Bernard Ginns: Hope grows that saplings can become trees of strength

It is the next stage of development from a green shoot.

There is no guarantee that it will grow into a mighty oak, but there is more hope that it will be more resilient to changeable conditions.

This is where we stand in the world of mergers and acquisitions in God’s Own Country.

According to financiers, we are definitely seeing signs of life take hold and start to grow.

With a big new fund of £225m to invest in the North of England, the buyout firm NorthEdge Capital has had the pick of opportunities over the last six or seven months.

Director James Hall gave me his assessment on the state of the M&A market following the completion of the fund’s first investment in Yorkshire, an £11m equity stake in Help-Link, the Leeds-based home heating provider.

Mr Hall said: “We have seen not just the quality but the quantity of opportunities improve.

“We think the market is certainly better than it was 12 months ago.

“We still think there’s a degree of cautiousness around the market but we seem to be seeing our fair share of quite interesting opportunities.

“The striking thing is they have much bigger growth stories.

“If you have a specific niche that’s doing much better than the competition, is being innovative, looking for different solutions, treating the customer well and giving them a good experience, you tend to be doing well despite the wider doom and gloom around.

“We see the market is pretty good, but clearly not where it was a few years ago.”

The pre-crunch days seem like a distant memory now; banks throwing money out of the door faster than you can say Cov-lite.

Six years and a number of false dawns later, Mr Hall told me the market signs are “better than green shoots”. I suggested ‘saplings’.

He agreed, helpfully provided a colourful introduction for the column.

Mr Hall went on: “We think there are genuine opportunities. We think people are feeling slightly better about their future.

“Nothing is easy but there are opportunities if you are willing to work hard and try to find them. We’re pretty optimistic.”

He said that NorthEdge hopes to complete more Yorkshire-based deals in the coming months. In February, the fund backed FPE Global, the Stockport-based specialist engineering firm, and earlier this month invested in Jigsaw24, an IT solutions provider with operations in Nottingham and Salford.

NorthEdge has offices in Leeds and Manchester. Mr Hall said: “Our business is pretty well balanced between the North West and Yorkshire and the North East.

“We have £225m to deploy and all of that will be in the North. At least half of that will be on this side of the Pennines. We think that’s a pretty strong message.”

As well as providing equity and expertise to high-growth businesses, NorthEdge is doing a good job in public relations terms; it is selling the North of England as an attractive destination to international investors.

Talking of saplings, green shoots and green things in general, the search is now on for Yorkshire’s best green business. The Yorkshire Post has launched its fifth annual Environment Awards and is looking for entries that showcase the excellent economic, environmental and sustainability work carried out in our region.

There are 11 categories to enter this year, covering everything from grassroots community projects and environmental start-ups to the best green product manufacturers and eco-building developments.

Main sponsor Yorkshire Water, which is backing the sought-after Environmental Business of the Year award, said: “These awards provide a great opportunity for us to listen and learn from others so that together we can ensure that Yorkshire is an excellent environment for everyone who lives, works and visits the region.”

Renewable energy specialist Banks Group, Leeds-based supermarket Asda, energy provider Northern Gas Networks, and law firm Dickinson Dees are each sponsoring a category.

Ed Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, will be the keynote speaker at the event. He said there has never been a better time for businesses to invest in low carbon energy.

The deadline for entries is May 11. See our website for details.

Congratulations to my colleague Greg Wright, who has won an accolade at the Towers Watson Excellence in HR Journalism Awards. The award underlines the Yorkshire Post’s reputation for quality business journalism in print and online, wherever we might be in the economic cycle.