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Top story
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Midas considers its options
Liverpool-based fund management firm Midas Capital responded to a sharp fall in its share price this morning with a statement announcing that year-end net debt stood at £29.8m and that the business is trading in line with expectations and remains cash generative. The firm stated that it has met all of its interest and principal payments on time, but in view of market conditions is working closely with its bankers and expects to reach agreement on a temporary waiver of its covenants until 30 April, with a view to restructuring its borrowing arrangements. “Negotiations are proceeding satisfactorily and the bank has confirmed that Midas continues to enjoy its full support,” said the statement. “The company is also considering possible strategic options to strengthen its balance sheet and is in discussions with a number of interested parties.”
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Deals
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CFS and Britannia confirm merger
In a strong message to the ailing banking sector, Britannia Building Society and Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) have agreed a merger that will create one of the largest customer-owned financial services businesses in the UK. The new operation will combine £70bn of assets, nine million customers and 12,000 employees and will be led by Britannia group chief executive Neville Richardson. Current CFS chief executive David Anderson will leave the business. He said: “Owing to the damage done by the credit crunch, people have been crying out for a new way of doing business with a financial organisation of substance that truly has their interests at heart.” 
Service Source sells stake
Service Source Europe, a Warrington-based distributor of IT equipment, has sold a 75 per cent stake in the company to industry rival Acal. The £1.85m transaction will see the company operate as part of Acal Supply Chain, a newly incorporated subsidiary of Acal. Service Source Europe was formed last year through a management buyout of Flextronics.
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Business
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Everton frustrated over Bellefield decision
Everton FC, already embroiled in a public inquiry over its Destination Kirkby project, has had its appeal over a planning refusal at its former training ground Bellefield turned down. The club had hoped to make between £8m and £10m from the sale of the land for housing, but although Liverpool City Council’s professional planners recommended approval, the planning committee rejected the scheme.
Think thinks big
Liverpool lifestyle PR and marketing agency Think is celebrating four client wins already in 2009. It has taken on an international client in the form of Hibiscus House, a British-run hotel in Gambia, and closer to home has been drafted in to manage the rebranding launch of city centre gallery and events space Milk and Sugar, formerly Renew Rooms, which will relaunch in March. The agency will also manage a campaign for medical consulting rooms Eighty Eight Rodney Street and has won the PR contract for events venue and restaurant The Isla Gladstone Conservatory in Stanley Park.
McLean debt revealed
Failed property group David McLean’s final debts totalled between £85m and £90m, a Deloitte spokesman has confirmed to Insider. Upwards of £60m was owed to Barclays Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS when the group called in the administrators in late October 2008. Barclays has since funded the £40m management buyout of the company’s profitable housebuilding arm led by John Kendrick.
A fresh taste
A new bar restaurant opens in West Derby on Friday. Almond, which will use locally sourced, seasonal produce, is the brainchild of West Derby local Kate Ravenscroft. Head chef John Dolan has worked as sous chef under Michael Wichman of the award-winning Michaels in Birkdale. He also spent a stint in London working at The Stafford, in Mayfair.
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Property
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HWP the flexible friends at the Strand
Agency Hitchcock, Wright & Partners (HWP) has announced that short-term leases, from as little as three months, are now available at Strand House, on Liverpool’s waterfront. The building comprises 20,991 sq ft of grade A office space over three floors. Brian Ricketts, partner at HWP, sole letting agent, said: “Our clients are looking to redevelop the site in due course hence the short-term availability. But this is a tremendous opportunity for a business that may not want the commitment of a long-term lease.”
Langtree signs Lloyds in St Helens
Langtree has signed up Lloyds Business Communications for nearly 3,500 sq ft of office space at Mere Grange in St Helens. The recently completed first phase of Mere Grange, developed in a joint venture with the Homes & Communities Agency, is a 34,000 sq ft office development comprising ten self-contained office buildings. Lloyds has agreed a ten-year lease.
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Telephone: +44 (0)161 907 9711
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