North Yorkshire timber business secures six figure loan to invest in technology
A Leeming Bar-based family-run timber business has received a six figure loan to invest in technology and help fulfil growing customer demand.
Fall Timber Ltd, which was founded more than 45 years ago and managed by its second generation owner, Helen Fall and her husband, Matt, received the loan from NPIF – BEF & FFE Microfinance, which is managed by BEF and FFE, and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.
Supplying timber for national building projects as well as agricultural clients, self-builders and gardeners, Fall Timber moved to its current site in Leeming Bar Industrial Estate during the pandemic, and offers a drive-through warehouse.
Helen, who has a background in operations working for brands such as Rolls Royce, Deloitte and Credit Suisse, said: “The loan from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is going to play a vital role in keeping up with customer demand.
“The need for timber isn’t going away and with the additional funds, we’re planning on investing in cutting technology to improve productivity, which may require some research and development. Traditional methods of cutting timber are incredibly labour intensive so with the support of technology, we’ll be able to supply customers much quicker.
“We’ll also be launching an ecommerce website so that we can continue to serve our customers efficiently, while giving them the option to browse and pre-purchase our stock prior to pick up or delivery. This will be especially useful for our self-build and gardening customers who are in the midst of projects.”
Fall Timber, which has a team of eleven employees, originally operated from the family farm on the outskirts of Bedale. Of the move, Helen, who took over the business from her father 10 years ago, said: “We’d outgrown our operations on the farm, so around three years ago we moved to our current premises. Since then, we’ve been on a journey of growth and overcoming the setbacks the pandemic brought.
“The loan came at a great time for us and the process was so simple. We’re excited to bring these plans to life this year and give the business space to develop. Both Matt and I had vastly different careers to the world of timber before this, but it feels important to my family heritage to keep the craft going. There are few independent timber merchants left and we love being able to offer our customers the best service and product.”
Lee Vickers, investment manager at BEF, said: “With its longstanding history, Fall Timber already has a successful model as a timber merchant. Helen and Matt have great aptitude for the business and using the loan to invest in technology to improve efficiency and keep up with customer demand will help them compete with larger companies while remaining true to their roots. We’re looking forward to seeing what the rest of this year has in store for them.”
Accountancy group acquires Yorkshire firm
Accountancy group Azets has acquired Naylor Wintersgill, the £4m+ independent firm of chartered accountants, business and tax advisors, based in Yorkshire.
The acquisition is Azets’ eleventh in 12 months.
Naylor Wintersgill, which will rebrand as Azets with immediate effect, delivers accounting, audit, corporate finance, tax, payroll, and HR advisory services to SMEs, private clients, and not-for-profit organisations across the Yorkshire region.
The acquisition sees Azets expand its presence and deepen its advisory expertise in Yorkshire, adding two offices to its UK network which now totals 90.
Naylor Wintersgill has been based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, for more than a century.
Acquiring Naylor Wintersgill adds 67 people into the Azets team, including eight partners.
Managing Director Victoria Wainwright, who started her accountancy career as Naylor Wintersgill’s first apprentice in 1991, will continue to lead the team as office managing partner.
She said: “The team at Naylor Wintersgill are thrilled to be joining Azets. This is a brilliant opportunity to strengthen our services offering to SMEs and owner-managed businesses in Yorkshire. It is also an opportunity for our team to be part of a much larger ecosystem, creating even more value for our clients.
“We will continue to build on the achievements of Naylor Wintersgill, delivering the same high-quality level of service, with the advantage of being able to offer more specialist advice and be part of a growing group that offers new and exciting opportunities for our clients and our people.
“It was clear from the start that Azets’ culture and values align closely with our own, and we are confident that that this acquisition is the perfect fit for our future growth.”
Peter Gallanagh, regional CEO for Azets’ UK North region, said: “I’d like to offer a warm welcome to our new colleagues and clients from Naylor Wintersgill as we embark on this exciting journey together. This acquisition offers a platform for Azets to keep building its regional presence in Yorkshire and leverage shared skills in support of our SME clients.
