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Top story
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All together now for 2009
The biggest wish for the new year among North West businesses is for confidence to return and the banks to start lending again in 2009. “In this economic climate it’s all too easy to give up, or to resign yourself to a less successful year,” said Phil Jones, sales and marketing director at Brother UK, calling for a new shared confidence to help turn things around. “The only way we’re going to improve the situation is good old-fashioned grit, hard work, determination and leadership.” Meanwhile, Peter Mooney, head of consultancy with Employment Law Advisory Services in Manchester, called for the business community to work together. “Too many businesses have behaved like lemmings, charging to the brink of suicide by overloading themselves with debt,” he said. “With a bit of good sense and cooperation we can start to turn things round. Firms should work with banks – and vice-versa – to ensure the money supply stabilises. With goodwill, patience and common sense, basically solvent companies should be able to keep trading.” And Nick Davenport, senior partner at law firm Turner Parkinson, said: “I would like to see stability return to bank business lending. It would also be a welcome change if those who govern us stopped worrying about saving the world and instead attempted to understand the mess they have made for us all.”
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Deals
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MBO at CEL
Glossop-based CEL, provider of management services to the public sector, has undergone a management buyout (MBO) led by chief executive Paul Kennedy and finance director Mo Ramzan in a deal backed by HSBC. Having run the business for more than 20 years, previous owners and founders Ian McCrae and Kenneth Spencer are retiring. Clients include major government departments, social housing organisations and international student travel bodies. Kennedy, who joined the business with Ramzan earlier this year, said: “It’s our intention to build on the core strengths and values of the company, while also exploring growth opportunities that can be derived from diversification.”
Grant for Barrow start-up
SH Lighting, a Barrow-based start-up developer of LED lighting products used industrial environments, has been awarded a £50,000 Grants for Business Investment award from the Northwest Regional Development Agency to establish a company specialising in the design and manufacture of ruggedised LED lighting systems. The company will use the grant to fund a research and development manufacturing facility and create 12 jobs. Chairman Peter Roberts said: “The grant will help the company to establish the business and grow quicker than was originally anticipated. This in turn will create skilled employment opportunities with long-term prospects in the region.”
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Business
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Bernstein demands answers over TIF ad row
Sir Howard Bernstein will take the fight to win back cash and credibility following the Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) defeat to the Department for Culture, Media & Sport. A report prepared for Friday’s meeting of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities said discussions are ongoing with ITV over the costs of unused advertising space. The row erupted when regulator Ofcom ruled that the pro-TIF advertisement breached the Television Advertising Standards Code, leading ITV to suspend it. Bernstein said the affair revealed “serious flaws” and “contravened the basic rules of natural justice”. The TIF bid in total cost £21.9m up to 30 November, against a budget of £22.2m.
Loanmakers struggles on
The board of stricken consumer debt company Loanmakers is continuing to review options for the Lancashire-based business as it released interim results for the six months to 30 September that showed revenues of only £4m against £14.3m in the same period last year and a pre-tax loss of £1.6m against a profit of £346,045. Although demand for loans is increasing, completion rates are declining because of difficulties in finding suitable lending products. In October the AIM-quoted company announced it was looking for alternative sources of funding after shareholders failed to pass a proposed £1.7m rights issue underwritten by chief executive Ges Ratcliffe. In August its largest provider of secured loans, First Plus, exited the market, reducing lending options, while other lenders have tightened criteria. Ratcliffe said: “Relations with lenders and introducers remain positive but, given the economic outlook, it is unlikely trading performance will improve in the second half of the year.”
Broca seeks funding
Broca, the Rawtenstall-based messaging technology company, has seen completion of a number of key licence contracts slip, despite securing additional revenues for pilot activity for mobile banking services in partnership with Telnet in Africa and growing interest in the company’s technology. In a trading statement yesterday the AIM-quoted company said additional funding would be required by March 2009 to continue to support Broca’s objectives and working capital requirements. It is actively seeking the additional funding and continues to negotiate new project opportunities, but is confident in market growth for secure mobile communications and mobile payment services.
New board director for TK
Manchester-based kitchen and bedroom component business TK Components has appointed Norman Yates to the board of directors as UK sales director. Yates joined the company in 2002 and over the past two years has been responsible for a growing team of sales managers across the UK.
Aces high for Smith Metals
Bolton scrap metal dealer Smith Metals is to sponsor Manchester’s Belle Vue Aces speedway team for a third successive year. The Bolton company is now owned by One51, which was established in a reorganisation of the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society in December 2005, since when it has also acquired two Manchester businesses, W Howarth Metals and Howcan.
968 not out for University of Cumbria
Initiatives from the University of Cumbria’s School of Business and Enterprise have increased sales by almost £11m and created nearly 300 new jobs for North West business in the last two years, according to the university’s Connecting With Business study. The school has campuses in Lancaster, Carlisle, Ambleside and Penrith and has provided support for 968 businesses. It is now looking to pioneer a new knowledge transfer centre for Cumbria.
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Property
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Tesco shuffles its pack
The Tesco stores in Northwich and Stalybridge are part of a bundle of four stores to be sold by the retail giant in a sale-and-leaseback deal with a fund managed by Prupim, which also manages and part-owns Manchester Arndale. Tesco has sold the four stores for £109m, while it has also sold three stores into a £199m joint venture with the separately run Tesco Pension Scheme.
Rochdale grant awarded
The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has awarded Rochdale Development Agency a £2.2m grant to buy sites around Oldham Road. The sites will be used for commercial development as part of the agency’s Brighter Futures project, which intends to regenerate central Rochdale areas over the next 15 years hand in hand with the town’s Housing Market Renewal programme.
Property industry calls for easier 2009
As the region looks back on a tough 2008 and compiles its wish list for a better 2009, many professionals in the property industry are hoping for costly burdens to ease. “The key changes the commercial property sector needs to see is getting rid of home information packs, energy performance certificates, removing empty property rates across the board and increasing the stamp duty threshold to £250,000,” said Martin Beardsworth, partner in the commercial property department at Lancashire law firm Napthens. “This wouldn’t solve all the problems, but it would certainly remove some of the hidden taxes many people end up paying. In a buoyant market people can afford to pay these costs, but in today’s climate they are a large burden that can put potential investors off.”
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