News: Rotherham recruitment firm part of new £125m recruitment and staffing solutions business

The Nicholas Associates Group, which has its headquarters in Rotherham, has joined a new partnership which is aiming to join the London Stock Exchange.

Nick Cragg, Craig Buckingham, and Roger Frost recently announced the formation of an entirely new specialist recruitment and staffing solutions company called Aristotle Partnerships.

The new enlarged group will now comprise Nicholas Associates Group [NAG], Red Rock Partnership [RRP] and Syntax Consultancy (Syntax) albeit all brands will continue to operate under their trading names and maintain their existing brand identity.

All founding entrepreneurs have a long-standing reputation in recruitment and the creation of the new company "Aristotle Partnerships" is part of a strategy to expand market share and further strengthen the offering in the temporary labour market, ports and logistics, manufacturing and IT, with the ultimate goal to seek a floatation on AIM in late 2023.

Collectively Aristotle Partnerships brands will now be able to offer apprentice and graduate placement and recruitment, blue and white collar flexible, temporary and permanent recruitment, engineering, IT, finance & HR, executive search, IT consultancy, digital learning and development consultancy, and HR management software solutions.

Nick Cragg founded Nicholas Associates Group in 1977 initially supplying site engineers to the construction industry. Through diversification, organic growth and acquisitions NAG now offers apprentice to boardroom talent management solutions for SMEs through to international corporates.

Craig Buckingham is Chairman and founder of RRP which he established in 2007, and also a member of The Leaders Council of Great Britain & Northern Ireland.

Roger Frost is managing director of Syntax and has over 35 years of success in creating great partnerships with clients in the IT sector. In 2005 he enacted an MBI to buy out the previous management team of Syntax.

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Commenting, Nick Cragg said, “The name Aristotle Partnerships was chosen as Aristotle is reputed to be the first leader to mention the phrase “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. Being part of a larger like-minded group of companies provides greater opportunities and security for our clients, our people and our candidates. Together we are in a unique position to create stronger indispensable partnerships. By creating a single trading company we are now ideally placed to embark on our next phase of growth.

Craig Buckingham, added, “Our businesses have been built on excellence in customer service and the formation of strong strategic partnerships. The formation of Aristotle Partnerships is an extension of this philosophy. The benefits of working closely and in partnership with like-minded business leaders and their companies’ strengthens our offering to the marketplace. It will also further enhance our service to our customers, through the creation of back up supply streams, of which we are all already seeing the benefit, and the ability to cross sell into different sectors.”

Roger Frost added “At a time when recruitment and talent retention have never been more important, we believe that being a part of a larger group that share the same values and aspirations will strengthen our business. Firstly it will create closer ties with clients as we will be able to deliver a wider range of services. Secondly it will create a more secure future in terms of growth and career prospects for our talented and hardworking colleagues.”

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The integration of Syntax and Red Rock with NAG’s existing brands that include, Apprentice Employment Agency, Stafforce, Nicholas Associates, Ashley Kate HR & Finance, Olano and NA Software, makes the consolidated trading company, Aristotle Partnerships, a £125m+ turnover organisation and means the company now operates from a network of over 33 offices and branches in all key commercial locations across the UK.

The professional advisors to the deal included Sunaxis Corporate Finance who provided advice on group structuring, business planning and organisational grooming to facilitate a successful IPO.

Nicholas Associates Group website

Images: NAG

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News: Stelrad welcomed to London Stock Exchange

Stelrad, the UK's leading manufacturer of stylish modern radiators, has been welcomed to the London Stock Exchange following a successful initial public offering (IPO).

Registered in Newcastle, it now operates from facilities in both Nuth, in The Netherlands, and in Mexborough. The Rotherham site handles the UK radiators business, coordinating an advanced production and distribution operation that spans a 17 acre site which is the largest radiator storage facility in the UK.

The IPO valued the business at €320m (£274m) and sees Stelrad shares trade on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SRAD.

The origins of the Group date back to the 1930s and Stelrad enjoys long established commercial relationships with many of its customers, having served each of its top five customers for over twenty years.

The Group operates across six core geographies: UK, Benelux, Germany, France, Turkey and Poland and collectively, the total addressable market across these geographies has an estimated value of £1,100 million, and equates to approximately 24.4 million radiators.

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Following its admission to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, Stelrad Group PLC’s focus remains on exploiting the breadth of organic and inorganic growth opportunities on offer, continuing to focus on further improving our extensive product offering and the strong relationships it has with major distributors and specifiers.

Trevor Harvey, Chief Executive of Stelrad, said: "We are thrilled that Stelrad’s unique business proposition has resonated so strongly with investors, and are delighted to have received such a high level of demand for the Placing.

"Our successful growth strategy has been built upon a combination of standardised product design across all our manufacturing facilities, a key focus on specifiers across all of our end-markets and continued range innovation, alongside our multi-brand strategy that enables products and brands to be tailored to specific channels. As a result, we are the number one steel panel radiator business in a number of the markets where we operate.

