Equistone Partners Europe Limited is known for being one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity investors. The company has announced that they have invested in BFT Mast Climbing, which is a leading UK independent specialist for the specification, rental and installation of Mast Climbing Work Platforms, BFT Mastclimbing. Equistone has
Saint-Gobain UK & Ireland has announced that they have completed the acquisition of Scotframe Limited. This latest acquisition will increase the company’s involvement in the off-site manufacturing and closed panel construction market. Scotframe Limited is a respected and established business that works to manufacture and supply of full timber frame
There has been £5.8 billion of bad debt write-off from all of UK SMEs have been reported in the last financial year. This figure has inspired Nimbla into action. The innovative new insurtech start-up company has been looking into the different ways that they could rethink how smaller companies manage
Offsite Solutions, the leading UK bathroom pod manufacturer announced that they have secured £30 million of orders over the course of the past six months. This figure is not only excellent news for the company, it is also a record breaking order intake for the history of Offsite Solutions. The
The Government must agree on a Brexit deal by the end of March for the automotive industry to stay competitive, says the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Mike Hawes, the Chief Executive of SMMT, urges the politicians to give more information to the industry about the deal so
Members of steel company British Steel have revealed this very day that the year 2016 has been a lucrative and rather profitable year for them. Since the firm’s inception on the first day of June 2016, British Steel has never looked better and has made considerable developments showing that it
North Yorkshire based structural steel group, Severfield plc, has recently secured six new contracts worth £72 million. One of the new contract victories is the firm’s appointment as the steelwork contractor on the development of 22 Bishopsgate in the City of London. Severfield will provide support to Multiplex in the
Italy-based construction giant Nacanco has reported growth in the first half of its 15th year in operation. This comes on the heels of the company’s activities to expand its fleet and increase its presence in the construction industry. Managing Director, Marzia Giusto, reported a 5% increase in sales and a corresponding
Middlesbrough manufacturing firm ESCS could be set for a 50% boost to turnover after attracting a growing interest from China. At present the fire protection company has a turnover of £500,000. It sent its self-designed ES300 TL system for demonstrations with a major gas and oil firm based in Qingdao, China.
Consultancy firm EnAppSys says that a harsh winter would make it ‘very expensive’ to balance the market due to tight supply margins, according to its latest analysis. The research has forecast that over the season there will be around 12 and a half hours of negative supply margins, with seven
Equistone Partners Europe Limited is known for being one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity investors. The company has announced that they have invested in BFT Mast Climbing, which is a leading UK independent specialist for the specification, rental and installation of Mast Climbing Work Platforms, BFT Mastclimbing. Equistone has announced that their now have a majority stake in the company and have invested in the Mast Climbing company alongside the current CEO and founder of the business Robin Head. The financial terms of this acquisition are undisclosed. BFT Mast climbing was first founded in Leighton Buzzard in 1997 and today has expanded to have a fleet of more than 650 motorised Mast Climbing Work Platforms. The business offers these platforms in order to deliver a cheaper, safer and more flexible alternative to the traditional scaffolding used on construction renovation and maintenance projects located around the UK. The company operate out of their central spot in Bedfordshire, while their experienced team carries out the specification, delivery and installation of MCWPs. The platforms can be used for light, medium and heavy duty requirements as well as the necessary training for users. Equistone Partners Europe has said that BFT Mastclimbing is an impressive family business which is run by an entrepreneurial management team that also operated in an unpenetrated market that has the potential for significant and rapid growth. The investment that has been made by Equistone will provide the further funding that BFT needs in order to increase their capacity and then expand their national coverage. The investment and expansion predicted by the company could help to convert more UK contractors to using the mast climbing technology on offer. This will allow the company to continue to offer a lower cost, safer and more flexible alternative to traditional scaffolding while looking to expand in the future.
