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Top story
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Reality check from Redmond at business summit
At the start of the long-awaited Liverpool Summit this morning, an otherwise downbeat session on the economy was enlivened by the languid Scouse wit of Professor Phil Redmond, deputy chairman of the Liverpool Culture Company. The opening panel discussion on leadership, held in front of 400 people, was chaired by Will Hutton, chief executive of the Work Foundation, and also featured Liverpool Vision chairman Mike Parker. Commenting on a potential crisis in manufacturing, Redmond said: "Ninety per cent of manufactured goods is stuff you don't really need anyway." Asked what leadership strategies would help businesses out of a potential slump, Redmond quipped: "Intuition." Delegates at the BT Convention Centre were then treated to an expansive presentation from business guru Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School on strategies for profit maximisation.
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Deals
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Expansion funding for Stroud
Stroud Engineering Supplies, a Knowsley-based supplier of heating and mechanical equipment, has expanded its headquarters with a £200,000 financing package from NatWest. The company has purchased a new unit next to its existing base on Knowsley Industrial Park to increase its storage and warehouse capacity. Established in 1996, Stroud supplies pipeline heating and mechanical equipment including tubes, valves, flanges, pumps and instrumentation equipment.
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Business
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Culture effect boosts leisure group
Leisure group Harlequin Entertainment operator of the PanAm and Blue Bar & Grill at the Albert Dock, is reporting record figures so far in 2008. The effects of Capital of Culture and of major development in the city have driven a 60 per cent increase in sales at PanAm and 40 per cent at Blue Bar & Grill. Marketing manager Suzanne Watson said: "The launch of our partners at ACC Liverpool and Liverpool One brings the waterfront back into the heart of the city. We are well placed to support the growing conference and exhibition business coming to Liverpool and are taking enquiries for bookings right up to 2014." 
Medicash clinches two new clients
Liverpool-based healthcare cash plan provider Medicash has won two new contracts. The Big Lottery Fund and container shipping company CMA CGM have signed up Medicash as sole provider of healthcare benefits for all their employees. The Big Lottery, which has 950 employees, administers a fund of £600m raised from the National Lottery, which goes to community groups and to projects that improve health, education and the environment. CMA CGM is a shipping company with 388 employees whose business is split over a number of sites in Liverpool, London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Hull, Southampton and Tilbury.
Time to face up to reality
North West directors need to act now to manage cash and keep financial backers on side in the face of tighter economic conditions. Speaking at Halliwells' annual corporate recovery and turnaround conference in Manchester yesterday, Anup Shah, partner in corporate finance at Deloitte, called for a renewed sense of focus from business leaders if they are to avoid a headlong slide into administration. "These are difficult times and nothing is more important than cash. For those managing directors who claim to manage cash well, I'd say âyes, but in yesterday's world'," he said. "Banks will not be able to support every problem company on their books. You have to keep stakeholders informed so you can build areas of consensus. How you respond at the moment will go a long way to determining the support you will get."
Businesses fail to round up bad debt
Only 24 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises take any legal action to recover bad debt for fear of the negative impact on relationships with clients, despite losing revenue as a result of non-paying clients. A survey of 300 UK businesses by Cattles Invoice Finance found that growing businesses have lost £11bn to bad debt over the past year. While 77 per cent of businesses were aware that they had a legal right to charge debtors a percentage on unpaid invoices, less than one in four were willing to do so.
Chinese patent for power technology
Capenhurst-based Energetix Group, the developer of low-cost products for alternative and sustainable energy markets, has been granted a Chinese patent for its uninterruptible power supply technology developed by subsidiary Pnu Power. The patent is valid until December 2023 and follows the granting of the European patent in 2006. Energetix said the Chinese market represents a potential opportunity for Pnu Power, which uses compressed air to provide back-up power for data centres and telecommunications in harsh environments.
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Property
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Grosvenor celebrates as lettings rise
Grosvenor is today opening phase two of Liverpool One, the city's 42-acre retail scheme that first opened in May. As Princess Anne unveils the second phase this lunch time, 92 per cent of retail units in the £1bn scheme are let, with new signings including bookshop Waterstone's and a number of fashion retailers including Drome. The 11 new deals announced today follow the publication of a report revealing that Liverpool city centre now commands higher rents than Manchester, with Zone A rents of £320 per sq ft versus £300 respectively, according to Colliers CRE's Annual Retail Market Overview. Footfall figures released by the city council show an increase of 33 per cent in the city centre since the first phase of Liverpool One opened on 29 May.
Flexible business centre opens
The £3.5m Evans Business Centre at Pioneer Business Park, Ellesmere Port, was officially opened yesterday. Part of a UK workspace network for small and growing businesses, the 31,000 sq ft business centre offers offices ranging in size from 300 sq ft to 525 sq ft and workshops from 980 sq ft to 2,025 sq ft. With three offices and 12 workshops already taken, the centre is expected to provide jobs for around 200 people once fully occupied.
Farm prices hit by housing downturn
The farmland market in the North West is feeling the effect of falling house prices, according to real estate advisory firm Smiths Gore, because 70 per cent of farms sold have houses or buildings included. Between July and September average farmland prices in England fell 5 per cent, from £7,300 per acre a year ago to £6,900 per acre, with more farms on the market. Although prices dropped across the country, prices in the North West and Yorkshire suffered particularly - livestock farm values have fallen largely because they are equipped with traditional houses. But bare land prices have not been affected and lenders still view farming as a secure, well capitalised sector, said Smiths Gore.
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