Coventry & Warwickshire in business
Policy Go For Growth ‘16 Campaign
Dealership prepares for new era
(Left to right): Kestrel Honda owner Kay Dewey, The Wigley Group Managing Director Robert Wigley, James Brookes from Bromwich Hardy and Mike Vining of Vining Ltd.
An established motorcycle dealership in Coventry is revving up for a new era as it expands into new premises this autumn. Kestrel Honda is relocating to the final two available units at Vantage Park in Coventry where it will also open the city’s first outlet for KTM road and off road motorcycles. The expanded business will create 10 new jobs when it moves to the new base which is located on the A444. Kestrel Honda has sold new and used motorcycles and scooters from its current 5,000 sq ft home in Holbrook Lane since it was opened by husband and wife Colin and Kay Dewey in 2005.
It has now taken the final two adjacent units at Vantage Park where it will create a 10,000 sq ft space to sell bikes from the two manufacturers. The other businesses on the now fullyoccupied business park - which has been developed by owners The Wigley Group are Formula One Autocentres and Magnet. Vining Ltd have acted as consultants and project managers throughout the site’s development. Kay Dewey, of Kestrel Honda, said: “The business has grown dramatically over the past 11 years when we’ve gone from start up to an established dealership. “We pride ourselves on our customer service. Last year we were in the top 20
Honda motorcycle dealers in the country and we have been the number one offroad Honda motorcycle seller for a number of years. As a result we really had outgrown our original premises and frankly we were bursting at the seams. “The new showroom will allow us to stock everything Honda sells with two wheels including, for the first time, the Montesa Trials range. “At the same time we’ve been talking to KTM for 18 months about bringing the brand to Coventry and I’m delighted we’ve been able to secure the right site for this new venture. The KTM brand fits well with our current offering and this move is all about expanding the choice for our customers.”
The fit out of the new showroom has started and it will open for business in November. Vantage Park is part of Edgwick Park which was formerly the home of the Alfred Herbert works - one of the world's largest machine tool manufacturing businesses. It was purchased by The Wigley Group in the late 1970s and the company has turned the redundant manufacturing site into a vibrant, mixed use development with sections of the site sold to companies including Gallagher Retail Park, Atritor, Lidl, and DK Packing. The Wigley Group director Robert Wigley said: “Vantage Park is a high quality development in a very visible site which lies on the main gateway route from the M6 into Coventry. “I’m delighted Kestrel will join other national retailers on the site which is also next door to the Gallagher Retail Park, a new Brandish Vauxhall dealership and Greene King pub. “The Wigley Group has worked hard over the past 30 years to regenerate this area which was formerly the home of the Alfred Herbert works. Full occupation of Vantage Park is another milestone in the regeneration of the site and is evidence of the health of the commercial property market in Coventry.” Following the success of Vantage Park, The Wigley Group and agents Bromwich Hardy are advertising a number of new build industrial units on Edgwick Park ranging from 5,000 - 20,000 sq ft. Details are available by contacting James Brookes at Hardy Bromwich on 02476 308900.
The Cloud helps business to record dramatic growth A mobile accessory company has seen its growth skyrocket since it was established in 2012 – and its founder says the cloud has played a big part. Jolyon Bennett launched Gusto four years ago to manufacturer and supply items such as mobile phone chargers and speakers. The firm, based in Banbury, now employs 20 staff, turns over £10million and sells to 11,000 shops in the UK including John Lewis, Tesco and Sainsbury’s. It has also become the market leader in Ireland. “It was a very competitive market four years ago and still is,” said Jolyon. “I just thought I would work harder and push more to make sure we were successful. “We are targeting turnover of £30million in the next couple of years and are one of the fastest growing companies in this sector in the UK. “We have several brands within the Gusto family such as the Juice power range which includes power banks that can charge your device on the move. Our products work across the entire mobile device range – from Apple to Samsung – and they are popular with retailers and consumers.” When he was getting the company off the ground, Jolyon Googled potential IT providers that could help set him up at a relatively low cost. He said: “I didn’t have a great deal of money for capital investment. I found Netmetix and, looking back, I was really www.cw-chamber.co.uk
lucky because they have been fantastic – I cannot praise them highly enough. “They set the company up on the cloud – so all of our files and emails could be accessed that way rather than through a physical server. “It meant everything was very secure, stable and scalable. Now we are up to 20 staff we can all access all of the files we need from any location. “For me, as the MD, I like the fact that I can be anywhere in the world and I can access anything I need with regards to the business. “It’s a really efficient and safe way of working and all of the hassle has been taken out of it.” Paul Blore, MD of Netmetix, said: “We are delighted that we have been able to support Gusto’s dramatic growth over the past four years. “Cloud computing is becoming increasingly popular among businesses and Jolyon’s story shows just how effective it can be in helping to grow a company.” Netmetix is a leading provider of cloud based corporate IT infrastructure solutions and makes extensive use of Microsoft’s global Azure platform to deliver highly flexible and resilient IT systems to businesses of all sizes that can be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection. This allows customers to access all of their company systems and data from anywhere at any time via the familiar
Windows Desktop, whilst providing large enterprise levels of security at SMB prices through the economies of scale. However, not all cloud systems are equal and a great many of them can leave a company exposed in the event of any failure or the service provider going out of business, so it is vital that you select a partner with the right pedigree. Netmetix has designed and provisioned a completely cloud based company IT system for Gusto Telecom that utilises the enormous resources of the Azure platform
to provide a stable and reliable system with the flexibility to expand seamlessly as the company has grown. As well as the IT systems, Netmetix has also provided Gusto Telecom with a cloud based VoIP telephone system that provides enterprise level functionality at fraction of the cost of conventional telephone lines.
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