As featured in Insider Media this month:
“Family Businesses Navigating Change and Growth”
A diverse group of family business leaders from across the North West came together for a wide-ranging discussion on the opportunities and challenges facing their enterprises.
The roundtable included companies spanning property, retail, printing, recycling, and manufacturing, each with their own perspectives on growth and long-term strategy.
Topics ranged from succession planning and next-generation leadership, to the impact of AI, sustainability and environmental responsibility, as well as approaches to investment and funding.
Misunderstanding & Representation of Family Businesses
Family-run companies play a crucial role in the UK economy, yet those around the table stressed they are too often misunderstood by policy makers and overlooked in government strategy. Their message was clear: the UK Government still doesn’t fully understand how family businesses operate.
“The government completely misunderstands family businesses,” says William Lees-Jones, managing director of JW Lees. “At the moment we are in a really difficult position in that we have always taken the view that you reinvest back in the business. You take as little as you can out of the business, and then the free cash and the momentum the business has creates a bigger business.
“In the last 30 years we have created more than a thousand jobs, so we’ve never had conversations amongst the family in terms of who owns what equity, because business property relief has been there since 1976.
“But even when you’ve got businesses that are clearly going to have to sell assets to survive, or owners who are just going to go and get a golden visa from Dubai because they’re wealthy individuals, there is a fundamental misunderstanding of how business works from a government perspective.”
Building on that point, Suraj Lalvani, chief executive of Esselle Retail Limited, added: “I see huge opportunities. You look at all the money coming in, it’s all Middle East money coming in. Americans putting money in over here.
“They’re the only consumers of Prime Central and properties, American people, because for them the inheritance tax, the capital gains tax is cheaper here than it is out in America. They’re getting better value for money even if the exchange rate is against them. There is a huge opportunity, but no one in Westminster understands what ticks a family business.
“There isn’t really that representation. I’m sure there’s hundreds of such conversations happening weekly across the country, but how many of these messages are actually filtering down to Westminster?
“But tough times always bring opportunities, and that’s very much in the DNA of family businesses—they’re constantly looking for the opportunity.”
Helen Dimmick, director at Ainsworth Jewellers, echoed that sentiment, saying: “Being entrepreneurial is where we have to change and adapt, and that is where family businesses are strong.”
The conversation then turned to the tax environment and how it shapes decision making. Sean Mitchell, partner of MHA, said: “Inheritance tax has never been as high up the agenda as it is now. Previously, if you were purely looking at it from the tax point of view, the best thing you could do was hold the shares and pass them on when you died and that was a good outcome from tax point of view. That’s flipped on its head now. The only way to fully mitigate tax is to pass those shares and those businesses on during lifetime and survive for seven years afterwards.
“I’ve never had as many conversations with people about what needs to be done if they are no longer residents in the UK. People with significant wealth are probably more internationally mobile than any other class of people, and they are seriously considering whether the UK is still the right place for them.”
David Easdown, partner at JMW Solicitors, agreed that the current system is pushing owners into awkward decisions, adding: “What you’ve got is the tax regime driving behavior within businesses that doesn’t necessarily have the best commercial goals of the business in mind, so you’ve got this conflict.
“A lot of owners we are dealing with at the moment feel that every way they turn is a bit of a blockade because they go one way for tax, but that’s not helping them with succession in the business. They turn a different way and the investment regime’s not helping.”
Succession, Legacy & Next Generation
For many family enterprises, handing the business to the next generation is far more complex than a legal transfer. Participants stressed that succession demands early planning, frank conversations about control and ownership, and a clear sense of how family values will endure once the founders step back.
Helen Dimmick of Ainsworth Jewellers highlighted the personal challenge of safeguarding a legacy without a guaranteed heir. She said: “My husband and I are fifth generation, but there is no sixth. We have the challenge of what we are going to do with that. That’s why we work very hard to define a business that welcomes the next generation in, not necessarily by DNA but by shared values.
