Business Guide sample 2012

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Business Guide 2012

Featuring the region’s top 150 businesses

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Business Guide 2013 Guide sponsor:

£3,000 plus VAT

Strengthen your brand recognition Place your business in front of the region’s key decision makers with sponsorship of the 2013 Business Guide. Strong projection of your businesses is guaranteed as it is printed as its own separate publication, giving longer shelf life, on high quality paper and inserted into the centre of the newspaper. It is also distributed separately to firms in the West Country Sponsorship includes: Company logo on cover Minimum 12 straps with logos on internal pages A full page advertisement Logos on promotional material during the launch period A page of editorial, which can be used to underline expertise on core topics

Expert columns:

£400 plus VAT

Profile your company across the region Our expert columns gives your firm the chance to offer readers expert advice on the subject’s core to your business, underlining your firm’s authority and brand in your sector. It includes: 500-600 words Company logo Author’s accreditation and picture

CEO/MD profiles: £250 plus VAT An opportunity to market the person who leads your firm 250 words profiling your CEO including picture Includes company logo

For more details and to discuss your requirements for the 2013 Business Guide please contact Jane Chapman or Owen Prentice on 0117 934 3025, alternatively email jane.chapman@bepp.co.uk or email o.prentice@bepp.co.uk

PUBLICATION DATE: 22ND JANUARY 2012

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Agenda

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Geographically our core circulation area extends to Bristol, Bath, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and north Dorset.

Circulation: 26,053 (source: ABC Jan-Jun 2012) Readership: Daily: 87,858 (source: JICREG 01-Apr-2012) Weekly: 216,030 (source: JICREG 01-Apr-2012)

Agenda 25/09/12

THE MONTHLY BUS INESS GUIDE CON NECTING THE WES T

Hungry for growth

The definit list of the top growing firmsive in the West Co 100 fastest untry Profiles of key businesses includ high-growth Smart Traffic an ing Pieminister , d Butcombe In-depth an growth with adalysis of routes to leaders and indvice from business ustry experts

COUNTRY

IN ASSOCIATION

WITH

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French Olympic sailors train off the coast of Weymouth and Portland in Dorset, the setting for the sailing events in the Olympic Games this summer. While the Olympics represent a tremendous opportunity for the region, there are other reasons for optimism in 2012, despite the challenges the economic climate may present

Adversity, the mother of invention It’s easy to be negative about 2012, with the prospect of a double-dip recession kicking the business community just when it is getting off the floor of an economic slump.

But after all, this is 2012; this is the year of the Olympics, the year that we have been waiting for, the year of opportunity.

And there are opportunities out there, for the companies determined enough to show the quality and innovation necessary to achieve great things in a dour economic climate brought on by the malaise of the eurozone.

Those which have fought for the opportunities in exporting have been mostly rewarded. Last week Trade and Investment Minister Lord Green visited the West Country to urge the region’s businessess to compete for the Exporting for Growth competition. The winner will receive support from the Government’s UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) body worth £5,000 and three grants for overseas travel to their target markets, as well as expert business knowledge and insight from sponsors HSBC and PwC.

The large firms in the West have led the way when it comes to exporting. For some companies like the engineers Renishaw in Wootton-under-Edge it is in the very fabric of what they do and what they have achieved. For others, like defence specialist BAE Systems, it is a major growth market and a critical part of their 2012 strategy.

Now it is the turn of the region’s SMEs to exploit countries whose businesses are keener on spending than our own, especially those that have become more reliant on supplying the private sector.

That is not to say there is nothing positive to be had on home soil in 2012. A string of major construction projects, from house building in Keynsham to EDF’s new nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point, will help stimulate markets in commercial property, manufacturing, creative and financial services, among others. There is life in West Country business, and it is reassuring to see so many big names commit themselves to the region – from the continued success of aviation powerhouses Airbus to the digital and creative

communities that have enjoyed a decade of growth and success in Bristol and Bath and plan to stay clustered together for the good of each other.

Speaking of which, the creative sector is finally getting the major government investment it deserves with the creation of the Enterprise Zone in Bristol, which seeks to harness the vibrant energy in this sector and both expand and secure its position for future years. The sustainable approach to building the zone is vital and has been rightly applauded – creating a working, residential and leisure district that can work in tandem with logical transport links. This is the kind of urban planning the region has lacked in the past and let’s just hope it is not too insular, that the good ideas and energy are allowed to filter across Bath, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, where Local Enterprise Partnerships and major capital projects will have to show responsibility to future generations as they shape how we do business in the future.

The key, though, is sustainability. For something that was once

derided in some boardrooms as a tick box fad from the green lobby, it now clearly forms the heart of companies’ strategies, large and small. Rather than restraining business plans, it is now forming them, a quiet but revolutionary step in how we trade.

There are no doubt challenges to face in 2012, but tellingly, every member of the business community who has written for our Business Guide has shown an air of positivity.

It’s not just the fact the Olympics are coming, it’s the inspirational legacy of innovation that this region’s firms continue to demonstrate, across all sectors.

Finally, congratulations to all the businesses who made our top 150 list this year, but this Business Guide is not exclusively for that clutch of companies. Moreover, it is intended as a record of the state of West Country business, and a recognition of the efforts to inspire it to new heights in the face of adversity.

Paul Burton Editor, Business Guide 2012

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Inside

OUR SPONSORS’ COMMENT

6 Lloyds Bank: celebrating enterprise 7 Howard Tenens: champions of sustainability 8 Charles Russell: a heritage of excellence 9 Mazars: a resolution for success – think globally THE SECTORS

11 Sustainability: commerce with a conscience enjoys rewards 13 Renewables: sun, sea and heat look set to shine brightest in 2012 14 Energy: an old neighbour is determined to secure the future 17 Aviation: sector that steered clear of the slump 19 Aviation: historic airport climbs to new heights 20 Defence: adaptability the key response to impact of spending review 22 Construction: capital projects to drive optimism 24 Commercial property: search for space may reach an enterprising conclusion 26 Manufacturing: inherent strength bolstered by help and advice 28 Legal: commercial law concentrates on quality

THE TOP 150 BUSINESSES

30 The top 150 businesses: a competitive list striving to show strength in adversity

32& 33 Imperial Tobacco Group, Orange Personal Communications Services Limited and Intel Corporation (UK) Limited are leading the field

32 The top 150 businesses 34 Tourism: Olympic opportunity dawns 36 Financial services: major deal suggests there is room for hope 38 Markets and investments: Eurozone leaves FTSE on the road to nowhere 40 Markets and investments: what comes after the roller-coaster ride?

43 Pensions: unravelling the revolution 44 Agriculture: public relations challenge for farming 46 Food: where will local passions take us?

50 Creative industries: scene is set for growth 52 Education and training: excellence through apprenticeships THE REGION

55 Bristol: how enterprising development corporation changed a city 56 Somerset: opportunity of a lifetime for the county 58 Gloucestershire: getting better connected will create a quiet revolution 60 Bath: eye-catching city of fashion

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Representatives from Lloyds Bank meet Wessex Grain, one of the top ten grain traders in the UK, in Templecombe, Somerset, to mark their new relationship. Lloyds helped the firm secure £4 million to fund its expansion, increasing the company’s storage capacity to an impressive 23,000 tonnes. It was opened by Countryfile presenter Adam Henson in the summer

Celebrating enterprise Whilst economic recovery last year was slower and more fragile than many had forecast, the good news for the West Country is that many of the businesses based in the region have remained financially robust and are poised to take advantage of any upturn. It is an interesting feature of the market that, in my view, business confidence in the region does not yet match the strength of underlying business health.

Supporting businesses in the South West Most companies in the region have worked extremely hard and taken some tough decisions during the recession; as a result, many are now in a good position to plan for growth. At Lloyds, our long term outlook remains positive and to ensure that we are well positioned to support our customer base, we increased our headcount in Taunton last year and invested in a full dealing-room capability in Bristol to provide hedging advice, interest rate and currency risk management to the South West.

Many other banks perform these functions with London dealing teams whereas our investment in Bristol is a clear indication of our commitment to the region.

We also appointed a new Regional Business Development Director, Paul Harvey. Paul was previously South West Head of Corporate at Barclays and brings with him 30 years of experience in corporate banking. His role is to focus primarily on high turnover firms with revenue in

Lloyds Bank Clive Hetherington Area Director for Lloyds Bank Wholesale Banking & Markets in the South West

excess of £100 million, working closely with our existing Relationship Directors in the region, as well as developing close working relationships within the local business community.

Seizing opportunities Through our network of corporate offices in Bristol, Taunton, Exeter and Plymouth, our team of experienced bankers work with a wide variety of businesses from within a broad range of industry sectors. Last year we saw some of the largest businesses in the region undergoing refinancing as market costs fell. New to Lloyds Bank customers included stockbrokers Rowan Dartington, Dorsetbased independent family brewer Hall & Woodhouse and Somerset agricultural grain merchants Wessex Grain – just three of the companies which took advantage of the attractive deals on offer. It is clear that in every sector, there are significant opportunities available for the strongest and best-managed businesses.

The importance of strong management One of the factors common across all of the businesses we work with is the quality of their management teams.

When the economy was buoyant, bankers in general tended to focus on the financial dynamics of each proposal. However, experience has shown that the most important aspect of any business is the quality of its management. At Lloyds Bank we always invest a considerable amount of time in getting to know the business, building a relationship with the management team and understanding the drivers of their financials.

Fundamentally, banks are lending to a management team’s competence: we need to see a robust, experienced and resilient team.

High-growth businesses will drive our economic revival but growth needs to be sustained. Without fully understanding the competence of any management team, lending becomes highly speculative.

A great example of this in practice is the transaction we completed with

DAC Beachcroft in November 2011. To help facilitate the merger of law firms Beachcroft and Davies Arnold Cooper, two of our long-standing existing customers, we provided a substantial funding package which supports the new firm’s ambitions for growth. The merger gave DAC Beachcroft a platform from which to build on the significant relationships it already enjoyed with insurers and reinsurers independently and to expand on the scale of its international business. Our knowledge of the two original businesses and their management teams meant we were able to work to tight timescales to provide a high level, bespoke solution to their combined requirements.

Crystal ball time!

Looking ahead into 2012, business confidence remains low impacted by the sovereign debt crisis and a lack of confidence which is having a pronounced impact on consumer spending.

Public sector spending reductions will also continue to impact many of the businesses in the South West. The Government believes (and I agree) that export oriented sectors will be key to the UK’s sustained recovery. The renewable energy sector is also expected to continue its growth and development, notwithstanding recent government changes on tariffs. I remain confident that this region is well placed in terms of its natural resources and solid skills base to be a driving force as the country, eventually, undergoes economic recovery.

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Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Mike Penning MP officially opens the sustainable warehouse Howard Tenens manages for Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd

Champions of sustainability Howard Tenens is one of the largest privately owned logistics companies in the UK with its head office based in Stroud in Gloucestershire. The company employs circa 500 people across 16 depots nationally and has a Group turnover of £68,350m. Our strong balance sheet is underpinned by a portfolio of freehold property.

The company retains the same passion for excellence, customer service, flexibility and efficiency since it was founded more than 50 years ago. Peter Morris, Chairman and CEO, promoted his sons to joint managing directors in 2010 and now Ben, MDOperations and Dan, MD-Property run the day-to-day business.

Howard Tenens Eilis Cope PR and Marketing Director

Carbon Reduction At Howard Tenens we believe that the logistics sector has an important role to play if the UK is to meet its European carbon reduction targets.

After evolving a number of sustainable plans since 2003, Tenens Environmental was set up in 2008 as a separate company within the Group to investigate ways in which we could reduce the carbon footprint of storing and distributing our customers’ products.

Within a relatively short period of time we have introduced a number of leading edge initiatives from alternative vehicles and fuels to sustainable warehousing. The recognition we receive from our customers is testament to the investment and the importance we have placed on environmental innovation. In 2009 we won the CRS supplier of the year award for Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd (CCE Ltd) in recognition for the work we had undertaken, in partnership with CCE Ltd, towards their carbon reduction targets. This sits alongside other awards from customers and in-

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport Mike Penning MP hitches a ride on a Howard Tenens dual fuel vehicle on a visit to the company dustry.

While we lead the industry in environmental innovation today, particularly low carbon transport, we are not content to stand still. By 2030 we have set an ambitious target of running a carbon neutral operation.

Sustainability Sustainability is fundamental to our business plan and we are making environmental and operational efficiencies across the three million square feet of warehousing space in our ownership. This is why Howard

Tenens’ warehousing, handling and distribution solutions are the first choice for a rapidly growing number of customers – and why we believe our comprehensive range of value for money, tailored logistics services could also be the driving force behind the success for other companies.

Catherine Crouch, Group Environment Director for Howard Tenens explains, “We are working closely with our customers to assist them reduce the environmental impact of their value chain. Sustainability is core to Howard Tenens strategy and by introducing alternative fuel vehicles and energy efficient warehouses we are achieving our own environmental ambitions and helping our customers realise theirs.”

Dual Fuel Vehicles Howard Tenens has taken a pioneering approach to alternative fuelled vehicles and has introduced dual fuel vehicles substituting diesel with natural gas reducing both carbon emissions and those that impact on air quality. As well as running dual fuel trials for a number of customers including CCE Ltd, Howard Tenens has rolled out dual fuel vehicles across our HGV fleet and installed gas refuelling stations at Andover, Boston and London (South Ockendon). The refuelling stations are open by arrangement for third party access, which we hope will encourage others

to consider gas as road transport fuel.

Natural Gas is however is only part of the story with the ambition to replace natural gas with biomethane (biogas), which is widely accepted as the most sustainable fuel for the haulage industry and will see emissions reduced by an impressive 60 per cent.

Sustainable Logistics Expertise Introducing biogas to the fleet is among a series of environmentally friendly initiatives Howard Tenens has already commenced as part of its ongoing commitment to sustainable logistics. “We are always seeking to identify new opportunities where we can take action to improve our environmental performance, and help our customers reduce the carbon footprint of their supply chain,” adds Catherine. “We believe gas will play an important part in reducing emissions from the UK’s transport sector and are pleased to see others are starting to follow our lead.”

Passion for Excellence Howard Tenens welcomes enquiries from all companies in the UK and particularly the South West to discuss how our experience, expertise and innovative approach to logistics can help realise your environmental ambitions. Our professionalism, our passion for excellence and an uncompromising commitment to deliver both outstanding customer service and a sustainable performance are the qualities that are the driving force behind everything we do.

For more information about how Howard Tenens can drive your business success, please contact Eilis Cope at sales@ tenens.com or call 08702 415640.

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Our sponsors

A heritage of excellence, built over 120 years Charles Russell Patrick Gearon Partner and Head of Intellectual Property

Charles Russell LLP is delighted to sponsor for the first time the Western Daily Press Business Guide.

The firm was founded in 1891 by the Hon Charles Russell who was the third son of the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales Lord Russell of Killowen, who was an MP and later Attorney-General under British Prime Minister Gladstone. The first major case which brought Charles Russell to public notice was the Oscar Wilde Libel Case, where he acted for the Marquess of Queensbury, and won.

In its early years Charles Russell was recognised as a leading private client and litigation practice with strong connections throughout the British Empire. It was also recognised as a leading divorce practice, with particular emphasis on Roman Catholic divorce. In the 1920s we acted in two famous divorce cases, one involving the Duchess of Winchester and the second, the Duchess of Marlborough. Cases such as these perhaps formed the basis of the Family practice which the firm still has today.

The firm retains many of these international connections and still has a thriving practice in many of the Commonwealth countries and in particular those in Africa and the West Indies. In recent years we have expanded our international practice.

We have associated firms in every country in Europe and throughout North America and the East. We also have our own offices in Switzerland and the Middle East. Our London office was based in Lincoln’s Inn for many years and recently moved to new offices in Fleet Place. Today, around 20 per cent of the firm’s income is from outside the UK. The last 40 years has been a period of enormous and successful growth particularly by the development of a flourishing corporate commercial business arm to add to the firm’s traditional strengths in private client and litigation which remain stronger than ever.

We opened an office in Gloucestershire in 1977 moving to Cheltenham a few years later. In the last eight years the Cheltenham office has doubled its

staff and turnover. Many of our lawyers in Cheltenham are named as leading individuals in the legal directories, and we continue to be top ranked in a significant number of categories. Annual turnover of the Cheltenham office now exceeds £8 million.

Despite the deteriorating general financial condition, our Cheltenham office has continued to expand. Our corporate department acts for many of the leading companies in the region, many of which have their shares listed on the London Stock Exchange. Our private client department acts for many of the great estates in the region as well as leading entrepreneurs and private individuals. We offer an across the board litigation service, with particular

20%

Income that comes into Charles Russell from outside of the UK skills in intellectual property litigation. Many of the leading cases in intellectual property in recent years have originated from our Cheltenham office. Our property department acts for many of the significant developers and property companies in the region, as well as private property investors.

In recent years we have developed a very strong renewables practice in the region. This covers not just wind and solar, but also hydro and biomass power stations. In 2011, we were involved in the largest combined wind and solar station in the UK. Approximately 40 per cent of our lawyers get involved in pro bono legal advice and through our corporate social responsibility programme many of our lawyers, particularly the younger lawyers, get involved in community activities across the region.

Our senior partner in Cheltenham, Christopher Page, soon to become our national senior partner, feels that these contributions are ever more

Charles Russell's office at Compass House in Cheltenham. The South West arm has doubled its staff and turnover in the last eight years, cementing its reputation for excellence.

important given the economic downturn.

As a result of our clear strategy and focus we have won a number of awards for our work in the community. One award that we are particularly proud of is winning the prize for the Best Contribution by a Law Firm at the 2011 LawWorks Pro Bono Awards.

Nationally, the firm now has over 100 partners and a legal staff of over 250.

Charles Russell remains committed to expanding in the South West region and developing links with the community.

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Exporting to global markets, especially those outside the eurozone, such as the growing markets in China and India, could be a key to success in 2012

A resolution for success in 2012: think globally As we move into 2012, the general sense of fresh-faced optimism and anticipation normally associated with this time of year seems to be somewhat lacking. Instead, a definite whiff of turbulence is in the air.

Whether it’s protesters taking to the streets, public sector strikers or belt-tightening fiscal policies – there’s a feeling of suddenly being teleported back to austerity Britain of the 1980s, complete with the impeccably timed release of the film based on the life of Margaret Thatcher called The Iron Lady.

In the course of our role at Mazars as business advisers and accountants, we speak to a variety of business people in the South West and the overarching message currently coming from them is that they have only survived, or in some cases, have grown, through international expansion.

Despite the turbulence and uncertainty in the eurozone, there is still much business to be done dealing with the less affected areas outside the eurozone, particularly in China and India.

However, before dismissing European trade out of hand, it is worth considering some of the individual countries which are still doing well and the easier logistics and familiar tax and legal regimes of trading within the eurozone.

If economic growth is to be realised, then chances are it will be achieved globally by doing business with emerging economies such as China and India.

To achieve business success at this level requires doing so on an international platform, bound by international regulations that are becoming too strong to ignore. We have seen this most recently in the audit market

writing, Osborne plans to make London a major international centre for trading China's currency, the Renminbi, and is pledging IMF funds to help boost the struggling eurozone, providing China also increases its backing. This story will undoubtedly develop.

Mazars Adrian Godfrey Partner

itself, with the European Commission adopting proposals set to dramatically improve auditing services throughout Europe.

The message is, therefore, that businesses need to think globally.

If there is a desire to expand internationally, the right infrastructure is needed at your fingertips. Often that means advice on all areas of business, from culture – for example, the ritual of the business card exchange in China is fraught with implications which could destroy your trading relationship in an instance - to trading structure - for example, certain countries will not allow a UK company to trade in their country.

Spotlight on India Since it recovered from the economic crisis that hit the country in 1991, India’s economy has grown into a force to be reckoned with. By adopting western business ideals and creating a liberalised and free market economy, India has transformed itself into a dynamic and accessible location for companies looking to expand.

Playing host to a potential market of 1.2 billion consumers and with one of the highest economic growth rates in the world, it’s no wonder Britain has seized the opportunity to invest and is now the fourth largest foreign

direct investor in India. Despite its growth potential, the country is not entirely immune to global economic pressures. India’s automotive industry is currently experiencing its rockiest period in 11 years.

However, experts believe that India will remain resilient and largely unscathed by the economic turmoil present in the US and Western Europe. If they are right, then India is on track to becoming a major economic force in its own right and companies that have the foresight to forge links now are in a good position to reap the benefits of Indian growth in the future.

Focus on China China is currently the worlds second largest economy, although the last two years have seen a slowdown in its growth as the recession suffered by parts of the world takes its effect.

However despite this reported ‘slowdown’, China are still showing growth of around 8-9 per cent.

Trading with China, although quite difficult to instigate, is one of the success stories of a lot of thriving businesses, fuelling their growth, due to the extensive use of Chinese products in households across the world.

