Growing Newcastle tech firm whyaye ltd has been snapped up by EY as part of the global accounting giant’s investment in consulting services.
Based in the Toffee Factory in Ouseburn, whyaye was founded by Maureen Robson Norman, Anna Bisset and Lisa Smith, who met while working on a Royal Bank of Scotland project in 2014, to bring a new approach to the Ƶ consultancy landscape. The company last year expanded from Hoults Yard into the bigger base in Ouseburn, having taken on new staff in tandem with growing numbers of new clients.
The company is a consulting services provider for the ServiceNow platform, which combines business data and processes into one services management solution. In the last year, whyaye has seen staff numbers increase from around 60 to more than 100 employees across the Ƶ. EY has acquired the business for an undisclosed sum as part of ongoing investments in technology consulting services, and the company is the eighth EY acquisition in the Ƶ since April 2021.
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Maureen Robson-Norman, CEO of whyaye, said: “This is an important milestone for whyaye and we’re excited to be part of the EY organisation. ServiceNow is an incredibly powerful platform which can help bring significant efficiencies to a business when used to its full potential. We’re looking forward to working collaboratively with EY teams to accelerate our growth and work with clients on their transformation journeys.”
Subsea cable specialist specialist TechnipFMC secured a deal worth more than $1bn for a major project in Brazil which will bring work to its North East yard.
The company, which has its head office and main Ƶ yard in Walker, Newcastle, as well as operations in the US, France, Brazil and Malaysia, designs and manufactures cable and flexible pipes for use in offshore markets. The firm’s base on the River Tyne is the main centre of expertise for marketing, research and development, engineering, project management and manufacturing of umbilical systems in the Technip group.
Now company has announced it has been awarded a major contract for an integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation project by Equinor Energy do Brasil Ltda, a subsidiary of Equinor ASA (Equinor). The award follows the conclusion of a study of the BM-C-33 field offshore Brazil, which is in waters of up to 2,900m deep.
A Norwegian company building a waste tyre recycling plant in the North East says it has created a complete supply chain for used tyres, following an agreement to sell one of its main products.
Wastefront AS was co-founded in Oslo four years ago by former Sunderland University student Christian A. Hvamstad, amid moves to create useful commodities for manufacturing industries from old tyres. It has unveiled plans to launch its first plant at Port of Sunderland, which could process around 80,000 tonnes of tyres per year when it is at full capacity.
Now the firm has announced its latest agreement which it says will achieve a fully circular supply chain for the Ƶ’s end-of-life tyres. The deal sees Weber & Schaer, one of Europe’s largest distributors of products for the rubber industry, sign a strategic offtake and on-sale agreement for Wastefront’s Recovered Carbon Black (rCB). The firm will take a minimum of 35% of the rCB produced at Wastefront’s £100m Sunderland plant, with the opportunity to further scale up in the future.
Vianney Vales, CEO of Wastefront, said: “Our agreement with Weber & Schaer is a decisive step towards our goal of ending the pollution caused by End of Life Tyres, through the creation of a circular economy.
“In times of unrest in Europe where the historic supply chain of rCB has been challenged, this agreement gives the Ƶ a world leading position in the supply of rCB as well as in solving this waste issue. We are proud to be at the forefront of such an industrial revolution. This deal is a game changing agreement for us as we build out our green global industrial platform.”
North East software giant Sage has struck a deal to acquire a US construction platform.
The Cobalt-based business has acquired Corecon, a preconstruction and project management solution, for an undisclosed sum. The listed firm said the acquisition expands Sage’s relationships with customers beyond financials and reinforces its position as a leading provider of cloud native technology for the construction industry, by providing a solution to efficiently manage projects from bid to closeout.
Founded in 1999 in California, Corecon has developed a user-friendly preconstruction and project management software solution, enabling growing construction companies to win new work, easily connect project teams and build more efficiently, thereby optimising profitability. The firm’s customers include general contractors, construction managers, subcontractors and housebuilders.
Julie Adams, VP of product, construction and real estate at Sage, said: “With construction businesses at different stages in their cloud adoption, it is important we provide technology that simplifies complex processes and helps them to work more efficiently and grow. This acquisition closely aligns with our drive to bring the latest cloud technology to our increasing number of construction customers. By combining our trusted financial solutions with innovative cloud preconstruction and project management capabilities, we will deliver a system that can run every part of a construction business.”
Training provider Castle View Group is looking to grow on the back of significant investment from Maven Capital Partners
The Chester-le-Street pre-employment training and recruitment provider, founded in 2001 by CEO Tony Healer, has secured investment from two funds managed by Maven, the North East Development Capital Fund and the Finance Durham Fund.
Castle View Group works across a range of sectors including manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, engineering, health and social care, production and food production, warehouse and storage and facilities management, and it provides guaranteed interviews for each candidate. The business initially started as a recruitment agency before going on to open its training division in 2010.
Following a sustained period of growth the group is now a leading provider of pre-employment services, providing training to more than 3,000 candidates a year and placing them into roles in over 250 companies across the Ƶ. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the company’s recruitment division also launched a health and social care service, providing local authorities and health providers with qualified staff.
The funding will be used to support the continued growth of the company’s training division as a prime contractor and it will also focus on the expansion of its bespoke health and social care service across the region.
A Tyneside-based recycling innovator has received the backing of Korean chemicals giant LG.
Impact Recycling in Wallsend, which specialises in separation of mixed waste, has received an undisclosed investment from the global operator in support of its "breakthrough" technology. The firm's baffled oscillation separation system (BOSS) technology is a water-based, density separation process that can sort plastics.
The method diverts significant quantities of polyethylene and polypropylene - both used in a wide variety of products - from landfill and incineration. Impact can transform the plastics into a resin sold to manufacturers for reuse in goods and packaging.
Impact has received £4.6m investment through private equity firm IW Capital since 2019 - including £2.65m secured last year. LG Chem, which is part of the wider LG Corporation, says it wants to support rollout of the process and expects to follow its investment with a license agreement for the BOSS tech.
David Walsh, CEO of Impact Recycling, added: "With the support of IW Capital, receiving the investment from LG Chem will ultimately help us to build a larger and more sustainable way of recycling plastic across the Ƶ and the world. LG Chem has a reach and wealth of experience in the polymer markets to make a perfect partner for our expansion plans."
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