scarlettabbott is the UK’s leading employee engagement and internal communications consultancy.

The company specialises in employee engagement, change management, behavioural science and internal communications.

scarlettabbott helps clients to better engage with their people in order to enhance performance, drive sustainable growth and positively influence workplace culture.

With offices in York and London, the 50-strong team advises businesses across every sector of the economy. This includes blue-chip organisations, many of which operate internationally, such as Sony Interactive Entertainment, Booking.com, EY and Chivas Brothers.

A partnership to support the next stage of growth

LDC backed the business in December 2022 to support the team’s growth strategy.

The team is now further investing in scarlettabbott’s products, services and people to enhance the service it provides to clients and increase its support for organisations in the UK and overseas. 

In August 2024, scarlettabbott announced the appointment of Rowan Manning as Chief Executive Officer. Rowan joined scarlettabbott with over 25 years of experience leading large scale media, digital and creative businesses, most recently at global advertising network dentsu, where she was President of dentsu Creative. 

Founded in 2006, Acora specialises in providing managed IT services to mid-market customers across a range of sectors, with particular expertise in financial, insurance and other professional services.

The company, which employs more than 550 people across its five UK service operation centres and its London City office, operates worldwide and is pioneering a game-changing new approach to managed services by placing user experience at the centre of IT provision, reporting and decision-making.

Led by CEO David Rabson, CFO Gary Page, Chairman Richard Atkins, and a highly experienced senior leadership team, Acora has completed five acquisitions since 2020 and continues to achieve double-digit organic growth.

A partnership to support the next phase of development

LDC first backed Acora’s management team in October 2022 to support the future strategy, focused on further innovation, organic growth and acquisitions.

The business has since completed two acquisitions, Infosec Partners Ltd, one of the leading cyber security players in the UK and data science and AI specialist Elastacloud.

In May 2026, Acora acquired HANDD Business Solutions, a specialist provider of secure data transfer, automation and orchestration.

Founded in 2003, Littlefish Group is an award-winning enterprise-focused managed service provider. It has offices in Nottingham and Sheffield and employs nearly 900 people.

It has built a leading position in the market through a combination of high-quality service delivery, operational automation, and an organisational structure that enables the business to outcompete the larger, traditional outsourcers.

A minority investment to accelerate growth

In 2019 the business secured a minority investment from LDC to accelerate their growth strategy through investment in new products and services, and in particular expanding its cyber security service offering.

During a three-year partnership with the business, LDC helped Littlefish Group to almost double revenues from £18.6m to £36.4m in its 2021 financial year.

Welcoming more people into Littlefish

Supported by LDC, Littlefish Group delivered on an ambitious recruitment programme to more than double its workforce to over 450 people across its Nottingham, Sheffield and London offices. Littlefish Group also opened its new offices in Sheffield and continued to invest in its people and culture, earning the company 1 Star accreditation in the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For list in 2020.

Five years and counting

We exited our initial investment in 2022 to Bowmark Capital, and in January 2023, we reinvested for a minority shareholding, to continue our support of the management team’s growth strategy.

LDC was awarded ‘Deal of the Year (above £10m)’ at the Insider East Midlands Dealmakers Awards 2023 for the exit of Littlefish Group, demonstrating the team’s strong relationships with the East Midlands advisory community.

Littlefish Group has since acquired Storm Technology, a leading Microsoft-focused business technology consultancy based in Ireland and Stripe OLT, the Bristol-based cyber security specialist.

TMC Pharma Services (TMC) is a global clinical research organisation that specialises in innovative treatments for orphan, rare and oncology diseases.

The business provides a full range of expert pharma and biotech support services, from pre-clinical to post-marketing, for human medicines and devices. TMC’s senior team, based in the UK, is supported by a worldwide network of over 900 contracted Associates, who are hand-picked to match the exact needs of each individual project. TMC’s network of Associates includes some of the very best subject-matter experts in medicinal product development.

Expanding into international markets

LDC made an £18m minority investment in 2022, backing the existing management team, led by Co-Founder Julie Matthews and COO Carol Woodward.