The UK is already trying to forge links with China – at the time of

UK initiatives Finally, something to consider alongside global expansion is whether there are further opportunities to exploit within the UK. The UK Government is attempting to stimulate the UK economy with initiatives such as the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, encouraging individuals to invest in new start-up companies in the UK. In addition, there is talk of encouraging companies to offer employee shares in their business – which may result in a favourable change to the current approved share schemes that we have. And, of course, the significant increase to the existing Research and Development tax credit scheme, which continues to provide a considerable boost to innovative companies.

Despite the continued concerns about a double-dip recession, there are still avenues open to businesses for economic growth, but we need to change the current way of thinking and “think globally”.

To succeed in 2012 is not mission impossible. If we take advantage of the opportunities and think – and act – globally, we might avoid a rerun of the early 80s, with the Iron Lady at the helm. On second thoughts, perhaps some may think a return of the Iron Lady might not be such a bad thing in these challenging times...

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THE TRACKING SYSTEM THAT KEEPS YOU INFORMED AND HELPS BUSINESSES BE GREENER! Lister Communications’ Vehicle Tracking division has helped South West businesses save thousands of pounds and become more environmentally friendly. They are proud to have supplied and advised many of the largest vehicle fleets in the South West.

Director Jim Clapham explains “Companies running cars, vans, and trucks have for years wasted fuel and money by not planning routes, monitoring fuel usage, and not checking on driving behaviour.

Some of the features of Vehicle tracking include: • Updating customers on deliveries and arrival times etc • Route planning and “live” monitoring • Detailed reports on mileage, timesheets, job start/finish • Improved work productivity and control • Helping to fulfill the latest legislations(Duty of Care) The tracking systems have proved to have a Win-Win solution for the Environment and businesses, huge fuel savings, fewer wasted trips, and in turn less pollution. As an example, we estimate on average a fleet can achieve: • Savings of 600 litres of diesel per year/ vehicle • On a fleet of 10 vehicles = 6,000 litres/ year • An environmental saving of 16 tonnes CO2* per annum.

• A estimated cost saving of £8,880.00 per annum!

Lister supplied and fitted tracking in Smith’s trucks, vans and cars all over the south west.

Alan Ball, Smith’s Transport Manager; said “After an initial pilot scheme for 50 vehicles, we now having the tracking devices fitted throughout the fleet. The information has led to CASE STUDY Smiths(Gloucester) Limited has been established much greater efficiency and vast cost savings” since 1982 and has grown consistently to become Interested? one of the largest companies of its type with over www.listertrack.co.uk sales@listertrack.co.uk 500 employees and over 400 vehicles in its fleet.

01453829200 option 1

We have proven, low cost, and easy to use solutions to help employers with all aspects of fleet management. Most of our customers With such growth in vehicles, Smith’s asked have gone for a solution with a one particular Lister Communications for a cost effective, online goal in mind, and have been amazed at all the vehicle tracking system that could help them. other system benefits.”

1 year contract without any catches • 12 month contract • NO termination charge* • FREE installation • On-site warranty • Exceptional service Then £22.90 per month

• INCLUDES driving style monitoring

*All you need to do is send the tracking system back to us at the end of the rental period.

T: 01453 829244 E: track@listercom.com W: www.listertrack.com

G CE VI IN AT OF ER BR RS R S LE EA E 1 CE 0 Y TOM 201 1 S CU 01 T 20 EA

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Real-Time Vehicle Tracking from Quartix

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Commerce with a conscience: the rise and rise of sustainability Sustainability is no longer a tick-box exercise of who can best dress up their environmental credentials. It is at the heart of strategies and the cornerstone of mission statements - for the good of business today and our futures tomorrow

How we interpret sustainability and what it means to business varies from company to company. Its simplest definition is surely to replace what we take, not to damage our long-term aspirations for short-term gain.

In those simplest of terms, sustainability is an obvious mantra for business, an aid to performance, rather than another box to tick. And more than ever, it is becoming necessary for success.

Sustainability is not just about being low carbon or embracing renewable energy. It is one of the most important issues facing the West Country in 2012, affecting every aspect of business from production to procurement; and perhaps pertinently it is affecting the business community’s relationship with the state.

One of the biggest projects to encourage new entrepreneurs in the next 20 years will be the development of the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone in Bristol and one of the key planks of the regeneration will be how the city council and its partners in business embrace sustainability.

The West has learnt its lesson before about simply building homes without jobs, but by taking a sustainable approach to residential and commercial construction the union of homes and business in the Enterprise Zone will ensure a cluster of forward-thinking businesses with sustainable transport links to their homes.

The South West of England is home to over five million people and that number is steadily increasing. Geographically we’re the biggest and most rural of the nine English regions (although 80 per cent of the population lives in our towns and cities) and there are particular challenges around transport and access.

It is perhaps the logistical firms that are presented with the biggest challenges when it comes to sustainability – but companies like logistics specialists Howard Tenons tackled the problem admirably with dual fuel vehicles and sustainable warehousing that helps other companies enhance their sustainability credentials.

Companies are looking to deal with other similarly mindful firms – they are reviewing supply chains to ensure materials and services are sourced locally and will not only cut

the costs of transport but will also allow the building new contacts with local contractors and suppliers.

The West has always been a market leader when dipping its toe into new sustainable markets – take Honda for instance. From its Swindon factory it has installed a number of electric charging points at service stations along the M5 in Somerset, the first in the UK to do so.

All the way through this year’s Business Guide there are hints at the sustainable attitude today, from the local food producers forging links with bigger businesses to cut back on food miles – to perhaps the West Country’s biggest building project of the next 20 years, the new nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point in Somerset, where EDF is attempting to build a

78%

Proportion of the British public who want to see farmers given more support for environmentally sustainable practices that protect the countryside for future generations, according to a survey by the Campaign to Protect Rural England long-lasting relationship with its community and educating the next generation of scientists locally – because it is all too aware of the longterm value of building a sustainable future for the power station.

During the flurry of housebuilding projects this year – especially regeneration projects in Keynsham and Weston-super-Mare – there will be a realisation that today’s buildings which are not built to tomorrow’s standards will always be a false economy, because by 2016 all new homes in England will be zero carbon and by 2019 all new commercial buildings too. It pays to be sustainable.

The most measurable contributions to sustainable development came from companies in the West Country that use information on sustainable development not just to manage risk or defend current business practices, but to seek out new business opportunities and drive performance and innovation. Governments can and must do more to

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recognise, reward and replicate this practice.

In much of the UK, there is an economic system built on unsustainable behaviours and a belief that sustainability markets don’t emerge from nothing, in other words, they are not the brainchilds of entrepreneurs. They need or have been created.

Most of the major progress towards sustainable development which has been made can be directly traced to regulations, including subsidies and other government market interventions.

This is not true in the West Country today. It may have been true in the past, but now firms are using a sustainable approach to drive business,

The Bio-Bug is one of the breakthrough renewable projects of the past couple of years, developed by sustainability champion Wessex Water. The VW Beetle is powered by methane gas generated during the sewage treatment process. Wessex Water, which has its HQ in Claverton Down, near Bath, was recognised for its enthusiasm for embracing sustainability, as it was handed a gold award at the Green Apple awards, which recognises and promotes organisations whose practices are kind to the environment. Its sister company GENeco, which specialises in converting waste in to energy, was handed the silver award. It was GENeco that led the development of the Bio-Bug

not just to gain incentives.

Gloucestershire has been particularly forward-thinking in this regard – take Green Lamp for example, a company which makes sustainable CLF light bulbs. They are just as bright as incandescent bulbs and they light up quickly – and Green Lamp has won a breakthrough contract to supply lighting to Cheltenham Festivals. It comes as 60-watt light bulbs are phased out across Europe in the latest step of a continued drive by EU governments to ensure they meet carbon reduction targets. Sustainability is no longer a byword for endless reports and unwanted ‘green’ strategies. Today it is a byword for success.

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The renewable energy industry continues to innovate and lead the rest of the country despite the knockbacks dealt to a resilient solar sector

to continue to expand. Companies like Fathoms, based in Langport, Somerset, offer a range of surveying capabilities including environmental, hydrographical, hydrological, multi-beam and radiological and have enjoyed great success with county councils, offshore wind tier 1 contractors, ports and harbour authorities.

Bristol’s international profile as a global hub for high tech engineering and environmental technology services has also been reinforced with the news that LICenergy UK Ltd, a a leading Danish offshore and marine engineering company, is opening a new UK office in Bristol. LICenergy UK Ltd is moving into serviced offices within the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone and plans to recruit up to 20 engineers, draughtsmen and administrative staff over the next two years The company has worked within oil and gas, renewables, marine and civil engineering projects for the last 25 years and specialises in the design, analysis and site supervision of pipelines, subsea components and offshore structures including jackets and advanced

Whatever the reasons behind the Government’s decision to throw the solar industry into disarray by slashing the National Grid Feed-in-Tariff, there can be no denying the ill-effects of such a short-sighted decision still stuck in a courtroom battle.

The solar industry in the West Country had been working up quite a head of steam, as everyone from roofers to multinational building companies realised that the region was a prime location for solar, and that the Feed-in-Tariff incentive, which rewards homeowners and companies for feeding clean, renewable energy into the National Grid, was big reason to do so.

Unfortunately the bid to undo the Feed-in-Tariff, whether successful or not, has already done much to undermine such a burgeoning industry which had built roots in the South West. Climate minister Greg Barker defended the cuts as necessary to protect the scheme long-term. “The

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Jobs will be created in Somerset as solar power company A Shade Greener, moves its base from Yorkshire to a new headquarters at Somer Valley Enterprise Park in Paulton. The firm fits solar panels to homes and, due to a rise in demand, decided to create the new headquarters close to Bristol to allow the company to cover the whole of the UK. The Paulton base will allow the company to fulfil its ambition of installing more than 35,000 solar panels systems before March 2015

Megawatt hours of electrical power fed into the national grid by the Rolls-Royce tidal turbine unit off the Orkney Islands, Scotland. It was developed by Tidal Generation Limited (TGL), the Bristol-based subsidiary of Rolls-Royce which is pioneering sub-sea tidal energy technology plummeting costs of solar mean we’ve got no option but to act so that we stay within budget, and not threaten the whole viability of the Fits [feed-in tariff] scheme.”

The cuts prompted a furious backlash from the industry and green groups, with the chief complaint being the speed of the changes and the fact that hundreds of jobs were under threat. But there is hope that solar can shine again in 2012. The rush need not be over, if the subsidy is handled carefully. This Government believes in solar. It understands its huge industrial and employment potential and it knows it would be stupid to look a gift horse in the mouth – sustainable jobs in a growing sector cannot and will not be allowed to be lost.

The challenge for the Government this year is to make sure it uses the remaining subsidy far more wisely, puts the sector back on a more sustainable footing, and reforms the Feed-in-Tariff to put in place the budget and deployment mechanisms it should have had from the outset. Up and down the country thousands of people are getting together to find ways of generating energy. They are pooling resources, be it a field, a roof, a garden or even a stream, to share different ways of producing renewable energy for their community, and

Wind turbine specialist Ecotricity has been practising what it preaches by installing Stroud’s largest array of sun-capturing solar panels on the roof of its offices in the town. Ecotricity has fitted 150 panels on to its Unicorn House building in the centre of Stroud to help power its operations with renewable energy – including a new low-energy data centre. The company found itself in several headlines last year including buying Forest Green Rovers football club in Nailsworth and replacing it food served at the ground with an all-vegetarian offering the West Country is still in many ways at the forefront of this.

On a bigger scale, 2012 should see the development of the West’s biggest energy park. The old Royal Ordnance Factory at Puriton, near Bridgwater, was opened during the re-armament period before the Second World War and employed 1,000 people at its peak, but closed in 2008. Now Sedgemoor District Council wants it to tap into the need for green energy in partnership with owner BAE Systems.

While the park will take years to develop it could eventually cover 90 hectares. The land has been identified for a range of uses, with priority being given to renewable or lowcarbon energy generation and other energy-related or complimentary green technologies and support services. In an almost predictable but

sustainable approach, the habitat of the low-lying area will also be enhanced and an ecological park will be created – sustainable modes of trans-

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Applications from firms in the South West for Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Premium Payment grants compared to 452 from the South East, 325 from Wales and just 74 from the North East port will be encouraged and paths and footpaths will link the site to the villages of Puriton and Woolavington. Schemes such as this make for

exciting times in the South West’s renewables sector, which by now is far more than solar power. It is a diverse mix of microgeneration, offshore, onshore and heat-based renewable companies. Perhaps geothermal heat is the biggest growth market for 2012 – the organisation Regen SW has been at the forefront of of supporting renewable heat projects, and is helping develop a sustainable woodfuel sector. In 2012, the Renewable Heat Incentive will mean a significant shift towards biomass boilers and heat pumps, starting in commercial premises where the incentive currently applies. The rural nature of the South West with its many properties of the gas grid makes it particularly suited to renewable heat and expansion in the sector is too be expected.

Finally, marine renewables look set

foundation design for wind turbines.

MD of LICenergy UK Ltd, Morten Tobias Lind said: “After extensive research, LIC felt that Bristol offered the greatest potential for our expansion both as a geographically strategic base but also backed up with the high academic standard of engineers qualifying from the University.

Throughout our research to establish a UK base the support we have received from Invest in Bristol has been faultless. The team have been a key element in our final decision to settle here. The vibrancy of the city matches well with our Danish roots and we look forward to becoming a part of this expanding and exciting business community.”

Alan Bailey, Chairman of Low Carbon South West added: “This is fantastic news for Bristol and its flourishing renewable energy sector.

Bringing international expertise from companies like LICenergy UK to the city is vital not only for this sector but also for the local economy.”

The depth of knowledge and expertise in renewables continues to grow, and a more productive relationship with Government this year should see that expand again.

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14 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 ENERGY

An artist’s impression of the new Hinkley Point development in Somerset, above, and EDF apprentices Matt Howell and Alasdair Hinchliffe at Hinkley B, below

An old neighbour determined to secure the future EDF Energy Richard Mayson Director of planning and external affairs, nuclear new build at EDF Energy

Nuclear power has been a feature of Somerset life for decades. For more than 50 years, power plants at Hinkley Point have been part of the landscape and community, ever since construction of the first nuclear station began there in 1957.

With EDF Energy’s plans for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C progressing, we believe Somerset can continue play a pioneering role in creating a low carbon future.

New nuclear will make an important contribution to the UK’s future needs for clean, secure and affordable energy. It will help to cut our carbon emissions and keep the lights on.

Furthermore, with energy bills fea-

turing high on consumers’ agenda this winter, it is important to remember that nuclear power can help protect households and businesses from rising oil and gas costs.

At Hinkley Point C, a new nuclear station will generate sufficient electricity for five million homes and during each year of its planned 60 years of operation, it will avoid over 10 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

We also believe new nuclear is part of the growth agenda for Britain.

It will restart a nuclear construction industry after a gap of nearly 20 years and create jobs and business opportunities for decades to come, as well as new contracts for local firms

and a multi-million pound investment to transform the South West economy.

But our priority is to make sure this is done safely and with regard for the local community. We understand that some people are concerned about nuclear power following the events at Fukushima in Japan. That is why we welcomed the Government’s request for a report by Dr Mike Weightman, the Chief Nuclear Inspector, into the implications of the incident at Fukushima for the UK. It is why we are committed to implementing the Weightman report’s final recommendations in full. Dr Weightman reaffirmed in his final report that the

UK nuclear operations are safe, and that there are no safety issues that could prevent new nuclear from going ahead in the UK. Which leads us to the economic case and the other steps that we are taking to turn this major project into reality. Getting more local people trained and into work is a priority.

We’ll be creating at least 5,000 jobs for Somerset people during the construction period, and 900 permanent jobs during operation. But it’s two decades since a new nuclear plant was built in the UK and we are having almost to recreate an industry to replace lost knowledge and expertise.

In addition to our own responsibilities, to deliver a project of this scale and importance requires a concerted and widespread effort from many other parties, including local authorities, business groups, suppliers, schools and colleges and the local community.

We recognise that local people may need help to develop the necessary skills should the project go ahead, so we’ll be investing more than £6 million in local colleges including Bridgwater College, where we’ve just announced plans for an additional £15m partnership to create a world class national training centre. A further sign of our commitment to Somerset and the South West.

Students and teachers have told us how important the project is to the future of many young people in the area.

There will be a big boost to the regional economy, independently estimated to be worth up to £100m during each year of peak construction and £40m during each year of operation. Local firms, many of which are experiencing tough trading conditions, have told us they see Hinkley Point C as a lifeline. That’s

why, with the help of the Somerset Chamber of Commerce, almost 1,000 companies have already registered their interest for work in our supply chain and we’ve already committed nearly £50 million worth of contracts to South West firms.

This project represents one of the biggest civil engineering projects the South West, and indeed the UK, has seen for a long time.

And while it’s a project of national importance, we are not developing our plans in isolation.

We’ve been a part of the community in Somerset for over 50 years, it’s something we’re very proud of and we’re very mindful of being a good neighbour.

We know that our proposed development will bring benefits to local communities but, like any project of this magnitude during construction, it will also cause some disruption.

That is why we have consulted and engaged for three years on our plans with local people, we’ve listened to their concerns and, wherever possible, we’ve adapted our proposals to take these concerns into account.

And we are determined to mitigate or manage the impacts of our new build plans on the local community.

Our efforts to do so are reflected in our application to the Infrastructure Planning Commission, which will be examined in detail this year.

Our transport strategy is based on carrying as much of the heavy materials as possible by sea to minimise road traffic. Most workers will get to the construction site by bus, to avoid increasing the number of cars on the road. We’ve also proposed several highway improvements for the local area.

Our accommodation proposals seek to balance the needs of our workers with the needs of local residents and businesses. We know that many

£6m

Sum invested in local college by EDF as part of the Hinkley project local people are keen to rent spare rooms to workers, and many B&Bs, hotels and guest houses will benefit by securing extra rent outside the peak holiday period when there are rooms vacant.

We are also providing three purpose-built, temporary accommodation near the main site and in Bridgwater, which will take the pressure off the local housing supply. This accommodation is an effective temporary solution to a temporary impact. As further support for people struggling in the local housing market, we’re proposing a £5m Housing Fund.

This could refurbish properties, with lasting benefits for the housing stock and help young people get a foot on the housing ladder.

Our proposed £300m of investment includes funds in infrastructure, skills and services that will be of lasting benefit and improve the quality of life for Somerset people.

We believe new nuclear offers a fantastic opportunity for the South West, helping to deliver the UK’s future energy needs and acting as a powerhouse for the UK economy. We are determined to work with the community to make this project a success.

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training solutions for the nuclear industry Bridgwater College is proud to partner EDF Energy in creating a highly skilled workforce for the nuclear industry, with programmes ranging from NVQs through to Foundation Degrees.

Training opportunities include:

• • •

ANIA Nuclear Decommissioning Nuclear Engineering

• •

Nuclear Triple Bar – existing and new build sites Radiation Protection.

For further information please call the Employer Response Team on 01278 655111 or email

business@bridgwater.ac.uk

www.bridgwater.ac.uk

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above and beyond Belfast | Blackpool | Gloucester (M5) | Jersey | Leeds | London Oxford | Newcastle

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Still flying high: how aviation steered clear of the slump While our airports chase new business and more passengers, the West Country’s aviation manufacturers continue to attract major contracts, avoiding the turbulence of the economic slump, as the industry braces itself for the possibility of recession

Aviation is stitched into the very heart of the West Country’s industrial heritage, from the box kite on the Bristol downs to the glory of Concorde.

But heritage alone can do little to protect today’s multi-million industry. The region’s plethora of firms may have acted intelligently to combat the effects of recession, but a downward plunge has in some ways been unavoidable.

The Exeter-based airline Flybe is perhaps closest to the frontline of suffering the affects of a downturn in the commercial aviation industry.

A further fall in demand for domestic flights in the UK over recent months triggered a profits warning at the airline earlier this month, prompting a nosedive in shares of more than 20 per cent after it said revenues in the final three months of 2011 would be significantly lower than it had hoped, fuelling fears in the City for a full-year loss.

Although Flybe grew its market share by keeping its sales and passenger numbers flat on the same period a year ago, it has been forced to scrap planned increases in margins, suggesting that profits will also be hit. It is understood that Flybe kept its prices broadly flat despite the rising price of fuel - perhaps the biggest direct threat to the commercial aviation industry in 2012. Flybe has said December was “particularly disappointing” with the UK domestic air travel market continuing to deteriorate.

So far, 2012 appears to be suffering from the after-effects of a poor last quarter of 2011. Flybe’s main competitors, EasyJet and Ryanair both seem intent on continuing to play familiar PR cards, after recovering from the Government’s crackdown on heavy ‘payment surcharges’ imposed by airlines relatively unscathed (Ryanair went as far as to say it does not even implement a surcharge).

