We are pleased to launch our final sector report for 2022, focusing on three key themes within the specialised industrials sector.

There is no doubt that the specialised industrials sector continues to play an important role in the UK, particularly in terms of providing supply chain resilience, high-value employment opportunities and supporting the UK’s sustainability ambitions. Despite the macro-economic climate, the sector has continued to attract interest from investors, with M&A transactions involving UK manufacturers jumping to 779 deals in 2021, up almost a third from the 595 deals completed in 2020.

Given our experience of supporting several businesses in this sector, we believe there are three themes that have provided businesses with resilience in the current climate and will continue to support the growth of the wider sector – Automation, Onshoring and Circular Economy. In addition, we believe the regions will continue to play an important role in UK manufacturing, with c.50% of the UK’s manufacturing turnover coming from NorthEdge’s core regions. In this report we outline the key drivers and challenges of each theme, whilst highlighting the experience from our own portfolio – including case studies from The Belfield Group, Clearly Drinks and Platinum Stairlifts.

Click here to read the full report.

At NorthEdge we back management teams in the specialised industrials, technology, healthcare and business services sectors, who recognise the value of having an experienced business partner alongside them. Across the next twelve months, there will clearly be numerous challenges for the sector to overcome, however by adopting an agile approach; focussing investment into automation, sustainability and driving efficiencies, businesses can put themselves in a strong position to capitalise on the latest market trends. At NorthEdge we are proud of the role we can play in the specialised industrials sector, backing ambitious management teams and working alongside them to build better businesses, together.