FRP Advisory opens new Preston office

FRP Advisory, the business advisory firm, has opened a new office in Preston to further expand its north of England operation, with the appointment of three new partners David Acland, Steve Williams and Lila Thomas and seven other business-restructuring advisors.

Together Acland, Williams and Thomas bring more than 80 years of corporate restructuring and advisory experience to FRP Advisory with a deep rooted connection to businesses and lenders across the broad north west region.

Dave Acland joins FRP Advisory with over 30 years of restructuring and turnaround experience across company sectors of all sizes, after a 25-year career with Begbies Traynor where he ended up as a regional managing partner based in Preston, after a stint in the firm’s Leeds office that he helped set up.

Steve Williams also joins FRP Advisory as partner based in Preston, adding more than 30 years of his corporate restructuring experience from a career forged locally at Begbies Traynor.

Boosting further the leadership team at FRP Advisory’s Preston office is Lila Thomas who, with 24 years’ experience in corporate rescue and recovery, has joined from Begbies Traynor’s Preston office.

David Acland, partner at FRP Advisory and head of the Preston office, said: “Steve, Lila and I are thrilled to have joined FRP Advisory and bring the team’s breadth and depth of sector experience to the various business and lending communities across the North West and beyond.

"Our team is already active, working often in tandem with colleagues from the Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham offices, across Lancashire up into Cumbria to the Scottish borders, south into Cheshire, North Wales and the Midlands and east into Yorkshire.

Geoff Rowley, senior partner at FRP Advisory, said: “Dave, Steve and Lila are all strategic hires and testament to the demand for FRP Advisory’s solutions-driven advice for management teams, equity partners, other investors, lenders, and key institutions we advise. We are delighted they have joined FRP Advisory and opened a new office in Preston with a highly experienced and regionally-connected team that has hit the ground running – all part of a long-term plan to have an on-site presence in selective key regions across the country whilst delivering the same consistent quality of service. "Over the past three years, we have tripled the size of our northern England presence to 10 partners in response to demand for FRP Advisory’s services. We look forward to continuing to make selective hires, as part of firm to devise innovative solutions at times of strategic business change, with the energy and enthusiasm our clients can expect when we seek to create and recover value on their behalf.”