Both airlines have a key presence at Bristol Airport and expanded the number of routes they operate in 2011, establishing themselves as key cogs in the West Country’s economy.

This will bring millions more passengers to the region, both for pleasure and business, and a significant proportion of these will fly on these two airlines.

Indeed, the airport’s influence on the region’s prosperity cannot be underestimated. It overcame a legitimate High Court challenge from local campaign group Stop Bristol Airport Expansion, where a judge ruled the airport was correct in following the guidelines laid down in the Labour Government’s 2003 white paper on aviation.

As it gears towards a bigger operation, it is planning to take on 75 more staff this year to work in the terminal building, partly to handle an increase in passenger numbers year-on-year.

It comes after record passenger numbers in September last year, topping 610,000 in one month. The air-

5 The length of the contract, in years, Bristol aviation technology specialist Vistair has won with Emirates to provide digital training manuals for its entire fleet, including the world’s biggest plane the Airbus A380 super-jumbo. Vistair will provide, manage, and update cloud-based e-manuals for the airline’s entire fleet port has, perhaps surprisingly predicted further growth in 2012, despite a tough economic conditions and other regional airports struggling.

Robert Sinclair, Chief Executive Officer at Bristol Airport, said: “Last month was the busiest September ever at Bristol Airport.

Poor weather in July and August resulted in a lot of people heading abroad for some late summer sun, and we have also seen a resurgence in business travel. We are very fortunate to be the leading airport in the South West market, which has proven to more resilient than other regions over the last few years.

“While we do not expect to see such high passenger numbers over the winter as conditions continue to be tough for business and leisure travellers alike, September’s result is an encouraging sign that strong growth will return in 2012.”

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AVIATION WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 17

Inside the huge new Electrical Power Integration Centre (EPIC) which opened at GE Aviation in Bishop’s Cleeve, Cheltenham, last autumn.

The £6 million research and development centre covers some 30,000 square feet and will allow GE to create an aircraft’s entire electrical system in the laboratory. GE Aviation provides electronic and mechanical systems for the world’s leading aircraft. This includes the integrated modular avionics, flight management and stores management systems and it employs some 1,565 people in 14 buildings. The company provides the multi-purpose cockpit display for the Eurofighter Typhoon including a system that allows the pilot to talk to the onboard computer. And GE Aviation is producing the common core and landing gear actuation together with the high-lift systems for the next generation Boeing 787 Dreamliner airliner which is said to use 20 per cent less fuel than similar sized aircraft

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18 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 AVIATION

Airbus workers at Filton had their first chance to see an aircraft fitted with the new Airbus sharklet wing tips when the company’s A320 development aircraft made a flying visit to the factory earlier this month. Mark Stewart, general manager at Filton, said: “Filton is, among other things, the UK centre of excellence for advanced engineering and design, and the teams here are playing a key role in the development of the sharklet programme which will make a significant improvement to the aerodynamic efficiency of the A320 – which is obviously better for the environment and will reduce airline operating costs.” Over 200 managers, engineers and designers at Airbus in Filton are involved in the sharklet programme, designing the 2.5m tall devices and modifying the aircraft’s wings to accommodate them

FROM PAGE 17 A significant factor behind the record September volumes was easyJet’s decision to extend the stay of an additional aircraft operating from Bristol throughout the summer. The airline bases ten planes at the airport year-round, with an 11-aircraft to meet demand during the peak holiday season. This year the extra A320 remained in place until the end of September, making an additional 10,000 seats available to destinations including Geneva, Pisa, Nice and Malaga.

It augurs well for the health of the economy, where busy ports can be key. In Gloucestershire, development of Gloucestershire Airport in Staverton continues apace. The airport, which specialises in corporate flights has seen significant growth in its niche area of the market, taking business its rivals have not concentrated on.

And as phase two of the expansion project begins, Mr Lewington said the airport would get a financial boost when close rival Filton airfield closes at the end of 2012.

It will be sad to see Filton’s historic airfield go, but while Bristol is often seen as the spiritual home of aviation, Gloucestershire is not short on history.

Indeed, the maiden flight of the Gloster E28, Britain’s first jet plane, took place 70 years ago and was designed in Gloucester and powered by Sir Frank Whittle's revolutionary jet engine. Staverton Airport seeks to claim the spirit of that heritage in

what is hoped to be a progressive year, with 600 staff now on the books and around 160 aircraft, ranging from single seat microlights to state-of-theart executive jets, at its expanding site.

Head of operations Darren Lewington explains: “With Filton closing, although it’s bad news for flying generally as there are fewer airports to operate out of, it’s great news for us in business terms. It’s easier to land at a smaller airport like us than to use major airports like Bristol and Birmingham as we are so much smaller and so much more straightforward.”

Of course, airlines and airfields are just a small portion of the region’s aviation industry. The manufacturing giants, namely Airbus, Rolls Royce, GKN, Messier Bugatti Dowty and GE Aviation, have diverse prospects for the year.

Airbus in particular have had a turbulent beginning to 2012, after its a portion of its fleet were grounded in Australia over fears with its wings partly produced in Bristol. After a storming 2011, where it took record orders for its planes, it will be looking for a steadier 2012, as will employees and supply chain.

It will be difficult to disguise the disappointment at its factory after up to 800 possible jobs could have been brought to its factory in Filton under the banner of the engineering firm GKN, which Airbus works closely with. GKN was hoping to a win multimillion-pound contract which would have brought hundreds of jobs to the South West. But, as feared, Airbus opted to sign a deal with Korean

Aerospace Industries and outsource the work to the Far East. Airbus has insisted the total of 800 jobs is much lower, but the announcement is still a major blow for the city. The Unite union, which represents workers at Filton, described the move as a “massive own goal” for the aviation industry.

Unite's national officer for aerospace Ian Waddell said: “This decision is a real blow for the UK aerospace industry. We have many

£7bn

The value of the deal struck between plane manufacturer Airbus and Mexican budget airline Volaris for 44 eco-efficient Airbus A320 aircraft. The deal is the biggest of its kind to take place in Mexico and is yet again affirmation of the incredible popularity of the A320 neo. The plane is around 10 per cent more fuel efficient than its rival thanks in part to the winglets designed at Filton UK companies that are ready, willing and able to carry out work for Airbus but who have missed out now that work is being sent offshore to Korea.”

But the disappointment could be offset with the promise that more jobs will come to the West following a record year of profits and sales at Airbus.

The view from above Gloucestershire Airport, set for an exciting year in 2012

The company, which employs around 4,000 people in Filton, has insisted that it is still planning to increase the size of its workforce in the UK and announced that it will take on an extra 4,000 staff across its global operations over the next year.

Airbus said it could not give precise recruitment figures for the UK but added that a “fair share” will be coming to its operations in Bristol.

The performance of engineers Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, which manufactures aircraft landing and breaking systems from its base near Staverton Airport, will be closely watched in the coming months.

The company was last year successful in applying for cash from the Regional Growth Fund to expand its presence in the West Country. The money, from the discretionary fund set up to stimulate private sector investment, will meet 20 per cent of the cost of establishing an integrated Centre of Excellence for the development of modern landing gear systems.

It will put the West at the hub of an international centre for excellence.

The Centre of Excellence will replace a number of pre-1940s factory units and office buildings at the Staverton factory to house engineering and production teams.

“It will help secure employment in the area. It will be a Centre of Excellence of global standing,” said managing director Mr Platt.

Whatever the effects of the recession, the West’s aviation sector looks set to do what it has always down adapt, innovate and survive.

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The historic airport climbing to new heights in its niche Gloucestershire Airport Darren Lewington Head of Operations

If you’re one of Manx2.com’s 75 000 passengers using the regular Isle of Man, Belfast City or Jersey services it’ll be a familiar journey, but how many of the thousands of motorists driving past Junction 11 of the M5 every day realise that they’re just a few hundred yards from one of the UK’s busiest airports?

Gloucestershire Airport nestles on the north western edge of the Cotswolds, midway between Gloucester and Cheltenham, just three minutes from the motorway junction and beside the A40. With such excellent road links, the airport boasts a catchment area of some 8.4 million people within 90 minutes drive.

With Plymouth airport having already closed its doors, Filton scheduled for closure at the end of 2012, and a major £4m runway safety project nearing completion, this little-known airport’s profile is undoubtedly about to be raised within the region.

History So how has this 400-acre site stayed ‘below the radar’ for so long? Originally opened as a municipal airport in 1936 by Gloucester City and Cheltenham Borough Councils, the first commercial passenger services were a quaint ‘request stop’ of Railway Air Services’ Birmingham to Bristol route.

Requisitioned during the war, RAF Staverton served as a navigation training school. Local aircraft com-

Former RAF Pilot Roy Virgoe climbs into a Tigermoth Aircraft for his 85th birthday at the airport

panies such as Rotol and Gloster also used the airfield for developing and flight testing cutting edge aerospace technologies that the region remains famous for.

During the 1970s, a number of passenger services to destinations such as Jersey, Dublin and the Isle of Man operated. As modern jet aircraft, unable to operate from Staverton’s modest runways replaced turboprops, passenger services gradually declined during the 1980s.

General aviation focus The airport continued to flourish, however, as a centre for ‘general aviation’, which includes all aspects of commercial pilot training, recreational flying, business and corporate aviation. Home to around 160 aircraft ranging from single seat microlights to state-of-the-art executive jets, the airport handles a staggering 70-80 000 flights per year. The airport employs 50 staff and a further 40 aviation businesses on the site employ 500 more. Their combined turnover exceeds £200m and accounts for 10 per cent of the UK’s general aviation industry’s contribution to the economy.

Scheduled Services Passenger flights returned to the airport in 2007, with Isle of Man-based Manx2.com commencing regular scheduled services. The Isle of Man is served up to three times daily. There are connections onwards the Belfast City three days per week and twice weekly flights to Jersey all using a modern 19-seat turboprop.

We attribute the success of the routes, which have grown steadily, to the simplicity of using the airport.

“Free parking just yards from the terminal, a 40-minute check and no queues at departures or on arrival is the total opposite of what modern air travel has become. We can deliver great quality, friendly service and our customers appreciate it. The passenger demographic is interesting; we have regular fliers from Devon, Corn-

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A view of a runway at Gloucestershire Airport, which sits between Gloucester and Cheltenham in Staverton wall, South Wales and all along the M4 and M5 corridors.

Runway project With buildings, a brook and public footpath in close proximity to the runway ends, safety restrictions limited the length of the runway that could be used for landing and takeoff.

Engineering works to address the problems began in May 2011. Buildings have been relocated, obstacles demolished, a new entrance road has been constructed and a 70m section of brook culverted. A small, 12m runway extension has been laid; further enhancing the runway environment and clawing back useable runway length. The final phase of the project will see an Instrument Landing System installed enabling air-

craft to land in poor visibility and providing a useful commercial pilot training aid.

Business growth In addition to the safety enhancements, the project opens the door to new business opportunities. The extra runway capability will enable corporate aircraft to operate with fewer restrictions and better payloads.

I firmly believe this is where the airport will recoup its investment.

The demand for corporate aviation remains, despite the economic climate. You might not find the company jet on the balance sheet in these austere times, but businesses of all sizes continue to use corporate aircraft frequently. They deliver that most valuable of commodities, time.

Your chief executive can fly from A to B and C all in the space of a day and be back in the office tomorrow. Using airports like Gloucester, free of slot restrictions makes the process even easier.

With Filton’s imminent closure, we are well placed to serve this need for the South West and our tenants are gearing up for the anticipated boost in traffic. We’re realistic about the markets we can serve. Our modest runway and terminal could never support larger passenger jets, nor would it be viable for us to compete with the bigger regional airports.

Nevertheless, there are a number of niche avenues for us to develop and we’re confident we can deliver success.

Website www.gloucestershireairport.co.uk

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20 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 DEFENCE

Business Secretary Vince Cable announced a new helicopter manufacturing programme for The AW169, picture above, at AgustaWestland in Yeovil in the summer. The programme will see £32 million invested by the Government in helicopter production, research and development in Somerset. The AW619 is aimed at the civilian market to be used by the Police and Air Ambulance

Defence looks to supply abroad, as the cuts take our troops away The devastating impact of the defence spending review cannot be underestimated, but the West Country’s defence sector has shown an admirable adaptability in difficult circumstances, selling its technology to countries willing to spend

The effects of the Government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review will clearly be felt for some time yet, and there may be companies in the defence sector that fail to recover from the ripples that continue to eminate from the portfolio of Phillip Hammond.

When former Defence Secretary Liam Fox finally stepped out of his role and fled the storm around his private life last autumn, Mr Hammond, the latest incumbent clearly didn’t feel the time was up on the spending review. Just last week, he announced that up to 2,900 members of the Army, 1,000 members of the Royal Air Force and 300 members of the Royal Navy will be made redundant in the latest round of cuts.

The impacts of such deep cuts to spending are so far immeasurable, but there are a series of undeniable facts that accompany it. Whatever the moral or political gain or loss to be had from having fewer troops, it means Britain involving itself in fewer fights. Clearly, that means less kit to supply troops with, fewer

Gurkha regiments have bore the brunt of the job losses as thousands of military personnel face the axe in the latest spending cuts announcements

vehicles for them to drive and fewer helicopters for them to fly, or indeed to be maintained.

The last point will be particularly pertinent to helicopter manufacturer Agusta Westland, which has undeniably suffered in 2011. Long a key employer in the West Country, the firm, based near the RNAS Yeovilton base in Somerset, was forced to make 375 redundancies in October. It came just after the nearby defence manufacturer BAE Systems made 132 of its 190-strong staff redundant, an unprecedented redundancy from one of the West Country’s most impressive and innovative firms of the last decade.

It is difficult to deny these redundancies were not linked to the spending review - contracts from the Ministry of Defence are their lifeblood and there are simply less to go around now. These are jobs that are well-paid and highly skilled in a specialist, niche area - they are central to the economy of a place like Yeovil.

However, companies like Agusta

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Voluntary redundancy applications thought to have been received by AgustaWestland in Yeovil so far, but not all will be accepted. A job-matching process, where those in positions at risk can apply for vacancies in other areas of the company, will follow. In October, the company predicted the axe was more likely to fall in management and corporate function departments, rather than engineering

£9,000

The average bonus for a ‘senior official’ in the plain-clothes departments of the Ministry of Defence. Meanwhile, 22,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen, have been made redundant. In total MoD civil servants have pocketed £40 million in bonuses

Fleet Air Arm Merlin helicopters developed

by AgustaWestland from 820 Naval Air Squadron, taken from the deck of RFA Argus in the autumn of 2011

years. The first Mk 2 Merlin will be delivered to Culdrose for evaluation in September 2012 and will enter service the following year. While the Merlin’s primary Naval task remains scanning the seas for enemy craft above and below the surface, the Mk II version will carry out other tasks such as airlifting supplies and troop transport. New lighting and roping equipment will help with search and rescue operations while changes to free up space inside the aircraft increases its capacity to deploy troops and evacuate casualties – a role RAF Merlins have provided in Afghanistan.

By removing part of the mission console, the Merlin Mk II can carry up to 12 casualties on stretchers, four more than current capacity. The upgrading project aims to extend the Merlin’s life by 20 years and the fleet should be fully operational just before Christmas 2014.

Another of the West’s historic defence firms also had reason to celebrate towards the end of 2011, as Melksham-based Avon Rubber recorded profits of more than £11 million, but it was the firm’s comments that make interesting reading for the rest of the industry.

The firm said job losses at its Westbury factory and outsourcing production of its gas masks to Eastern

Examples of military innovation by British defence firms. Top and middle show projects developed by Bath-based BMT, a mobile bridge for soldiers in Afghanistan and the Talisman vehicle, which has now been deployed in the war-torn nation. Above is a BAE Systems Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 loaded with simulated weapons displays at the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford, Gloucestershire last July, the largest military airshow in the world

jobs have been lost at the MoD’s Abbey Wood complex in Bristol, the Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, was quick to laud the opening of the new base for Selex, right next to Abbey Wood. It will be the new home for 200 workers working on cutting edge military intelligence projects.

Advances in military technology are the West’s niche and that can continue to thrive if research and development is nutured. BMT, is another prime example – the engineering firm in Bath is literally saving lives in Afghanistan thanks to the Talisman programme it has been working on with other companies at Abbey Wood. It has developed devices that enable the Army to clear routes of IEDs and to quickly create new routes around minefields. Each Talisman system comprises Mastiff protected patrol vehicles, Buffalo mineprotected vehicles with a rummaging arm, JCB high-mobility engineer excavators, micro air vehicles and remote-control vehicles. BMT is now assisting the MoD’s Defence Equipment and Support unit with other urgent projects.

A clutch of firms have shown they can ride out the spending cuts by continuing to innovate and adapt – and that precocious talent is the glimmer of hope that can carry this industry, whether they are working at home or abroad, to better times.

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Europe had made it more sustainable. Already a leading exporter, many firms in the West Country used to dealing within Britain’s borders may follow Avon’s lead and make more forays into the international market in 2012.

BAE Systems is reviewing its business in light of cuts in defence spending, and has targeted Turkey and Brazil, both of which are expanding their military spending. At the turn of 2012 it announced it had won a £133m deal to supply Brazil with three warships, as the company, which has bases throughout the West Country begins to reflect the longheld view of Avon Rubber, which has for many years supplied other nations where the MoD has been less accommodating.

Though that is not to say BAE’s relationship with the MoD is not broken – despite spending cuts it has recently been granted a £40 million four-year research contract to investigate critical technologies and key systems integration for the UK’s next generation of highly capable air systems.

While that £40m of spending may not sit well with the troops that are about to be made redundant, it does highlight one important point – the Government’s apparent intent to protect and encourage defence research and development is crucial. For example, while more adminstrative

Westland are resilent and have enough skill to survive. As it celebrates ten years of working with the Royal Navy, it looks to have secured a major contract to upgrade 30 of the aircraft at its Yeovil factory and a long-term £570 million deal for Agusta Westland to provide operational support for the aircraft is moving into its second five-year phase. The success is down to the jewel in the Anglo-Italian company’s crown, the Merlin. Commander Darran Goldsmith, commanding officer of 814 Naval Air Squadron based at Yeovilton, describes it as the one craft he relies on most. He said: “If you’re the captain of a ship, you want something which can do anti-submarine warfare, can do counterpiracy, and can drop off 11 troops. If I was captain of a ship, I’d want a squadron of Merlins. It’s a brilliant aircraft – it does exactly what it says on the tin… and it’s a very big tin.”

Merlin has been used to trap drug runners in the Caribbean and pirates off the Horn of Africa, helped enforce the UN embargo off Libya earlier this year, supported amphibious exercises from Africa to the Mediterranean, as well as maintaining its original role of tracking submarines with an extended deployment to the USA in the summer of 2010. Most recently it has been working with HMS Turbulent and the US Navy in the Indian Ocean.

But it is the next generation of Merlin, the mk2, which will have fellow manufacturers looking on with envy, which should secure AgustaWestland’s position for future

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22 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 CONSTRUCTION

Creating a sustainable industry for the West Britannia Construction Paul Halfpenny Managing Director Recent figures show that the construction industry here in the South West is set to grow in 2012 by 2 per cent, outperforming the UK as a whole. This growth is primarily being driven by the requirement for new homes, recently given momentum by the Government’s new housing strategy. This will not only open up the homes market, it will help the whole construction industry get moving again.

At Britannia our civil engineering teams work alongside many house-builders and developers throughout the region in the installation of infrastructure works on both housing and commercial developments. One such project has been at one of the West’s largest residential development sites, Quedgeley Urban Village in Gloucestershire.

Here, 3,000 dwellings are set to be built over the next ten years – a project that not only gives optimism for first time buyers, but also provides clear opportunities for the regional economy.

There are many enterprises here in the West which are knocking the doom and gloom into touch. At Britannia we have the pleasure of working alongside Spirax Sarco. As world leaders in their field of the control and efficient use of steam and industrial fluids, they have created a strong global market for their products and an enviable reputation alongside.

To facilitate their growth plans, the company is instigating a major redevelopment of their Cheltenham site.

This is no mean feat as it involves linking two sites either side of a major link road via a

‘By signing the WRAP Construction Commitment, Britannia has pledged to reduce the waste we send to landfill’ passenger and vehicle tunnel. Our team has brought its extensive civil engineering experience to bear in this cutting edge project, which is ensuring that the business stays in its home town. Creating a sustainable business is all encompassing, from job creation and investment, through to responsible management of the supply chain and commitment to the environment. At Britannia we take our responsibilities very seriously, accredited under BS EN ISO 14001:2004. On all our projects, we do everything reasonably possible to ensure the impact on the environment is kept to a minimum, through the selection of sustainable materials, minimising waste, avoidance of air and noise pollution to adjacent land/building occupiers and safe working practices.

