Continuing to invest in difficult economic climate
Jun 30 2009 by Karen Wilson, The Journal
DESPITE the most difficult economic conditions that most of us can remember, NEL Fund Managers has continued to actively invest in a range of North East companies over the last 12 months.
From manufacturing and engineering to software development, publishing and telecommunications, NEL investment capital is now helping regional businesses work towards their commercial objectives at a time when more traditional funding methods have all but dried up.
The investments fall into three main areas – early stage, late stage and technology – and NEL chief executive Barrie Hensby believes the continuing availability of investment capital is crucial to the ongoing health of the regional economy.
He said: “Very few businesses are in the privileged position of being completely self-funding, so as getting backing from the banks has become increasingly difficult over recent months, the role of investment capital in helping ambitious business plans become reality has become ever important.
“We aim to provide the right sort of capital injection at the right time and to back this funding up with support and guidance from our highly-experienced team.”
A series of early-stage investments has helped Newcastle-based Electrokinetic develop pioneering technology using electrokinetic geosynthetics (EKG), which can ‘dewater’ a wide range of different materials and thus improve the efficiency of operations in a range of different industries.
The technology is currently undergoing final field trials before its full commercialisation across different industries and plans are in place for it to be deployed by several household name companies both at home and overseas.
Electrokinetic managing director David Huntley said: “The trials we are undertaking are proving that the technology has real benefits for our customers and we’re aiming to move as quickly as possible towards commercialisation in a number of different markets.
“NEL’s ongoing support and investment has made a tangible difference to the pace and breadth of our development work.”
At a later stage in its development, Teesside environmental and engineering contractor AAG Swepco is using its investment to support its move into potentially-lucrative new markets.
The Billingham-based business provides integrated renewable, engineering and facilities management services to public and private sector clients throughout the UK.
Having more than doubled in size in the last two years, it is now looking to treble sales over the next four years through increasing its focus on providing ‘sustainable’ services for customers and maximising cross-selling opportunities.
Business development director Andrew Dyne said: “Our broad base of expertise means we can look at a client’s sustainability objectives and provide advice and support not only in the obvious areas, such as energy consumption and environmental engineering requirements, but across other parts of the business too.
“Having all this expertise effectively under one roof makes the whole planning and delivery process very straightforward for the customer.
“The NEL team developed both a sound working knowledge of our business and an appreciation of the strategic and commercial goals that we have set ourselves, and their expertise will help facilitate our growth plans.”
On the technology front, world-renowned games developer Eutechnyx is using a second tranche of NEL investment capital to help implement plans which will place it in the vanguard of companies shaping the next phase of evolution in the global games industry.
At least ten new high-technology graduate jobs are being created at the Gateshead-based firm as part of this drive, with potentially more to follow, and discussions are already taking place with some of the leading players in the games industry in the Far East.
Managing director Brian Jobling said: “We’re proud to be a North East company with a worldwide reputation, and can now see clear opportunities for us to take the company’s success to a whole new level.
“The initial investment NEL made in our company played a key role in helping us grow our turnover by £2m and our staff numbers by more than 50 in the last three years, and their continued support gives us the financial confidence we need to exploit the exciting opportunities we’re now looking at now.”
