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Top story
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Pochin’s to build on Olympic spirit
Cheshire property business Pochin is to relaunch its contracting arm as Pochin Construction as it adapts to the downturn. Major business won in the last few months by Pochin include a £20m Welsh Assembly Government regional office at Llandudno Junction, a £6m mixed-use scheme for Quorum Estates in Macclesfield and the £9m Morson International office in Salford. Jonathan Pochin, managing director, said: “This sends a direct message that we are a strong and robust company, which is still winning key contracts even in this challenging market.” Chairman Richard Fildes, addressing an event last night, said that the firm’s concrete pumping division has successfully tendered for a number of projects connected to the 2012 Olympics, while its developments arm continues to raise money in sales at prices above book value. The group will also launch a special projects division to deliver schemes under £1m.
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Today's news
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Turner backs Darling
Dennis Turner, the chief economist of HSBC Bank, yesterday backed chancellor Alistair Darling’s plans to bring forward large-scale public investment programmes in social housing, railways and environmental works. Speaking at the Business North West conference, held at Manchester Central, Turner said the proposals, expected to be announced in the pre-budget report on Monday, will go some way to getting the economy moving again. “The private sector isn’t spending, so the public sector will have to,” he said. “We are entering a recession, but in historic terms it will be very short and not very deep. We’re starting from a good position and the authorities are working very decisively to pull the economy through as quickly as possible.”
Manchester needs to take sustainability seriously
Future Pro.Manchester, the young professionals arm of the business organisation, has called for Manchester’s leaders to take ownership of the city’s green credentials and make sustainability top of the agenda. Speaking at a breakfast meeting at Grant Thornton this morning, chairman Alex Solk said Manchester’s fall of three places to 15th in the 2008 Sustainable Cities Index should be a wake-up call. “Manchester has some great leaders, but who is there to deliver a sustainable strategy?” he said. “We should be developing policies and business practices to generate revenue in the short term and develop a sustainable city for the future in the long term.”
AstraZeneca cuts 250 jobs
Global pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has today revealed that it is to cut 250 jobs in Macclesfield as part of an ongoing programme to improve efficiency across the business. The company currently employs 2,165 people at the site. It is also closing sites in Spain, Belgium and Sweden, with 1,400 jobs cut across the group by 2013.
Read the small print, urges Bodycote
Thermal processing firm Bodycote has announced the terms of its revised plans to return cash to shareholders. Shares dipped earlier this week when the Macclesfield business said it intended to halve the 80 pence a share payout it announced in August following the sale of the group’s testing business due to market conditions. Bodycote will seek approval from shareholders at a meeting on 8 December, and urged shareholders to look beyond the headline numbers to the expected tax consequences.
HOW do you like that?
HOW Planning, on behalf of United Utilities (UU) Property Solutions, has submitted a planning application to demolish the former UU training and conference centre in Chorley and build Duxbury Park, a mixed-use scheme of 200 residential units, including both houses and apartments, and 1,000 sq ft of business accommodation. Persimmon has already delivered the Duxbury Gardens scheme on an adjacent plot while UU also transferred some land for the Myles Standish bypass.
Clarification: W3 Debt Management
On Wednesday Insider reported that Chorley-based consumer debt firm W3 Debt Management, which trades as National Money Helpline, had undergone a management buyout from parent company Begbies Traynor Group. The business does provide debt management services, but not individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), loans and remortgages as we stated in the story. The IVA side of the business has been retained by Begbies Traynor Group and trades under the name W3 Debt Solutions.
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Something for the weekend
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Deal of the week
Kids Allowed is on the up this week after securing a £7.5m financing package from Abbey. The cash has enabled entrepreneur Jennie Johnson to buy out the original investors in the company and acquire full ownership. She is now seeking further private equity investment to expand her three-strong chain of childcare centres to five. This line of business is a good hit for investors as the child care industry is going places. That Johnson scored a bank loan at all is testament to how strong the sector is.
Cheery quote of the week
“There are reasons to be cheerful – for a start, Threshers have knocked 40 per cent off champagne until 2 December and Burnley have knocked Chelsea out of the Carling Cup. And there are signs that the cost of money is falling. Let us hope that this is in time for the worst to be avoided.” Pochin’s chairman Richard Fildes senses an audience waiting to hear some good news.
Heartwarming quote of the week
“I was pleased to read in Insider that Sir Howard likes me. Because I like Sir Howard. I really do.” Peel managing director Andrew Simpson opens his presentation at Insider’s property breakfast by echoing the Manchester council boss’s assertion that there’s nothing personal in the battle over transport. He also pooh-poohed the idea he could go into politics: “This is definitely my last campaign. I’ve been appalled by some of the stuff that’s happened. The more you see the less you want to do it.”
With Mates like these…
It’s a shame PR and advertising agency C2 has closed its Manchester office. The invitation Insider received to a warehouse launch in Yorkshire organised by the Leeds agency would have been a shoo-in at the IRP Awards if they have a ‘Classiest campaign of the year’. It consisted of a card emblazoned “So close to the M62 you can smell the rubber!” A gold star to the reader who can guess which rubber product, manufactured by Mates, was affixed to the card.
This is what we call the Muppet Show
As keynote speeches go, you’ll have to go a long way to find one more eccentric than that delivered by Edwin Booth, the chairman of Preston-based retailer Booths, at Hill Dickinson’s North West Top 100 Brands Awards on Tuesday night. In a speech that included ‘moo-ing’ (in recognition of the award ceremony’s cow-themed branding) and an impression of Prince Charles, Booth exited the stage by singing the theme tune to The Muppet Show in his own unique style. Compère John Bishop professed himself amazed. He wasn’t the only one.
Dance the night away
The people’s favourite won’t be crowned dance champion after all. Not John Sergeant, but Jacqueline Hughes-Lundy, co-founder of Altrincham-based event organiser and consultancy Inspiring Connections. She threw herself into a Charity Dance Fever event in aid of the Legacy Rainbow House in Preston, but lost out in a public vote to hometown hero, athlete Helen Clitheroe in what the magnanimous Hughes-Lundy called a “well-deserved” victory.
Canapé won’t pay
Cheshire property company Pochin’s always packs them in for its Around the World drinks evening at the Radisson Edwardian – essentially a World Cup of corporate scoffing. In Insider’s considered opinion, India ran out winners this year. Hats off as well to Impact Media, which pulled off a coup in securing Manchester Cathedral as a venue for last night’s Y-3 fashion launch, complete with fancy vodka cocktails.
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