We encourage re-cycling of materials; this is especially relevant to the many restoration projects we undertake, which rely on the availability of good quality reclaimed materials.

The construction industry produces some 120 million tonnes of construction, demolition and excavation waste every year – around one third of all waste in the UK. By signing the WRAP Construction Commitment, Britannia has pledged to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill. Waste costs money, and this makes sound commercial sense, as well as being good for the environment.

Telephone 01452 859 880 Email info@britanniaconstruction.co.uk Website www.britanniaconstruction.co.uk

Capital projects may replace our builders’ caution with optimism Despite losing another familiar name already this year, 2012 could be a year of salvation for the construction sector and its supply chain, as several major capital projects finally begin building upon the promise of past years

There are a few sectors battered more than construction over the past few years, and the West Country has been no exception.

Optimism has been in short supply as the major capital projects that have long promised to be the spark to lift not just construction but the region in its entirety have continued to be muddled in planning and bureaucracy.

The region has just lost a familiar name in Black Horse, a key figure in civil engineering in the West and Wales, which collapsed just before Christmas, putting 200 people out of work. Little is known of the collapse apart from the company blaming “tightening economic conditions”, a familiar foe for all in the sector - no money to spend, no money to build.

But 2012 may finally be a year of opportunity for the West to build its way out of the slump.

The axis of construction’s future is likely to be aligned around the new nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point, the expansion of Bristol Airport and a surge in housebuilding invited by reforms to the Government’s controversial planning policy.

Already Bristol Airport has begun the tendering process for 12 contractions to work on its £150 million expansion project. Years in the waiting, the project, which can finally shake-off its familiar ‘masterplan’ tag includes the construction of terminal buildings, walkways, terminal piers, car parks (multi-storey and ground-level), and a hotel.

And further south Kier Bam has landed the best of the early contracts at Hinkley Point C. It has been named as the preferred bidder for the £100 million contract for site preparation works at the power station. It was a big win for Kier, based in Avonmouth, overcoming rival joint ventures between Balfour Beatty/Vinci and Costain/Sir Robert McAlpine in the deal. The firm now says it will create 350 new jobs as it tackles excavation, earthworks and terracing and the building of a road network for construction purposes.

It comes after EDF signed up Areva for the early design work for the main reactor systems. This has already begun and is set to enable the development of equipment specifications, allowing companies to bid for supply contracts. Areva is already

starting to produce the heavy forgings required for critical reactor components, following a contract signed between the companies in July.

The developments signal a uplifting year for construction after a torrid time. In our Business Guide 2011, Britain was emerging from the second long, harsh winter in a row, kicking builders squarely in the gut after they stared down at the grimness of recession. This year, the winter has been kinder and the opportunities are far greater in number.

And the proof is in the data. A Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index survey for construction, in which a reading above 50 represents expansion, rose to 53.2 in December from 52.3 in November, boosted by new business and a rise in employment.

Outside of the West Country’s civil engineering projects, such as the Crossrail scheme in London, recorded the fastest growth in the month, while housebuilding increased for the second month running. Commercial construction grew but at its slowest pace in a year.

But, it comes off the back of a 12 months when construction grew stronger every month. New business received by UK construction companies increased for a third consecutive month in December, Markit said, reflecting a general rise in tender opportunities and successful bids.

Construction firms also reported a continued rise in input prices, as raw material and energy costs increased, which may fuel fears that the rate of inflation will not cool as quickly as hoped by the Bank of England.

Housebuilding, in a slump with the housing market for so long, appears to be growing as well.

After the bitter Kraft’s takeover of Cadbury, a PR disaster which the US food giant will struggle to bury in 2011, the former Somerdale chocolate factory in Keynsham will represent one of the biggest housebuilding projects of 2012, should planning be gained.

The factory produced its last Curly Wurly in March of last year and production was moved to Poland and there is a still a bad taste in the proud chocolate-making town of Keynsham,

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ÂŁ229,871 Average house price in the second half of 2011, a fall of 2.7 per cent

Above: Part of the former Somerdale factory complex, which will be transformed in one of 2012’s biggest construction projects. Below: the Mears Group fleet of vans outside its Brockworth headquarters. Bottom: A soldier marches outside the Battlesbury Barracks in Warminster, about to undergo a £10 million refit

indictment of Government policy.

Chief executive of Mears Group, David Miles, said: “Whilst PV forms a very small part of our social housing activities, the Government’s recent proposals to reduce the PV Feed-in Tariff are disappointing. It is unfortunate that we have wasted both time and resource in this area over the past six months.�

While Mears are big enough to stomach such as loss, the impact on smaller construction firms who had invested time, money and research and development in solar will surely greater.

Those who gambled on the solar rush, were wrongly led to believe they had better odds of succeeding.

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Increase in profits at Barretts in the second half of 2011, indicating growing confidence the new homes market. The housebuilder hopes to start building 900 homes in the Bristol area alone in 2012, across nine developments, subject to planning permission

All about to change? An aerial view of Bristol Airport’s current terminal building, and its old building

portunities, particularly in the garrison towns of Wiltshire, which support the county’s array of military bases.

Already this has yield good news for contractor ISG, which has been awarded a contract to upgrade Battlesbury Barracks in Warminster, which is the home of the 3rd battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment.

The total value of the contract, which also involves refurbishing Lille Barracks in Aldershot, is ÂŁ9.7 million and work has already begun.

The scheme also involves a comprehensive upgrade in the standard of accommodation and facilities throughout the barracks. It is a boost for ISG after the company decided to stop building affordable homes in the South West, a blow for those hoping for a more sustainable approach to housebuilding this year.

ISG cited a “lack of opportunities outside London,� presumably with so much funding directed towards Olympics associated projects, rather than the regions.

It is difficult to write about the buildings industry and ignore the continued rise of Mears, in what looks to be another positive move for the Gloucester-based company, despite its recent decision to write off ÂŁ2 million as part of its departure from

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the solar sector. The UK’s leading housing maintenance specialist has widened its net around the nation, picking up £156 million worth of contracts in Gateshead and Tamworth. It began last year by buying the collapsed Exeter-based rival Rok, and looks to have begun this year in similar domineering fashion, after rounding off 2011 with record results, even if it does admit the Government’s refusal to back down over its disagreements with the solar industry has hit it and the construction sector hard.

The Government halved the solar Photovoltaic (PV) Feed-in Tariff subsidy in December, prompting Mears to pull out of solar, in a damning

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which was falsely promised by Kraft that the factory would once again be the chocolate making powerhouse of days gone by.

That never came to pass, but now Taylor Wimpey will attempt to change the long-standing factory into 700 homes, a nursing home, a hotel, a restaurant and a primary school in a ÂŁ50 million development sure to create scores of jobs in the area. The sports pitches, originally provided by the chocolate company for its employees, will be protected from development and a new club provided, the housebuilder has said, after it bought the site for a reported ÂŁ6 million.

Taylor Wimpey has indicated that “public consultation will form a major part of the planning process� but it will have to tread a fine path by protecting social heritage and building homes for the future if it is to navigate surely one of the more difficult planning battles of 2012.

But aside from the old factory, it seems Keynsham will be awash with millions of investment after Bath and North East Somerset Council awarded Willmott Dixon a ÂŁ33 million deal to design and build the Keynsham Regeneration Project.

Regeneration projects have been few and far between in the West Country apart from the millions still being spent on upgrading the centre of Gloucester, and Keynsham’s two stage design and build project will involve construction of offices, retail, library and one stop shop, public realm and highway improvements.

The huge project is a redevelopment of the existing town hall site in Keynsham. It comes after Willmott Dixon won a ÂŁ33 million contract for a leisure, business support and community facility in Redcar in November.

Further east, the Government’s push for better conditions for military families should yield more op-

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24 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

Search for new space may just finally reach an enterprising end The flow of Government money into the Enterprise Zones and Enterprise Areas may be enough to supply the commercial property market with enough Grade A space to continue the momentum in the city office market

The sprawling green building that now eats up the acres of farmland that used to surround the edges of Bridgwater not only signifies the commercial growth of one of Somerset’s more downtrodden towns of recent years, but also one of the few, perhaps only, major commercial property deal to take place outside of Bristol and Swindon last year.

The huge Morrisons development, the supermarket giant’s key distribution centre in the West Country, may signal a new thirst for companies to locate themselves on the stretch of the M5, perhaps attracted by the buzz created by the construction of Hinkley Point.

This optimism is well tempered by the lack of activity elsewhere in Somerset, while the real action appears set to take place in Bristol office market in 2012.

The Taunton area could be regarded as is a particular disappointment, once hoped to become established as a new business hub along the M5, with easy access to Exeter, there appears to be a struggle to shift business in the way of the town’s flagship Firepool development since the announcement of the arrival of waste specialists Viridor

Planning approval has been granted for the refurbishment of Bristol’s One Victoria Street. Real estate fund manager PRUPIM obtained permission to remodel, extend and refurbish the five-storey 1980’s building to create 47,000 sq ft of new offices. Work will start in June to renovate the office buildings, which overlook Bristol Bridge and the Floating Harbour

early last year. The second phase of the project, on the former Taunton market site, has just gained planning approval for 200 homes, which may inject some fresh impetus to the area.

The sight of the derided Regional Fire Control Centre, still standing empty since work began in 2007, has become something of an albatross around the area’s neck. If that particular £50 million white elephant can be finally filled by someone this year, it may provide a much-needed spark for the area.

Elsewhere in Somerset, deals look they will be made in 2012 at the regenerated Morlands park in Glastonbury, one of the last acts of the Regional Development Agency. This could be a real area of activity for fresh property, after Cubex bought the 30-acre site from the RDA. Already home to familiar blue chip names Screwfix, Avalon Plastics and Thompson Group, Cubex has a fine record in the region built at the Bath Business Park for instigating activity, and it has also picked up residual land with the promise of more development, planning permitting.

Peter Walford of Cubex promised deals in 2012, saying: “We already have a number of enquiries from people interested in taking space and expect to announce new deals in the near future. The purchase has been funded through our principal funding partner, Palmer Capital, and follows on from the successful model established at our Bath Business Park.”

There follows a smattering of recent deals in the towns of the West Country not least the impending cross-county move of Welton Bibby and Baron. Europe’s largest manufacturer of paper bags is relocating from Somerset to Wiltshire after buying the former Comet Warehouse on the West Wilts Trading Estate in Westbury from Vendors Glebe Asset Management represented by Alder King and Jones Lang Lasalle.

But it is not in the countryside business parks where the most deals are thought to take place in 2012. It is in the urban confines of Bristol and Swindon where most of the activity should take place. Factors such as companies consolidating their regional operations into a single base in Bristol have driven demand in the city for new space. There are signs

Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud addressing the audience at the Enterprise Zone Conference held at the Passenger Shed, Temple Meads Station, Bristol. Work on the city’s Enterprise Zone is due to start in April, the aim is to build a media and creative village with direct links to the transport network, creating 4,000 jobs in the next four years

GVA David Mace Regional Senior Director If recent announcements are anything to go by, the Greater Bristol area is in an enviable position to take the bull by the horns and achieve some giant strides forward.

The announcement in November of a £35 million funding package for the Ashton Vale to Temple Meads rapid transport scheme alongside funding for the South Bristol Link Road, was a shot in the arm for South Bristol, and will help attract new businesses, investment and employment.

Good news continued with a further government announcement that three more transport schemes in Bristol, Weston-superMare and Bath are to receive funding. Improved transport links help boost property values, and strengthen the case for much needed new housing.

Combine these announcements with the creation of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), and the preferential opportunities given to the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone and the five associated Enterprise Areas, together with ambitious plans recently published in the Bristol 2050 Vision, then the future is looking brighter than it has for some time.

The Bristol & Bath Science Park at Emersons Green is a live example of how the Bristol region can successfully capitalise and build upon its unique strengths in specialist sectors such as science and innovation.

The much debated Localism Act has been a positive step forward in giving power back to local authorities and encouraging innovation.

The Act will grant new freedoms and flexibilities for local development, strengthening local democracy and accountability.

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Increase in take-up of new office space in Bristol in 2011 on the five-year average, driven by some competitive deals being struck in an occupiers' market. Almost 140,000 sq ft of new space was taken in central Bristol - 32 per cent of total takeup in a city centre market in which 425,000 sq ft of space taken by occupiers.

The out-of-town market in Bristol accounted for another 275,000 sq ft. Ian Wills, director in the Bristol office agency at property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle, said the spike in new-office take-up was because there were "such good value deals to be had". The largest transactions were by Creston, which took 27,000 sq ft at Temple Quay tion, with high rents on older properties.

The solution may be in more sustainable developments - GVA’s Gordon Isgrove recently highlighted the Enterprise Zone’s aim to be a residential and office environment in a bid to create a new creative quarter for the city where people want to live and work, supporting a long-term property strategy. This will be vital if the Enterprise Zone is to generate the 17,000 jobs it is expected to over the next 25 years.

Just along the M4 in Bath, the market is restricted as it has been for some time, where the opening of the 21,000 sq ft Henderson offices is a rare opportunity apart from the ongoing saga over whether Tesco will be allowed into the former Bath Press site.

Swindon though may be an area to watch in 2012, with a similar office market to Bristol. The other development of note on the M4 corridor is Swindon’s Brunel Shopping Centre, which slipped into receivership just before Christmas. It is still 90 per cent occupied but the receivers will have to act fast to restore confidence especially in a market having a torrid time outside London.

‘Greater Bristol and the South West has real potential to build on its strengths and benefit from the enhanced powers local authorities have been granted’

Spotlight on the seaside Weston-super-Mare could become a centre for development in 2012, as North Somerset Council embraces property developers in a series of major commercial and residential developments. The council has received £10.4 million from central government towards the Weston Package, a £15m package of transport improvements that will increase capacity on the roads, including junction 21 of the M5, and improve public transport as it strives to make the seaside town, for many years a symbol of decline rather than progression, attractive.

Parts of Weston have been identified as an ‘Enterprise Area’ in addition to the Enterprise Zone in Bristol. The J21 Enterprise Area – next to junction 21 – includes sites in the Weston Gateway,

including Parklands Village, Weston Park, Weston Distribution Park, and Locking Parklands. Knightstone Housing Association is set build its 40,000 sq ft headquarters in Weston Gateway Business Park that will house 230 staff. Summerfield Developments has bought two sites covering a total of 4,500 acres on the Weston Gateway Business Park.

Perhaps the most exciting of the developments though, is the £50m Leisuredome project at Locking Parklands - an extreme sports centre, an artist’s impression is above, which will house a 210- metre ski slope, an indoor 40-metre indoor climbing wall, a BMX park and a sky-diving simulator. It is hoped that the Leisuredome will bring in 500,000 visitors each year and create more than 550 jobs.

It will create new rights and powers for local communities, and businesses. Importantly, it will secure greater opportunity to initiate and participate in local planning and change. This is a significant move towards a clearer, more democratic and more effective planning system.

The ultimate consequence is that many more decisions about housing provision and delivery can be taken locally.

At GVA we have long advocated the merits of a city-regional approach to economic growth, placing cities at the heart of the economic agenda, in which strong civic leadership is critical to our places reaching their full economic potential.

We believe that rebalancing the disparities in regional growth across the UK starts with leadership and in clearing the way for locally elected mayors.

The Localism Act will give Bristol a ‘voice’ and the ability to generate resources to deliver local priorities and break free from the functional silos that public policy and finance tends to operate within.

With this renewed energy, Greater Bristol and the South West now has real potential to build on its strengths, to benefit from the enhanced powers local authorities have been granted and to drive positive change throughout the region.

Telephone 0117 984 2400 Email david.mace@gva.co.uk Website www.gva.co.uk

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The merits of a ‘city regional’ approach

that Bristol is heading for an improved office market that will put it back in the spotlight as one of the top regional cities.

The growing shortage of Grade A space indicates that speculative schemes could be once again on the agenda and that rents will respond.

At the moment, said Simon Price of Alder King, “the city centre is polarised around a considerable amount of empty second hand space that is unlikely to be let in the near future.”

The likelihood is that space will be refurbished for a variety of uses and in some cases demolished for new schemes. It is Grade B where there could be greater interest, with financial firms in the city centre indicating the need for more space - Axa in particular.

The driving force behind the interest in the city centre is the new Bristol Enterprise Zone and the Local Enterprise Partnership in the Temple area, which has already stated that it would like to create 240,000 sq m of new and refurbished space. Despite the optimism, it cannot be denied that there is a percieved shortage of good-quality facilities in the centre, with speculative new builds understandably in short supply last year. Until that changes, the general sentiment will be cau-

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26 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 MANUFACTURING

Look inside the box to protect patents Marks & Clerk Michael Brewer Partner The Government has published draft legislation for its Finance Bill 2012. The proposals include a new tax scheme intended to reduce corporation tax for profits arising from patents, dubbed the ‘Patent Box’. The aim of a Patent Box is to: “to encourage companies to locate the high-value jobs associated with the development, manufacture and exploitation of patents in the UK, and maintain the UK’s position as a world leader in patented technologies.”

It is proposed that intellectual property (‘IP’) qualifying for the Patent Box will include: ■ UK patents.

■ Patents granted by the European Patent Office.

■ Certain other IP rights which are treated in the same way as patents under UK legislation.

■ Patents granted by certain other EU member states; the Government will compile a list of qualifying EU member states whose patent regimes are comparable to the UK. As a result of the consultation, existing as well as new IP, will be eligible for the 10 per cent tax rate.

Patent Box benefits will be phased in over five years from April 1 2013. Acquired IP will also be eligible for the 10 per cent tax rate provided that the claimant company has done further work in developing the IP or the product into which it is incorporated. Patent rights licensed in by a company will also be eligible for the patent box, provided that the licence provides exclusivity.

The intention is that UK businesses will be eligible for the lower tax rate regardless of how they use their patents. Consequently, worldwide profits that can be put into the Patent Box will

‘It is the ideal time to consider intellectual property and future patent applications in view of the proposed tax savings under the Patent Box’ include those derived from: ■ Sales of patented products or items incorporating patented items ■ Licence fees and royalties derived from rights in the qualifying IP ■ Income arising from the sale of qualifying IP rights or exclusive licences in respect of such rights ■ Amounts received in respect of infringement or alleged infringement of qualifying IP rights ■ Income derived from the exploitation of IP rights, for example from selling non-patented goods that are produced using a patented process The rules recognise that the patenting process takes some time. Profits from the IP during the last six years of the ‘patent pending’ phase can be included in the tax calculation for the year when the patent is granted It is the ideal time to consider your company’s intellectual property and in particular future patent applications in view of the proposed tax savings under the Patent Box. As the tax savings should continue for the life of the patent, the financial impact could be substantial.

Companies with existing or proposed patents are strongly recommended to take professional advice from a patent attorney.

Email mbrewer@marks-clerk.com Website www.marks-clerk.com

Strength in our manufacturers bolstered by new help and advice Simon Howes, Managing Director at the Manufacturing Advisory Service in the South West (MAS-SW) discusses the optimism in manufacturing and the growing interest in production repatriation

With so much doom and gloom dominating the headlines, it's encouraging to witness real examples of manufacturing prosperity in our region.

We are seeing signs of manufacturing returning to the UK as overseas labour, energy and material costs continue to mount, dismantling many cases for foreign production.

This is reflected in the growing number of requests for advice and support we are receiving from South West companies looking to bring manufacturing home.

With the right guidance and support, I believe manufacturers that produce their products locally can grow successful, profitable businesses. The cost benefits of producing goods in India and the Far East are diminishing faster than some analysts predicted with many countries now struggling to keep a lid on their own rapidly rising costs and high rates of inflation.

Businesses are learning that it's not just about the direct cost of production. There are many other important factors to weigh up when developing strategies for the future.

In a recent study by IDC Manufacturing Insights of 700 SME manufacturers across the globe, the majority rated customer service above cost as their top priority.

Many companies admitted they were struggling to meet customer expectations due to the complexity of managing global supply chains and raised concerns about low levels of responsiveness, poor customer service and rising costs.

They also highlighted additional risk factors associated with foreign production, such as diminishing intellectual property rights, proximity to markets, inflexibility and poor quality.

In the past few years, business strategies have centred on cutting costs. Now, companies are prioritising customer service. Production repatriation is moving up many boardroom agendas and we are working with a growing number of South West manufacturers that have done it – and are reaping the rewards.

Here are a few examples: ■ A Devon company is winning an increasing amount of supply work previously done in the Far East for the European market, due to increas-

ing labour and logistics costs.

■ A Bristol business is now producing vital components in-house rather than in China where an inflexible and protracted supply chain together with a high level of quality issues made it unviable to continue with foreign production.

■ A South Gloucestershire manufacturer is repatriating production of its injection moulding tools to gain ‘greater control’ and improve delivery lead times, reduce stock, improve quality and save costs.

