Award winners announced
Arqiva? Now, what do they do? Arqiva may be the No 1 company in our Solent 250 listing of top private independent businesses in the region, yet few people will fully realise the scope of this Hampshire- based company’s involvement in all our lives
Invited diners at the annual Solent 250 awards evening now do, thanks to a fascinating insight by Steve Holebrook (pictured), managing director of terrestrial broadcast for Arqiva.
Despite Arqiva’s having 2,000 employees (700 at its Winchester headquarters), it was a best-kept secret for most people outside the telecoms and broadcast industries, said The Business Magazine’s publisher David Murray, introducing Holebrook.
As one of the region’s most successful companies, Arqiva now tops this year’s Solent 250 list, published last month, with £831.7 million annual sales – a figure it aims to boost beyond £1 billion by 2015.
So what does Arqiva do?
Holebrook explained that Arqiva had evolved as a product of M&A activity within the fast- growing telecoms broadcast sector but could trace its heritage back to 1922 when BBC Radio launched, and later when BBC and independent television engineers worked on the first TV broadcasts.
In effect, over the years, the company had acquired businesses and gathered the best engineering talent from the telecoms and broadcast industries to become Arqiva in 2005 – a company whose communication networks enable millions of people to speak to each other, enjoy sport and entertainment, and witness global news events. Arqiva delivers communication 24/7 to five continents.
Arqiva’s B2B clients will be better known, and include BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Global Radio, Eurosport, Vodafone, O2 and EE, and it is currently rolling out a smart meter network for 10 million UK homes to serve all of the UK's energy suppliers.
Arqiva is the market leader in terrestrial TV and radio broadcast infrastructure, has nearly 50% market share of the uplinked UK satellite channels and owns the largest independent portfolio of WiFi and wireless sites (33% of mobile operator networks are delivered by Arqiva).
Arqiva’s recent high-profile achievements are impressive too. It successfully undertook the UK TV switchover from analogue to digital. To
Human capital will be a key to growth
On behalf of all the sponsors, Grant Thornton’s Norman Armstrong congratulated Solent 250 companies for “surviving and thriving, without much help, through one of the most difficult economic periods the western world has known for many years.
“Well done. All the indicators are now positive, particularly for medium-sized businesses (MSBs) such as yours, now recognised as the engine room of the British economy.“
Recent data from Grant Thornton’s own surveys, he revealed, indicated that UK MSBs were predicting 5% growth in 2014, having posted a 7.5% turnover growth in 2013. Revenue per MSB employee had grown by 12% in the past year – double the productivity of the large corporate sector.
Mentioning Grant Thornton’s ’Agents of Growth’ summit in Reading (November 5), Armstrong remarked on the very high level of business confidence and ambition among those attending. He also echoed the summation of guest speaker Paddy Ashdown MP that the future challenge for MSBs would be using talent and resources to drive growth.
Despite extensive BAE shipyard job cuts in Portsmouth, Armstrong suggested skilled engineering workers would find suitable employment among the region’s thriving MSB community.
“We don’t have an unemployment issue in our region, we have an issue about finding talent in the next five to 10 years,“ said Armstrong.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – DECEMBER 13/JANUARY 14
www.businessmag.co.uk
List additions
The new Solent 250 was launched in last month’s issue. But inevitably, as in every year, there are companies whose figures come to light after we have gone to press.
New information is now available for: • Premier Shipping & Packing, based at Fareham, with £10.8m turnover in year ending September 30, 2013.
• Taylor Made Computer Solutions, based at Fareham, with £9.2m turnover in year ending November 30, 2012.
• Novatech, based in Portsmouth, with £38.7m turnover in year ending April 30, 2013.
We apologise for not including these companies in the current list.
explain the complexity of the TV switchover project, Holebrook used the analogy of “taking the channel rail tunnel and converting it to a road tunnel with the trains still running through it.“
The switchover – the largest-ever digital network project in the country – gained personal praise from prime minister David Cameron. It was completed on time and below budget and faultlessly delivered the London Olympics to the UK public on behalf of the BBC.
Arqiva has also recently spent £600m upgrading its UK network, which includes 330m broadcast towers – far taller than The Shard in London. High quality performance indeed.
The private dinner, held at Lainston House Hotel, near Winchester marked the fourth year of Solent 250 and its sponsored support from Santander, Grant Thornton and Paris Smith.
The evening also included five significant awards for ’Ones to Watch’ within the Solent 250. (See overleaf.)
Solent 250 sponsors
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