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Hi-Tech Steel Services Ltd secures £8.75M funding from IGF to support growth plans

Manufacturing

Sam Whitear

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11/02/2021

Hi-Tech Steel Services Ltd secures £8.75M funding from IGF to support growth plans

Steel manufacturer, Hi-Tech Steel Services, secures a £8.75M funding facility, which includes a £750,000 Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBILS) from Independent Growth Finance (IGF). The Merseyside-based steel processor required additional working capital to support growth and assist the business during the height of the pandemic.

Hi-Tech Steel Services processes 2500 tons of strip mill product each month on a variety of equipment. With roots stemming back to 1992, the company continues to offer high-quality product and service performance. It has forged partnerships with independent and multinational customers across Europe. Working largely in the construction, white goods and automotive sectors, its primary customers are multinationals.

Punching onwards

With the first lockdown putting much of the manufacturing industry on hold, Hi-Tech Steel was hit with significantly slower demand levels. To counter the downward trend and to avoid disruption to the business, the company sought out a new funding partner. The purpose of the funding was to support the business through the Covid-19 transition and aid the growth of its sister company, Hi-Tech Resourcing, located in Bridport, Dorset. Hi-Tech Resourcing’s focus is aligning to the green agenda, with increased demand for sustainable product development in new markets.

Hi-Tech Steel was introduced to IGF in October 2020 and the deal was closed in a few short months with the commitment of IGF to get the funding over the line. Funds were raised through a combination of invoice financing and a CBILS loan.

Richard Spielbichler, ABL Director at IGF, commented, “Hi-Tech Steel were looking for an ABL provider that could offer them support pretty quickly. We were pleased to see the business stay resilient during a difficult time for their industry. We worked hard to understand the needs of the business and put the business back on a positive trajectory which they are now seeing pre-COVID levels of trade again.

Manufacturing for the future

Steve Wells, Commercial Manager at Hi-Tech Steel, commented, “The business was heavily disrupted due to the pandemic. We are now in full recovery mode, with current tonnage levels at 120% of our pre-pandemic average. As a result, we were looking for additional working capital to support growth. What impressed me the most about IGF was their professional approach and commitment to close this deal in just two months. It is a testament to how dedicated and thorough the IGF team are.”

With an increasing focus on green tech across the manufacturing industry, growth and development in this area is paramount for Hi-Tech Steel. Focussing on sectors that give the company a better growth margin, Hi-Tech Steel is utilising funding to meet their clients’ needs and provide a one stop shop for customers.

Bidders line up for Barton Square

Property

Sam Whitear

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11/02/2021

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The directors of Barton Square Limited have been approached by a number of bidders looking to buy the redeveloped retail and leisure destination in Trafford Park, Greater Manchester.

Investor interest has been driven by the lease-up opportunity which has attracted a range of high-profile operators following Barton Square’s multi-million-pound transformation and the opening of a two-storey Primark store last year.

The centre was fully redesigned as part of the £75 million revamp, gaining a glass-domed roof and more than 110,000 sq ft of extra leisure and retail space.

As well as Primark, its strong line-up of tenants already includes LEGOLAND Discovery Centre, Sea-Life, Homesense and Next Home and conversations are now focused on bringing in complimentary national and international leisure and retail brands.

Barton Square Limited has run the centre since owner intu went into administration, with work underway to reinvent the centre in response to changing visitor and tenant needs.

Rebecca Ryman, speaking on behalf of Barton Square Limited, said: “Barton Square offers such exciting potential for retail and leisure brands, and that’s reflected in the conversations we’ve been having with operators as we build a new future for this strong centre.

“Everyone’s obviously all-too aware of how tough things are right now in the market, but brands are also preparing to come out the other side with the launch of new European, UK or north west sites. The centre’s fantastic redevelopment, its strong tenant mix, and its position at the heart of the flourishing Trafford City presents so many opportunities for operators looking to take new space.”

Barton Square Limited has appointed Savills to advise on the leasing, strategic advisory, project management and property management at Barton Square, including managing its sale.

