P O RT F OL I O

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〉 〈THEY’RE OUT THERE. DYNAMIC ENTREPRENEURS AND AMBITIOUS MANAGEMENT TEAMS WITH THE DRIVE, KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND TALENT TO ACCELERATE

THEIR OWN BUSINESSES AND EACH OTHERS’ .

This is the beginning of something. Something special?Something that will create value beyond pound signs and connections that last a lifetime.This can be a network of entrepreneurs that matter. Who are building the businesses that matter and the relationships that count.This can be a network of individuals with the drive, knowledge, attitude and talent to accelerate their own businesses and each others’.To share their experiences, ideas, successes, failures and aspirations.To create a cohort of excellence. BGF Connects

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DID YOU DO THAT ON PURPOSE?

TWO’S COMPANY…

THE PORTFOLIOOUR INVESTMENTS:

OCT 2011 – OCT 2014

DOING BUSINESS IN INDIA

SHARED VISIONSTCL: A DAY IN THE

LIFE

CITIES OF ENTERPRISE

CONTRIBUTORS

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WELCOME TO THE THIRD ISSUE OF PORTFOLIO.

IT IS BECAUSE OF BRITAIN’S FAST GROWING, SMALLER AND MEDIUM SIZED BUSINESSES THAT BGF EXISTS TODAY. THEY ARE THE ENGINE ROOM OF THE UK ECONOMY.

THEY ARE ALSO THE BIG BRANDS OF TOMORROW. AND THEY ARE THE STORY HERE. THEIR SUCCESS DEPENDS ON HAVING THE MEANS AND CONFIDENCE TO GROW.

BGF’S MANDATE IS TO PROVIDE BOTH. THE CONTENT OF THIS PUBLICATION ILLUSTRATES WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED BY DYNAMIC ENTREPRENEURS AND AMBITIOUS MANAGEMENT

TEAMS EQUIPPED WITH THE RIGHT RESOURCES.

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D I D Y O U D O T H A T

O N P U R P O S E ?

B Y J O N R H O D E S

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It wasn’t so long ago that any CEO worth his salt would declaim a singular focus on shareholder returns. ‘The business of business is business’ ran the market mantra. _But, over the past few years a new narrative has emerged, and listening to the CEOs of some of the fastest growing and most impactful companies, large and small, you will hear more and more of them talk about the need for a company to have purpose; a North Star that acts as a guide for everything the organisation does._A recent article in Harvard Business Review notes that, “Academics argue persuasively that an executive’s most important role is to be a steward of the organisation’s purpose. Business experts make the case that purpose is a key to exceptional performance, while psychologists describe it as the pathway to greater well-being. Doctors have even found that people with purpose in their lives are less prone to disease.” _Purpose is increasingly seen as the key to navigating complexity, volatility and ambiguity in a world where strategy is ever changing and few decisions are black and white._Obviously any business must make money to survive or thrive and increasingly, must contribute in some way to the community it exists to serve, but this is merely operating as a viable entity. Proponents of purpose argue strongly that simply existing to make money will not unlock the power and potential of an organisation’s people, processes and productivity. _Numbers alone won’t help you recruit great people, retain them, inspire them or unlock their full potential “once hired”.

_Numbers alone won’t help you stay ahead of your competitors by encouraging a culture of constant evaluation and innovation._And numbers alone won’t help you to connect with your customers above and beyond the products and services they buy. Or build loyalty and create advocates. _However, this does not mean you need to be a non-profit cause to have purpose. Purpose isn’t a cause; it’s the guiding principle of your work and how to serve your audience. It’s about making the shift from seeing growth as a commercial agenda to growth as a visionary agenda._Think of purpose as a verb, not a noun. _Distilling a corporate purpose is more than just rebadging your vision statement. The latter will talk about targets and aspirations and what you want the company to become “The first choice website for new car buyers”. Purpose is deeper, it is a clear articulation of the reason a company exists, the role it plays and the difference it makes in people’s lives. It should offer a clear and accurate description of why the core business exists._When a company gets it right, it becomes obvious. Google defines its purpose as being “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” or Innocent Drinks “We’re here to make it easy for people to do themselves some good (whilst making it taste nice too)”._Of course, the apparent simplicity of the statement can mask the effort that has been put into its creation. Major corporates often spend millions on these projects. A few years ago I was part

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‘ IF YOUR ONLY PURPOSE IS TO MAKE AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE THEN

I DON’T BELIEVE YOU’LL BE AS SUCCESSFUL IN THE LONG-TERM. I ’M

NOT SAYING YOU WON’T MAKE MONEY, BUT YOU WON’T SUSTAINABLY DO THAT UNLESS YOU MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TO

THE BROADER GOOD.’ DOMINIC BARTON –

MANAGING DIRECTOR, MCKINSEY.

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of the team working with Pepsico to develop CEO Indra Nooyi’s ‘Performance with Purpose’ initiative. This initiative helped to create global programs across financial, sustainability and talent agendas and purpose still remains the keystone in Pepsico’s internal and external strategy, product development and corporate philosophy today. _Not everyone liked it at the time, not everybody bought into it, and there were some obvious critics on Wall Street who made the argument that Pepsico should be focusing their attention on the bottom line and hitting its quarterly numbers. _In the event, Pepsico’s financial results have held up very well and more than in part because of the diversification of their portfolio to include ‘healthier’ brands such as Tropicana and Quaker Oats. A direct result of these new ‘purpose driven’ initiatives._Another group of sceptics did not believe a large established multi-national corporation, such as Pepsico, could really change its way of doing business from a focus on quarterly earnings to a ‘shared values’ approach._I have some sympathy with this. _The truth of it is that bigger corporates have often allowed themselves to lose sight of their noble purpose, while the fast growing small and mid-sized companies – just like the ones that BGF invests in – find this approach natural. They have purpose as part of their DNA.

_So how should smaller and mid-sized companies take advantage of this?

1 The first step is to get these inbuilt notions of purpose out of the head of the founders and onto the page. After all, who knows a company’s true purpose better than its founder?

2 The second is to codify the language, values, principles, processes and behaviours that will guide and differentiate the business through its growth. To take it off the page and into the hearts, minds and operations of the business.

3 And the third is to make the purpose ‘real’. To recognise and reward those employees that take responsibility for living up to, taking pride in, defending and promoting the purpose and delivering the ideas and actions that will enable the business to flourish.

_It is the companies that hold true in some form to their original guiding purpose that create loyalty (and even love), command respect (and often higher prices) and offer value (beyond the numbers) that find their customers coming back to them again and again.