“We do a lot of work with education, with charity, and bring a lot of collaborations into the business. But when it comes to succession planning, we’ve got a big question mark over how that’s going to work. It’s something we’re very open-minded about at the moment, but it does raise an interesting challenge.
“When the market is challenging, there are opportunities and as family businesses you can pivot.”
Suraj Lalvani of Esselle Retail reflected on a wider cultural shift as younger family opt out of joining the company instead of following tradition, adding: “Historically, the culture that we come from was always you build a family business and you pass it down. It’s a legacy that you pass down and it provides a roof on your head, food on the table.
“That cultural shift is now changing, where you sometimes think, what is my exit? Do I have to sell the business to retain the next generation and do I allow the freedom for the next generation? Some kids are not that interested in engaging in the family business, whereas before it was, that’s your lineage, you’ve got to run down that route.”
That reluctance to join the family firm is not limited to retail. Andrew Feeke, a corporate finance partner at MHA, said professional-services businesses face similar questions, with younger accountants and advisers weighing lifestyle and flexibility as carefully as ownership stakes. He said: “Succession and professional services is an interesting space at the moment. We just listed on AIM, which is the largest AIM listing this year.
“We put a minority on, and part of that was thinking about what our succession is and how we can widen our equity participation. We are a human capital business fundamentally.
“There are a lot of issues going on and the new generation of people coming through will look at people like me and look at our lifestyles. That’s not always great because you’re working long hours at awkward times and a lot of people are saying they don’t fancy that. There are different life choices coming.”
Adapting, Innovation & Tech Disruption
Those around the table agreed that rapid advances in technology are reshaping every industry, forcing even long-established family businesses to rethink how they work and how they serve customers. Participants spoke of both the opportunities new tools create and the unease they bring.
Pete Corbett, director of EweMove Sale, described the practical benefits already transforming his sector. “AI is huge for the property market as well in terms of agents who are willing to look at it, especially photo editing,” he said.
“We live in Manchester, where blue skies are very rare, yet every single one of our property images has a nice clear sky over it thanks to AI.
“In terms of answering calls, we’ve tested an AI system when a client wants to book a viewing. We’ve tested it with about a hundred calls and 98 of those callers didn’t realise they were speaking to an AI person until we told them afterwards for feedback.
“It’s going to be huge in terms of how much it will shake up the property market. Those who are on board and embracing it now like we are will reap rewards really highly.”
William Lees-Jones of JW Lees voiced caution, warning that the same technology can lead to job losses rather than growth. He said: “On the radio this morning [I heard] all about Microsoft and AI. Every business I’m involved with that’s embracing AI is now asking itself the question of how it can cut jobs out of our businesses? This is where the Westminster bubble is wrong.
“Our Prime Minister is terrified about a party that only has four or five seats in Westminster, rather than actually worrying about how we can create growth and employment, and get some of those economic indicators on the way up. I’m 60, I’ve got nothing to lose, but I’ve been disappointed about how few family businesses have been prepared to stand up.”
Matt Galloway, managing director of Galloways Printers, highlighted the ongoing challenge of keeping a traditional print business competitive in a fast-moving market. He said: “Historically, we’re an older industry, whereas the actual pace of the print industry is quite different to what people expect.
“We’re all in an e-commerce world where everyone wants everything today, if not tomorrow, which comes as a challenge when it’s a historical type product where the lifecycle of production is longer. There’s awareness around that and making our clients aware of how to manage it. That’s where it [AI] is coming into print.
“The tech in the machines is massive, and we’re turning over £4.5m, but every seven years we’ve got to spend £2m on a new bit of kit to then have an order book of four days. The fast pace of the generation in print now is very different compared to before.”
Sustainability, Waste & Environmental Impact
Across the table, it was emphasised that sustainability is no longer optional. Tackling waste and environmental impact requires transparency and a willingness to challenge conventional practices.
Alyson Andrew, sales director at Circle Recycling, expressed her frustrations with greenwashing. She said: “I would love to see more done to tackle greenwashing (where companies make false claims about how green they are). It’s one of my major frustrations.