Manchester-based manufacturing business purchased by management team

Acquisitions

Sam Whitear

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11/02/2021

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Manchester-based manufacturing business purchased by management team

A Manchester-based manufacturing and engineering firm specialising in the aerospace and defence sectors has been purchased by three of its management team.

Atec Engineering Solutions employs around 43 staff at its site in Worsley designing, manufacturing, and maintaining complex control and monitoring equipment for defence land, sea, and air sectors as well as the industrial oil and gas and nuclear markets.

The management buyout has been completed without any external debt or equity funding and will allow the firm to pursue its plan to expand its capabilities within existing and new customers as well as exploring new market sectors.

John Bowden will become Atec’s new managing director and will be supported by Mark Poole, operations manager and Steve Atherton, finance manager as the other two managers involved in the management buyout.

Current owner and managing director Andrea Hough will remain as chairman and will assist the team in forming its business strategy and guiding it forward in line with its sales targets as well as retaining a minority stake in the firm.

Andrea Hough said: “This exciting announcement will allow Atec to grasp the huge opportunities in developing industries such as nuclear power.

“Atec has been a huge part of my life since joining the company as an apprentice when I left school but in John and the rest of the management team, the company has a fantastic new management team who are well placed drive it forward.”

Atec has a long history in engineering under several different brands and was purchased by Andrea and her business partner Terry Madden in 2004 following a company restructure. Andrea then became sole shareholder in 2016.

Accountancy and business advisory firm MHA Moore and Smalley helped to facilitate the management buyout. Corporate finance director Stephen Gregson led the advisory team along with Michelle Taylor and Tony Medcalf providing taxation advice.

Chris Ross and Nina Latham from Mills and Reeve acted as legal advisors to Atec’s management team and Katie Parker at Addleshaw Goddard advised Andrea Hough.

Stephen Gregson, MHA Moore and Smalley, said: “This deal is a testament to the excellent business Andrea has helped to build over recent years and with the new management team, Atec is well positioned for its next stage of growth.

“Both parties have been hugely helpful and open throughout the whole MBO process and we are hugely pleased to have helped structure an excellent deal for both parties.”

John Bowden said: “Having the opportunity to lead a business with the heritage of Atec is an honour and I look forward to the journey ahead with the support of a great team. This is an exciting time for Atec and I am sure we will achieve the success that the business deserves.”

Five business advantages that Cyber Essentials delivers to its holders

Sam Whitear

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11/02/2021

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Five business advantages that Cyber Essentials delivers to its holders

In 2014 the UK Government introduced the Cyber Essentials scheme to help organisations secure themselves against the ever-increasing number of cyber threats they face. Cyber Essentials is overseen by the National Cyber Security Centre(www.ncsc.gov.uk), with IASME (www.iasme.co.uk) managing the scheme. The scheme has been a runaway success and in 2019 alone over 14,000 organisations successfully acquired Cyber Essentials.

In this article, Kevin Crichton, the Managing Director of Bergerode Consulting (https://bergerode.consulting), the leading Cyber Essentials certifying body in NW England and a Trusted Partner to the Greater Manchester Cyber Resiliency Centre, outlines the five business advantages that Cyber Essentials delivers to its holders.

Competitive Advantage

Reading about companies suffering data breaches is almost a daily occurrence. In response, customers (both personal and corporate) are becoming increasingly security savvy,favouring those companies which take proactive steps to secure their data and that of their customers. Cyber Essentials gives you a competitive advantage over your rivals by demonstrating that your organisation takes cyber security seriously. It delivers independent assurance that your organisation is compliant with five cyber security controls (listed below) which protect against cyber-attacks:

Secure Networking – is your network secure so that hackers are kept out?

Secure Configuration – are your devices and software secured so that hackers cannot access them?

Access Control – do you manage staff access to your data ona “need to know” basis?

Malware Protection – are your devices are kept secure from viruses and ransomware?

