BUSINESS REPORT


GROWTH FOR BUILDING FIRM


A MATCH MADE BY THE CHAMBER


Two organisations have begun working together after meeting through the Chamber. Stephen MacFarlaine, of Goodwill


Solutions Learning Academy CIC, met Marvee-Lisa Booker, of Postworks, when he attended his first Chamber event. He said: “I wanted to mail out


Buildings services specialist Briggs and Forrester Group is anticipating significant growth during 2018 which will see the Group’s revenues jump 24% to £225m while expanding its specialist operations across the UK. “The Group has celebrated another successful year


with a pre-tax profit of £5.7m (3.1%) on revenues of £182m generating a strong year-end balance sheet position and a cash balance of £32.5m. The Group was fortunate not to suffer significantly from Carillion’s demise and moves forward positively without any material financial impact to the business,” said Group CEO, Paul Burton. “Our management team’s sights are firmly focused


on delivering ‘excellence at every level’ for our clients with a strong secured forward order book of £296m


Coaching, Training and Speaking


(2016: £202m). A strong pipeline of prestigious projects in the final stages of negotiation totalling more than £130m (2016: £74m) gives a record £430m potential forward order book position supporting an aspiration to deliver £250m of revenue in 2019.” The Briggs and Forrester Group employs over 800


staff across 11 UK based offices. During 2017 it won the coveted Construction


Enquirer ‘Best Specialist Contractor to work for over £25m’ award which was voted for by its employees, supply chain and clients. To celebrate its 70th year it also launched the


Briggs and Forrester Foundation, with the aim of raising of more than £25,000 for charitable organisations.


information to businesses in Northampton about our apprenticeship programme but thought having it done professionally would be cost prohibitive. Little did I realise that the cost with Postworks would be less than the price of a stamp! Marvee-Lisa explained how Postworks works and met me a few days later for a demo. It showed me the Chamber’s networking events really work.” Marvee-Lisa added: “We often


considered apprenticeships but were reluctant to move forward because we didn’t really know how. We told the Learning Academy what skills we wanted and they told us what apprenticeship courses would fit and put us in touch with training companies who could supply candidates for our positions. The process was so simple. Their service was great and it doesn’t cost a penny.”


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“WOW! Such a great course. AMAZING!” “Absolutely brilliant” T: 07932 419190


APRIL/MAY 2018 inbusiness 9


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