Pictured: Chairman and CEO Charles Horsfall, Webster and
Horsfall; R and D Tax Specialist Mark Evans; finance director
Robert Horsfall, Webster and Horsfall
A Wolverhampton based tax specialist has helped one of
Birmingham's oldest manufacturers to claim back over £130,000
from HMRC for money spent on research and development.
R and D specialist Mark Evans has helped Webster and Horsfall
Limited claim back £134,000 of corporation tax. The company
manufactures and specialises in the manufacture of wire and strip
steel, rope and fittings, including stainless, carbon and low alloy
steels.
Webster and Horsfall was founded in 1720 in the Digbeth area of
Birmingham, moving to their present 16 acre site in Hay Mills in
1856, originally the site of a sword makers. The company is still
in family ownership, with CEO and chairman Charles Horsfall being
fifth generation and nephew and finance director Robert Horsfall
sixth generation on from the founding father James Horsfall, who
invented a revolutionary heat treatment process for wire finishing,
still known as "patenting" across the world. The company
manufactured the high integrity armour wire for the first
successful Atlantic Telegraph Cable in 1866 and in World War Two,
Webster and Horsfall provided best quality wire for valve springs
for Spitfire planes built at nearby Castle Bromwich.
The company has shared the site with sister company Latch and
Batchelor since 1884. Latch and Batchelor make wire rope for
specialist lifting applications including mining and cranes. The
company has also reclaimed £19,000 under the HMRC R and D
scheme. Charles Horsfall is also chairman and CEO of Latch and
Batchelor.
The joint company employs 120 skilled staff and exports its
product to Europe, North America and Asia, including Outer
Mongolia. Further applications include stainless steel wire for the
conveyor belt industry, cable for lifting and mining, medical
technology, oil and gas and orthodontics.
"The wire industry had never been bigger", says Charles
Horsfall. "Originally, Webster and Horsfall dominated production in
the UK which was then the largest manufacturer of springs
throughout the world. Now, with the demise of manufacturing and
mining in the UK, it is more of a commodity product, with huge
applications in other sectors, including agriculture, bedding and
seating.
"For us to stay on top, we look for niche applications. The
whole point of carrying out research and development is because we
cannot be expected to compete in the commodity end of wire
production, even though it's a huge industry. Complex wires are
used in surgical, aeronautical, automotive, and oil and gas
applications and that's where we concentrate our research.
"Wire production is a series of exacting processes, so from the
outset it must be of the highest standard. We allocate R and D time
spent to each development project, approximating to around 25 per
cent of man-hours involved. So we continually invest in new
equipment across the process, from preparation of product through
to chemical treatment and finish, which requires a huge
infrastructure. We've implemented modern health and safety systems
and have carried out a detailed upgrade across the whole plant.
This site has grown organically over the centuries and we are now
consolidating the space to make it work efficiently, fit for
purpose for today's challenges. We are vacating seven acres of the
16 acre site for regeneration and this in turn will generate an
income stream which will be reinvested."
"We found out about Mark Evans through the Science City Research
Alliance, run by the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick and MAS
(Manufacturing Advisory Service)", says Robert Horsfall. "We'd
heard about R and D Tax credits but it was never really high on our
radar. We didn't think that our work would qualify and always
considered that R and D relief was for cutting edge technology. But
our niche products are unique, risk taking stuff. We needed a
specialist R and D advisor to help and support us. Mark operates on
a no win, no fee basis so we knew we had nothing to lose. It's a
fantastic amount to be able to claim back and the money will be
reinvested to enable us to perpetuate our research and development.
It's vital to our survival and continued growth and we're looking
forward to celebrating our 300th anniversary in 2020."
"Both R and D claims went through very quickly", says R and D
specialist Mark Evans. "Most companies involved in what we might
term older style manufacturing - which is still very much at the
core of the UK's manufacturing output - don't realise that they are
carrying out R and D until you go through the detail with them.
"The HRMC R and D tax reclaim scheme is invaluable to
manufacturers such as Webster and Horsfall. The company represents
the best of UK innovation - a family run business that has survived
the centuries, two world wars and several recessions and is still
in private hands, is profitable and is well on course to meet the
challenges of today's economic demands and tomorrow's environmental
considerations. The Government must continue to keep R and D at the
heart of their agenda to secure continued growth for the
manufacturing sector in the UK."