BikePark Wales celebrates its 9th Birthday

Last week was the 9th Birthday of our portfolio businesses, BikePark Wales, the leading mountain bike resort in the UK.  The last 9 years have thrown up some challenges (including lockdown!), but we continue to invest in our facilities and we are now one of the leading destinations in Wales attracting in the region of 90,000 visitors per annum.

Operating from a 2,000-acre woodland site, BikePark Wales is an exhilarating way to spend your day in the Welsh mountains unlike anything else in the UK. We have the longest green and blue graded descents in the UK offering unbelievable fun and a perfect opportunity to progress for beginner and intermediate riders. With over 40 trails to choose from even the best riders will spend several blissfully adrenaline filled days exploring our hugely diverse trail network.

Happy Birthday BikePark Wales!

BCF Equity Partners exit Safeguard Glass & Glazing Supplies

We are delighted to announce our latest exit, the sale of SafeGuard Glass & Glazing Supplies to Foresight Private Equity who have backed the incumbent management team in a multi-million pound transaction.

We acquired Safeguard in December 2015 backing a young management team who have become leaders in their industry.  Turnover has increased three-fold under our ownership as the Safeguard brand has become synonymous with high quality products and excellent customer service.  During this period, we invested significantly in the manufacturing capabilities of the business, modernising the machinery and significantly increasing capacity.  In turn, we have more than doubled the workforce and Safeguard has become a major manufacturing employer in Peterborough.

As owners, we get very involved in supporting our management teams and helping drive strategy.  Key to this is having external expertise and we are indebted to David Tattersall who has been an excellent Chairman providing sound judgement, practical and knowledgeable experience and general common sense.  He has been a superb mentor to the management team and we look forward to investing alongside him once again.  We look to professionalise businesses – improve their financial reporting and KPIs, their governance and controls and their organisational structure – whilst encouraging fast decision making and entrepreneurial flair.

Safeguard is a specialist processor of glass and installer of glazing products, based in Peterborough and it employs over 100 people providing high quality processing solutions to commercial and residential customers.

The investment from Foresight will allow the business to continue its expansion plans with an additional 10,000 square foot planned to meet the increasing demand of its customer base. We wish the MD, Nick Welsh and the rest of talented Safeguard team every success in their next phase of growth.

We thank our advisors Buckles (legals) and Bishopsgate (corporate finance) for their high quality advice.

BCF Equity Partners acquires Peterborough based Hydromarque Limited

BCF Equity Partners are delighted to announce their latest investment in the Peterborough based pump distributor, Hydromarque. This is a business where BCF have known the management team for nearly 10 years and we are look forward to helping the team in their next chapter of growth.

Hydromarque is an exclusive UK distributor of Gorman-Rupp, Cornell and Wallwin pumps used across a number of sectors including food production, fuel transfer and waste-water management.
The acquisition was part-funded through a £1.4m commercial loan from Shawbrook Bank.

Following the acquisition, BCF is now looking to significantly grow the business by expanding its sales team and increasing market share as the pump industry moves away from submersible products towards above ground pumps. Established in 1987, Hydromarque Ltd is a privately owned business which was the subject of a management buy-out by its current management team in 2013.

In addition to being an exclusive UK distributor of Gorman-Rupp, Cornell & Wallwin Pumps, the business also specialises in technical pump assistance and system design, pump set drawings, in-house repairs and training of operators and maintenance staff.

Rob Newcombe, Managing Director of Hydromarque Ltd, said:

“We are delighted to have gained the support of BCF Equity Partners as we look to take the next step in the Hydromarque journey. We have high ambitions to grow the business and bringing on board a professional investor to support that will add real value to those efforts. The industry is moving away from submersible pumps towards above ground pumps and this will drive further growth for Hydromarque. In addition, the UK water industry has committed to spending £51bn in the next five years on improvements to UK sewage and water infrastructure and with businesses in the food industry announcing post-Brexit plans to source more produce from UK-based companies the outlook is extremely healthy.
Coupled with both of those situations, the growing environmental concern remains and companies will be looking to increase the recycling of water – which in turn drives further opportunity for Hydromarque. Through the support from BCF, we are in prime position to take advantage.

THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE PARK

We are currently in the eye of the Coronavirus storm and the depths of winter simultaneously, the bike park has been closed for almost 7 of the last 12 months and times are undoubtedly hard. 

Are we moping around waiting for this all to end though? No, that’s simply not how we are wired!

This pandemic has been devastating for so many people in so many ways, the most awful being the loss of loved ones and the incredible difficulties faced by our frontline health care workers.  Context is important in these situations and although our small business has been ravaged by the restrictions imposed due to this terrible disease and we’ve certainly faced many, many struggles we appreciate that we remain in a privileged position to still be standing and ready to look forward to summer.

So what have we been doing?
Aside from doing everything we possibly can to survive this period we have been very, very busy working on every aspect of the bike park to make sure that when we do reopen you will return to a site that has been improved in every way.

Trails
Let’s start with what we know you really care about!  We are working on no less than three new trails currently, each bringing something new to the park.

Blue tech trail
Some of you may have noticed the addition of Merthyr Rocks to our trail map in the summer, this blue tech trail will make a great addition offering another blue option to return to the uplift from the mid road.  It features some huge rock slabs and Billy has been working his magic in there creating a unique addition to the park.  Watch this space.

Red tech trail
We are really excited by this one!  This trail is a true team effort with almost every member of staff getting involved in the build.  With so many of the team on flexi-furlough currently we have been rotating team members in to get some trail building experience supervised by Stu.  Everyone from Morgan in the kitchen to Hannah from reception, Matt the driver and Olly from the shop have had a hand in this family affair and everyone has loved getting their hands dirty to create something positive in the midst of this chaos.  This hand built trail has a very natural, rooty nature so will be sure to present a challenge to all riders.

Flagship jump line with yet to be named pro rider
Now this is very exciting!  More new to come soon but we have teamed up with one of the UK’s very best riders to build a truly iconic jump trail.  Our in house jump expert Dunc will be leading this one from our side, working with the rider to create something that will become a landmark line at the park.  Watch this space for more news to come on this one soon. 

As if three new trails wasn’t enough we have also completely rebuilt our pump track, reopened Bush Whacker and A470 line and Hard Shoulder have had a complete rebuild.  We are VERY, VERY excited about the A470 rebuild, Dunc has created something very special here and we can’t wait to show you more when we launch the trail along with some well known riders in the Spring time. 

Topeak Tool stations
Those who visited just before the most recent lockdown will have seen our new Topeak Tool Stations.  These are located at convenient spots around the park (including the uplift pickup) and they have been a huge hit.  These stations are really well equipped and even include a built in work stand so you can fix most urgent repairs without having to head back to the centre.

New Visitor Centre
We took the brave decision at the end of November to pick up tools again and finish our new visitor centre which was abandoned back in March.  This new building is where everyone will check-in to collect passes and is a new dedicated bike hire centre.  This gives us much more space and means we can speed up the registration process significantly, getting you all out on the trails faster than ever.  We will also have a small classroom allowing us to expand our programme for beginner riders, something at the heart of our vision for an inclusive park. 

As well as the new building our terrace and surrounding area is also being landscaped, the terrace will be almost twice the size, we are planting trees and making the area better than ever to enjoy a post ride brew/beer.

Car parking!
We have needed more parking at the park for several years now but the sensitivity of our site means that it is not a simple task.  Getting our designs through planning and SuDS drainage approval has taken 2 years and many redesigns but we are delighted to say that we have now started work on a car park expansion that will give us an additional 45 spaces. 

