Andrew Ross has been a longstanding member of the Yorkshire business community. He joined the audit team at PwC as a fresh-faced graduate in 1999, before switching to the restructuring team in 2002, where he progressed through the ranks to director before joining Endless LLP in 2015 – the Leeds headquartered private equity firm, where he is now an Investment Partner and is responsible for investment activity across the North.

Andrew was recognised as Insider Dealmaker of the Year at awards at the end of 2024, a year which saw him successfully exit two businesses that he had originally led the acquisition of, and then worked closely with over the last few years:

Sewtec Automation – a bespoke automation business in Wakefield. Andrew led the acquisition from its founder owner in 2017. To support and enable growth, it was then relocated in 2020 to a state-of-the-art 75,000 square-foot design and manufacturing facility in Wakefield. The employee base was more than doubled to over 170 and the business now serves a range of global brands across various sectors including pharmaceutical, medical devices, food and beverage, personal care, pet care and e-commerce. The business was then sold to USA headquartered Automated Industrial Robotics Inc in August 2024 (and then went on to win the Insider International Exit of the Year award).

Findel Education – an educational resources supplier with operations in Manchester and Nottingham. Andrew led the acquisition from Studio Retail Group plc in 2021. Over the three years that followed, the business was transformed from an unloved and non-core division of a plc to the digital leader in its market with ESG at the heart of its operations and culture. Its family of e-commerce brands were refreshed and reinvigorated, supporting sales growth of more then 50%, making it the largest supplier in the UK market. The business was then sold to French family owned group Manutan in March 2024.

These two transactions delivered the 5th and 6th best profit returns to the Endless funds in the firm’s 19 year history. We sat down with Andrew in our offices when he returned to work in January after a well-earned break over Christmas and New Year.

Congratulations on being named Dealmaker of the Year, Andrew – albeit we noticed that you weren’t there on the night to collect your award in person – what happened?

Thank you Gillian, yes it was really nice to be recognised, especially given the quality of the shortlist. Sadly I was up in Aberdeen at a board meeting with ASCO, my most recent investment and couldn’t get back in time. I was lucky enough to be able to be represented on the night by a colleague, who gave an acceptance interview that was more memorable than anything I would have said. It was a great night for the team who were there and I understand they celebrated in style!

Given the quality of the nominee list, as you note, what do you think set your work apart from the others in the market this year?

A little bit of luck helps! I was fortunate that the culmination of some really great work by the management teams at both Findel and Sewtec ended up with two sale transactions that completed within 6 months of each other. That’s quite unusual, as I’d typically only be on the board and working closely with two or three businesses at any one time.

As private equity owners at Endless, we are only ever the temporary custodians of the businesses we invest in and it is our job to ensure that they are bigger, better, stronger more exciting businesses following their time with us, and this was definitely the case at both Findel and Sewtec. I’m incredibly proud of what the Endless and respective management teams achieved over our time together and I look forward to see what they will continue to do as part of their new homes.

Private equity is often seen as a catalyst for growth. How do you balance supporting businesses through transformation with ensuring strong returns for investors?

This is an interesting question and something we 100% talk about in the early board meetings at all of the companies we work with. I can say from experience, if done properly, I mean genuinely authentically, there is absolutely no balancing act or conflict between the two. The best way for private equity to ultimately deliver the strongest returns for it’s investors is to largely forget about the exit event and for everyone around the board table to focus their efforts on agreeing the go-forward strategy and specific actions to make the business as successful as possible in the medium term.

If you actually do everything you can to make every component of a business better, to turn the dial up to 9/10 on everything that sits within your control, then you will build over the medium term a more valuable business. You will start to outpace your competition and differentiate from the pack – and then, as and when it is time for the private equity owner to step off, there will be buyers out there who want and need your business.

What drives your personal approach to leadership and dealmaking, and how has this evolved during your career?

