Fire safety buyer works to Dad’s mantra

What’s behind ‘three deals in a day’ fire and safety group ABCA?

Hello Rainmakers,

Welcome to all the new subscribers. This is Friday’s freebie.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have longer pieces where we look at all kinds of stories relevant to the wild ride of M&A in this country.

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We’ve also been sharing some cracking testimonials this week.

PHIL MILLER: REMEMBER THE NAME

Here’s a name we expect to hear a lot more from: Phil Miller.

His business, ABCA Systems, bought three companies around the North last week.

The business has interests in different aspects of fire, security and electrical compliance and the three it has taken over are: Southport firm, Maintec; AGS Tech, based in Blackburn; and Wigan-based HBS Fabrication Northwest.

As you’d expect they aren’t saying how much they paid, but they did say the bolt-on acquisitions will “strengthen the group’s already dominant standing in the sector, bolster its presence, amongst other end-markets, in the wider social housing market, and, in turn, pave the way for significant further growth.”

So what do we know about the CEO who is in control of ABCA?

The last set of accounts we could look at (which are almost a year old now) showed £37m turnover and pre-tax profit of £2.7m with no massive debt burden, but interest payments and borrowing costs in that year to September 2023 did tick up to £175k and they did own up to breach, but then renegotiated to something more manageable.  

We learned that Phil Miller worked in the US, but came home to take over the family business from his father in 2005 and has built up the group to its current £40m+ annual turnover by following his father’s mantra of “right people, right place and right time,“ he said. 

ABCA made its first acquisition in 2020 when it acquired Tyneside Security. Having secured the backing of private equity firm Trimountain Partners and Santander UK, in 2021, the group has now completed its latest acquisitions, adding a further £10m+ in combined annualised revenues to the business.

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SUBSCRIBERS GET INSIGHTS

Subscribers to Rainmakers were treated to two long profiles this week on businesses on very different journeys.

Michael Taylor met with Adrian Murphy and Nick Gittings, the top team at Recycling Lives, a private equity backed recycling business that’s been through a lot. 

As Murphy said though, The opportunity is huge, they both insist, but recognise they’re at the start of a journey, that the nature of these things means it has a timeline of a few years, rather than a decade long commitment.

“We are relatively seasoned individuals with experience of bigger, more complex stuff, and you need people like us to come in and do something like this,” Murphy says. 

“If it was a standalone £40 million turnover business with 100 people. Well, that's much smaller than what we’re used to. I've managed 2,500 people. Nick has done private equity too. So we’re coming in with all our experience, all our scars, all our war wounds, so that we know that we can build this up. 

“So, you know, we knew what the situation was, but I think the appeal for us was, yes, this short term, hard work to structure the business accordingly. But underlying it is a very, very interesting business.”

Anna Cooper spent some quality time getting to know all about acquisitive accountancy firm Dains and gleaned some great insights from CEO Richard McNeilly.

With that in mind Anna Cooper has a great piece for you today about Dains and how Horizon Capital turbocharged its impressive buy-and-build strategy.

In June of this year, Dains made its eighth and ninth acquisitions backed by Horizon, bringing NHS VAT specialists, CRS VAT and Scotland-based Condies Chartered Accountants into the group.

And key to it, is the influence of one of our great Olympians.

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Former Jet2 boss Philip Meeson is reaping the financial rewards that almost all entrepreneurs dream about when they have their head in the clouds.

Meeson, who is in the top 10 of Yorkshire's business rich list, this week cashed in shares worth around £70m.

He bought the Channel Express companies in 1983, when the group owned just two aircraft and mostly moved letters and parcels.

In its last financial year the Jet2 group moved 18m passengers and generated £6bn in revenue.

A business that now makes an average profit of £10m a week has made the sky-high returns possible.

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Bristol's Plant-Ex Ingredients has secured a £9m minority investment from BGF to drive its international expansion with a focus on the US market.

The natural food ingredients manufacturer has already doubled the capacity at its factory in the South West and is ready to taste success Stateside from its Chicago base.

Plant-Ex supplies food manufacturers across the globe, and has sites in Poland and Turkey, but with BGF's backing it is looking to channel the spirit of the former senator for Illinois, Barack Obama, and believes "Yes, we can".

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Hill & Smith is driving forward with its American dream after it completed its fourth acquisition of the year.

The infrastructure giant struck a £23m ($30.2m) deal for Whitlow Electric Service Company, broadening its geographic footprint in the US and its Southeast in particular. 

Operating in the high-growth US electrical infrastructure market, the Georgian steel manufacturer will build on the successful acquisition and integration of Capital Steel earlier this year.

Investments in Whitlow's facility are set to boost capacity and generate new opportunities for cross-selling and margin expansion.

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Derby-headquartered law firm Flint Bishop has moved to acquire the volume banking and finance recoveries division from the wider banking & finance team of Walker Morris, adding 34 new staff to the business.

The deal also marks Flint Bishop’s entry into the Leeds market and enhances the firm’s capabilities in broader litigation and recoveries work. The firm says it will make “significant investments” in staff, systems and technology to further expand its national presence in the sector.

The acquisition increases the firm’s total staff to over 280. As part of the transfer, Justin Coley will assume the role of head of recoveries, whilst Rebecca Calland and Ellen McLean have been promoted to the position of partner. Other key figures joining from Walker Morris include banking litigation senior associates Georgina Davis and Olena Jarockyj.

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