|
-
|
|
Top story
|
The Co-operative is named top North West brand
In a year that has seen it undertake the biggest rebranding exercise in UK corporate history, The Co-operative walked away with four awards at the North West Top 100 Brands Awards last night, including the overall title of Top North West Brand. The Manchester-based group, which has a plan in place to give all of its 4,200 stores and outlets a new look in the next three years, also scooped awards in the Most Ethical and Best at Marketing categories, while The Co-operative Bank was voted the best financial services brand. The accolades add to what’s shaping up to be a successful year for the company, which last week won Insider’s Deal of the Year award for its £1.5bn acquisition of supermarket chain Somerfield. Other winners at last night’s event, organised by law firm Hill Dickinson, included Warburtons, AstraZeneca and Manchester Airport.
|
|
|
Deals
|
Integrate for the kids
Stockport-based provider of childcare vouchers Childcare Options has been acquired by Sodexho Pass, which is based in Surrey. The company was established in 2001 by Carol Cotton and Judith Bolton to provide vouchers to working parents and carers. Cotton said: “We’ve worked very hard to grow the business and build up an impressive customer base over the last seven years, but we felt that Childcare Options had reached its full potential. I’m confident that in Sodexho Pass we’ve found a partner that shares our supportive approach to our clients, parents and carers.”
Cash boost for Endress
Manchester-based engineering group Endress+Hauser has secured a £1m funding package from Lloyds TSB. The money will part finance new premises in Manchester, which will enable the company to continue to diversify its supply of measurement instruments for industrial processes. Founded in Switzerland in the 1950s, Endress+Hauser opened a UK office in 1968 and has since grown into a 200-strong manufacturing, sales and service company.
Jobs axed as Palgrave Brown is broken up
Eighty per cent of the workforce at Palgrave Brown, a Chorley-based supplier of timber engineered products, has been slashed after administrators were unable to sell the whole business as a going concern. BDO Stoy Hayward was appointed to run the business on 4 November but, as a result of a business review, 193 staff were made redundant on 10 November and a further 207 staff have now been made redundant. Graham Newton, partner at BDO Stoy Hayward, said: “We are still working to secure a going concern sale of the remaining three sites.” In 2002 Palgrave Brown was acquired for £30.6m in a secondary buyout backed by Aberdeen Murray Johnstone Private Equity.
Begbies flogs debt business
Chorley-based consumer debt firm W3 Debt Management, which trades as National Money Helpline, has undergone a management buyout from parent company Begbies Traynor. The business, which provides individual voluntary arrangements, debt management plans, loans and remortgages, will now move forward led by director Clare Stott.
|
|
Business
|
Icelandic collapse could hit Formation
Cheshire-based provider of professional and management services Formation Group has scored record profits in the year to 31 August but faces a potential £11.6m hit from the collapse of Icelandic lender Landsbanki. The property and construction arm of Formation, which has a range of business interests including sports and talent management, was managing and part-underwriting a development at Aldgate East in London. The development was being funded by Landsbanki subsidiary Heritable, which was placed into administration in October. But operating profits for the group were up by over 200 per cent to £3.5m against a figure of £1.1m in 2007 and earnings per share rose to 1p against 0.66p. Chief executive Neil Rodford said that, while there are concerns about the property side of the business, the outlook is strong in other areas following the acquisition and integration of talent management agency James Grant Media.
Call to enter skills debate
Manchester’s new Commission for Economic Development, Employment and Skills is inviting local businesses to provide feedback on how they feel the skills and employment system in Manchester must adapt to fulfil the city’s future needs. A consultation document, available at www.manchester-enterprises.com and produced by the Economic Commission, the Learning and Skills Council, Jobcentre Plus, Greater Manchester’s ten Local Authorities and representatives from Manchester’s universities and higher education system, outlines how the commission believes public agencies must work better together with employers to deliver growth and prosperity.
Carlisle action plan outlined
Regeneration body Carlisle Renaissance has agreed its first action plan, setting out the board’s priorities and what needs to be done to deliver them. Key priorities include the new University of Cumbria facilities at Caldew Riverside, planned to open in 2012; improvements to the historic quarter of Carlisle; and development of the M6 corridor to deliver new sites for businesses. A business-led group is being set up by the city council to make recommendations on future city centre management and on investment into marketing, maintenance and the public realm.
Rise in value at Chesnara
Chesnara, the Preston-based holding company for life assurance business Countrywide Assured, has risen in value after adjusting for the ongoing decline in global markets. In the first three quarters European Embedded Value, the standardised calculation adopted by European insurance companies to make their results more comparable, fell by £8.2m due to market falls, of which £3.2m was in the last quarter. But the business has been performing ahead of expectations, resulting in a net of tax increase of £1.9m in the half year to £180.6m after adjustment and a share buyback. The company had a £1.1m cash deposit with Iceland bank Kaupthing, which has been fully written down, and has spent £2.3m buying back shares.
