Date: Wed 24th June, 2009
Venue:
Number of Guests Attended: 80
Businesses need good advice if they are to succeed, and the turnout at Insider’s Beating the Crunch breakfast illustrated the appetite of professionals in Bristol and beyond to keep pace with economic developments, public sector initiatives and swap best practice.
Nearly 100 ventured bright and early to Templeback, a gleaming new waterside office development in Redcliffe in central Bristol, to hear from and to challenge our eclectic panel, which boasted a banker, a cider-maker and a performance-improvement specialist, as well as representatives from GWE Business West and the South West RDA.
Clive Hetherington, director and head of large corporate at Lloyds TSB, delivered some good news for businesses, saying he didn’t believe the region was suffering from a debt finance crisis. “We have plenty of finance available to lend and the challenge is to find trading, viable businesses in the South West that want to take on debt,” he said. “There is competition out there too: banks are looking for market share and aren’t shy of lending.”
And James Durie, deputy chief executive and director of the Initiative at GWE Business West, agreed that it has become easier for businesses to get debt finance, but said it was still harder to come by than previously. He said GWE Business West is to try to engage with the banks as a group, but most were shy of that approach and preferred to speak to individual businesses.
His thoughts were added to by Rosemary Wells, director of business services at the South West RDA. She said there are central government initiatives to help companies access finance, including the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme.
“The South West RDA also launched a £10m loan fund in April using European funding, and the first funds should be out the door soon,” she added.
Along with Bill Haynes, chief executive of recruitment and professional services company Verridian, and Martin Thatcher, managing director of Sandford-based Thatchers Cider, the panel also discussed sustainability, cost-reduction programmes and improvements to productivity.
Wells finished the discussion on a positive note saying many businesses in the region are bullish about their future. She said: “They are looking now at services that will take them into the recovery in good shape. In particular, there are lots of hi-tech or specialist businesses in the region looking at how to take advantage global opportunities.”