“Like Azets, Victoria and her team have a strong reputation for delivering a full range of quality professional services and support to clients through a collaborative relationship built on trust and confidence.”
Russell Turner, regional managing partner with Azets in Yorkshire, added: “This acquisition is a wonderful opportunity to expand Azets’ geographical presence in Bradford and enhance our specialist offering to SME clients right across the Yorkshire region. We are delighted to be working with Victoria and her team.”
Streets Chartered Accountants covers directors remuneration and more in new news roundup
Streets Chartered Accountants covers directors remuneration, its podcast with the co-founders of Cognito, provides useful tax information, and more in its new news roundup.
Directors remuneration – salary versus dividend, food for thought for 2023/24For many years, director shareholders in limited companies have often been advised to take a small salary, at a rate to retain access to state pension credits and other benefits, and then supplement their income using dividends. Looking at the individual and the company together, this is a very tax effective route.
Podcast: Sisters with more than a thought when it comes to an enterprising ideaThis episode of The Streets Sessions features sisters Ellie and Zara Pickles, co-founders of Cognito, a contemporary Sushi and Japanese restaurant and bar. It explores what led them to open Cognito, the challenges they’ve faced, the role and support of the wider family and their exciting vision for the future.
Tax Rates and Allowances 2023/24Streets’ handy format Tax Rates and Allowances card is now available as a PDF online. For a printed copy please email info@streetsweb.co.uk
Tax Return Checklist 2023Download Streets’ tax return checklist which, whilst not exhaustive, does include the majority of the information required in connection with the completion of your tax return.
SmartMoney – March/April 2023
SmartMoney is the bi-monthly magazine from Streets Financial Consulting plc, Streets Chartered Accountants’ independent financial planning arm, full of news and helpful information on personal financial planning.
Demolition on former Wilkos site begins
Demolition work on the former Wilkos building on Corporation Street is under way as the regeneration of Rotherham town centre continues.
The Council acquired the building at 4 Corporation Street in January 2023 to prevent it from becoming a long-term empty building, after high street household, DIY and homewares chain, Wilkos, closed the store after 127 years in the town centre.
The site will be utilised to enhance the Council’s Town Centre Masterplan, and over the next 18 months will be part of the Forge Island site compound.
Heavy plant machinery is currently in operation on the back of the building and will continue to demolish the rest of the structure in sections over the next six weeks.
After being removed, the materials will be recycled and reused in other projects across the UK.
Prior to the demolition starting, the building was stripped inside to ensure that all asbestos was removed.
Cllr Denise Lelliott, Rotherham Council’s Cabinet Member for Business and Economy, said: “With the crane now towering over the ongoing works on Forge Island and more town centre homes becoming occupied, we’re making progress on our plans to regenerate Rotherham town centre.
“The closure of Wilko’s after such a long time was clearly a loss but sadly this is a pattern seen in other town centres across the country. So rather than leave the building empty we want to use the space to help facilitate the wider Forge Island development over the coming months.”
Multi-disciplinary built environment consultancy secures £40m investment
Multi-disciplinary built environment consultancy Ridge and Partners, which has offices in Leeds, has secured a significant investment of more than £40 million from Horizon Capital.
Horizon’s investment supports Ridge in delivering the next phase of its ‘Quality, Innovation and Growth’ vision, which sets a strategy for expanding expertise and nurturing talent in a progressive way.
The success of this strategy is clear in Ridge’s recent expansion from 577 people and £61 million turnover in 2020 to 1,000 people and a forecast £105 million in 2023 across its 13 UK offices. Strategic acquisitions in the last three years have included Scott Hughes Design and Projex.
Ridge’s broad multi-disciplinary offering to clients, which includes depth in architecture, building services, engineering, planning, surveying, sustainability and transport, will be expanded by investing in talent across its core disciplines as well as through new acquisitions.
