PKF Smith Cooper’s Fire & Security specialists assist Duke Royalty on £5m funding into sector consolidator New Path
International alternative capital solutions provider Duke Royalty has provided £5 million debt royalty financing to New Path Fire and Security (New Path), an investment holding company operating in the UK&I fire and security (“F&S”) sector. The funding agreement also involved Duke Royalty becoming a 15% shareholder in New Path, and agreeing a total funding commitment of up to £20 million to support New Path’s buy-and-build strategy across the UK.
Duke Royalty turned to PKF SC Corporate Finance to support its first deal in the F&S sector due to the PKF team’s growing specialism and expertise in the sector. PKF’s role was to undertake a comprehensive commercial diligence exercise on New Path, its position in the market, and the wider F&S market.
PKF has developed a significant specialism in the F&S market in recent years, its track record including assisting integrated security and fire safety solutions specialist, Total Integrated Solutions, in securing investment from private equity house Key Capital Partners.
New Path is a fast-growing investment platform, focused on acquiring independent fire safety and security companies throughout the South of England. Its group companies cover all aspects of fire safety including installation, maintenance, servicing, testing and monitoring, and a variety of security services, including CCTV and door entry systems. New Path has acquired seven businesses since it was established in 2020, and the £5 million funding from Duke Royalty will fund a further two acquisitions which are currently at advanced stages in New Path’s pipeline.
Commenting on the deal and PKF’s role, Alex Hibbard, Vice President at Duke Royalty, said: “Duke is excited to be partnering with New Path to support their buy and build strategy; we look forward to helping them to continue consolidating a mission-critical sector. Duke looked to the PKF Smith Cooper CF team for a review of the sectors and sub-sectors that New Path operates in, addressing a detailed scope with well-researched analysis, delivered in a short time window. We were happy with their insightful output, which was delivered within our timeframe.”
James Ward, Corporate Finance Director at PKF Smith Cooper and leader of the F&S team, said: “It’s been a privilege to assist Duke Royalty in making its first funding transaction in the F&S sector; they recognised the potential of New Path’s plan to create a group of specialist F&S businesses with a diverse service offering in the highly fragmented F&S sector. Duke’s funding package will enable New Path to complete on two deals in advanced stages of negotiation, and to continue their expansion thereafter. We wish New Path’s management and Duke Royalty, with which we’ve worked on two previous transactions, every success with their strategy.”
PKF Smith Cooper is an award-winning advisory and accountancy firm; PKF Smith Cooper’s Corporate Finance team was crowned ‘SME Advisory Team of the Year’ at Insider’s 2022 Midlands Dealmakers Awards this Autumn.
Springbourne Homes nets plethora of awards
It’s been a stunning, award-winning year for Leicestershire developer Springbourne Homes.
The Market Bosworth based business has scooped five top industry prizes for its spectacular Hornsey Rise site in Bosworth Road, Wellsborough.
Springbourne chairman Adrian Burr collected a prestigious What House? Award last month to complete a fistful of trophies for the flourishing firm, including three coveted Five Star awards at the UK Property Awards.
A delighted Adrian said: “It’s been our best ever year for awards and everyone at Springbourne is thrilled that we’ve collected so many top honours.
“The most pleasing aspect is that they’re all industry awards, judged by our fellow professionals, which makes them the ultimate accolade.
“It’s a ringing endorsement of the high standards we set ourselves and the top quality homes we deliver.
“I always said Hornsey Rise was the jewel in the crown of the Springbourne portfolio and the awards are certainly glittering now in the boardroom!”
Hornsey Rise is a select development of 19 luxury homes on a ten acre site surrounded by amazing countryside views.
At the UK Property Awards it was acknowledged as “Best in the UK for Architecture”, “Best in the East Midlands for Architecture” and named the “Best Residential Development in Leicestershire”.
Revenue to be lower and losses higher than expected at Light Science Technologies
Revenue is expected to be below market expectations while loss before tax is expected to be higher than anticipated for the year ending 30 November 2022 at Derbyshire-based Light Science Technologies.
In a new trading update, the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) technology and contract electronics manufacturing (CEM) group said that while group revenue grew by approximately 10.5% in the year, this is around 13% below market expectations.
Group loss before tax meanwhile is anticipated to be approximately £850k higher than market expectations.
It comes as a result of a positive sales pipeline being negated by an elongation of the sales cycle, predominantly driven by input inflation experienced by growers which cannot currently be passed on to customers, leading to growers delaying capital expenditure.
Additionally, gross margins at the group’s CEM division have been diluted through the second half of the year, driven by significant price volatility in the global electronics component market.
