< Previous East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk FINANCE NEWS Acquisitive East Midlands accountancy firm snaps up London-based business Cooper Parry has exchanged on the acquisition of London-based Cloud Orca – the Salesforce consultancy. It’s the East Midlands accountancy firm’s eighth deal in the last 16 months, as it targets £250m turnover by 2025. Cloud Orca’s 55-strong highly certified team is co-located in London and the Philippines. The firm’s impressive client roster includes Revolut, Starling Bank, Monzo Bank, Unum and Chilly’s. Ade Cheatham, Cooper Parry CEO, said: “This Cloud Orca deal is a massive leap forward in our tech offering. It ticks tons of the right boxes: market reputation, powerful culture, huge growth, and a passion for sustainability. The fit is spot on. “As we create the UK’s next-gen accountancy firm, the landing of such an impressive anchor firm in the digital and tech space is brilliant news. What a way to start the new financial year! And the great thing is, there’s plenty more on the horizon.” Female-founded business incubator secures £10,000 grant Incubation Nation, a community interest company dedicated to providing self- employment and start-up support services, has secured a £10,000 grant from NatWest. The funding will support 100 local women entrepreneurs in the South East Midlands to receive comprehensive business planning and development support, empowering them to turn their entrepreneurial ideas into successful ventures. Founded by Sam Poole, Incubation Nation is committed to ensuring female entrepreneurs are not left behind during the critical start-up stage. The grant from NatWest will facilitate one-on-one business planning sessions for each participant, followed by monthly accountability, training, networking and 30-day review sessions. These services aim to equip women with the necessary skills and resources to succeed with their business ideas. Sam Poole, founder of Incubation Nation, said: “Our goal is to provide women whose drive, inspiration and creativity led them to start a business with the foundational support necessary for success. This grant from NatWest is a significant step towards achieving that goal, and we are excited to see the positive impact it will have on our participants.” Future of Buxton Brewery secured following pre-pack deal The future of Buxton Brewery has been secured following a sale of its business and assets to Happy Place Investors Limited. Rick Harrison and Howard Smith from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators to Buxton Brewery Company Limited and Axe Edge Bars Limited on 20 May 2024. Founded in 2009 and operating from a custom designed and built brewhouse in Buxton, Derbyshire, the Group is a producer and retailer of craft ales, producing upwards of 30 distinct brews, with volumes of around 3,500 litres per brew, seven times per week. Trading under the Buxton Brewery brand, it supplies several supermarkets and pub chains nationally, as well as exporting overseas. In addition, the Group operates taprooms and bars, alongside a pop-up bottle shop and online store. Buxton Brewery had experienced financial pressures in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which were then exacerbated in more recent times by high-cost inflation and increases to interest rates. The director sought to explore their options, but with creditor pressure mounting, the decision was taken to appoint the administrators. Debbie Lewis, NatWest Accelerator Manager, and Sam Poole, Founder of Incubation Nation Ade Cheatham FINANCE NEWS www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link Accountancy firms join forces East of England accountancy firm Moore Thompson has joined forces with Jackson and Grimes, based in Stamford. Moore Thompson has long sought to extend its footprint into the local market. The senior directors of Jackson and Grimes identified Moore Thompson as the ideal partner to ensure the necessary succession that benefits clients and staff alike. Mark Hildred, Managing Partner at Moore Thompson, said: “This move brings together two firms with a shared ethos of excellence, client service, and community engagement.” Moore Thompson is taking on the entire workforce of Jackson and Grimes, including three directors. This move not only enriches Moore Thompson’s team with fresh expertise and insights but also ensures continuity of service for all existing clients of Jackson and Grimes. £8m Early Stage Angel Investment Fund launched for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire businesses D2N2 LEP Chair Elizabeth Fagan announced the launch of D2N2 LEP’s Early Stage Angel Investment Fund at the UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) in Leeds. Speaking at the interactive panel session ‘Focus on the East Midlands, our Time is Now’, alongside East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward, Elizabeth said: “I’m delighted to announce today that we are launching our Early Stage Angel Investment Fund here in Leeds at UKREiiF. “The purpose of the Fund is to stimulate investment and growth in ‘early stage’ companies – those that have been trading between six and 24 months – that are based in Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham or Nottinghamshire (the D2N2 region). “D2N2 LEP is contributing £4 million to the Fund and this will be match-funded by our investment fund manager, Haatch. Our aim is that over the longer term, these funds will be re-invested in the programme, to catalyse investment and growth for further early stage companies.” © stock.adobe.com/WavebreakMediaMicro Nottingham investment management firm sold following appointment of administrators Nottingham-based Intelligent Money Limited’s (IML) business and assets have been acquired by Quai Administration Services Limited, a specialist platform in pension, savings and investment administration services, via a pre-pack transaction. It comes after Richard Heis and Ed Boyle from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators to IML on 28 May 2024. All products and approximately c.