Yorkshire is the jewel in the UK's entrepreneurial crown

Throughout 2017, LDC is searching the entrepreneurial heartlands of England, Scotland and Wales as part of its Backing Business Ambition tour, to uncover and showcase Britain's most inspiring and ambitious businesses.
Emerald GroupEmerald Group
Emerald Group

Yorkshire’s business activity is growing at an impressive rate, second only to London, according to official statistics.

Backing Business Ambition in Yorkshire full details - CLICK HERE.

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And the small and medium-sized businesses from God’s Own County are demonstrating real ambition and drive, too. According to research from Lloyds Bank, activity among firms in the region continued to grow steeply last month, at levels above the UK average.

Distinction DoorsDistinction Doors
Distinction Doors

The four businesses we’ve profiled from the region are amongst Yorkshire’s most ambitious.

Simon Gray, founder of energy drink firm Boost, is aiming for a turnover of £50m within five years, while Emerald Publishing has already become one of the world’s most respected academic publishers, thanks to its archive of consistently brilliant scholarly texts.

Being based in Yorkshire has actively contributed to the success of these firms. “People here are keen to work and enthusiastic,” says Vickie Brown from Distinction Doors. “Staff turnover is very low.”

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Adler & Allan’s Mark Calvert explains that his firm deals with environmental hazards all over the UK, which makes Yorkshire the natural home for the business. “Harrogate is the geographic centre of the UK,” he says. “Our business reach goes well into Scotland and so this is exactly where we need to be.”

Adler & AllanAdler & Allan
Adler & Allan

CASE STUDY: Global knowledge business bringing research to life

Emerald Group - and, more specifically, its academic publishing business, Emerald Publishing - celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. In 1967, Emerald had just one title in its portfolio, but now the Bingley-based business publishes a range of 300 academic journals, 300 journals, more than 2,500 books and over 1,500 case studies.

The academic sector remains Emerald’s bread and butter, but it also offers publications for the social sciences and business sectors.

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The business has evolved into a Group and become acquisitive, buying complementary companies that help bolster its service offering. Recent additions to the fold include: a creative agency focused on making academic research engaging, a research company which helps organizations accelerate business performance through learning, and producer of management toolkits to help create better leaders.

John Garner director and head of LDC in Yorkshire and the North EastJohn Garner director and head of LDC in Yorkshire and the North East
John Garner director and head of LDC in Yorkshire and the North East

But Emerald also innovates internally, and recently launched a new case studies division, which provides practical resources for lecturers and their students.

Emerald is a global success story; its customers are the world’s top 200 universities as well as business schools and distinguished colleges in 134 countries. It now has offices in 11 locations around the world. “We’ve aggressively built a global business,” says CEO Richard Bevan.

The publisher sells into the world’s venerable institutions but also sources its content from their academics. The business is extremely selective about what it chooses to publish: “We reject two-thirds of the content we receive, which maintains quality,” says Bevan.

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“The market is not growing – in terms of core academic publishing – but we’ve punched above our weight. We have out-performed the market by 3-4 percentage points over the last few years.”

Distinction DoorsDistinction Doors
Distinction Doors

Technology has proved a competitive advantage for the agile business. “We have flexible and remote working built into our model, which means that we can hire the best talent, not just from Yorkshire but from all over the world, and truly position ourselves as a global brand,” says Bevan.

One of Emerald’s great strengths has been its provenance, and the fact it remains a firm that has stayed true to its roots, he claims. “Some of our rivals are more than 100 times our size,” says Bevan. “But our customers like that we’re not a ruthless commercial giant. We’re a family-oriented business.”

CASE STUDY: Energy drink brand boosts sales through exports and innovation

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Leeds-based Boost Drinks, the sports and energy drink brand, has forged an unusual path.

The 16-year-old business has disregarded deals with supermarkets in favour of partnerships with corner shops and petrol stations. “The convenience sector has often been dismissed as the poor cousin of the grocers, but we’re proving they’re not,” says founder Simon Gray.

This innovative strategy has seen the business hit £30m in turnover, with 150 million drinks sold each year. Boost currently exports to various territories all over the world. “Around 92pc of our business is still in the UK but we’re starting to look seriously at exports,” says Gray.

Adler & AllanAdler & Allan
Adler & Allan

Boost has already proven a huge hit in Northern Ireland, where it is the number one soft drinks brand. The company, which generated 10pc revenue growth in 2016, is expecting the same this year.

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Boost, which is a sales and marketing outfit, works with its partner drinks manufacturer to create cost-effective versions of popular premium drinks.

Gray started the business while he was still at university, and couldn’t find an affordable alternative to Red Bull. Having established a foothold in energy and sports drinks, Boost has now moved into a new niche. “We’re moving with the wider health agenda, and have created a range of protein drinks,” he says.

The name Boost has always been one of the company’s best assets, according to Gray.

“Everyone says, ‘I need a boost’,” he claims. “When you’re up against global corporate powerhouses, it’s very useful when the consumer knows what your drink does as soon as they see it on the shelf.”

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There are a few challenges coming down the pipe, however. “The sugar tax will be interesting,” says Gray. “And Brexit has already thrown up a few challenges in terms of input costs because our manufacturers source a lot of products from overseas. But that’s a short term pain, and gives us opportunities to export.”