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D O I N G B U S I N E S S

I N I N D I A

B I A N M C K E R N A N I N C O N V E R S A T I O N

W I T H E M I L Y W E S T O N

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Ian McKernan, the founder and group CEO of Molecular Products Group (MPG), suggests that careful preparation is key to doing business in India._It would be easy to make the wrong assumptions about the country. _Being there is certainly an assault on the senses – I once arrived in the middle of a festival marked by two days of fireworks – and the sense of chaos can be overwhelming. But while it takes time to adapt to the noise, the unfamiliar smells and the sheer volume of people, you quickly realise you’re doing business with very smart, professional people with a tremendous work ethic. Plus they have outstanding language skills that can help you break down barriers rapidly._Over the course of several different trips, I’ve spent four or five weeks in India during the past three years, travelling between Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. I’ve generally hired a driver to get me around the cities, but as my level of familiarity and confidence has grown, so too has my sense of adventure and exploration. A ride through an Indian metropolis via tuk tuk is not for the fainthearted!_And it’s not just during down time or days off that a sense of exploration is

important in unfamiliar territories. It applies in business too. At MPG, we have always taken time to robustly assess the strength of the opportunity before moving into a new market. That means spending time in the country._On paper, the move into India made perfect sense for us. We are an international business that makes medical devices and air purifiers - everything from filters that remove carbon dioxide from patients under anaesthesia, to generators that supply emergency oxygen on-board military submarines. Our three key markets are healthcare, military and industrial safety so we look for geographies where those sectors are both established and experiencing growth._India absolutely fits that criteria – it has a large population, including a growing middle class with increasing affluence; it has a rich and diverse manufacturing base; and, we had already won contracts for military and security work in the country._For all the theoretical attractions, however, we knew we wouldn’t be able to make robust investment decisions without getting to know India on the ground. The country’s diversity is part of its appeal, but it can make life challenging for newcomers.

_What really helped us is that our bank, HSBC, had valuable trade contacts there while UKTI (www.ukti.gov.uk) was able to introduce us to the right people in Indian government._Our conversations with those people over the course of several trips helped us to develop our plan for expansion. In June 2014, we hired a local consultant on a one-year contract to conduct a market analysis and develop a short-form business plan. We wanted a local person who knew their way around so we decided against putting one of our own people on the ground. We were able to find the perfect candidate with the help of the UK India Business Council (www.ukibc.com). It has offices all over the country, supported by the UK and Indian governments, and its officials helped us develop a job profile and find potential candidates. I then interviewed them over the course of three days and we made the appointment during my last visit in June of this year._This National Programme Manager – Vikrant Patil – is actually employed by the UK India Business Council on our behalf. He works from a UKIBC office and is able to exploit the organisation’s network of contacts – it’s

Molecular ProductsSector: ManufacturingBGF Investment: £4mTurnover: £15–£20mCompany Location: Essex/ColoradoBGF Region: London & South East Investment Date: September 2014

〉 〈THE COUNTRY’S DIVERSITY

IS PART OF ITS APPEAL, BUT IT MAKES LIFE CHALLENGING

FOR NEWCOMERS.

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a great way to build our presence locally and to generate awareness before committing to a full time presence and the expenditure that it requires._This is definitely a market in which working with local businesspeople is invaluable. Business can be bureaucratic in India, particularly where you’re dealing with state and national government and you don’t have someone who knows how to operate within the system._We expect our patient and considered approach to really pay off over the longer term. There is an exciting level of demand for many of our existing products but we also expect to be able to develop variations specifically for the Indian market, which is large enough to support a more tailored approach._I’d definitely advise other companies considering expanding into India to tread cautiously – the work you do upfront is really important because it’s very easy to overestimate the size of the opportunity, especially given the media hype about the potential of India. For many companies, India will prove to be an exciting prospect, but you can’t know that for sure without spending time there and doing the research

to support your investment of time and resources._I’ll be going back before Christmas to see the progress that Vikram has made on the business plan, and I’m already looking forward to it. But if I had one further tip for others doing business in India, it would be to expect the unexpected, especially when it comes to travel – let’s be honest, there aren’t too many places where your taxi might get stuck behind a pair of elephants on the way into town! That said, when you have successfully navigated the unexpected, a highly motivated and professional community of business people and government officials with real appetite to trade with UK companies awaits you.

FIVE TOP TIPS FOR DOING BUSINESS

IN INDIA

1 Do your homework – the headline numbers are impressive, but is this

really the market for you?

2 Get to know the country – India’s states are hugely different from one

another and certain parts may be more attractive to your business than others.

3 Use your contacts and ask for help – Britain has fantastic

networks within India, both in the public and the private sector, take advantage of them. http://www.ukibc.com

4 Work with a local – someone who knows how to navigate Indian

bureaucracies and the nuances of doing business there will prove invaluable.

5 Bring a sense of adventure – India is an incredible country but it can

be overwhelming if you’re not ready to embrace vibrant local culture.

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T W O ’ S C O M P A N Y…S T U A R T R O S E & M A R K C A S S

I N C O N V E R S A T I O N W I T H E M I L Y W E S T O N

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Art is in my DNA – my family have been interested and involved in art for generations. It is a personal passion, and

I have been lucky enough to be able to combine this passion with learning my craft as a retailer and entrepreneur. In the 1980s, my family bought several high street stores from the UK’s then largest arts and crafts retailer, Craftsmith, which I was involved in running. When we later sold that business, I co-founded Image Bank UK, a stock photography business that I grew internationally and sold to Getty Images in 2000._After that, I decided to really go for it with Cass Art. I’d owned one shop on Charing Cross Road since 1984, and in 2001 I returned to the business with a vision of making art accessible to as many people as possible and of creating a truly customer centric retail experience. Over time, one store became six and we became one of the UK’s leading independent art materials retailer._It was never just a business though. Cass Art employs student and professional artists and we have partnerships with institutions such as The National Gallery and the Royal Academy of Art. We have a mission statement: “We believe in art and we want everyone to realise they can do it – and afford it.” And, we want to work with as many budding and successful artists as possible._By 2013, I was thinking hard about how we could create that dialogue all over the country, not just in London. The obvious way to do that was to open more shops and to develop an internet presence, but I wanted to be sure that whatever we did online would offer the same type of personal customer service that people get in our shops._That’s where BGF came in. The investment they made last year has enabled us to really accelerate our rollout programme. We’ve just opened in Glasgow and we’ve developed our online offering, so the move towards a national presence is very much underway._But funding was only part of the story: I knew Cass Art was going to need more outside experience as we grew, and having BGF as an investor gives us access to a much broader support network._People talk about how hard it can be to start a business and they’re right, but it can be even more challenging to grow – that shift from sales of £10m a year to £25m to £50m brings huge

challenges. I had the ambition to make the leap but recognised that additional experience would increase our chances of success._BGF thought so too and they introduced me to Stuart Rose as a potential non-executive chairman. I liked him instantly and I also thought his track-record in consumer businesses made him a perfect fit for Cass Art. It’s not just his experience as a retailer – he’s worked in similar roles at Hamley’s and Agent Provacateur – he also gets what we’re about. Stuart spent many years running The Body Shop which had real commitment to its mission, which is how I feel about Cass Art._I think what I needed most of all was someone in the business who would be a source of direct and honest feedback and support. That’s exactly what Stuart provides and in a relatively short period of time, we’ve built a close partnership._He’s also helped me adjust to having BGF as an investor. I knew they could make all the difference to the success of my business but I have to admit I was anxious about working with a group of people that I didn’t know. I’ve spent more than 10 years running this business as the founder and you get used to being answerable to no-one but yourself. The idea of greater accountability was daunting. Stuart really helped me understand how the relationship would work and that helped me to overcome my initial concerns._Together, I think we’ve got a real opportunity to turn Cass Art into the business I always hoped that it could be. The most important thing for me is to protect the DNA of the company as we expand and grow – that’s why it is really important that Stuart shares the values of the company while also bringing the practical experience he’s gained from building a series of successful retail businesses that didn’t lose their way even though they were growing very quickly._In the longer term, I’ll also want to devote more time to the Cass Sculpture Foundation, a charity founded by my family, and I’m also interested in education and mentorship. Running the business on my own, it was sometimes difficult to imagine how it would be possible to achieve all the ambitions I had for Cass Art, let alone working towards those wider goals; but with a supportive investor in place and a chairman who shares my vision, we’re starting to take very positive steps towards realising those ambitions.