New support for manufacturers In recognition of the vital role manufacturing must play in the nation’s economic recovery, a new nationally operated Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) has been launched. It will be delivered in the West Country

by SWMAS Ltd, which has a ten-year track record of providing hands-on, practical support and specialist knowledge to manufacturers across the region.

2011 was a challenging year for the UK manufacturing sector but it ended on an encouragingly positive note. Output at the end of the year rose above widely anticipated expectations, according to an index survey from Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS), which was released at the start of 2012.

The launch of the new MAS, coupled with the introduction of an up to £125 million fund to improve the global competitiveness of UK manufacturing supply chains, illustrate the Government’s commitment to a renewed focus on manufacturing in the year ahead. A strong, thriving industrial base is being seen as fundamental for economic growth.

The new MAS is available to all manufacturing businesses across England and will be delivered by a Manufacturing Advisory Consortium (MAC) led by Grant Thornton, Pera, WM Manufacturing Consortium Ltd and SWMAS Ltd. It is estimated that the new programme could help to generate £1.5 billion in economic growth, 23,000 jobs and safeguard a further 50,000 jobs.

SWMAS has delivered expert

The success story of luxury fashion powerhouse Mulberry looks set to continue in 2012 after the Somerset-based group said profits had been given a further boost by a strong Christmas. It comes after Mulberry upgraded its profit forecasts three times in a year and last month announced a trebling of half-year profits more than trebled to £15.6 million. The manufacturer, which specialises in bags like the one pictured, will push ahead for plans for a new factory in Bridgwater in 2012, after it spent £2 million expanding its factory in Chilcompton increasing manufacturing capacity by 30 per cent and creating 50 jobs

Opportunities exist even in the gloom Bishop Fleming

By Matthew Lee Managing Partner

Keith Judson, Managing Director, Protechnic, with the Exocase which was produced with help from the South West Manufacturing Advisory Service

has opened many doors for Protechnic. It now has the potential to double its turnover over the next five years, growing to a predicted £5million.

Export has also been important with the company able to successfully target new international markets.

“As Protechnic has shown, there are opportunities for West manufacturers to capitalise on in 2012 with the support of MAS. The programme will be highly collaborative, involving partners and relevant third party organisations,” explained Simon Howes.

“This will ensure the continued provision of services that make a tangible difference to profitability, sustainability and long-term prospects. This is a challenging but exciting time for ambitious West manufacturers with real growth potential.”

Profile Robert Dixon The Robert Dixon Partnership Robert Dixon heads up The Robert Dixon Partnership executive search practice. He says: “We specialise in finding senior and middle management for the transport, utilities, engineering, logistics and manufacturing industries.

“We believe in a bespoke service to suit each individual client. We like to get to know and understand your business so that we can save

you time and energy finding the right match to fit into your culture.

“We operate on a retained basis so that you have total control of the process.

“We never take on an assignment unless we are confident we can fulfil it and we have a proven track record of success. We operate nationally and internationally and are keen to carry out more work in the South West from our Cheltenham office.”

Email Robert@robertdixon.co.uk Telephone 01242 870076 Website www.robertdixon.co.uk

Robert Dixon has spent eight years running his own executive search company prior to which he was on the other side of the fence running Dennis Group’s bus manufacturing operation in Malaysia after a career in the British Army.

He is always available for a confidential discussion on how to develop your business through the right people. He is also a partner in CNA International Executive Search. Call 01242 870076 or email Robert@robertdixon.co.uk – you will be surprised how helpful we can be!

For months, we have all been bombarded by daily news reports focused on doom and gloom: but these difficult times are providing superb opportunities for South West businesses.

This region has its share of companies being stricken by the lack of bank funding, the result of poor management, and the down-turn in consumer spending. But this region is the UK’s nursery for successful entrepreneurial businesses.

Many of those businesses are flourishing in these difficult times, and have spotted the opportunities that those times provide for acquisitions and growth.

Bishop Fleming has this region’s biggest insolvency and corporate recovery team, and it is true that this team is hugely busy, dealing with the casualties of the down-turn.

But the number of business failures in this region is not at crisis level – and shows no sign of being so.

In previous down-turns it has been the rule that insolvency teams are busy while corporate finance teams twiddle their thumbs, with no mergers, acquisitions, or MBOs taking place.

Significantly, our corporate finance team is also far busier than they were a year ago.

Merger & acquisition activity actually increased by 11 per cent last year in the UK, while there was a decline in the rest of Europe and the USA. This was despite the continued difficulty in getting traditional bank funding for those deals, just as it continues to be difficult for many businesses to get bank loans or support facilities.

The answer lies in having been forced to

‘For all those companies that have a superb product or service, and an appetite for growth, this is the moment to grab the opportunity’ think outside the traditional bank box, and delivery of a range of new funding providers and formulae: and those new ideas are proving very compelling.

It is also significant that our international tax specialists are having their busiest time for years, as overseas companies look hungrily at potential opportunities and purchases of businesses in this region.

Right now, many of this region’s successful businesses have a big opportunity: there is a hunger for new products and services, there is an ideal climate for buying companies if the funding can be secured, and there are global conditions that favour manufacturers, exporters, and new technology creators.

And this region has a wealth of companies equipped to grab those opportunities. Bishop Fleming is practising what we preach: we have expanded our business by mergers and acquisitions in Worcester and Bath.

For all those South West companies that have a superb product or service, and an appetite for growth, this is the moment to grab the opportunity that “tough times” deliver.

Email mlee@bishopfleming.co.uk Telephone 0117 9100 250 Website www.bishopfleming.co.uk

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advice and practical, meaningful support to SME manufacturers in the South West for the last ten years. As part of the MAC it will be able to continue to provide these services via its network of local manufacturing advisors.

Simon Howes, Managing Director, SWMAS Ltd, is in no doubt that the new national MAS will offer significant opportunities to local manufacturers. “Our emphasis will be on helping small and medium-sized businesses unlock their growth potential with continued focus on improving productivity and competitiveness,” he said.

The new service offers strategic assistance, something Simon believes is vital for manufacturers. “A business has to decide what it wants to achieve and then put a strategy and growth plan in place. From this we can drill down into the critical areas it needs to focus on in order to reach these aims.”

One such area is product development. This might include designing new products or adding additional features and improving the manufacturing efficiency or carbon performance of existing ones. MAS will underline how, through innovation, manufacturers can expand their product offering, moving into new sectors and growth markets.

Bristol-based Protechnic, the UK’s leading manufacturer of bespoke transit cases, is one company that has already embraced innovation with the help of MAS. Despite being the UK’s market leader, the company recognised it could not afford to sit still.

It sought to expand its product range with the development of a new type of case that it could take into new markets.

Keith Judson, Managing Director, Protechnic, said: “We were keen to create something that was unique, durable, innovative, could be manufactured to exact specifications and was more than just a ‘me too’ product.

“MAS helped us establish the crux of the idea, affirming what we wanted to achieve and the niche we were trying to fill. The advisor acted as a sounding board and brought knowledge of different industries and sectors to the table.”

MAS also provided Protechnic with access to an external design specialist, whose support Keith believes was instrumental in the product development. “The idea for the Exocase has been around for four years, it was only with the support of MAS and the design specialist that we had the continued impetus and resources to explore the idea fully,” said Keith.

The introduction of the Exocase

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28 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 LEGAL

Commercial law concentrates on quality in battle to win deals A raft of changes will put additional pressure on the legal market in 2012 after a busy 2011 when law was put under a national microscope. As alien competition comes into the market, the emphasis on quality will be greater than ever

The UK’s economy may still be sluggish, with the prospect of a double dip recession rightly or wrongly ever on the lips of economic doom-merchants, but the West Country’s law market has continued its admirable trend of resilence in the face of a slump.

Bristol, the ‘second capital’ of the legal profession, has again been home to surprising developments in the sector, with several expansions to report on. Chief among them is Cooperative Legal Services, which has announced it is recruiting 150 new positions in a growing legal market.

But it is the detail of its expansion which is perhaps more encouraging for the legal market, as it takes on more staff to set up an Alternative Business Structure (ABS), rather than shrinking in the face of changes to legislation brought on by the Legal Services Act. Some of these positions will be in its new Family Law Unit based in London, but the majority will see an expansion of its operations in Bristol. Family law has been of particular interest recently, with Somerset firm Pardoes pushing that area of its business.

And in another bright move, January sees Reynolds Porter Chamberlain opening an office in Bristol.

Concentrating on insurance and reinsurance business, RPC’s opening in Bristol follows on its acquisition of a number of partners and lawyers from CMS Cameron McKenna. Initially, the office has a team of 28 people, including 11 lawyers and three Partners. Three further Partners and a Legal Director will be joining in March.

Meanwhile, recently Beachcroft merged with Davies Arnold Cooper to rebrand as DAC Beachcroft, Irwin Mitchell, which has a Bristol office, has announced the firm is applying for an ABS, and DAS, the legal insurer based in Bristol, acquired Bristol based Everything Legal Limited, which runs the Law on the Web information website. Four Gloucestershire law firms also merged to form the Phoenix Legal Group. Goldinghams LLP, Lapage Norris Sons and Saleby LLP, Read & Co Solicitors and Scott Keen LLP has retained offices in Stroud, Dursley and Stonehouse.

It is the arrival of one of the biggest names in law though that has galvanised Bristol’s law scene in Foot

Anstey, which have opened up an office in the city. The firm has recruited 11 new partners in 2011, all from leading UK and international firms, and promoted six new partners in key practice and sector areas including corporate, employment, financial services, media and education.

All of these firms may be considering an ABS as after three years of recession the legal sector has a fresh challenge with the Legal Services Act, giving scope for firms to adopt alternative business models and allowing non-lawyer organisations to provide legal services. Currently, 2,000 high street law firms are being surveyed to see how well prepared they are for ABSs. Matthew Still, South West regional manager of the Law Society, said: “The big picture of alternative business structures, firms are keeping that close to their chests. It’s an unclear picture in that regard – whether some are going to bring in accountants or merge with other professional bodies is unknown.

“At the moment I think there’s a wait and see approach, and law firms and big entities are seeing what their options are and recognising that there could be change. They are seeing what their competitors are doing.”

And most of those competitors have been following a similar strategy – doing more with less. Ashfords, which now has bases in Bristol, Taunton, Exeter and Tiverton, has been an enthusiast of running more effieciently with fewer staff, while turnovers in corporate, commercial commercial property and PFI look comparatively strong. Bristol’s Osborne Clark has continued to generate more deals, and was ranked the 5th most active law firm by analyst Experian Corpfin in 2011.

Alistair Livingstone, head of corporate at Osborne Clarke’s Bristol office, though is wary of what 2012 may bring, no doubt considering changes to legislation. He said: “In 2011 we saw a real upsurge in deal activity both in the South West and across the UK. We’ve already had a good start to 2012, which suggests that businesses and investors have an appetite to buy and sell. There are a lot of negative factors at play though, which will have an impact on deals where the fundamentals don’t stack

Imogen Thomas poses for photographs outside the High Court in London, where Ryan Giggs accepted that there was no basis to accuse the reality star of blackmail. The pair became the face of the super-injunction, in some ways the dominate issue in legal in 2011. There will be no doubt more to come in 2012, but they are not necessarily the preserve of the rich and famous and have a vital purpose, as argued by Charles Russell’s Patrick Gearon, who says: “Super injunctions are necessary to protect potentially vulnerable people (and particularly children) from harassment and intrusion, It is in the nature of super injunctions that the reasons behind them may never be published. But it is naïve to think that they must be unjustifiable.. they are often used to protect innocent third parties, especially children”

Simon Staples Partner, Corporate Team The year 2011 has again been difficult for AIM and IPOs in general. The AIM All-Share Index fell almost 25 per cent last year, compared to the Footsie’s 9 per cent decline. AIM has also suffered from the Eurozone crisis, and the resultant stock market turmoil.

However, while 116 companies left AIM and the amount of equity capital raised fell to just under £513 million, compared to £903 million in 2010, it is not all bad news. During 2011, there were 87 AIM IPOs, bringing the total number of companies on AIM to around 3,000.

The South West has also had its fair share of AIM successes during 2011, despite difficult market conditions.

Wessex Exploration PLC, a Bath-based oil and gas exploration company was admitted to AIM in March 2011. Since its admission, the company has doubled its share price and last December raised a further £12m in a secondary fund-raising, demonstrating that AIM is still a viable choice for quality growth companies with a good investment case to put to the market.

On a further positive note, all of Wessex Exploration PLC’s corporate advisers are based in the South West, demonstrating the professional services’ experience and expertise available within the region to support companies looking to IPO.

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As students scramble for the last higher education places before fee increases take effect in 2012, Amy Langford is celebrating becoming a legal executive despite never having gone to university. The 26-year-old started working for Somerset law firm Pardoes as an apprentice in 2003 and when she completed her apprenticeship a year later, was offered a permanent job as a legal secretary. After several years of studying, working alongside solicitors and gaining experience, Amy became a trainee legal executive and has recently become a fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives Government is not actually saving what it purports to. Changes proposed in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill will save less than half of the £270 million predicted by the Government, according to the Law Society, suggesting that legal aid reform may not be worth the price practices are paying.

The report, by King’s College London, claims that many of the savings will be notional because withdrawing legal aid will have substantial cost implications for other government departments.

The Ministry of Justice has said it aims to do away with the ‘compensation culture’ which, the Government alleges, flourished under the last Labour government, but instead it looks like it may undo fundamentals of law, making massive changes in terms of fairness and access to justice at small economic advantage. There are alternatives and they are worth exploring. Effective access to justice is at the heart of a free democracy, its erosion will be to the detriment of the country’s health.

During 2011, there were 90 AIM IPOs, bringing the total number of companies on AIM to around 1,143

‘Whatever the outcome for 2012, the South West business community needs to be fully prepared to take advantage of any market improvement’

The headquarters of Osborne Clarke, in Temple Quay, Bristol, where the company has been named as one of the UK’s leading deal advisers in 2011 by two market analysts.

Analyst Experian Corpfin ranks Osborne Clarke as the fifth 'most active' firm in the UK, while mergermarket, which records higher value deals, ranks the firm in tenth place.

Osborne Clarke also tops Experian’s South West table as the most active legal adviser on mergers and acquisitions in the region. Alistair Livingstone, head of corporate at Osborne Clarke’s Bristol office, said: "In 2011 we saw a real upsurge in deal activity both in the South West and across the UK. We’ve already had a good start to 2012, which suggests that businesses and investors have an appetite to buy and sell”

A significant number of companies currently planning an AIM IPO are waiting for market conditions to improve and there could be quite a queue forming. Current thinking is that many are delaying seeking an admission until the second half of 2012, when market volatility and conditions generally are viewed as likely to start improving.

From a technical perspective, changes to the EIS and VCT regimes (effective from April 2012), should also help to make AIM more attractive to investors. Key changes include: ■ a qualifying EIS/VCT investee company threshold for employees to be raised from no fewer than 50 to 250, and the gross assets threshold increased from £7m to £15m.

■ the annual amount which may be invested in a qualifying EIS/VCT investee company to increase from £2m to £10m.

■ the amount any one individual can invest under EIS rules to be raised from £500,000 to £1m.

Whether AIM IPOs will increase during the second half of 2012 will depend on market conditions and volatility stabilising. Whatever the outcome for 2012, the South West business community needs to be fully prepared to take advantage of any market improvement.

Telephone 0117 321 8057 Email s.staples@ashfords.co.uk

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AIM for a better market in 2012 Ashfords LLP

up. The watchword for 2012 will be quality, with investors on the lookout for companies with a good trading record and a solid business model.”

The emphasis on quality will perhaps be the most important to established firms in the region, the effects of move by the Government to open up the market to outside firms under Legal Services Act could perhaps be negated with a concentration on reputation, brand and record.

As ever, though it may take improvements to other sectors for 2012 to better 2011. Renewed activity in land development, with housebuilders coming back into the market, would help, and with several large housebuilding projects taking place in the West, this could provide a timely boost. Corporate and commercial work will be harder to generate, though more deals are being done in commercial. The additional pressure of cuts to the levels of Legal Aid contracts, looks likely to continue to affect the smaller end of the sector, despite reports claiming that the

29 33

LEGAL WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 29

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30 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 TOP 150 BUSINESSES

Competitive list that strives to show strength in face of adversity

through investment in newer markets, when customers in all markets are cutting their own costs?

Our own approach has been to develop products and services which help our customers control cost or mitigate risk, or indeed focus more clearly on their own opportunities for growth.

Outsourcing in its many guises has become a huge sector with some very big players but by its very nature can be a breeding ground for overtrading a key factor behind the demise of

9

Places Cheltenham manufacturer Spirax Sarco moved up the list to 29. It has been a busy year for the steam system specialist, which opened its UK Steam Technology Centre. The centre is the only training facility in the UK to offer a fully operational steam system with SCADA control. The revamped centre offers a variety of training courses to help steam system operators address key issues, such as improving energy efficiency and carbon emissions, reducing downtime and operating costs and ensuring safe operation

Andrew Watson, Director of Business Information at data specialists Jordans, studies the successes of 2011, and the trends that are likely to continue into 2012 Once again it’s our pleasure to work with the Western Daily Press on the production of this year’s Business Guide.

Over 30 years ago, Jordans began building the world’s first comprehensive database of UK, Irish and international company information.

Since then we’ve seen the factors impacting business change dramatically.

Some developments have been positive; invention of the internet, mobile computing, the expansion of remote working, social media marketing and the concept of “the cloud�.

Many of those things were science fiction when Jordans started collect-

ing company information and until very recently developments like social media in business were still seen by many employers as mere fads or easy ways to lose untold hours of productivity.

We’ve also seen recessions come and go, boom and bust, and financial crises of biblical proportions with long-term impacts which are as yet not clearly understood by anyone.

In our own business we have faced and will continue to face the same challenges as many other companies in the region.

For example, how do we secure existing markets which may be suffering, while growing revenues

Inventor Sir James Dyson’s firm posted record profits of ÂŁ206 million last year, with 80 per cent of its products – all invented in its research and development headquarters in Malmesbury – sold outside the UK. Dyson chief executive Martin McCourt told the Western Daily Press that the firm had no plans to move its “ideas factoryâ€? away from the Wiltshire market town. Turnover at the firm increased to ÂŁ887 million in 2010, and ÂŁ45 million of that was spent on a team of 700 scientists and engineers to invent new products in one year alone. The firm is up two places to 22 on our list this year

Connaught in 2010. That being said there’s no doubt that, properly managed and delivered, outsourcing can not only boost the customer’s profits as well as the provider’s while also being a potential lifeline to the client’s staff who otherwise could be facing redundancy.

In last year’s Business Guide, I mentioned the increased focus being given to risk management within the most successful businesses.

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Tracy Fennell Corporate Partner

It’s clear that this is a continuing trend given the growth we’ve seen in the use of company information reports, company monitoring services and also our professional services on matters such as accounting and legislation like the Bribery Act. Prudent operational procedures are critical but it’s possible to be compliant while also being creative in business development and incubation. The successful companies are using detailed business data and analyses to determine the trends in sectors and markets which best support their own investment and sales activity, for example by looking at territories and sectors where the insolvency outlook is favourable and developing tactics to exploit opportunity and mitigate risk.

Prudence and compliance notwithstanding, there’s no doubt companies in this region face a challenging

‘It’s equally clear that there is much to be positive about; sometimes we have to just look a little harder for it’ future, but a look at a couple of new entrants to the Top 150 show that the region is still rich in innovation and entrepreneurial spirit.

Bailey Caravans, in spite of difficult trading conditions, strengthened its position in the marketplace as the UK’s favourite caravan brand. A leading innovator in the sector, Bailey expanded the scope of its business both in terms of what it manufacturers and where it operates, having recently established a new presence in New Zealand and by appointing a distributor in Australia for the first time. Both markets are grow-

43

The position of growing firm BASF Metals Recycling, which opened its new Cinderford state-of-the-art recycling operation in 2011 ing rapidly on the strength of relatively buoyant economies.

BASF Metals Recycling Ltd opened its new Cinderford state-of-the-art recycling operation for the recovery of precious metals from industrial scrap materials such as spent automotive catalytic converters and electronic scrap. The new 56,000 sq ft facility will provide a source of such vital resources as platinum, palladium and rhodium, more than doubling BASF’s local manufacturing footprint and production capacity.

2011 was also a significant year for EDF Energy which was heavily featured in last year’s guide. In Decem-

Top, shows Bailey Caravans base, the company strengthened its position by exporting to New Zealand and Australia in 2011. Above, Kelly Brook models fashion brand New Look’s latest collection - the Weymouth-based company moved up two places in our list as it continued its celebritydriven marketing strategy

ber, EDF Energy announced a £15 million investment to establish a world class national training centre in partnership with Bridgwater College in Somerset. It plans to address potential skills shortages in the energy sector by delivering professional training and providing a legacy of growth in the local community.

