The firm delivers a support service for small to medium-sized business owners, which provides guidance on the most appropriate gas and electricity suppliers for their operations.
The £4.5m injection comes from private equity investor NVM, which manages a £200m fund for investments in multiple sectors, at a time when the LES management team had just forged a strategy to grow the business organically over the next five years.
LES launched in 2007, capitalising on a 2002 deregulation of the energy market that allowed domestic and non-domestic users to change suppliers at the end of existing tariffs for better deals.
As such, the Bolton-based business claims its “strong customer service ethos” makes it a natural fit to be a trusted partner of SMEs as they “navigate the complex world of energy pricing and tariffs”.
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“We are delighted to be supporting a young and vibrant business such as LES in the achievement of their ambitious growth plans,” said Andy Leach, lead investment partner at NVM.
“Phil [LES MD] and his team have built a great business in a relatively short period based on a market leading IT platform, where the culture of customer service and transparency is at the heart of the way they operate.”
As it now boasts almost 16,000 live client contracts, LES is confident that many more SMEs will continue to sign up to its services as they look to switch energy providers.
Phil Foster, MD, LES, added: “NVM came highly recommended as the perfect partner to allow LES to achieve its ambitions which has been proven to be the case. I’m delighted that we’ve been able to move forward with them and I’m very excited about the future.
“Having Andy and his team on board will provide LES with a catalyst to reach out to every business to allow them to make smarter choices regarding their energy at contract renewal in a simple and transparent way, allowing them to generate more profit through savings.”
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