Leeds-based digital marketing agency Present Works is creating new jobs and expanding its services after receiving a six-figure funding investment.
Founded in 2018 by Brett Jacob and Peter Lowes, Present Works is a Business-to-Business communication specialist, delivering a wide range of marketing and media solutions to a range of clients.
The investment to support its growth has been provided from NPIF – FW Capital Debt Finance, which is managed by FW Capital and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.
This is the second round of investment secured from the Fund after Present Works received £100,000 in growth capital investment to fund a move to larger premises and create new jobs in Leeds in 2020.
This latest round of funding is helping to create two jobs and develop a new performance marketing service for the agency’s client base. This will enable clients to track and evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing activities.
Brett Jacob, founder and Managing Director at Present Works, said: “FW Capital have supported Present Works from our early days. Their financial and professional support have assisted in the development and broadening of our B2B marketing offer to our client base. We are excited for our plans for next year and beyond and grateful to FW Capital for their continued backing and belief in our business.”
Dave Hawkins, portfolio executive at FW Capital, said: “Present Works has a dynamic management team who are focused on driving forward the business and providing exceptional creative and digital marketing services to their impressive list of clients. I’m delighted to see the progress the business has made since the first round of funding from FW Capital and excited to continue to support their growth journey.”
Rotherham-based printer commits £5m investment to create book binding division
Rotherham-based online printer instantprint is investing more than £5m in its latest factory upgrade with the creation of a book binding division.
Co-founder James Kinsella said: “The print market is highly competitive and to support our customers with high-quality books that make them look exceptional, we knew we need to invest in our factory to ensure that we can produce books at the highest quality and lowest unit cost. The first Landa press has fitted seamlessly into our workflow and has given us a lot more flexibility around what we can offer to our customers.”
“The area that the Landa is making the biggest impact is in booklet work, perfect bound books for example are printed as blocks and then run through our Kolbus KM600. The Landa has enabled much faster turnarounds as well as opening a wider range of materials that traditionally were only available on litho quantities.”
The launch and investment of the division has come directly from customer feedback. The printing giant is focusing heavily on guaranteed quality from their team of expert book makers with almost six decades of book printing experience and some of the worlds most advanced printing presses on hand.
The company has ordered a second printing press to bolster its operations in luxury and lay flat book printing, as well as stitched and perfect bound booklets – some of the fastest growing segments of the business.
As part of a broader £5m investment in its book printing division, the new seven-colour Landa S10P press will significantly enhance instantprint’s production capacity. The press will be integrated alongside the existing S10P in the instantprint workflow allowing a seamless flow from customer upload and approval through to printed sheets on the floor.
Grade II listed Leeds landmark sold
Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has sold the iconic, Grade II listed, Oxford Place former Methodist Mission in Leeds city centre’s Civic Quarter.
With a history dating back to the early 1800s, the former chapel extends to over 33,000 sq ft and provides an opportunity for expansion and development. It is located on Westgate, immediately adjacent to the Grade I Listed Leeds Town Hall.
Planning consent had been granted for two different boutique hotel schemes, but the purchaser is likely to pursue a residential scheme.
The property has been acquired by Samara Properties Ltd, a Leeds-based investor and developer with several completed schemes around The Headrow and Westgate/Park Square areas of Leeds city centre.
Richard Corby, Senior Director & Head of Leeds Office at Lambert Smith Hampton, said: “We are excited to have disposed of this outstanding opportunity to acquire a striking, large and historic city centre asset with significant redevelopment potential. The regeneration of Oxford Place will provide a scheme of huge benefit to both Leeds city centre and the public realm.”
Harry Albazie, Director at Samara Properties, said: “We are thrilled to embark on the redevelopment journey of Oxford Place, an iconic Grade II listed building in the heart of Leeds. The potential for residential development aligns with our commitment to thoughtful urban renewal contributing to the city’s vibrant landscape.”
LSH acted on behalf of the Managing Trustees of the Methodist Church. Revd Kerry Tankard, Chair of the Yorkshire West Methodist District, said: “Oxford Place served Methodism in Leeds City Centre for over 185 years. It provided a space for worship, social engagement and enterprise, advice, and counselling.
“However, the changing needs of the city, and the work of Methodism, mean that it is the right time to let go of this building and instead invest the resources in our work through Leeds Sanctuary, the new shape of the Methodist Church in Leeds City Centre.
“Through Leeds Sanctuary we create spaces of hospitality, wellbeing, activism and craftivism, and enable people to think differently about their faith. Oxford Place was an important part of who we were, and it will help us as we move forward in the great city of Leeds.”
Casa by Moda acquires 100 Doncaster homes
Casa by Moda has acquired 100 Doncaster homes which will now be available for rent as part of a wider mixed-residential masterplan with Albemarle Homes.
Casa at Westmoor Grange will have homes ranging from two to four-bedrooms. This family rental housing model differs to the traditional private landlord model, providing residents with long-term security and a range of lifestyle and wellbeing benefits.
