A Walsall-based training firm has been bought by a local chamber of commerce to expand its reach across the West Midlands.
Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce has added to its training roster with the acquisition of PTP Training, an apprenticeships and skills bootcamps provider, for an undisclosed sum.
The new ownership marks over 50 years since PTP Training, also known as Performance Through People, was first set up by Walsall Chamber of Commerce.
The provider has a 70-strong workforce and has learning centres in Walsall, Millennium Point in Birmingham and in Cannock with around 1,000 students on apprenticeships, skills bootcamps and Path 2 apprenticeship programmes.
PTP Training’s overall apprenticeship achievement rate was 70.1 per cent in 2023-24, according to Department for Education data.
It was also rated ‘good’ by Ofsted at its last full inspection in 2023.
The chamber also runs Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce Training, which offers apprenticeships and commercial business training courses.
PTP Training has changed hands multiple times during its 50-odd-year history.
In the 1990s, PTP became the training division of the East Mercia Chamber of Commerce (EMCCI) until 2003, when it was set up as a trading company – PTP Training Ltd – owned by the chamber trustees, Walsall and Southern Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce.
The trustee’s shareholding was bought out by Walsall Chamber of Commerce six years later.
In May 2020, PTP became part of independent training provider BCTG Group.
But BCTG Ltd, PTP’s parent company, was hit with an Ofsted ‘inadequate’ judgment in 2023 and subsequently saw its multi-million-pound apprenticeship, skills bootcamps and advance learner loans contracts terminated.
According to its 2024 accounts, the decision was taken to break up the BCTG Group and its shareholding in PTP was sold for £786,728.
Managing director Rob Colbourne became the sole owner and CEO after BCTG Group management resigned.
Colbourne said: “We’ve got many staff who have been with us for more than five years, some over 20 and 30 years so, when this kind of deal goes through, they want to know that we are all working towards one goal.”
“That is why this deal with Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce was so appealing and will bring benefits to all parties.”
He added: “My message to the team, to the organisations we work with and to our apprentices and learners is that it is very much business as usual. The PTP brand will remain in place and there will be no change to the way we work with our partners.
“Ultimately, however, this means we can work together across the wider region on future projects which is really exciting because our values and purpose are exactly the same.”
Corin Crane, chief executive of Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “This is a real milestone for us as a chamber and our training offer. It brings together two trusted and established providers across Coventry, Warwickshire and the wider West Midlands.
“We have been looking at PTP for some time as a potential partner and I am absolutely thrilled to get this acquisition over the line.”
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