Agricultural giant continues to grow and grow
One of the county’s biggest firms, and one of those featured in Raikes’ rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series, has recorded yet more growth.
Dear Readers,
We hope you had a great weekend.
Something of an agricultural theme to today’s edition of The Raikes Journal and certainly a Cotswold one, as you will find out.
And as well as some diary dates (at the very foot of the edition), it also features a few words by way of tribute to the efforts of one Nigel Tillott, and you will see why.
This reporter recalls the consternation with which the lawyer and keen runner met the announcement that a commercial operation had pulled out of staging the then Gloucester 10k at the last minute. That was more than a decade ago.
Tillott knew the city could do better and decided to prove it. I sat in on the early meetings when he discussed his ideas with the police, the county council and the city council. He probably didn’t realise just what he was getting into, but he has been supported along the way by the incredible efforts of Gloucester Quays Rotary Club and businesses like EG Carter.
We wish him all the best as he attempts to step back!
As you should know by now, Raikes is a reader-supported publication - an effort to keep some real journalism going in Gloucestershire and support the county’s business, charity and education and training sectors. So please do feel free to share this edition far and wide and encourage others to sign up to our email service and support what the community interest company is trying to do.
Please do continue to bear us in mind for your stories and ideas. Contact andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk or telephone 07956 926061.
* Everything you read on The Raikes Journal is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne, our sponsors Hartpury University and Hartpury College, our Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.
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Your briefing notes
🏃🏽♂️🏃🏽♀️🥇 We couldn’t resist a few words to mark last weekend’s Gloucester 10k, an event staged for a decade-plus now, during which time has raised more than £100,000 for county charities. Special mention must go to Davies and Partners and Gloucester Quays Rotary who stage the annual race, and to city firm EG Carter for its ongoing sponsorship. But we especially tip our hat to Nigel Tillott, formerly of Davies and Partners solicitors and the driving force in setting up the event. Tillott steps back this year as race leader. Nicala Clapperton, from Rotary club, said “We want to say a huge thank you for all the hard work Nigel has put into being race director of the Gloucester 10k. When he decided 11 years ago he wanted to start a the event he came to our club looking for some support, we gladly offered it and we have never looked back. It has raised a lot of funds for local, national and international charities. If not for Nigel’s vision we would not have this landmark city event so thank you for your dedication!”
🍻 It feels to us as if something is afoot at Gloucester Brewery. As you may have heard, Lance Bradley has been appointed as chairman and Naomi Smith as finance director. Bradley, now chief executive officer of Ospreys Rugby, previously held the same role at Gloucester Rugby, of course, while Smith has been promoted from finance manager after demonstrating “exceptional dedication and expertise since joining the company last year”. Is there a big announcement pending, we wonder?
🏘️ There has been an executive restructure at Gloucestershire housing association Two Rivers Housing. Carol Dover has been appointed deputy chief executive and there are two new executive directors too. Dover joined the Newent-based business in 2019 and was previously head of finance at Connexus, deputy director of finance at the University of Worcester and head of finance for Marches Housing Association in Herefordshire, among other positions. Two Rivers Housing manages affordable homes for more than 4,600 families in Gloucestershire and the surrounding area.
Just days to go before these Gloucestershire Business Awards
We’ve been following the build up to this year’s event since launch, so it seems only fitting we wish all those due to line up for the Cirencester Business Awards at the RAU this week all the very best.
On Friday night (5 July) at the Royal Agricultural University’s Boutflour Hall all those businesses from the Cotswolds in the running for this year’s Cirencester Chamber of Commerce Business Awards will find out their fate.
With 10 categories and three or more shortlisted for each, drawn from an area in and around the market town, the awards are one of the hot business tickets of the summer as they seek to celebrate the achievements of many.
Honoured will be individuals and companies in categories from Ethical Business Award to Manufacturing Business of the Year, as well as the headline Business of the Year Award - which is sponsored by lead partner Redkite Law.
The evening will start with welcome drinks at 7pm, a three course meal, a raffle in aid of charity and then the awards ceremony itself, hosted once again by BBC Radio presenter and journalist Vernon Harwood.
We would like to wish everything the very best of luck. You can find out who is in the running here.
Brewery becomes one of the UK’s fastest growing firms
In what is something of an agricultural-themed edition, we raise a glass to an unlikely champion giving hope to the bealleaguered craft brewing industry - Jeremy Clarkson.
We couldn’t help including this bit of good news for a brewing industry that started 2024 with not a lot of shout about.
This is the news that the brewery founded by the former presenter of TV’s Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson, has been ranked as the fastest-growing company in the South West.
