Sentio has advised Gareth and Rachel Henderson on the sale of energy broker Orchard Group to Lakehouse plc. Lakehouse will pay an initial £7m, with a further deferred consideration of up to £3m.
Orchard was founded in 2004 and provides advice to corporate clients in relation to managing their energy costs, particularly energy procurement and usage. In addition, Orchard provides energy management services to commercial and industrial customers, including brokering supply with utilities firms, managing contracts and advising on energy consumption. The business employs 78 staff and is based in Elland, West Yorkshire, with offices in Glasgow, Bristol, Newcastle and Northampton. Its most recent results, for the year to August 2014, showed a pre-tax profit of £0.9m on sales of £5m. Following completion of the acquisition, Gareth Henderson and the management team will remain with the business.
Lakehouse, an asset and energy support services group will add Orchard’s staff to its own workforce of more than 1,300 people. The acquisition represents a further step in Lakehouse’s growth strategy as the Group continues to expand and develop through targeted, complementary acquisitions which broaden its service offering and geographical reach. Bringing Orchard into the Group provides further opportunities for the cross-selling of services, opening up Lakehouse’s existing offering to Orchard’s commercial customers and enabling the introduction of energy brokerage services to Lakehouse’s large housing association and local authority customers.
Ian Marwood of Sentio provided advice to the shareholders.
