Bridges Ventures

Harlands of Hull

Harlands provides self-adhesive labelling solutions, primarily to the personal care, cosmetics, health and beauty and alcoholic beverages markets.

In September 2003, Bridges Ventures, together with YFM, jointly backed the £4 million management buy-out of Harlands.  Harlands had recently been in administration and the investment was to back the management team to complete a turnaround. A member of the Bridges Entrepreneur’s Club, who had built up and sold two successful beauty products companies, was appointed to the board

Harlands has been based in Hull since 1832 and is in one of the 2% most deprived wards of England on the Index of Multiple Deprivation. The initial investment protected over 50 jobs and subsequently, new jobs were created as well.

In June 2005, Bridges Ventures and YFM sold Harlands to trade buyer, the Clondalkin Group for £8.5m. The sale represented a money multiple of 3.3 x for investors and was a strategic purchase for Clondalkin

Michele Giddens, Executive Director at Bridges Ventures said:
“We are delighted to have achieved an excellent first exit for the Bridges Community Venture Fund and congratulate the Harlands management team on completing such a successful trade sale to the Clondalkin Group. The mission of Bridges Ventures is to invest in businesses like Harlands which have strong commercial potential and which can deliver attractive financial returns whilst bringing social and economic benefits to under-invested areas such as Hull. We hope that this success will encourage investors to participate in this kind of investment in the future.”

SimplySwitch

SimplySwitch is an independent and free online and telephone based price comparison and switching service that offers consumers immediate, impartial information on the most economical and appropriate gas, electricity, home phone, broadband and mobile phone suppliers.

SimplySwitch was one of our earliest investments and a start-up at the time of the initial commitment of £125K. We later followed our investment to a total of £345K and worked closely with the SimplySwitch management team to grow the company from an energy focused telephone based service to a highly successful multi-channel multi-product company.

As a result of our investment, the company located itself in one of our target areas where the company created over 80 jobs. SimplySwitch also raised over £500k for charities with whom they had established affinity relationships. It was also the first service of its kind to be accessible by telephone as well as the web, making it easier for those who lack the resources or know-how to go online to save money on their household bills.

In August 2006, Bridges Ventures sold SimplySwitch to The Daily Mail and General Trust plc for £22m. The exit returned £7.5m which represented a money multiple of c.22 x and IRR of 165% to investors.

Karen Darby, Co-CEO SimplySwitch said:
“Since we launched in 2002, Bridges has played a key role in our expansion, helping us to grow and diversify the business. They delivered on their promises, saw the bigger picture and were a steadying influence throughout our partnership.”

HS Atec

HS Atec is a distributor of new spare parts for heavy goods vehicles and trailers. The company stocks over 10,000 parts, which it delivers to customers using its own fleet of vehicles.

Bridges Ventures originally invested £1 million in March 2003 in a combination of equity and loan stock to support a management buyout of the business. Following our investment, the business grew successfully, with sales rising from £7.1m in 2003 to £8.4m in 2006 and the business moving from loss to profit.
HS Atec, based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire with seven regional branches, is located in one of the most under-invested areas of the UK. The investment in the business saved over 30 jobs in the area.

In February 2007, the business was sold back to the management team. The return to investors was more than a 2x multiple, taking account of interest and dividends, and an IRR of 28.7% was achieved.

Neil Fattorini from HS Atec said:
“HS Atec has been very successful since Bridges supported our MBO in 2003 and I am delighted that the team now have the opportunity to take the business further forward. Our recently opened seventh branch in Durham is tangible evidence of both our success over the last four years and our drive for profitable growth.”