Sills & Betteridge LLP’s corporate offer has been boosted this month with the appointment of consultant solicitor Robin Johnston.
Robin supports insolvency practitioners, creditors (including lenders, suppliers and shareholders) and turnaround investors, typically advising on businesses in distress, refinancing, turnaround and rescue strategies and accelerated M&A. He is experienced in dealing with all aspects of insolvency processes including administrations, liquidations, receiverships and voluntary arrangements.
He is a member of R3 the Association of Recovery Professionals and the Turnaround Management Association.
Robin will work alongside James Conduit’s corporate team in Lincolnshire, the wider East Midlands and South Yorkshire.
Robin Johnston
James said: “Expanding the range of services we offer to business clients, by adapting to market changes has always been key to the strategic development of our corporate and commercial practice.
“Robin’s hire was very much in response to recent, increased demand for his area of expertise. He is an absolute professional and his intuition and pragmatism are first class. He will be a huge asset to the team and will complement our approach perfectly.”
Robin said: “These are very challenging times for businesses, to say the least. The benefit to leaders and management of calling on insightful and strategic professional advice, as the economy recovers, cannot be understated. By joining such a great firm, I can collaborate with a team of real experts to deliver the advice and solutions our clients will need and I am excited to get started.”
In addition to his legal practice with Sills & Betteridge LLP, Robin serves as a trusted advisor, coach and guide to entrepreneurs and business leaders in the finance, technology and professional services sectors.
Dunelm, the Leicestershire-based homewares retailer, has reported strong sales growth and record pre-tax profits in its interim results for the 26 weeks to 25 December 2021.
In its first half, total sales grew by 10.6% (36% on a two year basis) to £795.6m, up from £719.4m in the same period of the year prior. Dunelm noted that digital sales made up 33% of total sales in the half and performance in stores was also “very encouraging.”
Meanwhile the company delivered record profit before tax of £140.8m, up 25.3% from £112.4m.
Nick Wilkinson, Chief Executive Officer, said: “I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all my colleagues and our committed supplier partners for their adaptability and achievements and for living our Dunelm shared values every day.
“Together we have navigated another period filled with significant and evolving external challenges and delivered a very strong performance in the first half, with continued growth in customer numbers, further market share gains, record sales and particularly strong profitability.
“When we announced our interim results in 2020, we were weeks away from the world being turned upside down. Two years later, we are moving forwards as a bigger, better business, with more capability, more resilience, more ambition, and delivering accelerated growth.
“We have not only worked hard and innovated to enhance our customers’ experience across all channels and categories, but have also continued to develop our customer proposition and capabilities at pace to support our future growth.
“Our product range is now broader and better than ever, with an increasing focus on sustainability, as demonstrated in our new collection which has been curated in collaboration with the Natural History Museum.
“We look to the future excited, energised and eager to continue being our customers’ 1st choice for home.”
The Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership has refreshed itsLocal Skills Report.
The new report sets out the actions needed to make sure everyone has the skills which will allow them to get good jobs, both now and in the future – and it also addresses how it will contribute to other issues, from climate change to levelling up.
Since 2018 Skills Advisory Panels have been bringing together employers, skills providers and key local stakeholders to better understand and resolve skills mismatches at a local level.
The Greater Lincolnshire LEP leads the area’s Skills Advisory Panel (SAP) and is fostering greater collaboration and engagement with key local stakeholders to support its leadership role in the local economy.
The Lincolnshire Local Skills Report is a framework for skills ambitions and offers a wealth of insights and ideas by organisations that have an interest in skills development in the area.
The report published in March 2021 has been updated to reflect ongoing challenges in the labour market as a result of Covid-19.
Since that first report Greater Lincolnshire has been successful in securing additional funding for a new Career Hub, allowing expansion of its support to secondary school; resources to address skills mismatches such as digital skills bootcamps at Grantham College and short courses delivered through the Greater Lincolnshire Institute of Technology led by the University of Lincoln; and the Skills Capital Programme which is continuing to enhance training facilities to meet our industry sectors’ needs.
