CET

Business Services

CET supports home emergency policies for one in eight UK households, providing a range of specialist property services to the insurance sector. They are a leading provider of home emergency, drainage and subsidence investigation services nationwide.

At the time of Palatine’s investment, the business was part of a larger group which included Construction Testing Solutions (CTS). During the course of our investment, we supported management in formally separating the two businesses to enable us to execute two distinct strategic growth and exit plans.

Key Facts

Initial Investment: 23/11/2018

Sector: Business Services

Fund: Buyout Fund III

Status: Realised

Investment Highlights

  • Material improvements to all major operational KPIs.
  • Successful development of in-house, end-to-end claims management system, Simplifi.
  • Successful transition of the contact centre operatives to being completely home based, improving the ability to attract and retain quality call handlers and enhancing the customer journey.
  • The company made significant strides in promoting diversity and inclusion and won several awards for its work in improving employee mental health and wellbeing.
  • Revenues grew by circa 60% and EBITDA more than doubled during our investment.
  • Successfully exit to Homeserve plc in October 2021.

Partnership motivation

When we met the team in 2018, we were impressed with how the company had developed under Peter’s stewardship. We saw a great opportunity to grow both sides of the business through a buy and build strategy and accelerate the investment programme through continued technological innovation.

 

I am very proud of what the team have achieved over the past three years with their focus on our clients and their customers. The technology has become a real differentiator for us and combined with our skilled home-based staff and our professional contractors we have been able to grow significantly and scale effectively.

Palatine have been an excellent and supportive investor in CET and we have achieved a great deal in partnership together.

Peter Eglington, CEO

CET