MEMBER NEWS: AAB announces acquisition of Charlton House

August 10, 2022
MEMBER NEWS: AAB announces acquisition of Charlton House

AAB the tech-enabled business critical services group, has announced that it has acquired the customs consultancy firm, Charlton House.

Charlton House provides customs duty advice and compliance services to a wide range of businesses on all aspects of the customs’ supply chain and has a particular emphasis on customs compliance services. The company has a broad mix of customs professionals whose backgrounds range from HMRC to industry and accounting.

Charlton House’s founders, Jon Hicks and Seanna Whitmore, will remain with the business to support ambitious plans to grow the Charlton House business as part of the AAB Group. The business will be re-branded as AAB with immediate effect and form a key part of AAB’s expanding indirect tax team focused on providing clients with VAT and customs duty services.

With international trade becoming more complex, particularly for UK businesses following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on 1 January 2021, Charlton House is a great strategic fit with the expansion of the AAB Group.

Following investment from August Equity in October 2021, AAB Group has grown rapidly and now employs more than 550 people across 10 office locations. The acquisition of Charlton House, for an undisclosed amount, will expand the specialist services provided by AAB while strengthening the support available to businesses trading internationally.

The AAB Group recently merged with FPM, a leading all-Ireland independent accountancy and business advisory firm, which created a significant new hub for the group across the island of Ireland. The acquisition of Charlton House provides the opportunity to provide customs duty services across the AAB Group offices in the UK & Ireland and internationally.

Alistair Duncan, Head of AAB’s Indirect Tax Practice, commented: “The last two years have demonstrated the growing need for customs duty advice. The addition of the Charlton House team will strengthen our existing team, bringing fresh skills and expert knowledge which will enhance our capabilities in the indirect tax space.”

Neil Dinnes, Partner and Head of Corporate & International Tax said: “We have achieved significant growth in our VAT compliance & advisory business in recent years and this acquisition strengthens our overall Indirect Tax proposition by adding the ability to provide more specialist Customs Duty compliance & advisory services to our clients.

“We are delighted to welcome Charlton House to the AAB Group, and we look forward to working together to strengthen our existing service offering to existing and new clients across the UK, Ireland and internationally.”

Jon Hicks, Director Customs Advisory, commented: “We have for some time had ambitious plans to grow the business into the rapidly expanding customs compliance market.  From the outset, AAB demonstrated that they share our vision and following the acquisition we are now well placed to recruit in line with the demand for our specialist skills and services.  AAB also gives us the geographical reach to expand across the European Union and further afield.  We are all very excited to be joining such an energetic and forward-thinking organisation.

Get in touch

AREG is the original energy transition organisation, working on behalf of members to empower the energy supply chain and champion its expertise. Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to find out more about membership.

Contact Us
“

AREG has played an important role in the growth of Scotland’s renewable energy sector, engaging the supply chain and developing the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. However, we are only at the very beginning of the transition that AREG was established to both lead and support so there are still opportunities for companies to get into the constantly evolving renewables supply chain. We look forward to continuing our work together as renewables builds on its place as Scotland’s main source of power, and as we seek to deliver real change in the crucial areas of heat and transport.

Scottish Renewables
“

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce has worked closely with AREG since its formation. The recent progress in the developments of offshore wind projects by Equinor and Vattenfall are as a result of the work of the group over many years. The north-east is known as the oil and gas capital of Europe. At the Chamber, we believe the region must evolve its position to being recognised as the energy capital. Whilst hydrocarbons will continue to be essential in driving our economy for years to come, the generation of renewable resources will play an increasingly important role in providing cost-effective power, innovative development and economic growth.

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce
“

The enthusiasm and dedication of the early group that would become AREG was fundamental in us choosing to launch All-Energy in Aberdeen. The first tiny show was held in 2001, and AREG’s Chairman at the time, Jeremy Cresswell, played such an active role that I often describe him in terms such as All-Energy’s ‘midwife’. All-Energy is now the UK’s largest renewable and low carbon energy exhibition and conference in terms of number of attendees, space booked, and number of exhibiting companies. As AREG became firmly established, their presence and support for the event grew spectacularly over the years. We thank them most sincerely for their invaluable input.

All-Energy
“

Vattenfall has forged a strong working relationship with AREG through the development of the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. AREG has worked tirelessly on behalf of the North East and it can take enormous credit for the growth of sustainable energy in the region and the path it has cleared for the region to capture further investment.

Vattenfall
“

Aberdeen City and Shire is emerging as a key location for renewables by successfully transferring its world-class oil and gas expertise into the sector and AREG has done much to advance this through a broad range of initiatives. It has acted as a catalyst in driving further investment in the local economy by engaging with companies, Government, public bodies and existing projects and we have been pleased to support their efforts. Scottish Enterprise will continue to engage with AREG as we increase Scotland’s use of renewable energy.

Scottish Enterprise