People on the move: HURST Corporate Finance; UHY Hacker Young; City Suites; SilverDoor and Citybase

Accountancy and business advisory firm HURST has strengthened its deal-making team with the appointment of Nicky Leonard to a key new role.

Nicky has joined HURST Corporate Finance as head of deal origination and research.
 
She previously held senior posts at McBride, Princes Foods and Grant Thornton.

Her role at HURST will see her support its growth through research and deal origination, as well as providing market and business research to clients on live deals.

Nigel Barratt, head of HURST Corporate Finance, said: “We work hard to identify strategic buyers for the businesses we are selling, and we need a strong research function to do this.

“Previously this was carried out by other members of the team, but it has become necessary to recruit an experienced specialist as our deals are becoming more complex in nature and our pipeline is strengthening.

“Nicky is ideally-suited to this new senior post. She has an excellent background in the field and many years’ experience of analysing and presenting business intelligence on a range of sectors in the UK and overseas.

“We’re proud of our ability to attract such high-calibre staff and are delighted to welcome Nicky to the team.”

Leonard was previously group market intelligence manager at McBride and before that was head of strategic and commercial intelligence in the corporate development arm of Princes Foods.

She previously spent nearly eight years at Grant Thornton, latterly as strategic business manager.

Leonard said: “I’m delighted to join HURST Corporate Finance as I am working with like-minded people who are genuinely interested in supporting the aspirations of business owners.

“I’m proud to join such a highly-respected firm and look forward to playing a key role in developing opportunities to support the future growth of HURST Corporate Finance, as well as delivering a quality research service for our clients.”

::

Top 15 accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young has appointed a new partner to its team.

Stephen Grayson, former partner at Howard Worth, joins UHY’s Manchester office audit department.

Grayson has more than 15 years’ experience in the accountancy profession, with a focus on auditing and advising SMEs.

He brings with him specialist expertise in the education sector, complementing the firm’s strong academy school offering. UHY is one of the UK’s top advisers to academy schools and currently works with over 320 academy and free schools nationwide.

Grayson is the second audit partner to join UHY’s Manchester office in recent months, following the arrival of Max Paterson from EY in November 2016.

Managing partner Mike Wasinski said: “Our ambitious growth in the North West requires further expansion of our leadership team. Stephen has an impressive track record and his expertise will be an asset to our clients, particularly to our academy schools, both locally and nationally.”

Grayson said: “UHY has an impressive national offering based on core sector specialisms. Coupled with the firm’s local firm personal approach and invaluable global network, the decision to move to UHY was an easy one. I am very much looking forward to getting started.”

::

Manchester’s first ever luxury service apartments CitySuites has opened its doors following the appointment of operations director Gavin Bailey.

VIP guests have made their first move into the exclusive new accommodation in the heart of the city.

::

SilverDoor and Citybase have announced two key appointments to the company’s national and international leadership team.

Imogen Brettell joins Citybase as operations director of the Lancaster office, after spending 23 years in local government.

Shebrings expertise in finance, operations and HR, and is responsible for growing the Lancaster and Citybase business, increasing profitability, recruiting and promoting staff, guiding the firm through the ongoing integration with SilverDoor and the formation of the new company group.

She will also oversee the positioning of the Citybase and Orbital Partnership brands planned for 2017, which will further consolidate the group’s position at the forefront of the serviced apartment sector.

She said: “This is a very exciting time for all the companies in the SilverDoor and Citybase group. As the world’s largest serviced apartment agent we are in a unique position to raise awareness and understanding in both the business and leisure travel market, as well as lead the way in terms of best practice and customer service. It is very exciting to be part of this.”