Today The Journal unveils the North East Institute of Directors' annual list of the region’s leading investor directors. Alastair Thomson, the IoD's regional chairman, sets the scene.
Name: Dr Ian Baggett
Job title: Managing director
Company: Adderstone Properties Ltd, Newcastle
Company’s activities: Dr Baggett established Adderstone Group in 1998 and has since founded in excess of 30 trading companies, none of which have failed. There are 150 employees within the group, which includes commercial and residential property development, property investment, construction and manufacturing.
Investments: Adderstone Group has its roots in a £2,000 inheritance from Dr Baggett’s grandmother and a £15,000 loan from Northern Rock. He has continually reinvested into his various related business interests during a sustained 12-year period.
Name: Dr Arnab Basu
Job title: Chief executive
Company: Kromek Ltd (formerly Durham Scientific Crystals), Sedgefield
Company’s activities: Working in the field of scientific research and development, Kromek is one of the most recognised early-stage technology firms in the UK, and recognised globally as a game-changing innovator in the field of digital x-ray detection and imaging technology.
Investments: Under Basu’s stewardship, Kromek has grown from a two-man operation to a team of more than 60 people and has successfully completed several rounds of funding, raising more than £22m in private equity. Its valuation currently stands in excess of £60m.
Name: Gary Bowden
Job title: Managing director
Company: Cleaner Air Solutions, Durham
Company’s activities: A supplier and installer of solar photovoltaic systems and renewable energy solutions across the UK. It employs more than 80 staff and also runs Renewable Energy Academies, in Durham and Wrexham, preparing individuals and companies to compete in the renewable energy technologies marketplace by providing them with training to gain certification.
Investments: Cleaner Air Solutions has experienced exponential growth during the last four years, bucking the economic downturn to record excellent figures. Its turnover in 2010/11 was almost treble the previous 12 months’ figures.
Name: Steve Cochrane
Job title: Managing director
Company: Psyche, Middlesbrough
Company’s activities: Established in 1982, Psyche is a multi- award-winning “uber boutique” and website
Investments: Last year, Cochrane invested about £200,000 refurbishing the shop floor by floor. He is planning to build a 50-bed hotel and 170-seater restaurant on top of the building. The intention is to start the construction in the second quarter of 2012 and it be open for Christmas 2013. Psyche employs 58 people. About 18% of business comes from export. It sells clothes to Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, US and Europe.
Name: Alex Dawson
Job title: Chief executive
Company: TAG Energy Solutions, Billingham
Company’s activities: TAG Energy Solutions’ innovative manufacturing system rolls and welds large diameter tubulars used in the construction of offshore wind turbine jacket and monopile foundations. It also manufactures substations, jackets and topside structures.
Investments: Alex Dawson has refocused TAG Energy Solutions’ business towards the emerging offshore renewables sector. Dawson and his team took the bold step of financing and building a state-of-art £20m facility in preparation for the steep growth in this market. The company is recruiting the first tranche of a 100-strong core workforce.
Name: Alex Foreman
Job title: Managing director
Company: Total Recycling Services, Darlington
Company’s activities: TRS is a total waste management company. A standards compliant recycling and hazardous waste disposal service is facilitated by an experienced management team and dedicated workforce.
Investments: The business has grown rapidly since its formation and is still growing with recent acquisitions of waste management contracts for many blue-chip organisations operating across the UK. TRS has continued to reinvest in the region with the purchase of plant and equipment from locally-sourced suppliers. The business has successfully acquired management system accreditations including ISO9001, 14001 and OHSAS 18001.
Name: John Hays
Job title: Managing director
Company: Hays Travel, Sunderland
Company’s activities: Hays Travel is the UK’s largest independently owned travel agency
Investments: Hays founded Hays Travel 30 years ago at the back of his mother’s children’s wear shop in Seaham.
He has won the Outstanding Contribution to the Travel Industry Award at the TTG Awards, where he was voted top by 900 people at the London awards ceremony. Hays Travel has more than 800 staff and has grown its chain to 44 branches with the takeover of two small North Yorkshire chains and its first move into the North West of England.
Name: Darren Jobling
Job title: Chief operating officer
Company: Eutechnyx, Gateshead
Company’s activities: Eutechnyx is an independent creator of driving games, on PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and PC online. The company, which has offices in Hong Kong, Chengdu and the USA, has a 24-year history of working with the biggest brands in the business, such as Ferrari, James Bond 007 and Formula One.
Investments: Jobling has developed a reputation as one of the best dealmakers in the $15 billion games industry.
The company expects to double its turnover over the next 12 months and at least double its 150-strong worldwide workforce.
Name: Sharon Kell
Job title: Managing director
Company: Coco Moon, Newcastle
Company’s activities: Coco Moon is an introductions agency offering a bespoke and discreet service to busy single professionals. It introduces members through personalised expert and confidential processes rather than computer-driven checklists. This includes staff holding personal consultations with potential customers prior to offering and accepting membership.
