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Top story
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Give it the green light, says Tepnel
Manchester-based biotechnology company Tepnel Life Sciences, which was originally a Manchester university spin-out, has recommended a £92.8m takeover offer from US diagnostics firm Gen-Probe. The offer values each Tepnel share at 27.1p and represents a premium of 162 per cent of the average closing price over the past 12 months. Shares in the company have rallied following news of the takeover approach, which was first announced on 22 January. Tepnel is currently trading at 25.75p, up from 14.25p just eight days ago. Tepnel chairman Alec Craig, who was involved in spinning the business out of UMIST, told Insider this morning: “It is nice to see that university technology can work as a commercial success. Chief executive Ben Matzilevich has worked incredibly hard to commercialise the product and make the company profitable.”
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Today's news
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Out and about with The North Face
Retailer The North Face, whose UK base is in Kendal, has seen sales increase as consumers choose walking in the Lakes over sunbathing in Spain and seek out quality products over cheaper brands. Speaking to Insider last night from the opening of the company’s Glasgow store, Patrik Frisk, general manager of The North Face EMEA, said like-for-like sales had increased strongly across the 40-store European portfolio. “We are fortunate that the outdoor sector has not been affected by the downturn,” he said. “Places like the Lake District are seeing a boom now as people will spend more time in the UK. The market is not really growing, but we’re a global brand and a lot of retailers are looking to consolidate. Consumers are consolidating too – saying they’re going to buy less but of better quality.”
Hutton to speak in Barrow
Secretary of State for Defence John Hutton will be the guest speaker at the first Defence Industry North West conference in Barrow-in-Furness today. Organised by the UNITE (Amicus) and GMB trade unions, the conference will debate the region’s defence spending priorities and what needs to be done to sustain key skills and production lines and to equip the UK’s armed forces.
CMP agrees price on Tudor take-private
Bolton-based CMP Batteries, part of the global Exide Technolgies conglomerate, has agreed to acquire the remaining shareholding of international rival Tudor India and take the company private. CMP currently owns 83.63 per cent of Tudor and the deal, which has been agreed on the basis of Rs70 per share, will enable it to acquire the remainder of the company. Tudor India is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and manufacturers and distributes batteries under the Prestolite and CMP brands.
MBS man lands top job at O2
Manchester Business School’s Professor John Murphy has been appointed as the new O2 chair of customer management. He will hold the position for five years and will work closely with the board and senior management team at Telefónica O2 UK. His role involves bringing “the very latest thinking in customer service theory and practice, based on rigorous and validated research by himself and colleagues at the school”.
Expansys losses widen but bank debt cut
Expansys, the online technology retailer based at Manchester Science Park, has reported pre-tax losses of £1.09m in its interim results, compared to £869,000 year on year. However, the group has eliminated its bank overdraft and credit facilities, worth £3.5m, and now has cash in hand. Chief executive Roger Butterworth said: “Although the pace of recovery will inevitably be slowed by current global market conditions, the business is now in better shape to stabilise revenues and deliver improved results in the short to medium term.” Expansys closed its Singapore subsidiary MWg in August 2008.
Arndale owner Prupim gets flexible
Prupim, the co-owner and manager of Manchester’s Arndale centre, has become the first major landlord to offer monthly rents to its retail tenants. Recent months have seen bodies like the British Retail Consortium call for an end to the historic practice of quarterly rent payments, which struggling retailers have come to regard as increasingly prohibitive.
Insider needs your recommendations
There’s nothing worse than working away from home and not knowing where to get a good meal or decent bed for the night. We realise that our readers are a hard-working bunch who often have to travel up and down the country on business trips, so we’re putting together a Business Travel Guide that will take a look at the main UK business destinations and outline in a nutshell the best places to eat, sleep, entertain clients and do business. Our readers’ recommendations will form the backbone of this guide, so if you know a good hotel, restaurant, business facility provider, bar or café, we would like you to tell us about it. Click here to give your recommendations, which may be included in the final guide.
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Something for the weekend
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Deal of the week
If you have a niche company and an army of trade buyers what do you get? A sale, even in this climate. Iotech Group, the Preston-based parent company of liquid membrane manufacturers Liquid Plastics and Industrial Copolymers, has been acquired by Swiss specialty chemicals group Sika in a deal, thought to be worth over £30m, which also involves subsidiaries in the US and Belgium. The company makes fire protection membranes for roofing products.
Alphabet soup quote of the week
“This isn’t plan B. It’s a new plan A.” Lord Peter Smith clears up any confusion over the status of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities’ new transport wheeze, combining a heady cocktail of supplementary business rates and workplace parking levies. If plan B is the scheme one implements once plan A has gone belly up, this sounds pretty much like a plan B.
What’s in a name?
Lancashire County councillor Matthew Tomlinson has this week defended a taxpayer-funded trip to New York to attend the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress, where there were doubtless lots of nice models of trams and things. How suitable that the trip should be questioned by opposition leader, the aptly named Geoff Driver.
Riddle me this
Good at puzzles? Fancy “unique views from the Fylde coastline”? Then you’re in luck, because Dave Mackie, a director of CBG Insurance Brokers, is selling his £675,000 house in Hambleton via a Sudoku competition. He needs 14,000 entrants to pay a £50 entry fee so he can sail off to an early retirement in Egypt. The campaign to get Paul “The Plumber” Davidson to mount a similar campaign to buy Real Mallorca starts here.
Canapé won’t pay
Last night’s Censored bash at Bijou (the boozer formerly known as the Cocoa Rooms) was far too late for studious journalists, so the TLC event at the Lowry Hotel takes the top prize. We just hope that poor model stretched out along the bar with sushi laid out on her has been allowed to finish her shift. Honourable mentions to Manchester Art Gallery’s tuck at the Antony Gormley launch and Grant Thornton’s croissants and pastries ahead of its breakfast discussion group on Wednesday.
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