Revenues set to surge at vehicle retailer
Revenues are set to surge at Motorpoint Group, the Derby-based omnichannel vehicle retailer, according to an update on its performance for the full year ended 31 March 2022 (FY22).
The company expects to report revenues of £1.3bn, an increase of 82% against the prior year (£722m). Meanwhile Motorpoint anticipates reporting operating profit and profit before tax for the year in line with the Board’s expectations.
The news comes as “planned, strategic capital and operating costs increased in FY22 as [Motorpoint] further invested in future growth with priority placed on technology and marketing.”
In June 2021, the business announced objectives to significantly increase its rate of growth, with the aim of at least doubling FY20 revenue to over £2bn in the medium term, by growing E-commerce revenue to over £1bn, opening 12 new sales and collection branches, leveraging its E-commerce platform Auction4Cars.com, and increasing operational efficiency through further automation and technology investment as customers migrate to E-commerce channels.
The firm says it is making good progress against these strategic objectives.
Around 58% of transactions were online in FY22, while E-commerce revenue grew to £600m (FY21: £419m). Three new branches opened in the second half of FY22; Manchester, Maidstone and Portsmouth.
Meanwhile, the Motorpoint car buying service is now a fully automated digital first offering and the Auction4Cars.com trading platform has now been upgraded to operate as an automated marketplace to include third party vendors.
Mark Carpenter, CEO of Motorpoint, said: “Despite the uncertain consumer outlook, the Group’s continuing confidence allows it to invest in its future growth strategies across multiple initiatives.
“The expansion of our technology team dramatically increases our capability to innovate and scale our Motorpoint.co.uk and Auction4Cars.com platforms which both have huge future growth potential. Motorpoint is the UK’s largest independent omnichannel vehicle retailer, and our value-based proposition continues to resonate as much today with our customers as it did 24 years ago.
“We remain confident in our medium-term strategic objectives and are excited in our potential to grow substantially as we continue to invest in our brand, infrastructure and technology.”
First new homes completed in major Waterside regeneration
The first new homes built as part of a multi-million regeneration of Leicester’s Waterside area have been completed.
Redevelopment work began back in 2015 to bring the Waterside’s extensive former industrial areas back into use by creating new housing, office space, hotels and public open space.
As part of that, the city council is working with national housebuilder Keepmoat Homes on a 17.2-acre development, located on Frog Island.
City Mayor Peter Soulsby visited the site to see Keepmoat’s new showhome, and met with some of the the first residents who have already moved into their new homes at the development.
Overlooking the Grand Union Canal, the Waterside development includes a mix of over 350 new one and two bedroom apartments and two, three and four-bedroom homes, as well as including at least 55 affordable units. In addition to the new homes, there are public green spaces and a new canalside path opening up the waterfront, along with 60,000 sq ft of Grade A office space.
City Mayor Peter Soulsby said: “Leicester’s waterside has for a long time had immense potential for regeneration, and bringing that redevelopment forward for the benefit of the city has been a long-held ambition of mine.
“These new homes are a key part of that, and the catalyst for the surrounding waterside developments. The city council’s regeneration strategy for the city has included assembling this brownfield site using £25m of grants and council funds to compulsorily purchase run down and disused areas along the River Soar, as well as securing outline planning consent for these new homes.
“We’ve worked closely with Keepmoat Homes as our development partners to reach this important stage in making Leicester’s waterside a vibrant, attractive area in which to live and work.”
Since 2015 around 1,000 new houses and apartments have been delivered in the waterside area, along with around 1,000 student spaces, the Novotel and Adagio (200-beds), new bowling alley and over 75,000 sq ft of new office space built at Friars Mill, Great Central Square and Northgate Street.
Shaun Fielding, regional managing director at Keepmoat Homes, added: “We’re thrilled to have hosted the City Mayor and members of Leicester City Council, so that they can witness the great progress that we’ve made at Waterside and how the new housing development will provide the people of Leicester a great place to live.