New acquisitions will complement Ridge’s existing practices and develop new services to enhance its track record of strong client relationships. Strategic opportunities include the digital revolution, the net zero carbon and social impact agendas and changing ways of living, working and learning. Through its investment in Ridge, Horizon Capital is adding built environment services to its portfolio of 14 technology services, business services, software and data companies.
Adrian O’Hickey, senior partner, Ridge, said: “This is a transformational deal for Ridge – a catalyst for some of the most ambitious changes in our strategy. We’ve already been successful in turning up the dial on this business, introducing new initiatives and developing our people. We want to continue that progress, with the benefit of new investment, while maintaining our core values of quality, collaboration and agility all the way.
“Progressive growth is crucial for us and that means creating better and more sustainable places while offering cutting edge services for our clients and career opportunities for our colleagues.
“Horizon Capital’s focus on professional services and technology makes them a strong fit for Ridge and protects the personal culture of our 75-year-old business. Horizon understands the personal touch that distinguishes the Ridge culture and our willingness to exploit the latest technology to work more efficiently and more accurately.”
Luke Kingston, managing partner, Horizon Capital, said: “Horizon is providing the first institutional capital to Ridge in its 75-year history. Its partners have already taken opportunities for sustained growth in recent years, and we will help them to be even more ambitious in the firms and talent they reach out to.
“This professional expertise will be vital in the next few years as the UK upgrades its infrastructure and brings its building stock up to net zero standards. The winners in this market should be the consultants who have the trust of their clients and a track record of maintaining the highest standards throughout their businesses.”
Jaso wins cranes contract worth more than £10m with Sheffield Forgemasters
Jaso Industrial Cranes has been awarded a contract worth more than £10 million to supply brand new overhead cranes for the UK’s largest open-die forging line.
The seven cranes will service Sheffield Forgemasters’ new 13,000 tonne Heavy Forge, which is under construction at its Brightside Lane site and will range from 20 tonnes to 380 tonnes individual lifting capacity.
Jaso beat five other world-class crane suppliers in the tender process to be awarded preferred bidder status for the design, supply and installation of all overhead cranes required for the state-of-the-art facility.
Steve Marshall, manufacturing transformation director at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “Jaso Industrial Cranes has been appointed as our preferred bidder for all seven of the overhead cranes required to operate our new forging facility.
“The tender process was very tightly contested, but Jaso have a significant amount of experience in supply of cranes for hot metal and steelworks, which is extremely important for the work that we are undertaking.
“We will be installing a single 25 tonne crane, two service cranes with 100/20 tonne capacity, a 180/40 tonne capacity crane, one 250/50 tonne crane and two main 380/120 tonne forge cranes in our new 12,700 sq m forge building.”
The cranes are due to be supplied and fitted between March 2025 and July 2025.
Aitor Guesalaga, general manager at Jaso Industrial Cranes, said: “Sheffield Forgemasters is installing a high-specification heavy forging line and we are delighted to be bringing our expertise in the design and manufacture of overhead cranes for these types of facilities to this project.
“The forging line will be one of the most advanced in Europe and the largest of its kind in the UK.”
Sheffield Forgemasters’ 13,000 tonne forging line is part of a substantial recapitalisation programme for the company, which will also include new machining facilities to service its defence contracts.
Knight Frank makes appointment to drive growth of shopping centres team
Knight Frank, the property consultancy, has appointed Ben Hill as a partner in its commercial property asset management team in Leeds.
Hill, who has twenty years’ experience in the commercial property sector working with Europe’s largest and most complex retail assets, joins Knight Frank from British Land where he was a director and member of the retail property management senior leadership team.
At British Land, Hill was responsible for the management of approximately £1bn worth of assets in Sheffield including Meadowhall Shopping Centre and surrounding sites. Earlier in his career Hill spent twelve years working as a director of property management at Smith Young Partnership in Sheffield.
Based between Knight Frank’s Leeds and Sheffield offices, Hill’s newly created role will have national coverage and his appointment as partner will strengthen Knight Frank’s shopping centre management capabilities and bolster the shopping centre portfolio.
