A nice pint? Flat white? Property? Firm’s got the lot
CHARLES DICKSON has pubs in his blood. He is directly descended from Peter Yates, who opened the first Yates Wine Lodge in 1884.
The oldest pub chain in the country, Yates still exists today and was run for almost 20 years by Dickson’s late father, a scion of the founding family.
So it is perhaps fitting that Dickson is now at the helm of pubs and property firm Barkby Group.
Barkby was set up as a cluster of gastropubs, offering high-quality but reasonably priced food and rooms. Initially listed on London’s growth- focused NEX exchange, the company was last week admitted to the Aim market, following a reverse takeover (when a private firm buys a quoted one) by Dickson’s family business Tarncourt.
Dickson now chairs the combined group and Barkby’s former chief executive, Rupert Fraser, is managing director. The shares are 29p and should increase materially, as both men are ambitious, they have proven entrepreneurial skills and operate in fast-growing sectors of the market.
Dickson, an accountant by training, established Tarncourt in 2006, following the untimely death of his father. Initially a family investment business, Tarncourt has been transformed into a successful miniconglomerate, with a property development group, a wholesale coffee firm and investments in two promising start- ups. Transcend makes compostable straws, coffee cups and lids. VivoPlex has developed a medical device that can help women with fertility issues.
Fraser spent more than 25 years in banking and private equity, including several years investing in firms that owned and managed hotels, offices and shopping malls.
Dickson and Fraser have known each other for at least a decade and talks between the two started in spring last year, so they have had ample time to form a robust strategy for growth at the enlarged Barkby Group.
Today, the company operates seven popular pubs in Sussex and the Cotswolds, including the awardwinning Five Alls at Filkins in Oxfordshire. With their focus on food, welcoming service and decent accommodation, the pubs are popular venues for cosy meals and minibreaks.
Looking ahead, Dickson plans to double the portfolio over the next couple of years, with outlets strategically located in areas that are both relatively affluent and are attractive tourist destinations.
The coffee business, Workshop Coffee, was founded by Dickson’s brother in 2011, and today operates four cafes in London and a flourishing wholesale business, specialising in luxury coffee.
Customers include five-star London hotel Claridge’s, trendy club group Soho House and Qatar Airways. Turnover has been increasing by about 25 per cent a year and the aim is to create one of the UK’s largest speciality coffee brands.
The commercial property business is the largest division within the group, it is highly profitable and should deliver substantial growth as well.
Many parts of the commercial property sector have been associated with tough times, but Barkby’s business is rather different. It finds and develops sites but only starts work once tenants have been secured and the sites have been presold to long-term property investors. So Barkby incurs minimal risk, especially as Dickson has developed strong relationships with firms such as Greggs, Aldi and McDonald’s, which are always on the lookout for good new properties.
Most of Dickson’s sites are along the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, an area of significant investment from the Government and private firms, and there is a robust pipeline of projects in the years ahead.
The synergy between the property business, pubs and coffee division is fairly clear. Location is a crucial ingredient for success in pubs – as Dickson’s father used to tell him when he was young – and it is also a critical element in the commercial property trade.
The coffee and pub businesses also share a focus on quality and service and could benefit from joint sourcing. Transcend Packaging and VivoPlex do not fit naturally into this mix. They were opportunistic investments made by the Dickson family before the Barkby deal, but they could yield significant rewards to current shareholders.
VivoPlex has developed a wireless device designed to improve IVF success rates. It has made encouraging progress and further updates are expected in the next few months.
Transcend has already signed a deal to supply McDonald’s with compostable paper straws and is expected to start producing coffee cups and lids soon (which could be used in the Workshop cafes).
Barkby will probably sell its holdings in these firms over the next few years, which could generate substantial returns for investors.
Dickson has also amassed a highly experienced board, i ncluding Jonathan Warburton, famous for appearing on TV to advertise his family firm’s wares.
Warburton is not just a media man. He built the Warburton business into the second-biggest grocery brand i n the UK behind Coca- Cola and still chairs the group.