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Top story
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David McLean Homes in MBO
Elan Homes, a new business formed by the former senior management team of David McLean Homes, has taken over that part of the Flintshire property group, which went into administration on 27 October. John Kendrick, the former group finance director, led the buyout, which is supported by equity and senior debt funding from Barclays Bank. A statement issued by the management team said: “We have some fantastic schemes and, although we won’t see the high levels of sales we did two years ago, we will be in a position to maintain this level of trade until the market returns.” Bill Dawson of administrator Deloitte said: “We are delighted to have been able to secure a going concern sale of the business that will preserve a significant number of jobs and also represents best value for the group’s creditors."
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Deals
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Manchester technology business acquired
Virtualisation-software company Transitive, which uses technology based on research developed at the University of Manchester in 1992 and has its research and development facilities in the city, is set to be acquired by computer giant IBM for an undisclosed sum. IBM has been using the company’s technology since January and said the deal will help its customers reduce costs by migrating to virtual platforms. Transitive was launched in October 2000 by Alasdair Rawsthorne, a former lecturer in computer science at the University of Manchester. It now has bases in California, New York and London.
NatWest funds hotel upgrade
A £250,000 project to upgrade all bedrooms at The Scafell Hotel in Rosthwaite has been funded by NatWest’s commercial banking team. Owner Miles Jessop and managing director Andrew Nelson launched the project last year with the initial refurbishment of six bedrooms, and have now completed the upgrade of the hotel’s remaining 18 rooms. The three-star hotel is situated in the Borrowdale Valley.
All change at Tenon
Accountancy and advisory firm Tenon has made two key promotions to its North West management team. John Daly, who has been with the firm for 12 years, becomes head of corporate finance for the North West, while John O’Mahony has stepped up to become managing director of the Chorley office. O’Mahony, Tenon’s head of tax in the North West, has taken over from Martin Kirby as managing director of the Chorley office. Kirby will continue as regional managing director for Tenon across the North West, while adopting national responsibility for sales and all related systems and training. Over the past year the firm has increased regional turnover from £15m to £28m by making a series of strategic acquisitions and driving organic growth by 16 per cent.
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Business
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Profits slump at Norcros
Wilmslow-based Norcros, a supplier of showers, ceramic wall and floor tiles, has said a dip in demand, increased energy costs and problems at its South African plant have contributed to a 31 per cent slump in pre-tax profit for the six months to 30 September. Profit before tax fell to £4.2m from £6.1m a year ago, while revenue was down 7 per cent to £78.6m. It will not pay an interim dividend because of the current uncertainty in market conditions. Chairman John Brown said he didn’t expect any improvement in the short term and that action has been taken to cut costs, including cutting 240 jobs. “We are encouraged by the resilience of our businesses, and the actions we have taken to reduce costs, offset input cost inflation and reduce debt and finance charges will benefit performance in the second half of the year,” he said.
Trading remains challenging for Scapa
Scapa Group, the adhesive films and tapes maker based in Ashton under Lyne, has seen a 25 per cent fall in first-half, pre-tax profit and warned that trading in North America remains “extremely challenging”. For the six months to 30 September, profit fell to £2.7m from £3.6m, although revenue rose to £92.1m from £85.2m a year ago. The company said its second-half sales to date were almost 10 per cent down from last year, with relatively short order visibility. But chief executive Calvin O’Connor said the company’s healthy balance sheet and cash position puts it in a “strong position” to weather the severe challenges of the trading environment.
Shred Easy teams up in destruction venture
Shred Easy, a Manchester-based company that delivers confidential shredding services, has formed a joint venture with Norwich-based Office2office (o2o), a quoted business supplies and managed services company. The initiative will allow o2o to enter the secure document destruction market. Shred Easy holds a minority share in Banner Document Management Services Ltd, while o2o holds 60 per cent. Under the arrangements o2o has the option ultimately to acquire Shred Easy and the remaining shares of BDMS.
Job cuts planned at AstraZeneca
Drugs giant AstraZeneca, whose UK headquarters is in Cheshire, has today announced proposed changes to its global manufacturing and supply chain operations that will affect roles in Macclesfield. The group will exit three sites in Spain, Belgium and Sweden, and roles will be affected at its facilities in Macclesfield in the UK and Södertälje in Sweden, cutting 1,400 jobs by 2013, as new manufacturing processes allow it to improve efficiency. AstraZeneca is investing in its Wuxi plant in China to support growth in the Asia Pacific markets. A full update will be provided at the full-year results announcement on 29 January 2009. In October the group reported third-quarter sales up by 3 per cent in constant exchange rate terms as it beat expectations to record a pre-tax profit that rose 22 per cent to $2.4bn.
Manchester wins at CIPR awards
Rob Brown, managing director of Manchester PR agency Staniforth, was last night presented with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations award for outstanding PR professional of the year at the North West PRide Awards at Manchester’s Hilton Hotel. Other Manchester winners included Koan PR as outstanding PR consultancy of the year, Fido PR’s Deborah Clark as outstanding young communicator and Cameron Wells Communications as outstanding small consultancy. Among the in-house teams, The Co-operative Group received a gold award for corporate responsibility and a silver award for community relations.
Legal clinic launches
The University of Manchester’s School of Law is to open a legal advice clinic in Openshaw in collaboration with urban regeneration company New East Manchester and the charities LawWorks North and Manchester Settlement. The pro bono clinic will be based at Manchester Settlement’s new centre that is being built on Ashton Old Road. The facility will be funded by New East Manchester and staffed by students under the supervision of legal practitioners.
Schools for Salford
Salford City Council has passed the first hurdle in its plans for a £130m transformation of its primary schools after the proposals were backed by the government. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has allocated £4.1m to work with the authority to strengthen its case for funding in subsequent years. At least seven new primary schools would be built in the city and at least half of its 84 primary schools would benefit from the cash in some way. “The DCSF was happy with our plans overall and we’ll be working with it to strengthen them to unlock the remaining DCSF funding,” said councillor John Warmisham, the council’s lead member for children’s services.
NS&I lengthens the odds
The odds of winning it big with Premium Bonds have lengthened after Blackpool-based National Savings & Investments revealed it is to slash its prize fund by more than 1 per cent point following the recent interest rate cut. The government-backed group said the rate changes, from 2.85 per cent to 1.8 per cent, will take effect from 1 December. That means that odds will lengthen from 24,000 to one to 36,000 to one for every £1 invested.
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Property
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Gleeson out in more bad news for Oldham
Gleeson Homes has pulled out of a residential scheme off St Mary’s Way in Oldham town centre. The project, a joint venture with the local authority, was to include 192 apartments, town houses and public space but has become a victim of falling demand. Only a few residential schemes have been completed in the town centre, with several sites still lying dormant following the collapse of local developer Hillstone in the summer.
Beva takes the bus
Beva Investments has sold its 59,620 sq ft industrial unit at Knowsley Park Way in Haslingden to owner occupier Rossendale Bus Company. Acting on behalf of Beva, WHR Property Consultants sold the building for £2.7m. Beva has been retained to carry out a refurbishment of the property to meet the requirements of the new owners.
C&W gets busy
Cushman & Wakefield’s (C&W) offices team has secured a letting at Birchwood’s Olympic Park to sustainable energy technology business ENER-G. Olympic Park, a self-contained office scheme, was completed earlier this year by Commercial Developments Projects and funding partner Pinder Fry & Benjamin. C&W has also sold a 5,162 sq ft office building at CDP Marshall’s Cobra Court office scheme in Trafford Park to Dubai property investor Bhakti, to be used as a showroom and administration office for its UK operations.
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