£1.2 billion of assets under investment have been transferred to Quai’s regulated business, Quai Investment Services Limited, as part of this transaction. In addition, IML’s 15 employees have transferred to Quai. Separately, IML’s 10,500 qualifying workplace pension scheme (QWPS) clients were purchased by Digital Wealth Systems Limited (Digi), a provider of workplace pensions to both employers and employees. These schemes will be operated by Quai. IML had recently experienced a number of complaints made to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) which brought rise to compensation claims at a level the company was unable to meet. As a result of these challenges and potential financial liabilities, the directors of the company resolved to place the company into administration. © stock.adobe.comlDaenin © stock.adobe.com/WuttichaikManufacturers’ output volumes rise for first time in year and a half Manufacturers reported that output volumes rose for the first time since November 2022 in the three months to May, according to the CBI’s latest Industrial Trends Survey (ITS). Manufacturers expect output to rise further in the three months to August, albeit at a modest pace. Order books remain under pressure, with both total and export order books weakening in May. Manufacturers reported that stocks of finished goods were more than adequate to meet expected demand. Meanwhile, expectations for selling price inflation softened, having picked up earlier in the year. Anna Leach, CBI Deputy Chief Economist, said: “While it’s positive to see that manufacturers’ expectations for higher output volumes have finally been realised in the three months to May, this has been accompanied by a sharp deterioration in order books to close to their weakest since January 2021. “Manufacturers expect to increase output through the summer months, but any recovery looks set to be fairly gradual, with order books soft and inventory levels relatively high.” East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk MANUFACTURING NEWS Mansfield performance doorset specialist secures investment LDC, the private equity investor, has invested in Integrated Doorset Solutions Limited Group (IDSL), a performance doorset specialist, to partner with the management team and support its ongoing growth strategy. The transaction will help IDSL to target further organic growth and make acquisitions in a highly fragmented market. Founded in 2015 and based in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, IDSL manufactures specialist performance doorsets, such as fire and security doors, for use in buildings including hospitals, schools, student accommodation, commercial and residential properties. It operates two manufacturing facilities and has 286 employees. IDSL Group also comprises Fire Door Inspection Solutions (FDIS), which specialises in the inspection, maintenance, repair and replacement of fire doors. The business has a strong growth track record, with a CAGR of 22% since 2016. The market, which is highly regulated, is also benefitting from long-term, structural tailwinds including increasing regulation, and is forecast to grow at around 5% through to 2030. LDC is backing IDSL’s existing management team, led by Founder and Managing Director Ash Malhan. John Willox, formerly of fire safety testing and inspection group Exova, is joining the business as Chair. F1 supply chain manufacturer to increase operations at Silverstone Park Formtech Machining UK, part of Formula 1’s manufacturing supply chain, is planning to significantly increase the size of its operations at Silverstone Park. The company specialises in producing niche, precision metallic components for F1 teams. Currently it employs ten people – chiefly CNC machinists and programmers – inside its Silverstone Park workshop/factory premises which total 12,300 sq ft. Its manufacturing capabilities are also relied on by customers in automotive and marine. In the last six months Formtech has invested over £2m in state-of-the-art equipment. “There is a growing demand for our services from F1,” explained Formtech Director Mark White, former Operations Director at the Aston Martin F1 team. “We’re building ourselves a name as a reliable partner for teams with healthy repeat custom.” Mark continued: “Our work in automotive and marine is also interesting and there is scope for us to start looking now at aerospace. We have growth ambitions and would like to expand to double the size and output in the next 12-18 months.” © stock.adobe.com/Matthew © stock.adobe.com/KadmyLoughborough University to help make manufacturing more eco-friendly Loughborough University’s role in a national partnership will develop tools and technologies to help manufacturers across the UK become more efficient and eco-friendly. The University has been announced as a partner in a