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SPECIAL REPORT
Acquiring and
growing Mentor
Richard next took up the role, in 2000,
of Commercial Director at Linde,
based in Basingstoke and during his
time there crossed paths with the then
owners of Mentor who were planning
to sell the business and retire. Richard
and the owners quickly agreed a basis
for a deal, an arrangement that had
particular attractions as it would mean
amongst other things the opportunity
to move back to the north. The original
plan was to work alongside each other
and Richard would acquire shares in a
ratcheted financial deal, acquiring more
shares incrementally over time. The
relationship worked well for just over
a year as Richard learnt more about
the training business and in April 2002,
Richard and John Neal bought the
company with the support of Royal Bank
of Scotland and their venture capital arm.
Mentor was a sizeable provider of fork
truck training, having been established in
1988. By 2002 the company had grown
from just a few instructors working from
a back-bedroom to 50 instructors in new
premises in Chesterfield. Since acquiring
Mentor, Richard has consistently built
on the strength in fork truck training and
now the company is at least four times
bigger than its nearest competitor!
Richard has also listened extensively
to his customers and has improved
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August 2010
both training content and delivery,
as well as diversifying the range of
courses offered. Now, in addition
to fork lift trucks, Mentor also offers
training on cranes and access
platforms – indeed, Mentor are now
the largest independent IPAF training
company and the fifth biggest in the
country overall. Four years ago at
the invitation of Cemex and Hanson,
Mentor expanded into plant training
within the extractives industry and
have been approved by MPQC
since 2004. Today, major customers
include Travis Perkins, Asda, Tesco,
Homebase, Corus, DHL and a good
wealth of other blue chip companies
whilst in the extractives sector,
Hanson, Aggregate Industries, Cemex
and others are regular customers.
So what differentiates the company
from its competitors and why has
Mentor been so successful? Good
leadership and dedicated employees
is one obvious answer – but Richard
adds more: “About two years ago the
recession affected all companies;
our solution was to go out and talk
to people to seek new contacts
within the industry. Traditionally
conservative companies (‘we’ve
always done it this way so we see
no reason to change’) began to look
at alternatives with lower costs but
higher quality. Because we actively
marketed Mentor’s services throughout
industry, we were able to capitalise
upon this economic turbulence by
offering national coverage, good
quality training, competitive costings
and ready availability (short waiting
lists/times to training). This strategy
has worked because the company’s
sales have grown exponentially. We
now have 130 training instructors
nationwide and are three times the
size as a business that we were in
2002 - with satellite operations in
Scotland and the West Midlands.”
Most would agree that it is a
remarkable achievement for
a company to grow during a
recession and this seems to be
down to pure grit and determination
backed by a quality product and
superb team of professionals.