BGF celebrates record year of investment

BGF invested in nine businesses in 2015, bringing the total number of Midlands-based companies in its portfolio to 20. Out of the total investment of £120m made by the Midlands team since 2011, £64.8m has been invested during the past 12 months, indicating that the appetite for equity funding is increasing among business owners.

2015 saw BGF back companies across a diverse range of sectors, investing in The Coaching Inn Group, Brownhills Glass, Reflex Vans, Simworx, Shepherd Direct, PPS, Prodrive Composites, Environmental Essentials and Hawk Group.

In addition to these new deals, the Midlands businesses BGF invested in the previous year also performed strongly in 2015. In September 2014, BGF made its first investment in an AIM-listed company, the Kidderminster-based carpet maker Victoria. Since then, the company has gone from strength to strength, recording a 164.5% increase in revenue between H1 2014 and H1 2015 to £105.61m.

The growth of BGF's portfolio is mirrored by a positive sentiment among the Midlands business community. According to the most recent BGF Growth Climate Index conducted in November, 52 per cent of business leaders in the Midlands said they expected conditions for growth to continue to improve over the next quarter.

BGF also bolstered its team in 2015 and now employs ten investors, based in the firm's Church Street office, which covers the Midlands region. Nationally, BGF has 70 investors.

Gavin Petken, Midlands regional director at BGF, said: "2015 was a strong year for the Midlands team, having invested in more businesses than any other year before. As Birmingham establishes itself as a growing enterprise hub, it must now keep pace with London and the South East, as well as the emerging Northern Powerhouse, in attracting jobs and investment. Our aim is to help growing businesses with big ambitions to scale up and we are excited to see what the future holds for these Midlands companies over the coming months.

"We are confident that as we now enter 2016 and what will be our fifth anniversary, more fast-growing businesses will look at how long-term equity investment can help them to achieve their commercial goals."

2015 BGF Midlands investments include:

Brownhills: In March, BGF invested £2.9m in Walsall-based Brownhills Investments, which specialises in bespoke glass processing for architects, builders, interior designers and private home owners, in addition to providing glass merchanting services to independent DGU manufacturers. The investment was used to support the growth aspirations of its principle subsidiary Brownhills Glass with the acquisition of Durham-based Peterlee Glass, helping to extend its presence into the North-east.

Simworx: In July, BGF invested £4.5m in Simworx, a Kingswinford-based designer and supplier of advanced media-based theme park attractions. Simworx created the Angry Birds 4D cinema at Thorpe Park for Merlin Entertainments and was again chosen by Merlin to develop and deliver one of the main attractions at Shrek's Adventure theme park. Simworx used part of BGF's £4.5m investment to acquire RoboCoaster, combining RoboCoaster's pioneering robotics capability with Simworx's Motion Simulation and Audio Visual experience. The funding is also being used to double the size of Simworx's production plant in Kingswinford, increase its demonstration facilities and bring on more staff.

PPS: Also in July, BGF invested £4.9m of growth capital investment in PPS, a provider of returnable transit packaging solutions. Operating from sites in Uttoxeter and Grimsby, the business moves 25 million trays and pallets a year on behalf of its customers. The investment helped fund the acquisition of Alison Handling Services, the UK's largest independent stockist of returnable plastic packaging, allowing PPS to expand its current services and product range.

Hawk Group: The final new Midlands investment of 2015 came towards the end of December, as BGF invested £8m of growth capital in Hawk Group. The Whitchurch-based firm is the UK's largest, privately-owned operated plant hire and earthworks company and has been involved in major UK infrastructure projects including the building of the Olympic Park, Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and Crossrail. The business now employs nearly 500 people, generates revenues close to £70m and owns and operates a modern construction fleet of more than 2,000 items including excavators, dump trucks, telehandlers and bulldozers.