The founders of one of the UK’s fastest growing facilities management firms have completed the purchase of a 100 per cent shareholding in the business as it marks its 14th anniversary.
Coat Holdings Limited – which is owned by Adam Atkins and Helen Cooper – has purchased a 56 per cent stake in the Diamond Facilities Support Group from investor John Gray for an undisclosed sum.
Atkins and Cooper had initially held the other 44 per cent since forming the business – which is headquartered at Birmingham Business Park – in February 2010.
It means Diamond Facilities Support Group’s chief executive Atkins, and group managing director Cooper, will own 50 per cent each after organically growing their start-up into a £15 million turnover specialist FM group, employing around 185 staff nationwide.
Growth has been driven by the success of referrals from their direct labour model for 90 per cent of their services, as well as the creation of other subsidiary businesses that sit within the group.
These now include drainage business Jet Through, roofing firm Nationwide Roofing Repairs, cleaning business Nationwide Property Clean, fire and security company Sanctuary and FM specialist product supply brand Purcho.
All of these businesses, like Diamond, have been created from scratch and organically grown to ensure the culture of service excellence, quality and the personal touch that has made Diamond so successful is embedded from the start.
Atkins and Cooper have grown the business’s turnover year-on-year apart from during the pandemic, with growth now significantly exceeding pre-pandemic levels as the Group looks to hit £30 million of annual turnover by 2027 with more than 250 staff.
Atkins said: “This deal heralds an exciting new era for Diamond Facilities Support as we look to ramp up our expansion plans over the coming years.
“We’d like to place on record our thanks to John – as his initial financial support back in 2010 gave us the precious time needed to lay the foundations for the business to be able to serve clients and build our reputation – from renting office space through to employing staff and ordering equipment.
“Unlike many other FM businesses, around 90 per cent of the services we provide are delivered by our own staff, which has played a core role in our organic growth over the years as we have been able to maintain a high level of service, which has resulted in referrals landing around 50 per cent of our new business.”
Cooper added: “To be in this position 14 years on from starting the business with a graffitied desk we dragged up from the cellar and two mobile phones is a magnificent achievement.
“While Adam and I have been adept at spotting and capitalising on growth opportunities over the years, we would not have succeeded without the talented and hard-working team on which our reputation is built.
“Even though we are only 14 years old as a business, we already have a “ten year club” to celebrate people’s long-service, which shows the great staff loyalty we have fostered, which is reflected in the consistently high service we provide to businesses across the UK.
“Our attention is now turning to expand the business even further by growing our workforce across the group to around 250 over the next three years, as well as bringing some of the minority of FM services that we currently sub-contract in-house.”