〉 〈“WE BELIEVE IN ART. WE WANT EVERYONE TO REALISE THEY CAN DO IT –

AND AFFORD IT – AND WE WANT TO WORK WITH AS MANY BUDDING AND SUCCESSFUL ARTISTS AS POSSIBLE.”

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I owe my career in business to The Body Shop. I first met Gordon Roddick, who had founded the business with his wife

Anita, in the 1980s. I was working as a chartered accountant and he wanted some help floating the business on the stock market. I advised him to wait and shortly after that he asked me to come and work with them. What I subsequently realised at The Body Shop was that as an adviser to businesses, I hadn’t really known very much at all – you only learn how to run a business by actually doing it._I ended up working with Gordon and Anita until 2001 in various roles. I was managing director for a long period; I was deputy chairman; I worked on the business’s international expansion; and I also did an enormous amount of troubleshooting, working out how to resolve problems as they arose. _Since leaving the company, I’ve worked in non-executive posts with all sorts of businesses in the consumer and retail sectors – for example, the toy shop Hamley’s, the lingerie retailer Agent Provocateur and MKM, the UK’s largest independent builders’ merchant._I’m also chairman of Trunki, the children’s luggage company, in which BGF has invested. When BGF subsequently invested in Cass Art, they asked me to meet Mark. We got on straight away. What struck me about Mark is that his heart and soul is absolutely in the business and that gives him real drive and passion. He was obviously a very competent guy who knew his market well and was making a success of his business, but he was also prepared to listen and he was aware that he didn’t know everything there is to know about running a fast-growing retail company._Not that I know everything either, but when you’ve got a relationship like ours, where both of you feel able to speak frankly and openly because they know the other person will think about what they’re saying, you can deal with most of the issues that come up. I think what I bring to the table is a view on how to structure and organise the business for growth. If you haven’t ever managed a large business, it’s difficult to know what your company needs to look like in order to be able to cope with growth when it does come._It’s important for example to have people of the right calibre

and robust structures in place._The other thing that I can draw on is my ‘combat training’ – that coal face experience of all the problems that can and do arise for businesses, from getting caught up in legal disputes to hiring and sometimes having to fire people. Every single day that you miss out on not being ready for growth costs you by a factor of 100. _Mark has built a business with beautifully designed shops, a great marketing strategy and knowledgable staff that provide a really personal customer service. It is also a company that is ready to engage with many more customers across the country. My job is to help make sure that we’re in the right shape to do that – we could easily be at 15 or 16 stores within three years and from a standing start our internet site is now generating revenues of £1m a year, which is really impressive._Mark and I talk all the time – whenever one of us has something that needs discussing. A typical conversation might be about how the company should be structured for product and merchandising or about whether a particular site might be a good fit for a new store opening._In addition to those ad hoc conversations, we formally diarise two meetings each month. The first is to sit down with the senior management team to really understand how the business is performing and to focus on the issues that we’re currently facing; the second is for a board meeting. If you’ve got the first meeting right, the board meetings shouldn’t take long and that’s another area where I can help. I understand what questions BGF will have as an investor and I can help ensure Mark and his team have the right information to hand._Mark is the best ambassador this company could have. He has the authority and knowledge to feel as at home with customers as with the principals of leading art colleges. You’re never going to find someone with these qualities at a more generalist retailer._That’s why I believe it won’t be long before Cass Art is firmly established as the number one retailer of art materials in the UK. Mark put the business in a great position before BGF or I came along, but with the team we now have in place, we are in an excellent position to bring Cass Art to art enthusiasts throughout the UK.

〉 〈“MARK HAS BUILT A BUSINESS WITH BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED SHOPS, A GREAT

MARKETING STRATEGY AND KNOWLEDGABLE STAFF THAT PROVIDE A REALLY PERSONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE.”

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C I T I E S O F E N T E R P R I S E :

A B E R D E E NB Y A N D Y D A V I S

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At the last count, in the 2011 census, Aberdeen had a population of just over 222,000 people. On this basis, Scotland’s third-largest city just about makes it into the UK’s top 40, on a par with Barnsley in South Yorkshire and a few thousand behind Milton Keynes, home of the Open Univer-sity. Yet these comparisons are misleading. Aberdeen may be a relatively small city, but in terms of its ability to create and foster fast-growing private companies capable of making the leap from small to mid-sized status, it sits firmly in the UK’s top tier. _There are plenty of ways to measure this – not least the fact that of the close to 70 investments that BGF has completed to date, seven have been in Aberdeen. In some ways, the city’s outstanding record as a birthplace of entrepreneurial businesses is directly related to its relatively small size. Aberdeen is a close-knit place that attracts entrepreneurs and offers a strong network to support them, says Paddy Collins, chief executive of specialist chemicals company Aubin. _“It’s not a very big place but there are a lot of people who are very well connected and a lot of people who are used to setting up businesses,” he says. “You’re seeing other people that you know setting up businesses and making quite a lot of money

and you’re thinking ‘I knew him when he was in such-and-such a pub and if he can do it, I can do it’. It’s happening right in front of you.”_Of course, the major catalyst for Aberdeen’s emergence as a centre for entrepreneurship was the development of the oil fields in the North Sea during the 1970s. The discovery of oil transformed the city and opened huge new business opportunities, both directly and indirectly. The growth of the exploration and production industry centred on Aberdeen allowing a large number of smaller, specialist oil and gas services companies to grow up, providing support services to the oil majors operating in the North Sea. But equally, the growth of the oil industry produced numerous opportunities for enterprising people to build businesses in a wide variety of sectors, from leisure, retailing and hospitality to transport, technology and professional services. _Oil and later gas production from the North Sea were clearly the foundation on which a lot of successful businesses were built in Aberdeen, but many of them have long since expanded beyond the market on their doorstep, often by expanding their relationships with the oil majors into other markets around the world. In the case of Aubin, whose core products are chemicals

that are added to the specialised cement used to construct oil wells and others that are pumped into wells to increase the flow of oil, the North Sea has never been the primary focus, says Paddy Collins. _“Although we’re based in Scotland and we do sell to customers in the North Sea, our main market has been in the Middle East from when the company was formed 25 years ago.” Aberdeen provided a rich source of skills, equipment and contacts, and so was a natural place to set up the business but its horizons stretched much wider than that. _So called Well Services Chemicals remain the core of Aubin’s business, but today it is busy bringing a range of new chemicals to market and is again targeting customers thousands of miles from Scotland. For example, Collins and his team have invented a fluid that is half the density of water. For engineers undertaking today’s deep sea exploration, often at depths of 1,500m or more, bags filled with this fluid offer a highly innovative way making large objects naturally buoyant so that they can be manoeuvred precisely into position. “At the moment you need a crane to lift and move things and it’s very difficult to work a crane at those depths, so we’ve developed this chemical,” says Collins.

