Ground Control refinancing announcement
Ground Control Ltd completes refinancing with new funding from Pricoa Private Capital to support continued growth plans.
Ground Control Ltd has recently completed a refinancing process and secured new funding from Pricoa Private Capital, a leading global provider of financing solutions. Pricoa is the private capital arm of PGIM, the global investment management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. Santander continues to be the primary banker with Barclays being replaced with our new financial partner Pricoa. As part of a long-standing tradition of employee shareholding, Jason Knights (Managing Director) and Brian Smith (Group Sales and Marketing Director) have acquired a significant shareholding in the company.
- With its origins dating back to 1973, Ground Control is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
Now market leader, Ground Control has seen its revenue grow from £120 million to £195 million in just three years, with sales this year expected to be in excess of £200m. A committed Living Wage employer with 1,200 employees and 1,000 contractors, Ground Control has been named one of Best Companies Top 100 Large employers in the UK for the last two years.
As a multi-award-winning national service provider, Ground Control offers a comprehensive range of environmentally led grounds maintenance services, arboriculture work, winter maintenance, and landscape construction, with national coverage. The company has established itself as a trusted partner for prominent UK organisations including Network Rail, Sainsbury's, Tesco, NGED, Severn Trent Water, Anglian Water, and The Environment Agency to name a few. The business has also diversified its services in recent years and now offers complete start-to-end nature recovery solutions for public & private sector landowners, pioneering a comprehensive, highly disciplined nature-recovery framework, as well as carbon reductions solutions including EV charger and PV installations.
This new funding marks an exciting milestone in Ground Control's growth trajectory. As well as funding to support Ground Control in continuing its strong organic growth, the business will also pursue strategic acquisitions, looking for culturally aligned companies that can provide additional value to its customers. A double Queen’s Award for Enterprise winner for its innovative IT solutions, the funding will also be used to invest in technology to deliver solutions that drive customer experience and productivity. This will enable the company to have a more significant impact on the industry and assist customers in achieving their carbon reduction and biodiversity goals.
Jason Knights shared his view on the announcement, stating:
Ground Control unites the best of people, places and planet to realise the potential of human nature at its best. With biodiversity in decline, Ground Control is dedicated to leading by example through its corporate mission of "create, maintain, sustain". Ground Control has consistently invested in this mission, fully carbon-neutral since 2020 the business now has plans to achieve Net Zero by 2038. Ground Control launched the Evergreen Fund in 2020, an initiative dedicating 5% of annual net profits to a £5 million Impact Venture Fund, supporting environmental initiatives and carbon sequestration. The company became a certified B Corp in March 2022, showcasing its commitment to the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
Ground Control is an ambitious business that also strives to deliver enterprising opportunities to its people. It has invested heavily in skills, introducing a graduate program and leadership training academy in recent years to support business growth and contribute more widely to introducing new talent to the industry.
Ground Control were advised by: FRP Corporate Finance (Debt Advisory), BDO (DD) HCR (Legal).
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