Our minority investment is helping TMC to further expand into the US and Asia markets and support plans to double the number of full-time employees it has over the next five years and open new offices in key international markets. Biotech industry veteran Gordon Cameron joined TMC as a Non-Executive Director.

Milestones reached

In 2023, TMC strengthened its team with four seasoned and talented industry executives  as it continues to grow internationally. Successfully attracting these to TMC is another milestone development in TMC’s growth as it has grown headcount by >20% since LDC’s investment.

Since partnering with LDC, TMC has also started to increase its international focus with 80% of customers now based in the US.

Founded in 2007, Avantis Education Group (Avantis) delivers interactive and immersive education products to more than two million students in 200,000 institutions across more 90 countries worldwide.  The business currently has 10,000 schools subscribing to its SaaS license.

Immersive education

The business provides proprietary headsets, software and curriculum-aligned content that makes it easy for schools to set-up and run virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) alongside traditional teaching methods. ClassVR is a complete system of hardware, software, content and teacher controls that immerses students in a wide variety of AR and VR experiences, sparking creativity and improving pupil engagement. It can enable students to engage and explore coral reefs and their intricate ecosystems and moments of historical significance.

Supporting an international expansion plan

In 2022, we backed the management team – consisting of CEO Huw Williams and Founder Nik Tuson – to enhance the company’s product suite and continue to expand internationally, driving significant growth in new market segments and territories.

Using our extensive network, Mark McCusker, former CEO of Texthelp – another EdTech company that LDC helped to grow globally – was introduced to Avantis, and joined the board as Non-Executive Director.

Founded in 1977, Aqualisa is the UK’s leading designer, developer and producer of innovative shower products. The company invented the world’s first digital shower and is known for its commitment to innovation and new product development, particularly in the smart bathroom category.

Knowledge and financial support

In September 2015, we completed the secondary buyout of Aqualisa, making a significant investment to help drive organic growth.

A smart and sustainable plan

Over the next seven years, we supported the company’s new product development, with a particular focus on smart home showers that have personalisation, water- and eco-friendly benefits.

We also helped the management team to expand internationally through new partnerships with distributors and customers across Europe.

Over the same period, Aqualisa invested in its own ESG programme. This included analysing energy consumption monthly and running employee awareness campaigns to help reduce consumption. As a result, Aqualisa now diverts 100% of waste from landfill and has been classified as carbon neutral.

Cellhire is a global telecoms provider of mobile communications, M2M/IoT services and data connectivity.

Headquartered in York, Cellhire offers high-speed and secure ways for businesses and partners to stay connected worldwide. It has built key partnerships with UK mobile network operators (MNOs) Vodafone, O2 and EE through long established ISP agreements. Internationally it has developed partnerships with more than 40 MNOs and is the preferred supplier of mobile data and M2M and IoT connectivity for clients involved in major sporting events around the world, such as the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Cellhire serves customers across multiple distribution channels including B2B, B2C, White Label, Partner and M2M/IoT wholesale airtimes from offices in the UK, Germany, France, Japan and the USA.

Expanding a market-leading service proposition

LDC backed the management team of Cellhire, led by Founder, Tim Williams, in 2022. We are supporting the business to expand its product and service offering and further develop its IoT proposition.

In January 2024, Cellhire announced the appointment of Tony Guerion as Group Chief Executive Officer to strengthen the business’ IoT proposition. Tony brings with him over 27 years of experience in business leadership and management in the communications industry.

Founded in 1998, Solid Solutions is the UK and Ireland’s leading reseller of SOLIDWORKS, the 3D computer aided design (CAD) package that is owned by Dassault Systems and used by more than five million people worldwide. The company provides software, support and training to thousands of engineers, designers and manufacturing companies across the UK and Ireland.

With headquarters in Leamington Spa, Solid Solutions operates from 23 offices across the UK and Ireland.

A plan for expansion

In February 2020, the firm’s management team, led by CEO and Founder Alan Sampson, CTO Simon Turner and CSO Kathy Sampson, secured a minority investment from LDC to deliver organic and acquisitive growth.

