London
Lancashire
Cheshire
25 C
Manchester
Friday, August 15, 2025
Home Blog Page 968

The Dining Club Group announces its first Chief Marketing Officer Anwar Sultan

Sam Whitear
-
0

The Dining Club Group, the largest dining club in the world comprising of tastecard, Gourmet Society and hi-life, has named Anwar Sultan its first Chief Marketing Officer effective immediately. Continued marketing efforts have seen sustained commercial growth of the Dining Club Group across the UK & Ireland and Sultan’s appointment marks the commitment to further growth & expansion of the Dining Club Group brands.

Sultan, who joins from The Hut Group where he was Marketing Director, brings nine years marketing, digital and e commerce experience and will be responsible for both the group’s marketing function as well as developing the customer experience across the various brands.

Reporting into Matt Turner, Founder of tastecard & CEO of the Dining Club Group, and based between both Manchester and Huddersfield sites, Sultan’s first priority is to build a robust & innovative marketing team to help grow the business and support The Dining Club Group’s impressive growth strategy in the fast-paced tech industry.

Anwar Sultan, Chief Marketing Officer the Dining Club Group, commented: “I’m delighted to have joined the Dining Club Group at such an exciting time – the prospect of working with such an engaging product which is used by millions of customers, in a data driven digital approach, is something I just couldn’t turn down. The DCG business is dynamic & innovative and the opportunities for growth of the business are staggering. The art of the possible is endless.”

Matt Turner, Founder of tastecard and CEO of the Dining Club Group, added: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Anwar to the Dining Club Group family at a hugely exciting time, with the business undergoing a major digital transformation programme which will provide valuable data driven insight to our partners and customers alike. 2018 is already shaping up to be a record-breaking year for the Dining Club Group and his appointment further demonstrates our commitment to an ambitious growth strategy in the UK & abroad.”

Comprising the three leading discount dining card schemes in the UK; tastecard, Gourmet Society and hi-life, the Dining Club Group has over four million members spending in excess of £600 million per annum across the group’s growing 10,000 restaurant partners.

Dwyer Group® acquired by Harvest Partners

Sam Whitear
-
0

Dwyer Franchising, LLC (“Dwyer Group”), one of the world’s largest parent companies of home service brands, yesterday announced it has been acquired by Harvest Partners, LP (“Harvest Partners” or “Harvest”), a New York-based private equity firm. The deal marks the fourth and largest private equity transaction of Dwyer Group in the franchise organisation’s history. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Bright & Beautiful, an award-winning professional domestic housekeeping franchise based in Cheadle, was acquired by Dwyer Group in April 2017 and currently has 56 franchise owners building their own local business.  In ten years, the managed service-based franchise has created over 500 jobs and delivered more than 500,000 home cleans.

Dwyer Group, headquartered in Waco, Texas, with offices in Banbury and Manchester, serves as the holding company for 20 service brands, with a franchise network including more than 3,200 franchisees operating in the United States, United Kingdom and seven other countries. The combined businesses offer domestic and commercial customers with a community of professional services and account for approximately £1.3 billion in annual system-wide revenues.

Harvest Partners, is an established middle-market private equity firm with a 35+ year history of investing in companies and partnering with high-quality management teams to support those businesses as they continue to grow to the next level.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Dwyer Group management team. They have built an excellent company and we look forward to providing additional financial and strategic resources to help them further build on their market leader status in the service franchise category,” said Steve Eisenstein, Partner at Harvest Partners.

Harvest’s purchase transfers majority ownership of Dwyer Group from The Riverside Company, a global investment firm that invested in Dwyer Group two separate times – taking the company private in 2003 and reacquiring the company in 2014.

“This acquisition is exciting news for Bright & Beautiful as it will open up many more opportunities for us to grow our network of franchises and clients even further across the UK, says Sue Moore, Brand President of Bright & Beautiful. “It will also be great to benefit from Harvest Partners vast expertise and experience in the service sector.”

With each private equity transaction, Dwyer Group has expanded exponentially through add-on acquisitions of complementary franchise service brands and the organic growth of its existing service brands. In recent years, the company has expanded its franchisee-support structure significantly by adding 35% more corporate associates and new facilities at headquarters in the U.S. and offices in the UK and Europe. During this time, Dwyer Group tripled in enterprise value and launched the overarching Neighbourly brand to unify and market a growing roster of service brands that provide a seamless one-stop shop for consumers’ home service needs.

