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Rolls-Royce to cut more jobs in Midlands
Aerospace giant Rolls-Royce is axe up to 2,000 jobs, including about 140 in the East Midlands. The company said today that it was talking to unions about cutting jobs at its assembly and test facility in Derby. The reductions of between 1,500-2,000 jobs are the first stage in a programme to match capacity with expected work: the group is worried about economic uncertainties and delays on programmes such as the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787. The cuts come on top of 2,300 the business announced at the start of the year. Sir John Rose, chief executive, said: “We are determined to maintain our focus on cost reduction and competitiveness as the world economy enters a challenging period. It is too early to determine the precise effects of the global economic downturn and programme delays. However, we wanted to give all our employees an early indication of the likely scale of the job reductions we expect in 2009.”
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Adhesives businesses bond by acquisition
Chemique, the Midlands adhesives and sealants business, has bought out a rival. It has acquired Bicester’s Protak in a deal advised by lawyers Higgs & Co and funded by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Chemique managing director Mick McMullen said: “The purchase will enable us to go into areas and market sectors which, although we have the technical expertise, we’ve failed to penetrate. It also enables us to enhance our product portfolio.” 
Greenfinch perches on £18m investment after takeover
Greenfinch, the Midlands green energy group, has been bought by a rival. Greenfinch, which gets rid of sewage sludge, farm and food waste by anaerobic digestion – decomposition without oxygen - to make fertiliser and fuel, has been acquired by Bedfordshire–based Biogen. Following the deal the merged business, Biogen Greenfinch, has secured £18m worth of investment from Bedfordia to develop the company.
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Olympics to bring £3.2bn to Midlands
The 2012 London Olympics is set to bring £3.2bn of business to the Midlands, it has been estimated. According to Lloyds TSB, which last night launched the first of a series of business seminars on how to benefit from the Games, almost half of the trade generated by the event would go to companies outside the South East, and 68 per cent of 75,000 supplier opportunities would go to small and medium-sized companies.
Eversheds set to shed Midlands jobs
Law firm Eversheds is set to shed more than a dozen lawyers in its Midlands offices as part of a national job-cutting exercise. The cuts are most likely to be felt among mergers and acquisitions specialists in Birmingham and Nottingham. A spokeswoman said: "The decline in certain sectors, such as M&A, means that, in common with many of our competitors, we are proposing to make targeted cutbacks in the affected sectors. In Birmingham and Nottingham this could impact on up to 13 lawyers."
Armadillo quits Nottingham
Armadillo PR is to close its Nottingham office, Insider has learnt. It will now concentrate on its Birmingham office. Director Cathy Connan said: “The financial crisis and economic downturn is affecting all sorts of businesses and the experience we have had seems to be common to a number of PR firms and other similar service providers. Some clients have significantly reduced their budgets while others have turned the tap off straight away, moving to sporadic projects. In this environment it doesn’t make sense for us to operate from two bases; we have chosen to consolidate to the office with the strongest client relationships and most potential for the future.”
Grant Thornton closes Nottingham office
Accountancy Grant Thornton is closing its Nottingham operation and merging its staff with those in its new officein Leicester city centre. The merged office will house more than 120 partners and staff in total. The transfer from Nottingham has already begun and the project is expected to be completed by February 2009. Staff are being offered compensation and bonus packages for the additional travel.
Oerlikon pump primes Midlands launch
Vacuum pump company Oerlikon Leybold Vacuums has opened a second base for its 30 strong team at Rawdon Network Centre in Moira, near Swadlincote. The company, which supplies and maintains industrial vacuum pumps, has been operating for over 150 years and has a global presence stretching from the US to China.
Milford’s haven in Derbyshire
Derbyshire carehome group Milford Care has launched a centre in Belper. Spencer Grove occupies the site of the former Courtaulds hosiery factory, and includes a 57-bed unit, along with 30 close care retirement flats called Lady Well Views alongside. The investment has been made with support from The Royal Bank of Scotland.
Berryman launches media team
Nottingham law firm Berryman has launched a dedicated specialist media team, led by solicitor John Buckby. Berryman claims it is the East Midlands’ first specialist team for media and creative industries.
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Lion moves for Blackfriars development
Plans for a £56m development in central Leicester have moved a step closer, following the relocation of a business. Lion Garage has moved from Jarvis Street to larger premises at Cobden Street Industrial Estate. The move makes way for the Blackfriars development, which will bring 600 homes to the Waterside – one of Leicester Regeneration Company’s five key areas – along with public open spaces, bars and restaurants.
Atos handed over at Beeston
Construction company Morgan Ashurst has handed over Atos, a 42,000 sq ft office development at Beeston Business Park, Nottingham, to HSBC Specialist Investments. In addition to the three-storey business accommodation, Morgan Ashurst has created a 142-space car park and carried out landscaping.
£30m technology park planned for Sherwood
A £30m technology park offering offices and workshops for companies is set to be developed at the crossroads of the Mansfield and Ashfield Regeneration Route and the A60. Sherwood Growth Zone Partnership has secured planning permission for the nine-acre park and applied for £6.3m of government and European funding. The incubation centre, next to the new West Nottinghamshire College, would provide 2,000 sq m of space for fledgling businesses in 40 small units and a handful of larger units. Construction starts in October 2009 with completion of the first phase scheduled for 2011.
Glut of supply pushes rents down in East Midlands
Supply in the East Midlands property rental market has increased dramatically as housing sales have diminished, according to the RICS Lettings Survey. It has found that would-be-sellers have been forced to become amateur landlords, pushing rents lower in the third quarter. The net balance of surveyors reporting new instructions to let flats and houses has increased at the fastest pace in the survey’s history and is at an all-time high. Some 64 and 74 per cent more East Midlands chartered surveyors reported a rise than a fall in new instructions to let flats and houses respectively.
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Bridge crosses from Cambridgeshire to Peterborough
Urban regeneration company Opportunity Peterborough has appointed John Bridge as its new chairman. The chief executive of Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce takes the reins from Tony Allum, who has stepped down because of family commitments. Bridge, already a member of the Opportunity Peterborough board, was, for more than 20 years, managing director of haulage courier CW Bridge.
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