Accountancy firm Old Mill expands corporate finance team
Accountancy firm Old Mill has expanded its dedicated corporate finance team to further enhance its already comprehensive offering and support the firm’s overall growth plans.
In November 2021, Old Mill announced plans to grow by 15% pa for the next five years and double staff numbers by 2026. With a team of just two – Partner Mark Neath and Adviser Kathryn Mansell – and a growing demand from business owners for their collaborative style of help and advice, particularly around succession plans, the corporate finance team was one of the obvious areas for growth.
The team started actively recruiting, and at the end of 2021, welcomed Scott Hill to focus on helping owner managed businesses who are looking to make an exit and in January, Tom Downes came on board to lead the financial modelling and valuations offering.
This additional experience and resource has allowed the corporate finance team to expand its services, strengthen its expertise, and offer more transactional support, as well as work on bigger and multiple deals; most notably the corporate finance team recently helped Golledge Electronics secure a sale to Techpoint. It was also integral in Atlas Packaging – a Devon-based firm that Old Mill has worked with since 2010 – being acquired by Smurfit Kappa UK Limited’s (SKUK).
Kathryn Mansell said: “The growth of the team has enabled us to really showcase our expertise across business sales, M&A, MBOs, due diligence and valuation, as well as help and advice with fundraising, financial modelling, and post-deal support, as we have been able to not only work on more than one deal at a time but also on much bigger transactions.”
It has also resulted in an increasing volume of business coming from outside of Old Mill’s existing client base, as Kathryn explains:
“Previously, we were mainly working with existing clients but increasingly, non-client firms are coming to Old Mill specifically because of our reputation within corporate finance and we now have the capacity to help them,” said Kathryn, who adds that she thinks Old Mill’s appeal is its ability to offer a professional service that cuts out the jargon and puts the client at the heart of everything they do.
“Our role is to help businesses realise their true value,” she said. “We understand that the right choice isn’t just about financial returns – we work closely with our clients to gain a deep understanding so we can advise them on the best deal for them.
“Old Mill is an ambitious and growing firm, and a big part of our own growth strategy is around making the right acquisitions – we therefore understand that M&A is about more than just financials, and we can tap into this experience to help businesses find the right fit both operationally and strategically.”
Despite recently doubling in size, Old Mill’s Corporate Finance team is looking to expand further, working with yet more amazing businesses and gaining new talented individuals into the team.
“At Old Mill, we operate an ‘open door’ policy, which means talented, hardworking people who share our people centric culture will be welcomed into the firm,” said Kathryn. “Both Scott and Tom contacted Old Mill speculatively and it was clear as soon as we met them that they would be great additions to the team, so we’d love to encourage others to get in touch.”