“The incredible support of Riverside, the skill and resources of our team, and the successful completion of 11 add-on acquisitions, including three in the UK (Drain Doctor®, Bright & Beautiful® and Countrywide Grounds Maintenance®) to Dwyer Group during this second investment have dramatically shaped the trajectory of our growth. We intend to build on our dominant position as a leader in services helping people repair, maintain and enhance their homes and businesses,” said Mike Bidwell, President and CEO of Dwyer Group. “We are in the strongest fiscal position with the largest global reach in our company’s history. And Harvest brings capital, experience and enthusiasm to support our ambitions for continued growth.”

B2B International awarded 2018 Achievement in Customer Excellence for its approach to win / Loss research

Sam Whitear
-
0

Manchester-based B2B International, the world’s most experienced b2b market research company, has been awarded a 2018 Confirmit ACE (Achievement in Customer Excellence) Award in the B2B category. This honour demonstrates B2B International’s exceptional commitment and unique approach to using Voice of the Customer insights to drive change. In particular, it recognises B2B International’s approach to b2b win / loss research and the impact that this approach has had for its clients.

Confirmit’s ACE Awards program was established in 2005 in order to honour their clients’ dedication and distinct contribution to achieving universal customer excellence. As a recipient of a Confirmit ACE Award, B2B International has demonstrated its continuous drive to improve its clients’ businesses through the practical use of customer and market feedback. B2B International earned the Confirmit ACE Award based on the development and impact of its win / loss research approach using the Confimit Horizons platform.

“We are very proud to be a recipient of a 2018 Confirmit ACE Award, as it reinforces our dedication to always thinking of new ways to bring the voice of the customer into our client’s businesses” said Nick Hague, Director, B2B International. “We have tailor-made our win / loss approach alongside Confirmit, and it has proved to be very effective over the last year.  The ACE Award is a great recognition of this work, and motivates us to continue innovating, to deliver real impact for our clients.  Confirmit has been a great partner in helping us realise this.”

“We are delighted to honour B2B International with a 2018 Confirmit ACE Award as they have proven time and again their prowess in the Customer Experience field,” said Ken Østreng, President and CEO of Confirmit. “Their approach to using customer feedback as part of a win /loss program demonstrates an innovative approach to understanding their audience, as well as a profound commitment to improving the businesses that they work with.”

Push Doctor opens dedicated Digital Health Campus

Sam Whitear
-
0

Push Doctor, the UK’s largest digital health provider, opens a new Digital Health Campus to act as a focal point for the development of digital health in the UK. As part of its investment made possible by the largest Series B funding round in Tech North, Push Doctor is investing over £3 million into the local economy.

Push Doctor has grown rapidly from four employees in January 2016 to 118 today, and is expected to reach 170 by the end of 2018. As part of a move into new offices to accelerate this growth, the Company has dedicated one third of the new building to its ‘campus’. The space, created in collaboration with Workspace Design and TP Bennett, is designed to bring together stakeholders across the Health and Tech ecosystem and will be used by organisations, businesses and start-ups from across the country in a bid to answer some of the most pressing questions facing healthcare in this and the next century.

Push Doctor will also host regular events in the campus space encompassing all aspects of healthcare. Having pioneered smartphone consultations in the UK Push Doctor will help drive continued innovation by seeking to include a growing range of external healthcare professionals in its mission of helping people enjoy happier, longer lives. As part of this, the Company will hold regular doctor co-working sessions on the future of healthcare as well as invite the latest thinkers from a range of industries to enable collaboration on this global challenge.

Push Doctor is also investing significantly in its own employees, all of whom have unlimited access to the Company’s online GP service, on-site fitness and nutrition specialists and new in-house gymnasium. Push Doctor’s team has a unique blend of skills, ranging from engineers, designers, analysts, doctors, pharmacists to nutritionists and personal trainers. The skills that this team brings allows Push Doctor to target macro health challenges such as primary care and more specifically how those challenges fit within the lifestyle of the 21st century.

