Coutts National Prize for Family Business

‘And The Winner Is’……. Corporate Financier From Berkshire Scoops Coutts National Prize For Family Business
BCMS named ‘Best UK Family Business, £5-25m turnover category’

Newbury based merger and acquisitions company BCMS Corporate has been awarded ‘Best UK Family Business, £5-25m turnover category’, at the Coutts 2006 Prize for Family Business. In a category with entries from a variety of industries including costume jewellery makers, motorhome rentals and umbrella producers, the family competed in the final stage of the competition against funeral directors, AW Lymn and The Goring hotel to take home the top prize from the ceremony held at the Coutts headquarters in London. 

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.”

Mark Evans, Head of Family Business at Coutts, commented: "Up to 75% of businesses in the UK are run by families and they account for a large share of UK GDP and employment. They also enter each and every one of our lives far more than we realise, from the wine we drink and the cars we drive to the offices and homes we work and live in. Yet even today, much of their work goes largely unrecognised by society and they get very little help with tackling the unique challenges they face in areas such as business succession.”

“The Coutts Prize for Family Business is the only regional and national awards programme in England and Wales celebrating the overall best performing small, medium-sized and large family businesses. With a 300 year history of working with family businesses, we have an established track record in providing a range of private, commercial and charity banking services to this essential industry.”

The Coutts Prize recognises firms in three turnover categories (£1-5m, £5-£25m, £25m+) that demonstrate a combination of best practice in family and corporate governance, business succession, business strategy, innovation and charitable giving. Entrants must be companies or firms where family members have control of more than 25% of the voting shares and think of themselves as a family business.

More specifically, the Independent Evaluation Committee judging the Prize, has looked for examples of best practice, such as ethical standards reflecting family values, effective planning for succession of top family management and non-family members, a means of returning wealth to shareholders and a track record of innovation in products, services, technology and ways of doing business.

Each of the three winners, will choose between the opportunity to have the story of their family business written by Matthew Boyden, author of the Rough Guide to Opera and seven other books including biographies, or a photographic portrait or photo album by Dwayne Senior, a portraiture photographer, designed to capture the essence of the family and the business.

Mark Evans added: “Working within a family business can bring many valuable benefits such as putting you in control of your own destiny and wealth creation but it can also bring with it many hurdles, for example training the next generation and separating ownership and management control. We wanted to give the winners something that can be treasured now but that could also be passed down through future generations in recognition of their outstanding achievements.”

Over 250 people attended the awards and international cabaret act, Kit and the Widow performed a Cabaret Revue about all of the finalists. Inspired by the winners' good work, Coutts created a philanthropic finale to the evening by donating £5,000 to one of the family businesses, for the company to donate to a small independent charity or community organisation of their choice. To select which family would receive this donation, 250 envelopes were hidden beneath guests' seats and at the end of the ceremony, all attendees were asked to search for the winning envelope. The envelope was found by Ginette Hughes from MHI, an architectural and engineering design consultancy family business, based in the East Midlands. Ginette and her husband, Rodney, will be making a joint decision, alongside their staff on which small and local charity the money will be donated to.

The Independent Evaluation Committee is overseen by Roger Pedder, until recently chairman of C&J Clark (Clarks Shoes) Ltd, one of the UK’s largest private family companies.

The National Committee Members were: Lucy Armstrong, Chief Executive, The Alchemists (Northern) Limited; Simon Berry, Managing Director and Chairman, English Lakes Hotels Limited; Simon Bower, Managing Director, Pollards Tea & Coffee Limited; John Freeman, Partner, Business Analytics; Libby Gibson, Partner, Piper Private Equity; David Harvey, Chief Executive, Society of Trust and Estate Practioners (STEP); Michael Maslinski, Director, Maslinski & Co; Harry Moore, Managing Director, Moore Fleming; James Newitt; Co-Director, M Newitt & Sons Limited and Sir Robert Worcester KBE DL, Founder, MORI.

Nomination packs for the ‘Coutts 2007 Prize for Family Business’ will be distributed between 1 September – 31 October 2007. To reserve a pack email sarah.moriarty@coutts.com.

For further media information on Coutts contact:

Jo Thorne, Regional PR Manager, Coutts & Co on 0207 957 2650 or mobile 0776 6070 859 or e-mail joanna.thorne@coutts.com

Notes to Editors

·Coutts is the international private banking arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is one of the world's largest banking groups.

·Coutts manages the wealth of 96,000 high net worth clients worldwide through a network of over 40 offices globally.

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Coutts Prize for Family Business £5-£25m turnover, nominations and winners

Northern England Region	Southern England and Wales Region	London and Home Counties
A W Lymn*	Ashwell Property Group Plc	Fulton Umbrellas
Alpha Health Care	BCMS Corporate*	The Goring*
Alpha Hospitals	Clinton Devon Estates**	Hemming Group Limited
Broadgate Homes Limited	FWP Matthews Limited	Vascroft
Burbidge & Son Limited	James Graven & Sons Limited
D R Group	M F Freeman Group
Erodex	P & A Wood
Radford Jewellery	Start-rite
Tanners Wines Merchants	Thatchers Cider
San Carlo Restaurants	Unicorn Products Limited
	West Country Motorhomes

*Regional winners.

**Awarded Special Prize for Innovation and Heritage.