new research hub focused on creating a sustainable circular manufacturing ecosystem nationwide. The hub, which will be named the EPSRC Manufacturing Research Hub in Robotics, Automation & Smart Machine Enabled Sustainable Circular Manufacturing & Materials (RESCu-M2), will be led by the University of Birmingham as part of UK Research and Innovation’s ‘Manufacturing research hubs for a sustainable future’ programme. The aim of the hub is to transform the sustainable use of critical materials, whilst improving the productivity of ‘Re-X’ manufacturing processes – which include reusing, repurposing, repairing, remanufacturing, and recycling. These processes are currently much more labour-intensive than traditional manufacturing and businesses could save up to £23bn per year by making improvements at little or no cost. www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link MANUFACTURING NEWS Terinex Flexibles opens net zero CO2 rated factory building near Derby Terinex Flexibles has opened its new sustainable EPC A+ rated factory building. Believed to be the UK’s first net zero CO2 rated building to house a flexographic printing facility, it is located on a new 3-acre site on Dove Valley Park, near Derby. The 46,000 sq ft building is big enough to accommodate the company’s future growth and innovation plans in the most sustainable way possible. Parent company, OGM Holdings Group, has invested over £10m in the new facility which is more than double the size of the original Terinex Flexibles factory that was located in Ripley. As part of OGM’s focus on creating more sustainable manufacturing sites, the Terinex Flexibles facility – designed by IMA Architects and developed by Clowes Developments UK LTD – has been built and equipped using the latest materials, machinery, technology and processes. This has resulted in low overall energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The factory generates its own energy from renewable sources and will be able to recover and reuse energy for many years to come. PepsiCo invests £8m in Lincolnshire factory PepsiCo has announced an £8m investment in its Pipers Crisps manufacturing site in Brigg, Lincolnshire, to meet growing demand for the popular snacks. It coincides with the 20th anniversary of Pipers Crisps and marks five years since PepsiCo’s acquisition of the brand. The funding will boost production capacity at the site by nearly 80%, through replacing existing crisp fryers with new energy efficient models and installing new packaging machines at the Lincolnshire factory, which has been the home of Pipers Crisps since 2004. New, more efficient fryers replacing the existing fryers as part of the investment are helping to reduce the site’s greenhouse gas emissions by over 200 tonnes a year. This contributes to PepsiCo’s pep+ commitment to target an absolute reduction across its value chain by more than 40% by 2030, reaching net-zero emissions by 2040. Alongside increasing production, the investment will go towards upgrading facilities for the factory’s 100 local employees, including improvements to workspaces and staff changing rooms. © stock.adobe.com/ Alexey Kuznetsov L-R: James Lake, Group Financial Director at OGM Holdings Group; Geoff Stone, former DTI Advanced Engineering Lead; Frank McArdle, retired Chief Executive of South Derbyshire District Council; Paul Wightman, Group Managing Director of the OGM Holdings Group © stock.adobe.com/malpPROPERTY NEWS Works progress on new £3.6m medical centre in Leicestershire Midlands contractor, G F Tomlinson, is progressing works on the new Barwell Medical Centre in Leicestershire. The new two-storey doctor’s surgery, located off High Street, Barwell, will replace the existing centre on Jersey Way, which is at capacity and unable to meet the growing demand for its services from the local community. Due for completion in June 2024, the new medical centre will provide modern healthcare facilities to many more local people, with demand expected to grow from its current 6,400 to 11,000 users over the next five to ten years. The additional space at the new centre will allow it to provide a greater range of much-needed health services, including physiotherapy and mental health support. The new L-shaped building will consist of 12 consulting rooms, a space for minor surgical procedures with recovery facilities, a health promotion area, as well as 52 car parking spaces and six cycle racks. The centre will be constructed to BREEAM Excellent standards, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the new Medical Centre. Plans submitted for completion of Dove Valley Park Plans for the completion of Dove Valley Park have been submitted to South Derbyshire District Council by Dove Valley Park LTD, a subsidiary of Clowes Developments, and IMA Architects. The plans will transform an area of land next to Dove Valley Park into a thriving centre of employment, creating local jobs and bringing economic benefits to Derbyshire. It will complete Dove Valley Park, forming the eastern part of the major 200 acre employment site on the A50 in South Derbyshire that is home to occupiers including JCB, Top Hat, Futaba Ltd and GXO. The application site could be brought forward for development immediately as the existing infrastructure of Dove Valley Park is already in place to extend into the site. If approved, the plans will see the 35.29 acre site developed to create circa 54,500m2 of employment space for B2, B8, with ancillary