Interview: Meet the million-pound Bishop Auckland firm celebrating 20 years in business

In 1998, Vinovium Associates was set up by an ex-police officer who turned his experience into a North East business that has spun two decades of success.

That officer is Jim Loughran, 71, who is the company’s managing director and founder. Today (March 19), his company is celebrating its 20th anniversary and is now a million-pound business.

Situated at South Church Enterprise Park in Bishop Auckland, Vinovium Associates provides regional clients – including Durham Cathedral, The Auckland Project with tight-knit security services ranging from on-site guarding to CCTV and security audits.

Bdaily spoke to Michael Hole, 49, Vinovium’s operation director who joined the team eight years ago.

Chatting of the company’s successful 20 years in business, Michael gives his views on how the ‘family-orientated firm’ - he works alongside his sister, Margaret Cooke, Vinovium’s finance director of 11 years - has garnered much success since its beginnings.

He said: “We’ve got quite a diverse portfolio of sites. We do all the work for the Auckland Project, we look after the castle and the Kynren [Eleven Arches Kynren tourist attraction], and a number of blue chip companies.

“We have guards in Durham Cathedral so we look after that site on a night-time, we do security for disused and operational factories.”

An average day at Vinovium Associates may consist of working for government departments too, doing a little bit of investigative and surveillance work. But what sets the firm apart from the rest? Michael says it’s all about the company’s regional focus.

Unlike other national contractors whose clientele might manage themselves because their security provider’s head office is based in another region, Vinovium Associates aim to take this stress out of the equation.

“We use local companies. We’re within 40 minutes of all our sites, could be there within the hour… We’ve really tried to concentrate on our management and looking after our guards.

“We don’t want to be anything other than local so we operate between the Tyne and the Tees.”

And in terms of how many clients they have, Michael believes that a company like Vinovium doesn’t need too many. At the end of the day, it’s all about being able to manage every single site and business effectively.

So although the group has acquired six new sites in the past year and a half, it’s more so about building upon these relationships instead of going after new ones: “The beauty of our business is, if you get work, you tend to get it for two to three years at a time.

“We have an ‘open door’ policy; on [our clients’] days off, they’ll have a cup of coffee with us.”

Clients aside, Vinovium has also expanded its office team. The firm now hires 65 staff, including the recent appointment of former IT apprentice, Kieran Williams.

Kieran, who has just turned 22, is the company’s office manager and is particularly responsible for using his ‘savvy’ IT skills to bring the firm into the 21st century - Michael’s words, not ours. Well, you’ve got to be on the ball somehow, right?

The firm has also recently recruited quality manager, Ray Brown, who joined the team in the summer of 2017.

Vinovium hasn’t had any investment pumped into it. Its million pound milestone, which the company hit late last year, was achieved through organic growth - and it’s been like that since the beginning.

“It hasn’t been without its challenges, “Michael added: “Cash flow is vitally important, so we’ve had to keep a very tight reign on our finances because the more contracts you get, the more you expand your cash flow.

“If we can continue to service those contracts and keep everyone on board, I think we’ll be growing well. The turnover has doubled!”

Vinovium has approved contractor status with the Security Industry Authority (SIA).

So what’s on the agenda for the next few years?

Michael concluded: “We don’t want to be huge, we’re hoping we’re just going to have continued growth, consolidate on what we’ve got and attract businesses closer to our base.

“We would love to have everything within close range of Bishop Auckland… When you throw pebbles into a pond and the ripples go out, we want those ripples to be closer.”

Find Vinovium Associates online here. The company is also on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.