“We’ve worked collaboratively with the city council and the city’s design team to create a development of bespoke houses and apartments, formed within an incredible urban layout which has already attracted potential new homeowners to the area, who will further enhance the city’s economy.”
Work at Waterside is expected to take five years to complete.
Manufacturing M&A deals jump by a third surpassing pre-pandemic level
M&A transactions involving UK manufacturers jumped by almost a third in 2021, with dealmaking surpassing pre-pandemic levels, new research by accounting and business advisory firm BDO has found.
BDO’s analysis reveals that 779 UK manufacturing deals completed in 2021, compared with 595 in 2020 and 686 in 2019.
Most manufacturing subsectors saw double-digit growth in activity levels, but the clear frontrunner was Engineering Services which saw deal volumes rise by 48% as businesses in the sector realised the opportunity to transact and gain injections of funding for growth.
Private equity (PE) buyouts accounted for around one in five deals in 2021, broadly in line with the previous year, but the number of buy-out transactions rose by almost 40%.
PE interest was particularly strong in the Industrial Automation sector, with buyout transactions accounting for 24% of deals. Another key focus for PE investment was the Food & Drink subsector, accounting for 23% of deals in 2021, up from 16% in the previous year.
Cross-border transactions dipped from 45% of deals in 2020 to 40% in 2021. Sales of UK targets to overseas buyers rose by 31% to 214 deals, with the United States and Canada accounting for 31% of transactions by buyers of UK manufacturers. Meanwhile, acquisitions of overseas targets by UK businesses declined by 4% to 101 deals.
Roger Buckley, UK Industrials M&A Partner at BDO, said: “Despite the considerable challenges facing the sector such as rising input prices, supply chain disruption and shortages of key components, deal activity remained strong last year as investors sought to back companies with the most promising innovations and the strongest growth potential.
“Set against a backdrop of skills shortages and wage inflation, we saw particularly strong interest in Industrial Automation, and we expect the high demand for investment in this sector to continue to fuel M&A activity this year.
“With the drive to Net Zero coming into sharper focus, we are also likely to see increased interest in innovation that can accelerate the commercialisation of low-carbon technologies, systems and business models.
“We are also seeing M&A activity influenced by a desire to improve supply chain resilience. Geopolitical tensions and the experience of the global pandemic have prompted many manufacturers to re-evaluate their ‘just in time’ processes, adopting resilience over efficiency, with increasing numbers deciding to ‘nearshore’ in order to help reduce the risks of disruption. Given recent events, we anticipate that this trend will continue into the coming year.”
Cost of poor mental health to UK employers rises to £56bn a year
New mental health research from Deloitte has revealed that the cost to employers of poor mental health has increased, to up to £56bn in 2020-21 compared to £45bn in 2019.
The overall increase in total costs is due to higher staff turnover. Deloitte’s survey found that 28% of UK employees either left their job in 2021 or they are planning to leave it in 2022, with 61% of respondents saying this was due to poor mental health.
Young people (18-29 years old) were found to be most likely to have moved jobs or be considering a job move. One in five (21%) young people surveyed said they were planning to leave and one in four (24%) said they had intentionally left their job in the past 12 months. Of those who had intentionally left or planned to leave their job, two in three (65%) said this decision was driven by poor mental health.
Elizabeth Hampson, Deloitte director and author of ‘Mental health and employers: the case for investment – pandemic and beyond’, said: “We have seen poor mental health costs UK employers up to £56 billion a year, based on a new Deloitte survey, an increase of 25% in the cost of poor mental health to employers compared to 2019.
“Mental health issues are a strong driver for the ‘Great resignation’. Long hours, increased stress and job insecurity have had a detrimental impact on quality of life during the pandemic. People are leaving their jobs, re-evaluating their careers and changing occupations in large numbers.
“Burnout among employees, such as feelings of exhaustion, mental distance from the job and reduced job performance, have been more evident during the pandemic. Measures by employers to improve mental wellbeing should not only benefit employees themselves but should also reduce employment costs such as recruitment costs and provide broader societal benefits.”
