2023 Business Predictions: Mark Goodson, owner and Managing Director of Wayside Holiday Park

Tess Egginton
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2023 Business Predictions: Mark Goodson, owner and Managing Director of Wayside Holiday Park
It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.  It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years. Here we speak to Mark Goodson, the owner and Managing Director of the award-winning Wayside Holiday Park near Pickering. The picture facing the tourism industry in Yorkshire in the next 12 months is challenging. On the one hand, the threat of inflation, the cost-of-living crisis and the steep rise in both interest rates and raw materials, poses real problems for our sector. There’s no getting away from that. On the other hand, the global pandemic has fuelled the “staycation” boom in the UK, while the grey pound, such a crucial catalyst for the success of the tourism sector, remains powerful. It is highly likely that many people won’t be going abroad in 2023 because it is increasingly a logistical nightmare. So let’s be optimistic to start with. Yorkshire is a most fabulous county and has flourished during the past 18 months. Its beauty speaks for itself, from the glorious Dales to the historic city of York and from the atmospheric North Yorkshire coastline to the stunning Moors. Our county has it all. There is every reason to believe that 2023 will be an exciting and successful year, unless the economy goes completely off the rails. Looking more specifically at the holiday park sector, our supply chain remains a major worry. Because of the staycation boom, and the buying power of the grey pound, the demand for static caravans and holiday lodges is very strong. But the availability of both is erratic at best, despite strenuous efforts by the manufacturers. However, I am an optimist by nature and have worked very hard up to upgrade our holiday park by creating The Water Gardens, a fabulous 13-pitch development with state-of-the-art lodges overlooking a magnificent water feature. I am hopeful, confident even, that this optimism isn’t misplaced.

Two office buildings sold at Capitol Park Leeds

Tess Egginton
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Two office buildings sold at Capitol Park Leeds
Yorkshire property development and investment company Sterling Capitol has sold two prime office assets at Capitol Park, Leeds. The value of the two transactions has not been disclosed. The first asset was the 4,862 sq ft 1 Sterling Way, occupied by Create Fertility, let on a new 10-year lease, bought by Assura PLC, a specialist healthcare investor. The second was 2 Sterling Court, the 7,000 sq ft home of Ideal Boilers, recently regeared on a 10-year lease and acquired by Real Estate Investment Group, a family-owned property company with diversified portfolio across a number of different sectors and asset classes. The two deals were brokered by the Leeds office of global property consultancy Knight Frank. Tom Brown, senior development surveyor at Sterling Capitol, explained: “We let and regeared the two properties in early 2022 to make the two investments as attractive as possible. We were delighted that we achieved in excess of our business plan valuations which shows there is still strong sentiment in the market for quality assets occupied by high calibre tenants. “These two deals are part of our strategy of selling our non-core assets. Upon the successful execution of our business plan, Sterling’s strategy is to focus on the identification, promotion and development of strategic employment land along prime motorway junctions across Yorkshire and the North East. “We have some extremely exciting plans in the pipeline, which will create much-needed business space and jobs for the region.” In particular, Sterling Capitol has recently been given the go ahead by Leeds City Council to develop more than one million sq ft of employment land in Leeds, which will create 2,000 jobs. The site is adjacent to Capitol Park Leeds, by Junction 28 of the M62. The high-profile development, featuring high-specification logistics and advanced manufacturing units, will be partly speculatively developed in conjunction with developers PLP. Capitol Park is home to a number of high-profile occupiers, including Hermes, Barratt Homes, the Village Hotel and Depuy, as well as Create Fertility and Ideal Heating. Corinne Travis of Knight Frank, who advised Sterling Capitol, said: “It is fitting that two of the most significant out-of-town sales at the end of last year (2022) took place at Capitol Park, Leeds, one of the first – and best – business parks in the county, capturing the conurbations of both Leeds and Wakefield.” She added: “Sterling Capitol have a fantastic track record of developing quality business parks in strategic locations in Yorkshire. These two deals are a testament to the company’s achievement.”