The homes also include highly responsive home technology – including Utopi’s smart home sensors, which allow residents to control and monitor their living environment from room temperature, to air quality, to light pollution. The homes also benefit from additional sustainable elements, with solar PV panels and EV charging points available.
Casa at Westmoor Grange is located on the outskirts of Armthorpe.
Sarah Nelson, Director of Operations at Casa by Moda, said: “Casa at Westmoor Grange is our second neighbourhood in Yorkshire and will deliver the same high standard of renting as our previous neighbourhood at Casa, Abbey Court in Leeds – not only in terms of quality, but also being able to offer residents leases of up to three years, something unheard of in the traditional rental market.
“During the current period of economic uncertainty, we believe it’s important to be able to provide our residents a security of tenancy that can only come from our long-term approach.
“With demand for rental accommodation remaining high, our approach as a long-term owner and operator is to create not only high quality, sustainable homes, but new communities that go beyond bricks and mortar by actively supporting the wellbeing of our residents.
“As they join the existing Westmoor Grange community, we look forward to welcoming the very first Casa residents to the neighbourhood in the Summer.”
Darryl Barker, Managing Director at Albemarle Homes, said: “Our ethos, and the reason Albemarle Homes was established, is to provide quality built properties that become a home from the very start.
“Our Albemarle Standard is what sets us apart and we’re pleased that Casa by Moda has identified this and made the decision to incorporate a number of our Westmoor Grange homes into its unique private rented portfolio.
“We feel it is important that consumers are given a range of options to meet their own individual circumstances and support this alternative choice.”
AMRC forms partnership with Productive Machines
Productive Machines has joined the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) as a new member, with the aim of helping to increase productivity and reduce carbon emissions in manufacturing.
Productive Machines, a Software as a Service (SaaS) and AMRC spin-out company, specialises in AI-based technology designed to reduce waste and optimise machining processes through easy-to-use solutions replacing trial and error processes for big and small engineering companies.
The partnership between the AMRC and Productive Machines signifies a strategic alignment of expertise in the pursuit of precision engineering. As the newest Tier 2 member of the AMRC, Productive Machines brings its wealth of knowledge and disruptive technologies to the collaborative table, contributing significantly to the AMRC’s mission of driving net zero manufacturing.
Dr Erdem Ozturk, CEO of Productive Machines, expressed enthusiasm about joining the AMRC community. He said: “We have a special bond as a spin-out of the AMRC and we are thrilled to join this partnership and again become a part of the AMRC.
“This collaboration provides us with unique opportunities to promote techniques such as digital tap testing and to accelerate machine tool process optimisation contributing to shaping the future of advanced manufacturing.”
Matt Farnsworth, commercial director for the AMRC, said: “As a spin out from the AMRC’s machining dynamics research team, we are extremely proud of the success of Productive Machines and absolutely delighted to have them joining the AMRC’s industrial partner network.
“We feel they have unique technology differentiation within the field of machining dynamics optimisation and modelling that provides a huge opportunity for further collaboration within the AMRC network and perfectly compliments our other technology providing members in this space.”
Leeds’ 75Media acquires London-based iQ OOH
Leeds’ 75Media has acquired London-based iQ OOH, making it one of the fastest-growing out-of-home roadside networks in the UK.
75Media has incorporated iQ’s 81 digital panels into its own portfolio and all of its employees, including iQ founders Tim de Monte and David Peters, will transition into the newly expanded organisation.
iQ was founded in 2021, by De Monte and Peters, both former directors at Global. Specialising in digital billboards, the deal will see 75Media almost double its current offering of digital large format roadside locations.
The company will now operate over 200 digital billboards in a range of large and ultra large formats across the UK and moves the business towards its vision of becoming the number one roadside OOH network.
Alongside a growing portfolio of 300 large format classic paper billboards, 75Media now has over 500 sites spanning the UK, from Aberdeen in the North to Bournemouth in the South.
Paul Inman, Managing Director at 75Media, said: “We’re very excited to be welcoming Tim, David and the iQ team to 75Media. With their impressive expertise in the industry, and their track record working with the agency sector, it makes perfect strategic sense to bring iQ into the 75Media fold, as our skills, specialisms and sites ideally complement each other.
“This deal is significant as it firmly places 75Media within the top six OOH networks in the UK, and we don’t intend to stop there. Given where we started three years ago, we’ve worked hard to grow in a way that is sustainable, doesn’t compromise our levels of service, and drives significant value for our investors.
“We welcome working with businesses directly as well as with agencies, and that is demonstrated by our mission to become the number one network for brands in the UK.
“For us, that means high quality sites, strong customer service, supporting clients with planning and measurement and generally making the case for OOH as a hugely effective advertising medium for brands of all types. Bringing iQ on board takes us one step further on that journey.”
Tim de Monte added: “We can see the strength that combining our businesses will bring and look forward to connecting the teams together. Overall, we’re tremendously excited about the proposition we’re evolving in the market and I look forward to bringing an increasingly strong offering to our specialists and agencies.”
