Neighbourly® Cements its Presence in Europe with another milestone year in 2018
Neighborly®, the world’s largest franchisor of home service brands, celebrated another milestone year in 2018, as well as cementing its presence in Europe.
In June, the company announced The Riverside Company’s sale of Neighborly to new private equity partner Harvest Partners, LP and completed two acquisitions in the U.S. - Real Property Management and Mosquito Joe.
In a pledge to strengthen and grow its presence in the UK, Neighbourly UK relocated its Support Office to Banbury, Oxfordshire and made a significant investment in personnel and state of the art computer technology. The Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester, office also expanded following the acquisitions of Countrywide Grounds Maintenance and Bright & Beautiful in 2017, adding more than 110 new franchisees to the UK network.
Neighbourly Germany built a new multi-million pound training Academy with cutting edge technology and communication for its Locatec and Rainbow franchisees to use as a training and conference centre.
Other highlights for the year included:
- The launch of ProTradeNet in the UK, a buying group to help its franchisees connect with the best in class vendors for their specific needs.
- The launch of ‘FranForce - supporting our forces in franchising’, was introduced to offer military veterans and emergency services personnel a pathway to business ownership and civilian life, including a 20% discount off the initial franchise fee.
“This past year was a period of transformation and growth for Neighborly,”
said Mike Bidwell, President and CEO of Neighborly.
“We changed our company name after 37 years from Dwyer Group to Neighborly, completed three major acquisition deals, and put our company on a new growth trajectory. We are thankful for our amazing corporate team and franchisees who make it all possible. We look forward to continued growth in the years to come. As we move forward, Neighborly will continue to grow and flourish in new ways we never thought possible. I look forward to seeing how the successes of 2018 impact the future of Neighborly and its brands in this new year.”
“2018 has been an exciting year for Neighbourly across Europe and we have achieved some great milestones throughout the year, from investing substantially in our infrastructure to improving our business efficiency and communication for our employees, franchisees and customers,”
adds Jeff Meyers, Vice-President of International Operations for Neighbourly.
“2019 is going to be equally momentous for us as we look to open up many more opportunities for us to grow our network of franchisees across our brands even further across the UK.”
Neighborly grew to a total of nearly 3,600 franchisees across nine countries in 2018. The company sold a total of 325 new franchise units across its brands. In addition, the company’s annual systemwide sales reached a total of $2 billion.