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Unlocking the secrets of Wilson Partners’ success
Five years ago, just as the credit crunch began to bite, Allan and Chris Wilson set up Wilson Partners to fill what they saw as a gap in the market to provide accountancy, tax, financial and business advisory services to the owner-managed business community. Their determination to make a difference has been rewarded many times over and they now boast an impressive client list and an office lined with industry awards. The Business Magazine went to find out more about the secrets of their success
Key facts
• Set up by entrepreneurs – for entrepreneurs
• Specialists in helping £1-£25 million plus turnover owner-managed businesses
• From zero to £1m annual fee revenue in under four years
• Named UK Leading Adviser of the Year– Acquisition International 2013 M&A Awards
• UK Growth Finance Advisory Firm of the Year – Acquisition International 2012 M&A Awards
• Winner of the Taxation Award for Best General Tax Practice 2011
• 20+ team of employees
• 3,000-strong network of professionals and contacts.
What the clients say
The roll call of clients for Wilson Partners reads like a who’s who of the Thames Valley’s most successful and entrepreneurial companies:
The Fourfront Group is one of the UK’s leading commercial interior specialists, comprising of four companies – Area Sq, Cube Interior Solutions, 360 Design Studios and Sketch. Today the Group employs over 100 people and has a combined turnover in excess of £90 million.
Ross Wilson has worked with the Fourfront Group for over 10 years, chairing monthly board meetings and providing strategic business advice. And, as Fourfront Group CEO Clive Lucking says: “The success of our business owes a great deal to Ross’s nurturing, direction and at times mediating skills.”
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Simply Waste Solutions – since 2005, it has grown from being a small company with only two collection vehicles into a large private waste company with more than 20 vehicles, employing over 40 people and handling over 20,000 waste collections a month. It now facilitates the processing of over 50,000 tonnes of waste and recycling material every year and has an £8m turnover.
Wilson Partners have worked with the team since 2011 and principal shareholder and managing director James Capel says: “They created value from day one and their input and experience significantly helped me to drive my business forward and make a number of important decisions for the future.” Wilson Partners also provides accountancy and tax advisory services to the business.
TechNET IT Recruitment – launched in 2001, TechNET has grown to become one of the UK’s leading IT recruitment agencies, with offices, clients and candidates that stretch across both the UK and the international arena.
The management team brought Wilson Partners on board when it wanted to improve the quality of its business information, get more out of its finance function and ensure its high level of growth was built on solid foundations and controls. At the same time, it wanted help in incentivising key staff.
Following a healthcheck of the finance function, Wilson Partners was able to help TechNET recruit a new financial controller to deliver the improvements needed; worked with the team on key employee incentives and was appointed as accountants and tax advisers to bring a joined-up approach to the compliance and advisory work.
Where it all began
It was February 2008 when Allan Wilson, managing director and head of business development, decided the time was right to
FINALISTS
Allan Wilson
jump ship from his role with an investment bank and set up a new venture with his brother Chris, who at the time worked for Ernst & Young.
“We were both keen to leave the corporate environment and launch our own business but it was a question of stick with what you know, and for us that was finance,” he said.
“We saw a gap in the market between the services provided by smaller High Street firms of accountants or tax advisers and the ‘big four’ professional services firms. In the middle, we could see good quality, owner-managed businesses weren’t getting the support and business advice they needed from the smaller firms and were being priced out of the advice by the bigger ones.”
Early on, from its operation in Maidenhead, Wilson Partners set an annual revenue fee
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – SEPTEMBER 2013
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