As we near the end of 2024, we wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on the last 12 months across our business, portfolio & community.
Despite the macro challenges of a cost-of-living crisis; a change in government; and wider geo political events, all resulting in a quieter deal market for Private Equity overall, at NorthEdge we are really pleased with the progress we have made this year.
During 2024 we have delivered four exits, as we have continued our focus on generating liquidity and strong returns for our investors. We exited Cutwel (Fund II) to Inflexion Private Equity, Clearly Drinks (Fund II) to Supreme plc, Helios (Fund II) to Telemos Capital and CMap (SME Fund I) to ECI Partners. All were good examples of NorthEdge investing in founders and first-time users of Private Equity, working with management teams to develop and grow the business – resulting in high quality assets with huge potential for further scale.
From a new investment perspective, we have continued the momentum within our core sectors with three new additions to the portfolio. In February, we invested in Contollo to support the team to form a smart building consultancy group through a buy and build strategy. In July, we announced our investment into Latus, a leading occupational health service provider, to accelerate organic growth and support the business to deliver strategic M&A. Finally, in October, we announced our investment into PebblePad, an EdTech software provider, to enable the business to accelerate its growth and expansion into the US.
We’ve also supported the portfolio to complete five bolt-on acquisitions during the year. Helios completed the strategic acquisition of Cogentia in February – a Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) and market access specialist; Contollo has completed three acquisitions since our investment into the platform in February – the business now has six offices across Manchester, Liverpool, London & Milton Keynes, and a team of 140 people; and Latus completed its first acquisition during the NorthEdge partnership in October, acquiring OHS Services, which provides the business with access to additional markets and represents the first in a pipeline of acquisitions.
Continuing our focus on responsible investing and transparent reporting, we released our fourth ESG Report which highlights the key progress being made across our portfolio; how ESG links to value creation; and, for the first time, the social and economic contribution NorthEdge and our portfolio have made to the UK regions. We commissioned business economist Mark Gregory to undertake an independent review of our economic and social impact, which shows that in 2023 the activities of NorthEdge and our portfolio generated £844m of Gross Value Added (GVA) in the UK & that the majority of the impact we generated was in the UK regions outside London & South East – which we are incredibly proud of given our regional investment focus.
We are also acutely aware that we are in a unique and privileged position to be able to support the communities that we live and work in. This year, we are delighted to have raised and donated over £235,000 for a number of amazing charities including Rare Dementia Support’s National Brain Appeal, Yorkshire Children’s Charity, Smart Works and Andy’s Man Club.
We know we couldn’t have achieved all of this without our amazing team. Everyone at NorthEdge has worked incredibly hard over the last 12 months and we are so proud of the team and network we have built. Which is why we were delighted to promote four members of our team during 2024 – Andy Skinner was promoted to Partner to continue driving our growth across the Midlands; Matthew Mellon was promoted to Investment Director; Alex Griffiths was promoted to Investment Manager & Jake Jones was promoted to Finance Manager.
Finally, we would like to take the opportunity to say a very big thank you to everyone in our business, portfolio and our network, for their continued support – from the deal activity to the support for our charitable initiatives. We know that there is still a lot of uncertainty and that there will be further challenges ahead of us all, but we are confident that collectively we can continue generating value for all of our stakeholders throughout 2025, as we focus on building better businesses, together.
Click here to read our full Year in Review.