E(g) use. Four units of varying sizes will be created. In addition, a new Innovation Centre will be created that will serve as a central hub for all businesses in the local vicinity. East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk Trebor Developments exchange off market deal on Northampton employment site Trebor Developments and Hillwood have exchanged contracts to acquire an 8-acre employment site in Northampton. It will further expand their existing consented 8 acres in order to bring forward a combined, comprehensive development site of 16 acres where Trebor will shortly be submitting a planning application for a single industrial unit of 328,000 sq ft. The site is located adjacent to the A45 dual carriageway, which links to the M1 at Junction 15 providing excellent access to the motorway network. James Drew, Trebor development director, said: “We are delighted to be bringing forward this c330,000 sq ft single unit in Northampton, a prime golden- triangle location. Having secured this further land off market we will shortly submit planning and are looking forward to further detailed discussions with occupiers on both a freehold or leasehold bases.” PROPERTY NEWS £21.1m funding facility secured for second phase of Derby development Elevate Property Group has secured a £21.1m funding facility from Paragon Bank to support the second phase of its Silk Yard development in Liversage Street, Derby. The second phase of the scheme will comprise of 164 studio, one, two, and three-bedroom apartments. The properties will also benefit from a central gated courtyard, providing outside space to residents. Paragon Bank supported Elevate Property Group with a funding facility of £11.9m for phase one of The Silk Yard. The first phase will be complete in summer 2024 and will consist of 94 apartments, over 60% of which have been sold. The second phase of the Silk Yard will be completed in 2025 and the project will deliver 258 new apartments across both phases. This is Paragon’s eighth deal with Elevate Property Group, having supported previous schemes including the first phase of the Silk Yard development in Derby, Chapman’s Yard in Birmingham, and Trent Bridge Quays in Nottingham. Historic 19th century Derbyshire hospital building sold to residential developer An historic 19th century Derbyshire hospital building has been sold to a residential developer. Newholme Hospital, in Bakewell, which originated as a workhouse in 1841 and is now being decommissioned by the NHS, has been sold by property consultancy Fisher German to an undisclosed residential developer. Fisher German acted on behalf of NHS Property Services Ltd to market Newholme Hospital after it became surplus to requirements following the announcement of a new £11 million NHS integrated health hub which is being constructed on land adjoining the site and is expected to open later this year. Despite turbulent market conditions as a result of rising interest rates and the complexity of the site, including five Grade II listed buildings, Fisher German has now completed the sale. Newholme Hospital was marketed as a development opportunity, with potential to transform the site, including its Grade II listed buildings, into residential accommodation. The developer will be revealing its proposed plans for the site in the coming months. Leicester College gets green light to build new aeronautical skills centre Leicester College has received planning consent to build a new, state-of-the- art aeronautical and advanced technological education and training facility at its Abbey Park Campus in the city. The new facility will enable the College to deliver Level 4 and 5 technical skills programmes. The build is due for completion by May 2025. Leicester City Council has approved the design of the two-storey building, which will house industry standard aeronautical and space specialist equipment and machinery, including wind tunnels, turbo jet trainers and flight simulators. The new facility will be used to support and inspire the next generation of aviation and space engineering professionals. The new 800 square metre building will house workshop, propulsion, aerodynamic, avionic and instrumentation laboratories and collaborative working spaces. The new aeronautical skills centre is funded by money secured via a successful grant application to the Office for Students. The development will enable Leicester College to support the wide regional network of employers and stakeholders involved in the aeronautical and aerospace industries and build a skilled workforce for the future. www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk COMMERCIAL PROPERTY Well known for its logistics prowess, the East Midlands continues to welcome new lettings and developments solidifying its status in the golden triangle. A region offering a strategic location for logistics operations, the East Midlands has seen a wealth of recent lettings with major names while work starts on, and plans are submitted for, significant new facilities in the golden triangle. Last month saw news break of Nike signing a 20-year lease agreement with GLP for its new state-of-the-art UK Logistics Campus and national supply chain hub at Magna Park Corby. Spanning more than 1.3 million sq ft of logistics warehousing, offices, sport and recreation facilities in a single building, the campus will target a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating and achieve net zero carbon in construction. Bruce Topley, UK Managing Director at GLP, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Nike to Magna Park Corby. A golden location A golden location © stock.adobe.com/Alekseiwww.