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Top story
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MCR battles to secure future for Greenberg
Greenberg Group, trading as Greenberg Glass Contracts, has been placed into administration. The company, based at Wellington Employment Park, employed around 160 people – of which 70 have now been made redundant - and supplied external and internal glazing to commercial and retail developments. Corporate restructuring firm MCR in Manchester has been appointed as administrator and continues to trade the business at it speaks to interested partners about a potential sale. A separate business, Greenberg Glass Emergency, which employs 300 people in Huddersfield, is not affected. Over the last 18 months the group has undergone an extensive restructuring programme, which included dividing the two businesses, but the contracts division has struggled in difficult market conditions. “The directors fought to keep the contracts business going and did everything in their power to save the jobs of loyal and hard-working staff,” said marketing director Beryl Greenberg. MCR partner David Whitehouse added: “We will undertake a full analysis of the business to establish how returns to creditors can be maximised.”
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Business
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International alliance for Cammell Laird company
Northwestern Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders (NSL), which is based at the Cammell Laird shipyard, has formed an alliance with Italian shipbuilding giant Fincantieri. Announced at the Euronaval exhibition in Paris, the deal will support Fincantieri in its pursuit of the tender to build six fleet replenishment tankers for a UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) programme known as the MARS project. Fincantieri was recently shortlisted for the project along with three other international shipbuilders. NSL managing director John Syvret said: “The alliance can provide an innovative European solution for the MoD. It will further ensure a significant amount of work would be undertaken in the UK, which is vital in a time of economic downturn.” 
Servicemaster cleans up at Venture Point
Speke-based cleaning franchise Servicemaster Group, which offers carpet and upholstery cleaning and furniture repairs, has moved to Venture Point to help with its expansion. The move also means that the Liverpool Vision-managed business park now only has five plots left to be developed. Servicemaster is one of the largest cleaning company’s in the world having originated in the US and celebrating 50 years in the UK in 2009.
Theatres project wins backing of peers
Liverpool & Merseyside Theatre Trust has secured £6m of funding from Arts Council England North West for a development programme that will involve the demolition and replacement of the Everyman Theatre and a wholesale refurbishment of the Playhouse. Professor Michael Brown, chairman of the Trust, said that neither theatre is fit for purpose and that the city needs better – a view endorsed by an independent report paid for by the Northwest Regional Development Agency. The Trust is seeking funds from other public and private sources. Brown said of the agreement by Liverpool’s other venues to prioritise the project: “It’s really encouraging and shows us this is what we need to do.”
New training company launched
Three young Merseyside entrepreneurs have launched their own training business, Intellect Training Enterprise. Lisa Newton, Darren Helsby and Danielle Downing have started the company in Birkenhead, offering training and qualifications to companies and individuals across the North West. They are already working with such major companies such as Morgan Est and Best Western Hotels.
CPL buoyant after NVQ launch
Wirral-based CPL Training, which provides training to the licensed industries, has secured a number of long-term training contracts with national employment agencies and local authorities through its recently launched NVQ arm. The move into the NVQ market has been piloted in Wirral and Liverpool and during 2008 CPL trained over 400 people in disciplines including hospitality, legislation, health and safety and cleaning. Chief executive Daniel Davies said: “There is a definite gap in the market for this type of service. We now aim to roll this service out nationally, using the experience gained through our work local.”
Merseytravel’s green credentials rubber-stamped
Transport authority Merseytravel has retained its international certification for environmental management systems, whereby it has to demonstrate that it is working to limit its environmental impact, training staff and delivering continual environmental improvement. Neil Scales, chief executive, said: “We have driven the national passenger transport agenda on environment issues since we became the very first passenger transport body in the country to produce an environmental strategy 12 years ago.”
New media campaign for ACF
Chester-based De Winter PR & Marketing has been appointed to develop a national media relations campaign on behalf of ACF Car Finance, a privately-owned company based at Chester Business Park that specialises in providing used cars and associated car finance for hundreds of customers every month. It operates a network of eight branches across the UK including Manchester, Leeds, East Midlands, Birmingham, Bristol, Dunstable, Maidstone and Isleworth.
RDA to boost business growth
A new high-growth business support programme has been launched by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the Northwest European Regional Development Fund Programme to help businesses in the region that demonstrate high growth potential. The NWDA aims to deliver the £10m programme to assist 1,000 businesses. High-growth companies are defined as either new businesses that have the scope to grow to £500,000 within three years or established enterprises that have the ambition and capability of achieving a minimum of 20 per cent per annum growth.
Lawyers launch women's think tank
Law firm Hill Dickinson has launched a new think tank specifically aimed at women in senior positions in the North West. The Think Tank Forum for Women in Business will target different sectors including banking, media, corporate and financial services to create a strategy to generate more work across these sectors and consider ways to tackle the effects of the credit crunch. The forum first originated on the golf course at Portal in Tarporley during an event organised by banking partner Elaine Charrôt. Other attendees included Sue Woodward, former head of ITV Granada, and representatives from BDO Stoy Hayward and The Co-operative Bank.
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Property
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LSH joins docks rates battle
Property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has joined the chorus of outrage over the government’s intentions to separately assess port-based businesses for business rates and retroactively charge rates back to April 2005. Mark Saunders, head of rating at LSH’s Manchester office, said: “Most businesses that operate in ports try to budget intelligently. They could not have foreseen this unexpected imposition of a steep retrospective tax.” Saunders says LSH has doubts about several areas of the Valuation Office Agency’s (VOA) policies and that “we take issue with the VOA opinion that land areas alongside docks are worth considerably more than that of similar land on industrial estates within the same town”.
British Waterways opens Pier Head
The new public realm at Liverpool’s Pier Head has been opened by British Waterways. The £8m project has taken two years and features new paving, lighting and an event space around the new Leeds-Liverpool canal extension. An event will be held to formally open the area next spring.
An Oscar winner in waiting?
Everton-based Oscar Developments has announced the sale of units at its City Point office scheme in Great Homer Street ahead of completion. The 27,500 sq ft scheme comprises 16 offices in a series of five-storey buildings and is being marketed by Knight Frank and Mason Owen.
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