The scheme is very sympathetic to the environment and uses cutting edge water management features to manage sediment and flood water runoff as well as encouraging wetland plant species.  We are also planting hundreds of native trees around the new car park to regenerate the area which was clear felled in 2013 due to an outbreak of Phytophera Ramorum that infected the Larch trees previously inhabiting the site.  All being well we expect the new car park to be ready for use in April.

Web store
We have also been using this “downtime” to catch up with the rest of the world and work on our online shop.  The bike industry has experienced a huge boom during 2020 and we kind of missed the whole thing!  One positive is that we have lots of stock that nobody else has, so if you are looking for some new kit, please check out our online store, it’s a great way to support the park whilst we are closed and you may find we have something you’ve been looking for.

So as you can see we’ve been rather busy, our entire focus has been on using this time to make the park better than ever for you, our riders.  We can’t tell you how much we have missed you, the park feels ghostly quiet without the whoops and hollers of happy riders and we can’t wait to welcome you back so you can enjoy the fruits of our labour.  We’d like to say a huge thank you to each an every one of you for standing by us through this terrible time, every booking that you’ve held with us, every voucher purchased, every word of support means the world and we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Stay safe everyone and we look forward to seeing you soon (don’t worry, we will let you know as soon as we know!)

The BPW team

BCF Equity Partners invests in CF Social Work

BCF Equity Partners completed 2020 with the acquisition of CF Social Work Limited (‘CFSW’) in December 2020. 

With a head office in Ipswich, CFSW provides high quality social work intervention and education services to assist busy Local Authorities and help children and young families avoid a lifetime of care and state intervention. CFSW has a growing reputation for its preventative services and operates in a fragmented market with Local Authorities under increasing pressure.

•  CFSW has become a one-stop shop for its local authority clients providing both social work support and education services to children with specific needs.  Its services are innovative, highly regarded and desperately needed. Demand for CFSW’s services has increased as a result of the coronavirus and lockdown and the problems created by this pandemic are widespread and long term.

•  CFSW is run by Ross Evans, a 36 year old former teacher.  Ross is dynamic, entrepreneurial and has a deep understanding of the market’s needs and he heads up the fast growing education division which was launched in October 2018. 

• We have asked Jen Elliott, CEO of Education Personnel Management, a previous BCF investment, to chair the business.  Jen has extensive experience in the education sector working with local authorities and she has led two previous private equity exits.   

• CFSW is a fast growing and highly profitable business and with our support, it can become a very significant operator with the right infrastructure in place to support its growth.

The Company splits its service provision into four divisions:

Independent Social Work and Psychological Service – provides local authorities and family courts with a range of specific assessments designed to assess the needs of a child.  CFSW employs expert clinical psychologists and social workers with over 5 years’ experience to carry out these assessments which may be used as a preventative tool or as part of a plan to reintegrate and support families.

Reverse Residential Assessments - CFSW were the first to develop a Reverse Residential Assessment (“RRA”) programme where their independent social care workers provide assessments to local authorities or the courts whilst residing in the family setting.  This can be over a 6 week period and is designed to support and coach whilst assessing to maximise the chances of helping the family stay together.  

Bespoke Education Division – launched in Oct 2018, the bespoke education service is designed to support young people with challenging behaviours and complex needs who are often on the edge of care and out of mainstream education.  CFSW provides a range of tuition and mentoring to reengage children with education.  6 of their children undertook and passed their GCSEs last year.  Five have gone on to college and 1 has found an apprenticeship.

Family Support and Youth Work Service – having been approached by local authority commissioners during the coronavirus lockdown, CFSW has just set up this new division to provide support to families and young people struggling to cope with daily life.  The demand for these types of services are so great that management believes this could become their largest division within the next 3 years.  

Completing the transaction during COVID was challenging and we thank all the advisors who supported us on the investment including Bishopsgate Corporate Finance (CF advice), Crowe (Financial DD) and Browne Jacobson (legals).

Central Joinery to build stair cases for the new EastEnders set

We are delighted to announce that our growing specialist joinery business, Central Joinery has been selected to build 11 stair cases for the new EastEnders set. We have started work and our first stair case will be going into Phil Mitchell’s house.