Growth for Brammer
Revenues at Brammer, the Wythenshawe-headquartered global technical distributor, have grown 22 per cent in the four months to 31 October, according to an interim management statement released this morning. This was achieved through 5 per cent organic growth, 5 per cent from acquisitions made during 2008 and 12 per cent from beneficial currency movements. The board is focusing on cost control, cash flow and driving greater efficiencies alongside a strategy of concentrating on key accounts, and cross-selling across Europe to drive market share gains.
MSS back on track
Managed Support Services, formerly troubled Wilmslow-based air conditioning installer Worthington Nicholls, this morning told the stock markets that it had experienced strong trading in the six months to 30 September. Adjusted pre-tax profits of £1.1m was recorded in the interim results, against a £5.8m loss for the six months to 31 March. Chief executive Simon Beart said: “We obviously have concerns about the economic climate but with large, surplus cash balances and proven management we would hope to be a beneficiary of any economic dislocation.”
Profits up at 2ergo
Mobile solutions business 2ergo, which is headquartered in Rawtenstall, this morning recorded a 2 per cent fall in revenues in its preliminary results for the year to 31 August, but a 33 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £3.4m. Over the year it secured a five-year deal with O2 and has ended the year debt free with cash reserves of £9.1m. Neale Graham, joint chief executive, said: “Our growth opportunities are vast, strengthened by an extremely solid balance sheet and our proven ability to win clients with a global footprint such as O2.” Revenues fell because a small number of clients were disconnected from the Multiserve Platform during the year to allow the group to focus on technology-rich solutions and services, which command higher margins.
Sales up for API
Sales at Stockport-based packaging company API Group have risen 7 per cent to £50.5m for the six months to 30 September over the same period last year, according to interim results released by the AIM-quoted company this morning. After a £1.4m pre-tax loss for the period in 2007, it has this year recorded a profit on continuing operations of £4.8m. Net debt has been reduced to £15.1m, representing gearing of 47 per cent. Chief executive Andrew Turner said: “This is the second consecutive six-month period showing an improvement in trading performance. Whilst we expect our second half year to be much more challenging, the group is stronger, both financially and operationally, and is better placed to exploit market opportunities.”
New housing chief in Rochdale
Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) has appointed Gareth Swarbrick as its new chief executive. For the last 18 months Swarbrick has been the organisation’s acting managing director following the retirement of Paul Neate in April 2007. Between 2002 and 2007 he was business support director and he has worked in Rochdale since 1992.
Search for green heroes commences
The Mersey Basin Campaign has begun the search for environmentally conscious companies from across the region to enter the Northwest Business Environment Awards 2009. Businesses of all shapes and sizes are invited to enter the awards by nominating themselves by 2 February 2009 in one or more of the following categories: best environmental practice (products and service), built environment, sustainable procurement, environmental innovation and environmental champions. For more information visit www.merseybasin.org.uk.
Pies in green vans
Holland’s Pies, the Lancashire-based pie and pudding maker, has taken delivery of the first of its 28 new, fuel-efficient delivery vans. The new vans, which represent an investment of over £1m, will be supplied by commercial vehicle and logistics firm Ryder Europe. The new vans will halve Holland’s carbon footprint by half a ton of carbon per year and save the company over £200,000 in fuel efficiency alone.
New director at Buro Happold
Consulting engineers firm Buro Happold has appointed Steve Ogden to its Manchester office as director of building services. He joins from Morgan Professional Services, formally AMEC, where he worked with high-profile clients such as Newcastle Airport, Airbus UK, BAE and Arla Foods.
|
|
Property
|
Nikal goes big in Brum
Masshouse Developments, the development vehicle chaired by Manchester developer Nikal’s Nick Payne, has submitted a planning application for an £81m Magistrates’ Court for Birmingham city centre. The 221,000 sq ft building is designed by Denton Corker Marshall, the practice behind Manchester’s Civil Justice Centre. It will anchor the £500m Masshouse scheme, to which around £50m has already been committed by Nikal, The Royal Bank of Scotland and former partner David McLean.
|
|
|
Contact Us
Insider
8th Floor, Boulton House
17-21 Chorlton Street
Manchester
M1 3HY
Telephone: +44 (0)161 907 9711
Email: nw@insiderdaily.co.uk |
 |
Subscribe
To subscribe to the eBulletin,
click here.
|
|
- |