Michael Lewis, head of property & asset management, Knight Frank said: “Hill has a proven record as one of the leading property management experts across UK retail space and will have a key role to play in our expansion of our shopping centre team in Leeds. Shopping centres are an integral part of our retail capability.
“Servicing a range of REITs, institutions, property companies and local authorities, our experience in the core market of strong regional centres is unrivalled. Hill brings with him an in-depth knowledge of one of the UK’s most complex and well-known retail assets and we are delighted to have him on board.”
Executive search company promotes principal to divisional manager
Leeds-based international executive search agency Spencer Riley has promoted Adam Dowson to divisional manager as it continues to invest in its team and expand its specialist cold chain and life science logistics division.
Adam joined Spencer Riley in 2017 as a trainee and has progressed through the ranks to executive, senior executive search consultant and then principal search consultant before his latest promotion to divisional manager.
Adam has established himself as an experienced global consultant in the highly regulated cold chain and life science logistics sector. Spencer Riley continues to invest and grow this and other specialist teams.
His clients comprise market-leading couriers, temperature-controlled packaging solutions innovators and major integrators providing complete supply chain solutions across Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America.
Adam Dowson said: “It is great to have my role at Spencer Riley recognised with this latest promotion. My ambition now is to build my team further and to expand into niche areas within the life science logistics and packaging sectors.”
Managing Director Scott Ellam said: “Congratulations to Adam on his latest well-deserved promotion which recognises his drive and commitment as well as his consistently exceptional performance on behalf of clients and candidates.
“Adam has been with me from near the beginning and is a key member of our team. Adam’s skill set and experience is invaluable to Spencer Riley as we continue our journey. We’ve had a great 12 months in terms of growth, and I look forward to supporting Adam as he builds his team and expands his portfolio offering.
“Adam’s clients, candidates and colleagues will know how much their successes matter to him and his character is reflected in the relationships he builds both within the company and with our partners. I look forward to seeing him developing the future generations of trainees as we increase hiring through 2023.”
Prime Leeds city centre retail building changes hands in £2.5m deal
A prime retail building in the heart of Leeds city centre’s main pedestrianised area, on the corner of Commercial Street and Trinity Street, has changed hands in a £2.5 million deal.
The 6,500 sq ft building, which is spread across five storeys, has been sold by a major UK Fund Manager which was advised by Leeds property consultancy, GV&Co’s investment division.
The property has been acquired by a private investor and is let to Japanese and Asian-inspired restaurant and take-away chain, itsu. The purchase reflects a net initial yield of 3.38% rising to 6.77% in July 2023 following a fixed uplift in the rent.
Garry Howes, director of investment at GV&Co, said: “This is a landmark building on one of Leeds city centre’s busiest streets as well as being next to the northern entrance of Trinity Leeds, meaning thousands of people walk past it every day.
“It also benefits from a very popular tenant in itsu, a long lease until 2032, and a fixed uplift in the rental income. This made it a sought-after investment opportunity with a number of UK fund managers and private companies all expressing an interest.”
Second phase of Bradford student development launches
Integritas Property Group (IPG), an ethical property developer based in the North West, has launched its second phase of the ‘Bijou’ project. Following the completion of the first phase, ‘Optima’ has been designed to capitalise on its location in the heart of Bradford city centre.
Designed for student accommodation, Optima will host a total of 54 student pods and 4 accessible studios.
Speaking on its investment in Bradford city centre, Integritas Property Group founder and Managing Director Mitchell Walsh said: “Bradford is the tenth largest city economy in England, worth an estimated £11.6 billion, so it’s a great area to concentrate on regenerating. It’s a well-connected city with direct rail access to London and has been awarded the UK City of Culture for 2025.
“Over the coming few years, the city will see a whole host of redevelopment with the local authority planning to improve large areas of the centre, following a £20 million grant from the UK Levelling Up fund. The rental yield in Bradford also sits at 6%, which is 2.4% higher than the national average, making it a great time to invest in the area.”
Construction of the new Optima site will start in June 2023, with the expected first completion in June 2024.
