News in brief: Beaumont deal; Birch wins green contract; Welcom to Ireland; Portakabin is superbrand
HULL-BASED Beaumont Electrical, an electrical testing and inspection specialist, has sold two of its companies in a multi-million pound deal managed by BCMS Corporate.
Beaumont, which employs more than 110 people, provides a range of services including portable applicances and electrical installation testing to organisations in both the public and private sectors.
BCMS Corporate, which sells more privately-owned companies than anyone else in the country, handled the sale of Beaumont to Faceo FM (UK) which involved extensive liaison with its parent company Faceo, the French-owned global facilities management group, throughout 2008.
Reg Beaumont, managing director of Beaumont, said he was delighted at the completion of the deal.
Steve Rebbettes, operations director, BCMS Corporate, said: “This was a highly unusual transaction involving not just the sale of more than one company but also a foreign acquirer bound by foreign acquisition laws.”
Karen Law of asb Law managed the due diligence and the legal aspects of the deal.
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THE Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has awarded York-based construction company William Birch a 10-month contract worth £2.1m to construct an innovative, carbon neutral learning centre and library at Harlow Carr Garden in Harrogate.
The £3m RHS project will provide unique facilities which will be some of the greenest in the UK in which around 10,000 schoolchildren, families and adults each year will be able to learn the key skills of sustainable gardening.
Paul Goyea, construction director at William Birch, said: “The RHS has set the project team a demanding task to deliver the building under a BREEAM rating of excellent; achieved with a very bespoke design and high quality finish. Construction will start in earnest on site in April 2009 with completion by the end of January 2010.”
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WELCOM Software Group, the Harrogate-based supplier of consumer and commercial lending software, has been appointed by Ireland’s largest department store group Arnotts to provide the the system to manage its customer accounts.
Established in 1843, Dublin-based Arnotts has four storesand will use Welcom’s Financier Storecard Account Management system to manage existing customer accounts, sales promotions and loyalty schemes, as well as enable it to offer enhanced services to new customers.
Nigel Welch, Welcom Software chief executive, said: “We are thrilled to have signed up Arnotts.The workflow engine will allow business strategies to be defined, monitored and modified to meet the changing needs of Arnotts and the marketplace.”
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YORK-based Portakabin has been named as one of the UK’s leading business brands for the second consecutive year in the Business Superbrands 2009 list.
Portakabin has risen 25 places higher than its 2008 position and is now ranked at 233rd in the top 500.
David Shaw, marketing director for Portakabin, said: “In troubling economic times, the strength of a company brand can mean the difference between success and failure.
“Providing exceptional customer service and premium quality buildings on time and on budget has enabled Portakabin to build a brand synomonous with excellence.”
The announcement follows a robust selection process undertaken by The Centre for Brand Analysis, which canvases the opinions of a voluntary expert council and more than1,500 individual business professionals.