Jackie Henry, managing partner for people and purpose at Deloitte UK, said: “Wellbeing must become a strategic priority for organisations of every size – not only to support employees experiencing anxiety and stress, but also to prevent people from becoming overwhelmed and overworked in the first place.
“COVID-19 has given us an opportunity to tackle stigma and improve awareness. Leadership should set the tone at the top: whether continuing to invest in training to help managers and employees spot signs of poor mental health and understand how to reach their employees and help.”
Emma Mamo, Head of Workplace Wellbeing at Mind, said: “It’s shocking but not surprising that the cost of poor mental health to employers is now up to a huge £56 billion per year. We know that the pandemic has taken a huge toll on the mental health of the nation, including our colleagues.
“A 2021 survey by Mind of over 40,000 staff working across 114 organisations taking part in our Workplace Wellbeing Index revealed that two in five (41 per cent) employees said their mental health had worsened during the pandemic.
“The lockdowns and restrictions gave lots of us more time to think about what we wanted from our lives and our careers, and as a result more of us decided to leave or move jobs. Recruiting and retaining talent is hugely important to employers, and we know employers who invest in staff wellbeing are more likely to report having staff who are happy, productive and less likely to leave.
“This latest report from Deloitte suggests employers see a return of £5.30 on average for every £1 invested in staff wellbeing so it’s never been timelier to prioritise staff mental health, especially given staff are once again adjusting to new ways of working, with many employers trialling hybrid working.
“Mind can help employers of all sizes and sectors to create mentally healthy workplaces, including through our training and the resources available via our website.”
New defence and security cluster to be created in Lincolnshire
A new defence and security cluster is to be created to support the surveillance and reconnaissance capability at RAF Waddington.
The Defence and Security Board of the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership is to form a Greater Lincolnshire Regional Defence & Security Cluster to support the ISTAR Force at RAF Waddington.
ISTAR stands for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance.
The new development was announced at a dinner at the Belton Woods Hotel near Grantham on Wednesday 30 March.
The dinner was hosted by the Greater Lincolnshire LEP and attended by representatives from the Government’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), which oversees the Regional Defence & Security Cluster programme.
Others attended from the LEP, local RAF stations, government and local authorities, business, industry, the University of Lincoln and the Lincoln Science & Innovation Park.
The guest speaker was the former Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, who outlined the region’s historical links to the defence sector, its long tradition of innovation, and its suitability to host a cluster focused on supporting innovation in the field of intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance.
Julian Free CBE, Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Lincoln and Chair of the LEP’s Defence and Security Board, said: “This event was all about putting our defence and security sector on the map and discussing our ambitions for this very important area.
“Defence and security is one of Greater Lincolnshire’s game-changing sectors and the dinner was an excellent opportunity to bring some of the key players together to discuss the way forward.
“Our ambition is to establish Greater Lincolnshire as a national defence and security innovation, production and service hub and to promote our ability to develop and support defence and security programmes to increase regional wealth through greater public and private inward investment and the creation of high-value, better paid jobs.
“Our history, our present-day links with the RAF and our growing capabilities in defence and security technology make Greater Lincolnshire an eminently suitable location for this cluster.”
The focus of the Greater Lincolnshire Regional Defence & Security Cluster will be on the sensors, tools and processes required to collect information and data to enable better and quicker decisions.
This field encompasses all facets of data science (collection, management, storage, fusion, wrangling, analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and visualisation), secure communications and cyber-security.
Harry Leyland, Campaign Manager at defence and security firm Leonardo UK, said: “As a Defence and Security Board member representing Leonardo it was an outstanding event and reinforced the reliance and respect that we as prime contractors have for our very broad regional SME sub-contractor support.
“The efforts of the Defence and Security Board to develop the Regional Defence and Security Cluster were strengthened by the superb speech given by Air Chief Marshall Sir Stuart Peach.
