Thursday February 14th 2019

Thursday February 14th 2019

serviced offices

- venture capital - pub chain -

graphene & nanomaterials

London x 3; Wales

The Office Group (TOG) £69.9m | GV Europe | Cask and Craft Beer Co £5.7m | Haydale £3m

News about 4 UK growth companies and/or accelerators + turnover in the GRID marketplace 19th – 25th August 2018:

THE OFFICE GROUP (TOG): serviced offices - London

After being threatened with gangsters, why fear WeWork? | Liam Kelly, The Sunday Times. August 19 2018

DZ profile: The Office Group Limited (TOG)

Business: British serviced-office company which has 41 buildings across London, Bristol and Leeds that are home to more than 15,000 businesses.

Competitors: WeWork and FTSE 250-listed IWG (Regus)

Launched: 2007

Location: London W1

Founders: co-chief executives Charlie Green, 48 and Olly Olsen, 45 who had worked together at the now-defunct listed property business MWB. Olsen was a salesman while Green worked as a chartered surveyor.

Financials: pre-tax profits of £4m on sales of £69.9m in 2016

Investment: The pair each borrowed £100,000 and also secured backing from private equity house BRIDGES COMMUNITY VENTURES. In 2010, when TOG had seven buildings, Travelex tycoon Sir Lloyd Dorfman funded a management buyout. Private equity giant BLACKSTONE bought a majority stake for £500m last year, with Dorfman, Olsen and Green retaining minority shareholdings.

GV EUROPE: venture capital - London

Tom Hulme: Trust me, I come from Google with lots of cash | Sabah Meddings, The Sunday Times. August 19 2018

DZ profile: GV Management Company, L.L.C. (GV)

Business: GV is the venture capital arm of ALPHABET, Google’s parent company. In the past five years, has spent more than $200m (£157m) backing companies in healthcare, artificial intelligence and fintech - more than half been in the UK. Successful investments include UBER, the smart home-hub maker NEST, and PERISCOPE, a live video streaming app. Recent investments include VACCITECH, a university spinout developing a universal flu vaccine, a barcode scanning platform known as SCANDIT, and the travel agent, SECRET ESCAPES. GV …through GV, start-ups can gain access to Google’s network of global companies, such as DEEPMIND, VERILY and YOUTUBE. ….co-investors have included SYNCONA, the WELLCOME TRUST and OCTOPUS INVESTMENTS.

Launched: 2009

Location: Clerkenwell, London. Head office: Mountain View, California, US.

Staff: Tom Hulme, 42, European head of GV, who was poached from his role at design agency IDEO. MBA at Harvard Business School. his 12 years as an angel investor — funded thanks to a lucrative exit from former British sports car manufacturer MARCOS — that gave Hulme the credentials to pick winners from hundreds of start-ups desperate for funding. Previopusly was on the board of Tech City where he helped to devise initiatives such as the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, designed to help smaller, higher-risk companies raise finance by offering tax relief on new shares.

Financials: has $2.4bn under management

Investment: owned by Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

CASK AND CRAFT BEER CO: pub chain - London

The Pimlico landlord who crafted a pub revival from one no-go boozer | Jim Armitage, The Evening Standard. 20 August 2018

DZ profile: The Craft Beer Company Ltd

Business: community craft beer pub chain with now eight in London – including Pimlico, Covent Garden and Clerkenwell - and Brighton. Supplied by 200 breweries

Launched: 2009

Location: London N7

Founders: Martin Hayes and Peter Slezak

Staff: 100

Financials: last year turned over £5.7m - £6.9m forecasted this year - with £1m profit.

Investment: has only ever funded expansion from cashflow, refusing to take on debt or raise money from equity investors.

HAYDALE: Graphene & nanomaterials - Wales

Breakthrough for graphene groups remains elusive | Andy Bounds and Chris Tighe, FT. August 24, 2018

DZ profile: Haydale Graphene Industries Plc

Business: among the pioneers of graphen. Has developed a process allowing the material to be used in inks and coatings, and operates four plasma reactors to enable it to be mixed into composites and other materials. One is in Thailand as Asia becomes an increasing focus for the group. GEIC partner

Launched: 2010

Location: Ammanford, Wales

Financials: profit warning in June, admitting its customers were taking longer than expected to launch graphene products. Forecasted losses for 2018 just over the £5.4m of last year, with revenue for the year to June (excluding grant income of about £850,000) 15-20 per cent above the £3m generated last year.

Investment: floated on AIM in 2014 at 210p, shares now about 57p

News:  

1. Ray Gibbs stepped down as chief executive but will remain with the company in a business development role.

2. David Banks, chairman, said investors remained supportive and pointed to recent collaboration deals, including the world’s first aircraft incorporating graphene. Haydale is poised to take advantage of the mass commercialisation of graphene, he said.