investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund. The company, founded in 2008, serves the gaming industry with clients including Disney, EA, Microsoft, and Supermassive Games.
Kids Planet Day Nurseries has acquired Shh!, the Blackburn bar known for
its 1920s speakeasy style, is set to expand into larger premises with a £350,000 investment. The bar will move across the road to 35 Northgate, a 19th century building, which will create an extended bar offer and more formal dining on the first floor.
Burnley-based temperature-controlled
van experts CoolKit announced another strong year of growth with turnover up from £11.4m to £17.5m and pre-tax profits exceeding £1m.
Inscape Interiors, based in Chorley, has secured contracts to supply its bespoke joinery and commercial washroom services to a new Radisson hotel project in Liverpool, the new £150m Paterson Building at the Christie hospital in Manchester and Henry Boot Construction’s £42m Heart of the City redevelopment in Sheffield.
Ribble Valley-based creative agency
Workhouse has won the contract to develop and deliver a new online strategy for London-based workplace design and build specialists Peldon Rose.
Blackburn-based Lancashire Printing
Co has been bought out of liquidation, safeguarding the jobs of all of its employees. The 40-year-old company struggled after two of its key sectors, hospitality and office workers, were badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Ian McCulloch and Mark Ranson of Opus Restructuring were appointed as joint liquidators and a sale to Lancashire Foil & Print was completed on the same day.
Lytham St Annes-based artwork studio Airship Interactive has secured a £450,000
Burscough-based Acumen Financial
Partnership has reported a 36 per cent increase in turnover during its best-ever year. The IFA now has £395m funds under management, a 12.8 per cent increase on a year ago.
five sites on The Fylde. The newly acquired nurseries were previously part of the Happy Days group and include Poulton Nursery and Forest School in Poulton-le-Fylde, Victoria Hospital Nursery for NHS employees in Blackpool, Kidspace and The Learning Lodge in Thornton-Cleveleys, and Ansdell Nursery in Lytham St Annes.
Mark Gibbons
Senior access to finance specialist
@a2flancashire access-to-finance-lancashire
CAN STRATEGIC INVESTORS BE TOO
GOOD TO BE TRUE? Investors from supply-chain partners, future customers and specialised venture capital funds are considered strategic.
The strategic investor is thought to be able to accelerate development, provide a major source of early revenue, act as a channel partner for new customer acquisition, enhance a start-up’s credibility, and perhaps ultimately serve as a potential acquirer.
With these advantages, founders highly regard interest from strategic investors. But, from our experience working with founders, we recommend that businesses proceed cautiously.
Blackburn-based Northern Industrial
has opened new premises in Mexico in a move which may see its American operation more than match the trade volume of its UK headquarters.
Clitheroe-based BakerBoxx, a baking supplies subscription service launched during the Covid-19 pandemic, has opened its first dedicated premises to allow for future growth. The site at Mitton Road Industrial Park in Whalley will become the nerve centre for recipe development, customer services and marketing.
DOWN Skelmersdale’s bid to build a new rail
station which would improve connections with Liverpool, Manchester and Preston has been rejected. Lancashire County Council submitted a Strategic Outline Business Case to the Department for Transport last year, but the government has said those plans will not be considered further.
New data published by Preston-based Begbies Traynor says that while there has been a short-term levelling off in distress rates for firms across Lancashire, almost 10,000 red rose businesses remain on the brink. The number of businesses falling into ‘critical distress’ has more than doubled during the past 12 months.
The Planning Inspectorate has announced that it will hear an appeal put forward by Taylor Wimpey and Homes England after South Ribble Council refused two applications to build a 1,000- home mixed-use development on the Pickerings Farm site in Penwortham.
North West construction firms are being urged to brace themselves against payment freezes by ensuring watertight documentation for all site project work. Nicola Clark, restructuring and insolvency partner at Azets, warned: “We are starting to see the tell-tale signs of recession in this industry.”
The impact of investment controlling the direction of development. Interest is not always to secure an investment return or to demonstrate a belief in the vision. Funding comes when investors think you fit into their development plans. Recognising feedback can be valuable, but some founders caution against too close involvement in controlling internal development processes.
Avoiding strategic rights or terms. Investors should be treated equally at an early stage, and complexity is to be avoided. Recently, my team has seen investors looking for a restrictive right of veto over any future acquisition and first refusal over future funding proposals.
Begin with the end in mind. Strategic investors often won’t participate in follow-on rounds. Early investment typically means a board seat and visibility, so they don’t need to follow their money. If they’re not investing for a financial return, there may be no motivation to increase future investment.
Strategic investors can change focus. Without financial motivation, investors can lose interest if development does not deliver the perceived benefits. Founders need to think very carefully when fundraising and faced with the sparkling diamond, who is a strategic investor.
For more information please visit
a2flancashire.growthco.uk
or call 0808 196 5099
LANCASHIREBUSINESSVIEW.CO.UK
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