Training firm deal gives boost to North students
Mar 26 2008 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal
STUDENTS in the region could soon access some of the best training facilities in the country after Newcastle College bought a national training business.
The college has bought significant parts of troubled training firm Carter & Carter which provides vocational and employment skills training, mainly under Government-funded contracts, at more than 100 locations.
The move secures 1,500 Carter & Carter jobs, boosts Newcastle College’s annual turnover by £50m to £150m and cements the college’s place as the country’s largest further education institution.
Gary Whitehead, head of business services at Newcastle College, said the acquisition would give students in the region much stronger job prospects in the future.
He said: “In terms of the North East it strengthens the training and development that we do here. It will come with additional staff in the region and protect jobs already here.
“We are very strong on quality of delivery which is what attracted us to this business and it will give much stronger job prospects to our students. It allows us to develop more learners and give training to more employers and the money it generates will be invested back into facilities here.”
The college’s chairman of governors Jamie Martin said the acquisition would boost the college’s bid to become the training provider of choice among employers.
He said: “This is a great opportunity for Newcastle College to deliver its excellent practice on a national scale and cement our standing as a major provider of work-based learning and development.”
For Carter & Carter, the deal ends a disastrous chapter which started last May when company founder Phillip Carter died in a helicopter crash.
The firm went on to issue three profit warnings and was ultimately forced to appoint Deloitte as administrator after lenders Barclays, Lloyds TSB and HBOS abandoned restructuring talks.
Last Thursday the company issued a statement to the London Stock Exchange to inform investors that their shares would be cancelled when the market reopened today, leaving them with nothing.
Newcastle College became a national brand last December after buying Training West Lancashire (TWL) for £750,000 and merging with Skelmersdale and Ormskirk College, also in Lancashire.
The college was named North East Company of the Year 2005 in the North East Business Awards organised by The Journal and its Teesside sister paper the Evening Gazette.