Saint-Gobain UK & Ireland has announced that they have completed the acquisition of Scotframe Limited. This latest acquisition will increase the company’s involvement in the off-site manufacturing and closed panel construction market. Scotframe Limited is a respected and established business that works to manufacture and supply of full timber frame housing kits for small/medium builders, developers and self-builders in the UK. The company operates from two manufacturing sites and four sales and showroom locations in Scotland, Scotframe is also known for being a market leader in closed panel systems that are used widely in the construction of new build homes across Scotland and in England. Scotframe is a great fit for Saint-Gobain and will be a valuable addition to the group. Scotframe has over 160 employees who have expert knowledge in the manufacturing process of high quality timber housing kits and wall, floor and roof panels to be used in the UK market. The business is strongly aligned to the strategy of Saint-Gobain in order to create great living spaces and improve daily life with the creation of new homes. This latest acquisition will help Saint-Gobain to speed up their growth further and increase their expertise in offsite manufacturing for the construction markets. Scotframe and Saint-Gobain shares the same core focus for safety, and working to understand and support customers throughout the house building and designing processes. Both of these companies also champion the role that building performance has when creating healthy and comfortable living spaces. Scotframe will continue their business as usual, with nothing in the company changing and Scotframe continuing to manufacture and deliver high quality products. The timber frame manufacturer will start a new chapter as a part of the Saint-Gobain group and the range of opportunities on offer as a part of the global group with 18,000 colleagues in the UK alone and a business culture that looks to promote personal development and growth among their employees.
There has been £5.8 billion of bad debt write-off from all of UK SMEs have been reported in the last financial year. This figure has inspired Nimbla into action. The innovative new insurtech start-up company has been looking into the different ways that they could rethink how smaller companies manage their credit. The extensive platform that has been created by Nimbla will offer SMEs access to intelligent credit control as well as on-demand single invoice insurance through their cloud accounting. The platform will also offer smaller companies underwriting rules that are agreed upon by Munich Re’s business unit Digital Partners. Nimbla has been named as one of the 24 successful firms to be accepted into the FCA regulatory sandbox. Nimbla has also been announced as the latest insurtech startup to partner with Munich Re’s Digital Partners. Munich Re is known for being the A.M. Best A+ rated insurance company. The company focuses on delivering exceptional solution-based expert solutions for their clients. The company also delivers consistent risk management, financial stability and client proximity services. Munich Re has a strong track record of being able to identify the most innovative insurtech brands and works to offer a powerful market presence as Nimbla prepares to launch. Nimbla make the most of cloud accounting software in order to offer complete credit management for SMEs. This platform offers single invoice insurance which is underwritten by Great Lakes Insurance SE, Nimbla is also working to offer a more sustainable business model for SMEs. The company has found that Munich Re Digital Partners are progressive and have a great deal of experience that they can benefit from. The changes taking place in the landscape for commercial lines are changing, in particular for SMEs, both companies understanding this could lead to significant benefits being created for SMEs going forward.
Offsite Solutions, the leading UK bathroom pod manufacturer announced that they have secured £30 million of orders over the course of the past six months. This figure is not only excellent news for the company, it is also a record breaking order intake for the history of Offsite Solutions. The bathroom pod manufacturer has experienced a previously unseen performance of a 50% increase during the same period of last year. The business has managed to secure a range of projects for the business that will stretch from this year until 2019.There has been an increased demand for pods, a reflection of the demand for the pods. The product that are provided by Offsite Solutions help to improve the speed and efficiency of bathroom construction. Offsite Solutions has seen a significant increase in the orders and enquiries for their products to be used on residential schemes and mixed use developments in the build-to-rent sector. This area of construction has been performing strongly recently in throughout the UK. Offsite Solutions has also seen an increase in the amount of interest shown for factory-built bathrooms to be used in the care homes sector and an increase in the size of these projects. This increase in projects have income from larger care home providers. As well as this, University students have been demanding a higher specification of accommodation and living facilities, and with the competition for places it is vital that the accommodation available meets these high standards. Because of this, a range of steel-framed bathroom pods with more traditional tiled finishes are being specified during the construction of high-end student residences. It is great news that Offsite Solutions has experienced a record performance and demonstrates the hard work, skills and commitment that has been put into creating these high quality products. The demand is a seal of approval by the construction industry for the bathroom pods. Offsite Solutions have committed to investing in product design, unrivalled quality control and the manufacturing capacity of the company in order to make sure that they continue to meet the requirements of their expansive client base.
