In this piece I’m going to look at the collapse of Consumer Energy Solutions (CES) earlier this month, ask what could have gone wrong, and consider what the future might hold.
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BACKGROUND
There is a group of companies in south Wales involved in ‘retrofitting’ homes with cavity wall insulation, solar panels, loft insulation, heat pumps, etc., capitalising on the UK government’s ECO4 and related schemes.
They’ve experienced rapid growth in recent years. Most seem to be still in business, but the largest among them, in terms of turnover and profit, is in administration.
These companies are all owned by Dragon 2023 Topco Ltd, which is in turn owned by Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP, part of the Cairngorm Capital group of Edinburgh.
I’ve written about these companies a couple of times. Most recently with, ‘Corruption Bay’ Living Up To Its Name? just last month. I urge you to read it so you understand better the background. Also, the histories of some of the principals involved.
It’s quite fascinating.
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CONSUMER ENERGY SOLUTIONS
Something I remarked on last month was the huge increase in turnover and profits being reported by CES in its returns to Companies House. Here’s a clip from the most recent accounts (to 31.01.2024) which will explain what I’m talking about.
By any criteria, in any sphere of business, these figures are remarkable. So where did all the money go? And why is CES in administration?
Go to the accounts and scroll down to Note 25, where you’ll see under ‘Related party transactions’ that £74,326,749 came as revenue from City Energy Network. You’ll also see mention of the companies we’ll be looking at in a minute.
The directors who must claim credit for these profits have all now left the company.
The three I wish to focus on are: Ahmud Saleem Furreed, Lewis Edward John, and Stephen Mark Williams. All joined CES 19.01.2016, when the company was formed. They left either in June or September last year.
What are these talents of the retrofitting business up to now?
Before proceeding, it might be worth throwing out there that Furreed is a Labour party donor. I can’t speak for the political affiliations of the other two.
Here’s the Companies House list of Furreed’s companies. I’ll ignore some of the older ones and start with Assure Connect Ltd, where we find the three I’ve just introduced.
This company was formed in September 2019, has filed no accounts, uses as its address the old Evening Post offices in Swansea, and is presumably facing strike-off.
Next up is Majasala Ltd. And now it gets interesting. Formed in March 2023 this company’s ‘investments’ jumped from zero in year ending 31.03.2024 to £4,443,982 in a year! Furreed is the only director and sole shareholder of this ‘management consultancy’.
Though thanks to ‘creditors’ Majasala returned a deficit of £447,961.
Now we turn to WRYL Ltd, also based in the SA1 Waterfront district. This outfit was born 10.03.2023 and buried unmourned 20.08.2024. During its brief existence Furreed, John and Williams were the directors. It filed no accounts.
But before its demise, WRYL was taken over, in March 2024, by View Investments Ltd. Where we find Nicholas Simon Pritchard! (More on Nick later.) View Investments was formed 19.10.2023, yet in is first accounts, 30.10.2024, Pritchard’s company could declare assets of £5,486,684.
Where could it have come from?
We now turn to Secret Squirrel Property Ltd. What a lovely name! Is it a reference to squirrels hiding their nuts? This company was launched 18.11.2024, so it hasn’t needed to file accounts yet.
But a confirmation statement tells us that each of the following owns 1,000 shares: Majasala Ltd (which we’ve already looked at), LEJ Holdings Ltd, and TWE Partnership Ltd. So let’s see what entertainment they can provide.
LEJ Holdings, launched 9 March 2023 is, as the initials suggest, the company of Lewis Edward John. The most recent accounts paint the following picture.
Total assets of over ten million pounds, all arriving between the end of March 2024 and the end of March 2025, but virtually all wiped out by creditors. With the accounts saying only, “owed to related parties“.
TWE Partnership Ltd paints a similar picture. Some five million pounds in assets, most of it accounted for by ‘debtors’, with creditors leaving just £217,000 in the piggy-bank.
Back to Furreed, and his most recent venture, Claimwise (UK) Ltd. Launched three days before Christmas just past. Four directors; Furreed, a younger man of the same name, perhaps his son, plus his regular partners, John and Williams.
