Growth in start-ups set to boost region’s economy in run-up to Christmas
A sharp rise in company start-ups in East Anglia is providing a potential boost to the region’s economy in the key pre-Christmas trading period. According to the Eastern branch of R3, start-ups businesses in East Anglia rose to 8,655 in October, the highest number in any UK region outside London and up 11 per cent on September and 17 per cent higher than in the month a year ago. R3 Eastern chair Hayley Watson, associate director at McTear Williams & Wood, said: “It is encouraging to see positive statistics for our region, particularly as trading conditions are so challenging at the moment. With the upcoming Christmas period a crucial time for so many firms, the data indicates that there is still substantial scope for growth in East Anglia. Advances in technology, interconnectedness and cheaper workspaces compared to London are helping to make it easier to start a new business here.” Meanwhile, the number of East Anglian companies with late payments on their books, has continued to fall and insolvency-related activity in the region has also decreased over the past month.
Turnover and profits up across Suffolk’s top 100 firms
Suffolk’s largest 100 companies have reported healthy rises in turnover and profits and are employing more people despite a tougher economic climate, says an analysis of their latest published annual reports. Turnover across the county’s top 100 privately owned firms rose 15.8 per cent to £6.7bn whilst they generated £678.9m of profit, up 12.4 per cent according to the annual Suffolk Limited report from Grant Thornton UK and law firm Birketts. Meanwhile, the number employed across the top 100 has risen 2.1 per cent to 36,476. The report says the diverse nature of sectors in the county has been pivotal to the overall resilience of the largest firms.Tim Taylor, practice leader for Grant Thornton UK in East Anglia, said: “ …the excellent results showcased in the report are all the more remarkable when one considers the significant challenges the UK economy has faced in recent years. In terms of revenue growth, we’ve seen some very strong numbers – in part this is a very welcome return to normal revenue levels for some businesses for whom trading was previously significantly impacted by the pandemic.”
Alexandra Nelson, partner in the Ipswich corporate team at Birketts, said: “Our county’s top 100 face an incredibly testing trading environment, with increases in base costs and interest rates putting increased pressure on margins. However, Suffolk is a county of opportunity, with significant investment being made in our transport infrastructure improving links from our ports to the wider economy and largescale projects, such as the development of Sizewell C, bringing with it job creation and economic advantages for our local economy.” The report names the top five largest private-owned companies in the Suffolk area as:Turners (Soham) Holdings, Maritime Transport, East of England Co-operative Society, A.J.N. Steelstock and John Grose Group. The 39 firms among Suffolk’s top 100 in the consumer products sector generated sales of £3.2bn, followed by real estate and construction (£1.2bn), services (£1.1bn) and industrial products (£828m). See the full report here.
See Profiles Grant Thornton and Birketts
Container ship sets record for deepest draft vessel at Port of Felixstowe
A new record has been set for the deepest draft vessel to call at the Port of Felixstowe after the recent completion of a £130m project to deepen the approaches to the port and its main container berths. The Mumbai Maersk arrived from Bremerhaven in Germany last week with a depth of 16.8 metres. The 20,568 TEU capacity ship, which operates on Maersk Line’s AE10 service between Europe and Asia, sailed 24 hours later with a 17 metre draft; the distance between the waterline and the lowest point of a ship’s hull. Robert Ashton, chief operating officer at the Port of Felixstowe, said: “There has been a steady increase in recent years in the number of the latest generation of mega-vessels serving the main shipping route into Europe. The Port of Felixstowe is the best located UK port for these huge ships and, working with our partners at Harwich Haven Authority, we deepened the main approach channel and Berths 8&9 to cement further that advantage.”
Record year for adviser on corporate transactions
Chartered accountants and business advisers Larking Gowen has a reported a record year for advising clients on corporate deals in East Anglia and has added two new members to its transactions team. James Lay, corporate transactions and business advisory partner, said: “The market for buying, selling and valuing businesses, which are our core activities, is looking very healthy….Sellers should have the confidence that they can get a fair price for their business. Buyers are undertaking a greater degree of due diligence than before, but there is still a high demand for good, strong, viable businesses.” The firm’s core market is family-owned businesses of between £1m and £10m or more in value. Sophie Steadman, originally from Norfolk, has joined the firm as a qualified chartered accountant after four years in the corporate finance department at a top four firm in London. Ben Horner-Glister has been with the firm for five years working in its medical department and after a secondment to the team now joins it on a permanent basis.
Photo (l-r): Hannah Rutherford, James Lay, Ben Horner-Glister, David Franklin, Will Gibbs, Jack Minns and Sophie Steadman.
See Profile Larking Gowen
Corporate finance team shortlisted for multiple awards
Cambridge-based PEM Corporate Finance was shortlisted for multiple awards at this year’s Insider Central and East Dealmakers Awards held in Milton Keynes last week: corporate finance advisory firm of the year, private equity/venture capital deal of the year and dealmaker of the year (Philip Olagunju). The team also sponsored the award for the transaction services team of the year which was won by RSM UK Corporate Finance. Philip Olagunju (photo, left) partner and head of PEMCF, said: “It was a great event last night. Whilst we fell short in our categories, it was fantastic to have been shortlisted in the first place, amongst such fantastic corporate finance teams. On a personal note, I’m proud to have been shortlisted for dealmaker of the year for five consecutive years, which is testament to how active we’ve been as a team over that period. Over recent years, PEMCF has won several awards such as: deal of the year award (sub £10 million) in 2022 with the sale of Titan Motorsports and previously in 2020 with the sale of Chell Instruments, along with Phillip Olagunju winning dealmaker of the year in 2021.