The Government must agree on a Brexit deal by the end of March for the automotive industry to stay competitive, says the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Mike Hawes, the Chief Executive of SMMT, urges the politicians to give more information to the industry about the deal so that the car market can maintain its position. In 2017 it was down by 5.6% and unless a decision is made the members will keep struggling investing if they don’t know what is ahead. He says that if no clarification will be brought by the end of the first quarter of the year, then the “industry will have to start taking contingency measures, such as stockpiling parts and vehicles, which costs money and makes them less competitive.” The Brexit situation impacted on vehicle sales and people opted to hold on to their existing cars or buy used ones rather than choosing new. The new car registration estimates have been in decline and the current figures are lower than expected. Even though Hawkes thinks that the Brexit did not result in anyone losing their job, it did cost potential new jobs “production and sales are down, which isn’t good for the industry.” However, an incident in October resulted in a 400 jobs cut when Vauxhall announced that it would move its workers from Ellesmere Factory in Cheshire to a single shift through a ‘voluntary separation programme’. The carmaker commented that the move was not made because of the Brexit, but because they needed to bring costs down in line with its benchmark factories in France. Hawkes tried to point out the opportunities that could be made available after Brexit: “there could be advantages to having a factory that uses sterling and is outside the EU in close proximity to Europe.”
Members of steel company British Steel have revealed this very day that the year 2016 has been a lucrative and rather profitable year for them. Since the firm’s inception on the first day of June 2016, British Steel has never looked better and has made considerable developments showing that it will emerge into 2017 as a lucrative and highly capable business enterprise. Its ability to have secured a large deal of transactions has loaded British Steel with endless opportunities to develop itself into a thriving business community as the months progress. With contractual deals involving Hinkley Point and Italy’s RFI (Rete Ferroviaria Italiana), British Steel is set forward to be busier than ever in its commitment to providing services to professional clients all over Europe and the rest of the world. To cope with this significant expansion, it was equally necessary that more employment opportunities were created by the company. Since June, British Steel has accrued an impressive extra 350 individuals in employment with the company, and has also been the attractive target of many members of the younger generation of university and college graduates. Indeed, more than 3,400 of these applied to work for British Steel in a variety of different capacities, and now British Steel has declared that 114 individuals will be taken on by the company, either on placements or to learn more about the trade itself and take on the various different apprenticeship opportunities that British Steel has to offer. To add further to these improvements and exciting new developments, Mister Roland Junck adds that the last seven months have been very good and informative to the prospects that British Steel can expect. Mister Junck emphasizes that the company’s combined commitment to developments great and small all over the country and the rest of Europe can only be a good thing and will ensure that the business continues to thrive and expand.
North Yorkshire based structural steel group, Severfield plc, has recently secured six new contracts worth £72 million. One of the new contract victories is the firm’s appointment as the steelwork contractor on the development of 22 Bishopsgate in the City of London. Severfield will provide support to Multiplex in the building of 22 Bishopsgate (net internal area of 1.4 million sq ft) by providing metal decking and superstructure structural steelwork. Among the five other contracts will see Severfield working on a commercial office development in the Midlands; two distribution centres in the South East; a research and development complex in Manchester and an extension to a retail complex in London. Severfield plc Chief Executive Officer, Ian Lawson, said: “We are delighted to announce these new contract wins and are excited to be working with Multiplex on such a high profile development as 22 Bishopsgate. “This further demonstrates the breadth of the group’s capabilities and the quality of our order book. “The Group has a longstanding history of working on iconic London buildings such as The Shard, London Bridge Station and Wimbledon No 1 Court. “Our design, experience and engineering skills have resulted in a strong pipeline across a range of sectors.” Last month it was announced that Severfield would replace William Hare on 22 Bishopsgate Project. William Hare was previously in line to build the 62-storey tower steelwork, but main contractor Multiplex has now made the decision to go with Severfield for the job. It is believed that Severfield is set to begin work in mid-December, subject to final contracts being agreed. Other subcontractors working on the scheme include Keltbray, which has been carrying out demolition and excavation work in the building’s basement, and Careys, which is building the tower’s concrete core. Since the vote to leave the European Union in June, the main investor behind the project asked the scheme’s remaining backers whether they wanted to proceed with construction of the tower.
