News: Pricecheck expands operational footprint to reach £200m turnover goal

Rotherham-based Pricecheck continues to invest in new warehouse space to support its rapid growth.

With its HQ at Beighton Link in Rotherham, Pricecheck is a fast-growing international wholesaler and distributor of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).

A deal has recently been done for a new 20,000 sq ft warehouse, on the same Beighton Link site as the firm's HQ. The unit was previously home to Face Theory before the business was sold last year.

This expansion will be bolstered by the addition of a 13,000 sq ft temporary structure at the company’s other Rotherham site, expected to be operational in April.

The £179m turnover firm first moved to Beighton Link in 2016 and added that 197,425 sq ft former Maplin building on Brookfields Park in Manvers in 2020. Pricecheck now has a total operational footprint of over 400,000 sq ft.

The latest expansion is in response to the company’s rapid growth, which has led to a need for additional capacity to meet surging demand. Pricecheck is also hiring half a dozen staff to work at the new warehouse, with plans to grow this number in the future.

To further manage this upscaling, Pricecheck’s Rotherham warehouse is now open on weekends, ensuring operations keep pace with the increasing volume of trade.

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The investment comes at a pivotal moment for the business. Pricecheck recently recorded a record annual turnover of £179 million for the 2024/25 financial year, marking its 11th consecutive year of growth. The extra space will support the final push toward the company’s "Vision 200" goal, a five-year strategic plan to double the size of the business and reach a £200m turnover by the end of the 2025/26 financial year.

The announcement also comes following the 10th anniversary of the company’s move to its Beighton headquarters, during which it received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

Mark Amos, Operations Director at Pricecheck, said: “Our rapid growth has been incredibly exciting, but it has also brought challenges. This new warehouse, as well as our Rotherham site being open seven days a week, are vital steps in ensuring we have the infrastructure and capacity to meet the huge demand from our partners and retailers.

“As we continue our evolution from a traditional wholesaler into a brand distributor, we are constantly looking for ways to build on our recent successes. This expansion provides the foundation we need to meet the needs of our growing list of brand partners, hit our targets, and lay the foundations for us to reach even greater heights.”

Pricecheck website

Images: Pricecheck

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News: Rotherham Council hails "visible difference" made by Street Safe team

Over 1,620 hours of high-profile patrols in Rotherham town centre are part of Rotherham Council's investment aimed at reducing both actual, and perceived crime and Anti-social Behaviour (ASB), and increasing feelings of safety.

Recruited thanks to a £570,000 investment in last year’s budget - the Street Safe Team has been patrolling Rotherham’s town centres daily, providing reassurance to residents, tackling antisocial behaviour, and supporting partner organisations.

The team aims to improve feelings of safety and security in the town centres of Rotherham, Wath, Swinton, Dinnington and Maltby. The team provide a visible, uniformed Council presence, with a particular focus on hot spot areas.

The team has provided dedicated resources utilising their ability to deploy various powers to bolster enforcement and alongside existing uniformed presence, provide a welcoming and reassuring presence in the town centres. By being a highly visible presence, the team has acted as the "eyes and ears" of the Council and are identifying and reporting issues where they are unable to intervene directly.

With Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) in place, the council say that the Street Safe Team has increased its capacity for both preventative and responsive interventions such as building and coordinating local intelligence, dealing with street drinking, anti-social behaviour, as well as enforcement for issues such as littering and wider environmental issues (commercial waste etc). The team will be undertaking parking enforcement once training is complete.

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A report to the council's cabinet sets out that, since going live in November 2025, the team has delivered:

· 1,620 hours of high-profile patrols in Rotherham town centre · 112 hours of patrols across other town centres · 12 Community Protection Warnings · 9 Fixed Penalty Notices relating to PSPO breaches · 17 environmental waste cases raised · 17 intelligence reports, leading directly to arrests in four cases

The team has also provided vital support to vulnerable people, with six referrals for vulnerable adults and four emergency first-aid interventions, including one that uncovered a domestic violence incident.

The authority has also invested in created a Roadside Cleansing team, working with other teams to form a coordinated effort to improve the look, feel and safety of Rotherham’s public spaces.

Cllr. Lynda Marshall, Cabinet Member for Street Scene and Green Spaces, said: “Residents have told us that clean streets and safe neighbourhoods are their top priorities, and these teams are delivering exactly that. You can already see and feel the difference their work is making across our communities.

Cllr. Saghir Alam, Cabinet Member for Finance and Community Safety, added: “This isn’t something the Council is doing alone – it’s all of us together looking after our neighbourhoods, reporting issues, supporting one another and taking pride in where we live.

