A Year in Yorkshire Business – Review of the Year part three

AS we headed away from the summer months into autumn, there was no sign of the deals market cooling down.

September saw Baker Tilly complete its acquisition of RSM Tenon after shareholders unanimously backed the plan. The tie-up created the seventh largest accountancy group after Grant Thornton in fifth and BDO, which recently merged with PKF in sixth. The top four places are held by PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and Ernst & Young.

Just a couple of days later, fast-growing Yorkshire online holiday price comparison site Icelolly completed a £17m buyout, backed by investor Palatine Private Equity.

The deal saw former LateRooms chief executive and chairman Chris Allen join the Bradford-based company as non-executive chairman.

Hot on its heels was Bingley-based clothing group Damartex, which swooped for catalogue retailer Coopers of Stortford in a deal worth £25m.

John Alderton Squire SandersTheBusinessDesk.com broke the news that law firm Squire Sanders had appointed John Alderton as managing partner in its Leeds office, replacing Jonathan Jones.

 

As the Leeds City Region continued its work to position itself as the UK’s leading centre for health and innovation, it was announced mid-September that US-based supplier of healthcare solutions, Alere, had established a collaboration framework – thought to be the first of its kind in the UK – with key health and social care services providers in Leeds.

September also saw the cost of Cobbetts’ administration top £1.7m.

The law firm went into administration in January after a severe downturn in trading in late 2012. DWF, with whom it had previously held merger talks, picked up its work in progress and some 400 staff in a £3.9m pre-pack deal.

Towards the end of the month Yorkshire entrepreneur and Government advisor Lawrence TomlinsonLawrence Tomlinson lashed out at one of Britain’s major banks for affecting trading at his business, the LNT Group.

Highlights for the property sector included planning approval for two of Leeds’ major multi-million pound developments, Victoria Gate and Thorpe Park.

Victoria Gate is now Hammerson’s only retail development after it pulled out of the Sevenstone scheme in Sheffield.

There was news for customers of Yorkshire Bank when it emerged it had been fined, along with its sister operation Clydesdale, £8.9m by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for miscalculating 42,500 mortgages.

The city watchdog found a number of the bank’s mortgage customers were required to increase their monthly repayments to make up the shortfall resulting from miscalculations.

October started off with a boost for West Yorkshire, as German confectionary giant Haribo revealed plans for a £92m factory in Castleford that will create almost 300 jobs.

However, news wasn’t so positive for Leeds-based barrier system manufacturer Hesco Bastion, which announced it had been hit by the scale down of foreign conflicts. However, it said investment in innovation is helping the business look towards a strengthened future in other niche areas.

TheBusinessDesk.com’s story on popular Yorkshire businessman Victor Watson triggered more positive comments from readers than any other story we’ve written this year.

Watson, who played a major role in developing the famous board game Victor WatsonMonopoly and has served the city of Leeds for more than half a century, was presented with a top civic honour by the Lord Mayor Coun Thomas Murray at a special ceremony held in the civic hall.

Set-top box maker and pay TV and broadband technology provider Pace hit the headlines after announcing it had bought Aurora Networks for £192m.

November kicked off with Allied Glass being snapped up in a multi-million pound deal to private equity firm CBPE.

Investment group Equistone Partners Europe completed the sale of the Yorkshire-based glass container manufacturer and it is understood that CBPE, which has bought the business for the second time, paid between £120m and £130m for the firm.

There was bad news for footwear retailer Barratts, which called in administrators, putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk.

A few weeks later, just before Christmas, it was announced that York-based multi-channel retailer Pavers saved 150 jobs after snapping up 14 stores from the troubled retail chain.

Central Square plansNew multi-million pound plans were released for Central Square in Leeds, the former site of the proposed Lumiere project.

Roydhouse Properties’ plans to develop an iconic office and leisure building on the site, between Whitehall Road and Wellington Street, which had been earmarked by KW Linfoot to become Western Europe’s tallest residential scheme, called the Lumiere, featuring two towers of 55 and 33 storeys, before KW Linfoot went into administration in 2009.

Entrepreneur Peter Wilkinson sold his InTechnology Managed Services business for £65m.

The Harrogate-based firm was acquired by AIM-listed IT group Redcentric in a deal that has created one of the largest independent managed services businesses in the UK.

After announcing its intention to float in October, Servelec Group got off to a flying start on its debut on the London Stock Exchange.

The company, which operates from offices around the UK and internationally, with the largest number of its employees being based at the company’s headquarters and purpose-built engineering site in Sheffield, floated on the main market with its £123m valuation making it the largest tech initial public offering in three years and the software sector’s biggest since 2000.

There was positive news for the region as the Government announced that its new Business Bank is to have its headquarters in Yorkshire.

The Business Bank, which was set up last year to help small companies struggling to secure financing from high street lenders, is to move to a permanent HQ in Foundry House, Sheffield.

Problems relating to Bridgewater Place continued, as a coroner called for the road by Yorkshire’s tallest building to be closed when there are strong winds.

Winds close to the 32-storey Bridgewater Place building led to a lorry being Bridgewater placeblown over in 2011, killing pedestrian Edward Slaney.

In October, the owners of Bridgewater Place finally agreed to take responsibility for a comprehensive scheme to reduce wind issues around the building and in the nearby roadway.

Since early 2008 Leeds City Council has been pushing for a detailed design solution to combat problems caused by high winds around the building.

Christmas came early for Bradford as Westfield announced it will start construction work in the New Year on the long-awaited £260m Bradford Broadway development, bringing to an end speculation that the stalled project might not go ahead.

Meanwhile, proposals to expand Leeds’ White Rose Shopping Centre and build a new 12-screen cinema were given the green light by planning chiefs.

Leeds City Council’s plans panel approved the scheme subject to negotiations with White Rose over the funding of nearby transport schemes.

December also saw Safestyle UK get off to a strong start on its AIM debut.

The Bradford-headquartered window and door manufacturer’s flotation saw it become the only stock market quoted double glazing business in the UK, joining AIM under the ticker SFE with an initial market capitalisation of around £77m.

Britain’s economic plan for recovery is working but the job is still not done and the UK must not squander the gains it has made so far was the message delivered by Chancellor George Osborne in the Autumn Statement.

The long-running contract dispute between Redhall Group finally came to an end.

The case between the Wakefield-based specialist engineering support services business and renewable energy firm Vivergo centred on the decision to terminate Redhall’s work at a new biofuels plant at Saltend near Hull in 2011.

As the year came to a close, Drax celebrated as it became one of Europe’s biggest renewable electricity generators.

Ian BeaumontNews that Ian Beaumont, the experienced head of BDO in Yorkshire, was leaving the firm to join rival KPMG made the headlines.

The following week, TheBusinessDesk.com broke the news that the Humber’s £450m Able Marine Energy Park was granted approval.

The Marine Energy Park is planned to cover 906 acres, providing 1,279 metres of quayside facilities purpose built for the manufacture, assembly and installation of offshore renewable technologies.

 

 

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