Review of the year 2007
It was a year of record deals, shock departures and more problems for Leeds United. Ian Briggs takes a look back at an eventful 2007.
JANUARY
The Yorkshire deals scene got off to a flying start in 2007 as Christy Group, the historic Barnsley-based hatmaker which has developed to become a leading name in the production of children's dressing-up costumes, underwent a £21m management buyout (MBO). This was followed by the £14.5m sale of Wakefield firm Alphanumeric to Digital Marketing Group.
Biofusion, the company that commercialises the life sciences work of Sheffield University, launched a new venture – Absynth Biologics – to work on a treatment for the deadly MRSA hospital bug. Absynth will develop vaccines and antibodies to treat infections caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, including its drug-resistant form MRSA.
FEBRUARY
Yorkshire businessman Gary Verity led a buyout of the Prontaprint and KallKwik printing businesses from Huddersfield-based Adare Group. The deal, for an undisclosed sum, was backed by Irish venture capital group Boundary Capital and was for Adare's On Demand Communciations (ODC) division which includes the Prontaprint and KallKwik brands. They have a franchise network of 320 design and print centres across Britain.
Mr Verity, who was born in Leeds and owns a sheep farm in Coverdale in North Yorkshire, will be managing director of the business which has estimated turnover of £150m and is based in South Ruislip near London.
Northern Foods chief executive Pat O'Driscoll stepped down from her position at Britain's premier food producer, to be replaced by Stefan Barden, who was boss of two of trhe Leeds-based company's three divisions.
Former US vice-president turned environmental campaigner Al Gore visited Sheffield as the South Yorkshire city hosted a major international conference on the dangers facing the planet. The visit brought calls from regional chiefs including Yorkshire Forward chief executive Tom Riordan for businesses to cut carbon emissions.
MARCH
Print entrepreneur Tony Gill exited the Yorkshire company he founded after one of the UK's largest envelope manufacturing groups was bought by its management. Encore Direct, which is based at Long Marston, nar Wetherby, and manufactures and prints envelopes for the direct mail market, and Washington Envelopes were acquired by a management team led by managing director Russell Croisdale and fellow directors Mike Williamson and Dave Cooper.
Leeds-based electronic component distributor Premier Farnell saw taxable profits rise by 73 per cent to £61.5m for the full year as chief executive Harriet Green highlighted the success of web sales as a major contributor to the growth.
Infoserve, the Yorkshire multimedia company founded by David Hood and two of his former colleagues from Pace Micro, signed up a series of new customers, including the 192 directory, the Football League and The Metro free newspaper, and appointed experienced Yorkshire businessman James Newman as its new chairman. It began a major expansion which it said would create several hundred jobs.
APRIL
Bridgewater Place, the building which has been hailed as Yorkshire's first skyscraper at 110m, was unveiled to more than 300 members of Yorkshire's business community. Despite delays on the Leeds building, it is now home to a number of major firms including Eversheds, Ernst & Young, BDO Stoy Hayward and Standard Life, as well as a number of retail outlets.
MAY
Private equity group Bridgepoint secured the purchase of Leeds Bradford Airport for £145.5m from the five West Yorkshire Councils which owned it. Bridgepoint immediately pledged to invest a further £70m and more than double passenger numbers.
Leeds United entered possibly the most traumatic period in the club's history after going into administration, incurring a mandatory 10-point penalty and being relegated to League One. The summer saga finally ended with chairman Ken Bates buying back the club, but not before it was hit with a further 15 point penalty.
Sean Mahon, chief executive of Batley-based credit lender Cattles for seven years, announced he was to retire in order to spend more time with his family. He led the group to major success after joining from running accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers in the North.
JUNE
Homeowners forced out of their homes because of the torrential downpours which hit Yorkshire might have grabbed most of the headlines, but many businesses were left counting the cost of the storm damage. One of the worst hit areas was Sheffield where historic companies including Sheffield Forgemasters were swamped by rainwater, mud and sludge. Although some companies are still struggling to trade, many are back on their feet thanks to hard work, insurance pay outs and emergency funding.
Sheffield United chairman Kevin McCabe sold Scarborough Group, the property company he established in 1980, to Australian business Valad for £865m. The deal included much of an extensive property portfolio in the UK and Europe.
Also on the deals front, Leeds-based Zenith Vehicle Contracts, one of the UK's largest independent vehicle leasing companies, was bought by its management, valuing it at £40m, Leeds-based Orchard Care Homes changed hands in a £175m MBO, while Aberdeen Asset Management made an £8.85m investment in Adler & Allen of Harrogate, which provides a full range of oil, water and tank services.
Musician and humanitarian Bob Geldof made a flying visit into the Yorkshire International Business Convention from the G8 Summit and received a standing ovation from delegates at the Yorkshire Event Centre.
