Northcoders unveils flotation plans to support regional hub expansion plans

Northcoders chief executive Chris Hill and CFO Charlotte Prior

Northcoders Group is to raise £3.5m by floating on the Alternative Investment Market to fund its ambitions to expand its regional hubs.

The group was founded in 2016 and provides training programmes for software coding from its regional hubs in Manchester and Leeds.

Its strategy is for a roll-out of hubs in Birmingham and two other locations, with Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield target cities. It has the “ultimate goal of creating a substantial network of Northcoders hubs across the UK”.

Chris Hill, founder and chief executive of Northcoders, said: “There’s no doubt that Northcoders is in an exciting period, particularly as we move away from the pandemic with the demand for digital training having never been stronger in the UK.

“The government has clearly signalled its support for improving access to all forms of education, especially through apprenticeships like ours, and our differentiated business offering is proving attractive to individuals and corporate clients alike.”

The float will value the company at £12.5m when it lists next Tuesday.

A cohort of Northcoders graduates in 2019

Northcoders offers training and software development solutions to individuals and corporates, both in person at its regional hubs and through its own online platform. It has also been a fully-accredited apprenticeship provider since December.

The group is addressing a digital skills shortage in the UK. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills has estimated that 1.2m technically-skilled people are needed by 2022 to satisfy future skills needs in the UK, while the pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation and increased the demand.

Hill added: “As we continue our strategy to expand across our homeland in the North of England, and indeed look at broader opportunities across the UK, the board and I are confident in our ability to deliver significant shareholder value.”

Sandy Lindsay

The group has appointed Nick Parker as a non-executive director yesterday to boost the board. Parker, who has previously been chief executive of Sheffield Wednesday FC and chief financial officer at Dyson Group and Wandisco, has been working with Northcoders for the last year.

He joins a board of five, which is led by non-executive chair Sandy Lindsay. The founder of Tangerine, Lindsay is a long-standing advocate for digital skills in the North, and created The Juice Academy and also chairs skills groups for the Institute of Directors and the North West Business Leadership Team.

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