“The carbon credit system (which allows companies to offset emissions by buying credits from others) is not something we work with. We’re transparent about what we do with the waste and its final destinations & ultimately the carbon saved from avoiding landfill.
“We share clear recycling data & reporting with our customers, and our mission is to transform waste into sustainable resources – giving materials a second life, either through direct recycling or resource recovery. We’re also seeing more closed loop recycling now, particularly in the construction sector, which is very exciting.
“Businesses can’t ignore what happens to the waste they generate — they need to make sure it has a sustainable end so it’s important to us to work in partnership to help reduce and manage the waste they produce and proactively share what happens to it. For our customers, engaging with us on that recycling journey is really important to them.”
Carl Morris, co-founder and chief executive of CRESS, added that sustainability is embedded in the core of his business.
“Sustainability is our key message, and our business was born from understanding the customer,” he explained. “As parents, we first identified the volume of waste—children tend to grow out of items rather than wear them out—and the scale of the waste cycle is mind-blowing.
“We originated with two facts. First, 10,000 items go to landfill every five minutes in the UK (at the time the business was started). A lot of that proportion is children’s clothing. Also, families in the UK are also short on their annual income and expenditure. We saw those two things together and thought, we’ve got to utilise the waste.
“Pre-loved sustainability is the key. Over half of our products are untouched. We use a donation method where parents put that item back into the school. They manage the stock and we give them the tech. By removing the hurdles, it goes home with the child the day it’s ordered in their bag. It’s a real sustainable journey, but it’s also on demand.”
Helen Ainsworth reflected on how sustainability pressures intersect with cultural perceptions and consumer behaviour in her sector, adding: “With jewellery being highly valuable and highly portable, you have to have trust over and above.
“We’ve talked about political and economic factors, but there are cultural factors too. None of our customers will come in and ask us for fair trade gold.
“We are being forced down that path, and we would choose it. However, due to greenwashing, our customers are asking for lab-grown diamonds because they perceive—thanks to marketing—that they are the green alternative. They are not.
“This has de-legitimised the natural market. Cultural factors, and what the customer is being told, have completely shaken up our industry.”
Funding, Investment & Growth Strategy
The discussion concluded on a forward-looking note, with participants reflecting on how family businesses balance long-term stability with opportunities for growth. After exploring challenges and headwinds, the leaders emphasised the importance of strategic investment and staying true to company values.
Jack Lamb, sales manager at Blackburn Chemicals, described how his family business approaches investment with a long-term view, said: “The reason we’re in Blackburn is because that’s where a lot of the paper market was in the seventies. Most of the customers for this stuff are in Central Europe and North America, and [they question] why we spent £14m on a solar powered facility in Whitebirk when we could have spent that somewhere else. But that’s the point of a family business, isn’t it? You keep it local.
“The way we’ve been relatively successful is we’ve found new markets. We’ve got an R&D lab team, developed a new range in that market, then started to increase the market share, to the point where we needed some investment. It was quite a labor intensive process, so we thought we’d try the robotic side of things. We are going to be turning over about £9m in two years just from pushing a button, from new business that’s coming in from the new facility.
“We are unique in that my granddad’s only ever taken one loan and it was £2,000 to build a wall. We’ve always been self funded, and one principle that he’s wanted to keep is that we don’t owe anybody any money. We take a big long term view on our investments, and that’s how we’ve progressed.”
Carl Morris highlighted the opportunities that external funding can bring when aligned with values, adding: “We’ve had two successful rounds of funding and we’re embarking on our third. One of the VCs is One Planet Capital, based in London. They invest in sustainable climate change businesses only.
“The other venture capitalist is GC Angels here, which is funded by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. They’re looking for businesses that not only will flourish and create jobs economically, but also have a social impact in the region. They’ve invested in us not only because of the financial output and the business growing from an equity and profitable basis, but our impact is big and we quantify it.”