With its new 15,000ft2 offices in the recently redeveloped Arkwright House, Push Doctor is investing in Manchester’s tech scene, with the city already supporting nearly 65,000 digital jobs.

Eren Ozagir, founder and CEO of Push Doctor, said: “As category leaders we believe that opening this dedicated campus in Manchester will enable us to pull together the expertise needed to collectively answer the questions which will make a real difference to health, and ensure we can deliver our own mission to help people live happier, healthier lives.

“The creation of this new space also represents continued investment in our own team, who have already led some of the most significant innovations in digital health in the UK. We’ll continue to at look at building that team even further by hiring another 60 employees with a range of talents by the end of 2018.”

Champion and Belmont celebrate 17 years together

Sam Whitear
-
0

Champion Accountants’ Manchester office has been providing expert accountancy and business advisory support for 17 years to Wigan based client, Belmont Packaging.

Female-led Belmont Packaging develops quality printed, flexographic and corrugated cardboard packaging solutions from its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Hindley.

The business was formed in 1978 and in 2013 Kate Hulley, now managing director, bought the company and gave it a new lease of life.

Kate comments: “I’ve been working with Champion since I bought the business and they were instrumental during that time, always going above and beyond to help me.’’

Over the years Champion has provided Belmont Packaging with a range of services, from payroll to insurance needs. More recently, Champion helped Belmont Packaging identify a spend of almost £80,000 on R&D activities over the last two financial years.

Kate continued: “Champion were brilliant throughout the entire process and were able to extract all the information from me and ensure our claim included every possible investment.’’

With help from the money that Champion helped claim back, Belmont Packaging has been able to reinvest in site infrastructure and equipment to further improve the products and services it offers to customers.

Over the next five years Kate sees the company going from strength to strength with more machinery investment, greater product ranges and further growing their eCommerce offering, Boxed-up. Champion regularly advise on new opportunities and how best to access the finance for Belmont’s continuous growth.

“Over the past 17 years we haven’t once considered changing our accountants. The team are friendly, flexible and always on hand to help and that’s exactly what Belmont Packaging needs to help with our continued success.’’ says Kate.

The accountancy group, which also has offices in Preston, Blackpool and Chester has celebrated a number of long standing clients already this year which showcases their ability to provide excellent service.

Ged Cosgrove, group managing partner at Champion Accountants, added: “Our long standing clients are testament to the relationships that our team work so hard to build and maintain.

“It’s great to hear such lovely feedback from our clients but especially those that have continued to work with us over the past ten to twenty years. We’re looking forward to working with Belmont Packaging for another 17 years.’’

Record revenues posted by UMIC Events

Sam Whitear
-
0

The University of Manchester Innovation Centre’s (UMIC) Events arm has delivered record revenues following a comprehensive refurbishment of its conference spaces.

Throughout 2017 UMIC hosted 462 events at its Grafton Street base while also landing 47 new clients.

Acteon, Aeirtec, Blackboard International, Cadtek Enabling education network and Lan2Lan are among the businesses to have used UMIC’s seven events and conference spaces.

The Christie Charitable Fund, The University of Manchester and Child Poverty Action Group have all continued to use the Innovation Centre.

Colin Curwen, UMIC Events Executive, said revenues jumped 32% from 2016 with further upgrades to the main atrium also due in Autumn this year.

He said: “The past 12 months at UMIC Events has been eventful to say the least.

“The seven spaces we offer – which lie in the heart of the Oxford Road Corridor innovation district –  are all in prime condition and seem to attract a wide range of organisations.

“Our biggest space, The Dalton Room which can hold up to 140 guests, has undergone major technological improvements. Users now have access to more space, a 98-inch 4k UHD screen and new click share technology which all adds up to a slicker and more welcoming environment.

“The UMIC boardroom and Pink, Blue, Green and Yellow rooms cater for two to 14 people, while the Innovation Suite is the second largest room and a popular choice for events for 14 to 50 delegates. All have fresh appeal, including new lighting and coloured vinyl additions to the glass windows.”

UMIC, home to biotech and hi-tech companies, has also increased its tenant engagement activity with weekly yoga classes available to anyone working inside the Innovation Centre.

Later this year the Innovation Centre’s atrium will be redesigned to become a business hub ideal for networking and co-working in modern purpose-built surroundings.