I remember reading a year-end appraisal from my boss when I was a Senior Manager at PwC and it had a word in it I had to look up to see if it was a positive or a negative comment he was making. The word was ‘indefatigable’ which means something like ‘persists tirelessly’. This annual review was on the back of a particularly difficult assignment I’d been working on where we were advising the bank who had lent into a company and things hadn’t worked out. Our job was to do what we could to try and get the best recovery of that debt for our client. I thought the best way to get the best return for the client was to avoid the failure and insolvency of the business altogether and to sell the component parts of it solvently to different people – which is ultimately what we did preserving all the jobs in the business and repaying the bank in full. My boss’ observation was less about what was ultimately achieved and more about how I applied myself unyieldingly to ensuring we achieved it. I’d never thought about that before.

I suppose that links nicely back to what I do now and what I said earlier about how I believe private equity should be about delivering the best returns for its investors – I’d not made that connection before now – so thank you for that! One final point on this though, relating to evolution. As part of an assessment, I recently did on my ‘unconscious motivators’ ahead of board away day, I did learn that being ‘indefatigable’ can sometimes have a shadow side where I can become blunt, controlling and impatient – which doesn’t always get the best out of those around me regardless of my intent, so that is something I will try to be mindful of in 2025!

Turning now to the wider Yorkshire market, we’ve seen significant deal activity in recent years. What do you think has been driving this momentum, and how resilient is the market given current economic uncertainties?

We are fortunate in Yorkshire to have a thriving and diverse business community which is in turn supported by a fantastic professional advisory community. Across the region we have everything from exciting tech start-ups to longstanding huge, listed businesses. We are strong in business services, and we also have some fantastic manufacturing heritage. As a result, whatever is going on internationally or within our own economy, there will be elements of the Yorkshire business community booming.

It is also tough out there, but one thing Yorkshire business owners have shown in recent years is real grit and determination to succeed whatever the conditions – we saw this through Brexit, Covid, Russia/Ukraine and a recent change in government and their challenging budget. As we start 2025, there is little in the way of ‘wait and see’ events scheduled to come this year, so hopefully the deal activity will maintain if not grow this year.

Are there particular sectors or types of businesses in Yorkshire that are proving more resilient or attractive for investment in the current climate?

I’m not sure I feel qualified to answer this one more generally, so I’ll stick to what Endless will be doing in 2025 - it will be more of the same from us. In recent years, most of our investment activity has been into family owned/owner managed businesses and into non-core divisions of larger groups. These tend to be good profitable businesses, but where we think we can work with, and develop as needed, the management teams to supercharge their growth.

In terms of sectors, most of the businesses we invest in have a big shed, a factory or warehouse. They tend to make things and/or move things often in traditional sectors where mainstream private equity is less interested, but there are still exciting things to be done with a little imagination and a lot of hard work.

And finally, what advice would you give to those looking to make their mark in Yorkshire’s deals market?

What advice would I give? Well, this is where I start to feel old, but then I guess I’ve been working in the region for a quarter of a century now, so maybe I am in a position to start doling out advice?

Check your alignment. One thing I’ve been fortunate with, is the alignment between my own drivers/attributes and sense of purpose, and the roles I’ve worked in over the years – I say fortunate because it was never a conscious act at the time, it is a narrative I’ve overlaid with the benefit of hindsight.

Trying to understand what really drives you, what gets you excited to jump out of bed on a morning for work, what can energise you to push through the difficult days? If you can understand that, then you are far more likely to actively get yourself into a role where you get to do this more often and where you are working in a team of people aligned with you – and that’s when the fun starts.

What feels like a very long time ago, I applied to switch from audit into restructuring at PwC because I wanted to get closer to the now, to where the decisions are made, where the action is. I then spent a long time having a lot of fun building my CV as a situational advisor, helping boards and businesses avoid disaster wherever possible. But it wasn’t enough, I wanted to get closer still to where the decisions were made, so I then moved from being an advisor to being an investor sat at the board table at Endless and I absolutely love it. It is a genuine privilege to work with the wider Endless team and our management teams to help unleash the full potential of our businesses.