The group was anticipating certain revenue streams materialising before 30 November 2022, which would have delivered financials in line with market forecasts for the period. However, these have been delayed. These revenue streams are now expected to materialise next year.
Global cannabis company acquires Nottingham firm
Nottingham-based BCM Specials Ltd, the Specials manufacturer in the UK owned by Fareva, has been acquired by global medical cannabis business, Avida Global Ltd.
The new company, Avida Medical, will manufacture and distribute medicinal cannabis products in the UK, in addition to servicing the existing Specials business. Avida Medical will remain in the D10 Building, Thane Road, Beeston before relocating to a new site in Nottingham later next year.
Avida Medical will be headed up by Paul Parkinson, chief operations officer, MD and head of UK operations at Avida Global. Neil Bashforth, general manager at BCM Specials will assume the role of Managing Director, Avida Medical. All 50 BCM Specials employees will transfer across to the new business.
This acquisition gives Avida Global the accreditation and complete set of licenses required to import, manufacture and distribute medicinal cannabis products in the UK for the human and veterinary market, thereby surpassing this lengthy, complicated and costly process.
David Kirby, Chief Executive Officer at Avida Global, said: “This transformative acquisition is incredibly exciting and gives us extraordinary potential as a business, giving us immediate access to the UK medical cannabis market, home to one of the largest patient populations using cannabis in Europe.
“Our primary driver has always been to bring quality to life and we are committed to supplying the highest quality products, working with partners to create new innovative cannabis-based medicines and helping to improve patient access.”
Stepnell opens new Beeston office
Stepnell has opened a new Beeston office, replacing the construction firm’s former Nottingham office located on the nearby Eldon Business Park.
The new 3,800 sq ft office has been designed with CPMG Architects to ensure that the growing East Midlands team – including newly appointed social value roles – can all work together across one floor, as well as provide sufficient space to facilitate team training and meetings.
Showers, more car parking and bike storage have also been added, and infrastructure for electric vehicle charging points.
Tom Sewell, director at Stepnell, said: “It’s great to have finally moved into our newly designed space after months of hard work. We had a clear vision of what we wanted the office to provide, including presentation and training areas that will enable us to upskill our teams and continue their professional development.
“We are also pleased to have been able to put staff first by choosing an office in close proximity to our previous location, which was done to ensure that staff could continue to benefit from similar commuting times and all the area has to offer. This is in addition to being an excellent base for a number of several important projects in the region.”
Tom Wakeford, Managing Director at Stepnell, said: “We aim to give colleagues a fantastic experience and therefore we want great environments for them to work in.”
Ruth Evans, associate interior designer at CPMG Architects, said: “Having supported Stepnell on a variety of projects over the years, we welcomed the opportunity to help with the delivery of their new office space. They had a very clear vision of what they wanted, and they’ve been a great team to work with. The fitout team have shown fantastic attention to detail throughout and we’re delighted with the result.”
Jobs saved as Joules snapped up by joint venture between its founder and NEXT
The joint administrators of Joules Group plc and Joules Limited have sold the majority of the business and assets to a newly formed company which is a joint venture set up by NEXT and Joules founder Tom Joule.
In addition, NEXT has acquired the Joules head office in Market Harborough.
The new company has acquired around 100 Joules stores, with approximately 1,450 employees across these stores and head office transferring as part of the transaction.
19 stores are not part of the transaction and will be closed with immediate effect. 133 redundancies have therefore been made.
Will Wright, Ryan Grant and Chris Pole from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators of Joules Group plc and Joules Limited on 16 November 2022.
Will Wright, head of Restructuring at Interpath Advisory and joint administrator, said: “Following a highly competitive process, we are pleased to have concluded this transaction which secures the future of this great British brand, as well as safeguarding a significant number of jobs.
“To have achieved this in such a short timetable is testament to the support we’ve received from employees, suppliers and other key stakeholders throughout the administration process, so we’d like to express our profound thanks to everyone involved.”
New law firm welcomes first new partner
New specialist law firm Michael Cummins Employment Solicitors has welcomed its first new partner, Fabienne McAllister.
Fabienne has moved from her role as a partner at Knights to join the growing venture launched by Michael Cummins.
It’s a reunion for Michael and Fabienne, who worked together at Knights following its acquisitions of their previous firms – Cummins Solicitors and Emms Gilmore Liberson.
Bilingual in French and English, Fabienne will work alongside Michael and the rest of the team at the Leicestershire-based legal firm, providing employers with advice and representation on all aspects of employment law.
Fabienne said: “It’s exciting to be involved in the early days of this new venture. I am enjoying being part of a small team as it grows. Michael is a very collaborative person and an ethos of the firm is to enable flexibility and autonomy.
