BVCA announces winners of the North West Management Team Awards 2016

The British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) is pleased to announce the winners of the North West Management Team Awards 2016, our annual celebration of excellence in private equity and venture capital, produced in association with Grant Thornton UK LLP.
Now in its eighth year, the BVCA Management Team Awards recognise and reward the achievements and success of businesses across the UK which are backed by private equity and venture capital funds.
All the winners will be announced and presented with their prize tonight at the annual BVCA North West Dinner, held at Hilton Deansgate, Manchester. They will now be entered into the national final to compete against other UK regions, and the national winners will be announced at the BVCA Gala Dinner on 8 December in London.
The full list of winners for the BVCA North West Management Team Awards 2016:
Winner |
Backed by |
Category |
Together | Equistone Capital (to December 2015) and now GHO Capital |
Large Company Team |
Citation | ECI and HgCapital | Mid-Market Team |
Inprova Group | LDC | Venture or Growth Company Team |
Forrest | Palatine | Social Responsibility Team |
Simon Cooper, On the Beach | Inflexion | CEO |
Jonathan Diggines, Executive Director – Funds at Mercia Technologies PLC, and Chair of the BVCA North West judging panel, said: “It was fantastic year for the North West. We had many great companies to choose from, which demonstrates the importance of private equity and venture capital to the North West economy and to all the UK regions. The BVCA Management Team Awards showcase the team's managing some of the top performing businesses in the UK, and I am delighted that, once again, the North West has produced such a bumper crop. Congratulations to all who took part. Good luck to our winners in the national final.”
Philip Grindley, partner at Grant Thornton in Manchester said: “It’s great to celebrate the success of entrepreneurial management teams and also the vision and commitment of the private equity firms which have backed them. The awards demonstrate again that Manchester and the North West is a real hotbed of private equity talent, creating significant value in the region. Grant Thornton is passionate about supporting business growth in a vibrant economy so we’re delighted to be working with the BVCA on these awards and congratulate the winning management teams.”
The winners are:
Large Company Team
Together
Backed by Equistone
Together is a provider of finance for individuals and companies traditionally underserved by mainstream lenders.
Based in Cheadle, Cheshire, it offers a range of products including mortgages, auction finance, secured loans, bridging finance and motor finance.
Under the group chairmanship of Mike McTighe and group CEO and founder Henry Moser, Together employs 350 people and more than doubled its new lending between 2014 and 2015.
Equistone took a minority stake in 2006 when the business was known as Jerrold Holdings (it rebranded as Together in 2015).
Judges’ comments: “This business has been an outstanding success for the region and deserves a much higher profile. In 2015 they announced profits of £70m on a £1.4 billion loan book, and the year saw a rebranding of the group and successful capital market bond issues. But the judges were most impressed with Mike McTighe’s work in building two distinct and very strong boards for the two arms of the group, whilst preserving the core culture created by founder Henry Moser.”
Mid-Market Team
Citation
Backed by ECI and HgCapital
Headquartered in Wilmslow, Cheshire, Citation works with over 16,000 SMEs, providing support and advice on key areas of HR & employment law, health & safety, ISO and staff training across a broad spectrum of industries.
Since 2013 the business has undergone a significant transformation under the stewardship of CEO Chris Morris and a new management team which has resulted in a doubling of employee numbers to around 400 and consistent turnover and profit growth.
ECI invested in Citation in 2012 backing a management buy-in led by Morris. The company was then acquired by HgCapital in February 2016.
Judges’ comments: “Chris Morris and his team did an outstanding job in transforming this business over a two year period from their arrival in 2013. The judges were particularly impressed with the cultural transformation, which saw the company reduce staff turnover in their contact centre from 130% to 9% p.a. and named in the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to work for in 2015 & 2016.”
Venture or Growth Company Team of the Year
Inprova Group
Backed by LDC
Inprova Group delivers professional procurement services for private and public sector organisations in the UK.
Set-up in March 2015 by the founders of CEL Procurement, Inprova has embarked on a significant restructuring and branding exercise over the past year. Alongside impressive organic growth, it completed three acquisitions as it expanded into the energy broker market, opened an office in North Carolina and has massively grown its workforce.
Customers of the Warrington-based business include Virgin Atlantic, Hotel du Vin, National Grid, Carlsberg and retail group White Stuff.
