Derek Muirhead, Managing Director, Deepdale Solutions
Aug 17 2010 by Jez Davison, Evening Gazette
Derek Muirhead’s dislike of the banks helped him navigate his Teesside firm through the recession. Jez Davison finds out how...
WHAT does a Teesside curtain walling and cladding firm have in common with a Championship football club?
Quite a lot according to Derek Muirhead, MD of Hartlepool-based Deepdale Solutions which won the race to become the Boro’s very first monthly shirt sponsor.
Throughout this month the Boro hotshots are running around the Riverside with the Deepdale brand emblazoned boldly across their chests.
But for lifelong fan Derek, the associations run much deeper.
“We’re both well controlled British companies with good financial management, we invest in people, training and world-class facilities, we’re not major risk-takers and we behave ethically.”
This classic business pitch could be applied to either company with equal distinction.
Despite dropping out of the Premiership in 2009, Middlesbrough have one of the best training facilities in the country and have continued to invest prudently under the stewardship of local boy Steve Gibson, who slashed club debts by two thirds last year.
While the club is aiming to return to the English football elite next year, others in the Championship - notably Portsmouth, Cardiff and Hull - are more concerned about staying afloat after overstretching their budgets and falling into cashflow difficulties.
Deepdale, which makes glass and aluminium envelope walls for buildings, has no such worries after surviving a damaging recession in which many construction suppliers went out of business.
Mirroring the Boro’s blueprint for financial prudence, the Hartlepool firm has kept costs to a minimum and is in little danger of breaching its banking covenants.
In the year to November 2009, Deepdale made pre-tax profits of £533,930 on revenues of more than £7m. Cash reserves totalled a healthy £1.77m while total assets less current liabilities stood at a robust-looking £2.69m.
