Wealth management firm relocates from London to Hull

A wealth management specialist, who has extensively worked within the sport and entertainment sectors, has opened a second office in Hull.

By using contacts made from Hull’s The Deep Business Centre’s network, local Marc Hackney has relocated Vobis Limited’s entire supply chain to East Yorkshire.

He said: “We use Office Angels in Hull for our recruitment, photocopiers from Spectrum, IT from The One Point, design from Umber Creative, print from Halographic. We use local businesses wherever we can.

“We also help our local suppliers get work elsewhere. People get better value and the quality is just as good. It’s about supporting the local economy.”

In addition, Vobis’s new business Outbox has sponsored various sporting awards in the region and marketing executive Lorraine Prentice is a director of the Hull KR Community Trust.

Marc started his own wealth management business in 2007 and two years later set up Vobis in partnership with Richard Stott, the company’s executive director and a key figure behind the launch in 2013 of the CLIC Sargent Wig Wednesday initiative.

The London client base includes big names in the media industry, celebrities and sports personalities. The company, which had office space with accountancy practice Silver Levene, moved to its own premises in 2013.

Although the London office is the client-focused side of Vobis Limited, it will be overtaken this month in staffing terms by the Hull office, which opened just over a year ago at The Deep.

Marc said: “For about a year I was commuting and spending part of the week working from home. You only realise how much it has taken out of you when you stop. The office in London is expensive and I decided to take the back office functions to Hull.”

Vobis opened at The Deep in November 2014, doubled its space in April 2015 and will expand its workforce to seven this month with two new recruits, with five colleagues in London.

Marc said: “We are completely family orientated and want to bring young people through to deal with the children of the entrepreneurs who are our clients, and while London is the main market for what we do it makes so much commercial sense for all of the back office work to be in Hull.

“When I left the city was so depressed but I came back to find it really vibrant. When I came back it was the best thing I ever did. I love the city and the people. It is true that northern people are more friendly and it is only when you move away and then come back that you see the difference.

“The Deep was perfect for us. We were able to move in quickly once we decided we wanted to be in Hull and they were also able to provide more space when we said we needed it. It’s a good working environment and when contacts and clients come here for meetings they are always impressed.”

Freya Cross, Business and Corporate Manager at The Deep, added: “Vobis is another great local success story. They were effectively a start-up in Hull when they opened here with only one employee but they have built an innovative and robust business from which so many other companies in the region have benefitted.”

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