Marsh finance moves up a gear with ambitious expansion

L-R: Steve Rumbelow Chief Executive of Rochdale Borough Council, Cllr Richard Farnell, leader of Rochdale Borough Council, Michelle Walton, from Rochdale Development Agency, and Andrew Marsh, Managing Director of Marsh Finance

Local car finance company, Marsh, has more than quadrupled its floor space and driven up staff numbers following a council-backed move to the Victorian Crossfield Mill.

The company, which works with major car companies like Stonecare, Arnold Clarke and Evans Halshaw, has spent a whopping £1.7m buying and sympathetically renovating the mill.

The council offered the company business rate relief for six months and a grant to help finance the move, which has created ten new jobs in a variety of roles including IT, sales and collections.

Having moved from a smaller premises just off Chichester Street, the company’s floorspace has now jumped from under 4,000 square feet to 22,000, and managing director Andrew Marsh is looking to double his workforce to 120 over the next five years.

Managing director Andrew Marsh, whose father founded the company, which originally sold personal loans, in 1973, said: “I have always lived and worked in Rochdale, so it was the first place I looked when we outgrew our old base. We have got big plans for the next five years and we want to stay in Rochdale as we do that.

“We have got excellent transport links here and a fantastic workforce. More than 90 per cent of our staff live in the borough and we have always recruited talented people here. I think that is due to both the large population and the success of the local schools and colleges.

"I also like the fact that we have such a character-filled building like this. I am really looking forward to bringing clients and visitors here and showing them round.”

The company, which also counts the makers of elite sports cars among its clients, is now looking at expanding into the overseas market, with plans to open a new business called LM Operations to offer car finance to customers in Southern Ireland. LM Operations staff will also be based at Crossfield Mill.

Councillor Richard Farnell, leader of Rochdale Borough Council, said: “The fact that Marsh has moved into a building with space for the additional 60 staff they are looking to recruit is testament to the confidence they have in Rochdale as a place to do business.

"I also think it says a lot that they have chosen to stay in the borough as their business has grown and become more successful and have invested close to £2m.

“Marsh is certainly in the fast lane and I Iook forward to more of our residents getting jobs with them in the future.”