The refreshed report provides stakeholders, including Government departments, schools and post-16 skills providers, with a DfE-approved common evidence base and a strategic framework for actions that will contribute to recovery from Covid-19 and economic growth.
Local Skills Reports will provide a clear and consistent view of local skills needs across areas in a relevant and engaging format for local partners.
Reports will be a key source of local skills information that better enable cross-area comparison and help feed local intelligence to central government and the national-level Skills and Productivity Board (SPB).
Local Skills Reports will help to maximise the influence of SAPs locally by:
Acting as an engagement tool – a vehicle through which SAPs can directly engage, influence and rally employers and providers in their areas to support the local skills agenda.
Being a ‘go-to’ document for everything local-skills related – bringing together existing and new skills information into a consistent format common to all SAPs.
Clearly setting out key skills needs – ensuring local skills needs are visible to local partners who can then engage with them.
Offering valuable insight and evaluation – detailing the progress made on current local skills initiatives and outlining future skills plans to plug key skills gaps.
They will feed intelligence to the national SPB and central Government – a consistent output common to all SAPs that the SPB can use to understand the needs and priorities of local areas and build a national picture of the supply and demand for skills. The SPB has been set a remit of answering the following three questions over the next 12 months:
Which areas of the economy face the most significant skills mismatches or present growing areas of skills need?
Can the board identify the changing skills needs of several priority areas within the economy over the next five to 10 years?
How can skills and the skills system promote productivity growth in areas of the country that are poorer performing economically?
Simon Telfer, Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire Employment and Skills Advisory Panel, said: “Major economic changes have been driven by skills demand trends and technological changes, and then accelerated by Covid-19 and Brexit.
“During the pandemic our focus has been on mitigating actions in labour supply and demand. We have made good progress since the first Local Skills Report was published in March 2021, but we must maintain momentum to achieve our ambitions.
“This report will drive wider influence and national leverage by feeding into the Department for Education’s Skills and Productivity Board, and into our regular reporting to the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. We all have important roles to play in delivering the priority interventions we have identified.”
Construction works have now commenced on the second phase of The Parklands, a new residential community in Sudbrooke, Lincoln, bringing new homes to the market in 2022.
Works started on the 155-home development in 2018 and developer Jackson Living – part of Jackson & Jackson Developments – has now moved into the second phase.
Sitting north of phase one, phase two will see the delivery of 41 homes, including 11 five-bedroom properties – including a landmark home with a thatched roof – and 12 affordable homes, all overlooking Sudbrooke woodland.
The exclusive 46.7-acre development is made up of 24 individual house designs and will feature two, three, four and five-bedroom homes in a unique woodland setting. The final phase, phase three, will commence next year in 2023.
Due for overall completion in 2024, The Parklands has taken its design inspiration from the surrounding, historic woodland and traditional village setting and will feature communal outdoor spaces, woodland footpaths, a restaurant, kitchen garden and community allotments.
Landscape and green space play a key part in The Parklands. As part of phase one, newly created footpaths were added around the existing ponds, native tree, shrubs, hedgerows and wildflowers were planted. Further work will include community allotments and a kitchen garden including heritage fruit trees, flower beds and space for sheds and glasshouses.
Jackson Living worked with Newark-based firm Influence Landscape Planning and Design across all phases at The Parklands with the company designing the on plot gardens and public spaces. As part of phase 2, Influence Landscape Planning and Design produced the landscape plans which include open grass and wildflower areas, native tree planting and mixed shrub planting.
Lindsey Arkley, senior landscape architect at Influence Landscape Planning and Design, said: “The existing site features of The Parklands, such as the ponds and trees, significantly led the landscape design process as they naturally informed the layout. We then created a landscape masterplan that reflected and respected the historic setting and promoted and enhanced the biodiversity and ecological value.