LDC invested in CEL in March 2014, and the plan is to at least double the size of the business over the next two to three years.
Judges’ comments: “The Inprova team achieved a great deal in 2015, growing the business organically, integrating three acquisitions and opening a US operation, as well as completing a re-branding. The judges were impressed with the quality of execution across all of these multiple projects in a single year.”
Social Responsibility Team
Forrest
Backed by Palatine
Forrest is a social housing contractor headquartered in Bolton, providing refurbishment and maintenance services to the social housing market in the North of England.
Last year Forrest raised over £20,000 for the Footprints Foundation, a South African orphanage charity. As well as money, staff donated blankets, clothes and gifts, and in October 2015 took a team to South Africa to complete building works.
Customers of the Warrington-based business include Virgin Atlantic, Hotel du Vin, National Grid, Carlsberg and retail group White Stuff.
It is also strongly committed to reducing emissions and waste through a range of activities, including a “green” vehicle fleet, reusing materials, sourcing environmentally friendly products, and reducing office utility usage.
Forrest has been backed by Palatine since October 2013.
Judges’ comments: “The judges were impressed with a commitment to social and community engagement led from the board but that goes right through the company, with 95% of staff involved in community activities. The judges also commended the strong link with Footprints Foundation in South Africa: a team from Forrest went out to build a new orphanage for them in 2015.”
CEO of the Year
Simon Cooper, On the Beach
Backed by Inflexion
Simon Cooper founded his first company whilst still at university, setting up On the Piste, a ski travel company for students looking to holiday on a budget. It was here he starting work on a new venture, On the Beach, and when his first company was sold to Thomson in 2008, he turned his full attention to the new platform.
On the Beach, headquartered in Cheadle, Cheshire, is an online travel agent offering low-cost, short-haul beach holidays. It primarily targets customers in the UK and currently has a 17% market share of the online short-haul beach holiday market, with its two largest competitors being TUI Travel and Thomas Cook.
On the Beach's technology platform enables customers to dynamically package the constituent components of their holiday (including flights, hotels and transfers) to build custom made holidays from millions of flight and hotel combinations, as opposed to being offered pre-packaged holidays.
The business has delivered five years of consistent growth, increased daily unique visitors to the website, and entered the Swedish market in early 2015 and in the short-term intends to expand into the wider Scandinavian market (including Norway and Denmark).
In September last year, On the Beach floated on the London Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of £240 million.
Judges’ comments: “The judges applauded Simon’s achievements in founding the business and building it to the point where it achieved a £240 million float in 2015. Simon has created and directed a truly impressive business, built on great technology which delivers disruptive flexibility and value to customers incredibly efficiently.”
Notes to editor
- The BVCA Management Team Awards, produced in partnership with Grant Thornton, are the only awards to celebrate the achievements of UK private equity and venture capital-backed management teams. The awards consists of two rounds: regional and national. Each of the eight regions has a judging panel which decides on the winners following nominations from BVCA members and a comprehensive due diligence programme with in-depth interviews. The regional winners were announced in May and can be found here. All were automatically entered into the national final. For more information about the award categories please click here.
- The North West judging panel consists of: Jonathan Diggines (Chair), Enterprise Ventures; Jonathan Bell, LDC; Ryan Bevington, Maven Capital Partners; Matthew Bryden-Smith, Grant Thornton; Andy Gregory, Business Growth Fund; Ian Kelly, Matrix and Utiligroup; Steve O’Hare, Equistone; Gary Tipper, Palatine.
- The British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) is the industry body for the UK private equity and venture capital industry. The BVCA has over 500 member firms, representing the vast majority of UK-based private equity and venture capital firms and their advisers.
- Grant Thornton is one of the world’s leading organisations of independent assurance, tax and advisory firms. These firms help dynamic organisations unlock their potential for growth by providing meaningful, forward-thinking advice. Proactive teams, led by approachable partners in these firms, use insights, experience and instinct to understand complex issues for privately owned, publicly listed and public sector clients and help them to find solutions. More than 35,000 Grant Thornton people, across over 100 countries, are focused on making a difference to clients, colleagues and the communities in which we live and work. The UK Grant Thornton member firm provides services to over 40,000 privately held businesses, public interest entities and individuals. It is led by more than 185 partners and employs more than 4,200 of the profession's brightest minds. Find out more at www.grant-thornton.co.uk