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“That’s taken us into a new area because now we’re developing engineering and project management functions to support the chemicals that we’re selling.” The shift from selling chemicals to providing complex value-added services, he says, is rather like starting off with a butcher’s shop and ending up with a restaurant. “It’s a well-known fact that people will pay more for services than they will for products,” he observes._Collins argues that it is not just the concentration of skilled people and specialist knowledge that makes Aberdeen the ideal base for companies like Aubin. “The people who work in Aberdeen then go off and work in other parts of the world,” he points out. “When I go to Houston, I will see three or four people that I know from Aberdeen and that helps your exporting because you’ve already got a relationship when you get off the plane. There’s a substantial diaspora and with LinkedIn and social networking you’re able to keep in touch very well._“Because you’ve been based in Aberdeen, you’ve sat with people, you’ve drunk with people, your kid is in the same football team as his kid or you go to the same church as they do or you’ve met them over dinner or they’re your neighbours. There are all sorts

of ways you can get connected.”_Aubin, which raised £2.25m from BGF to fund its expansion into new products and territories, remains very focused on serving the oil and gas industry as it grows beyond its roots in Aberdeen. _Inoapps, another company in which BGF invested £10m in September 2013, offers a different facet of the city’s story. The business, founded by chief executive Andy Bird, specialises in consultancy and implementation of Oracle enterprise software. Not surprisingly, its early clients were oil and gas companies in Aberdeen but it has built rapidly on those foundations, helped by a series of acquisitions, and now has about 250 staff providing clients across the UK and internationally with the full range of Oracle applications – customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, human capital management and payroll. _“Oil and gas is still important to us but we’ve broken into a number of different areas: financial services, engineering and construction, we do some work in the public sector, some in the high-tech space and in retail,” says Bird. “So we’ve got a broad range of products and industries and now we are focusing our growth internationally.

We’ve got about 40 people in Asia in Kuala Lumpur and about 10 in Houston.” The investment from BGF – the first that Inoapps has taken – is helping to finance its strategy of consolidating its sector in the UK and accelerating its expansion overseas. The company expects group revenues of just under £30m for its current year and is targeting revenues of £50m and EBITDA of £10m as its next goals. _“Aberdeen is a fantastically entrepreneurial city – I think it’s unlike any other city in the UK,” says Bird, whose father worked in the oil and gas industry and moved to Aberdeen when the Inoapps founder was still at school. “You just have to look at some of the businesses that come out of here and some of the start-ups that are around.” _The picture of Aberdeen that emerges from these conversations is a place that attracts skilled and enterprising people prepared to move to where the opportunities take them, often in the oil and gas industry. Perhaps not surprisingly, many of these people are ambitious to build and own substantial businesses and have plenty of examples close at hand of others doing the same. It adds up to a highly fertile environment for entrepreneurs.

〉 〈THE PICTURE OF ABERDEEN THAT EMERGES … IS A PLACE THAT ATTRACTS SKILLED AND ENTERPRISING PEOPLE PREPARED TO MOVE TO WHERE THE OPPORTUNITIES TAKE THEM

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_Like Inoapps, Petrotechnics is another Aberdeen-based technology company and again it is focused on growing beyond its roots in oil and gas, helped by a £6m investment from BGF. Set up 12 years ago, Petrotechnics provides software that enables oil and gas producers to manage their workload efficiently and balance it against their operational risk. _“Eighty-five per cent of all work on production platforms in the UK North Sea is managed by our systems,” says chief executive Phil Murray. The company’s new software package, Proscient, is initially intended to enable big oil companies to manage their operations safely and efficiently in the new regulatory environment that followed the BP oil spill in 2010. _“We work with big oil companies but we also sit alongside some of the biggest software companies in the world – the Oracles and IBMs and the SAPs – and that’s why we recognised that there was an opportunity for a much broader new category of enterprise software system to plug into this space,” says Murray. “We had previously funded all our growth ourselves so we had no debt or investment, but we recognised that with this larger opportunity we needed to

have the right capital structure so that we weren’t limited by our own reserves.” The investment by BGF was agreed in 2013. _But the opportunity for Proscient extends beyond oil and gas, into downstream and petrochemicals as well as entirely new industries, says Murray. Petrotechnics is already beginning work with Network Rail and has had approaches from companies in the nuclear industry. “We have to be careful that we don’t spread ourselves too thinly,” he says. “But the good thing about Network Rail is that it’s a different enough industry to prove the universal nature of the software.”_This type of expansion goes to the heart of why Aberdeen companies attract so much interest from potential investors. As Collins says: “You stroll up the road that BGF is on, Carden Place, and next to it is an accountant and then you’ve got another lawyer and then you’ve got another investment house.” _If the story of Aberdeen were simply about the North Sea, a presence like that would no longer make as much sense as in the past. Last year saw record capital expenditure in the North Sea, says Murray, along with record low production and production efficiency. “It

is starting to go into decline although there is still a lot of activity,” he adds. Today, the lure of Aberdeen is increasingly about the ability of entrepreneurial companies that have grown up there to innovate and transform themselves into global businesses that work in numerous overseas markets and are capable of extending their reach into different industries. And that in turn is based on the growing strength of Aberdeen as a world-class knowledge and technology cluster. _The city’s reputation for dynamism is widely acknowledged – in July a report by law firm Nabarro on commercial property that surveyed 239 investors identified Aberdeen as one of the leading smaller cities to watch in the UK, alongside Reading and Cambridge. _However, among those who live and work in Aberdeen, there’s also a great appreciation for the surroundings._“It’s a nice place to live,” says Paddy Collins. “The other day it was a lovely evening and my wife and I drove 10 minutes to a country park and walked there for an hour through parkland which we had pretty much to ourselves.”_It all adds up to a pretty compelling package.

〉 〈THE LURE OF ABERDEEN IS INCREASINGLY ABOUT THE ABILITY OF ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPANIES THAT HAVE GROWN UP THERE TO INNOVATE AND TRANSFORM THEMSELVES INTO GLOBAL BUSINESSES …

PetrotechnicsSector: IT & TechnologyBGF Investment: £6mNumber of Employees: 100Turnover: £10–15mCompany Location: AberdeenBGF Region: Scotland Investment Date: May 2013

InoappsSector: IT & TechnologyBGF Investment: £10mNumber of Employees: 50Turnover: £20-30mCompany Location: AberdeenBGF Region: Scotland Investment Date: September 2013

AubinSector: ManufacturingBGF Investment: £2.25mNumber of Employees: 20Turnover: £5–10mCompany Location: AberdeenBGF Region: Scotland Investment Date: February 2013

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T C L : A D A Y I N T H E L I F E

B Y R E B E C C A B U R N - C A L L A N D E R

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TCLSector: Business ServicesBGF Investment: £10mNumber of Employees: 400Turnover: £20–30mCompany Location: Chapel Brampton, NorthamptonshireBGF Region: MidlandsInvestment Date: May 2014

Wizard of Oz themed gardens. Roof top jungles. Landscaped country parks. TCL Group is a master of creating and maintaining outdoor spaces of all shapes and sizes.