Patch Management – are your devices and software up-to-date with the latest security patches?

Better Risk Management

Not only does Cyber Essentials provide assurance to customers that your organisation takes cyber security seriously, it also provides you with crucial insight into the security posture of your organisation. By reviewing the Cyber Essentials security controls, you will understand your strengths, but more importantly, you will understand where improvement may be necessary. This awareness will allow you to better appreciate the risks you face, and consequently address these risks much more effectively. Cyber security risks come in many forms but knowing where and how you may be vulnerable will give you a head start in taking effective steps to prevent their occurrence.

More Contract Opportunities

Cyber Essentials is mandatory for contracts with the NHS, UK Government, and the Ministry of Defence, so possessing Cyber Essentials immediately puts you in a favourable position to take advantage of a wider range of opportunities. Cyber Essentials isalso becoming increasingly popular within the private sector. Many companies in the UK defence sector now require their suppliers to hold Cyber Essentials as a matter of course. Many companies, particularly in finance and insurance, now expect their suppliers to hold Cyber Essentials, especially if they handle customer data. As with ISO9001 (Quality Management) and ISO27001 (Information Security), Cyber Essentials is fast becoming a de facto standard that companies look for when choosing suppliers, so Cyber Essentials will help your organisation satisfy due diligence checks when bidding for contracts and tenders.

Protect Your Business Secrets

Cyber attacks such as data breaches and ransomware can often leave businesses in a precarious financial position. Yet there is also another, sometimes less obvious reason for cyberattacks. Many organisations are not targeted for money, butfor their Intellectual Property and other business secrets, such as confidential contracts, bids for tender, and anything else that gives an organisation a competitive edge. Whilst you may not consider your organisation to be a target, it might be engaged as a supplier to a bigger organisation, or be working on a prestigious project that cyber criminals may want to gain access to and they might seek to use your organisation and itsconfidential information as a stepping stone to this bigger target. By undertaking Cyber Essentials, you will not only protect your organisation against cyber criminals looking to steal money, but also against those looking to undermine its existence by stealing its business secrets.

Free Business Insurance

As previously earlier, businesses, especially small and medium sized ones, are a prime target for cyber criminals, often losing tens of thousands of pounds in cyber attacks. These losses often place them in a precarious financial position since they can mean the difference between the business collapsing or remaining viable. Cyber Essentials comes with free Cyber Indemnity Insurance worth £25,000, and is available to any UK registered organisation that acquires Cyber Essentials. A core component of risk management is the ability off-set risk by taking out insurance, so the ability to acquire free Cyber Indemnity insurance is surely a benefit worth having.

Manchester tech firm takes two of the UK’s largest renewable energy facilities into the cloud with new IBM asset management system

Tech

Sam Whitear

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11/02/2021

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Manchester tech firm takes two of the UK’s largest renewable energy facilities into the cloud with new IBM asset management system

Ince Bio Power in Cheshire and Energy Works Hull, two of the UK’s largest renewable energy producing facilities, have undergone major digitisation projects to move their asset management processes to the cloud.

The operator of Energy Works Hull – Bioenergy Infrastructure Group (BIG), turned to Manchester-based technology specialist SRO Solutions, part of The Cohesive Companies, when it needed a new asset management system to ensure compliance with industry regulations.

SRO was able to provide access to IBM’s Maximo software via its own cloud-based platform, reducing the setup time by eliminating the need for any new IT infrastructure.

Tony Lackey, SRO Solutions managing director, said: “To implement a piece of enterprise asset management software usually takes months, and in the case of some clients, more than a year. We were able to implement much quicker for Bioenergy due to our cloud platform.

“The key benefit for BIG of choosing SRO’s cloud-based Maximo as a Service (MaaS) solution was the simplicity of setup – it only took us a few days to get the platform up and running. We were then able to start loading the company’s data into the system, so there was a massive time saving compared to a standard onsite installation.”