The news comes courtesy of the Sunday Times annual fastest growing firms list, which says that Hawkstone Brewery recorded annual growth over three years of 142.8 per cent and sales of £7.8m for the year to March 2024.
The brewery, which is based in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, uses ingredients from Clarkson’s farm made famous by his series on the Prime Video channel.
Sixty four-year-old Clarkson bought what became Diddly Squat Farm, near Chipping Norton, in 2008 and set about charting his attempts to turn it into a working business in 2021.
The Prime Video show has also made a star of Kaleb Cooper, who has joined forces with the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) in Cirencester to launch a new bursary for those looking to launch a career in agriculture.
News of Hawkstone’s success is welcome cheer for a British brewing sector that the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) said had seen 38 breweries close their doors since the end of the fourth quarter of 2024 (leaving the total number of independent brewery at 1,777) - a two per cent fall.
Andy Slee, chief executive officer of SIBA, said rising costs and slowing sales caused by the costs of living crisis had compounded the repayments of substantial Covid loan debts making it hard to turn a sustainable profit.
Agricultural giant continues to grow and grow
One of the county’s biggest firms, and one of those featured in Raikes’ rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series, has recorded yet more growth.
By Andrew Merrell
If any sector knows about changing conditions and the impact they can have on a business - good and bad - it is those in agriculture.
And if any business serving that sector knows how to help firms make the very best of their resources whatever the climate throws at it - economic or otherwise - it is Agrii, the trading name for Andoversford-based Masstock Arable
The Gloucestershire firm is a leading provider of agronomy services, technology and strategic advice to UK farmers and claims “unrivalled expertise and support” in harnessing the latest research and innovations across crop protection, seed, fertiliser and technology.
All of which are trialled and tested on the network of ‘iFarms’ and technology centres owned by the business, which also happens to be one of the county’s top 100 biggest businesses, which makes it part of Raikes rolling series featured in our Reports & Deals channel.
And with its last set of annual accounts recently published, Agrii has firmly cementing its place in the top 10 of those firms with another rise in turnover worth noting.
Revenue for the year was up from £392,876,000 to £436,960,000 and gross profit was up by nearly £10 million to £90.93m, but profit for the financial year was down from £6.96m to £3.9m.
Staff numbers were up from 713 to 725.
“Full year 2023 saw strong commodity price growth coupled with challenging trading conditions driven by support disruptions and ongoing energy disruptions driven largely by the war in Ukraine,” said Lee Woodall, the firm’s divisional finance director, writing in the annual report for the year ending July 2023.
“Not withstanding these conditions, trading in the year was strong, supported by a positive planting profile, good crop establishment and favourable weather conditions during application periods.
“Strong volumes in seed and crop protection were partially offset by reduced demand for fertiliser with prices impacted by significantly higher raw material and energy costs.
“The business continued to strengthen its combined nutrient planning, high specification seed advice and varietal selection, differentiated nutrient applications and variable rate input prescriptions.”
* We usually put a paywall across the stories featured in our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series, making them readable only for our paying members. Not today!
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Diary Dates
📅 The Apprenticeship Roadshow sees the Gloucestershire Careers Hub arrive at the University of Gloucestershire, on Tuesday, 2 July, AccXel Construction School in Cinderford on Monday, July 8 and Cirencester College on Thursday, 11 July. A panel of apprentices and employers will be on hand to answer all your questions at what are described as ideal opportunities for students interested in the career route to learn more. Find out more here.
📅 July 16: Ever wondered about your leadership style? Even if you think you know what it is, do you know how to unlock its potential? Cheltenham Chamber of Commerce is teaming up with Randall & Payne for this interactive workshop which will aim to help you understand and harness your unique leadership style, foster stronger relationships with your team and build successful partnership through effective communication. Randall & Payne’s Will Abbott will take you through what is called ‘the DiSC model’ on a voyage of discovery. Due to take place on from 9am to 11am at Chargrove House, Shurington Road, Cheltenham. Find out more here.
📅 18 July: Croissants & Questions is a new series of events at Farm491, the agri-tech-focused facilitity which is part of the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester. You are welcome along from 8am to 9.30 am to its Alliston Centre for an informal and informative networking breakfast, meet new senior members (see below) and help us shape agritech innovation future. Find out more and book your place here.
📅 27th July 2024: Hartpury University and Hartpury College Rugby Celebration Dinner. Help celebrate 20 years of Hartpury RFC, 10 years of Gloucester Hartpury Rugby Ladies, and the remarkable triple 10-year anniversary of its treble achievement: RFC, BUCS, and AASE title victories. Find out more here.