The younger Furreed has a real estate company, JFurreed Property Network Ltd, formed in August last year. And just before Christmas he started up JFurreed Holdings Ltd.
So . . . after the most recent accounts for Consumer Energy Solutions, and before it was announced that the company had gone belly-up, ∼£25,000,000 appeared in the accounts of companies run by the three individuals who’d been directors of CES, and another company that was transferred to Nick Pritchard.
Companies that had virtually, or even literally, nothing before these windfalls.
You can draw your own conclusions on these rags to riches stories.
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CAIRNGORM CAPITAL PARTHERS AND THE ‘LAST MAN STANDING’
Earlier I wrote, “These companies are all owned by Dragon 2023 Topco Ltd, which is in turn owned by Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP, part of the Cairngorm Capital group of Edinburgh“.
But as the website tells us:
Cairngorm Capital is a specialist private equity firm providing investment capital, strategic insight and sector-specific expertise to leading UK companies. We invest in private mid-market companies that have the potential for further substantial growth.
Which suggests that Cairngorm can act as a conduit between investors looking for “companies that have the potential for further substantial growth” and companies that fit the bill and need investment.
And that might be the case with Consumer Energy Solutions and the linked companies in the group. But if so, then where might the money be coming from to begin with?
After doing work like this for a few years I’ve noticed that ‘background’ companies will often have a representative serve as a director and/or a senior officer within the company invested in to keep an eye on things.
With the retrofitting group we’re looking at, we saw Cairngorm Capital LLP had its representatives in the forms of Matt Anstead, former managing director, and Andrew Steele, managing partner.
Steele succeeded Anstead on the board of holding company Dragon 2023 Topco Ltd just before Anstead left to join Benoil Services Ltd.
When we look at who’s left in the companies subordinate to the Topco, we see one name, the sole director, and that name is Robert Benjamin Nathaniel Brodie. So it’s worth asking if Brodie might be representing someone else. And if so, then who?
One possibility – and admittedly I’m flying a kite here – is the company he left in March 2024, Ensera UK Bidco Ltd. Which for some reason is not listed in his Linkedin page.
This company is owned by Stark UK Topco (Guernsey) Ltd, owner of Jewson, the builders supplier. Which is where it gets a bit messy. For Google AI tells us:
Stark UK Topco (Guernsey) Ltd is part of the larger Stark Group, a major building materials distributor, and is ultimately owned by CVC Capital Partners Fund VII, a global private equity firm that acquired the STARK Group in 2021. CVC manages investments for various global institutions, including pension plans, meaning it’s owned by many investors worldwide.
And there seems to be little doubt about it. “Fund VII will have over €16 billion of equity capital available to invest. It is the largest European fundraising on record.”, says Simpson Thacher.
Though there has been the odd hiccup.
We are clearly dealing with major investors. And serious money.
But the point is that Brodie was tied up with this lot, then joined the retrofitting companies we’re looking at. So let’s look at when Brodie joined the companies that were out in the field, as it were, doing the work. Which excludes the ‘Dragon’ companies. (Click on date for details.)
In all these companies he is now the sole director. After leaving Ensera UK Bidco Ltd, ultimately owned by CVC Capital partners Fund VII, on March 22, 2024.
Diversity Network Holdings Ltd 28.05.2024.
Advance Energy Services Ltd 28.05.2024.
City Energy Facilities Management Ltd 28.05.2024.
Simply Electric Metering Ltd 28.05.2024.
City Training Group Ltd 28.05.2024.
Consumer Energy Solutions Ltd 31.05.2024.
City Energy Network Ltd 24.06.2024.
Heatforce (Wales) Ltd 01.07.2024.
Still clutching the string of my ever-so-pretty kite . . . Robert Benjamin Nathaniel Brodie could be representing those behind CVC Capital Partners Fund VII, who’ve been investing in these Welsh companies through Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP.
If I’m wrong, then why did Brodie get involved in the first place, and why is he the last man in the wheelhouse when everybody else has abandoned these sinking ships?