"The listing of Stelrad on the Main Market of the London Stock exchange reflects not only the success that we have enjoyed to date but also our confidence in our ability to deliver further upside as part of our growth plan as we continue to play a leading role in keeping Europe warm.”

Michael Loudon, Partner at Clearwater International, the firm that advised Stelrad on the IPO, added: "The Group is well positioned to pursue growth both organically and through acquisitions, having already established itself as a leader in radiator manufacturing and distribution. Its broader role in driving energy efficiency and creating environmentally friendly homes increases its attractiveness in the market and we are confident of Stelrad’s continued success in the future."

Stelrad website

Images: Stelrad

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News: Rotherham companies to inspire Britain

A number of Rotherham-based firms feature in the London Stock Exchange Group's "1000 Companies to Inspire Britain" report, which identifies the UK’s most dynamic and fastest-growing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

SMEs account for around 60% of employment and over 50% of turnover in the UK private sector. The companies featured in this year's report have recorded an annual average revenue growth rate of 41.2% and have generated more than 42,000 jobs in the two years to December 2019.

Manvers-based Bluetree Group has been picked out for special praise, given the way it has pivoted its print business to become a mask manufacturer. The company is the first in England to produce Meltblown, a filtration layer used in personal protection equipment.

Featuring in the report, Adam Carnell, a Director at Bluetree Group, said: "Over the past 12 months, we have invested over £18m into our production facility and recruited an additional 400 colleagues, doubling in size, enabling us to produce 20 million Type IIR masks per week."

Lighting manufacturer ASD Lighting is also featured. Based on Barbot Hall Industrial Estate, ASD has a reputation for innovation and quality and provides a range of products for domestic and commercial installations. The firm increased turnover by over £1m to £25m for the year ending June 2019. Profit before tax increased slightly to £3.8m.

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Another Rotherham firm featured is Empire Tapes, which is a manufacturer, rewinder and converter of adhesive tape. Based at Manvers, the company also includes Empire Tapes Plc - the UK's largest producer of technical tapes for the sports industry and seen around the world on the top figures in boxing.

Real estate company, Harworth Group PLC, is also in the report. Based close to its flagship Waverley development, the listed firm is a specialist in brownfield regeneration and has a £232.3m income-producing portfolio across the UK.

Pricecheck, an international wholesaler and distributor of fast-moving consumer goods, is also on the list. The company, which has its main warehouse facility at Beighton Link and further space at Manvers, recently achieved its ambitious target of £100m turnover by 2020. Trusted by the world's biggest brands, Pricecheck offers more than 6,000 branded products to customers in the UK and to more than 80 countries globally.

Another Rotherham business in the report is the Underwood Meat Company which is a catering butcher which also operates a number of its own retail outlets. For the year to October 2019, turnover had increased to £78m from £74m in the previous year.

Wilsons Carpets is the final Rotherham entry in the report. The growin firm has stores and warehouses that stock over 1 million square metres of flooring.

1000 companies website

Images: LSEG

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News: Rotherham companies to inspire Britain

Rotherham-based Bluetree Design and Print, Crawshaw plc and Wilsons Carpets have all been named on a report that identifies the fastest-growing and most dynamic SMEs across the UK.

Now in its fourth year, The London Stock Exchange Group's (LSEG's) 1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain has gained real prominence among UK businesses. The annual report identifies the UK's most dynamic SMEs and high growth potential companies across sectors and regions, highlighting the best of British small business. It shows companies growing at 70% per year, up from 50% last year.


Fast-growing print experts, Bluetree Design and Print Ltd moved to bigger Rotherham premises in 2015, taking on new staff. Established in 1989, the firm, previously at Templeborough, has evolved from a traditional screen printer to a predominantly digital offering. It took space at the Ignite @ Magna development in 2007 and in 2012 the business merged with instantprint.co.uk to provide a multi-channel offering.

Funding from Barclays and the Sheffield City Region Growth Fund Programme enabled the company to move to a new 86,900 sq ft site at Brookfields Park in Manvers. Staff numbers have passed the 250 mark.

Last year, instantprint cemented its place in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 when it was ranked 88th (3rd in Yorkshire) after seeing its revenue grow by an average of 54% per year over the past three years. It became the first Rotherham-based company to make the list in 2015. instantprint posted sales of £19.9m at the end of April 2016.

The group offers a range of online print products through the instantprint, Bluetree and Route One Print brands. Customers range from sole traders to multinationals and the company claims it prints 450,000 business cards a day.

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Crawshaw plc is an AIM-listed fresh meat and food to go retailer based at Hellaby that is undergoing growth plans that will see it invest £200m, opening 200 stores and creating 2,500 jobs.

Results for the full year ended January 29 2017 included turnover up 19% to £44.2m from the £37.1m reported in the previous year. Investing in expansion plans, the group made a loss before tax of £1.4m, an increase on the loss of £0.3m.