“Our landscape designs include significant outside areas to encourage natural play and nature and alongside the developer, have chosen to plant species that are appropriate to the local area and are of benefit to local wildlife. We have also worked around existing parkland trees which are a beautiful asset within the development, and new trees are being planted and where relevant, reinstated. We are very pleased to be involved on such a special site.”
Jackson Living project manager, Ben Martin, said: “As new home owners buy the final few plots of phase one, we are now moving onto phase two to continue to create this thriving, new neighbourhood.
“Our homes are carefully considered in terms of materials and design, but we also place great importance on the green areas at The Parklands. A great deal of time has been channelled into the landscape side to ensure we maximise the opportunity to enhance the many beautiful and historic existing features and create new ones. We have been working with the team at Influence since 2016 and their expertise in creating and nurturing habitats is hugely important to the site.
“All of the progress at The Parklands to date is a true testament to the overall position of what The Parklands offers, from the quality of the buildings to the natural landscape and woodlands. As part of phase two we are delighted to be able to release more plots and look forward to welcoming more residents to our exciting community.”
Nottinghamshire-based software firm, Ideagen Plc, has revealed its first acquisition of 2022, with the purchase of MailManager Limited.
The acquisition is an indicator of Ideagen’s ongoing and rapid growth strategy and was completed for an upfront cash consideration of £26.4 million.
MailManager, a London-headquartered email management provider, helps businesses manage emails more efficiently and significantly improve control, collaboration and compliance, which is complementary to Ideagen’s existing regulated collaboration suite.
Its software is designed to integrate into clients’ existing IT infrastructure to help file and search critical correspondence to improve productivity, ensure information visibility and accessibility, and to mitigate risk.
The purchase expands Ideagen’s footprint in the UK and comes less than two months after the company announced it had raised £103.5 million to fund its acquisition pipeline and accelerate further growth.
MailManager’s clients span a broad range of mid-market to enterprise accounts, and has a particularly strong footprint in the architecture, engineering and construction sector, where Ideagen sees compelling cross-sell opportunities.
Ben Dorks, CEO of Ideagen, said: “What a great way to start the new year by giving a very warm welcome to everyone at MailManager. It has a resilient business model, a quality customer base, a strong team and outstanding technology.
“MailManager joins our growing suite of leading collaboration software, enhances our ARR base and has a strong presence in key end markets where we expect to be able to drive group-wide growth.
“Our mission is to help customers effectively navigate highly regulated environments through great software and we look forward to making further complementary acquisitions from our pipeline in due course.”
MailManager has annualised recurring revenues of approximately £5.1 million as of 31st January 2022. Ideagen expects that MailManager will benefit from the Group’s operational leverage and achieve EBITDA margins comparable to the Group’s margins within the first full financial year of ownership.
The acquisition will be funded from the Group’s existing resources and is the first acquisition following the Group’s equity fundraise in December 2021. The group continues to pursue a healthy pipeline of further opportunities in line with its M&A strategy.
Local charity Notts County Foundation has appointed Raj Randhawa to its board of trustees.
Quoting a passion for harnessing the power of football to drive positive social change, Raj started his career as an education officer at Newcastle United Football Club’s academy, after which he took on the head of community role at the Lincoln City Foundation in October 2017.
Raj currently holds the position of northern grassroots officer at Kick It Out – English football’s equality and inclusion organisation, where he works alongside the Football Association (FA) to identify and support the needs of local clubs.
Raj said: “I am delighted to have joined Notts County Foundation’s board of trustees at what is a really exciting period of growth for the charity. Football is a vehicle for change and can be used to positively impact the lives of people from all walks of life.
“My belief is that Community Club Organisations (CCO’s) play an invaluable part in transforming local communities, and I look forward to supporting the direction and development of Notts County Foundation’s programmes across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.”
In addition to his role at Kick It Out, Raj offers consultative services with a focus on education, diversity, and inclusion and anti-discrimination governance to grassroots football clubs and organisations.
