Husband-and-wife team John and Shirley Ounsworth from Northwood Beverley & Hull have completed on the acquisition of Osprey Lettings, tripling the size of their business overnight.

Northwood is part of the Belvoir Group, which has supported 140 franchisee-led acquisitions in recent years.

“I am delighted for John and Shirley,” said Northwood MD Phil Gee. “They recently completed on the acquisition of Osprey Lettings in Hull, which is a pure lettings portfolio that has given a significant boost to their business.”

“John and Shirley first took on Northwood Beverley & Hull during lockdown and relocated it from Beverley to the Fruit Market in Hull. Selling their existing business and doing something new by becoming Northwood franchisees and taking on a resale during lockdown was a brave step, but they are an incredibly efficient and professional couple, who I know will do very well. I wish them every success for the future,” he added.

Speaking of the acquisition, John said: “We became Northwood franchisees in 2020, and whilst it was a challenging time, as we also moved house, I am so very glad that we did it. Since then, we’ve been looking for the right acquisition opportunity to expand Northwood Beverley & Hull and we are delighted to have been successful.

“The acquisition of Osprey Lettings is great news as it has tripled the size of our business, allowing us to offer the services of Northwood Beverley & Hull to a far greater number of clients.

“The response from landlords has been very positive, and everything has now been rebranded to Northwood. We have brought across two team members, which has grown the size of our team and given us more flexibility.

“As well as growth by acquisition we are also looking to grow organically. Boards breed boards, and we hope that a planned rebranding will also help to raise our profile in the local area. We have a fantastic team, who work very well together, and Northwood’s Acquisition Team provided superb support throughout, which made everything so much easier and is very much appreciated.

“We are very focused on the level of services that we deliver to tenants, landlords and vendors, as we like to give a really high-quality service to everyone.”