Primed with ambition: LDC’s outlook for Yorkshire in 2025

Dan Smith, LDC

Dan Smith, partner and Head of Yorkshire at LDC, reviews the year that’s been, and discusses what 2025 could hold for the region’s M&A and business landscape.

Yorkshire has a resilient M&A market, despite a year marked by macro-economic headwinds and political uncertainty, and it was an active 2024 for our team in Leeds.

We expanded our portfolio with two new primary investments, including our investment in leading independent healthcare provider Bullen and Hull-based Pagabo Group, a market-leader in built-environment software and services.

We also rounded off the year with the exit and reinvestment in national estate agency and lettings group Lomond. Lomond has been on a transformational growth journey over the last six years and is a true regional success story that first started when we backed Will and Nick at Leeds-based Linley & Simpson in 2018.

We also saw strong growth across our portfolio and independent recognition for their achievements. Wind-power specialist Boston Energy delivered record revenues and expanded into a new 3,300 square foot office in Hessle, while Leeds-based fleet solutions provider Global Autocare made its debut on the FN50, a list of the top 50 contract hire and leasing companies in the UK, following its successful period of fleet growth.

Elsewhere, BCIS, the UK’s leading cost benchmarking and valuation platform for construction, was recognised for its commitment to decarbonising the built environment sector and Sheffield-based student accommodation advertising platform UniHomes was revealed as one of the UK’s fastest growing technology businesses at the Northern Tech Awards 2024.

What’s next?

We anticipate a more stable economic and political environment in 2025, which should drive an uptick in M&A activity and continued growth as businesses act on greater clarity with more confidence.

And, while the fundamentals of having a strong management team and clear value propositions will continue to define the businesses at the centre of M&A activity, there are a few other specific sectors and trends that will be worth following.

As a sector, technology and digital services will remain central to Yorkshire’s economy, with emerging tech hubs like Leeds continuing to evolve and strengthen their ecosystems, and with more and more technology businesses, like UniHomes, serving different sectors nationwide from their Yorkshire headquarters.

From technology to energy and advanced manufacturing, the UK’s national net zero ambitions mean there will continue to be a focus on decarbonisation and the cluster of skills in South Yorkshire at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre make it an attractive place for investment.

With the world’s largest offshore wind farm under construction off Yorkshire’s north coast at Dogger Bank, there will also be a wealth of opportunities for businesses in the wind supply chain. Boston Energy, which we backed in 2023 and is on track to double its turnover in just over three years, is a great example of a business already thriving in this space.

Finally, we anticipate a continued focus from management teams, customers and stakeholders on environmental, social and governance factors, with a particular emphasis on social value – the impact organisations have on society.

This will create opportunity for those businesses that can clearly quantify the social value they create, or who can help other businesses improve and demonstrate their own social impact. Pagabo is a great example of a homegrown company doing just this. Alongside its social value calculation software, Loop, it fully integrates social value into the procurement process it offers for all its clients and framework suppliers.

Backing ambition

However these trends develop in 2025, our aim is to continue to back ambitious management teams and innovative, growth-focused businesses in Yorkshire. Our region is brimming with potential and our on-the-ground regional presence, combined with our team’s sector expertise, means we are hopefully very well placed to help management teams to translate their plans for growth into reality.

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