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WHAT ELSE IS NEW?
Earlier I mentioned Nicholas Pritchard, Bangor City ultra, businessman. To help you appreciate what a busy boy he’s been, I compiled a list of companies he’s been involved with for the piece I put out last month. Here it is.
There have been a few developments.
When writing last month’s piece I was particularly intrigued by Pritchard’s involvement with the company Quidos of Bath which, as you’ll see from the image below, provides both training and accreditation.
Some might think that a company wanting to take advantage of government schemes, and then send out untrained – but ‘accredited’ – operatives to do sub-standard work, would find a company like Quidos attractive.
There is now a long list of Quidos companies, some even giving Welsh addresses. Such as Quidos AI Ltd, Quidos Capital Ltd, Quidos Facilities Ltd, and Quidos Protect Ltd. These new companies or acquisitions were launched, or changed name, less than a year ago.
Control is often exercised through Quidos Holdings, or another Pritchard company giving an Essex address, where Quidos Group Ltd is based. Just look at who’s funding Quidos Group – Pritchard himself and View 2 Investments Ltd.
The latter, a company set up in October 2024, is due to be struck off by Companies House for not filing a confirmation statement.
Think about it . . . View 2 Investments, set up 29.10.2024, is lending money to another Pritchard company, Quidos Group, formed April 2024, and giving a Romford, Essex address, to buy substantial semi-detached properties in Holyhead!
Another Pritchard company giving an Essex address is Hathaway House Holdings Ltd. Which is new to me, and therefore doesn’t appear on the list of Pritchard companies I just linked to.
In the address given for a number of Pritchard companies you will have seen the name ‘Bodlondeb’ a few times. This is the fine old council building in Conwy, now leased to Quidos Investments Ltd.
I wonder what Pritchard has planned for the old pile?
Enough! I’m going giddy.
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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Let’s think again about the 25 million quid we looked at earlier; will Furreed, John, Williams and Pritchard really be keeping it, or is it going somewhere else? Maybe after they’re taken their cut?
And let’s not forget they have shares.
The three CES directors were paying themselves big salaries, and also paying CES money into their private companies. It was probably the same throughout the group. And “close family members” were recruited as “subcontractors“.
But beyond the financial, there are other considerations.
Not least, the customers left in the lurch. With shoddy work that needs fixing, or jobs that have simply been left unfinished. Disgruntled customers even have a website. Here’s how it reported ‘The Collapse of Consumer Energy Solutions‘.
One homeowner with whom we are in contact felt forced to sell their home after the devastating impact of a CES install. Another was moved into a care home pending restoration of their heating. And another family with an ill child claims to have been temporarily rehoused by their local authority
We’ve looked at the possible role of Quidos in training and accrediting those who worked for CES. But what about TrustMark, which seems to be funded and owned by the very companies it should be monitoring?
And local authorities that put companies like CES on their ‘Approved’ list? We know that Ahmud Saleem Furreed is a Labour party donor in the Merthyr Tydfil & Aberdare constituency, are there other political connections?
The reason for the collapse of CES and the other companies is almost certainly the impending end of the ECO4 scheme, scheduled for March 31. With so much public money having been allocated, there should be a forensic investigation of whether the money was well spent.
Seeing as we’ve been looking at Welsh companies that operate across the UK, and have gained a bad reputation, for themselves and for Wales, it should be a matter of concern for our politicians. And our media.
But our politicians are virtue-signalling clowns who spend most of their time trying to outdo each other in Wokery. While our media regurgitates their vapid utterances, trying to make us believe such laughable posturing will do anything to improve the real world we poor mortals inhabit.
There should now be a thorough investigation into what went wrong with CES and associated companies. But it won’t happen. There may be attempts to put right the botched work, the unfinished jobs – which will use up more public money.
But otherwise, there’ll be little more than hand-wringing and platitudes.
That’s due to the fact that too many of those who should have been monitoring the activities of these companies, protecting the public interest, were either negligent, or complicit.
Because that, gentle reader, is the state we’re in.
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© Royston Jones 2026
