About

Marc was editor of GrowthBusiness from 2006 to 2010. He specialised in writing about entrepreneurs, private equity and venture capital, mid-market M&A, small caps and high-growth businesses.

News

LDC secures Capital backing

London-focused The Capital Fund has invested £250,000, as part of a £350,000 total fundraising, in regional marketing information business The Local Data Company, which plans to use the cash to extend its geographical reach from 30 to 100 UK towns and city centres.

News

Sleepless nights for worried workers

British workers are losing sleep due to work pressures and when they do manage to nod off work is invading their dreams. Alarmingly, a significant number have called their spouse by their boss’s name! These disturbing statistics have been brought to you through a survey from printer manufacturer Lexmark.

PR and Marketing Strategy

Brains against brawn – Market research company BrainJuicer

In an industry dominated by massive international agencies, successful medium-sized market research company BrainJuicer is a rarity.

News

Minimum wage laws flouted

British workers were underpaid to the tune of over £3 million by employers paying below the minimum wage last year, with some outrageous excuses (including ‘they are a total waste of space – they do not deserve it,’) being offered, according to HM Revenue & Customs.

News

Biocare for AIM

Biocare Solutions, the developer and manufacturer of environmentally friendly household cleaning products, is seeking to raise £6.25 million ahead of an expected AIM float later this month. KBC Peel Hunt will act as broker and adviser.

Legislation and Regulation

Renegotiating signed deals

As a business owner you will be required sign hundreds of contractual agreements with suppliers, customers and shareholders. But what happens if circumstances change and you want to get out of a contract?

News

Skills crisis in Britain

One in three employers refuse to train their staff, according to a report from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which claims this is creating a skills crisis in Britain and leaves over eight million untrained. The TUC report, 2020 Vision for Skills, reveals 8,377,200 workers have not been trained.

News

TriVest’s special delivery

TriVest – the venture capital trust co-managed by private equity firms Matrix, Foresight and Nova – has completed a profitable exit from Secure Mail Services, the Northampton-based provider of specialist mail and package delivery services. On Matrix’s advice, TriVest backed the business in 2002 and has seen the value of its stake rise from an initial £1.3 million to £4.2 million in that time.

Exit Strategies

One business, numerous careful owners

A spin-out that has successfully negotiated its start-up and early stage funding may well have a varied group of investors. This can include the originating university, one or more business angels, venture capitalists as well as the academic entrepreneurs themselves.

Exit Strategies

From labs to riches – How to ensure spin-out success

The difficulty of raising venture capital in recent years has made things much tougher for the entrepreneurial academic looking to turn a scientific breakthrough into a commercial business. However, for a research team that is really convinced that it has a world-beating product on its hands, it is possible to make the transition, but several success factors have to be in place.

PR and Marketing Strategy

Corporate hospitality

Despite the vast sums of money lavished on clients, suppliers and prospects each year by blue-chip companies, corporate hospitality suffers from a mixed reputation.

Entrepreneurs

Alistair Baker: Entrepreneurial to the core

Alistair Baker, the innovator who has led Microsoft UK for the past two years, talks to GrowthBusiness about leadership, change-management and how the corporation is more than geared up for the next great turn in the technology cycle.