BCMS Corporate named ‘Best UK family business’

BCMS Corporate has been awarded Coutts ‘Best UK family business (£5-25m turnover category). In a category with entries from a variety of industries the company competed in the final stage of the competition against two other regional winners to take home the top prize. The prize was presented at an awards ceremony held in Coutts headquarters in London on 6 June 2007. Over 250 people attended the ceremony. Established in Kingsclere in 1989, BCMS Corporate is a first/second generation family business.

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
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 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.

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.”

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.

About Coutts

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 100,000 high net worth clients worldwide through a network of over 40 offices globally
The first Coutts regional office to be opened was Eton in 1961. Today, Coutts has regional offices in Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Eton, Guildford, Hampshire, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford and Tunbridge Wells