£2m move is ace for sports media company
A SPORTS industry media company which supplies programmes and scoreboards for the Wimbledon Tennis Championships is banking on its new video division after investing £2m in a move to new premises after outgrowing its old site.
PPL Sport specialises in the design and manufacture of match day programmes, branding, signage and video for the sports industry and is moving its headquarters from Liverpool to Brunswick Business Park in Speke.
The move is supported by Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, which has provided a funding package worth a total £1.8m.
The new site will give PPL room to grow, boosting capacity by 20%, and will include a studio with state-of-the-art video facilities.
The group needs more space to accommodate its growing video production department, which launched recently.
It offers same-day turnaround on video shot at sporting events, which it supplies to broadcasters, organisers’ websites and social media.
PPL Group produces match day programmes for major events including Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships, where PPL also provides scoreboard services, the Rugby Football Union Six Nations Championship, British Athletics and The Open Golf Championship.
The £5m turnover business has 29 staff based in Speke and Epsom, Surrey.
Paul Kimberley, sales and marketing director at PPL, said: “The new premises in Speke has excellent rail, road and air links and the move out of the city means we will be less impacted by traffic congestion.
“The size of the property will enable us to improve production flow and will increase our capacity, as well as enabling us to grow our range of products.
“We have seen a growing number of requests for bespoke signage and construction of items such as kiosks and retail units, which the extra space will greatly assist.
“The move will also support the creation of some additional intern and graduate roles planned for this year.”
PPL has also received a Regional Growth Fund grant of £200,000 after being introduced to the fund by Alistair Pike, Relationship Director, Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.
Alistair said: “Lloyds Bank has a longstanding relationship with PPL and it has been a pleasure to support its evolution over the years.
“It is a dynamic and innovative business, as proved by its latest move into video production, and I’m sure that its new headquarters will give PPL the growing space it needs as it enters the next chapter in its growth story.
“We’re committed to supporting small to medium sized businesses like PPL Sport and have grown our lending to SMEs by 26 per cent since 2011, whilst the market has contracted by 13%.”
PPL was founded in 1946 by ex-naval Commander Lampard and is today owned by its three directors Philip Butcher, Carl Biggs and David Kelly.