It would be very easy to gloss over the struggles that are still very real for many businesses in the region.

Irrespective of manifesto promises and Downing Street strategies, it’s clear that small business funding is still difficult to acquire.

It’s also clear that the euro crisis and on-going deficit reduction measures are not going to make our lives any more certain over the next 12 months. However, one of the real pleasures in supporting the Business Guide with our company data is that,

26

Places Supergroup moved up the list, to 68 the from 94. The Superdry manufacturer has come a long way since its days on a Cheltenham market stall, recording takings of £79 million in 2011. It has struggled with warehousing issues at its centre in Brockworth, costing the firm an estimated £8m. The group now owns 72 Cult and Superdry stores and 74 concessions in writing this accompanying editorial and reviewing the underlying data we collect, I get the opportunity to look at the business community with a fresh perspective.

When you do this it’s equally clear that there is much to be positive about; sometimes we have to just look a little harder for it.

Congratulations to all the companies featured in this year’s Western Daily Press Business Guide. Growing a company is no easy task and to do this in such a challenging economic climate represents a remarkable achievement.

The last 12 months will have been extremely challenging for businesses in the region.

Developments in the eurozone coupled with David Cameron’s recent vetoing of a treaty change to protect the UK’s interests, as well as the ‘real’ prospect of a Greek default will have done little to smooth the already choppy waters.

While impossible to speculate on the potential ramifications of this move, what is becoming abundantly clear is that we can expect challenging trading conditions to remain for the foreseeable future.

It would be easy to be disheartened. The reality, however, is that no matter what happens in the eurozone, difficult trading conditions also tend to present opportunities.

The vast majority of organisations which are featured within this publication will have been working tirelessly over recent years to streamline operations. This focus is now just a constant of modern business life and as a fast growing business we can relate to many of the challenges being faced.

Businesses in the region are adapting to the new climate – after all we’re in the third year of this ‘new’ world.

The reality for 2012 and beyond is that a thorough SWOT analysis of any organisation will typically produce ideas and strategies

‘The organisations that will stand out from the crowd will be those that are prepared to look for opportunities, that are willing to embrace change, that are bold enough to invest’ which will deliver not just survival but growth and the organisations which concentrate on their strengths and focus and build on these will undoubtedly win market share.

The organisations that will stand out from the crowd will be those that are prepared to look for opportunities, that are willing to embrace change, that are bold enough to invest.

They will be most likely to benefit.

Fortunately, here in the South West, we are blessed with a dynamic and vibrant business community and Foot Anstey are privileged to work with many of the leading businesses which are continuing to plough forward, rising above the negative macro economic comment.

As a premier regional law firm, we are committed to supporting our clients with their continued development. Having invested heavily on recruiting some of the best talent over the past 18 months, not to mention further investments in Bristol and market leading technology, we feel better placed than ever to support the needs of local businesses and would be delighted to have the opportunity to meet with you in 2012.

Telephone 0117 915 4912 Email tracy.fennell@footanstey.com Website www.footanstey.com

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Those who are the bravest will succeed Foot Anstey

3146

TOP 150 BUSINESSES WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 31

The South West’s t

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32

32 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012

POS 2010

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

1 3 5 4 6 8 7 9 11 13 12 NE 15 10 16 17 20 18 20 19 NE 24 23 30 25 44 27 32 38 35 29 28 33 NE 31 37 41 36 43 39

BUSINESS

Imperial Tobacco Group PLC Orange Personal Communications Services Limited Intel Corporation (UK) Limited Npower Limited Arval UK Group Limited Zurich Assurance Ltd Airbus Operations Limited Wincanton PLC Cobham PLC Mitie Group PLC Smiths News PLC EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Limited NEW Look Retail Group Limited Honda Of The U.K. Manufacturing Limited WH Smith PLC C&J Clark Limited Interior Services Group PLC Meggitt PLC Pennon Group PLC Agustawestland Limited Triode Acquisitions UK Limited Dyson James Group Limited First Greater Western Limited Watson Petroleum Limited Westcon Group European Operations Limited Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company Limited Fitness First Group Limited Flybe Group PLC Spirax-Sarco Engineering PLC Milk Link Limited Man Truck And Bus UK Limited Matthew Clark Wholesale Limited Steinhoff UK Holdings Limited French Kier Limited GE Aviation Systems Limited TOR Currency Exchange Limited Mears Group PLC Devonport Royal Dockyard Limited Allchurches Trust Limited PPL WW Holdings Limited

TURNOVER (000)

14748000 4676000 3297834 3304000 2843696 2280000 2502000 2182900 1880400 1720100 1326000 1761000 1463600 2039374 1340000 1173500 972191 1150500 1068900 1101120 1768 XXX 766710 584716 733251 447351 670265 570500 518705 549684 587448 614644 507994 326636 570601 361849 470146 538508 XXXX 443900

PROFIT

945000 358000 70378 -11200 25459 225000 -270000 3000 244900 79700 18400 -84000 36000 -2708 82000 85100 8745 180800 183800 52936 -11820 XXX -12514 3668 11434 17801 -241619 5700 76415 10587 -20510 10627 33032 16351 77617 24 18379 71381 39541 187100

STAFF

37800 9159 891 8098 910 XXX 7974 25880 11636 58860 5721 5031 23939 3374 16858 13712 2527 7188 4252 3629 875 2730 4840 667 780 XXX 10050 2786 4430 1328 715 1149 4934 7503 2798 63 10801 3967 1141 2334

POS

2010

40 42 NE 45 62 47 46 48 57 22 49 NE 56 50 51 55 52 72 75 54 53 63 58 66 61 67 60 94 65 70 71 80 69 132 59 73 NE 97 79 78

39 40 42 NE 45 62 47 46 48 57 22 49 NE 56 50 51 55 52 72 75 54 53 63 58 66 61 67 60 94 65 70 71 80 69 132 59 73 NE 97 79

BUSINESS

Screwfix Direct Limited Wessex Water Limited Basf Metals Recycling Limited Orange Brand Services Limited Cambria Automobiles PLC Rotork P.L.C. Sun Valley Foods Limited Nutricia Limited ST. James's Place Wealth Management PLC NO 1 Currency Limited Kerry Ingredients (UK) Limited U C B Home Loans Corporation Limited Helston Garages Group Limited Helphire Group PLC. Sunseeker International Limited W.T. Burden Limited Messier-Dowty Limited Openwork Holdings Limited Renishaw P L C Masstock Arable (UK) Limited Synergy Health PLC Mole Valley Farmers Limited Colt Car Company Limited (The) Dick Lovett Companies Limited Imerys Minerals Limited Lush Cosmetics Limited Libya Oil Ethiopia Limited Supergroup PLC Wrigley UNO UK Limited RNO Limited CDS (Superstores International) Limited Tyco Electronics UK Ltd Princess Yachts International PLC Mandarin 1 Limited The Unite Group PLC RWM Food Group Holdings Limited AHN (UK) Holdings Limited Dialog Semiconductor PLC Midas Group Limited Epwin Group Limited

TURNOVER (000)

491980 443200 345612 476419 255466 353521 348897 335124 277276 850311 324007 1769 278138 306133 293375 283626 274368 207134 181607 283978 286421 248130 349685 224456 296259 214519 259780 139404 230777 111200 174675 167378 213829 99200 265352 204707 XXX 134753 168101 171702

PROFIT

27345 128900 789 75725 2331 90916 3982 22097 -7139 1679 -4660 58101 5941 -149004 17831 -4095 -7995 -3086 27057 12838 24531 3011 -5739 4796 7607 13927 1236 22456 1195 2300 10201 -8789 18409 1300 -35683 374 XXX 17849 162 3550

STAFF

3327 2061 XXX 99 946 1869 1859 684 XXX 53 1670 XXX 781 1955 2420 1023 1020 313 2385 591 4301 1076 371 464 1175 4581 141 1277 490 1900 2652 1510 1716 589 913 562 216 369 425 1796

33

WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2011 33

POS

2010

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120

72 68 76 74 77 86 85 87 81 93 83 88 127 145 102 90 99 144 NE 96 2 98 100 103 104 105 101 114 91 116 107 NE 95 125 89 NE NE 112 NE NE

BUSINESS

Openwork Limited Hamworthy PLC Norbord Limited Integral UK Holdings Limited YEO Valley Group Limited ALD Automotive Limited Vospers Motor House Limited Westover Holdings Limited Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Europe Limited Castrol Limited Ryder Limited Future PLC Special Metals Wiggin Limited Gregory Distribution (Holdings) Limited Nisbets PLC Stonegate Holdings Limited Actavis UK Limited Fairchild Semiconductor Limited Bertram Trading Limited Appleby Westward Group Limited Cowlin Construction Limited Kohler Holdings Ltd. Amcor Packaging UK Limited Bradford And Sons Limited Vital Pet Products Limited The Simian Group Limited Sigma-Aldrich Company Limited D A S Legal Expenses Insurance Company Limited National Westminster Life Assurance Limited Seabank Power Limited Duke Street Capital Oasis Holdings Limited WPD Midlands Networks Services Limited Amcor Flexibles UK Limited Taylor Maxwell Group Limited Happold LLP Has Accident Management Solutions Limited Mulberry Group PLC Avon Rubber P.L.C. Synergy Health (UK) Limited Hill Hire PLC

TURNOVER (000)

194764 214330 192637 183942 177859 152903 156348 152108 163373 142071 186729 153100 101049 XXX 131093 31471 132151 91347 53453 127944 153592 143059 142900 140436 133620 111584 131155 114936 143402 109354 112151 154200 138309 103110 149123 83834 72052 91688 118601 112076

PROFIT

-592 20672 -7800 7268 4480 6506 2263 4605 4473 77029 7961 3700 -3494 XXX 21322 372 23037 101 -73 1882 4457 -5476 4400 3419 1463 3890 15402 -15570 42711 33595 -17623 800 285 16 3738 -65229 5096 991 -4338 -18976

STAFF

XXX 961 756 2657 1158 240 656 XXX 946 XXX 1172 1194 653 1181 557 534 604 45 560 185 301 1092 489 970 568 268 578 419 XXX 62 1861 2359 723 142 1396 897 821 719 1708 302

POS 2010

121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150

NE 153 NE 137 115 117 118 152 149 119 121 122 135 123 62 128 124 138 155 141 130 NE 129 NE 142 109 NE NE 140 131

BUSINESS

Shaw Trust Limited(The) Fonterra (Logistics) Limited Sanlam Life & Pensions UK Limited Lafarge Plasterboard Limited The National Lighting Company Limited Supacat Limited Resource Solutions Group PLC Foray Holdings Limited Silver Street Motors Limited Wyman-Gordon Limited Organic Milk Suppliers CO-Operative Limited Kingspan Insulation Limited Numatic International Limited Computershare Investor Services PLC Cambria Automobiles (South East) Limited Ecolab Limited L. Batley Pet Products Limited Lyons Seafoods Limited Brandon Hire Limited Project People Limited Bristol Water PLC Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems (UK) Limited Walon Limited Blade Motor Group Limited Renrod Holdings Limited CWC (UK Holdings) Limited Bailey Caravans Limited Keenwork Limited Apetito Limited Western Provident Association Limited

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top 150 businesses TURNOVER (000)

96642 87980 102186 95013 104818 49625 90648 88603 90277 108252 105358 132180 98190 157320 75934 100102 71417 94559 86634 92383 99700 71841 136992 83804 91912 122697 74658 74658 92862 99667

PROFIT

3328 565 2517 -2 4542 2855 4405 1277 413 21298 -100 7072 5007 57377 1560 -3600 713 11040 -28027 768 23100 5577 -11106 736 1685 765 4243 4342 13584 15885

STAFF

1777 4 115 375 505 117 141 489 322 312 10 383 838 981 255 980 366 298 976 174 443 351 992 321 395 284 236 238 1256 299

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34 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 TOURISM AND THE OLYMPICS

Glastonbury Tor at sunset, one of the West Country’s historic wonders and one of a litany of heritage attractions tourism chiefs will hope can draw visitors to the region during and after the Olympics

Tourism must make the most of its heritage in an Olympic year In the year of the Olympics, the tourism industry is preparing to take advantage of the perfect showcase. Bob Smart, head of the Somerset Tourism Association, examines how the opportunities could be exploited

Everyone who’s ever heard me give a talk will have heard my favourite saying: “In tourism there are no problems – only opportunities.” 2012 is packed with opportunities for Somerset. Tourism’s a highly competitive industry, and to succeed you either have to develop new markets or increase your share of existing ones.

Somerset is well placed to do both.

We’re competing with other parts of the country which enjoy large subsidies from the taxpayer. Most of this money goes on salaries and advertising, so there’s some formidable marketing talent lined up against us.

But, like freedom fighters all over the world, the Somerset Tourism Association (STA) has nothing to lose, and everything to gain. We’ve punched above our weight to boost the historic

county of Somerset’s most successful industry, which maintains 32,000 jobs, and brings over £1.1 billion into the county, annually.

When you can’t rely on handouts to keep you afloat, you’ve got to do a good job. Most of the tourism-related businesses in Somerset – there are up to 3,000 – are sustained by the hard work of the people who started them and built them up. More than 400 key businesses have agreed to combine within the STA, rather than compete, to promote Somerset as a tourism destination.

Local authorities are reluctantly forced to withdraw from tourism - it’s not a statutory activity, even in this Olympics year - so the STA has taken over operations previously run by officials. The county’s print bro-

chure, Somerset – Jewel of the South West, and tourism website, www.visitsomerset.co.uk, are the two main examples.

We’d also like to become a full blown DMO – Destination Management Organisation – and hope to cooperate with one or both of the LEPs – Local Enterprise Partnerships – which between them divide up the historic county, which includes North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset.

We hope to benefit from other government initiatives. But much of our activity is what we’ve been doing for the last 25 years - relying on strong support from member businesses to attend trade fairs, take roadshows all over the country, mount publicity campaigns, and badger central government for a fair deal for local tourism providers and the industry as a whole.

Most people will have heard by now that Britain is hosting the Olympics, and that the Queen is having a jubilee. The jubilee is a welcome but fairly tourism-neutral event. Many people will have a day off work and will spend it in the local pub. Some will travel to London for a ceremony.

What we’re hoping is that many more will come from overseas to see how Britain does pageantry, and will stay to see how we do history and heritage, time-hallowed customs and traditional country life. That’s where Somerset will score. We have excellent contacts in numerous countries, with the airlines which will fly visitors in, and the coach and rail companies which will bring them here from London. And in tourism, we just love a weak pound.

There’s no avoiding the Olympics.

We taxpayers will shoulder the burden for the rest of our lives. At a meeting two years ago with officials, we were disarmingly told that no country’s tourism industry has ever recovered from hosting the Olympics, and contacts in other countries con-

firm that this is true. Yet there will be winners and losers. In Somerset, with no infrastructure costs whatsoever, we will attract the ‘Escape the Olympics’ vote, and will encourage visitors from overseas to stay on to enjoy and experience the real Britain once the synchronised swimming is merely a memory.

Remember that Somerset’s really easy to get to, offers everything that more inaccessible counties can offer, is very cheap compared to the South East, and has a tourism industry so flexible that it can rise to any oc-

‘We will encourage visitors to stay on to enjoy and experience the real Britain once the synchronised swimming is merely a memory’

£1.1bn The sum tourism contributes to the economy of Somerset every year

casion. Official money is being poured into promoting the Olympics.

Most of it will simply be swallowed up in salaries and committees, and will never reach the front line private businesses which actually deliver the goods, but there are opportunities for each business in Somerset to promote itself on the Visit England website, as well as our own Visit Somerset site.

The flexibility of our local industry, with 3,000 providers delivering just about anything anyone could want, will be demonstrated when EDF’s Hinkley plans come on stream. There will be 5,000 workers at a time over eight years, most from outside this

area, and many from overseas – which makes them tourists. Most will live in caravans near the coast, and the local industry can swallow that demand without blinking. They’ll also want things to do and places to go throughout the one-and-a-half to two years each of them will spend in Somerset, and the STA wants to spread the benefits of that influx as widely as possible throughout the county.

Regular holidaymakers who perhaps can’t book their favourite week on the coast next year will be encouraged to explore the delights of the magnificent countryside further inland.

This displacement will mean that every part of the county gets a share of the business. And we’re working with EDF to promote the new visitor centre at Hinkley as Somerset’s latest high profile attraction. Meanwhile, other businesses are investing millions in new facilities and attractions – Weston-super-Mare’s Grand Pier, Haynes International Motor Museum, Unity Farm – putting their money where their mouths are.

The Western Daily Press has given good coverage recently to our plans to bring visitors from China and bring filmmakers from Hollywood. But let’s not forget that our favourite Somerset holidaymakers are – the Daily Press’ readers.

As well as traditional bucket-andspade holidays for families living 100 miles from the coast, and relaxing rural breaks for people who live ten miles from the nearest green field, we’ve always welcomed VFRs – people Visiting Friends and Relatives in Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, Swindon and Exeter.

That’s how Somerset tourism got started 240 years ago, providing a holiday destination for the local middle classes, a day’s drive away from Bristol and Bath.

In spite of cheap air travel, no one’s come up with a better idea yet.

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36 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 FINANCIAL SERVICES

Challenges facing employers in 2012 Grant Thornton Caroline Harwood Client Service Director Many commentators are warning of stagnant economic growth, and a potential return to recession this year. The UK’s main trading partner, the EU, is likely to be in even worse shape.

What will follow the £75m deal in a challenging year for finance?

OVERSEAS EXPANSION It isn’t all doom and gloom, however.

Developing economies continue to show strong growth and successful UK companies are increasingly looking to tap into these markets.

Often the first step to setting up in a new country is to send an employee. We are seeing an increasing number of enquiries into international employment tax issues, compliance and incentive structures as a result of this trend and expect this to continue into 2012.

HM REVENUE AND CUSTOMS Firms face the increased pressure with the prospect of HMRC Business Record Checks.

Following trials, HMRC is looking to roll out tens of thousands of these checks over the next year. The aim is to see whether business records are sufficient to correctly operate tax.

However, recent experience shows that HMRC has a tendency to widen the scope of enquiries.

Getting your records checked independently before HMRC visit can help you to manage your risks.

On the upside, National Insurance breaks still exist for small businesses looking to expand in the South West, under arrangements announced in the 2011 Budget. The Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone in Bristol may offer some further opportunities for tax and rate savings in the coming years.

INCENTIVISATION Attracting and keeping top talent is always a challenge, but this is even more the case when the money for bonuses isn’t readily available.

By using tax efficient, flexible employee benefits you can deliver greater value to employees without necessarily increasing costs.

This enables you to keep up with the competition in attracting and retaining your top talent.

In addition to considering tax-efficient benefits, employers can design benefit packages that provide what employees really want without costing the employer a fortune.

RESTRUCTURING Thankfully, during the recent recession we didn’t see the numbers of redundancies and job losses that were initially feared as companies found other ways to save money. However, already stretched companies could be pushed further over the coming months as the economy remains unstable. Should the worst occur and your business has to consider redundancies, planning early can save the business and the employee money. For example, as many people are aware, there is a tax exemption for redundancy payments that covers the first £30,000. However, less well known is that this exemption is not automatic and has specific requirements.

Times may still be tough for many businesses but there are a variety of ways in which organisations in the South West can save money or reduce the risk of unnecessary costs if they take action now.

Telephone 020 7728 3225 Email caroline.r.harwood@uk.gt.com

The threat of a double-dip recession threatens to dilute confidence for many companies, leaving financial services in a precarious position. But as one huge deal in the last month has demonstrated, there is still hope in 2012

The dreaded double-dip recession: the rollercoaster nightmare may well be riding back into the economic slump, as many in financial services have warned for some time.

An early warning shot was delivered last autumn, by Ian Gorham, the chief executive of Bristol stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown, warned that despite quantative easing in 2011, the UK was tumbling into recession again, as the city’s financial district watched a drop in investment and recruitment.

Mr Gorham’s said at the time that Hargreaves Lansdown incredible run of success had been halted by the downward trend, brought on primarily by the unpredictability on continent. David Cameron may not have signed the treaty, but we may end up losers all the same.

Mr Gorham’s fears appear to be confirmed in major reports this month from two of the country’s most respected forecasters. The Ernst & Young Item Club and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) warn that unemployment will rise to nearly three million as private firms fail to recruit enough staff to offset job losses in the public sector.

The CEBR says the situation is so dire that interest rates will stay on hold until 2016. Item Club chief economic adviser, Peter Spencer, said: “Political uncertainty in the eurozone has paralysed the UK recovery.”

Mr Gorham had warned last year, as Hargreaves Lansdown issued a management statement which revealed that the amount of assets it currently has under its control has fallen nine per cent to £24.6 billion, that future stock market levels and investor confidence will have a significant part to play in 2012.