Investments: Coco Moon is expanding following Sharon Kell attracting a six-figure injection of finance from Rivers Capital. This is supporting the introduction of new technology to make the business scalable; the recruitment of additional staff and the expansion of Coco Moon’s services across a bigger geographical reach.
Name: Dr Patrick Morton
Job title: Managing director
Company: Lucion Environmental, Gateshead
Company’s activities: Lucion provides a quality service in the areas of asbestos surveying and management, occupational hygiene and environmental surveying.
Investments: Lucion has taken over AOH, a Tyneside-based business rival, in a deal that gives it access to a national market, and a considerable company growth. Morton was a co-founder of Lucion in 2002. He has helped oversee Lucion’s growth and has been involved in the management of large-scale asbestos-related projects from initial tender to handover of final completion. Morton and his team are looking to open up further bases around the UK.
Name: Derek Parmley
Job title: Managing director
Company: Parmley Technologies Ltd, Newcastle
Company’s activities: Design and manufacture of high-specification electronic control panels for use in military, offshore and other harsh environments
Investments: Derek Parmley set the company up in 2000, and, with no outside funding or investors, has grown the business to employ 40 staff. It has invested more than £1m in a new purpose-built factory in Newcastle. By reinvesting the profits back into the company, it has expanded the business to meet customers’ needs without being hindered by the banking/economic difficulties, while continuing to invest in both its facilities and staff.
Name: Glenn Pickersgill
Job title: Director
Company: Heritage Healthcare, Darlington
Company’s activities: Heritage Healthcare provides a quality service to people who have been assessed as needing support to enable them to continue living in their own home and community.
Investments: Heritage Healthcare has recently purchased two domiciliary care businesses from the portfolio of Southern Cross.
The two locations, Darlington and Loftus, have added to its offices in Darlington, Guisborough and York. In 2009, Heritage Healthcare won a Framework contract with Darlington Borough Council and opened a second office in the town. In 2010, Heritage was awarded a contract on the Tier 2 Framework in York and subsequently opened its York office.
Name: Ian Rosenvinge
Job title: Owner and chief instructor
Company: Skydive Academy, Shotton Colliery
Company’s activities: Parachute and skydiving courses for beginners using modern Ram Air Canopies.
Investments: Ian Rosenvinge has invested in an 18-place Turbine Cessna Grand Caravan in addition to its existing four-place Cessna 182. He has recently invested in a hangar to house the new aircraft and added a new ablution accommodation block extension complete with disabled and baby change facilities.
Other improvements to the airfield’s facilities during the past 10 years have included securing the site’s freehold and constructing a tarmac runway and purpose-built underground aviation fuel installation.
Name: Bill Scott
Job title: Chief executive
Company: Wilton Group, Middlesbrough
Company’s activities: The Wilton Group offers a turnkey service including design, project management, procurement, large complicated fabrication, specialist coating, offshore labour, commissioning and testing through to loadout, delivery and installation.
Investments: Bill Scott has built the business up to more than 600 employees through the formation of its engineering and coating divisions, the acquisition of PD&MS and the purchase of 50 acres of river frontage land, home to one of the largest fabrication sites in the UK.
The group has secured £16m of investment from Barclays Private Equity and is set to grow to more than 700 personnel during 2012.
Name: Paul Stonebanks
Job title: Managing director
Company: Advanced Industrial Solutions (AIS), North Shields
Company’s activities: AIS is a leading provider of full turnkey industrial services offering a range of high-quality services and products designed to enhance businesses’ productivity, growth, safety and the environment.
AIS also operates an industrial health and safety training division and online sales business.
Investments: AIS has acquired three new industrial units adjacent to its existing facility – a threefold increase in floorspace – to create an Off-Shore Learning Skills Centre of Excellence.
The facility is expected to employ up to 80 people within three years
Name: Ollie Vaulkhard
Job title: Director
Company: Fluid Group, Newcastle
Company’s activities: The Fluid Group featuring among its activities a design service, which specialises in providing innovative interior design services to clients in the leisure sector as well as designing for the group’s own leisure outlets; Central Bean, a chain of coffee shops; and a portfolio of bars.
Investments: Ollie Vaulkhard has made a significant investment in launching Barluga Deli, a new experience in eating and drinking, at a time when the sector faces many challenges. He is looking to expand the Central Bean brand by identifying sites, locally and outside of the region. The Fluid Group employs 300 staff.
Names: Dan Ziglam and Elliot Brook
Job title: Directors and designers
Company: Deadgood Trading Ltd, Newcastle
Company’s Activities: A design company, which specialising in chairs, lights and homeware.
Investments: Deadgood has landed a five-figure investment from River Capital Partners. Ziglam and Brook started the company with £500 and a product idea. Since being established in 2004, it has doubled its range of products, gained recognition from the store Liberty and secured contracts for 3,000 chairs in the National Gallery, stools for electronics company Philips HQ in Netherlands, wire lampshades for Ask restaurants and seating for the BBC in Salford.
