Fresh force in turnaround sector as expansion to follow merger

Ilkley-based Armitage Jones is to relocate to Montpelier's offices in Leeds, which will become the first UK location of the new group.

The company, to be called Montpelier Business Reorganisation, will open three more offices in London, Manchester and Birmingham over the next 12 months.

Chris Jones, co-founder of Armitage Jones, said the deal will turn the company from a specialist boutique operation into a nationwide business.

"It's a massive chance for us to expand," he said. "We are ambitious to get involved in bigger work. Montpelier has a great deal of momentum and the deal gives us the ability to become a national firm very quickly."

Armitage Jones was founded in 2008 by its three partners Chris Jones, Tony Armitage and Simon Padgett. All three will stay on with the new business.

"I'm the lawyer, Tony is the accountant and Simon is the property expert," said Mr Jones. "Together we'll develop the business on a larger scale."

Mr Jones, who is well known in Yorkshire as the former head of law firm Hammonds, said the new group also planned to put together a fund to acquire distressed businesses.

Montpelier is one of the UK's fastest growing professional advisers to small and medium sized businesses.

The top 35 accountancy practice has 20 offices in the UK and overseas.

Montpelier founder Watkin Gittins said: "We have been looking for the right expertise to bring a business restructuring and reorganisation offering to our clients, and we have been impressed by the rapid growth of Armitage Jones into a formidable player in the market in less than two years."

Armitage Jones was established as a hands-on alternative to the traditional turnaround service provided by accountants and insolvency groups.

Its aim is to provide rapid and effective remedial advice at board level to underperforming and struggling businesses.

"Our take on the market is different," said Mr Jones. "We have an ethos of doing, rather than simply advising, that delivers swift results for underperforming businesses and property assets, as well as access to significant business funding."

Armitage Jones has grown to a team of eight staff and generated seven-figure levels of fee income in its first full year of operating. The eight will join Montpelier's staff of 50 in Leeds.

Once Armitage Jones's lease in Ilkley runs out, the firm will move out.

"With the additional resources we now have access to as part of a wider group, we expect to make a number of very early hires and plan to have representation in more locations within the year," said Mr Jones.

Montpelier's Mr Gittins said: "The mix of insolvency, business and property expertise that the Armitage Jones team brings is a valuable combination of skills that has huge relevance in the new economic markets arising from the banking crisis.

"We have made this investment to take these skills to national and international markets very quickly."

Since its inception two years ago, Armitage Jones has worked with a number of high net worth individuals.

These are typically business people who have built up a company, sold it for 20m-30m and invested the proceeds in property based businesses.

"Many of them have had serious issues to cope with and have struggled. We have come up with alternative ideas," he said.

He added that Armitage Jones is different to other turnaround specialists as it does not have a large bureaucratic structure.

The plan is to maintain that ethos at Montpelier Business Reorganisation, with all three Armitage Jones partners continuing to work closely with clients.

Montpelier is based in the Isle of Man and has grown dramatically over recent years. It has more than 23,000 clients across 52 offices in 14 countries.

Legal firms Gordons and Lupton Fawcett advised on the merger.

CLIENTS RANGE FROM BANKING TO TRAVEL

Armitage Jones advises businesses on turnaround and growth strategies.

The firm has worked with a range of businesses since it was set up two years ago, covering legal, property, accountancy and insolvency.

Work has included restructuring in the retail, professional services, contracting and e-commerce sectors and the sale of subsidiaries, as well as helping firms diversify and grow.

Clients include an international bank, a national leisure chain, a commercial property group, a corporate travel business, several property development businesses and a listed company.

"We hope that our results in positively turning critical problem companies around, and helping others thrive in new markets, will aid continued expansion," said co-founder Tony Armitage.