New acquisitions take Maxim past £10m turnover mark

The North East’s largest independent contract cleaning and facilities management firm has taken its turnover past the £10m mark after completing two acquisitions within a month.

Maxim Facilities Management provides commercial contract cleaning and facilities management services to public and private sector clients, and works with a growing number of well-known firms and organisations including Hitachi, Pendragon plc, Quorn, Paragon Group, Gentoo and the Scottish Prison Service.

After buying up a local rival based on Tyneside in June, Maxim has now headed south to acquire the cleaning division of Swindon-headquartered Gillsbrook FM Services Ltd, which also has an office in Leeds, and thus further extend its network of offices around the UK.

The Sunderland-headquartered business now employs around 1,200 people, and is continuing to work towards its goal of becoming a £20m turnover company with around 2,000 employees within the next three years.

It has been particularly successful in the education sector recently, and now works with over 70 schools, further education and higher education right across northern and central England.

As part of its growth strategy, the Maxim management team is looking at making further acquisitions as and when the right opportunities arise.

Graham Conway, founder and managing director at Maxim FM, says: “We are already the largest independent cleaning and facilities management firm based in the North East, and these acquisitions will support our drive towards becoming a substantial national player in our industry.

“Much of our organic growth has been centred on the education sector where we’ve been able to take advantage of the trend towards outsourcing for facilities management work and have built up a strong portfolio of clients, most especially across northern England.

“We offer a sector-specific package that enables schools and colleges to access the services they require in a cost-efficient and effective way, and have made significant investments in technologies which give them clear and immediate oversight of the work our teams are undertaking for them.

“Acquiring the Gillsbrook business gives us a strong foothold in the south west, adding a third regional office in an area where we believe there’s lots of potential for growing our client base, and we are continuing to look for other such strategic acquisition opportunities that we think will help take the business onto the next level.”