The 44-year-old, who has grown Boost organically since inception, believes that food and drink will always be a resilient sector because consumers need to eat and drink, and want products right now. “Could we be a £50m revenue business in three to five years?” asks Gray. “I think so, if we do everything right.”

CASE STUDY: Quality craftsmanship opens doors for Distinction

Distinction Doors was founded in 2004 to import a unique, thermal-efficient and durable door into the UK. Despite being made from a composite material, the doors look like they are made from timber but are far more secure and cost-effective.

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The business flourished, and in 2011, co-founder Drew Wright decided to turn the simple warehouse business into a one-stop shop for high-quality doors.

In 2015 the firm invested in its manufacturing capabilities, as well sales and marketing, and Distinction is now the UK’s number one maker of entrance doors.

One in every four doors installed in the UK is a Distinction door. “In the early days, the goods would come in and go out with very little interference from us,” says financial director Vickie Brown.

“Now we add extra value. We can cut holes so doors need no further work from our customers. We can prep, paint and glaze. We also manufacture many different designs now, not just one.”

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The £42m-turnover business supplies fabricators – companies that install double-glazing, for example. And while Distinction’s roots are in social housing, it has now diversified into other markets. “We now supply 60pc of our products to the residential sector,” says Brown.

Based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, the company works alongside its clients to develop products that their customers will love. This means creating French, bi-fold and stained glass effect doors.

This year, Distinction has invested heavily in new machinery, which has automated some of the processes required to fashion the doors. This investment should help deliver a £6m uplift in turnover this year.

“We’ve got a three year strategic plan,” says Brown. “This involves bringing more innovative products into the marketplace, and maybe looking at untapped markets, helping our customers to grow too.”

CASE STUDY: LDC portfolio business

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Vision to value: Climate change means this disaster recovery expert is in high demand

From oil spills to flash flooding, Adler & Allan is the company that comes to the rescue. Founded in 1926, the business helped clean up with the biggest peacetime disaster to hit Britain in recent years – the 2005 Buncefield fire, which saw around 60m litres of oil spilled.

The business runs 24 depots across the UK and Ireland, which helps it to react quickly to all kinds of emergencies. “If there are natural disasters or floods, Adler and Allan is there to deal with the aftermath,” says chief executive Mark Calvert.

However, the business has also now diversified into consultancy, training, maintenance and inspections too.

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The firm is trusted to provide maintenance on more than 10,000 “critical infrastructure” assets around the country. “We have tweaked our business model to be more preventative and ensure everything is in place for when a situation arises,” says Calvert.

The company has grown steadily for 90 years and Calvert believes there is likely to be an even greater need for Adler & Allan’s services in the future: “Climate change means more natural disasters,” says Calvert, adding that tightened environmental regulations are also driving the business forward.

In 2014, LDC backed the secondary buyout of Adler & Allan, helping the company to invest for the future. The capital has allowed the firm to grow through a mixture of organic growth and strategic acquisitions, which have broadened Adler & Allan’s portfolio of services.

LDC’s support went beyond funding, Calvert explains. “Prior to LDC’s involvement we felt that our customers weren’t necessarily aware of our full scope and offering,” he says. “We needed to get higher up the food chain with our larger clients and LDC encouraged us to professionalise that side of the business.”

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As a result, Adler & Allan has become a market leader in its chosen fields. This has helped the firm attract the industry’s top talent, Calvert reveals. The business employs 600 staff. “As a market leader with a high level of technical expertise, people come to us rather than us looking for them,” he says.

Yorkshire is an exciting region for business, home to hundreds of innovative, growth companies operating across a diverse range of industry sectors. From well-established clusters like food and drink and financial services to newer areas in technology and digital and creative industries, the level of ambition is impressive and infectious.

Last year we backed Team17, the market-leading games developer and publisher best known for the popular Worms franchise. Around the same time we also invested in PAW Holdings, which specialises in the design, manufacture and installation of pre-engineered light gauge building systems.

It’s this kind of variety that makes the business community so vibrant.

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Similarly, Distinction Doors is a classic example of a firm that has consistently innovated, and delivered impressive growth as a result. Emerald Publishing meanwhile is a Yorkshire business which has stayed true to its roots whilst going head to head with global players in its market. And the sports and energy drink brand, Boost Drinks, shows just what can be achieved with the right product and ‘go-to-market’ strategy. What’s more, there’s so much opportunity ahead for each of them.

LDC has had a presence in Yorkshire for almost 30 years, investing more than £450m in capital and supporting over 4,000 jobs. Over this time, we’ve partnered with many of its small and mid-sized businesses in becoming global players. Our purpose is simple - to support and scale more of those companies, creating value and prosperity for all those involved.

We’ve pledged to invest £1.2bn of equity in UK small and mid-sized companies over the next three years. These partnerships will come in a range of shapes and sizes, from classic management buyouts to development capital injections, and for different reasons – supporting a change of ownership, helping founders de-risk and crystallise their value, funding mergers and acquisitions.

It’s all about unlocking the potential of great, growth businesses across Yorkshire.

John Garner, head of LDC in Yorkshire and the North East.

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