Sam Crawford, head of business development at Notts County Foundation, said: “Everyone at Notts County Foundation is thrilled to welcome Raj to the board of trustees. It goes without saying but Raj’s experience and expertise will be fundamental to the development of the charity throughout 2022, especially in relation to our commitment to providing equal opportunities for everyone in our local community. I am very much looking forward to working alongside Raj and formally welcoming his to Notts County Foundation.”
Raj added: “I am so proud of the work that Notts County Foundation do for all throughout the city and county across its five ‘SHINE’ areas – sport participation, health and wellbeing, inclusion, national citizen service, and education. Having dedicated a large portion of my career to working for community-focussed organisations and charities, I appreciate and understand how valuable charities like Notts County Foundation are.”
Derby-based contractor, G F Tomlinson, has highlighted the success of its annual apprenticeship programme and role as a Cornerstone Employer as it supported 25 apprentices last year alone.
The contractor, which has headquarters in Little Eaton, Derby, operates across the East and West Midlands delivering high-value construction projects in various sectors including healthcare, education, commercial, industrial, restoration, leisure and residential.
Its annual apprenticeship programme enables G F Tomlinson to employ young people and mentor them through hands-on work in the business whilst also supporting them to achieve their professional qualifications.
One of those young persons is Ed Smith, who was employed by G F Tomlinson aged 16 whilst undertaking a level 3 course. Now aged 22 Ed has completed his HNC course (Higher National Certificate) and his HND (Higher National Diploma) in Construction in the Built Environment at Derby College, whilst working on site four days a week.
Following the completion of his studies with the college, Ed has become the first Derby College apprentice to achieve the new level 4 construction site supervisor higher apprenticeship standard.
During his time with G F Tomlinson to date, Ed has progressed to the role of assistant site manager, helping to successfully deliver high-profile schemes, including the Advanced Manufacturing Building and Biodiscovery Institute for the University of Nottingham and most recently the major extension to Barr’s Hill School in Coventry.
On his role and experience, Ed says: “I spent time getting to know all the departments, including design, estimating and quantity surveying and have since decided to progress my career within a site management role.
“One of the best things about working as an assistant site manager at G F Tomlinson is the chance to work in lots of different places, meet many different people and work on some very interesting projects.
“I’ll be studying for my degree for the next three years at Nottingham Trent University, and once I’ve got my degree I’d like to work as a project manager, eventually managing £20million plus projects.”
Another apprentice, employed by G F Tomlinson in 2019 is Tiarna Powell, who completed her HNC course at the Roundhouse with a distinction, and is now studying for her HND with the Derby College Group.
Tiarna is working four days a week, gaining hands-on experience within the quantity surveying team having worked on projects including the Blythe Valley M2 residential mixed-use scheme in Solihull and a large industrial scheme on the new Wakefield Hub for developers HBD and Yorkcourt.
She will also be starting her degree in quantity surveying at Nottingham Trent University this year.
Tiarna says: “Through my work at G F Tomlinson I have been able to start my career in quantity surveying and study at the same time to gain my professional qualifications.
“I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to meet and work with so many different people at G F Tomlinson, and have the chance to work on a range of projects including Derbyshire Care Homes and Tunstall Town Hall – both exciting restoration projects which are bringing the buildings back to their former glory, whilst providing a modern upgrade to the interiors.
“I’m looking forward to starting my degree at Nottingham Trent University this year and continuing to progress in my career at G F Tomlinson.”
Working with the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership as well as local businesses and education providers, G F Tomlinson’s status as a founding member of the Cornerstone Employers group sees the contractor provide opportunities for younger people to gain knowledge and experience that can help them on their path towards a career in the construction industry.
Recently, G F Tomlinson’s construction director Kevin Dodds spoke at the launch event of the Derbyshire South Career Hub – a new scheme that aims to facilitate opportunities for young students to interact with local universities and other training, education and professional organisations – as well as strengthen links between education providers and local businesses to ensure students are prepared for their step into professional careers.