The BGF-backed company works with housebuilders, local authorities and heritage estates across the UK, offering a wide range of services from landscape design to estate management to playground installation. _By keeping gardens pruned or creating jaw-dropping landscapes, TCL can increase property values exponentially for property developers or private clients. Little wonder then that boss Simon Cashmore has 500 clients on his books at any one time _“There’s no such thing as a typical project here,” he says. “Whether it’s a shopping centre for CBRE or managing the Formula One factory in Northampton for Mercedes Benz, every day we’re doing interesting things for interesting people.”

_Cashmore joined the business in 2007, when he was backed by private equity group Caledonia in a management buy-out of the business. _“I saw an opportunity to bring a ‘buy and build’ strategy to the business,” he explains. “TCL had a small range of services but I wanted to extend the portfolio. I knew clients would buy more from us because we were already doing a great job for them with the core business.”_His hunch was quickly proven right. When Cashmore took over, TCL turned over £5.5m and was primarily a regional business. Today, it generates revenues of more than £30m, with six operating hubs across the country. _This has not been an easy journey for Cashmore, however. He bought the business in June 2007, just before the financial crash. “The early days were a baptism of fire,” he admits. _“Just two months after buying the business, the recession hit. We caught the cold, along with a lot of other businesses.” _Cashmore had to move quickly to de-risk the business. He completely re-engineered the business model to reduce its dependence on housebuilders, which were struggling to finance new developments. _“We were polarised to the housebuilder sector,” he explains. “That had been a strong market but by November 2007 there couldn’t have been a worse place to be.”

〉 〈“WE START WITH EMPTY PIECES OF GROUND, WHICH WE TRANSFORM, NOT JUST FOR TOMORROW BUT FOR THE LONG TERM.”

─

T C L : A D A Y I N T H E L I F E

B Y R E B E C C A B U R N - C A L L A N D E R

─

〉16 〈

_In 2007, 96% of TCL’s revenue was generated from housebuilders. Today, that has dropped to just 35%. _“We took quite a hit in the recession,” says Cashmore. “But we’re finally getting back to normal levels.”_Its clients still include big name developers like Barratt Homes, Persimmon Homes and Redrow Homes. But it also works with managing agents such as Jones Lang LaSalle, CBRE and Savills. _Cashmore has overseen four strategic acquisitions to take the business into new and lucrative markets. TCL is now the proud owner of Surrey-based G. Burley & Sons, one of just two grounds maintenance businesses in the UK to hold a royal warrant._It also acquired Arbscapes to secure a South East based business, and bought estate management business, Clean Estates. But it was TCL’s purchase of Admiral Play to get into the playground building business that was the big game-changer, according to Cashmore.

_“Under the Labour government, Gordon Brown had invested £220m into Play England, a government quango looking for more interesting playgrounds,” he says. “We refitted the business quite quickly to that market.”_TCL is now the UK’s leading playground design and installation specialist in a fragmented market, installing more play areas than any other competitor. _Last year, TCL completed almost 400 playground installations, from local authority parks to new builds. _ “That business saved our bacon when the recession was deepest,” Cashmore says. _Government policy can sometimes have a significant impact on TCL’s top line. The more recent Help To Buy scheme has also driven up revenues at the firm’s housebuilding clients by as much as 40%, and this has resulted in a 15% uplift in volumes for TCL. _“We’re seeing a lot of activity in the south Midlands and South East, especially central London.” says Cashmore. “It’s an incredibly

〉 〈“THE WORK WE OFFER IS INTERESTING. THIS MEANS THAT FOR A

FUNDAMENTALLY BLUE COLLAR BUSINESS, OUR EMPLOYEE RETENTION RATES ARE EXTREMELY HIGH.”

〉17 〈

buoyant market.”_Opportunity knocks; which drove Cashmore to seek out new and significant financing to take advantage of all the deals in the pipeline. _In April of this year, he secured £10m in growth capital from BGF, alongside an £8.4m debt funding package from Investec Growth & Acquisition Finance._The cash will help to fund TCL’s organic growth but, more importantly, will allow the company to make a number of new company acquisitions; two by the end of 2014 alone. _“We’d like to move in to the education sector,” reveals Cashmore. “That may mean buying a specialist in primary schools or early learning.”_The company is also keen to move into retail and commercial property. TCL has a strong network of skilled workers in London and the South East, servicing new build developments. These employees could easily be leveraged to create eye-catching outdoor spaces for corporate customers. _By buying companies like Burley’s, which started life maintaining airstrips for the Ministry of Defence during World War II, TCL is helping to keep traditional trades alive. It employs up to 400 people on a variety of skilled projects._“The work we offer is interesting,” says Cashmore. “This means that for a fundamentally blue collar business, our employee retention rates are extremely high.”_Having secured national coverage, international markets beckon for the company. “We’ve been involved in some design projects for Dubai but we’ve never actively sought work overseas,” says Cashmore. “That time may well come.”_Cashmore, a t ra ined chartered management accountant and father of two, has always wanted to build businesses. He left a promising career as a managing

director at listed insurance firm RAC to take charge of a business in a completely unfamiliar sector. _“I’d had a career selling intangible services,” he explains. “I left my secure job and gave myself 12 months to find a deal and put together a strategy.”_He fell in love with TCL – then called TC Landscapes – because of its craftsmanship. “We start with empty pieces of ground, which we transform, not just for tomorrow but for the long term,” he explains._Cashmore spends most of his time on the move these days, travelling around the country. Working from TCL’s regional hubs helps him to keep on top of individual projects and he is still actively involved in most of the bids that come into the company._By splitting his time in different offices around the UK, he gets a unique perspective on the business. “I operate an open-door policy,” he says. “Some of our best ideas have come from people stopping by to

share an idea.”_Now that TCL has acquired several different brands, branding is a crucial issue for Cashmore. “Do we adopt the house of brands strategy or a branded house strategy?” he asks. “These businesses all have strong reputations of their own, and we don’t want to detract from that, so it’s a big decision.”_TCL has survived the recession to come back fighting. “I’m enjoying working on the business rather than working in the business,” says Cashmore, who is already weighing up which new services to bring into the business and which new sectors to attack. _“It’s always challenging to pick the right horses to back,” he says. “There’s lots of work we have to do now just to accommodate the market-driven growth._“That’s a much nicer challenge than dealing with recession,” he says, laughing, “but it’s still a challenge!”