Colin added: “We are well positioned to continue our growth story while remaining agile to the needs of current and potential clients.

“We are also thankful to the Alliance Manchester Business School for its continued support and look forward to the remainder of 2018.”

Manchester’s fastest growing family law firm awarded industry accreditation in record time

Sam Whitear
-
0

Manchester-based McAlister Family Law, founded only a matter of months ago, has achieved Lexcel, the quality mark awarded by the Law Society of England and Wales to legal practices that have achieved the Law Society’s Practice Management Standard.

What’s more, the firm achieved the Lexcel quality mark in only three months, compared with many practices which take up to five years to reach the same level.

The independent assessment and Lexcel accreditation cover all areas of the practice: management structure; services and forward planning; financial management; managing people; office administration and case management.  McAlister Family Law received a mark of 100 percent, with not a single minor for non-compliance – a rarity.

Amanda McAlister, Managing Partner, said: “We are delighted, and very proud, of achieving Lexcel accreditation.  We knew we were a strong team, dedicated to delivering a service that vastly exceeds our clients’ expectations. But to achieve this in such a short period of time is nothing short of amazing, and a true testament to everyone’s commitment and hard work.

Lexcel is recognised as the only accreditation scheme in the world that focuses solely on legal management.  The firm therefore had to undergo a rigorous independent audit of all its systems and procedures across its offices in Manchester and Alderley Edge.

“Right from our inception, we set our sights on being the UK’s ‘go to’ authority on all family law matters, with a mission to provide expert advice and guidance to clients within a framework of empathy and truthfulness,” said Amanda. “Achieving Lexcel accreditation serves to underline that we meet the highest standards of practice management and client care.”

McAlister Family Law is shortly to appoint a Client Excellence Manager to ensure the firm continues to maintain its comprehensive quality systems.

Amanda added: “The industry recognition that we deliver unrivalled customer service provides us with an excellent foundation for growth.  This is just the beginning.”

McAlister Family Law is part of Beyond Professional Services Group, a business that believes strongly in doing the right thing for its clients.  Led by Matt Fleetwood, it focuses on developing long term client relationships, challenges the thinking of traditional law firms and ultimately is changing the way of conducting business in the industry, with notable success.

Broadstone adds new female hires from Silicon Valley and Manchester tech companies to boost growth

Sam Whitear
-
0

Two women in tech have been snapped up by Broadstone as it embarks on scale up plans and develops the staffing platform

Headhunted from Silicon Valley, Noelle Batema joins the scale-up technology company, Broadstone, as Community Engagement Manager while Jacqui Bland from LADBible in Manchester has been recruited as Senior Software Engineer.

Manchester-based scale-up Broadstone, is a staffing platform that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to match job-seekers with work opportunities at some of the UK’s largest employers. The service provides background checks and captures accurate data upfront to verify details, reducing lead times from 12 weeks to just 15 days. Broadstone is expanding and growing at pace, moving from start-up to scale-up in just over 12 months.

Having been headhunted by Broadstone, native San Franciscan, Noelle has made the permanent move to Manchester following several years in Silicon Valley working with start-ups such as Deliv and iCracked. She has successfully grown communities for tech businesses in the USA and will now be responsible for the full lifecycle of building and supporting Broadstone’s communities. She will also devise, develop and launch strategies for audience engagement, gamification and attracting new members.

She said: “This role stood out to me as an amazing opportunity to bring my experience in community engagement and build customer-focused solutions for an innovative start-up in Manchester. Manchester is a hub of tech talent and I believe Broadstone will disrupt the existing methods of staffing in industries such as recruitment and revolutionise the way both job-seekers and employers view recruitment. I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Joining from LADbible Group, Jacqui will join Broadstone’s development team, introducing new agile processes to the business, creating unit tests and planning product roadmaps, as well as ensuring a smooth and efficient user experience.

She said: “I really wanted to be part of a company that provides a valuable service and with the app already successfully filling positions for large UK security companies, it’s a very exciting time to join.

As a developer, I always look for a technical challenge but at Broadstone I also have the opportunity to bring my experiences from working with some very talented individuals in previous roles to help mentor and mould the team here . Broadstone has a really exciting future ahead, I see our app putting the power back into the employee’s hand and becoming the place for finding temporary and permanent work.”