“With continued investment and the dedication of these new teams, we’re building on this positive progress and creating the cleaner, safer Rotherham that residents expect and deserve.”

A refreshed communications and perception-management plan has been developed focusing on "rebalancing the narrative" around town centre safety, promoting positive developments and encouraging public reporting and the use of support services.

Images: RMBC

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News: Public sector puts £100m towards depots and buses in South Yorkshire

Private sector operators that run South Yorkshire bus services described by the local mayor as being in a "spiral of decline," look set for a multimillion pound windfall as the public sector acquires depots and vehicles as part of bus franchising.

Last year South Yorkshire’s Mayor, Oliver Coppard, took a once in a generation decision to bring buses back under public control in South Yorkshire in the biggest shake up of the bus network since the 1980s.

Under bus franchising, the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) will take control of the bus network including depots, bus fleets, routes, timetables, service standards, tickets and fares.

The authority announced this month that it had secured the purchase of five depots from private bus operators.

The depots at Olive Grove, Ecclesfield and Holbrook in Sheffield, Rawmarsh in Rotherham, Wakefield Road in Barnsley, along with the already publicly owned Leger Way depot in Doncaster, form the operational backbone of South Yorkshire’s bus network.

Under the agreement, First Bus and Stagecoach will lease the depots back from SYMCA.

No figures were included in the announcement but earlier this month the authority published that a delegated decision had been made: "to grant award of £100m towards Bus Franchising Works for acquisition of depots and purchase of vehicles."

SYMCA had previously appointed commercial property firm, Sanderson Weatherall, to value the depots.

The funding is set to come from government funding pots given to devolved areas such as the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement and Transport for City Regions.

With £1.5 billion confirmed for South Yorkshire in 2025, £350m will be set aside to reform South Yorkshire’s buses, with franchised buses begining in 2027 with Doncaster and most of Sheffield, followed by Barnsley and Rotherham in 2028 (pushed back from an original target of 2027), with the remaining areas of Sheffield completing the move to public control in 2029.

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South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard said: “This is a significant moment for South Yorkshire. Bringing every depot into public ownership well in advance of bus franchising means we’re putting real foundations in place for a network that is reliable, affordable and works for all of us. It’s exactly what taking back control of our public transport looks like. As we roll out the South Yorkshire People’s Network, we’re creating one clearer, simpler and more connected transport system, and these depots will be right at the heart of making that happen.”

Matt Kitchin, Managing Director of Stagecoach Yorkshire, which operates the Rawmnarsh depot in Rotherham, said: “We are very pleased to be working with Mayor Coppard to complete the transition of depots to public ownership, in a way that best avoids disruption for our loyal customers and colleagues across the region.

“As the operator of the largest zero-emission electric bus fleet in the UK, we are looking forward to contributing our extensive expertise in electrifying depots and introducing new electric fleets to the South Yorkshire bus network.

“Our experience has shown that our customers and colleagues hugely appreciate electric vehicles as they're quieter, smoother and more reliable, helping local people to get to work, access services, and to meet friends and family, and so we are excited to work in partnership to provide the best services for South Yorkshire.”

The mayor has previously described local bus services as a "failed experiment of the privatisation of our bus network that was started in the 1980s." The bus market in South Yorkshire has been experiencing a continuous cycle of decline while its reliance on public funding to sustain bus service levels has been increasing. Over the past decade, bus mileage declined by 42%.

Just last week, SYMCA released details that a "significant number" of commercial bus services have been registered for reduction or withdrawal by operators in May. A £1,278,100 funding package has been signed off to ensure all services indicated are retained for a period until July 25 2026. SYMCA said that the withdrawals and reductions would "have an impact on users and also creates a threat to the ability for SYMCA to transition to a franchised network based on the current level of service."

As part of the deal, the Rawmarsh depot formerly owned by Stagecoach will get a new office building to replace temporary structures. The other bus depot in Rotherham was in public sector ownership but SYMCA decided to sell it in 2022. The Midland Road depot has been demolished and the site is being transformed into a housing estate.

Images: Google Maps

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News: Leading engineering group eyes 90,000 sq ft Rotherham building

A Sheffield-based specialist engineering business that delivers world-beating iconic projects looks to be taking on large premises in Rotherham, planning documents show.

Previously known as SCX Special Projects, the Kinetic Solutions Group (KSG) provides bespoke engineered solutions to complex mechanical handling and lifting challenges for customers in the nuclear, defence, aviation and moving architecture sectors.

