WHAT’S NEW?


What I Learnt


This Month Liz Kentish


The woes at Carillion have brought into sharp focus something which I wrote about a while ago and which seems appropriate to remind people of now, especially with other large construction and FM companies finding themselves under the profit warning spotlight, that networking is an all year round activity.


Second Acquisition By


Nationwide Following recent announcement of the purchase of Reflekt, Nationwide Window Cleaning Group (NWC), a window, gutter and high-level cleaning business with a £14m turnover, has bought Electromec one of its key suppliers.


Electromec is a national provider of cradle and access testing services and employs 30 people. Its customers include Manchester Airport, Liverpool Airport, Knight Frank and the NHS. The acquisition will further broaden NWC’s portfolio of services to electrical installations and fall arrest systems, complementing its high-level cradle and abseil work. NWC plans to continue to grow the customer base for mechanical and electrical services and is looking to hire additional staff.


NWC has appointed Joe Read as Operations Director to head up the division, reporting to Thornton Tasker, CEO. Joe has a wealth of experience in Facilities Services, having worked at senior level for a number of major players in the industry. Steve Seager, a NWC employee for 20


www.tomorrowsfm.com


years has moved across from the window cleaning business to become Development Director for Electromec. Steve will be supporting Joe in the growth of the new acquisition. He has already worked closely with Electromec providing an integrated offering to some of his major clients in recent years.


Steve said: “I am delighted to assist in developing a solid, respected business I already know well. Our aim is to double the size of Electromec in the next couple of years. So many of our clients need Electromec’s services and are already enthusiastic about NWC becoming a one-stop-shop for them.”


The acquisition has been supported by BGF, the UK’s most active investor in small and mid-sized companies in the UK, has now invested a total of £4.5m into NWC. The funding has been used to support growth through investment in fleet, plant and equipment, IT operating systems and staff.


NWC plans to continue to explore future acquisitions in the abseil, pressure washing and high level maintenance sectors.


nwc-group.co.uk


Sadly, a good many people are now facing the prospect of losing their jobs and will be worrying about their future, and having to find another position. Many of these people will have been at the company for a number of years and not so much as looked outside for employment in that time. Worse than that, the only contacts they have are probably going to lose their jobs too.


Those who will have a head start in the race for other opportunities will be the ones who have maintained a positive network of outside contacts and will have networked at events in their industry.


This is the time that a good network will pay dividends. Not only will you be up to date with what is happening in your industry, but, through your contacts you can find out what opportunities are available right now, and many of those contacts will have reached out to them already. Of course job agencies and headhunters are there to talk to, but there is nothing like getting a heads up on a position before it even becomes public knowledge.


You may of course think that this will never happen to you, so why bother. I’m sure that many of those affected at the moment thought the same.


TOMORROW’S FM | 15


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