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Top story
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NWDA chairman saga - decision to drag on
The government has chosen the chairman of the Northwest Regional Development Agency but has delayed a decision until all the chairmen of the eight RDAs have been selected. However, the positions for the West Midlands and the South West have only just been readvertised after the original choices were rejected and the application deadline is 10 October, this Friday. The shortlisted candidates left hanging on the decision for the £80,000-a-year part-time role in the North West are: Geoff Muirhead, chief executive of Manchester Airports Group; Robert Hough, deputy chairman of Peel; Felicity Goodey, chairman of Salford Regeneration; and former Royal Bank of Scotland boss John McGuire.
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Deals
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Waste consolidation
The assets and business of Cumbria-based waste collection and recycling company CAW have been acquired by Northampton-based Waste Recycling Group (WRG). CAW was founded by Dave Armer in 1992 and employs 30 people. WRG is part of Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, the international construction and services group. The acquisition will build on the presence that WRG already has in Cumbria, which includes collection, recycling, clinical and liquid waste disposal and landfill.
In Focus - sovereign wealth funds
Anyone in the North West deals market - and a few football fans - will have noticed the increasing presence of sovereign wealth funds in the M&A market. In the first of a series of monthly online columns, In Focus, Insider deputy editor Rupert Cornford examines the buying power of petrodollars and the people with money to spend in the regional market. Visit the new section of our website to find out more.
Johnston Partnership receives funding
Cumbria-based training provider The Johnston Partnership has secured £225,000 of funding from the European Social Fund for its Learning Advocates initiative, which will allow it to expand the training programme across the North West. The initiative gives non-unionised businesses the opportunity to nominate members of staff to train as learning advocates or learning supporters who are then able to source other training and support services for colleagues.
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Business
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Get behind the banks, says Lord Jones
The financial services industry deserves more support in the current climate, according to Lord Digby Jones. In his last speech as minister for trade - before the cabinet reshuffle was announced on Friday - Lord Jones told an audience at a CBI conference in Manchester to get behind the banks in order to keep the funds flowing to businesses. "It might feel good to kick them when they're down but your local bank manager has got nothing to do with it. If we carry on this way then the banks will lose confidence, but if we do support them, then businesses will be able to access the working capital they need to sell to Asia, for example." Lord Jones also said the only way for the UK to guard against the increasing threat from China was the development of skills and dissemination of knowledge-based industries.
Drugs deal for Manchester
Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has formed a research alliance with the University of Manchester to speed up medical research and drug discovery in the UK. The work will focus on respiratory disease and inflammation processes. Staff will also be seconded between the two organisations. Medical dean Professor Alan North said: "Forming an alliance with a world-class company such as GSK will undoubtedly benefit the already outstanding biomedical research base within Manchester."
Epistem losses widen, but trading remains strong
Epistem, the biotechnology and research company based in Manchester, has seen losses widen for the year to the end of June, but has reassured investors that trading for the first three months of the new financial year has been strong. The group, which tests drugs under development by pharmaceutical companies, said pre-tax loss grew to £1.3m from £1.2m last year against a revenue rise of £710,000 to £2.07m. But chairman David Evans hailed the results as "exceptional" and said revenues in the first three months of the new financial year were 20 per cent ahead of last year.
Retail failures will spike, says Begbies
There will be a spate of retail failures across the country in January as the sector faces one of the bleakest fourth quarters in years, according to insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor. A total of 323 retail businesses are on Begbies' watch list, which it defines as those with a 70 per cent chance or more of failing. "Retailers need to spend the fourth quarter considering their strategic options as there will be casualties early in 2009," said partner Mark Fry. "We envisage that the winners and the losers over this period will be divided by virtue of their diversification and the suitability of their service offering to the current market climate."
Wrapping up revenues
Bolton-based online delivery service Parcel2go.com says last year's postal strike has helped double the size of its business in 12 months. The company has reported a 115 per cent rise in orders since industrial action broke out last October. Parcel2go.com says it handled 21,000 orders in September 2007 but that within a month that figure had shot up to more than 43,000. The extra business added £200,000 to the company's monthly turnover in the space of a few weeks. This year it expects turnover to top £10m.
Green energy funding in Lancashire
Lancashire County Council has launched a new project that funds up to 50 per cent of small-scale renewable energy generation equipment including biomass boilers, solar electricity and small scale hydro power. The aim of the project is to help businesses save money on energy bills, while cutting CO2 emissions in the process. Lancashire County Developments, the council's economic development unit, will run the initiative, which is available to any Lancashire-based small to medium-sized business, providing they have carried out an energy-efficient audit. Lancashire County Developments has also launched a rural development scheme that will provide entrepreneurs access to funding in rural areas. The initiative will last for six months.
Insolvency offering
Manchester law firm Kuits has launched a team specialising in the purchase of insolvent businesses. Corporate partner Kirsti Pinnell will lead the new outfit, which will aid potential buyers through the process of acquiring assets and match-make businesses and purchasers through an in-house database. Pinnell said: "A potential buyer of an insolvent business has to move quickly to secure the deal and our team is able to respond immediately."
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Property
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Pochin wins Salford project
The construction arm of Cheshire-based Pochin has won a £9.1m contract to build an office scheme in Salford for Morson International. Located on Centenary Way in Eccles, the office scheme, known as the Morson Building, will comprise five storeys and measure a total of 70,450 sq ft. The project, which is aiming to achieve a Very Good BREEAM rating, started in September and is scheduled for completion in a year's time.
Three more for King Sturge
As businesses continue to expand and relocate, agency King Sturge has secured a raft of lettings in Warrington, Bury and Heywood. Signature Doors has signed a five-year lease for 10,375 sq ft at Gemini Park in Warrington and OCS Group will lease 22,439 sq ft at Park Seventeen in Bury. Quorum Estates has also secured its first deal at Quest Park in Heywood after Bury-based AAF agreed the purchase of an 8,244 sq ft unit at the industrial and distribution park on Moss Hall Road.
MCC wins client award
Manchester City Council has been voted client of the year at the Contract Journal Construction Industry Awards 2008. The council’s education Framework One team, which delivers education projects between £500,000 and £5m, including the rebuild of Rolls Crescent Primary School in Hulme and the creation of a new sports hall at Levenshulme High School, was nominated by construction partners Morgan Ashurst, Willmott Dixon and Bramhall Construction.
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Events
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Dates for your diary this week
Insider hosts the annual 42 under 42 dinner on Tuesday evening, a celebration of past and present members of our exclusive club for entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, on Tuesday morning accountancy firm Mazars is holding a free breakfast seminar on the processes involved in
floating a business on the PLUS market at Old Trafford Cricket Ground. Law firm Halliwells is holding a technology, media and telecommunications breakfast seminar on Wednesday at its Manchester office. Accountancy firm PKF is holding a charity poker night on Wednesday at Circus Casino in Manchester and, during the afternoon, Business Link Northwest is hosting Hitting the Big Time, an event at the City of Manchester Stadium aimed at harnessing the business success of the region’s African Caribbean business community, featuring entrepreneur Levi Roots and author Dr Chika Onyeani.
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