Italy-based construction giant Nacanco has reported growth in the first half of its 15th year in operation. This comes on the heels of the company’s activities to expand its fleet and increase its presence in the construction industry. Managing Director, Marzia Giusto, reported a 5% increase in sales and a corresponding increase in the company’s operating profit. He claimed this was in part due to longer average rental contracts and utilisation which grew from 62% to 65% in two years. Company reports also indicate that the firm’s ReRent service continually records profits. The company has also invested in expanding its fleet. It recently purchased JLG electric scissor lifts with 8m-10m working heights, an 18m JLG diesel articulated boom lifts and 20m Socage truck mounts. Nacanco now boasts more than 2500 pieces of equipment for hire. This comprises over 100 different models with a range of capabilities catering for heights between 3 and 43 metres. The Managing Director went on to recall the giant strides made by Nacanco’s sister company. Nacanco Service grew in terms of turnover, number of certified operators and range of different training facilities it provides. Giusto, stated that the company expects to keep the current growth rates and margins until the end of the year. The announcement comes as Nacanco celebrates 15 years in the aerial equipment rental sector. Employees celebrated with an open day at the company’s head office in Montichiari, Brescia. The celebrations also saw the launch of a new branch in Verona, a city in the north of Italy. ‘Increase the level of services’ Commenting on the launch of the new branch, the commercial director of Nacanco, Ramon Santamaria stated that it was part of the company’s strategy to increase the level of services offered to final users, both in terms of the variety of equipment offered and the firm’s presence in the industry.”
Middlesbrough manufacturing firm ESCS could be set for a 50% boost to turnover after attracting a growing interest from China. At present the fire protection company has a turnover of £500,000. It sent its self-designed ES300 TL system for demonstrations with a major gas and oil firm based in Qingdao, China. Talks are now underway with regard to the Chinese company possibly ordering 10 of the machines in a £250,000 deal. ESCS makes specialist corrosion control and spray application equipment. It already boasts major gas and oil operators in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Singapore and Australia among its customers. However, managing director Shaun McDonald believes that the ES300 TL has the ability to revolutionise the fire protection sector. The specialist machines spray thick coatings of intumescent epoxy materials to protect steel structures from the threat of fire. ESCS already makes and exports the ES430 from its new premises on South Tees Freight Park. The ES430 is a bigger applicator of passive fire protection, but on request from its Chinese customer produced the smaller, faster version. ‘A real innovation’ McDonald devised ESCS himself and invested £27,000 into the planning, design and research of the machine, with manufacturing support from Middlesbrough companies Donoghue Engineering and Teesside Precision Engineering. He now believes that after initial trials at Azko Nobel in Felling, the new machine is going to be a big hit throughout the sector. McDonald said: “I knew it would do a job, as it will reduce the set-up time and application process on smaller jobs by at least two thirds, but it far surpassed even my own high expectations during the testing. “This is a real innovation because it will save so much time. There is nothing like this on the market so I think these machines will fly off the shelf once people out there know about it.”
Consultancy firm EnAppSys says that a harsh winter would make it ‘very expensive’ to balance the market due to tight supply margins, according to its latest analysis. The research has forecast that over the season there will be around 12 and a half hours of negative supply margins, with seven of which are predicted to fall during the National Grid’s winter period, while the other five and a half hours are expected to fall in October and March – the ‘shoulder’ months. The firm also predicted that there will be 85 hours of supply margins less than 2GW, over half of which will come during the shoulder months. This data is in stark contrast to their calculation of last year which predicted a margin above 2GW throughout the whole of the 2015/16 winter, barring just two hours when it averaged 1,500MW. The research data was gathered by taking the availability figures of last year and modifying them to account for the opening and closing of plants in 2016, and then matching them against the demand profile of 2015. Ferrybridge and Longannet are among the plants lost in the last year, both of which closed down in March, while Eggborough has also exited the market but still has a ‘supplemental balance reserve (SBR) contract. Meanwhile, Engie has also confirmed that the Rugeley plant will be shut down later in the month. On the other side of the coin, two new plants have opened. The Keadby CCGT plant reopened in November last year after being ‘mothballed’ for some time. The Carrington Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) plant will also open over the summer and is currently being commissioned. EnAppSys says that the negative supply margins will not result in blackouts as they do not factor in the potential 2GW of smaller plants that may be available through the Short Term Operating Reserve.