“I was previously based in Birmingham, so it is also great to be meeting lots of new clients in the East Midlands and beyond.”
Fabienne qualified in 2002 and has specialised in employment law since 2008, developing on her early work in commercial litigation at the international law firm Ashurst in London and Paris before moving back home to work in the Midlands.
She said: “I really enjoy employment law as it has a real human interest to it, it affects everyone in some way, and people and how they are treated are key to any organisation’s success.
“It is also a constantly evolving field, with new case law and new trends in employment. In the last couple of years, we’ve had furlough to deal with and now there are new hybrid and agile working patterns and the prospect of industrial action in many more workplaces than has been the case for many years.
“Helping employers navigate those new challenges is at the heart of what we do, as there are always fresh developments in the workplace and how people work.”
Michael Cummins said: “We are very pleased indeed to have attracted a new partner of Fabienne’s calibre. Her extensive experience, including at the Employment Tribunal, and her commitment to providing outstanding service will be of great value to our clients.
“Our new business has great growth potential and we will be looking to recruit more colleagues at various stages of their careers.”
SureScreen appoints new CEO
A manufacturer of diagnostic testing kits has appointed a new Chief Executive to drive its operations and deliver new innovations designed to tackle the world’s latest health crises.
Derby-based SureScreen Diagnostics says the appointment of Andrew Wilcher in the CEO role is a significant development that will pave the way for further growth following strong performance over the past two years.
The company was established in 1996 and has long been at the forefront of medical testing in the UK, and Andrew’s appointment follows a significant investment in state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in at Sherwood Business Park at Annersley, near Hucknall, which will act as a platform for future diagnostics.
Recent new developments include a 10-minute lateral flow test for Mpox – the World Health Organisation’s new recommended name for Monkeypox – and the first UK-approved lateral flow test to detect both flu and COVID at the same time.
Andrew has worked in healthcare for his whole career, spanning pharmaceutical and medical device sectors before joining SureScreen.
He said: “Over the years, SureScreen has proven itself to be at the cutting edge of research and development when it comes to diagnostic technology, and I am thrilled to be joining as Chief Executive at such an important and exciting time.
“Rapid result tests have got a huge part to play in ensuring the healthcare systems such as the NHS can continue to respond to the needs of the patients because they are able to give immediate diagnoses and markers without the need to send samples to labs, which would save a huge amount of time and money each year, not least in critical care settings such as accident and emergency departments.
“My role will be to ensure the company builds on the strong platform it has established over the past years while exploring new ways to create synergy with other areas of the business in order to offer solutions to assist clinical decisions.”
SureScreen director David Campbell, who runs the company alongside his brothers, Alastair and Alex, said: “We are delighted to be working with Andrew to build on our 25-year history.
“Andrew has extensive experience in healthcare which will allow us to continue to innovate and supply those most at need with reliable and cost-effective tests.”
Access PaySuite strengthens payments offering with acquisition
Access PaySuite, a division of Loughborough-headquartered The Access Group, has acquired Pay360, one of the UK’s leading providers of credit card and payments facilitation services to the UK public and private sector. Pay360 has been providing secure payment services to a range of customers across the public and private sectors for more than 20 years. With significant experience in the public sector, the acquisition represents major growth potential for Access PaySuite as consumers increasingly demand digitised services. The deal will strengthen Access PaySuite’s payments processing capabilities by adding card payments and Payment Facilitation (PayFac) to its existing payments solutions.Commenting on the acquisition, Andrea Dunlop, Managing Director of Access PaySuite, said: “Pay360 joining Access PaySuite is further evidence of our commitment to invest in innovative payment solutions that give businesses and organisations the confidence that they have a credible, secure and scalable payments partner.“As well as expanding our expertise and capability to enter new markets, Pay360 complements the Access Group’s existing footprint, and our customers across the public and private sector can take advantage of our enhanced, best-of-breed payments solutions.“The Access Group has a long and proud track record of investing in the companies we acquire. Bringing great people, as well as great technology, into Access PaySuite was a major consideration for us. I am confident that there is a great cultural fit between the two companies, and we’re committed to improving customer success and product development to become the payments provider of choice for current and future customers.”Stephen Ferry, MD of Pay360, said: “We are delighted that Pay360 is joining the Access family. It provides a strong platform for the company to grow and prosper further. With complementary products and a shared vision, the acquisition will enable the enlarged payments division to really drive forward innovation and customer excellence to the benefits of our customer base.“We look forward to working with our new owners to support and accelerate innovation within our combined product portfolio to ensure our payments can continue to support the needs and requirements of our customers today and tomorrow.”
Derbion reveals ambitious city centre masterplan