“The board will continue to direct all efforts towards the successful establishment of the RDSC, promoting to the MOD the great defence and security benefits it will provide and the advantages Lincolnshire and the surrounding region offer to the establishment and growth of such an enterprise.”
Dale Atkins, International Trade Adviser at the Department for International Trade, said: “This initiative will certainly help to raise the profile of Greater Lincolnshire as a region and help showcase the unique depth of capability on offer here.”
R3 Midlands warns of potential increase in creditor action against distressed businesses as winding-up legislation changes
The Midlands branch of national insolvency and restructuring trade body R3 is warning the region’s directors to seek advice if their business is distressed, following a change in the winding-up petition threshold at the beginning of this month (1 April).
Companies can now face a winding-up petition for debts of £750, after temporary legislation which had previously set the threshold at £10,000 expired on March 31.
Increasing numbers of distressed Midlands businesses could now face action from their creditors if they have not already come to an agreement about managing their debts.
R3 Midlands chair Eddie Williams, a partner at PwC in the East Midlands, said: “Now, more than ever, it’s critical company directors seek advice if they’re worried about their businesses or concerned about their ability to pay staff, landlords or suppliers. If they don’t, they could face the financial, operational and emotional effects of contesting winding-up petitions in court over a debt of £750.
“Encouragingly, over the last two years we have seen a number of instances where creditors have recognised that engagement leads to better outcomes then enforcement. Many creditors appreciate the climate that businesses are operating in and are willing to have a conversation about how and when they can be paid, but that needs to take place sooner rather than later.”
Restrictions preventing commercial landlords from issuing winding-up petitions against limited companies for unpaid rent during the pandemic have also expired.
Eddie Williams continued: “Rent is typically one of a company’s largest expenses, especially in the retail and service sectors. Coupled with the prospect of increased fuel and energy costs, balancing the books could become considerably more challenging for local businesses.
“If you’re worried about your company’s financial position, or you’re having problems paying suppliers, taxes or staff, it is crucial to seek advice from a qualified source. Doing so sooner rather than later typically leads to better outcomes and can provide more options.”
Local employer fined £160k for failing to keep employees safe
A local employer has been fined £160,000 by Derby Magistrates Court for failing to keep employees safe from material risks in the workplace, following an investigation from Derby City Council’s Food and Safety department.
An employee of Guardian Building Products suffered life-changing injuries following an accident that occurred on 20 August 2018 whilst unloading heavy bathroom panels from a shipping container on site. The incident caused damage to the spinal cord and permanent disability, fundamentally changing the individual’s nature and quality of life.
The company pleaded guilty to multiple breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974), and have been fined £160,000.
The investigation found that Guardian Building Products, a bathroom products sales firm, failed to carry out a risk assessment of the task, or to take reasonable steps to protect employees and agency workers and ensure the task could be carried out safely.
Speaking after the hearing, Elizabeth Blaney, Food and Safety Manager at Derby City Council, said: “Workplace transport activities are one of the biggest risks in the warehousing and distribution industry.
“This incident, and the resulting life-changing injuries suffered, were avoidable and occurred because of a fundamental management failing on the part of the Company, who failed to identify the risks involved in unloading shipping containers of stock and put in controls to protect the workers.
“Now that the case is concluded we will proactively raise awareness of the need for businesses in Derby to risk assess unloading of deliveries arriving from port in shipping containers, and put suitable controls in place to protect their workers.”
Peak District Mining Museum exploring opportunity to relocate to National Stone Centre
A popular museum detailing the story of the Derbyshire mining and quarrying industry is exploring opportunities to relocate its valuable historical collection to the National Stone Centre (NSC) in Wirksworth.
The opportunity for the Peak District Mining Museum to move to a new home has arisen following the 2021 merger of the NSC with the Institute of Quarrying (IQ). The shared ambition of the IQ and NSC is to create a world class visitor experience and an internationally significant centre of excellence for the quarrying and mineral products industry on the existing site of the NSC.