SRO gathered essential data relating to Energy Works Hull’s assets and equipment, and uploaded this information to the cloud. It took less than four weeks to meet the site’s compliance requirements and provide BIG with access to an operational asset management system.

Phase two of the project took place once the biomass facility was operational. SRO’s team carried out workshops to determine bespoke processes relating to work and inventory management, ensuring Maximo was tailored to the company’s specific needs.

Joe Lightfoot, project lead for SRO Solutions, said: “MaaS offers complete peace of mind because we take on all the responsibility that the client would usually have. It is a private and secure cloud-hosted solution that’s ISO 27001 certified. There’s no infrastructure involved, and we cover all the software. The client doesn’t need to worry about maintaining any servers, software or databases, and we also take on additional responsibilities like license compliance. Any problems can be easily reported through our support portal.”

Following the successful delivery of MaaS in Hull, SRO was contracted to upgrade BIG’s Ince Bio Power facility. The 22MW biomass plant near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire can process up to 170,000 tonnes of waste wood per year and generate electricity to power more than 42,000 homes.

The facility’s asset hierarchy, which details equipment and components on site, was uploaded to the cloud, along with data linked to job plans, users and security groups. SRO also created new start centres in Maximo, along with bespoke forms covering health and safety practices.

Mr Lightfoot added: “Digitising all these processes and forms in Maximo has brought everything together in one place. It has provided BIG with much greater control over its assets and inventory, and will simplify everything from maintenance management to stocktaking. In theory, Maximo will help increase uptime across both sites and also allow the company to benefit from economies of scale.”

Mark Roberts, Head of Engineering at Bioenergy Infrastructure Group, said: “SRO Solutions expertly moved us across to IBM’s Maximo software, implementing the computerised maintenance management solution professionally and efficiently without delay or trouble.”

£3 million 3D printing initiative aims to help Greater Manchester companies build back better

Business support

Sam Whitear

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11/02/2021

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£3 million 3D printing initiative aims to help Greater Manchester companies build back better

Greater Manchester businesses are to benefit from a new initiative that will help them understand and utilise 3D printing technology in order to develop innovative products and services within their business.

The new £3.2 million initiative from Manchester Metropolitan University aims to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region not only continue operating through the pandemic, but also build back better post-pandemic, by supporting them in adopting a new innovation-led culture that will encourage productivity and growth.

Many businesses have already benefited from the University’s 3D-printing support, designing new products such as deaf-friendly face masks.

But the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to cause enormous disruption to businesses across the region, with sectors such as manufacturing being no exception.

From experiencing issues with supply chains, which has made manufacturing products more difficult, to seeing a change in market conditions over the past 12-months – many businesses have been forced to adapt to remain operational.

But the initiative, PrintCity Network, which launches this month, will give companies the opportunity to use 3D scanning as a stop gap in the supply chain, allowing a business to remain operational when the chain is disrupted.

SMEs will also be able to diversify their product ranges and bring new products to the market quickly using 3D printing and digital manufacturing techniques.

PrintCity Network builds on the work of the University’s existing specialist additive and digital manufacturing hub, PrintCity, which offers a space for researchers, students, individuals and businesses alike to train or upskill, and access on-site 3D printing support and a commercial service to help make their manufacturing ambitions a reality.

However, PrintCity Network will take this one-step further, with the aim of developing a network of 150 pioneering, local SMEs – offering them fully-funded technical and business support during a period when finances might be tight.

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Professor Craig Banks, Academic Lead for PrintCity, said “More and more businesses have been looking to adopt digital manufacturing techniques, particularly during the pandemic.

“With many traditional supply chains being disrupted, SMEs have turned to PrintCity to use new methods of design and manufacturing during this difficult time, with many needing our support to adopt these new approaches.

“PrintCity has been supporting SMEs since its inception in 2018, utilising existing business support programmes such as the GC Business Growth Hub and Made Smarter North West Pilot Programme.

“But now, with this new, fully-funded service available to Greater Manchester SMEs, PrintCity Network will help support more businesses to innovate, boosting productivity, growth and jobs within the region.”

