Nurture Landscapes has completed another acquisition of a family-owned business - the £1.3m-turnover Greenability.
The Grantham-based firm is the ninth Nurture takeover in four years. It follows the acquisition of another independent landscape contractor, Manchester-based Landcare, in August.
Former Landcare owner Mike Jones is friends with Greenability founders Martin and Dawn Jolly, who established the company in 2004 and will work with Nurture for one year as the company transitions.
Both recent acquisitions allow Nurture to spread geographically and further bolster its snow-clearance and gritting offering in time for a forecasted tough winter.
Greenability's 15 employees have all been retained by Nurture and will continue to operate out of its office in Grantham and operating yard in Melton Mowbray. Its operations and vehicles have been rebranded. The firm covers interior and exterior landscaping from the design to maintenance stages.
Steve Ashdown-Phillips, previously of Flora-tec, joined Nurture as director responsible for the Midlands on 1 November. He takes on day-to-day responsibility for the operation.
Nurture managing director Peter Fane said its annual £500,000 landscape maintenance and £800,000 gritting and snow-clearance turnover will allow it to approach the £15m mark in annual sales.
Greenability is a good fit because it fills a geographical hole for the company in the East Midlands and allows Nurture further access to the growing gritting and snow-clearance market, he added.
"It's a market clients are increasingly aware of. If you have a retail or business park or hospital you have a duty of care to the people who are coming on your site. A lot of landscape maintenance tenders now include gritting and snow clearance.
"Last winter we made nearly £1m in that market and are looking to grow that side of our business by £1m each year over the next few years. There's still a massive market out there."
Greenability's client list includes Mars and Lafarge Tarmac as well as a number of hospitals.
HOTEL CONTRACT GROUNDS MAINTENANCE
Nurture Landscapes has secured a three-year £250,000 contract to deliver grounds maintenance to the UK portfolio of international hotel group Mercure Accor.
The deal will see Nurture, which employs 291 people across five regions, look after 100 hotels nationally. Mercure Accor previously ran 30 landscape-maintenance contracts covering the same properties but has reduced that to two - exterior and interior maintenance.
Nurture Landscapes is based in Windlesham, Surrey. It focuses on private-sector clients but also works with schools, hospitals and housing associations.
