Rosebud: building for the future
“Rosebud provides the building blocks and those building blocks helped get us to where we are today.”
That simple message from Phil Barnard, co founder of Adlington-based business DA Techs and Smart Techs, became the unofficial theme of Lancashire County Council’s Rosebud 40th anniversary celebration, held at The Flower Bowl, near Preston.
Business founders, fund managers and county leaders gathered to mark the milestone and heard how Lancashire County’s Council’s relationship-led business finance programme does more than lend, it underpins and supports county businesses to scale, diversify and endure.
Amin Vepari, the business finance and scaleup lead at Lancashire County Council, told them Rosebud’s success is down to taking considered risks and evolve with the market.
He said: “Rosebud’s been around what seems like forever and it’s very unusual for a council to do this kind of stuff as it goes into that commercial space, and there’s risk involved, but there’s a lot of satisfaction with it as well.
“We’re not a transactional lender. We’ve made it more about relationships and we’ve grown that. There’s no mandate saying, ‘we have to do this’. We do it out of choice because we want to.
The event heard from a string of business leaders including Rupert Gatty, founder of Blackburn based manufacturer CoolKit.
Rupert talked about the aftermath of the credit crunch in 2010 when Rosebud stepped in where others wouldn’t.
He said: “Rosebud agreed to invest £20,000, it was a big step forward and helped us work our way into major vehicle leasing businesses.”
“It put us in a new landscape where we’ve grown substantially. Back then we had a record order book of about £300,000. Today it stands at about £1.7m.”
For Phil Barnard, Rosebud was the catalyst that allowed DA Techs and Smart Techs to jump from a regional operator to a national player.
He said: “We needed additional funds to grow, and with the support of Rosebud, we were able to access the funding quite painlessly.”
Phil revealed the funding has paid off – its turnover in February 2020 was around £400,000 and the business is on track for £3.5m this year.
Mike Riding, of Process Instruments, based in Burnley, said Rosebud didn’t just fill a gap – it unlocked an entire funding package.
He said: “We wanted to manufacture our own equipment in Lancashire, but nobody was going to give us £250,000.” They pieced together support from an angel investor and Michelin, but it wasn’t enough – until Rosebud stepped in.
“They were the people who looked at us and said we will lend you the money.
“In 2007 we turned over £250,000 and last year it was £5.5m and we now have subsidiaries in Ireland, France, and China. Without the intervention by Rosebud, we wouldn’t be here at all.”
Behind the fund is a team intentionally structured around founder support. Martin Emmott, fund manager, said: “We know we’ve got to live up to 40 years of legacy, and we’re just going to continue to do that to the best of our ability.”
Amy King, investment co ordinator says Rosebud has been praised for its accessibility. She said: “Knowing there’s someone on the end of the phone, that really helps clients.”
She added that if Rosebud isn’t the right fit, the team makes sure businesses aren’t left stranded: “We’re not doing this for us, we’re doing this for you.”
For more information email: rosebud@lancashire.gov.uk
