Finding an investment partner

Finding a partner that shared our focus on learner outcomes and experience was absolutely key.  Apiary Capital are an excellent cultural fit and their knowledge of the education sector through their investment in Access Colleges really helped to align our plans together.

A key requirement was to create a new FI Ltd share scheme that will be available for all FI Ltd employees. We are really excited to be in a position where our whole team can become owners of FI Ltd.

At FI we are a company that is staffed by many accountants, we train accountants and we work with many accountancy firms. Therefore, we have been prudent with our plans and retain our core areas of focus:

• meeting the training needs of the accountancy and finance sector;
• offering a strong UK coverage of centres managed by empowered local teams; and
• putting our learners, clients and team at the heart of our decisions.

We have a lot to do to help our learners and clients be the best they can be. This new partnership with Apiary Capital will accelerate our ability to achieve this.

What does this mean for the FI network?

FI Ltd arrangements with First Intuition franchises and how all of First Intuition work as a network remain unaffected by this partnership. All areas of First Intuition continue to be focussed on excellent student and client outcomes and delivery on the core areas outlined above.

“We are delighted to have secured the support of Apiary Capital,” said Martin Taylor, CEO of First Intuition Ltd. “It was very important to us to find an investment partner that had the right cultural match and appreciated that the values we have as an organisation are key to our success. We have a clear strategic plan and the management team have re-invested alongside Apiary so that we are fully aligned. The investment will allow us to grow our provision across the country and support our valued customer base.”

Jess French, Investment Director at Apiary, commented: “We are so pleased to be supporting Martin and the management team at First Intuition. We had followed the progress of the business for several years and have long been impressed by the company’s evident commitment to education quality and its willingness to develop long-term partnerships with its customers. The team have a considered growth plan that ensures the focus remains on learner success and customer service.”

We would like to thank all those who have been part of making this happen, including the original founders of FI Ltd, the owners of FI franchises and our advisors EY and Osborne Clarke.

First Intuition Ltd. began in 2007 with a single goal – to put the learner at the centre of everything. Since then, we’ve won awards, opened a national network of 21 study centres, and now deliver to over 10,000 students per year. As a business, we’ve created a warm and inviting place that aspiring accountants are supported and treated as individuals, not just a number. We offer both apprenticeship and exam-only programmes, using online and classroom delivery models. We also develop talent, and build and manage personalised training programmes for employers.