to the site’s planned primary school and local centre, for which site preparation works are currently underway.
Meanwhile at Waverley in South Yorkshire, Harworth has competed a £29 million land sale which will see the delivery of approximately 450 homes. The new homes will represent Barratt and David Wilson Homes’ fifth phase at the site.
Andrew Blackshaw, chief operating officer, Harworth Group plc, said: “Barratt and David Wilson Homes is a trusted and valued partner to Harworth, and we are pleased to be developing our relationship with these two significant land sales. Harworth is particularly well-placed in volatile markets as our serviced land provides housebuilders with a product which is de-risked and ready to build on from day one.
“The acceleration of both our Waverley and Thoresby Vale sites will see Harworth stepping through its strategy to take advantage of the placemaking and levelling up that these schemes ultimately bring to these communities. In addition, these sales will enhance the maturation of these socially diverse neighbourhoods when delivered alongside our recently launched single family Build to Rent product, Project Spur.”
