IQ-Magazine-Issue-7

IQ showcase
SPOTLIGHT:
We take a look at some of last year’s Ltd leaders
specflue
Specflue, based in Sudbury, Suffolk, is the UK’s
leading provider of flue, chimney and renewable
energy solutions to the non-domestic sector, and
featured at number 53 in last year’s Suffolk Ltd top
100 list.
Founded in 1992, Specflue has grown from a small,
family run operation to a £16.5 million turnover
business employing 100 staff. This success has
been fuelled by a strong focus on offering valueadded
services. This included the launch of
Specflue’s dedicated solid fuel training centre in
2006, now the most comprehensive in the UK,
enabling those in the solid fuel, heating and plumbing
industries to gain the required accreditation to
offer renewable installations which qualify for the
government Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
Specflue Managing Director, Jeremy Fry, says:
“Specflue’s growth has necessitated the introduction
of a six-strong senior management team, five of whom
have been recruited from within the business, to help
run the company. It’s been a challenge to hand over
some of the responsibility, but the process is working
very well.
“We learn something new every day whilst making a
continuous, active effort to improve our services - a
strategy which has been at the heart of our success.”
Five Tips From The Top
Jeremy Fry, MD of Specflue, shares the key lessons he has learnt
over the past 22 years in business:
• Share your vision for the business often and ensure all
your team know their part in it.
• Understand what your customers want from you -
ask them.
• Don’t chase turnover, make profit.
• You can’t delegate soon enough.
• Trust your team.
move with us
Featuring in 22nd place in last year’s
Cambridgeshire Ltd top 100 list, St Ives based Move
with Us provides estate agency, asset management
and corporate property services to estate agents,
home builders, financial institutions and consumers.
The £85 million turnover business currently
employs 320 people and was named in the ‘Sunday
Times’ Profit Track 100’ in 2008, 2009 and again
this year.
Assisted by Grant Thornton, Move with Us has
recently undergone a capital restructuring to prepare
the business for further expansion.
Move with Us Finance Director Nigel Berry says the
firm’s rapid, organic growth is a result of a strategy
to anticipate trends, a flexibility to adapt to changing
markets and not being afraid to disrupt existing
markets in order to provide better levels of customer
service.
“Since Move with Us began in 1999, the UK has
seen the worst recession ever to hit the housing
market. This has meant we’ve had to take a highly
innovative and entrepreneurial approach to the
business. Creating the right management structure
to handle our rapid growth has been imperative, as
has setting very high internal standards which are
then reflected externally to our customers.”
Five tips From The Top
Nigel Berry outlines some of the pearls of wisdom he has
gleaned from his experience with Move with Us:
• Challenge established practice – be disruptive and
get noticed.
• React quickly to market changes - don’t wait to see
what others do.
• Plan for it to take longer than you thought to
achieve anything.
• Communicate regularly throughout the
organisation – good news and bad.
• Take a chance on good people – you can find the
right role for them later.
For further information on Grant Thornton’s Ltd surveys or to request a copy of the Suffolk and/or Cambridgeshire
2013 reports, please contact deborah.baker@uk.gt.com.
issue 7 | page 13