Harpers Environmental

For over 65 years, Harpers Environmental was a fixture in the UK's industrial services landscape. Operating from Yorkshire and the North East, the company, led by chairman Nick Harper, built a strong reputation in the unglamorous but essential business of waste management for heavy industry. They handled complex jobs—industrial cleaning, hazardous waste removal, and emergency spill response for major blue-chip clients. A pivotal moment came in 2009 when Harpers made a strategic acquisition. They bought UK Resource Management, a specialist in waste treatment. This was a classic vertical integration play. Instead of outsourcing a critical part of their service, Harpers brought that capability in-house, aiming to capture more value and create efficiencies. The deal created a larger, more robust business with a turnover of £12 million. The company continued to be a significant player, even securing a major investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund to fuel further growth. However, the business model that had worked for decades proved vulnerable to a sudden external shock. The COVID-19 pandemic hit the firm hard, suppressing the trading environment and creating historic losses that it could not overcome. Despite having profitable contracts, the cash required to continue trading dried up. In September 2022, the 65-year-old company collapsed into administration, a quiet end for a long-standing industrial services provider that couldn't navigate the fallout from the global pandemic.