〉18 〈

Networking is a horrible word. It conjures

up images of crowded cocktail parties at which pushy sales

executives compete to press their business cards into as many sweaty

palms as possible – or worse, to pitch their businesses to other guests as

aggressively as they know how, oblivious to the lack of interest

or plain embarrassment.─

S H A R E D V I S I O N S

B Y D A V I D P R O S S E R

─

〉19 〈

Put such stereotypes aside, however. For while that type of party undoubtedly still takes place, other very different networks aimed at entrepreneurial business founders and leaders are thriving – and their members draw immense value from one another. They are a million miles away from the battle of the business cards – and they can provide priceless support for business leaders running growing companies._Take the Young Presidents’ Organization, an invitation-only network for young chief executives (young in this context means under the age of 45). Founded in 1950 in New York, the YPO now has 22,000 members in 125 countries around the world, including four separate ‘chapters’ in the UK, and many of those members are evangelical about what the organisation has given them._“Quite simply, it has been the single most valuable element of my business life,” says Richard O’Sullivan, the chief executive of Boost Juice Bars, of his 20-year membership of YPO. Juice bar chain Boost, in

which BGF invested £2.5m in December 2012, is O’Sullivan’s second major business venture – he previously built the retailer Millie’s Cookies to 100 stores before selling up for £24m – and his YPO membership has been priceless throughout._For O’Sullivan, the YPO – and now the World Presidents’ Organization, to which YPO members graduate once they turn 50 – has served at least two different purposes._First, it has given him access to the knowledge and experience of other members of the network, both locally and throughout the world – a ready-made source of advice and problem-solving from people who face the same challenges as he does every day._That advice might be generalised or very specific – and as well as the sounding board that O’Sullivan’s local YPO group provides, the organisation has also been able to help him arrange tailor-made support. For example, O’Sullivan’s YPO colleagues in Spain spent several days showing him round the country’s retail sites when he was considering launching Millie’s Cookies there; he has also spent time working with YPO peers at the most senior levels of Disney and Coca-Cola._The second type of value that O’Sullivan draws from YPO is potentially even more crucial. As he points out, running a business can be a lonely pursuit – and very few people are in a position to help business leaders with that burden. They either lack the knowledge to offer useful support or they are partial in some way._“In our lives, everyone we talk to is on our payroll in one way or another – or wants to be,” says O’Sullivan. “So having a group of people you can talk to in total confidence, safe in the knowledge that they have no agenda of their own, is immensely powerful.”_YPO is set up in order to give its members direct access to these groups. In the UK,

the organisation’s four chapters are each split into forums – small groups of members who meet for four or five hours each month. “The idea is to surround ourselves with like-minded people,” says O’Sullivan. “It is like having a non-executive board with no agenda – we exist only to share our experience.”_A very similar point is made by Matt Macri-Waller, the chief executive of Benefex, an online provider of employee benefit systems in which BGF invested £4.2m in October 2011. Macri-Waller, joined The Supper Club, a British network for entrepreneurs running fast-growing companies, three years ago in search of exactly this kind of support._“I felt I was lacking access to a peer group of people who were going through the same things as I was experiencing at Benefex,” Macri-Waller, says. “What you get from these peers is a very honest view – they have no reason not to be open and frank with you, so the conversations you have can be very valuable; these are certainly not people who are afraid to challenge your views and decisions.”_Jane Gomez, the managing director of The Supper Club, says this is exactly the kind of experience the organisation wanted to offer when it was launched in 2003. The group grew out of a dinner held by eight entrepreneurs who wanted an opportunity to share experiences and compare notes in a setting that wouldn’t be disrupted by fellow networkers desperate to sell to them. Today it has more than 300 members, all of whom have been vetted carefully to ensure they’re a good fit with that philosophy._“This is absolutely not a sell ing environment,” says Gomez. “Our members all join as equals, prepared to both give and receive, whether their businesses are turning over £1m or £100m.”_The Supper Club effectively functions on

〉20 〈

two levels. First off, it organises around 20 events each month for members – everything from dinners with guest speakers to training sessions on very specific topics. Second, as with YPO, members have the option of joining a forum, a group of around eight entrepreneurs who meet 10 times a year for half a day to discuss an agreed topic and share knowledge and experience._For Matt Macri-Waller, it is the forum sessions that have provided him with the greatest value from his membership of The Supper Club. “You’re almost working on each other’s businesses,” Macri-Waller says. “None of us are competitors and all of us have something to offer other members of the group from our own experience of running our companies, so the insights you get can be incredibly valuable.”_Gomez says that in some regards, these forums serve as a back-up board of non-executive directors for entrepreneurs who may or may not have such structures within their own companies. Even where members do have their own non-executive boards, however, the forum provides a different type of experience, because members have no vested interests or fiduciary responsibilities._As with the Young Presidents’ Organization, The Supper Club’s members are also able to make good use of the connections of the entire network, and the organisation is often able to facilitate this. “We’re a small group and we know our members very well, so we’re often able to help,” Gomez explains. “For example, we recently introduced one member who was looking to appoint a chairman for his company for the first time to three other members who had been through exactly that process very recently.”

_At Vistage, another global network of entrepreneurs with a thriving presence in the UK – it has 1,000 members here – the network’s Kate Fletcher also stresses the importance of knowledge exchange. “We really encourage our members to share best practice,” she says. “You’re then part of a very powerful community, which is why members tend to stay so long.”_The USP of Vistage is the provision of monthly management boards to its members – CEOs and MDs – at which they get expert advice on the most pressing business matters and moral support from fellow owners and business coaches. More than 18,000 Vistage members in 15 countries also have access to one-to-one executive coaching, expert speakers and its global network of business leaders._Fletcher, who serves as one of these chairs, recognises exactly the sentiment expressed by O’Sullivan. “You can end up feeling very isolated when you run your own business,” she says. “Many people just don’t have anyone they can talk to about the challenges they face.”_For many entrepreneurs, it is not only a question of meeting peers who experience the same problems and issues, but also of finding people who feel comfortable providing them with challenge with no fear or favour. That can be crucial for founders of fast-growing businesses who are constantly required to make new decisions, often with very little support or guidance, but have little immediate accountability._“Our groups can certainly play a valuable role in holding entrepreneurs to account,” Fletcher adds. “That’s crucial for all business leaders, but for entrepreneurs who may

be running their businesses solo, acting as both chairman and chief executive, it’s especially important to find people who will question your views.”_Vistage, YPO and The Supper Club are all at pains to make it clear that their networks are not intended to provide members with overt selling opportunities – indeed, a member who used a group experience to attempt to push his business to peers would be likely to find himself shunned._That is not to say, however, that joining such networks does not deliver commercial advantage. For one thing, while it is difficult to quantify the value of the support and mentorship that these networks offer, value is being generated._Indeed, Vistage claims membership of its network produces tangible results. A study it conducted of members in the US last year found that their companies had averaged revenue growth of 11.6 per cent a year over the previous five years, compared to only 5.4 per cent for similarly sized companies as a whole._Moreover, the relationships that people form through business networks inevitably do lead to deals, joint ventures and closer commercial relationships. “Members do business together all the time and we’re delighted for them to do so,” says Jane Gomez of The Supper Club. “But that’s a side product of the relationships people form with one another rather than it being the point of being a member.”_The networks also have good relationships with other organisations and may refer members to them from time to time, providing

〉21 〈

─IN MANY REGARDS, BGF

INCREASINGLY OPERATES AS A NETWORK ITSELF, WITH MANY OF THE COMPANIES IN WHICH

THE FUND HAS INVESTED NOW GETTING TO KNOW

EACH OTHER BETTER.

─

introductions to members

based on the experiences that

other members have had in the past. That too can be a source of new business._It’s no coincidence that two leaders of BGF-backed companies speak so highly of their membership of entrepreneur networks. The type of fast-growing company that Matt Macri-Waller and Richard O’Sullivan both run are constantly throwing up new challenges, issues and opportunities – many of which their leaders will never have faced before._Indeed, most of BGF’s portfolio of close to 70 investee companies are in a similar position – they’re growing so quickly that the entrepreneurs running them are confronted with a different hurdle to overcome on an almost daily basis. They’ve recently taken on a major investor – often their first experience of an external stakeholder – and they are also getting used to working with new non-executive directors. The support that a

network of peers

o n t h e same journey

can provide is much-needed.