The corporation is building a new Albert Square near the existing set at the BBC's Elstree studios in Hertfordshire. It will have actual brick buildings - unlike the current one, which only uses facades. The external EastEnders set dates back to the soap's birth in 1984 and was only supposed to be used for two years, but has lasted for 34.

The soap cannot currently be filmed in high definition, and the BBC said the poor condition of the current set is increasingly causing delays to filming. The building project - titled E20 - was announced in 2015 and was meant to finish by August 2018 but EastEnders fans will have to wait a little while longer to see a new and improved Albert Square. A National Audit Office (NAO) report has revealed that plans to revamp and expand the BBC soap’s current set have been delayed until 2020.

The original 2015 forecast for the scheme was £59.7m, but the revised budget is now £86.7m, the National Audit Office (NAO) has revealed.

BCF Equity Partners team move into King’s Mill

King’s Mill, St Peter’s Vale, Stamford. PE9 2QT

The BCF Equity Partners team has moved into King’s Mill, a former watermill on Bath Row in Stamford, following an extensive refurbishment by Burghley Estates.  One of the most historic buildings in the area, a mill was first recorded on the site in the Domesday survey of 1086, and was listed amongst King John’s possessions in the early thirteenth century.

The history of King’s Mill is fascinating.  In 1561, Queen Elizabeth I granted her principal secretary, Sir William Cecil K.G., 1st Baron of Burghley, the manor of Stamford plus the water mill in Stamford, called North Mills.  When acquired by Sir William Cecil, North Mills were also known as “the Queen’s Mills” and by 1627 the mills were referred to as ‘King’s Mill’.

At the end of the sixteenth and start of the seventeenth centuries, King’s Mill was at the centre of a lengthy dispute, locally.  All the inhabitants of Stamford were obliged to grind their corn at King’s Mill or obtain permission to use Stamford’s only other mill - Hudd’s Mill.  However, Stamford’s inhabitants were frustrated by the small capacity of the mill and often took their corn to mills in nearby villages to be ground, whilst some even set up querns in their own property. In 1601, Lord Burghley received the Exchequer’s support to defend his monopoly, but the dispute continued with the people of Stamford until 1640 when the Exchequer decreed that all corn must be taken to King’s Mill ‘provided that if it cannot be ground there within eight and forty hours, then they may take it away to be ground elsewhere’.  We know the current building was constructed around 1640 so it is likely it was built as a result of this decree, in order to increase the mill’s capacity and maintain Lord Burghley’s monopoly.

Joseph Robinson bought the property, then vacant, in 1784 for £100. He erected a granary on the north side of the mill in 1793, together with other alterations and additions. Thomas Gilchrist later bought King’s Mill upon Robinson’s death in January 1823.

The mill was used up until the early 20th Century and the property is now Grade II listed.  In 1967, it was converted into a day care centre for the handicapped before being refurbished by Burghley Estates for Bishopsgate Corporate Finance and its sister company BCF Equity Partners in 2018.

BCF Equity Partners invests in Barracudas - the UK’s leading provider of school holiday camps

In May we completed the acquisition of Cambridgeshire based Barracudas Limited, the UK's largest provider of activity day camps for children and young people aged 4 ½ to 14 years.

Set up over 25 years ago, Barracudas operates from 28 locations and runs 39 Summer and Easter Camps throughout London and the South East. Barracudas is the leading operator in the sector and it operated over 30,000 child weeks in 2017 with many of its camps graded as "Outstanding" by Ofsted.

We have an ambitious plan for Barracudas to expand the business to 52 camps by 2020 and we look forward to working with the founder, Neil Greatorex and his talented management team in the next stage of their journey.