One such company to benefit from this support is Pennine Consultancy, who designed a concept for a deaf-friendly face mask that incorporated a clear face panel to make lip reading possible.

Pennine engaged PrintCity and is now using the technology and expertise that will be fully-funded for PrintCity Network.

David Butler, Director at Pennine Consultancy, said: “3D printing and vacuum foaming technology has been an absolutely essential element to the development of our product. It has allowed us to do our proof-of-concept and to rapidly produce the prototypes that we have needed efficiently.

“The support of PrintCity has been invaluable, giving us access to both the expertise and technology needed to design a product, which is not only fit-for-purpose, but suitable for the current market.

“I believe countless businesses could benefit from utilising what the University has to offer in this area.”

Mandy Parkinson, Head of Business and Public Engagement at Manchester Metropolitan, added: “In the current climate it will be essential to have a strong base of innovation ready businesses across Greater Manchester, in order to support our economy to recover post COVID-19.

“We see the PrintCity Network as being a key player in helping the Greater Manchester business community in this and we will provide SMEs with a commercially proven step-by-step innovation process, with an end result of either having a product, service or process launchable.”

The project, which is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, with the University matching funding to make a total package of £3.2m, will see investment in the latest additive manufacturing technology to add to PrintCity’s already impressive range of onsite equipment.

SMEs working with PrintCity Network will not only have access to this equipment, but will also receive in-depth innovation support in order to develop ideas and prototype new products prior to launch.

PrintCity Network launches this month, with the first cohort of SMEs in April 2021 being provided with much-needed support.

Teledata to Open Fourth Data Centre in Manchester

Digital
Tech

Sam Whitear

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11/02/2021

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Teledata to Open Fourth Data Centre in Manchester

Manchester cloud hosting and data centre operator Teledata, has announced that it will open a fourth data hall at its Wythenshawe facility. The expansion, which will see an additional 75 server racks become available for the firm’s cloud hosting and colocation customer base, will cover 2400ft2 of space and deliver an additional 300kw of customer power to the data centre. The data centre is scheduled to open in Spring 2021.

This new data centre marks stage two of a £2 Million expansion project announced by the company last year. Stage one of the project saw Teledata launch its third data hall in December 2020, which the firm reports is already full.

Matt Edgely, director for Teledata commented that data centre capacity in Manchester is nearing a critical point;

“Data centres form an increasingly important part of the national fabric, enabling remote and flexible working with high capacity networking and compute solutions to ensure peace of mind. We’re seeing a serious lack of new investment into high quality supply, particularly in our region, and this is leading to data centre space becoming harder to secure for businesses seeking to expand their hosting capacities and cloud networks.

“As businesses continue to run against the challenges of a global pandemic, with working from home more important now than ever, the requirement for resilient, secure and dependable data centre services and hosting solutions is critical. It is our aim to remain ahead of the curve, providing secure and powerful data centres for our client’s mission-critical data and online applications.”

Founded in 2005 Teledata is a Tier 3 data centre facility offering premium colocation, cloud hosting and data centre services to businesses across the UK. The firm’s solutions are designed to enable organisations to protect their applications, data and online presence from the damaging effects of downtime, and to make the most effective and efficient use of technology with secure and scalable hosting platforms tailored to business critical needs. The building has some of the most sophisticated security of any data centre in Europe, with an on-site police-linked, NSI Gold Approved, BS5979 certified control room and alarm receiving centre making Teledata unique in the UK.

College reaches 200 apprentice milestone

Education

Sam Whitear

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11/02/2021

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College reaches 200 apprentice milestone

A campaign by Hopwood Hall College to train 300 new apprentices in 12 months has reached a landmark milestone during National Apprenticeship Week.

