March 2010
Insider’s monthly round-up of the top news stories affecting the region also includes Deals News, looking at deals involving Midlands companies and financiers, Midlands Quoted Companies - the latest figures from listed companies from our part of the world, and Power of Ten, in which Insider asks ten business leaders from across the Midlands for their personal views on a major topic. This month: Are regional transport initiatives the key to inward investment wins?
With a General Election looming and a final pre-election Budget even closer, businesses may be forgiven for fearing that tax changes could be on the way, ones that might not be to their advantage.
Wealth protection has been the order of the day over the last year or so, but entrepreneurs who have sold their businesses don’t like to pay someone to keep their hard earned wealth in cash.
Insider’s Growth 100 report always makes for interesting reading, but this year’s analysis of the 100 fastest-growing companies with a registered office in the Midlands is sure to be eagerly anticipated.
A lot of business owners who are keen to sell up have sat on their hands over the last year or so. Unless they have had to sell, it would seem the wrong time to do so, given that offers are likely to be low both in terms of price and volume. But is that still the case now?
Hundreds of millions of pounds worth of London Olympics contracts are still up for grabs. There are eight categories of goods and services for firms to win work in – in areas such as facilities management, design, catering and security. Firms seeking to win contracts will have to abide by the rules set out by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Locog).
Public relations firms are numerous in this region and many, if not most, big businesses use them.
Our new section looks at out-of-work activities and may include restaurant and hotel reviews, a look at what’s going on in our area in terms of sport, drama, opera and dance, travel offers and a peek at what’s available in our top stores and specialist shops.
Bringing a non-executive director into a business is often dismissed by small companies as being beyond their financial capabilities.
Traditional industries may have disappeared, but Northampton has attracted high-quality companies – such as Carlsberg and Barclaycard - because of its central location and proximity to both London and the Midlands. The wider county has become a magnet for logistics and distribution businesses for the same reason.
While deals activity has been down, insolvency/turnaround work has been up. Thus the accountancy firms haven’t had such a bad recession as other professional sectors. Those are the headlines, but the headlines don’t tell the whole story.
More and more developers are targeting specific sectors with their buildings. In this report, we look at whether this is a smart approach given the economic conditions.
MIPIM is Europe’s best-known property and inward-investment event and in the past non-attendance was a non-starter.
The first couple of months of 2010 will give us a good idea of where the regional office market is going. We speak to agents and developers working in the city centres and beyond to gauge whether supply is outstripping demand. We look at the schemes that are likely to complete during the year and focus on occupier demands relating to rents, sustainable buildings, lease lengths and terms and conditions.
Physical regeneration in terms of buildings is one thing but without the right regional transport offering, the chances of attracting in quality inward investors become more limited. In Birmingham, work is finally underway on the large-scale redevelopment of New Street Station, but the city still lacks a means of getting around an extended city centre.
The BIDs have become big news in quite a lot of our towns and cities. The idea is that they give a focus to a particular area, that some of the upkeep responsibilities are taken on by the private sector and that companies come together as a concerted lobbying organisation.
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