Tom Pickersgill, founder and director of Broadstone, says: “We need to ensure we continue to recruit strong hires as we embark on the scale-up stage of our business. We have ambitious expansion plans to move our technology into other sectors, aside from security, so Noelle and Jacqui will certainly be key to our success and support us as we enter the next stage in our growth and beyond.”

Review: The Authority Guides, by Robin Hills

Sam Whitear
-
0

Emotional intelligence coach, trainer and facilitator with over 35 years’ business and commercial experience, Robin Hills, has recently released two books within the  ‘The Authority Guide to’ series.

Titled, ‘Behaviour in Business’ and ‘Emotional Resilience in Business’, the pocket sized companions offer a researched backed but easy to digest guide to psychology at work.

A range of models are used in both books to illustrate how fundamentals of psychology can be aligned with the professional and business environment.

Covering topics of communication, mindfulness, team work and organisational culture, the books explore areas in a depth often overlooked in day to day workplaces, offering guides of best practise, long-term psychological wellbeing and success.

Stylish in appearance and comforting in writing style, the guides can be accessed and understood regardless of a person’s professional standing. Every level of business experience will gain value from reading Robin Hill’s guides.

To be entered into a prize draw for a copy of both ‘Behaviour in Business’ and ‘Emotional Resilience in Business’, please email your full name and contact details to [email protected]

Equilibrium funds grow by £500 AUM in six months

Sam Whitear
-
0

Equilibrium Asset Management is celebrating another milestone, with the investment funds they launched 6 months ago hitting over £500m in assets.

The three funds, the IFSL Equilibrium Cautious Portfolio, IFSL Equilibrium Balanced Portfolio and IFSL Equilibrium Adventurous Portfolio, had combined assets under management of £516m as of 18 May 2018.

[Equilibrium Investment Management] Partner & Investment Manager Mike Deverell said: “We’re delighted with the rate of growth and with the take up rate from our clients which has been 100%.”

Equilibrium partnered with Investment Fund Services Limited (IFSL), part of the Marlborough group, who act as ACD* and administrator for the funds.

Simon Chalkley, Associate Director – Relationship Management, at IFSL said: “We’ve worked very closely with Equilibrium to ensure the smooth launch and subsequent operation of their funds and it’s very pleasing to see their success.

“From the outset we’ve been impressed with Equilibrium’s commitment to providing a first-class service for their clients. It’s gratifying to see those clients, and the business, benefiting from the efficiencies associated with using a fund structure.”

Deverell added: “We felt there would be many benefits to running our investment portfolios via a fund structure so we spent a lot of time and effort explaining that to clients.”

Some of the benefits Equilibrium expected include speed of reaction and access to a wider selection of investments. Deverell believes the volatility in stockmarkets in early 2018 was the perfect test of these benefits.

“When the FTSE 100 fell to 7,200 we switched 3% of the portfolio from low risk assets into a FTSE 100 ETF. This was something we had always planned to do and we were able to act immediately our trigger point was reached.”

Whilst performance can never be guaranteed, the funds have performed well since launch in the Mixed Investment 20%-60% Shares sector in which they sit.  Naturally, Deverell is delighted: “Investments will always rise and fall, and we went into this period relatively cautiously positioned. Pleasingly, this meant the funds generally fell by less than the sector when stockmarkets were falling earlier this year. We were then able to outperform when the market rebounded partly because of the trades we made in the market dip.”

Equilibrium also purchased a structured product within the funds which they had created especially for their clients by investment bank Morgan Stanley. “Just like with the ETF trade we had always intended to do this should the FTSE drop to 7,100 and the fund structure meant we could do so without delay.”

Deverell says both trades prove that the perceived benefits of the fund structure are not just theoretical, but can potentially enhance client returns. In fact Equilibrium has since sold the ETF, banking the gains and reducing risk within the funds.

1...967968969...1,038Page 968 of 1,038
About us

Business Manchester is the leading Manchester Business magazine covering all the important Business stories in the Manchester area.

Company

Terms and Conditions

Subscribe to our newsletter
Business Manchester will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you and to provide updates and marketing.

© 2024 BusinessManchester.co.uk | All Rights Reserved.