A GREAT DEAL OF DIFFERENCE Three Lancashire business owners share their journeys and how the deals they have completed have impacted on them and their companies
Michael Conlon is chairman of Conlon Construction. This summer the Bamber Bridge based business, revealed it had moved from family ownership to an Employee-Ownership Trust (EOT).
The business started off with five brothers in 1961. The reason we went down the Employment Ownership Trust (EOT) route was to make sure our culture stayed the same.
That culture of looking after people has stuck with us for a long time. If you look after the subcontractors they’ll look after you and likewise with your clients.
It would have been very easy just to sell out to the highest bidder but that might have involved a national contractor and we knew that a lot of our employees would be sacked because they’d have those people within their organisations.
In the EOT there are tax advantages for the sellers, but that wasn’t the real motivation. This way all of our employees are kept safe in their jobs, our subcontractors are safe because they’re dealing with exactly the same people, as are our clients.
It was about the family legacy and the family still having a good name in Lancashire and amongst our clients.
It means I don’t get to retire for another year or so but it’s better for the family, better for all concerned and all-round we’re pleased that we went down that route.
Paul Fox is chief executive of the haulage, plant hire and aggregate group that bears his family name. In early September it was announced it had been acquired by a private equity firm. The deal is examined in detail in our Dealmakers section on page 26
We’ve been fairly aggressive on M&A in the past five years, we’ve done 10 or 11 acquisitions. The skill is in picking the right one – the businesses that aren’t broken, the ones were people will stay.
Continued on Page 62
Morgan Rothwell Director, D&M Creative Limited
About us
We’re a commercially focused marketing and design agency that develops impacting concepts and ideas, to help grow our clients’ businesses. Our talented team covers marketing, design, web development, social media and most aspects of digital marketing. Being commercially focused means we understand a P&L and the impact positive marketing can have on a business. We have a long history of success of working with companies to grow their profits through great marketing.
Our achievements and future plans
After expanding and moving into new offices this year, we are focussed on developing a strong and positive team culture and launching several new businesses in 2025, including a unique Content and FX Studio and a hospitality focused website business. Daniel Thwaites, the Winter Gardens, Pendle Leisure, ESP Play and REM are just some of our extensive client base. Our longest standing client has been with us for over 15 years – a testimony to the success we have delivered, year on year.
Advice to Lancashire businesses looking to buy or sell?
Understand your business and where the value lies, focus on strengthening this and ensure you have buy in from your team, as they and your customers are the two most important assets you have. Also, whether you’re buying or selling, don’t forget to focus on your business and growing it during the sell/buy phase – don’t’ take your eye off the ball.
dandmcreative.com
PRESENT:
Richard Slater, Lancashire Business View (Chair) Ryan Bilsborough, PM+M
Michael Conlon, Conlon Construction
Paul Fox, Fox Group Laurence O’Connor, Financial Affairs Richard Robinson, Napthens Stephen Robinson, PM+M Morgan Rothwell, D&M Creative Khalid Saifullah, WEPA Ben Smith, Interpath Advisory
LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
IEW.CO.UK
61
IN VIEW
DOING THE DEAL
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