The Rochdale-based college has just placed its 200th student into an apprenticeship and now hopes to smash its original target of reaching 300 by September 2021.
The students have been placed in businesses across Greater Manchester but the majority are in and around Rochdale.
They include Charlotte Larkin, 21, and Drew Keane, 18, who are working at Littleborough-based fire door manufacturer PDS.
Julia Heap, principal and CEO of Hopwood Hall College, said: “We are delighted to have reached the 200 milestone after we launched our pledge in September 2020, which demonstrates by working collaboratively we can make a difference by transforming lives together. 200 people are now in employment and learning new skills and we’re pleased we have reached this during National Apprenticeship Week.
“This year’s theme for National Apprenticeship Week 2021 is ‘Build the Future’ so reaching the 200 milestone is an extremely fitting showcase of the resilience of apprentices and employers during the pandemic.
“We’re overwhelmed by the amount of support given by businesses and it’s important now more than ever to build our partnerships to work together to overcome the skills and employment challenges for businesses, young people and residents of Rochdale and create opportunities for our community to thrive.”
Karen Barker, digital marketing manager and recruitment manager at PDS, said apprentices represent a core part of their business plan. “As an employee-owned business in Rochdale our mission is to provide employment, work experience and up-skill opportunities across the local community,” she said.

“Part of our social value commitment is to also give young people career progression and training opportunities via apprenticeship schemes.
“We currently have two joinery apprentices who are learning much-valued woodworking skills through onsite and offsite training.
“We’ve also just welcomed Charlotte and Drew, who will be completing their administration apprenticeship via Hopwood Hall College.

“Previous apprentices are now much valued employees of PDS. We recognise apprenticeships as an excellent way to attract new talent to PDS and an effective way to grow our business even further.”
Charlotte Larkin is an administration apprentice at PDS and said she was loving her role. “I was pleased to find out I could earn while I learnt,” she said. “This meant I could gain all the relevant qualifications without going back to college, while also earning an income and receiving the same benefits as other employees.

“Through working alongside experienced staff at PDS, I hope to learn job specific skills. I hope to gain a full-time position within the company on the completion of my apprenticeship.”
Drew Keane is also an administration apprentice at PDS and said: “I am hoping to gain experience and confidence working in an office environment and in the future to progress my career.”

Peel Ports ensures Manchester Ship Canal’s water management system holds during Storm Christoph

News

Sam Whitear

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10/02/2021

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Peel Ports ensures Manchester Ship Canal’s water management system holds during Storm Christoph

During the heavy rainfall from Storm Christoph in January, Peel Ports, owner of Manchester Ship Canal, ensured the safety of vessels using the Canal, following a multi-million-pound investment in water management and maintenance.

Over the last six years, Peel Ports has optimised its water management systems, through a series of multi-million-pound investments to help ensure the safety of vessels navigating the Manchester Ship Canal.

This has included upgrades to the canal’s sluices, ensuring the sliding gates are capable of controlling varied and potentially dramatic increases in water flow during severe weather conditions.
Most recently this was tested during Storm Christoph, which caused huge disruption in the North West of England last month, with the equivalent of 40,000 Olympic swimming pools of water passed through the Weaver sluices in just 48 hours.

David Huck, Managing Director, Peel Ports Group, said: “We have accelerated further our planned investments, making significant improvements in our water management system along the Manchester Ship Canal, including optimising sluice gates and their control systems.

“In preparation for Storm Christoph, our teams were on the ground monitoring the water level and key infrastructure including sluices. Despite a huge amount of water passing through these gates, they continued to be capable of controlling the large increase in water levels which is testament to our ongoing investment and management.”

Part of this water management includes the response in the aftermath of heavy rainfall and storms.

During a storm, a huge amount of waste is washed into the canal, this waste is removed from the inland waterway for both navigational safety and operational reasons.

On average, 600 tonnes of waste a year is removed from Manchester Ship Canal. However, in the last week alone, it is estimated that 150 tonnes of waste will be removed following Storm Christoph.

David added: “In the areas of Manchester Ship Canal which we have responsibility for, we not only prepare for heavy rainfall but also remove navigational hazards in the aftermath of a storm. Along the banks of the canal, there is a huge amount of vegetation which can easily be washed into the water during adverse weather conditions.