Norwich-based estate agency board provider named ‘franchisor of the year’
Norwich-based Agency Express, the largest provider of professional estate agency board services in the UK, has won franchisor of the year – gold at the 2023 BFA HSBC British Franchise Awards. Founded in 1998, Agency Express, is the UK’s only nationwide provider in the sector with a network of 113 franchisees acting for more than 7,500 estate agency branches. Managing director Ben Brookes said: “To win this award means absolutely everything to us. The culmination of the tireless hard work from the Agency Express network and HQ team, we are truly overwhelmed to be recognised by the BFA as the best in the business.” The awards were held in Birmingham on 9th November.
MBO at Norwich-based financial planning company
A management buy-out has been completed by two employees at Norwich-based Brancaster House Financial Planning. Based on Castle Meadow in the city, the business is now run by Nick Halls and Shane Julian, joint managing directors, who worked for the company before stepping into new roles as co-owners. Shane Julian said: “It’s been a long-term aspiration of both of ours to either set up our own IFA practices or to be involved in a co-ownership of an IFA business. But it’s not often that you’re given the opportunity to buy an established business from within. We feel buying a business that we both already know the inner workings of and have been involved in running previously is an extremely good position to be in.”
Photo: Nick Halls (left) and Shane Julian (right) outside the firm’s Norwich office.
Professional services marketing body aims to create ‘regional powerhouse’ in the East
An East of England regional committee has been formed by PM Forum to help bring the professional services marketing and business development community across the region together. PM Forum is a regionally-based professional body aimed at raising the standards of professional services marketing and enhancing the credibility of marketers in the sector. The East of England committee will be led by co-chairs Shaun Nichols and Christopher Broom and regional directors Daniel Kondras and Matthew Rowe. Shaun Nichols said: “Our vision is ambitious: to transform this committee into a regional powerhouse, encouraging collaboration, learning, and meaningful connections. In this inaugural year, we are actively seeking enthusiastic individuals to join our team and be part of this transformative journey.”
“With so many brilliant professional services firms within our region we have a lot to celebrate and a huge amount of expertise to share. Plans are now underway to hold our first event in Cambridge in early 2024. We’d love to see as many regional members there as possible,” added Matthew Rowe, regional director.
Marketing agency expands with new hires
Norwich-based Nurture Marketing, with clients in Norfolk, Suffolk and north Essex, has expanded to a team of four after several recent hires. The company has recently appointed Emma Jermany as design & content assistant, Matilda Pilkington as design & content manager and Amy Patterson as senior design & content manager as the firm continues to grow. Established in June 2022 by Rechenda Smith, the company has worked with 30 regional brands, was a finalist in the 2023 Broadland & South Norfolk Business Awards for the new business category and has supported charities with pro-bono work including The Feed and Priscilla Bacon Hospice. Rechenda Smith said: “I am so pleased to welcome my new team members to the fold. They have a wealth of marketing expertise, which will be hugely beneficial to our clients.” Clients which Nurture Marketing has worked with include Norwich Theatre, Barnham Broom, the Festival of Architecture Norwich & Norfolk, Lamberts and the Royal Norfolk Show.
Photo (l-r): Emma Jermany, Amy Patterson, Rechenda Smith and Matilda Pilkington of Nurture Marketing
Registrations open for SME growth programme
Registrations are now open for the next programme of Help to Grow, a national programme for leaders and managers in SMEs starting on 19 January. It provides a practical 12-week programme and has helped hundreds of people to drive business growth. For businesses in the East of England, the programme is delivered by the School of Business at the University of Leicester with online webinars, peer-group coaching and workshops held in Cambridge or Leicester. People taking part also get 10 hours of free expert one-to-one mentoring from a business expert. Details here:
Separately, a Cambridge conference on ‘How to prepare young people for a rapidly changing world’ will be held by Form the Future, a social enterprise on 1st December. “We need to ensure that young people – and their teachers and parents – understand what skills are needed and where the job opportunities are now and into the future,” says the organisation’s founder, Anne Bailey.
Appointment at Cambridge company highlights commitment to customers
Cambridge company Domino Printing has appointed Shane Burchett (right) as global customer experience director, heading a team of specialists dedicated to delivering superior lifetime experience for both customers and partners across its global business. With over 20 years of experience in the printing industry, he joined Domino in September 2022 as partner programme manager and having defined the partner programme for the company’s global distributors, he was recently promoted to his new role. Domino has also invested in key technologies – including Oracle Fusion, Salesforce, and ServiceMax – to enhance customer experience further and deliver greater insight to improve customer lifecycle management. Shane Ruchett said: “Domino is a company that places clear and documented corporate value on its commitment to delivering the best possible customer experience. Our investments over the past five years have been geared towards meeting our customers’ needs now, and in the future.”
