About us

Our History

Metis Partners Ltd was founded in 2003 by Stephen Robertson. Stephen’s career had seen him analysing the value of different types of businesses from a range of perspectives – as a chartered accountant, working in a major bank, within an angel investment operation, as a financial director and as the Scottish manager of the London Stock Exchange.

Stephen founded Metis Partners with one explicit aim: to help Scottish and UK companies recognise, develop and exploit their intangible assets. His attendance at a global event on intangible assets at Cranfield University in 2004 only served to open his eyes further to the growing interest in the subject among both Plcs and private companies. Stephen was determined that the advantages conferred on public companies in relation to business analysis and communication as they worked with sector analysts and brokers could also be conferred on smaller private companies.

One of Metis Partners’ first client engagements was with Shaw Pipeline Services plc. This engagement involved providing assistance with an acquisition strategy and designing a template which allowed the Plc to find the right type of fit given the operational profile of its own business – a profile which focused on an in-depth understanding of critical intangible assets.

Following the recruitment of former Scottish business journalist and MBA graduate, Darran Gardner, Metis Partners spent 2005 and 2006 engaging with a range of Scottish companies in a variety of sectors, including IT services, software and technology, manufacturing, retail and textiles. Metis Partners also developed a partner relationship with Scotland’s Intellectual Assets Centre - a unique organisation funded by the Scottish Executive and the European Community.

The company continued to refine its intangible assets approach to business analysis, focusing on key intangibles, including: business structures, the key business processes (including the main sales and customer account management processes), the dynamics of critical customer and partner relationships, strategic business and operational know-how, brand/ reputation, intellectual property and the skills of key people.

In late 2005, the company also piloted an innovative service targeted at UK insolvency practitioners, enhancing their recovery capability by undertaking the identification and marketing of potentially-valuable assets to external parties. The Metis Partners’ service saw it successfully market and sell software intellectual property, manufacturing process information, trade marks, domain names customer lists and patents.

In early 2007, with Metis Partners continuing to record annual turnover growth of 30%, the company recruited a number of new personnel in the shape of IT services and business analyst Bill Gemmell and former patent agent Dr Caroline Sincock. In spring 2007 the company also secured a London-based plc client – an engagement which was focused on providing specialist strategic support on the commercial exploitation of core intellectual property and intangible assets.