LDC supported Solid Solutions to acquire Design Rule Limited and Desktop Engineering Limited in 2021. In addition to expanding its customer base, the acquisitions further enhanced Solid Solutions’ ability to deliver advanced design, engineering, and enterprise-wide solutions for its customers.

LDC also helped the business to pivot more of its training sessions to online skills development events which resulted in additional customers adopting more advanced software solutions. The switch to remote training has helped Solid Solutions to lower its carbon emissions and forms an integral part of its ESG strategy. The business has planted more than 9,000 trees in forests in developing countries as part of its commitment to plant 50 trees for every Solid Print3D machine sold.

Cleveland Group (Cleveland) is the UK’s largest supplier of shipping containers.

Founded in 2011, Cleveland began as a small family-run shipping container business. Since evolving into Cleveland Group in 2022, the company now operates across three divisions – Cleveland Containers, Cleveland Hire and Cleveland Modular – supplying everything from shipping containers and bespoke conversions to anti-vandal accommodation units and complex modular buildings.

The business was founded by husband-and-wife Johnathan and Jane Bulmer. It specialises in the sale and hire of shipping containers and site accommodation units with around 15,500 trading customers from a diverse range of sectors.

Supporting a local North East business to become national

LDC first backed Cleveland’s management team in June 2022 to support the next stage of its growth and expansion plans. This included plans to enhance the company’s sales and rental offering, while also creating opportunities for new and existing employees.

Following LDC’s minority investment, the business has grown 30 per cent year-on-year, has more than doubled its headcount from 45 to 100 and expanded with depots in Scotland, the Midlands, the South West and most recently opened a new five-acre depot at the Port of Newport in South Wales – the largest site in the company’s history.

The business has several initiatives as part of its commitment to improved social and environmental responsibility including partnering with Ecologi, an organisation which aims to reduce the carbon footprints of businesses by supporting sustainability projects. Cleveland became carbon neutral in 2023.

Headquartered in Bristol, with offices in Cardiff and LA, Plimsoll Productions is an independent television production company. Its BAFTA, EMMY and Academy Award-winning team specialises in wildlife, documentary and factual entertainment shows.

Supporting new growth opportunities

In 2019, we backed Founder Grant Mansfield and his management team with a minority investment. The transaction valued the company at around £80m.

Over the next three years, Plimsoll invested in its natural history and documentary programming, launched a factual drama division and pursued further growth, both organically and through acquisition. With LDC’s support, Plimsoll grew sales from £35m (FY19) to £50m, and recorded an EBITDA of £10m (FY21).

It acquired specialist distribution and rights management company, Magnify Media, which now distributes to 75 countries worldwide through its network, and appointed US entertainment industry veteran Mark Itkin, who joined Plimsoll’s board to advise on strategy.

Asset Solutions Group, previously OCS Asset Solutions, is a leading provider of supply chain management, stocktaking and merchandising services to the grocery and general retail sector.

It trades as Retail & Asset Solutions and its customers include big brands Sainsbury’s, Jack Wills, Tesco and Close Brothers.

As well as providing highly trained, on-site personnel for major outsourced stocktaking and merchandising assignments, the business has developed specialised expertise in RFID technology for stock accuracy and loss prevention as well as supply chain assurance services.

Forest Holidays is the owner and operator of environmentally sensitive cabins set across Britain’s forests. Since the mid-1970s, the Company has sensitively created cabins under the guiding principles of sustainable woodland use and the preservation of the countryside and biodiversity. 

In 2012 LDC completed a significant investment to support a management buyout and the roll-out of new Forest Holidays sites, while also supporting its sustainability strategy.

In 2017 Phoenix Equity Partners acquired a controlling stake in Forest Holidays with the Forestry Commission, LDC, and the management team each retained significant minority stakes. LDC continued to support the business up until 2022 when it agreed a merger with Sykes Holiday Cottages.

A decade long partnership to support growth

During LDC’s 10-year partnership with the business, the management team opened five new locations across the UK. To date, Forest Holidays has invested over £100m into Britain’s forests, increasing recreational use, improving facilities, and creating and maintaining trails. It has 12 forest locations with many in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park in Scotland.