Carbon rises from Skipton’s sale of financial advisers

The six-strong management team at the newly-formed Carbon Financial Partners has bought the business of Thomson Shepherd, which had been 75 per cent owned by Skipton Building Society, for an undisclosed sum.

The business has been rebranded as Carbon.

The building society had bought its holding in Thomson Shepherd in April 2008.

Thomson Shepherd reported to Skipton’s main board of directors, but it had been run as an independent company with its own brand.

The Edinburgh-based company expects its staff numbers to rise from 28 to 56 over the next five years.

Gordon Wilson, the managing director of Carbon, said: “The SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) market in Scotland is a key growth area for us.”

Barry O’Neill, Carbon’s investment director, added: “We build robust financial plans and encourage our investors to be disciplined investors, not speculators.”

A Skipton Building Society spokesman said: “Given Thomson Shepherd’s size, geographical location and specific client base and expertise within the Scottish marketplace, we and the company’s management team decided that its future development and growth aspirations would be best served by it operating as an independent business.

“However, we remain committed to our unique group structure, with its range of complementary subsidiary businesses which add value to the core society and allow us to provide a range of benefits to our members as a modern mutual.”

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