Kevin Dodds says: “It is wonderful to see apprentices such as Ed and Tiarna accomplish such a strong start to their careers in the industry, and we’re proud to be able to provide that opportunity for them.
“At G F Tomlinson, we are committed to delivering social value in the areas and communities in which we work, having supported 25 apprentices in the past year – providing investment and involvement into education is a huge part of that to inspire and support the next generation.
“Through our work we are able to engage with hundreds of school pupils, college and university students via a number of means including offering construction site tours of our projects, attending careers events and welcoming apprentices and work experience placements to join our team.
“Congratulations to Ed and Tiarna for all their hard work and achieving great results in their courses so far, and we wish them the best of luck towards their successful careers in the construction industry with G F Tomlinson.”
ThinCats, the alternative finance provider to mid-sized SMEs, has appointed Rajeev Raichura as Chief Financial Officer.
Rajeev brings nearly two decades’ worth of finance experience to the role, having previously worked at IBM, Experian, Capita, and Equifax Group.
Rajeev Raichura
He joins ThinCats from FTSE company LSL property Services plc, the UK’s largest mortgage and protection distributor, where he was group finance director of the Financial Services Division. Rajeev will based at Thincats’ office in Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
Rajeev Raichura, CFO, ThinCats, said: “I’m delighted to be joining ThinCats at this exciting time. ThinCats is on a high growth trajectory, and I am looking forward to helping navigate the business through the next stages of its development. Mid-sized SMEs make a vital contribution to the UK economy, so it’s very satisfying to be in a position to support the growth plans of some fantastic businesses.”
Amany Attia, CEO, ThinCats, said: “Following a record year of lending in 2021 and a strong start to 2022, I’m very pleased to welcome Rajeev to the senior leadership team. He brings a great deal of relevant experience and expertise at a time when we are supporting increasing numbers of SMEs across the UK.”
Panattoni, the industrial real estate developer, has begun speculatively developing a 575,000 sq ft logistics park at junction 28 of the M1 in the East Midlands.
Panattoni Park J28 Central M1 will comprise two units of 345,000 sq ft and 230,000 sq ft, which are expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year and will be built to a BREEAM rating of ‘Very Good’ and an EPC rating of ‘A’.
The 345,000 sq ft facility will benefit from 15m clear internal height, 32 dock doors, 4 level access, 291 car parking spaces, including electric charging points for cars and vans and 49 HGV spaces. The 230,000 sq ft facility will benefit from 15m clear internal height, 22 dock doors, 3 level access, 260 car parking spaces and 41 HGV spaces.
Buckingham Group Contracting has been appointed main contractor on site.
Andy Preston, development director at Panattoni, said: “This is a key logistics location in the UK, as 71% of the UK can be reached within a 4.5-hour HGV journey. The park can serve as a centre for same day e-fulfilment operations or as a national and regional distribution hub.
“We are excited to be bringing forward Grade-A buildings in a supply-starved market and we are already having conversations with potential occupiers, struggling to find suitable existing buildings.”
Letting agents are FHP and CBRE.
Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group has completed the sale of Crouch Logistics Limited, saving all 198 jobs.
The Leicestershire-based logistics and courier business has been sold back to management following a period of marketing in January.
Administrators Conrad Beighton and David Griffiths of Leonard Curtis were appointed by Crouch Logistics following a difficult period dealing with increasing costs of labour, driver shortages, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conrad said: “We have worked closely with management and key stakeholders to ensure a business and asset sale could be achieved which has also safeguarded nearly 200 jobs. In this sector the employees are fundamental to the successful operation of the business so it was critical that their transfer formed part of any sale.
“Following a short period of marketing and engagement with a number of interested parties, a sale back to management was completed on 31 January 2022.”
At its height, the company’s turnover was circa £13.1m for the year ended September 2021.
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