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Top story
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"Poor value for money," say TIF opponents
The Greater Manchester Momentum Group (GMMG), which opposed the Transport Innovation Fund bid, has responded to the Yes campaign launched yesterday. It said: "We will campaign vigorously to encourage the people of Greater Manchester to reject transport proposals that will make our city region a uniquely expensive place to live and work. The current proposals are very badly designed and represent poor value for money. We represent 250 organisations from international businesses to sole traders, all of whom share real concerns that current TIF proposals would penalise our employees and us." The GMMG includes Peel, Trafford Park-based Kelloggs, Manchester brewers Hydes and Josph Holt and property group Emerson.
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Today's news
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Branlow acquired by engineering giant
Warrington-based mini piling specialist Branlow has been acquired by geotechnical engineering specialist Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering (BBGE). The deal enhances BBGE's services by providing a comprehensive mini and micro piling capability in the UK and Ireland. In the year ending March 2008 Branlow's turnover was £8m and all of the existing management team will continue to lead the company. Managing director Paul Woodfield said: "BBGE provides us with the financial muscle to accelerate our research and development projects, increase investment in cutting-edge innovative techniques and expand geographically."
MBO for Kendal print company
Kendal-based family-run print and design company MTP Media has been acquired in a management buyout by graphic designer Alistair Sanderson and his colleague, Dean Lowes, from founder Mike Miller. They plan to organically grow the £400,000-turnover business, which has been renamed MTP Media 2008, and increase turnover to £600,000 in three years. Accountancy Moore and Smalley has been retained as the company's accountants after brokering the deal.
It really is rocket science
Manchester-based Starchaser Industries has been awarded a £130,730 grant from the Northwest Regional Development Agency to develop an eco-friendly rocket engine for eventual use as a safety system on commercial space rockets. Specialising in the development, operation and commercialisation of space-related products, Starchaser has identified a way to develop an environmentally friendly hybrid rocket engine that will use green propellants and produce virtually no harmful emissions.
College to invest £9m
The newly-formed Manchester College, created by the merger of City College and Manchester College of Arts & Technology, is to invest £9m in a redevelopment of its Fielden Campus in West Didsbury. The plans were supported by a local residents campaign. The college is also in the frame to take on Manchester Metropolitan University's 20-acre site on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury, should the university move that campus to a new site in Hulme.
Not so fantastic plastic
Apax Plastic Moulders, a Burnley-based plastics business that specialises in producing containers, kerb-side boxes and accessories and employs 45 people, has been placed into administration and ceased trading temporarily while administrators at MCR undertake a financial review of the business and seek a purchaser for the business and assets as a going concern.
The first Cuckoo of autumn
Cuckoo Design is the new name for Manchester design and digital agency Walsh Simmons, the latest change since Justine Wright became sole owner in a management buyout in 2007. The business will remain on Chapel Street in Manchester. Clients include Harvest Housing, Co-operative Pharmacy and Manchester Airport. "We've concentrated on working closely with our clients and improving our processes," Wright told Insider. She expects to hit turnover of £1m this year.
Rosebud fund backs turnaround firm
A business support company in far east Lancashire has expanded with the help of Rosebud Finance. Hilton Bowers Associates in Colne advises on all aspects of company financial management and specialises in business turnaround. Director Wendy Bowers says she will use the investment to help women run businesses. "The right level of mentoring and support is necessary to help and encourage female entrepreneurs," she said. Bowers is the Lancashire representative on the Northwest Regional Development Agency Womens' Forum.
Co-operative caution pays off
The Co-operative Bank has defied the market in posting an increase in profits of 1.5 per cent, to £46.2m, for the 28 weeks to 26 July. Total shareholder profit for Co-operative Financial Services was £73.4m, up from £38m in 2007, although chief executive David Anderson warned that he expects bad debts and mortgage arrears to rise in the second half of the year. He said: "This is a very solid performance in a tough market, building on the trust associated with The Co-operative brand." To underline that, the bank topped this week's JD Power survey on customer satisfaction in retail banking.
Piccadilly Place deal signed
The Carlyle Group and developer Argent have completed the letting of the 20,000 sq ft second floor of Manchester’s Three Piccadilly Place to The Insolvency Service, a deal first revealed by Insider Daily on 14 August. The service will converge its current premises at Boulton House and City Tower into the new space.
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Something for the weekend
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Gormley has the Y Factor
Dean Gormley of law firm Halliwells was last night crowned as winner of the 2008 Y Factor challenge after wowing judges, even the super-cynical Terry Christian, and an audience of over 450 professionals with his rendition of Suspicious Minds. The event, now in its second year, raised nearly £40,000 for Mencap and was compèred by Insider editor Michael Taylor. A DVD of the night, plus unseen extras, will be available soon. Phil Tarimo of Investec provided one for the ladies with You Can Leave Your Hat On. The hat, and the trousers, did indeed stay on... but the shirt did not.
Deal of the week
Building societies The Cheshire and The Derbyshire announced this week their plans to merge with Nationwide, news that confirms the sector has been hit hard by the housing downturn. Cheshire chief executive Karen McCormick has led the Macclesfield-headquartered society successfully through some tough patches, but it is expecting an unaudited pre-tax loss of £10.5m for the half year to 30 June due to an exceptional £11.5m impairment charge on a single secured commercial loan. Expect more building society mergers in the pipeline.
Good week for Manchester's music biz
Manchester band Elbow won the prestigious Mercury Music prize for their album The Seldom Seen Kid. Top Manchester music lawyer Andy Booth from Turner Parkinson says it could be the lift the city’s music scene needs: “After some pretty fallow years, this could really give other bands the confidence to kick on.” Although there’s no major record label based in Manchester, Elbow recorded the award-winning album at Salford’s Blueprint Studios. Booth also said October’s In The City festival, started by the late Tony Wilson, promises to be the best yet, with keynote speeches from culture secretary Andy Burnham MP, legendary Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and iconic Manchester-born photographer Kevin Cummins.
Cocktail crazy
Credit crunch? Pah! Manchester is going cocktail crazy. Not only has Manchester City’s hospitality team come up with a secret Brazilian concoction for diners in the Mancunian suite tomorrow, but PR firm Ethos has announced the “Manchester Brambler” - available at city centre bar Bluu and containing dry vermouth, brandy, crème de mûre and angostura bitters - as winner in a competition held to get the firm some press around its tenth birthday. Which, to be fair, has worked. And, still in the world of the weird, spotter’s badges will be awarded for the first Insider reader to spot a camel at the City of Manchester stadium this weekend, as supporters of the world’s richest club mark their Arab takeover with typical verve.
Canapé won't pay
A valiant effort from the Chicago Rock café for Y Factor last night, but this week’s honours go to the Lowry Hotel for a breakfast buffet fit for kings at the DTZ Property Debate. Last night’s proceedings at Chicago Rock unfortunately didn’t feature any themed snacks - Oasis Magic Pie anyone? – and nor did anyone sing Starship’s We built this city on sausage rolls.
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