75Media now employs 35 people, with its HQ in Leeds and colleagues based in major cities across the UK.
East Yorkshire gets £4.3m to continue skills bootcamps
Skills Bootcamps will continue in Hull and East Yorkshire thanks to funding of £4.3m from government to support 1,603 individuals across different sectors.
Hull Training and Adult Education, leading and managing the programme, will work with employers and training providers to support local people to train up to better jobs in growing business sectors such as digital, transport and green skills.
Cllr Linda Tock, Hull City Council’s portfolio holder for Hull Training, said: “This funding from the government allows us to continue our successful Skills Bootcamps programme.
“We want to help people gain the skills they need to meet the challenges of tomorrow and we can achieve this by working with training providers and businesses across Hull and East Yorkshire.
“A skilled workforce is a productive workforce and it is only through giving them the relevant skills, training and support, that they can play their part in driving forward the Hull and East Yorkshire economy.”
As well as supporting the council’s priority of in-work progression by improving skills and opportunities, it also ties in with Hull and East Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership’s Economic Growth Workforce Wellbeing Strategy.
James Newman, chair of HEY LEP, added: “This is an ambitious programme which will provide the higher-level skills needed for our region to become a stronger economy. We are delighted this funding has been secured for Hull and East Yorkshire.”
Skills Bootcamps provide flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving those who take part the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast track to interview with a local employer or acquire new skills to help their existing employer’s growth ambitions.
North Yorkshire pilot project aims to get businesses ready for investment
The York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub and Lifted Ventures have launched the ‘North Yorkshire Stars’ pilot project, an initiative aimed at making start-ups and early-stage businesses ready for investment.
Offering a pathway to pitch ideas and attract angel investment, the programme is a fully-funded 12-hour support initiative, with in-person and virtual events and workshops. Open to all sectors, the pilot project will support diversity and founders from all backgrounds.
Lifted Ventures, Co-Founded by Helen Oldham and Jordan Dargue, exists to increase the flow of early-stage capital for diverse founders outside London.
Helen Oldham said: “As ‘North Yorkshire Stars’ takes flight, we want to ensure that every business owner, with their unique vision and background, has a place to shine and thrive.”
Lifted Ventures will guide participants through the process of making their businesses investment ready. This includes specialist advice and finishes with in a unique opportunity to pitch to seasoned investors.
The comprehensive programme covers several key aspects for investment readiness. These include developing business plans, exploring options for funding, preparing financial projections, legal considerations, support structures, and governance.
Participants will create a winning elevator pitch and their own investor ‘pitch deck’. One-to-one coaching sessions will help refine this and prepare for investor meetings. The programme concludes with the opportunity to present to a panel of angel investors, featuring Q&A sessions and valuable feedback.
The overall goals of the project include introducing businesses to local investors, directly preparing them for investment, and boosting angel investment in North Yorkshire.
Simon Middleton, Delivery Manager for the Growth Hub, said: “I’m really pleased to be working with Lifted Ventures to deliver this first of its kind programme in North Yorkshire. We look forward to hearing from business owners when application open at the end of this month.”
Year will see increase in equity release schemes, says Legal and General
Legal and General predicts a year of renewed interest in equity release schemes and stabilisation of the property market.
A survey by Legal & General Home Finance shows that home improvements continued to be the main reason new equity release customers took out a lifetime mortgage last year – accounting for more than half of the new arrangements.
This includes adaptations to make sure a property remains suitable into retirement, alongside other types of home improvements. Analysis of English Housing Survey data by the Centre for Ageing Better suggests that 91% of homes across the country do not provide basic accessibility features, which presents particular challenges as people age.
Customers taking additional drawdowns, however, were more likely to use the value from within their homes to help supplement their income.
Craig Brown, CEO at Legal and General Home Finance, said: “Property wealth can be a valuable asset, and looking at the new customs who came to us last year we can se that home improvements continue to be the most popular use of equity release, helping people to improve rather than move.”
The company anticipates a renewed interest in lifetime mortgages as customers reconsider using property wealth as the market likely stabilises. Mr Brown added: “It’s worth bearing in mind that house prices are still significantly higher than pre-pandemic figures – up 18% up from the end of 2019 – so property still represents an important asset which homeowners are increasingly likely to draw on.
British Steel invests £10m in rail stocking facility at Scunthorpe
Stocks of rail for use by Network Rail currently held around the country are to be brought together in one central service centre, being built at a cost of £10m in Scunthorpe.
When complete this summer, the facility will contain about 25,000 tonnes of 108-metre long rails from which Network Rail can be supplied.
The investment is part of the company’s strategy to support the supply of rails for Network Rail, ensuring there is rail stock ready, as and when required, for its supply chain.
Rails stocked in the new facility will all have undergone the testing and QA checks so it can be sent out at once, or welded into 216m lengths.
All civils were are complete, and the main towers and gantry sections are currently being erected.
Future works include the installation of the hoist and permanent magnet systems, including electrical installation and integration, which will be used to lift and load the rails in packs of four in and out of individual rail pens..