He added: “Whilst uncertainty remains about sovereign debt and default and a possible second recession, it is increasingly likely the retail investor will feel they need more pounds in their pocket and may continue to defer new investment decisions.”

Specifically in South West, business confidence has slumped to its lowest level for two-and-a-half years, according to new research by ICAEW/Grant Thornton. Its study revealed that confidence has declined

for the second consecutive quarter – and now stands at its lowest level since Q2 2009, when the UK was still in recession.

But despite this, the survey of senior business professionals also shows that South West firms have enjoyed continued growth in turnover, gross profits and sales volumes over the past 12 months while capital investment growth has also been on an upward trajectory.

There is further positive news with businesses reporting the fastest growth in headcount since Q3 2008, but increasing numbers also say they are concerned about the burden of ‘red tape’.

Reported capital investment growth in the region has also been on an upward trend, but expectations for future capital investment growth are now subdued. And while businesses in the South West report staff headcount is 2.3 per cent higher than 12 months ago, firms expect more modest growth in employment over the next year, of just one per cent.

Nigel Morrison, senior practice leader at Grant Thornton, said: “This survey reveals what we have experienced for over 18 months now; a general lack of confidence which has a debilitating effect on activity levels.

“There are many businesses in the South West who are doing very well and taking advantage of niche positions or favourable export markets, but they are in the minority. It remains hard work for the vast majority and 2012 is likely to remain very challenging.”

So, so far an apprehensive start to 2012, seemingly at the mercy of the lottery of the eurozone. But, as ever, there have been bright spots and lessons to be learned from 2011 in financial services. The collapse of Target Accountants in Bath seemed indicative of the sector’s struggles, but the jobs, and the business, was saved, as Bishop Fleming fought to establish itself as one of the foremost names in the West Country.

After buying Bath-based Target, Bishop Fleming has announced a fresh management team and an impending move to a new city centre location in Bath. The downfall of Target was unexpected, the national brand successful in so many areas let down by its non-accountancy divi-

Inside the home of Brightside Group in Aust, near the Severn Estuary, one of the fastest-growing insurance broking and financial services businesses in the UK. It has now taken an extra 18,793 sq ft of space Lysander House in Cribbs Causeway to meet its expansion needs. Brightside, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, is one of the UK’s top 20 insurance companies and is valued at £150 million. Brightside sells insurance for homes, vans, bikes, life and business, employing 130

Baker Tilly Ruth Foreman Office Managing Partner, Bristol and Bath Business confidence across the UK remains at a level similar to two years ago according to the Baker Tilly’s Outlook 2012 survey. However responses from South West businesses reflect a more positive mix of attitudes towards the year ahead with 63 per cent of regional respondents positive about the outlook for their own business. Almost 70 per cent expect to maintain or increase sales and over half anticipate that operating profit and headcount will be also sustained or increased.

Two key strategies businesses will focus on for 2012 are risk management and cost cutting.

Over 63 per cent of South West businesses haven’t yet introduced risk management procedures and as a result improving internal processes and systems is a top priority, particularly managing credit control and implementing and monitoring more stringent risk registers.

Commenting on the survey’s findings, Ruth Foreman, Baker Tilly Managing Partner for the South West said: “These headline responses would seem to contradict perceived views especially given the continuing eurozone difficulties that were at their height when the survey was conducted and given the upward pressures on raw material prices and downward trend in consumer spending.

“The reasons for the contradiction are many and complex but could in part be due to South West businesses being involved in sectors that are demonstrating resilience to macroeconomic influences, whilst as a region there are clearly pockets of hardship”.

When asked what the perceived threats were to their businesses, over 40 per cent of respondents were most concerned about

£5bn

The total investment figure of Cirencesterbased wealth management group St James’s Place, which defied volatile market conditions to report a 10 per cent rise in the number of single investments made and increased partnership numbers to 1,649. Total new business also increased 10 per cent to £642.3m while partnership numbers at St James’s Place grew 6.3 per cent to 1,649. Pensions new business hit £288.2m, up 20 per cent on its 2010 results. David Bellamy, chief executive, said: “I am very pleased to report another record year for new business despite the difficult economic conditions that prevailed throughout the year and in particular the extreme volatility that characterised stock markets in the second half of the year” from a consortium of banks in the South West in a deal led by Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets and also including RBS and Santander.

Westerleigh Group, which now owns and manages 18 crematoriums across the UK, has expanded its operations significantly in recent years and this new deal both refinances existing facilities and provides backing for planned expansion.

The Lloyds Bank team, led by relationship director Andy Hart and area director Clive Hetherington, provided £45 million of the total funding. Bristol-based teams from RBS, led by structured finance director David Moxham, and Santander, led by director Peter Abel, provided a further £15 million each. Legal professionals from Bristol’s Burges Salmon and TLT Solicitors advised on the deal. The deal led to the Westerleigh Group has also transferred its day-today banking to Lloyds Bank Cor-

‘South West businesses are involved in sectors that are demonstrating resilience’

Top: Jerry O’Sullivan and Andrew Sandiford at Bishop Fleming's Bath office, formerly the home of Target Accountants, which it took over late in 2011. Above: Ian Gorham, Chief Executive, of Hargreaves Lansdown, who has predicted the UK is fast heading towards a double dip recession. The stockbrokers saw its profits rise by 42 per cent to £126 million in 2011

porate Markets. Clive Hetherington said: “This deal is a clear demonstration of how well-run businesses with strong management teams are able to secure the funding they require to support their strategic ambitions. The regional teams of three banks have worked together to provide a competitive package which will help the company to meet its growth aspirations.”

Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets has embedded itself as a market leader in corporate financing, with over 26,000 corporate clients, ranging from privately owned firms to FTSE 100 PLCs, multinational corporations and financial institutions.

The deal may encourage other firms to seek finance and gamble on expansion, but it is difficult to see anything on such an impressive scale take place in the rest of the year if economic conditions become harsher.

increasing costs and a lack of consumer confidence. Nonetheless, businesses across the South West are seeing opportunities, particularly taking business from failing competitors 49 per cent, technological developments 34 per cent and lowering costs 23 per cent.

Ruth Foreman adds: “The region is fortunate with a huge spread of sectors well represented, thus securing vertical supply chains. Ownermanaged businesses reacted quickly to events in 2008 and to some extent they have adjusted to the new normality and therefore the opinions expressed should be viewed against that backdrop.

“However, businesses can’t afford to become complacent. Order pipelines are typically shorter, affecting the ability to make longerterm investment decisions and as ever working capital management has to be the most important discipline.”

The survey did reveal a sense of satisfaction with regards to current sources of finance with over 60 per cent of regional companies believing their bank had met all or most of their business needs. However, respondents are still looking for greater access to cheaper and more credit.

25 per cent of companies said they might look to raise finance, but the vast majority are still planning to go down the traditional route rather than exploring other alternatives such as asset-based lending or private equity funding.

Telephone 0117 945 2000 Email Ruth.foreman@bakertilly.co.uk Website www.bakertilly.co.uk

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Mixed forecast for the South West

sion but it says something for the health of the sector that the business was not allowed to simply die, but the expertise remains in place.

It followed a trend of mergers and takeovers in the sector nationally, notably in the West Country market leader Baker Tilly merging with Bath -based Richardson Groves which will double the size of its Bath office. At the start of 2011 it seemed as if mergers could be the salvation for the industry in more ways than one and there is almost certainly to be more mergers to advise upon in 2012, as businesses look to consolidate. This is likely to be particularly true of law firms, as many firms continue to struggle despite several partnership ‘clean ups’ in 2010/11. An upward shift in mergers and aquisitions would be welcome, as latest figures showed 402 transactions with a total value of £23.8 billion have been recorded so far in the third quarter of 2011 in the UK, disappointingly low as buyers’ values in an uncertain market are too low to meet expectations.

Aside from acquisitions, the industry will again look to any signs of life it can hang on to. And signs do not come much bigger than the £75 million corporate financing deal struck this month in Bristol.

The huge investment was landed by the Bristol-based crematorium owner and property developer Westerleigh.

The firm secured £75 million of funding to support its expansion

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FINANCIAL SERVICES WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 37

Why R&D relief is not to be ignored

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38 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 MARKETS AND INVESTMENTS

PKF Tony Moorby Director of Taxation Services

The failure of a plan to emerge to tackle the eurozone crisis has left the markets in peril

Eurozone leaves FTSE on road to nowhere Lee Boyce of thisismoney.co.uk examines where the FTSE 100 will end up in 2012 It has been a turbulent year for the FTSE 100, with the eurozone crisis, civil unrest in various countries around the globe and low growth meaning that the index has struggled to get into fifth gear.

The FTSE finished 2010 at 5899.90.

At present, it is on course to finish between 6 per cent lower, with market volatility, especially in the second half of 2011, echoing that of the 2008 banking crisis.

FTSE looks set to finish far below many experts predictions for this year. The FTSE 100 had a rocky week in August, losing 10 per cent in that short time period. It dipped below 5000 points to hit a year low of 4935 on August 19. Those lows represented a drop of nearly 20 per cent, down from more than 5900 in July. And the slump handed back nearly all of the gains made in the past year.

Fresh hopes for a rescue package pumped markets back up in late October, with the FTSE 100 surging above 5700 points. But the exuberance evaporated in November and December when a solid plan to save the euro continued to evade European leaders.

Predicting where the FTSE 100 will end in 2012 is a complete guessing game – who knows what news is around the corner which could result in a crash, like the one in August, or a rally, like the one in October.

In a This is Money poll, 32 per cent of respondents believed that the FTSE would finish between 2011 5500 and 6000, while 18 per cent believed it would finish at 5000 and 5500.

On the other hand, experts were buoyant with their outlook for 2011 – all of those questioned believed that the FTSE 100 would finish above 6000.

Barring a big rally for New Year’s Eve, they were totally wrong – but

will those predicting this year be closer to the mark come 2012? Will the FTSE 100 rise, hit a plateau or see a fall? Well, how long is a piece of string? The following is intended as a rough guide, so don’t stick the house on these forecasts, but it appears the talking heads are much more cautious about the prospects of 2012 than last year – one commentator says that he will be relived just to see the FTSE 100 finish above 5000.

BREWIN DOLPHIN The FTSE 100 will end the year at around 5850. Our expectation of how well the equity markets can do in 2012 is limited but we are still hopeful that the FTSE 100 will end 2012 at around 5850. Much will depend on what progress emerges on the eurozone’s ‘fiscal compact’. However, we also expect equity markets to gain support from a more encouraging outlook for the US economy. Also, in view of the scope for conventional policy stimulus in the developing economies, we remain optimistic about the contribution they, and notably China, will make to the global economy in the latter part of the year and beyond.

KILLIK & CO FTSE 100 – 6100 by the end of 2012 – although concerns remain over eurozone sovereign debt issues and the strength of economic growth in the West. Our forecast is 12.1 per cent above current levels and would leave the market on a 2012 PE of 11 times and a yield of 3.6 per cent.

Turbulent times in the eurozone has left Canary Wharf struggling to pull the FTSE to more buoyant times

DANNY COX, HARGREAVES LANSDOWN We recommend a ‘bottom-up’ approach for investors - go for good shares not the market. This is difficult to judge at the best of times, due to the great number of moving parts

involved, and could be argued to be slightly arbitrary in any event. We believe that next year it will be far more important to identify individual quality companies as opposed to the index as a whole. Those with robust prospects are likely to provide a far greater opportunity for investors than tracking the broader market. Thus, rather than providing a FTSE 100 prediction for the end of 2012, we are recommending the ‘bottom up’ approach for investors, which is a continuation of the theme we identified this time last year. If we continue to muddle through 2012 as we have done in 2011, the market is likely to continue to be volatile and make little progress. If the eurozone collapses and the UK is dragged into another banking crisis and recession, we could see large market falls.

If politicians actually solved the problems without being more concerned about electioneering, we could see some decent recovery in the market.

A successful Olympics should be positive for UK markets. Stock markets generally look pretty good value and investors need to take risk with parts of their savings to achieve a reasonable yield.

MEL KENNY, IFA AT RADCLIFFE & NEWLANDS Will finish around the 5000 mark.

There is a share boom on the horizon which no one wants to miss but miserable year on year figures would not surprise me with the 2012 year finishing around the 5000 mark. In this scenario, dividends remain king.

ALISTAIR CUNNINGHAM, WINGATE FINANCIAL PLANNING I believe it will finish on 5750. Previous 12-month estimates have tended to be optimistic, and whilst the companies that compose the FTSE 100 may be in relatively good health there are some significant systemic risks in investing in equities.

In particular, the deleveraging of the eurozone and whilst the FTSE has a good exposure to companies with global income, the UK may start to lose its place as the ‘gateway to Europe’. I think it a significant but small chance of a big downturn, with a modest increase more likely. My estimate represents the mid-point of these two outcomes, and with less UK equity in our client portfolios than ever, we’d happily take this result.

“But we don’t do R&D” is a comment I often hear from companies. But the truth is that a lot of companies, particularly those engaged in manufacturing, do carry out research and development work which might qualify for this valuable tax relief, without realising it.

Any company which makes something and is constantly striving to improve products or develop new ones might be carrying out qualifying R&D work.

What matters is whether the company has carried out work to resolve scientific or technological uncertainty aimed at achieving “an advancement in science or technology”.

That might sound very technical but, in practice, simply creating a new product or process, or improving an existing one, might well qualify for this relief.

However, qualifying R&D work can take many other forms, and the work does not have to result in a successful outcome to qualify for tax relief. Qualifying costs include labour and consumable items, and may also include subcontracted costs where the company has had to engage third parties to undertake part of the work.

For all but the largest companies, the relief is currently set at 200 per cent, which means for every £100 spent on qualifying R&D the company’s taxable profits are reduced by £200.

225%

Expected tax relief for research and development from April this year, rising from 200 per cent

‘Simply creating a new product or process, or improving an existing one, might well qualify for relief’ It is expected that the relief will increase to 225 per cent from April 2012. Although currently the qualifying expenditure has to be at least £10,000 a year, this threshold is set to be abolished from April 2012, and there are plans to further simplify the scheme.

Even if a company which qualifies for the relief is loss making, most can still take advantage of the relief, by surrendering the losses to HMRC in exchange for a cash refund.

This relief is aimed at costs which are revenue in nature, and are charged to the company’s profit and loss account, but 100 per cent tax relief is also available for capital expenditure, where the assets acquired are used for the purposes of the qualifying R&D work.

There is a two-year deadline for making a claim so if, for example, a company with a December year end carried out qualifying R&D work in the year ending December 31, 2010, it has until December 31, 2012 to make a claim.

A brief chat with an expert will quickly reveal whether a claim might be feasible, and may be half an hour well spent. Don’t miss out on this valuable tax break in 2012!

Address PKF (UK) LLP, 1 Redcliff Street Bristol Telephone 0117 910 0709 Fax 0117 910 0769 Email tony.moorby@ uk.pkf.com Website www.pkf.co.uk

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PROVIDERS OF SPECIALIST HIGH-VALUE LEGAL EXPERTISE TO A DISCERNING CLIENT BASE

TO DISCOVER MORE ABOUT OUR PEOPLE AND AREAS OF EXPERTISE T: 0800 0731 411

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40 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 MARKETS AND INVESTMENTS

What next for shares and will we find value? thisismoney.co.uk editor Andrew Oxlade takes us through the rollercoaster ride of recent UK stock market fluctuations and looks at what’s in store in 2012 WHAT HAPPENED IN 2011 The FTSE 100 fell 6.5 per cent in 2011 following a 10 per cent rise in 2010.

That’s disappointing – but it’s better than the 15 per cent tumble for Germany and 17 per cent for France.

The bad debts of banks that crippled the financial system have been passed on to governments (and their taxpayers), hence the sticky mess that emerged last year (more on Britain’s debt woes). Now debt threatens to bankrupt several southern European countries – this reality only sunk in during the summer of 2011 and was the reason for the poor performance of the stock markets in the second half of the year. The FTSE 100 hit a low of 4935 on August 19 - a 20 per cent fall from more than 5900 in July. Fresh hopes for a rescue package pumped markets back up in late October: the US market had its best month since 1974. But the exuberance evaporated in November and December when a solid plan to save the euro continued to evade European leaders.

THE BULL POINTS ■ Central banks will stimulate economies with printed money at the slightest hint of trouble, and this has the side effect of increasing demand for assets such as shares; ■ Shares look very cheap vs bonds.

When FTSE 100 dividend yields exceed 10-year government bonds, it means shares are a buy. This happened in late summer 2010 and again in the second half of 2011.

Others say this measure is flawed because bond yields are depressed by low rates and money printing (QE); ■ Inflation is high – a period of gentle price pressure can be good for equities; ■ The emerging market boom might continue, keeping the West out of recession.

THE BEAR POINTS ■ A fresh boom in China helped pull the world economy back from the brink. That economic charge may be slowing – the jury is out; ■ A recovery in house prices has ended. A second wave of falls, leading to more bad debts, could spark another waves of bank failures or another credit crunch; ■ Governments took on too much debt in the boom years, and bad debt from banks, and some could fail to

Salvation in stocks if economy sinks Quilter Pamela Reid Head of Quilter’s Bristol Office It often appears that the stockmarket is out of synch with the UK economy and so we see the years when the market does well while the economy is struggling and, times when the economy is booming but returns from equity investments are lacklustre.

2012 might be one of those years, when the UK economy struggles to show positive growth while the stockmarket, which includes a long list of international companies, provides an acceptable return.

The link between the market and the economy is not always as direct as one might assume. The price of a share is the result of supply and demand. The demand derives from potential shareholders or the “buy back” of equity and, the supply comes from existing shareholders willing to sell at that price or by the issuance of new equity by the company.

Shareholders try to anticipate future earnings and tend to be more sensitive to management comments about outlook and order books than analysis of historic results.

Overriding this can be the overall demand for equities. This can be determined by macro economic calls on the outlook of a wide range of investments such as fixed interest, cash or equities in different economic areas and sectors. Small changes to the macro asset allocation can have a major effect to the cash flows aiming to be invested in the UK and other Stockmarkets.

So what does 2012 bring? We expect 2012 to be another year of economic growth, but the pace will slow, and wide divergences will continue as the industrialised world flirts with recession.

The US may experience relatively buoyant conditions in the run-up to the Presidential

meet repayments; We’ve been highlighting this here since 2009 but it became very apparent with with eurozone crisis in 2011-12.

■ Spending cuts in the UK could hamper demand; ■ Deflation may take hold, leading to a falling spiral of consumer and asset prices, including shares (another long-standing point that has been dismissed) but deflation fears were back with a vengeance in 2012.

WHAT NEXT FOR SHARES? We’ve expressed caution every time the FTSE 100 has been in the range of 5500 to 6000 points, when it’s looked ripe for a sell-off. This position has worked extremely well in the past two to three years. Even when the Footsie’s been at those lower levels there have been better long-term opportunities to be had in emerging markets. My view, evident also in our predictions round-ups on rates and the economy, has remained the same in recent years: Crippling government debt and weak economic prospects, due to ageing populations, mean Western countries are likely to see wealth stagnate for at least a decade – so rates will remain low and assets such as property and shares will endure a slow decline, relative to inflation. Read my forecast from 2009, when many others were rejoicing a nascent recovery in the economy: my predictions for 2020.

SO WOULD DO OTHERS SAY? One of the City’s new prophets is Dylan Grice at SocGen. He, along with colleague and Albert Edwards, established themselves in the media for making thought-provoking (and gloomy) assertions in 2011.

Before the summer turmoil, they suggested the US stock market was 50 per cent to 60 per cent overvalued against the long-term average and that investors have now missed the boat with pumped-up emerging markets. Edwards said then that shares could fall by up to 70 per cent. He has warned before: in August 2010 he predicted an ‘equities bloodbath’.

However, in January 2012, ultrabearish Edwards said this could be the final year of pain, that China would collapse sparking further stock market losses globally – and buying opportunities.

HOW CHEAP IS THE STOCK MARKET? Experts use various methods to value stock markets. The most popular is comparing the total value of the market against the profits made by the companies listed on it. This is known as a price-to-earnings ratio –

The FTSE 100 in 2011, plunging during March, amid the Arab Spring and Japanese tsunami

the lower, the better. Broker Charles Stanley valued the UK stock market in December 2011 on a modest 9.2 times, based on the estimate earnings of companies for 2012. In theory, that’s cheap given that the long-term average is closer to 15.

Richard Buxton, head of UK equities at fund manager Schroders, says emerging markets are cheaper with China on a ratio of 8. But adds: “I would argue that, for now at least, most emerging market indices should trade at something of a discount to developed market stocks.”

The problem with p/e ratios is that they rely on brokers’ estimates of the profits that will be made in the future – they could be wide of the mark, especially if the economy is weaker than expected. Another measure is the average yield, the amount being paid out as income by companies relative to the cost of buying their shares. A typical yield for UK shares has been around 3.5 per cent. Charles Stanley puts this today at a favourable 4 per cent.

