12 business focus of the month


HW, Chartered Accountants, presents a series of articles based on the HW blogs. They offer analysis, reviews and comments and welcome your feedback at www.hwca.com/blog


Andy Murray – a business case study by Colin Fletcher, partner at Haines Watts


Who can fail to be interested in the voting for the ‘BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards’, which will be held next month at the ExCel centre in London? The superb sporting performances we’ve witnessed throughout 2012 are testament to the huge amount of dedication and effort these athletes have invested.


Among the successes, of course, is Andy Murray - who first won Olympic Gold and then the US title – a Grand Slam title that had alluded him for several years, coming after a series of well- documented defeats.


Looking at Murray’s career deals


Blandy & Blandy advises John Lewis and Lakeland supplier


Thames Valley law firm Blandy & Blandy LLP has acted for the vendor shareholders of Eddingtons in the sale of the entire issued share capital to Eddingtons Holdings.


Eddingtons is a leader in the supply of fun, unique and practical houseware products from all over the globe to cookshops, garden centres, gift shops and houseware retailers. Clients include John Lewis and Lakeland.


Eddingtons Holding (previously named Darbys Nuko 80) was set up as the acquisition vehicle by the new management team of Roger Murphy, Paul Steele, John Coda and Brian Rogers. Leumi ABL provided the acquisition funding to Eddingtons Holdings.


The Blandy & Blandy team www.businessmag.co.uk


was led by associate Peter Woolley, and assisted by solicitor Christopher Wilson, who advised on the corporate aspects of the sale. Employment associate Sukhpal Matharoo advised on the employment law aspects.


Sian Champkin of Darbys Solicitors LLP acted for Eddingtons Holdings and Shoosmiths LLP acted for Leumi.


David Few, partner and head of the corporate team at Blandy & Blandy, said: “I am delighted that Blandy & Blandy were able to help the shareholders to successfully complete the sale of the entire share capital. Eddingtons is an upcoming and exciting company to work with and we greatly enjoyed working on this deal.”


RSM Tenon climbs league to number two for M&A deals


RSM Tenon has soared up the Experian Advisor League Tables to achieve the number two position in the UK for M&A deal volume – up from 20.


RSM Tenon’s national head of corporate finance, Peter Vandervelde (pictured), said: “These impressive statistics confirm that we are delivering in terms of excellent advice and quality work for our clients. We are now clearly recognised as one of the front runners in the mid-market corporate finance space.”


Deals that the firm has advised on this year include the sale of IGT Industries to Stadium Group plc and the sale of Hamleys toy retailer to Groupe Ludendo for £60 million.


Global information services company Experian revealed that the total volume of UK mergers, acquisitions, flotations, rights issues


and his successes there are many parallels with businesses. When he first started on his journey I am sure that there was real enthusiasm but, with the defeats and the criticism over the years, his mettle has been tested to the limit. Yet, his passion and commitment seem to have become greater and the goal became achievable.


Throughout his career Murray has had a very clear vision of the path he wanted to take and his goals. This is absolutely essential in any endeavour as that clarity leads to improved performance. He has mostly played singles, focusing on a core area, and he has not tried to diversify across the other categories.


He has strived to excel in his particular ‘market’.


Murray has looked at his competitors and benchmarked his physical strengths and performance against those above him in the rankings. He has aspired to learn from these others and surpass their standards.


Many have criticised Murray’s attitude and ‘PR’ skills over the years but, perhaps with the help of others around him, he has made some changes to his style and communication. With success comes


responsibility and businesses, as they grow, must also make changes in processes, people and leadership style.


Murray has always surrounded himself with a team but along the way there have been changes as he looked to improve his support. Perhaps the appointment of a coach who had done it all before was inspired. The lesson is that an ‘owner’ needs to develop a great team.


Details: www.hwca.com/ challenges/


and placements was up by 3.4% in the first nine months of 2012 compared to 2011.


However, the overall number of M&A transactions across the UK this year, fell – from 3,527 transactions in the first nine months of 2011 to 3,188 in 2012. The total value of UK deals was also down around 8% to £172.9 billion.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – NOVEMBER 2012


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