JULY
Sir Ken Morrison signalled the end of an era when he announced that former Nissan and Asda executive Sir Ian Gibson was to replace him after more than 50 years at the helm of the UK's fourth biggest supermarket chain. But Sir Ian may have a few more weeks to wait until he becomes chairman in 2008 as Sir Ken will step down no later than March 13.
Martin Penny, the chief executive and founder of Silsden-based Jemella Group, the company behind the ghd range of popular hair products, hit the headlines again as he led a £160m deal for the group. The buyout was backed by private equity firm Montagu and saw minority shareholder LDC exit the company. Later in the year Penny announced that ghd was to open a global headquarters at Bridgewater Place.
AUGUST
Yorkshire entrepreneur Terry Bramall was estimated to be £600m richer after selling Doncaster-based construction group Keepmoat, the business his father founded in 1930 to build drains. The £783m management buyout, backed by the Leeds office of Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance, was the biggest buyout deal recorded in Yorkshire.
Peter Black, the Yorkshire firm which supplies shoes, handbags and gift packs to Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Next, was sold by Leeds-based fund Endless to Chinese trading giant Li & Fung. The deal valued Keighley-based Peter Black at £48m and saw it join a Hong Kong-based group which has $10bn of sales and operates Toys R Us stores in Asia as well as owning the Black Cat fireworks brand. Endless completed the sale just 13 months after it invested in Peter Black by backing a secondary buyout led by chairman Gordon Black and chief executive Stephen Lister.
SEPTEMBER
Nidd Vale Group, the Yorkshire motor dealer, was bought by its management in a deal which saw former chief executive Nigel Pullan return to head the business. The deal, backed by Bank of Scotland, saw the retirement of chairman and chief executive Colin Hainstock who led the previous MBO of the business from Richard Jackson in 2003. The firm, which was founded in Knaresborough in 1920 and is based in Leeds Road, Harrogate, has a turnover of £63m.
The North of England's first World Trade Centre, which will help businesses in the region foster trade links with other European countries, opened at Humber Quays in Hull. The centre will provide help and support for businesses moving into international markets.
OCTOBER
Britain's leading business organisations united to write an open letter to Chancellor Alistair Darling, urging him to suspend proposals in his pre-budget report to abolish Capital Gains Tax taper relief. The heads of the British Chambers of Commerce, CBI, Federation of Small Businesses and Institute of Directors said the policy reversal, which will see the system of taper relief and the 10 per cent Capital Gains Tax rate on business assets scrapped, with them being replaced with a flat 18 per cent rate, came "as a bolt out of the blue".
Attik, the Leeds-based design and advertising agency which was launched with backing from the Prince's Trust, was bought by Japanese advertising agency brand Dentsu which has annual billings of $17.4bn and 16,000 staff at 144 subsidiaries in 24 countries, for an undisclosed sum. Attik was founded by Batley School of Art graduates James Sommerville and Simon Needham in 1986.
NOVEMBER
Yorkshire Water owner Kelda backed a takeover proposal by a consortium including Citigroup and HSBC valuing the business at more than £3bn.
In another mammoth deal for the region, specialist engineering company Firth Rixson, which employs almost 1,000 staff in Sheffield, was bought by New York-based Oak Hill Capital from global investment group Carlyle for £945m. The deal was seen as yet another fillip for Yorkshire's dealmaking community as it involved corporate financiers, lawyers and accountants based in Leeds and Sheffield.
Carpet specialist Sirdar sold its yarns division for £3m; Leeds-basded Jennings Roofing was acquired by building materials and services group Northern Bear ina deal worth up to £5.1m; while Eurotel, the Halifax-based telecommunications business, was bought for £44m in a management buyout backed by Inflexion Private Equity.
DECEMBER
Timber to property firm Arnold Laver underwent one of the largest management buy-ins in the UK in 2007. The deal saw the founder's grandson, Andrew Laver, supported by finance director Mark Bower and a management buy-in candidate, buying the Sheffield company from the family trust which owned it.
Cut-price retailer Instore bought 33 Ponden Mill shops after the group went into administration. The £3.8m deal, which included all stock in the stores and at Ponden Mills parent company Marston Mills' Keighley distribution centre, came via Huddersfield-based Instore's subsidiary Poundstretcher.
Telecoms components company Filtronic sold its loss-making compound semiconductors business, which it recently said it would have to give away, for £12.5m. American company RF Micro Devices acquired the business, based in Newton Aycliffe, from Saltaire-based Filtronic in a cash deal.
Pace Micro Technology set itself up to become one of the world's leading set-top box makers after agreeing a £68m deal to buy part of European electronics giant Philips. The company agreed to buy Philips' set-top box and connectivity business, which supplies satellite, cable, terrestrial and internet television set-top boxes.