Huddersfield debt recovery firm in acquisition move

Stuart Pearcey
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Huddersfield debt recovery firm in acquisition move
Specialist corporate recovery firm Poppleton & Appleby Northern, based in Manchester and Huddersfield, has been acquired by Xeinadin Group Limited. Poppleton & Appleby Northern is one of the oldest and most highly regarded brands in the sector and has offices in Manchester and Huddersfield. With a team of nine specialists across its two offices, the firm has decades of experience in insolvency and recovery, providing professional advice to businesses, individuals, their advisors and funders to help them manage financially related problems and to future-proof their business. Xeinadin is a group of business advisory and accountancy practices in over 100 locations across the UK and Ireland that provides over 40 service lines to over 50,000 clients, predominantly small and medium sized businesses and their owner-managers. Xeinadin is a fast-growing, acquisitive Group which has already made a number of acquisitions this financial year, as one of the professional services market’s leading disrupters. The significant growth of the Group follows a significant minority investment from private equity firm Exponent earlier this year. Xeinadin Group CEO Derry Crowley said: “We are looking forward to having the Poppleton & Appleby team on board. They have an outstanding reputation for their work and will be a valuable asset to our growing corporate recovery team. We are seeing strong demand for our business recovery work which we expect to continue, so additional strength in this area is very welcome.” Allan Cadman of P&A said: “Being part of the Group will greatly enhance our offering to existing clients and contacts, increasing the strength and depth of our operation. We will also be able to support the existing corporate recovery team at Xeinadin, providing additional expertise and bandwidth to a growing sector of the business.”

Quickline appoints Chief Financial Officer to support drive to connect rural communities

Michael Fisher
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Quickline appoints Chief Financial Officer to support drive to connect rural communities
Rural broadband provider Quickline Communications has appointed Craig Fairey as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to support the continuing growth of the ambitious business. Mr Fairey brings significant experience and skills to the role with the fast-growing company, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant over 25 years ago and held senior financial positions across different industries, including the tech sector. He has joined Quickline from retail services provider Sigma, where he was Group CFO for four years. Owned by Northleaf Capital Partners and led by CEO Sean Royce, East Yorkshire-based Quickline is on a mission to bring “broadband for the better” to rural communities across the North of England. Mr Fairey’s arrival is the latest key leadership appointment by Quickline as it invests in its workforce which has almost tripled from 60 to more than 175 over the past year. He said: “I’m very excited to be joining Quickline and about the journey the company is on. The ambition and intent of the business is remarkable and the team that Sean has built around him is absolutely first class. “Quickline has already delivered great results in rolling out fast, reliable broadband to rural communities, but there are so many more opportunities ahead. “In my first few weeks I’ve been struck by the passion and energy of the people in the business. Everyone is pulling in the same direction to leave an amazing legacy that will have such a positive impact on the lives of many thousands of rural households and businesses. “Having grown up in North Yorkshire, and now living in East Yorkshire, it’s fantastic for me to be playing my part in improving the lives of people in Yorkshire and across the North of England.” Quickline is one of the UK’s fastest-growing broadband providers, connecting homes and businesses in under-served rural areas through a market-leading hybrid network, combining full fibre and 5G fixed wireless broadband. Over the past year alone, Quickline has transformed the online experience available to more than 50,000 households in North and West Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire that were previously suffering from poor internet speeds of 30 Mbps or below. CEO Sean Royce said: “I’m delighted to welcome Craig to Quickline as the newest member of our executive leadership team. “He brings a wealth of experience and a wide-ranging skillset to the role, which will be important to our ongoing development and growth plans. “Craig’s appointment brings further senior expertise and capability to the business, ensuring we have the executive team in place to continue to drive and sustain our growth.”

