Coutts 2006 Prize for Family Business National Winner

Mark, Ann, Angela, Brian, Leanne, Rachel, Stephen, David, Sharon

BCMS Corporate
Winner Best Family Business
Turnover Category £5-25m

Established in Kingsclere, Newbury in 1989, BCMS Corporate is a first/second generation family business which specialises in company acquisitions and disposals with a particular emphasis on the disposal of Small to Medium Enterprise’s (SME’s), typically with a turnover of £1-20m. Their clients are often family run businesses where the owners wish to exit for retirement reasons.  BCMS Corporate was nominated by Andrew Drake of Penningtons Solicitors LLP.

Roger Pedder, chairman of the Independent Evaluation Committee commented: “BCMS Corporate is a good example of what the Coutts prize is looking for in a family business.  The things that impressed the evaluation committee about BCMS Corporate included:

  • The thoughtful and intelligent way in which the founders identified a niche opportunity in a well established professional services sector, by taking the service concept to a new level;
  • The market leadership position in the sale of smaller companies - on track to sell 70 companies in the current year;
  • Length and thoroughness of the search process (more than 200 approaches per company);
  • The obvious thought and planning with which the founders have brought family members into the business and the involvement of the third generation who are in their teens;
  • The ‘family culture’ of the company in a sector that is not traditionally associated with family businesses through the encouragement of a spirit of entrepreneurship at all levels, team bonuses and regular staff social activities;
  • Use of key performance indicators - over 100 of them;
  • The innovative way in which the company manages company sales and solicits multiple offers to achieve the highest price as opposed to relying on PE ratios; and
  • The many examples of engaged philanthropy including the formation of a family charitable trust, the building of a school and orphanage in India and the level of charitable engagement at home including the support of local charities.”

To read the press release please click here.