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Top story
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Money for the region as fund tendering begins
Regional fund managers are preparing to tender for the contract to manage a £140m venture capital loan fund for the North West, which is being launched by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). Part of the 2007-13 European Regional Development Fund programme, the fund will be ready to take applications early in 2009 and aims to plug the funding gap for North West business. The fund is part of a package launched by Prime Minister Gordon Brown that includes a £40m skills fund, £10m in high-growth business support and £4.1m of innovation vouchers. This follows the first meeting yesterday of the Joint Economic Commission for the region under the chairmanship of minister for the North West Beverley Hughes. Bryan Gray, chairman of the NWDA, said: “Tough decisions are now required to help businesses through short- to medium-term challenges. It’s essential the public sector does what it can to get the financial system moving again.”
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Deals
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Fishing for funding
Award-winning fish and chip shop owner Les Manning has opened a new £460,000 restaurant in Wrexham after securing funding from The Royal Bank of Scotland. Manning and his wife Michele already own restaurants in Widnes, Runcorn and Crewe and have won several awards. The new venue, Les’s Fish Bar, is based on Egerton Street in Wrexham and will cater for 80 diners, as well as offering a takeaway service. 
Employee insulation
Home Insulation Services (HIS), a Preston and Kirkham-based insulation, heating and renewable energy company, has been bought by The Baxi Partnership as a route into employee ownership. The transfer process, advised by Tenon, will empower the employees of HIS and provide the chance to share in the wealth that they help to create in the business. Managing director Paul Cooper said: “We are all looking forward to continuing the journey into full employee ownership. The new model will recognise the vital role our employees have in running the business and ensure everyone has a voice in determining the future of HIS.”
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Business
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European funding to tackle worklessness
The government will today announce that more than £2.6m will be made available to Merseyside to help tackle skills shortages in the region. The money has been made available by the European Union’s European Social Fund and forms part of a £27m investment across England. Public and private sector organisations will be invited to submit proposals to run projects that develop new ways of extending employment opportunities and improving skills. “This initiative will help break down barriers that prevent people achieving their potential, and tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our society,” said Tony McNulty, minister for employment and welfare reform. Merseyside, and in particular Knowsley and Liverpool, have been identified as having some of the worst rates of worklessness in the country.
Up to 600 staff could go at Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar Land Rover has confirmed that it is to extend its voluntary redundancy programme to a further 400 staff, in addition to its original target of 198 posts. The car manufacturer said it had been oversubscribed for a voluntary redundancy scheme announced in October and so was extending the scheme “due to the impact on demand of the wider economic downturn”. The company, which employs 2,000 people at its Halewood plant in Knowsley, has also announced that it will hold its second non-production week in six weeks, due to start on 1 December. David Smith, the chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover, said: “While regrettable, these are necessary actions to manage our business through a very challenging period.” The news follows figures released by Experian today that show the number of insolvencies in the automotive industry rose by 18 per cent during the third quarter of 2008, compared with the same period last year.
Psycuity get Nuttall
Newton le Willows-based recruitment consultancy Psycuity has named Claire Nuttall as its new finance director. She is the former European chief financial officer for IT provider iSOFT Group and joins Psycuity after taking a three-year career break to start a family.
Breaking down barriers to work
A new advisory service is heading for Merseyside that will combine skills and training advice with practical guidance for people on how to overcome barriers to work. Ten prototype advisory services – the Adult Advancement and Careers Service (AACS) - are being rolled out across England, one of them in Merseyside. The AACS will then be fully launched in 2010. On Merseyside Blackburne House, which helps women find routes back into employment, is coordinating the project on behalf of the Voluntary Organisation Learning Association.
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Property
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Tague on Tour – David McLean
We all knew that the economic downturn and crisis in the housing market was going to hit the North West property industry hard, but David McLean will go down in history as one of the biggest casualties of the crunch. In the latest of a series of monthly online columns for the regional property market, Tague on Tour, Insider assistant editor Neil Tague examines the downfall of an ambitious property empire and asks what went wrong. Our new online section also features all the day’s property news.
More lettings at Brookfield
Property developer Priority Sites has completed a further letting at its Brookfield Business Park in Aintree. Wholesale company Aintree Electrical Supplies agreed to take a 4,072 sq ft unit and will join kitchen manufacturer Magnet, which took 14,000 sq ft earlier this year. The deal marks the successful sale of 50 per cent of the new industrial units since the scheme was completed in February. A further 20 per cent of the 57,000 sq ft development is also under offer.
Developers complete Flintshire business park
Joint venture partners UK Land & Property and Pochin, the North West developers behind Exchange Flags in Liverpool, have completed their latest speculatively built scheme at Hawarden Business Park in Flintshire, North Wales. Located close to the A55, the scheme offers 40,000 sq ft of industrial accommodation on both a leasehold and freehold basis. Existing tenants include ALcontrol Laboratories and sportswear provider MnKo.
Iliad wins consent in Yorkshire
Liverpool developer Iliad has won approval for its All Saints’ building in Rotherham. In 2005 Iliad was appointed by Rotherham Borough Council as chosen developer for the All Saints Quarter, a key town centre site. It will demolish the existing All Saints building and replace it with a four-storey building, designed by Glen Howells Architects, including 12,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space and 33,000 sq ft of office space.
Not the end of the world, says professor
There are chinks of light up ahead, economist Professor Patrick Minford said in Manchester yesterday. Addressing Atisreal’s Housing & the Economy seminar, Minford said: “It’s a recession, but not an end-of-the-world scenario – the effects of the credit crunch have already been offset in the US by the Federal Reserve. Bank lending will restart next year under pressure from shareholding governments, leading to a gradual return to normality.”
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