Neil Greatorex, Managing Director said: “We’ve enjoyed the process and feel that the deal works well for all parties. We feel confident about future growth and development under this structure, it offers opportunities for key staff and at a personal level feels both right and timely. The BCF team have shown rigour and discipline but have been personable and reasonable throughout. At a board level I expect the investors to add significant value".

Bikepark Wales

"An iconic, world-class mountain bike experience, a leader in bike park best practice"

In December we invested in BikePark Wales (“BPW”), the leading mountain bike resort in the UK, which attracted over 70,000 visitors in 2017 (www.bikeparkwales.com).

BPW has been phenomenally successful and grown rapidly and is now the UK's destination of choice for serious mountain bikers.  We have ambitious growth plans for the business, which includes the construction of a new hire building, on-site camping facilities and additional green trails. We have appointed Keith Pacey to chair the business.  Keith is also Chairman of Rutland Cycling and a serial entrepreneur in the retail/leisure sector.

EPM SOLD TO CITATION FOR 34x RETURN

We finished 2017 strongly with the sale of EPM (“Education Personnel Management”) to Citation, an HR and health and safety specialist, backed by HG Capital.

We invested in EPM in 2012 alongside the management team in a debt funded buy-out and our exit to Citation represents a multiple of 34 times on the original equity investment.

EPM has grown strongly in recent years to become the UK’s leading provider of HR and payroll services to the education sector, servicing over 1,200 schools.  The team, led by the CEO Jennie Elliott, look forward to being part of Citation, which has grown rapidly under PE ownership.

CENTRAL JOINERY – LATEST INVESTMENT

We invested in Central Joinery in September 2017, alongside the Managing Director, Neil Bark.

Established in 1993, Central Joinery has evolved to become one of the UK’s leading producers of staircases employing over 50 people at its state-of-the-art production facility in Swadlincote.

EDUCATION PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT ("EPM") - UPDATE

We invested in EPM in 2012 alongside the incumbent management team. EPM is the UK's leader in providing HR and Payroll services to the education sector.

With the growth in academies, EPM has expanded significantly since our investment and is now servicing over 1,200 schools across the UK. We have recently strengthened the team with the appointment of a new Operations Director and EBITDA has grown from £800k to a run-rate of £2m under our ownership.

SAFEGUARD GLAZING LAUNCHES NEW HERITAGE WINDOW UNITS

We are making good progress at Safeguard Glazing, which we acquired in December 2015. We have recently entered the heritage glass market and we are the first company in the UK to achieve EN1279 Parts 2 and 3 across a range of heritage glass units. This represents a significant milestone in the fenestration industry and a huge opportunity for the Safeguard team.

Since acquisition we have invested heavily in the business both strengthening the management team and raising the Company's profile. Turnover in 2016 was up 30% YOY with growth of 17% forecast for 2017. Our new website went live last month - www.safe-guard.co.uk

ST FRANCIS SOLD TO AMERISOURCEBERGEN

We finished 2015 strongly with the sale of St Francis to MWI, a subsidiary of AmerisourceBergen - a Fortune 150 company with its HQ in Pennsylvania.

St Francis is the leading veterinary buying group in the UK and we acquired the business from the founder, John Hodgkin in 2010. At the time of the original buy-out St Francis had 260 members. During our period of ownership we experienced strong growth and strengthened the management team considerably. At the time of exit St Francis had over 450 member vet practices and had become the clear market leader.

THE EXIT OF ST FRANCIS REPRESENTED A 6 TIMES MULTIPLE ON THE ORIGINAL ACQUISITION PRICE BACK IN 2010.

BCF EQUITY PARTNERS ACQUIRE SAFEGUARD GLAZING - DECEMBER 2015

We acquired the Peterborough based, Safeguard Glazing in December for an undisclosed sum with the BCF team taking a 28% stake, co-investing alongside 2 private investors and 2 members of the management team.

We were able to acquire the business at a competitive price as it had experienced cash flow problems following a protracted move to new, larger 28,000 sq ft premises. We have been very active in the business recruiting a new Sales Manager and Operations Manager.