_I n m a n y r e g a rd s , B G F

increasingly operates as a network itself, with many of the companies in which the fund has invested now getting to know each other better, pooling knowledge and expertise for the common good._The fund is facilitating that process wherever it can. For example, in September, BGF held its third ‘CEO & Chairman Day’, an opportunity for the chief executives and chairmen of investee companies to come together for a day of networking, workshops and high-profile speakers._Sometimes there are obvious opportunities for companies to work together. For example, Jumpstart, in which BGF invested £3.4m in February 2014, helps small and medium-sized companies to access research and development tax credits and is therefore well-placed to work with other businesses in the portfolio. Similarly, Statesman Travel, in which BGF invested £4.25m in October 2011, specialises in business travel services._However, shared experience can be just as valuable – and BGF is often able to initiate that process. Last year, for example, the fund arranged for former Marks & Spencer chief executive Sir Stuart Rose to speak at an event for retailers in the portfolio. Other events have featured speakers such as former ITV boss Lord Grade on media and

Arm Holdings founder Tudor Brown on IT._It’s not only a question of the investee companies talking to each other. BGF’s own in-house expertise – in investment, but also in industry and disciplines such as marketing and HR – adds another element to the network._This feature of BGF will become more valuable as the number of companies in the portfolio grows, but in any case networks are not mutually exclusive. Nor are Vistage, YPO and The Supper Club the only options – new organisations are springing up all the time._The important thing for entrepreneurs is to find a group with which they feel comfortable. Very often what you get out depends on what you put in – entrepreneur networks are designed to facilitate two-way support rather than to provide a service._Richard O’Sullivan says that any investment network members are prepared to make will pay back in spades, which is why he has yet to miss a single forum meeting in his 20-year career with the YPO. “In my own case, I know exactly what the network enabled me to do: when I joined, I had 12 Millie’s Cookies outlets and a decade later I had 100,” he says. “I would put a very substantial part of that growth down to the experience and learning I got from YPO.”

〉22 〈

Sector Investment date Turnover

Company location

BGF investment

3sun Group Products and services for global energy industry Energy March 2014 £20–30m Great

Yarmouth £10m

Abacus E-Media Web content management and audience development platforms Media August 2013£5–10m London£2.25m

Broadbandchoices Price comparison website and software

Media/Software & computer services September 2012£10–20m London£10m

Camino Authentic Spanish bars and restaurants Food retail/production December 2012£5–10m London£3m

Cass Art Arts materials retailer Retail December 2013£5–10m London£3.2m

CennoxSpecialist ATM products and services Support services June 2012£20–30m Camberely, Surrey£5m

FlowlineDrainage contractor Support services May 2014£5–10m Rayleigh, Essex£3m

Furniture VillageIndependent furniture retailer Retail August 2014£100m+ Slough£6m

GymboxBoutique gym chain Travel & leisure June 2014£10–15m London£10m

Molecular Products Medical devices, gas filters and oxygen generators Chemicals September 2014£15–20m Harlow, Essex£4m

Peyton and Byrne Branded public catering, restaurant and bakery business Food retail/production December 2012£20–30m London£6.25m

PlastiquePackaging manufacturer

General industrials (packaging & containers) July 2014£20–30m Tunbridge Wells,

Kent£5m

PTS Consulting Global IT consulting and project management consultancy Support services October 2013£30–50m London£8.7m

Semafone Fraud prevention software

Software & computer services October 2014£5–10m Guildford, Surrey£4m

Statesman Travel Travel management for corporate and private clients Travel & leisure October 2011£75–100m London£4.25m

Thames Card TechnologyPlastic card manufacturer Support services December 2013£15–20m Rayleigh, Essex£3.2m

The Consulting ConsortiumIndependent regulatory consultancy Professional services March 2014£10–15m London and

Leeds£10m

The Exchange LabProgrammatic digital marketplace Media November 2013£15–20m London£5m

Unruly MediaSocial video distribution Media December 2011£20–30m London£4m

Workshare Cloud enabled document collaboration software

Software & computer services September 2012£10–15m London£7.44m

Region: London & South East

─

T H E P O R T F O L I OO U R I N V E S T M E N T S : O C T 2 0 1 1 – O C T 2 0 1 4

─

〉23 〈

Sector Investment date Turnover

Company location

BGF investment

BHR GroupFluid engineering, research and technology Business services June 2014£5–10m Cranfield,

Bedfordshire£2.6m

Barburrito Fast-casual Mexican restaurants Food retail/production March 2012£5–10m Manchester£6.8m

Celaton Software automating handling of inbound information

Software & computer services December 2012<£5m Milton Keynes£2.5m

Better BathroomsOnline and high-street bathroom retailer Retail October 2013£30–50m Warrington£10m

Dudson Producer of ceramic tableware for travel and hospitality industry Household goods April 2014£20–30m Stoke-on-Trent £3m

Boost Juice Bars National chain of juice bars

Food retailers, producers December 2012£5–10m Manchester£2.5m

GCIIntegrated telecoms and data services Telecoms January 2012£50–55m Lincoln£10m

HorburySpecialist interiors Support services June 2014£50–75m Rotherham£2.5m

Palmer Hargreaves Marketing and communications agency

Media/Professional services December 2013£5–10m Leamington

Spa£4m

J&B Recycling Waste collection, recovery and recycling services Support services July 2014£10–20m Darlington£7.5m

Rutland CyclingCycle retailer Retail March 2014£10–20m Rutland£2.8m

Medicina Medical devices – specialising in enteral feeding

Healthcare equipment & services December 2013£10–15m Bolton£6m

ShuropodySpecialist footcare provider and retailer Retail September 2012£15–20m Coventry£3.75m

Moda in PelleWomen’s shoe retailer Retail October 2014£15–20m Leeds£3.5m

TCL Group Estate management and landscape installation, design and consultancy Support services May 2014£20–30m Chapel Brampton,

Northants£10m

Nationwide Window Cleaning Provider of window cleaning and associated services Support services October 2014£5–10m Harrogate£3m

Victoria AIM-listed manufacturer/distributor of carpets and floorcoverings Household goods September 2014£50–75m Kidderminster£10m

Springfield HealthcareDomiciliary healthcare provider Healthcare

equipment & services

June 2012£15–20m Leeds£4.4m

Wow! StuffToy development & distribution Consumer goods March 2012£10–20m Wolverhampton£5.77m

Springfield – The Grange Residential care home and private independent living

VTL Manufacturer of precision engineered components for the auto industry Automobiles & parts July 2013£50–75m Huddersfield£4m

Wear Inns Freehold community pub estate Travel & leisure May 2012£10–15m County

Durham£8m

Xercise4LessLow-cost gyn group Travel & leisure August 2013£5–10m Leeds£12m

York Mailing Specialist production of promotional print materials Media July 2013£75–100m York£10m