“Any obstructions in the canal can prevent ships from freely navigating the inland waterway which is used to move goods between Manchester and Liverpool. It is therefore a priority to remove any large debris, as well as accumulation of general rubbish which we extract all year round to conserve the canal.”

Peel Ports has already committed to deliver further multi-million pound investments on the Manchester Ship Canal in 2021 and other mid to long term projects are currently being evaluated for future delivery, including upgrades to its control systems, locks, gates and sluices.

Jam comes full Sercle with Kesho

Digital

Sam Whitear

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10/02/2021

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Manchester, marketing communications agency, Jam has completed an exciting branding project for Kesho a financial technology partner, further strengthening its position as it moves into 2021.

Following a three-way competitive pitch, Jam was enlisted to rebrand two of the company’s core brands, Kesho and Curtains, whilst creating and launching a brand for a new consumer e-money account.

Providing credit union accounting software for over 30 years, Kesho and its core product, Curtains is widely used and trusted amongst hundreds of credit unions and financial organisations across the UK. Jam was challenged with upholding the brand’s heritage and maintaining customer loyalty whilst refreshing the brand in line with the company’s vision for the future.

Jam re-energised the brand, carefully developing a new narrative, creative and tone of voice that harnessed the brand’s heritage and customer-centric attitude, whilst embracing its digital future. With a bold new look and narrative, Jam transformed Kesho into Sercle introducing the refreshed brand to new and existing audiences across the industry. The brand’s industry leading accounting software, Curtains was also rebranded to Sercle Platform, providing cutting-edge technology to empower its partners and their members for the digital finance revolution.

Shaking up the digital personal finance market, Jam delivered Vox Money, an exclusively inclusive online e-money account for those previously overlooked by traditional banks and for those who generally like to move to a different beat. A clearly defined brand and proposition, vibrant creative and a bold narrative offers consumers financial progress.

Putting Sercle and Vox Money at the fore of the digital finance revolution, Jam designed and developed interactive websites for each brand, prioritising user experience, design and functionality.

With an entire suite of brand assets, Jam ensured every touch point was diligently planned and carefully crafted.

The huge success of the initial brand development project led to Jam being awarded the retained contract to deliver integrated, digital marketing strategies for both Sercle and Vox Money. The agency is tasked with launching the brands to the credit union and consumer market respectively, driving conversions and building brand equity.

Jam’s services will include digital and creative copywriting alongside the development and implementation of strong digital and social media strategies and bespoke creative assets.

Jaime Gee, MD of Jam said, “We are thrilled to be working with Omnio Global to deliver new brand identities and digital strategies reflective of the organisation’s innovation and dedication to not only financial technology solutions but exceptional customer service.

“It’s Jam’s proven experience within the financial services sector, teamed with our creative excellence and growth strategies that truly sets us apart. And during the economic uncertainty that we currently find ourselves in, our assurance that budgets are working as hard as possible to achieve strategic and measurable results gives our clients confidence that their budgets and brands are truly protected .”

Lindsay Ward, Executive Director at Sercle said, “Jam really impressed us with their thorough approach to brand development, extraordinary creative and clear understanding of our audience and the sector. The Sercle and Vox Money brands and propositions Jam has created are striking, future-proof and support our vision for the future. After the fantastic work delivered on bringing these two brands to market in a relatively short time frame, we knew they were the agency we trusted with our brands.

“We are confident that Jam’s approach, understanding of the financial services industry and the digital strategy they have devised for us, will have a positive impact on our strategic business objectives and ensure our brands have a strong presence in a competitive market.”

Jam has a wealth of experience in the financial services industry, with previous clients including Argos Pet Insurance, APJ Solicitors, Carrot Insurance, First Target Recoveries and Due Course.
Omnio Global joins Jam’s extensive roster of clients, which includes MakeUrMove, The Furniture Recycling Group, Brooks Life Sciences and Printworks.

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