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Top story
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Morris aims for £1bn target
Despite ongoing gloom in the retail market, discount retailer TJ Morris says it is on course to hit £1bn turnover in the next eight years, as it reports operating profits over the last financial year of £34.7m, a £5m increase on 2007 figures. Sales stand at £383m, up from £322m a year ago. The Liverpool-based company, which trades as Home Bargains, plans to double its business in the next three to four years. By 2015 operations director Joe Morris expects the company to hit its billion-pound target and grow the number of stores to 350 stores, with the potential for 600 across the UK. Named by The Grocer magazine as the third largest independent grocer in the UK, TJ Morris plans to invest £35m in growing the company by expanding the distribution centre at the Axis Business Park in Liverpool.
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Deals
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Adviser gets into debt and raises private fund
Daresbury-based corporate finance boutique Dow Schofield Watts is diversifying into debt advisory and private equity. Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Debt Advisory will advise distressed businesses on how to deal with banks, as well as banks and asset-based lenders. The business will be run by accountant Joanne Dodd and Paula Jones, who joins from The Royal Bank of Scotland, where she was a corporate director in specialised lending services. The team is also setting up a private equity fund, PHD Fund Managers, and is raising money from high net worth individuals in the North West. PHD will make investments of between £1m and £2m and will be chaired by Lord Daresbury. 
Swedish government moves in on UK wind energy
On the day that the French government announced the takeover of the British nuclear industry, Insider has learned that Swedish government-owned energy giant Vattenfall is to buy Eclipse Energy, the company behind the Ormonde offshore windfarm in the Irish Sea, for £51.5m. Eclipse was backed by the North West Business Investment Scheme, run by YFM Private Equity, and has spent eight years fundraising and gaining consent for offshore wind farms. Earlier this month it received planning permission for the Morecambe Bay scheme. Chief executive Ian Hatton said: “The combination of the Eclipse team and projects with the resources and ambitions of Vattenfall is exciting.
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Business
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Room for improvement, but efforts recognised
Along with Manchester and Leeds, Liverpool is seen as one of the three cities doing most to improve and promote itself, according to the Cushman & Wakefield UK Cities Monitor 2008 released yesterday. The report surveys 200 business leaders with responsibility for corporate relocations. However, the city, although still recognised as providing value for money, has slipped two places in the overall ranking, having lost ground in one of the key criteria, ease of recruiting qualified staff. It also dropped from fourth to 12th in availability of office space, a key driver for inward investment.
Liverpool builds on Chinese ties
Peel Holdings has made a direct pitch for Chinese involvement in its £50bn Ocean Gateway scheme as a delegation from Liverpool spends this week in Shaghai to develop relationships ahead of the city's presence at the World Expo 2010. Peel development director Lindsey Ashworth has appealed for a Chinese partner for the proposed Shanghai Tower. "We want a Shanghai partner for their building expertise and so the tower can act as a beacon for Chinese investment in the UK," he said. Liverpool Vision's director of investment and enterprise, Mike Taylor, said the visit is the most productive since Liverpool's twinning with Shanghai in 1999. "China only does business with people it believes it has a genuine relationship with," he said. "We want Liverpool to be the UK's most China-friendly city."
Museums notch up record numbers
National Museums Liverpool (NML) has recorded the highest number of visitors in its history. The seven free museums and galleries notched up 730,000 visitors in July and August. NML director Dr David Fleming says: "Obviously Liverpool being European Capital of Culture has helped boost the figures, but the trend has been upwards for seven years." The busiest venues this summer were the Merseyside Maritime Museum, which had more than 160,000 visitors in July alone, and the World Museum Liverpool.
Embrace Olympic opportunities, says Coe
Lord Coe has urged North West companies to get more involved in bidding for London 2012 work, insisting that half the £6bn worth of contracts for the Games will be awarded to firms outside London. Speaking exclusively to Insider on a visit to sports venues in Preston and Crewe yesterday, Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London organising committee of the Olympic Games, said there were plenty of examples of companies tapping into opportunities, such as Watson Steel in Bolton, which is helping build the Olympic Stadium, and Preston transport consultancy TAS Partnership. “For every big name there are going to be hundreds of sub-contractors required,” he said. Coe added that sport was “deep in the DNA” of the North West. His comments came as Manchester Metropolitan University expects to hear in the next few weeks whether it has been successful in securing a number of team training camps for 2012 at its Cheshire campus.
Minister backs radical funding idea for cities
A radical plan for cities to raise extra cash from bonds guaranteed against future tax revenues from new businesses in Accelerated Development Zones, coupled with Regional Infrastructure Funds, has been welcomed by local government minister John Healey MP. The report from the Core Cities Group of councils - which includes Manchester and Liverpool - was launched at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester yesterday and revealed a rise in revenue of between 50 to 80 per cent for housing, jobs and economic growth if the model were to be adopted in specific schemes. Healey said: "We're prepared to look hard at the ideas within here and would encourage a cross-party dialogue about the long-term funding for projects in cities."
Angel of the north
Rolling stock lessor Angel Trains has signed a £1.5bn order for 106 express train carriages as Alstom prepares to build four new Pendolino trains for the West Coast Main Line (WCML) and lengthen another 31 trains on the line. Work on the new trains begins in Italy in January, with all the new rolling stock due to be in service by December 2012. Virgin Trains' WCML franchise runs until the end of March 2012.
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Property
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India Buildings ready for new tenants
The redevelopment of Liverpool's India Buildings has been completed, with the Grade II-listed buildings housing new offices ranging in size from 500 sq ft to 35,000 sq ft. Situated on Water Street, the India Buildings is one of the largest office blocks in the city and dates back to 1931. Liverpool-based Hitchcock, Wright and Partners and Keppie Massie are acting as joint letting agencies for the property.
Langtree completes Mere phase
Property developer Langtree has announced the completion of the first phase of Mere Grange, its new business park in St Helens. The development is a joint venture between Langtree, headquartered in Newton-le-Willows, and national regeneration agency English Partnerships. The £12m first phase is an office development providing over 54,000 sq ft of space in ten speculatively built buildings.
Top award for Mayfield
Liverpool-based Mayfield Construction is celebrating after winning a BALI (British Association of Landscape Industry) Award. The company, which is a division of The McKean Group, was selected as a BALI National Hard Landscaping Award Winner for work undertaken at the Town Hall Square in Blackburn. Current projects for Mayfield include a £6m scheme to build a four-storey office block at Liverpool Science Park and a £1m project in St Helens Hospital.
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