Continued commercial and geographical growth are on the agenda for the North East’s largest independent contract cleaning and facilities management firm after it hoovered up a third six-figure investment from The Finance for Business North East Growth Fund.

Maxim Facilities Management Limited (Maxim FM) provides commercial contract cleaning and facilities management services to public and private sector clients, and already works with a growing number of blue chip corporate clients.

The Sunderland-based firm has worked with regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers to bring in Growth Fund investments in 2013 and 2014, which have been used to help develop the services it offers to both existing and new clients both within and outside the North East.

Having made two strategic acquisitions in 2014, Maxim completed a third in August this year with the purchase of Leeds-based CLT Services, and has attracted a further £140,000 Growth Fund investment from NEL which will act as working capital for its expanded operations, as well as enable it to go for larger contracts in more locations.

Investments in new systems and technologies now allow for real time reporting back from all clients sites to Maxim’s headquarters, which enables the management team to see how work is progressing, assess clients’ feedback on the quality of what’s being done and move to make improvements wherever necessary.

Further resources are also being added to the management and sales teams, with a new sales director recently coming on board.

Founded by managing director Graham Conway in late 2010, Maxim FM has grown its annualised revenues from £2.8m to around £5m with the last two years, and is aiming to increase this figure to around £15m before the end of the decade through both organic growth and further acquisitions.

It has recently strengthened its presence in the North West with two major contract wins against national competitors, as well as bringing other well-known clients on board elsewhere in the UK, and is also targeting further wins in the education sector, where it already has a strong presence.

Graham Conway says: “Our expansion has given us the confidence and credibility required to both compete against some of the industry’s biggest names and win higher end contracts with well-known firms across the UK.

“The advanced reporting systems we now have in place mean that we know very quickly what work’s been done and how happy customers are with it.

“Getting excellent or good ratings from 97% of customers is a pleasing indication that we’re on track in terms of our quality standards, but we also have the immediate insight required to identify where changes or improvements might be required.

“The impressive growth we’ve recorded over the last couple of years has been based on a combination of both organic development and acquisitions, and we’re confident that this strategy will continue to serve us well as we move towards the targets we’ve set for ourselves.

“NEL has been very supportive right through our working relationship.  The team has stayed close to the business as we’ve evolved and we very much enjoy working alongside them.”

David Thomas, investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, adds: “Maxim FM is making extremely impressive strides across different market sectors in many parts of the UK, and their progressive use of investment capital is giving them the resources required to keep moving forward.”

Aimed at regional businesses which are at a development and growth stage, the Growth Fund forms part of the wider Finance for Business North East Fund.

Managed by North East Finance, it will see £142m of investment capital injected into the region by the European Investment Bank and the European Regional Development Fund 2007-13.

NEL is looking to make around 130 investments from the Growth Fund, and is actively looking to speak to ambitious north east companies with robust business plans.

For more information about NEL’s investment criteria, visit www.nel.co.uk or contact the investment team on 0845 111 1850.

The ERDF 2007-13 programme is bringing over £300m into North East England to support innovation, enterprise and business support.  It will help create and safeguard 28,000 new jobs, start 3,000 new businesses and increase the region’s productivity by £1.1bn per annum.