With its current headquarters close to Meadowhall in Sheffield, planning applications have now been submitted relating to a soon-to-be vacant industrial building in Templeborough, Rotherham.

The applications are for new signage and the installation of new windows at Vector House on Centurion Business Park.

The site was previously home to Newburgh Engineering before it was acquired out of administration in 2019 by Vector X-Cel Ltd. It is part of the X-Cel Group which has been expanding on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham since 2012 and recently secured a £35m funding package from HSBC UK for a manager buyout (MBO).

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The plans state "The site is currently occupied by an engineering company who are relocating to a new facility. The property is to have new owners and the new company (KSG - Kinetic Solutions Group) need to display their own company branding."

In 2021 X-Cel acquired the 90,000 sq ft premises in a £7m deal.

With a market-leading position in the UK, KSG has worked on a number of high profile projects. It designed and built the retractable roofs for Wimbledon’s Centre Court and No. 1 Court. For the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London, it designed and installed the world’s first dividing retractable football pitch.

The group also builds and supports complex mechanical handling solutions for the UK nuclear decommissioning program while, in the aviation sector, it has solved challenges in the lifting and movement of complex engine and airframe structures for Rolls Royce, BAE and Bombardier.

Elysian Capital, a private equity firm based in London, acquired the company through an MBO in 2020 before Denley Hydraulics was added to the group the next year.

The group now operates through four separate business divisions; SCX - Mass Handling Systems, ARX - Kinetic Architecture, ISX Service and Maintenance and DHX Hydraulic systems. Each is distinct in their product/service offering and has their own teams and management structure. This devolved focus allows for targeted growth and profitability strategies within each division.

For the year ending March 2025, the group had a turnover of £35.5m, up from £28.9m in 2024, and EBITDA (earnings before tax) of £4.4m, up from £3.2m in the previous year.

KSG website

Images: X-Cel / KSG

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News: Championship relegation for Rotherham United takes £10.5m off turnover

Rotherham United Football Club has released a statement over its financial results for the year ended June 2025 - the season back in League One following relegation from The Championship.

For the second consecutive year, the proactive move comes before the results are published with Companies House.

A statement from The Millers said: "Following our relegation from the Sky Bet Championship at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, the club has faced various challenges, the headline of which has undoubtedly been its turnover being reduced to £10.5m – a figure that stood at £19.2m in 2024.

"Among other aspects, this number was reflective of lower central distributions and player trading income associated with our position in the third tier.

"Despite the necessary adjustments being made to ensure a competitive first team playing budget for the 2024/25 campaign, the Club reported a loss before tax of £4.65m as we adapted to operating at League One level and the revenue streams associated with it."

The loss of £4.65m is larger than previous years. Having made a loss before tax of £1.1m in the year when the club beat the odds to stay in the second tier, in 23/24 the overall operating losses increased to £1.7m in the relegation year, despite a rise in income.

The club said it had taken measures to reduce costs and stabilise operations, with a clear focus on sustainability and responsible financial management.

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The statement added: "It has been well-documented throughout the football world that costs associated with the running of clubs continue to rise, but we remain committed to our promise that any and all decisions reached by our Chairman and Board must be made with the sustainability and long-term future of Rotherham United at the forefront.

"Our Commercial department continues to successfully support the generation of revenue and currently operates among the most proficient in Sky Bet League One, whilst also maintaining the integrity of the club’s core values through its involvement in the charitable sector and ongoing work alongside companies with principles that mirror our own.

"As we look to the future, our focus remains centred on rebuilding with purpose, striving to be better in every aspect within the club and delivering a product to supporters both on and off the pitch that they can be proud of."

Published accounts have highlighted the importance of sponsors, primarily the fellow subsidiary company, ASD Lighting PLC, who have continued to provide £1m in sponsorship.

Rothbiz reported at the start of the year that the latest accounts of ASD Lighting PLC had "included within debtors was £9,467,811 (2024: £5,204,737) due from Rotherham United Football Club (RUFC) Limited. The outstanding balance is repayable on demand."

Just last week, the Millers completed a rights issue which has converted £550,005 of existing debt into equity.

It also announced that Richard Stewart, managing director of ASD and vice chairman at Rotherham United, has seen his shareholding in the holding company, ASD Lighting Holdings Ltd, increase from 5% to 100%.

The son of ASD founder and RUFC chairman, Tony Stewart, Richard "therefore indirectly holds 97.06% of the shares in Rotherham United Football Club."

The club said that the changes were administrative in nature with Tony remaining as chairman of Rotherham United and Richard as vice chairman.

RUFC website

Images: RUFC

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