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link COMMERCIAL PROPERTY This new site will help boost skills and generate high-quality jobs. The industry- leading, bespoke building will minimise carbon footprint and embed health and wellbeing. This investment is a great vote of confidence in the East Midlands and will help propel much-needed long- term growth across the region.” The letting came hot on the heels of Amazon’s new plans to create a multi- million-pound fulfilment centre in Northampton. The building is set to feature three floors of robotics, with products stowed and customer orders picked using advanced technology. At launch 1,400 new jobs are expected to be created, with this growing to more than 2,000 jobs within three years. Remaining in Northamptonshire, a traditional Japanese Kagami Biraki ceremony has marked the start of work on a major facility at a Northampton logistics park. It follows Winvic Construction Ltd being awarded a contract to design and construct the first industrial facility at SEGRO Logistics Park Northampton for Yusen Logistics. The unit comprises 1,144,000 sq ft ground floor warehouse space and a 333,251 sq ft mezzanine; Winvic will also construct and fit out the 35,810 sq ft three-storey main office, which also has a roof terrace, and a single-storey hub office. It is designed to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating which will reduce carbon to net zero during the construction. An array of PV panels will be installed across the entire roof space of the warehouse and EV charging units will also be made available onsite. At almost 1.2 million sq ft, the single storey warehouse will be Yusen Logistics’ largest global facility when completed in March 2025. Dan Holford, head of National Markets at SEGRO, said: “We are incredibly proud to have attracted a world class warehouse and distribution operator like Yusen Logistics to SEGRO 18 Á CGI of the Yusen Logistics Facility at SEGRO Logistics Park Northampton East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk COMMERCIAL PROPERTY Logistics Park Northampton as the development’s first pre-let customer, where we will be working together to deliver 1.2 million sq ft of highly sustainable space. What makes this development truly special is how it will support customers to achieve their sustainability goals and net-zero ambitions, particularly through the delivery of sustainable buildings, a country park and the strategic rail freight terminal. Yusen Logistics’ decision to locate here is testament to this and we look forward to continuing our partnership with this exciting project.” Further showing demand for logistics property in the region, a warehousing and distribution hub at Kettering Venture Park has been sold to a US-based investor for £7.9 million. Watling Real Estate secured a sale of the property on behalf of Rajnesh Mittal and Philip Armstrong of FRP Advisory, who were appointed as administrators of Knights of Old Ltd in September 2023. The property has been acquired by Cabot Properties, a private US-based conglomerate which invests in and develops logistics sites in strategic locations across the globe. The two freehold units at 2300 & 2350 Kettering Venture Park total 118,337 sq ft on an 8.11 acre site. Ben Holyhead, an associate in the Birmingham office of Watling Real Estate, said: “We received considerable interest in the property from all segments of the market, including occupiers, investors and developers. The property’s strategic location and excellent distribution specification made it an attractive proposition. We are pleased to www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link COMMERCIAL PROPERTY have secured a strong price for the property for the benefit of the administration.” Meanwhile, GLP has commenced construction of MPN 761, a speculative unit measuring 761,361 sq ft in Magna Park North Lutterworth. Bruce Topley, Managing Director at GLP, said: “We are pleased to have commenced development of MPN 761 in Magna Park North. This is a testament to our confidence in the resilience of the UK logistics market and the strategic importance of the Midlands in particular. As companies look to benefit from a prime location, we look forward to welcoming customers to our existing units and positioning Magna Park North Lutterworth for long-term success.” MPN 761 will target a BREEAM Outstanding accreditation while the overall scheme will be a net-zero development with each unit independently certified by Planet Mark. It will benefit from best-in-class specifications and ESG features including wide service yards, significant HGV and car parking allocations, dock levelers, level access doors, increased natural light, electric vehicle charging and abundant power supply. The building will be designed to WELL principles with the occupiers in mind, with GLP aiming to provide a more productive and pleasant working environment for employees. Construction is expected to be completed in June 2025. The start of construction on the new unit at Magna Park North Lutterworth follows Magna Park South reaching completion, ending a five-year period of activity, which has seen GLP speculatively develop 2.9 million sq ft across eleven buildings over three phases. © stock.adobe.com/PetinovsNext >