The group, which has the former CEO of Lidl in the UK and the former boss of budget chain Poundland on its executive team, recently concluded a deal with that will see 2 Sisters Food Group founder and chief executive, Ranjit Boparan (and connected party), invest approximately £5.1m for a 29.9% stake in Crawshaw, with warrants to acquire a further 20.1% of the Group. The new investment is expected to enable Crawshaw to restart its accelerated new store opening programme, with an initial focus on factory shop locations.

Wilsons Carpets, the flooring retailer, also made the list. Last year plans were submitted for a new purpose built 55,000 sq ft distribution warehouse in Rotherham that would be the foundation for growth and a national roll-out.

Established in 1968, the family firm specialises in carpets, laminate, rugs, vinyl flooring and artificial grass. Headquartered at Houndhill Park, Manvers, it has grown to run 13 stores across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, with one of the largest now at The Gateway in Parkgate, Rotherham.

Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said: "I want to congratulate the 1,000 companies from across the UK featured in London Stock Exchange Group’s pioneering 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain report. Championing high growth innovative SMEs is crucial for the continued success of the UK economy and a country that works for everyone. We are committed to ensuring that companies of all sizes can access finance to grow, scale-up and create high quality well-paid jobs across the country."

Xavier Rolet, CEO, London Stock Exchange Group, added: "Four years on, LSEG's "1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain" report continues to highlight the dynamic, entrepreneurial and ambitious businesses across the country that are boosting UK productivity, driving economic growth and creating jobs. The strength and diversity of these companies is readily apparent with a broad mix of UK regions and sectors represented. These companies are the very heart of an "anti-fragile" economy: more robust; more flexible and less prone to boom and bust. We must ensure we continue doing all we can to support high growth potential businesses like these.

"London Stock Exchange Group is fully committed to supporting and implementing initiatives which improve access to and cut the cost of finance for growing companies. We welcome the Government's focus on supporting SMEs as part of its Industrial Strategy and await the outcome of its review into long-term patient capital."

Bluetree website
Crawshaw website
LSEG website

Images: LSEG / Crawshaw

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News: AESSEAL one of the UK's innovators

Rotherham manufacturer, AESSEAL, has been picked out for special praise by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) in its "1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain" report, a celebration of some of the fastest-growing and most dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK.

Three Rotherham firms make it on to the list - £150m turnover AESSEAL, alongside rapidly expanding power transmission distributors, Acorn Industrial Services Ltd, and Newburgh Engineering, the specialist contract manufacturer of high specification component parts and assemblies for the nuclear, defence, oil and gas, petrochemical, aerospace and power generation industries.

With 85 companies from Yorkshire & The Humber, the report paints a vibrant picture of the British economy, as well as dispelling certain myths: manufacturing, for example, accounts for almost a fifth of the companies within the index.

Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange Group, said: "The UK has some of the most inspiring growth businesses in the world. Our report showcases some of these fast-growing and dynamic companies; the type of companies we believe will help fuel the long-term growth of the UK economy."

With global headquarters at Templeborough, AESSEAL is the world's fourth-largest designer and manufacturer of mechanical seals for a wide range of industries, including oil and gas, food, water, mining and pharmaceuticals.

The firm is one of just four to be recognised in the section on "The Innovators" that highlights that innovative UK companies are the ones that sustain strong growth. In its annual results for the year to December 31 2012, AESSEAL again reported growth in sales and profit, a record that extends over 30 consecutive years. Sales have continued to rise and it expects to achieve record sales of £151.7m in 2013.

With a focus on quality, the manufacturer has won numerous awards including 12 Queen's Awards to date. The management says it does whatever it takes to deliver, wherever and whenever it's needed. The company also prides itself on exceeding expectation, meeting even the most complex briefs and challenging lead times.

Chris Rea, group managing director at AESSEAL, told the report: "The only challenge we ever face is, how do we provide customers with a sufficiently compelling reason to give us an opportunity?

"We operate in a sector where we need to give customers an extremely compelling reason to try something better, but we’re able to do so through the great-value proposition we offer."

As well as identifying 1,000 companies, the publication examines in detail the opportunities and challenges facing SMEs and looks at the sectors and trends that will shape the future of the UK economy. Rea said that he would like to see the Government rebalance the economy towards manufacturing, but believes it would take 25 years or more to achieve and would need a commitment from successive governments.

Backed by international investor, 3i, AES Engineering Ltd employs more than 1,600 people worldwide, of whom nearly 600 are in the UK and Ireland and more than 330 in Rotherham.

Jonathan Wilkinson, CEO of AESSEAL, said: "At AESSEAL we pride ourselves on exceeding customer expectation, meeting complex briefs and the most challenging lead times. This pursuit of excellence has helped us prosper during both the good and bad times. We feel extremely honoured to be included in this report and are proud to be playing our part in the UK's economic recovery."AESSEAL website
Acorn Industrial Services Ltd website
Newburgh Engineering website
LSE website

Images: AESSEAL

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