Paragon ID UK in Hull invests in staff wellbeing

Michael Fisher
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Paragon ID UK in Hull invests in staff wellbeing
Paragon ID UK is delighted to announce that it has partnered with Coyle Health & Wellbeing to provide staff at its Hull office with a wellbeing support scheme. Initiatives available to staff include, onsite support from a health and wellbeing manager, nutritional advice, free fruit, smoothie mornings, free gym access and mental health support. Following the successful rollout of the scheme over a 12-week period, Paragon ID UK will look to provide similar initiatives to its UK subsidiaries RFiD Discovery, Thames Technology and UrbanThings in 2023. Ryan Mellors, General Manager of the Paragon ID office in Hull, said: “Our people are at the core of our business and the wellbeing of our workforce is a high priority. We are committed to investing in a range of initiatives for our employees and we are thrilled to have partnered with Coyle Health & Wellbeing to offer a range of support. In addition, we have also recently made significant improvements to the Hull office including a refreshed office interior and a relaxing breakout area for staff.” Tommy Coyle, Founder at Coyle Health & Wellbeing, commented: “Coyle Health & Wellbeing are proud and excited to be working with Paragon ID in Hull. If the first 12 weeks of implementation are anything to go by, we can foresee this being an extremely successful and fruitful partnership. Working with another large company in Hull is a fantastic opportunity for us at Coyle Health & Wellbeing to deliver our mission: Improving Minds and Changing Lives, helping to create a happier and healthier Hull.” As part of the programme, staff at the Hull office have access to a six-week boot camp which includes daily workouts which can be done anywhere at any time. In addition, the boot camp offers a complete nutrition plan including shopping lists for daily meals to encourage a healthy lifestyle which is fulfilling and sustainable. In addition to the wellbeing scheme offered, Paragon ID is also providing its staff with a health cash plan to help cover a range of health-related costs including dental, optical, prescription charges and flu vaccination costs. The health cash plan also provides staff with 24/7 access to a qualified GP and telephone counselling.

Anglian Water aims to start work on pipeline extensions this year

Stuart Pearcey
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Anglian Water aims to start work on pipeline extensions this year
Anglian Water hopes this year to start laying hundreds of kilometres of new interconnecting pipelines – stretching from North Lincolnshire, through Cambridgeshire, to Suffolk and Essex as part of a multi-million pound water main scheme. The company is building a new network stretching from Lincolnshire to Essex, bringing water from the wettest parts in the north of the region to the driest areas in the south and east. John Neil, who leads the team delivering the latest section of the network, said: “The new pipelines will allow water to be moved to areas where it is needed most, while also strengthening local resilience by reducing the number of homes and businesses which rely on a single water source. “They are vital in addressing the predicted ‘jaws of death’ moment for water availability in the East of England – the point at which demand for water greatly outstrips the available supply. “With 175,000 new homes to be built in the next few years, it is vital we ensure we have resilient infrastructure in place to support local authorities in delivering their Local Plans, and residents who live in the area.” The combined effects of climate change and high population growth in the region means that, without action, the East of England could run out of water as soon as 2030. The strategic pipeline will make use of the latest technology, some never used before in the UK, each one designed to reduce the carbon footprint and any environmental impact associated with the scheme delivery. The entire network has also been designed to have the lowest carbon footprint possible in line with Anglian Water’s pledge to reach net zero carbon by 2030 and is expected to go into service in 2025.

Frontier Software named as supplier on G-Cloud 13 Framework

Tess Egginton
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Frontier Software named as supplier on G-Cloud 13 Framework
Frontier Software have been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s G-Cloud 13 Framework, Lot 2 Cloud software, for applications that are accessed over the internet or private network and hosted in the cloud. With forty years of experience, Frontier Software is a proven supplier of cloud software delivering functionally rich, highly configurable, and truly integrated HR & Payroll solutions. The company has offices across the UK, including one in Nottingham providing outsourced payroll services to a wide range of organisations across all market sectors. For more information visit www.frontiersoftware.com.

Parseq sets sights on new UK and global growth with merger

Tess Egginton
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0
Parseq sets sights on new UK and global growth with merger
Business services and IT provider Parseq has merged with IT services specialist Column Software Solutions (Column) to target new markets in the UK and overseas. Column Software Solutions provides IT consultancy and services – including enterprise service management, managed services, IT service management and cloud governance, software lifecycle management and software license sale – to public and private sector organisations. The merger will strengthen Parseq’s market position in the UK by expanding the range of products and services it offers clients and support the South Yorkshire-based business’s international expansion, which includes plans to enter the US market in the second half of 2023. Column is headquartered in Pune, India, and is a sister company to Parseq within the portfolio of shared owner Parabellum Investments. Following the merger, in the coming months Column will trade as Parseq, and its Managing Director, Dheeraj Gupta, will report into Parseq’s CEO, Craig Naylor-Smith. The merger closely follows the acquisition of the Tall Group which was announced earlier this month and brings Parseq’s total headcount to more than 520 staff worldwide. Parseq’s specialist teams now work from 12 offices across the UK, Bulgaria and India. Craig Naylor-Smith, CEO, Parseq, said: “Column’s services perfectly complement our range of technology-driven back-office processing and finance and administration solutions. “This integration of our skillsets and services will help us grow our client base here in the UK, add new value to our existing client relationships and strengthens our global presence – which helps support our UK clients’ 24/7 operations and business continuity. “The past 12 months have seen us secure significant new business, including welcoming the BT Group to our now more than 75-strong client portfolio. We have also recently announced the significant acquisition of the Tall Group. We have an ambitious strategy to build on this momentum during 2023 and beyond – at home, and overseas – and Column’s team will be a critical part of this journey. We’re pleased to welcome them to the team from all here at Parseq.”