Region: Midlands

Region: North, North West & Northern Ireland

〉24 〈

Sector Investment date Turnover

Company location

BGF investment

ACSSupplier of formal hirewear Retail January 2014£10–15m Glasgow£8.5m

Region: Scotland

Benefex Software supporting online employee reward and benefit schemes

Software & computer services October 2011£5–10m Southampton£5.8m

Bullitt Design and manufacture of branded electronics

Electronic & electrical equipment December 2012£30–50m Reading£3.5m

Canburg Design, manufacture and retail of luxury fitted furniture

Household good & home construction August 2014£30–50m Devizes,

Wiltshire£8m

EcovisionSustainable energy systems

Household goods and home construction August 2014£5–10m Highgrove,

Gloucestershire£3.6m

Intrapharm Labs (Abbey Pharma)Specialist pharmaceuticals

Pharmaceuticals & biotechnology August 2014£5–10m Maidenhead£2m

Magma High performance carbon pipe for subsea oil and gas applications Energy/Industrials December 2012Not disclosed Portsmouth£7m

PrimroseOnline retailer of garden products Retail May 2012£30–50m Reading£4m

SHS Integrated Services High specification industrial scaffolding services Support services September 2012£15–20m Barry, Wales£5.4m

Skyscape Cloud infrastructure services for the UK public sector

Software & computer services April 2014£5–10m Farnborough,

Hampshire£4m

Sub 10 Systems Millimetre wave wireless solutions for mobile telecoms Telecoms November 2013£5–10m Newton Abbot,

Devon£2.5m

Trunki Innovative, multi-functional travel products for children Consumer goods April 2013£5–10m Bristol£3.92m

Region: South West & South Wales

AFG Media Fancy dress & party fashion, including Morphsuits Consumer goods June 2012£10–15m Edinburgh£4.2m

Arran AromaticsLuxury toiletries, lifestyle products and gifts Consumer goods August 2013£5–10m Isle of Arran£2.8m

Aubin Specialist chemicals for oil and gas industry Energy February 2012£10–15m Aberdeen£2.25m

Duncan & Todd OpticiansChain of opticians Retail December 2013£10–15m Aberdeen£5.6m

InoappsOracle reseller and platinum partner in EMEA

Software & computer services September 2013£15–20m Aberdeen£10m

Jumpstart R&D tax credit assistance for UK businesses Professional services February 2014£5–10m Edinburgh£3.4m

M Squared Design and manufacture of lasers and photonic optical instruments

Technology hardware & equipment April 2012£5–10m Glasgow£3.85m

Mono Consultants Network support services to UK mobile telecoms sector Telecoms March 2014£30–50m Glasgow£7m

PetrotechnicsSoftware developer for hazardous industries

Software & computer services May 2013£10–15m Aberdeen£6m

SPEX Services and products for subsea and downhole environments in oil and gas Energy March 2014£10–20m Aberdeen£5m

STATS Isolation services for onshore and offshore oil and gas pipelines Energy March 2012£20–30m Aberdeen£7.8m

Task Fronterra Global geoscience consultancy focused on oil and gas sector Energy April 2014£5–10m Aberdeen£3.8m

APSU Provider of IT managed services

Software & computer services October 2014£10–20m Cirencester,

Gloucestershire£7m

─

C O N T R I B U T O R S─

〉25 〈

JON RHODESJon is director of external affairs,

communications & marketing for BGF. He works closely with BGF’s investee

companies, highlighting their success to business audiences and providing advice

on how they might enhance their own approach to communication.

DANIEL JONESPhotographer Daniel works regularly for The Financial Times and The Daily Telegraph, as well as providing images

for both national and international clients. Daniel was highly commended in the

Bloomberg Business Photographer of the Year category of the UK Picture Editors’

Guild Awards 2010.

REBECCA BURN-CALLANDERRebecca is the enterprise editor.

She writes at The Telegraph about entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs and fast-growth businesses. Former web editor of Management Today Magazine, she is one

of Gorkana’s top 100 UK journalists to follow on Twitter.

EMILY WESTONEmily is a director with Equity Dynamics, a specialist corporate communications

company known for its expertise in all areas related to the financing

of businesses. It works closely with a range of investors as well as

underlying companies and the broader entrepreneurial community.

DAVID PROSSERDavid is a freelance journalist who

specialises in writing about enterprise, smaller companies, personal finance and business. The former business editor of The Independent, David has 20 years of experience writing for a range of national newspapers, magazines and specialist

publications.

IAN MCKERNANIan is chief executive of Molecular

Products Group (MPG). Founded in 1924, MPG manufactures speciality

chemicals for the purification of air and life support. The company’s chemical

based technology is applied in a number of specialised and demanding end-

markets within the healthcare, military and industrial sectors with customers

including the Ministry of Defence. MPG was also commissioned by NASA to

design and build an emergency oxygen system for the International Space

Station.

CAMILLE MCMILLANCamille is a an award winning cycling

photographer. He is best known for his work with professional rider Michael Barry in his book Le Metier. Recent photography

and film work include projects for Team Sky, IG Markets and Sharp Electronics.

His photographs are regularly featured in The Times, Bicycling Magazine, The Ride and Rouleur Magazine, where he is also

‘Editor at Large’.

ANDY DAVISAndy spent 15 years as a journalist on the

Financial Times, where he held a series of senior roles including development editor and most recently editor of FT

Weekend. Today, Andy is associate editor for Prospect, the monthly current affairs magazine and continues to write for a range of newspapers and magazines.

He is also the author of several research reports on alternative sources of

finance for small businesses including the first Beyond the Banks report,

published by NESTA in 2011, Sees of Change published by CSFI in 2012 and Innovations in Access to Finance for the

ACCA earlier this year.

BGF is one of a range of initiatives designed to forge better, more effective relationships between the banking sector and UK businesses. BGF works in close collaboration with the British Bankers’ Association as well as with other key business organisations and government across the UK. BGF is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Aberdeen 0845 600 3699Birmingham 0845 266 8862Bristol 0845 266 8864Edinburgh 0845 266 8863Leeds 0845 600 0142London 0845 266 8860Manchester 0845 266 8861

Website www.bgf.co.ukEmail enquiries@bgf.co.ukTwitter @bgf_team

Get in touchBusiness Growth Fund has been established to help Britain’s growing, smaller and medium sized businesses. Growth potential is the key criterion. BGF invests between £2m and £10m per business in return for a minority equity stake and a seat on the board for a BGF director. BGF has up to £2.5bn with which to make long-term equity investments in growing companies across the UK.BGF is an independent company, backed by five of the UK’s main banking groups – Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered. BGF also works closely with other key business organisations.BGF has specifically been set up on a local basis to be close to the businesses we invest in. If you want to understand more about BGF or talk about how we might support your business, or your clients, please get in touch with us.

BGF is the UK’s most active provider of growthcapital for companies with turnover of £5m to £100m.Since 2011 we have invested nearly £400m in businesses just like yours. Any more questions?0845 266 8860 | www.bgf.co.uk

So, what exactly isour investment focus?High-tech to high street.Factories to fitness.Print to digital.Getaways to takeaways.Hard data to software.Big energy to a wee dram.Downtime to downloads.Good design to good health.Clicks to bricks.Whatever the sector,our focus will alwaysbe on you, your businessand your plans.