Viv Russell is IQ’s chair. He explains: “Derbyshire has a long history of quarrying and mining, which has shaped the area’s natural environment that so many people enjoy today. When we announced the merger of the IQ and NSC last summer and outlined our plans to redevelop the NSC, it got us noticed by the directors of the Peak District Mining Museum, who approached us for further exploratory conversations about a possible move. It’s still early days but it feels like there’s a real energy and enthusiasm for this to work.”
Clare Herbert is museum manager at the Peak District Mining Museum. She adds: “We are quite literally just down the road from the National Stone Centre, so a move to the IQ’s proposed ‘centre of excellence’ for quarrying and mineral products would be a perfect fit for us. It would also enable us to realise the ambition we have for the museum and collection, whilst remaining embedded in the Derbyshire mining communities from which we draw our inspiration.”
The National Stone Centre officially opened in 1990 to inspire people to engage with the origin, industry and the history of stone. It is set within six former limestone quarries on a 40 acre Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). IQ’s vision of creating a knowledge centre for the industry will result in a destination that can be used by the industry to engage employees and other stakeholders vital to the future success of the sector.
BGF appoints investor to East Midlands team
BGF, the growth capital investor, has strengthened its East Midlands team, with the appointment of Adam Huckerby as investor.
Adam joins BGF from Foresight Group, where he spent over three years in the private equity team, investing in East Midlands-based SMEs across a variety of sectors. Prior to this, Adam spent six years in PwC’s restructuring team in the Midlands.
At BGF, Adam is based in the Nottingham office and will be responsible for all aspects of the investment process, from originating and executing new investments to supporting management teams of portfolio companies.
Seb Saywood, investor in the East Midlands, said: “We’re delighted to welcome someone of Adam’s calibre to BGF. Our investor team plays a vital role in identifying exciting and entrepreneurial businesses, ripe for growth.
“Adam is an excellent addition to our team – someone who understands the nuances of the East Midlands market and our desire to support forward-thinking companies that are eager to scale up with the support of a minority investor firmly focused on taking a patient and long-term outlook to growth.”
Recent deals led by the Midlands team include the £11 million investment in wearable technology brand, MyZone, and the multi-million pound investment into Alliance Transport Technologies (ATT).
Adam said: “BGF’s approach to providing minority, flexible investments can be instrumental in helping management teams fulfil their exciting growth plans. I am delighted to be supporting the diverse, ambitious businesses we are privileged to have in our local region.”
Adam’s appointment follows the arrival of David Bellis as investor. He joined at the end of 2021, bringing more than eight years’ corporate and M&A advisory experience to the role, having previously worked at Alantra Corporate Finance and PwC.
Local Nottingham business renovates historic Humber works factory
Windows and doors manufacturer, KLG Rutland, has announced that it has almost completed the renovation work of the historic Humber works in Beeston.
The purchase and development of the site has created 4,700 sq. ft. of additional storage and warehousing space for the Nottinghamshire business. The remainder of the building is being refurbished for general industrial usage including glass processing for its sister company KLG Glass.
The completion of the project has brought new life to a building at the heart of Nottinghamshire’s industrial heritage. Thomas Humber founded his bicycle manufacturing business in 1878 and built the Humber works to scale his production rapidly. In 1887, Humber sold the business to a group of investors under the name Humber & Co Limited and the company eventually became a leading British manufacturer of motorcycles and first series-production cars.
The redevelopment of the Humber works comes at a time of growth for the business, with KLG Rutland recently investing £200,000 in new state-of-the-art plant and machinery to improve production capacity and quality. The business growth has also created 5 new jobs within the company in the past 12 months.
“For a manufacturing and installation business like ours to renovate a piece of local industrial history is just amazing,” said Terry Hill, managing director of KLG Rutland. “Being a manufacturer ourselves we recognised these sites are often demolished and used for housing, something that we didn’t want to use the historic building for.’