Gym provider signs 15-year lease on site in Halifax

Stuart Pearcey
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Gym provider signs 15-year lease on site in Halifax
Dean Clough in Halifax has secured a deal to let an 8,146 sq ft space on a 15-year lease to a fast-growing gymnastics club. [jim-nas-tiks] is the latest new occupier to take space at Dean Clough, further expanding its mixed-use proposition that already combines office space and retail/leisure amenities with diverse arts and cultural attractions. Formerly known as Matt’s Gym Club which operated at Trinity Academy in Halifax, [jim-nas-tiks] was evolved following the pandemic lock down by former Great Britain Gymnast and national number two Matthew Brooks and his wife Kirsty. With 560 existing members, the new space will allow further growth with the very latest Olympic standard equipment and expert tuition. The concept of [jim-nas-tiks] is focused around providing non-competitive physical activity to allow young people to thrive and improve their self-esteem, happiness, and confidence.  The name itself relates to how children would spell by phonics and the brand positioning uses stick people to demonstrate activities. The deal has been made possible thanks to the flexibility of the landlord, Dean Clough Limited, which has shared the £150,000 fit out costs with Matthew and Kirsty.  The listed building, which required planning consent for change of use had been unused for a number of years. Major works include structural alterations, new access routes to car parking, external fascia cleaning and significant internal installations including a new split-level floor. Matthew Brooks said: “Never in our dreams could we have imagined being able to secure a space in such an established place within a vibrant community.  The fact that the landlord has offered great flexibility, and even shared the costs for fit out, shows that they are also invested in making our venture a success and can see the value of our offer to the existing Dean Clough community. Jeremy Hall, Chairman and MD at Dean Clough Ltd, said: “Whilst much of our space has been transformed to offer high quality workspace of various sizes and flexible terms, we are always mindful of providing a good balance of amenity for not just our occupiers, but also the wider Halifax community. “This is the second deal in as many weeks at Dean Clough as the UK largest online florist Prestige Gifting, agreed a deal to expand its headquarters into a fantastic new 9,677 space here. We have also welcomed six small business occupiers in recent months with nearly 10,000 sq ft of space under offer.”  

JMG Group kicks off the year with two acquisitions

Tess Egginton
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JMG Group kicks off the year with two acquisitions

Yorkshire-headquartered JMG Group has started the year as it means to go on with two acquisitions which help strengthen its position in the South of England and in Scotland.

The burgeoning £205m GWP Group has acquired Southampton-based Knightsure Insurance Brokers in a deal that sees the Group purchase 100% of the £1.8m GWP boutique corporate insurance broker business. The acquisition further broadens JMG Group’s foothold in the South of England following its recent acquisition of Wokingham-based BJP Insurance Brokers and also establishing the new JM Glendinning Community Risk Solutions out of offices in Fareham.

Its second acquisition is of £1.5m GWP T I Alexander Insurance Brokers in Bo’ness by Scotland-based JMG Group company Greenwood Moreland. Scott Alexander, former owner of T I Alexander, will join the Greenwood Moreland team, primarily supported from its Bathgate office. The acquisition will provide eventual succession for the T I Alexander business and in the meantime will allow Scott to build on the success of the business with the support of a broader team.

Nick Houghton, JMG Group CEO, says: “We are thrilled to bring these well-established and highly successful businesses, at opposite ends of the country, into our Group. Adding such high-calibre industry professionals to our team gives us greater standing in the marketplace and additional wealth of knowledge and experience to tap into. Our deal with T I Alexander also demonstrates our commitment to investing in our acquired businesses so that they in turn can make sound investments and grow their offering.

“While Tony Knight and Scott Alexander are both a way off retirement, our Group proposition gives them a ready-made succession plan that enables them to focus on the parts of the business they enjoy the most, whilst continuing to give their clients high levels of service.”

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