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MBO for Wales' Beaufort Research
Welsh agency Beaufort Research has been bought by its management, with the help of a £220,000 loan from Finance Wales and funding from Bibby Financial Services. Directors and new owners Fiona McAllister and Chris Timmins have run the company since founder Peter Stolle retired in 2007.
 Cardiff-based marketing and social research firm Beaufort was established in 1984 and provides quant and qual consumer, business-to-business and social research for clients including BBC Wales, S4C, Brains, the Intellectual Property Office and the Welsh Government.
MD McAllister says the MBO is the beginning of a new chapter for the business: 'We've built up an excellent reputation over the last thirty years and have many loyal and satisfied customers who value the knowledge and expertise of the Beaufort team. Over two thirds of our customers have been with us for three years or more and we have a 99 percent customer satisfaction rate. We have a sixteen-strong team at our Cardiff headquarters as well as hundreds of field staff based throughout the UK. While Wales is a key market for us and we can offer a seamless bilingual service, we also plan to expand our client base in the rest of the UK'.
Finance Wales was established by the Welsh Government in 2001 and provides commercial funding to small and medium-sized businesses throughout the principality, investing more than £31.2m in 2013-14 in growing Welsh businesses.
Timmins says the firm is 'looking forward to taking advantage of Finance Wales' on-going support and advice as it expands' - including the expertise of Deputy Fund Manager Beth Cousins and succession specialist Chris Griffiths.
Cousins says of the investment: 'Beaufort Research is a respected Welsh research company with a loyal workforce, strong client base and an impressive track record established over many years. It's an excellent example of a successful, established business with all the right ingredients to flourish under new ownership'.
The firm is online at www.beaufortresearch.co.uk .
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