A high-end County Durham roofing business is going for even greater growth after achieving its initial two-year target inside 12 months.
Aspect Facades secured a £50,000 North East Small Loan Fund investment through regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers at the beginning of last year to support its drive towards increasing its turnover from £750,000 to £2.5m by the end of 2020.
But the Shildon-based firm’s turnover has now hit this figure after it secured a number of additional projects from new and existing clients – and it already has a secured order book worth around £5m for its next financial year.
To help underpin its continuing development, Aspect Facades has become one of the first businesses to win a second investment from the £120m North East Fund, bringing in a £100,000 investment from the North East Growth Capital Fund Supported by the European Regional Development Fund that NEL also manages.
Two new jobs were created by the business last year, with three more set to follow in the early months of 2020.
Aspect Facades specialises in the design, supply, installation and maintenance of sustainable cladding and roofing systems, and works with a range of developers and main contractors on residential, commercial and industrial projects.
Most of the firm’s work is still located around the North East, with recent landmark schemes including Framwell House in Durham and the new development for Spennymoor Football Club.
It has also recently taken on major projects in Glasgow and Leeds as part of its growth strategy and is open to opportunities to build its presence in Scotland and Yorkshire.
Daniel Parker, who set the business up three years ago with fellow director Andrew Howe, says: “Our focus on growing the business has paid dividends faster than we’d anticipated, but we’re still very much keeping control of our expansion to ensure we don’t lose touch with what made us successful in the first place.
“A great deal of our growth has come from repeat business and referrals from existing clients, which says a lot about the quality of the work that our team produces, and we’re aiming to extend these relationships wherever possible through 2020 and beyond.
“Continuing to build our presence across the North East remains our primary focus, but we feel Scotland and Yorkshire will offer opportunities and will look at each one on merit to see how it fits in with our overall development plans.
“We’ve enjoyed an excellent relationship with the NEL team over the last year. They were quick to get things moving when we started talking about the next stage of our growth plans and I couldn’t fault the way that the process has been managed.”
The North East Growth Capital Fund has been designed to create around 790 jobs in more than 70 regional firms over the life of the programme and offers unsecured investments of up to £500,000 to established businesses looking to realise their growth potential.
NEL Fund Managers is actively looking for potential investees from Tyne & Wear, Durham and Northumberland to put their investment ideas forward.
David Thomas, investment director at NEL Fund Managers, adds: “Ensuring ambitious businesses have access to investment capital at different stages of their development is an essential part of enabling them to realise their potential.
“The Aspect team has made very impressive progress over the last year and things look set for even better results to follow in 2020.”
The overarching North East Fund will provide financial support for more than 600 businesses, creating around 3,500 jobs and delivering a legacy of up to £80m for further investment into the region.
For more information about NEL’s investment criteria, visit www.nel.co.uk or contact the investment team on 0345 369 7007.