When this yield rises above the level of income paid on government bonds, called gilts, it is also seen as a rare signal and one that suggests it is time to buy.

‘We expect 2012 to be another year of economic growth, but the pace will slow and wide divergences will continue’ Election but the eurozone is likely to be the worst performing region with seven members including France and Italy - facing recession.

Having ramped growth up aggressively in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, China has spent the last 18 months attempting to find a more sustainable level of economic activity. The current squeeze is likely to continue as loan growth is reined in to dampen property speculation.

Debt and deleveraging especially within the eurozone are expected to remain the key themes for financial markets and affect both the political landscape and the rate of economic growth.

Equities will remain dominated by the sentiment of the economic outlook, although valuations are already discounting a fairly significant slowdown. Consensus estimates are for 9 per cent earnings growth which puts UK equities on a prospective multiple of 10x and a 4 per cent dividend yield.

Historically, equities are not expensive and provide a higher income return than both Gilts and cash.

Address Queens Quay, 33-35 Queens Square, Bristol, BS1 4LU Website www.quilter.co.uk Telephone 0117 927 3377 Email bristol@quilter.co.uk

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High Growth service to support businesses  Starting a High Growth Business  Coaching for High Growth  Understanding Finance for Business Building a business can be a lonely place Could you do with a guiding hand from an experienced impartial coach?

www.growthsouthwest.co.uk 01275 376233

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PENSIONS WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 43

Unravelling the revolution in pensions WDP-E01-S3 -AD--S2

Understanding the riddle of auto-enrolment

Pensions will remain a seriously hot topic until Britain finds a solution to the impending crisis, caused by a chronic lack of saving and an ageing population. Here we take a look at the major themes to watch for 2012

Steve Brice of experts Lansdown Place examines auto-enrolment Between 2012 and 2017, employers will have to automatically enrol all eligible employees in a qualifying pension scheme and make contributions to their plan. This is likely to introduce extra cost for employers, even if they already have in place a good existing pension scheme. Under the new legislation employers will be required to:

Late in 2012, the Government’s great hope in stimulating pensions savings will kick in. It’s revolutionary. Or at least has that potential.

It’s called auto-enrolment and will eventually see all workers earning upwards of £7,475 (2011-12 levels) and aged over 22 slotted into a pension scheme as default.

It’s a seismic shift to the way we go about saving for our retirement in Britain and is in no small part due to the death of old-school final salary pensions – which have proved too generous for their own good. The risk of many being left bereft of a nest egg at 65 or 66 and the state having to step in is too great, so politicians have resorted to early intervention.

It’s classic ‘nudge’ tactics from the Government. Staff will be funneled into a savings scheme and have to opt out if they’re not keen. The concern is that many, particularly the lower paid for whom this scheme is largely designed, will turn up their noses. A ten-year delay for someone on average wages could lose them 20 per cent a year in retirement income, the Pensions Policy Institute says.

By the year-end, all firms with 30,000 or more employees will be involved in auto-enrolment. All firms will be included by 2017.

NEW STATE PENSION AT £140 A WEEK We await with bated breath any news on a new flat-rate state pension worth roughly £140 a week in today’s prices.

It could be included as a headlinegrabber in the Budget in May, but the Department for Work and Pensions is remaining tight lipped as it irons out the details. While there is expected to be no ‘net’ gain to British pensioners financially – i.e. the measures will be cost neutral – it lays down solid foundations for savings and that’s important.

Finally, Britain’s anarchic, messy, and downright confusing means-testing system will be binned. Like many of our state benefits arrangements, pension credits often punish those who’ve tried diligently to save the little they can.

Everyone with sufficient years of National Insurance contributions – likely to be the 30 you need for a full basic payout today – will get £140 flat.

Nothing more, nothing less. Nearly 4 million people would be rescued from the regressive means-testing ‘trap‘, the National Association of Pension Funds says.

The punchline is this: it’s up to us to save carefully for old age on top of that basic amount.

The bad news is any changes are unlikely to take effect until 2015, after the next General Election. And furthermore, anybody already claiming a state pension is almost certain to be excluded from the new rules.

Next year sees the launch of the Government’s new Workplace Pension and Auto-enrolment scheme PUBLIC SECTOR PENSIONS – A RESOLUTION AT LAST? What a terrible, elongated saga the public sector pensions dispute has been. Reform plans will see the axe fall with some force on teachers, doctors, police, civil service and other public workers’ future retirement benefits. Those closer than 15 years to retirement need not worry, but the major points of issue are an average 3.2 per cent contributions hike and jacking up the retirement age.

Unions are not amused. More than a million striking workers forced schools, hospitals and other public services shut across the country on November 30. It was Britain’s largest industrial action for 30 years – and is not the sort of thing the Government will want repeated any time soon.

Ministers will tread much more carefully than Jeremy Clarkson, who said all public sector mutineers should be ‘shot’. They will make major concessions.

In the run-up to Christmas, it seemed as if unions were finally relenting. The ‘Winter of Discontent’ threatened ahead of the big strike was a fading worry and two unions – health service Unison and civil service Prospect – said they had agreed a deal in principle. January will hold the key.

CRACKDOWN ON DODGY PENSION TRANSFERS DEALS One issue high on pensions minister Steve Webb’s agenda is cash ‘bribes’ offered to present staff to switch out of generous final salary schemes and into money purchase pensions, or in exchange for lower payouts in retirement. Webb has already called these ‘dodgy deals’ and it is thought new rules might be in place by next summer. He has taken urgent legal advice.

WILL TAX RELIEF BE SCRAPPED? Very unlikely. George Osborne resisted a £12 billion a year temptation to take away higher-rate tax relief – which sees income tax on anything whacked in a pension pot returned to sender – in his autumnal miniBudget. The Treasury pays out around £30bn in total tax relief each year. The Government automatically adds basic rate tax into a pension pot when someone makes a contribution.

It means savers only need to pay £80 for £100 to go into their pot. Higher rate, taxpayers can claim back the remaining 20 per cent or (or 30 per cent if they earn over £150,000) via their tax return form.

Laith Khalaf, a pensions expert at Bristol’s Hargreaves Lansdown, says a change would ‘risk the entire pro-

ject’ of auto-enrolment because such negative headlines would be generated. It would be a huge U-turn.

BABYBOOMERS’ PENSION PAYOUT PAIN One of the major issues in 2011 that looks set to rumble on in 2012 is crashing rates on annuities – the products that pay retirees’ income from their pension pots. If the eurozone debt fiasco gets cleared up, rates could get a temporary boost. But by the end of the year, a nasty regulatory two-pronged attack could see any gains wiped out. Both come from the EU, which 1) wants insurance firms (who issue annuities) to hold more capital in reserve; and 2) will ban insurers from price discrimination according to gender.

Why are these issues a worry for the huge generation of post-war baby boomers hitting retirement? Holding more capital generally means that less cash can be invested for gains.

That means lower returns for firms and the costs will be passed on to consumers. Gender neutral annuities sound good in principle but will actually see only a marginal increase for women (who are expected to live longer and therefore get a slightly lower rate per year) and a stinging crash – perhaps up to five per cent, experts say – on male annuities.

■ segment their staff into eligible, non eligible and entitled employees within their workforce using Government criteria; ■ enrol eligible employees automatically into a qualifying workplace pension scheme; ■ communicate to employees what pension auto enrolment is, how it works and what their options are; ■ create and communicate a genuine opt-out procedure for jobholders and process any resulting refund of contributions correctly and in a timely fashion ■ make a minimum contribution of 3 per cent of pay to an employee’s pension scheme.

■ register their scheme with the regulator and demonstrate how they have fulfilled their enrolment duties; The timetable for introducing these new rules has recently been changed!

A staged process will be used to bring employers into the new regime. Staging dates for 2011 have been set up by the Pensions Regulator. However, as we discussed, this time table is being changed to allow employers who employ less than 3,000 employees more time to adopt the Pension Autoenrolment rules.

These new regulations apply to all employers regardless of how many employees they have.

The main difference in practical terms will be that large employers with in house HR expertise are likely to have far superior internal resources which may absorb some of this extra administration time and cost, whereas smaller employers are unlikely to have the resources to do the same – if they already outsource key functions such as payroll and HR, we believe they are likely to adopt a similar approach to Pension Autoenrolment.

The sheer volume of employers operating in the UK today that will need to register Pension Auto-enrolment compliance leaves us to conclude that employers would be well advised to prepare their businesses sooner rather than later and that no one leaves it to the last minute to try to understand and implement their obligations under the legislation.

We are talking to many businesses right now whose staging date is not for some time to come, but at least they create their own timeline and have time to budget for the extra expense that will be incurred.

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44 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 AGRICULTURE

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Unlocking funds for new growth

Old Mill

Steve Woodham Pensions Manager All the banks have funds available and claim to be keen to lend to business. However applicants for funds are finding that lending criteria have got tougher as aversion to risk continues to dominate lending decisions.

It often now seems as if banks will only lend if your business is currently already generating a sufficient level of profit to pay back the loan - projections about business growth are seldom taken into account. This has led to many people exploring other ways of raising funding from other sources some of these seem to entail a considerable amount of risk, high cost, or losing control of some of the equity of your business.

Sometimes people are missing a pot of money right under their nose, ‘locked up’ in their pension funds.

Although it is essential that people do adequately provide for their retirement, constructively using pension funds now can significantly enhance the pot in the longer term.

By having your pension funds in a Small Self Administered Scheme (SSAS) for companies you can release some of that money to use in projects to help grow your business.

A SSAS can make straight forward loans of up to 50 per cent of the value of the fund to the business as long as it meets pensions legislation criteria. If you have pensions

‘Sometimes people are missing money, locked up in their pension funds’ elsewhere you can set up a SSAS and transfer funds in.

Another way of using your SSAS or indeed a SIPP is to purchase commercial property for your business with the funds. Here there is the additional benefit in that you can use the entire fund and borrow up to 50 per cent of the value of the fund extra. For example, if you had a pension pot of £200,000 your fund could borrow £100,000 increasing your purchasing power to £300,000.

Your business would then need to pay a rent to your pension for use of the building – but of course this rent paid can be set against tax and be building the fund for the future.

Many business owners currently have SSASs where they are not being used in a proactive way at all.

Even worse many are still paying for expensive Executive Trustees who are legally not now required. If you would like to know more about either setting up a SASS and transferring other pensions into it, or exploring how to use your SASS to the benefit of your business please contact Steve Woodham.

Telephone 01749 335027 Email steve.woodham@ oldmillgroup.co.uk Website www.oldmillgroup.co.uk

With a cull now so close, farming has a difficult PR task in 2012 With the announcement of the long-awaited cull on badgers, 2012 could be an extremely turbulent year for farming after a year when the region’s producers received international recognition. Chris Rundle reports

If the storms which ushered in 2012 left farmers with a damage toll running at about £5 million then the agricultural community will still have escaped relatively lightly compared with last winter.

A year ago the countryside was still in the grip of the most vicious cold spell for years, with crops frozen into the ground, animals desperate for extra rations and movement still difficult in many upland areas.

What followed was, by contrast, a real bonus: an early spring and one of the hottest on record, which saw April temperatures hitting the mid80s and the growing season being given an invaluable early boost.

Nowhere was that more welcome than in the West Country’s cider orchards, where the prospect of late frosts – always a threat when the trees are in blossom – diminished by the day with all the signs pointing to a near-record crop in many districts, a forecast which was borne out not only in terms of the quantity but the quality of fruit later harvested.

Indeed the cider sector enjoyed another buoyant year altogether, with sales still climbing strongly and hundreds of acres of new orchards being laid out and planted to help meet future demand.

And in Somerset there was particular cause for celebration when cidermaker Julian Temperley won a long-running battle to get his cider brandy reinstated on the list of officially recognised EU alcoholic beverages after an administrative error had removed it – and then saw it accorded Protected Geographical Indication status, ranking it among the most iconic speciality food and drink products in Europe.

But there was less jubilation as a scheme to start branding West Country grass-fed beef and lamb ground to a halt when the £800,000 funding pot disappeared with the scrapping of the Regional Development Agency, causing fury among supporters who accused the meat trade and even EBLEX of deliberately prevaricating and obstructing progress in order to prevent a two-tier quality market being created.

And away from the realm of specialist food production there was not always much to be happy about.

Cereal prices remained strong and beef prices crept back up to

something like respectable levels.

But the milk price showed only a marginal improvement – and against that were set higher costs for feed, fuel and energy.

The NFU’s plan for imposing new ‘model’ contracts on customers was scuppered in Brussels and the milk sector ended the year as hopelessly fragmented as it had started it, with NFU officials now pinning their hopes on achieving a gentleman’s agreement with the processing and retail sectors to achieve better terms – a move described by Somerset dairy farmer and industry commentator Derek Mead as ‘like jumping into a shark pool and asking the fish not to bite’.

There was, at least, some sign of the Government starting to take the monstrous threat of bovine TB seriously when Farming Minister Jim Paice announced that trial badger culling would start this year. But his plan, though welcomed by the NFU, has

‘There are no surprises when they get home and look at the packaging’ Malcolm Pyne been condemned as seriously flawed.

Opponents say it will be unpopular with the public because it will inevitably kill healthy as well as diseased badgers; will probably fail to achieve its purpose; and that failure will be the key for Defra simply to hit farmers with more movement restrictions.

Paice, meanwhile, has refused to allow a parallel trial to go ahead using methods developed by Devon farmer Bryan Hill to accurately identify and target only diseased setts.

It’s been a good year for West Country lamb producers with a flying export trade keeping prices high.

That’s the result of much New Zealand output being diverted away from Europe to supply India and the Far East, where an insistent and spiralling demand is being fuelled by rising personal wealth and is thus likely to continue. Accordingly France, formerly a major NZ cus-

Inside the new independent supermarket opened by Malcolm Pyne in Bridgwater, Somerset, a victory for local food producers

Cidermaker Julian Temperley at Burrow Farm in Kingsbury Episcopi, Somerset, who won a long-running battle to get his cider brandy reinstated on the list of officially recognised EU alcoholic beverages in 2011

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www.oldmillgroup.co.uk Dorchester 01305 268168 Exeter 01392 214635 Melksham 01225 701210 Shepton Mallet 01749 343366 Yeovil 01935 426181 Old Mill Financial Planning LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

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losses pushing unemployment up, and supermarkets discounting furiously and aggressively as consumers watch every penny they spend.

The recent announcement that in real terms groceries are now cheaper than they were in Victorian times may have brought some temporary

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Jim Paice confirmed last week that two areas in the West have been chosen as the sites for controversial badger cull trials. As the Western Daily Press predicted, one pilot is in Gloucestershire and the other in Somerset, both bovine TB hotspots. Labour MPs fear the decision could further stretch under-pressure police forces if it provokes clashes with animal rights extremists. One pilot area is mainly in the district of West Somerset, and partly in Taunton Deane.

The other is near Tewkesbury, mainly within the Forest of Dean and Tewkesbury, and partly in the districts of west Gloucestershire

cheer to beleaguered consumers, still counting the cost of Christmas while contemplating another grinding round of price increases on fuel, energy and rail travel.

But for farmers the thought is always there that, in the world of food retailing, if profits have to be maintained, shareholders rewarded and increased operational costs accommodated at a time when sales are remaining stagnant then the pressure can only be released in one way – by forcing down the price suppliers are paid.

Yet not all food is sold through supermarkets. And 2012’s trends emphatically confirmed the fact that consumers are streaming steadily through the doors of the new generation of farm shops to find relief from the bland, depressing uniformity of the multiple retailers.

November saw the arrival of the West Country’s latest, a sparkling, £1 million-plus development by North Petherton, near Bridgwater, butcher Malcolm Pyne and his wife, Julie. It hit a 950 customer a day peak of activity just before Christmas, a period when established farm shops across the region were reporting year-on-year sales growth of as much as 25 per cent.

Malcolm Pyne says the conclusions are simple to draw: “People are being very careful with their money but what they do spend they are spending on quality. They’re coming to farm shops because they can see where everything comes from – there are no nasty surprises when they get home and look at the packaging.

“It’s also a much more pleasant allround shopping experience – and when they’ve had that once they just keep coming back.”

19

tomer, is now clamouring for every kilo of England lamb it can lay its hands on. That sector aside, however, no one is holding out any hopes of farming fortunes being made in 2012 with the country still perilously close to slipping back into recession, job

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AGRICULTURE WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 45

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46 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 FOOD 4646WESTERN WESTERNDAILY DAILYPRESS PRESSBUSINESS BUSINESSGUIDE GUIDE 2012 2012 FOOD FOOD

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Now Now we are are aa Now we nation nation that loves loves nation that local, local, where next next local, where for for food? forfood?

Consumers enthusiasm for buying from local producers and eating at restaurants Consumers enthusiasm from producers and at Consumers enthusiasmfor forbuying buying fromlocal localWest producers and eating eatingsector. at restaurants that offer locally-sourced food has fuelled the Country’s food John that food sector. John thatoffer offerlocally-sourced locally-sourcedfood foodhas hasfuelled fuelledthe the West West Country’s Country’s food Sheaves, head of the Taste of the West, the body which promotes the region’s food Sheaves, Sheaves,head headofofthe theTaste Tasteofofthe theWest, West,the thebody body which which promotes promotes the the region’s food producers, looks at where the sector goes next producers, producers,looks looksatatwhere wherethe thesector sectorgoes goesnext next

Lets face it,it,whichever way you look Lets Letsface face it,whichever whicheverway wayyou youlook look atatat the past year, ititit was a abit ofof anan the past year, was the past year, was a bit bit of an annus horribilis whether you look annus annushorribilis horribilis whether whether you you look look back at our domestic economy, the back backatatour ourdomestic domestic economy, economy, the the european european economy indeed the europeaneconomy economyoror orindeed indeedthe the global political scene. global globalpolitical politicalscene. scene.

You almost want tototake a astep back You almost want back You almost want totake take astep step back and draw breath for a afew moments. and draw breath for moments. and draw breath for afew few moments.

However, 2012 isisalready here and we However, 2012 here and we However, 2012 isalready already here and we are marching forward inin a aa rather are marching forward rather are marching forward in rather inevitable ordered way which doesn’t inevitable ordered way which doesn’t inevitable ordered way which doesn’t allow rest ororor any breathing space atat allow rest any breathing space allow rest any breathing space at all. all. all.

What I Ido find rather odd, isisis the What find rather odd, the What Ido do find rather odd, the strength and resilience ofofof the food strength and resilience the food strength and resilience the food and drink sector in the face of some and anddrink drinksector sectorin inthe theface faceof ofsome some

serious downward financial pressure serious seriousdownward downward financial financial pressure – –food does seem does seem hold rather – food food does seemtoto tohold holdupuprather better than some other industries. better than some other industries. better than some other One of the reasons for this is that asas One Oneof ofthe thereasons reasons for for this is that consumers, consumers, we still need foodand consumers,we westill stillneed needfood and drink and soso the move towards ‘value’ drink and the move towards ‘value’ drink and so the move placed placed products perhaps rather placedproducts productsisis isperhaps perhapsrather inevitable. inevitable. inevitable.

But, consumers also seem But, consumers also seemtotoneed need But, consumers also toto ‘treat’ themselves toto good ‘treat’ themselves goodquality quality to ‘treat’ themselves to produce, produce, indeed this principle produce,indeed indeedthis thisisisa aprinciple which which has been developing over whichhas hasbeen beendeveloping developingover recent recent years not just months,the recentyears yearsnot notjust justmonths, the move move towards ethical foodchoices choices movetowards towardsethical ethicalfood shows shows sign abating.

Whatisis showsnono nosign signofof ofabating. abating.What happening happening that these shopping happeningisis isthat thatthese theseshopping

habits are leading to a very intricate and sophisticated pattern of food purhabits are leading leading to aavery very intricate habits are to intricate sophisticated pattern offood foodthe purchasing – on the onepattern hand seeking and sophisticated of purchasing onthe the onehand hand seeking the chasing –– on one seeking the lowest possible prices whilst on the lowest possible prices whilst whilstin on the lowest possible prices on the other hand not holding back the other hand hand not holding holding back in in the the other not back pursuit of quality with a badge. pursuit oflocal’ quality withaabadge. badge. pursuit of quality with The ‘buy message is I think The ‘buy local’ message message is IIthink think ‘buy local’ is hereThe to stay, however it does appear to here to stay, stay, howeverititbigger doesappear appear to to however does behere a part of something whichto part of something something bigger which aa part of bigger which isbe more about provenance, in other more about provenance, in well other is more about provenance, other words where it has come from in as words where itnear hascome come fromas aswell well where has from aswords buying fromit to home. buying fromof near tohome. home. as from near to So,buying customers retail outlets are So, customers customers of retail outlets outlets are So, retail actively choosing of products with are a actively choosing products with actively choosing products with proof of origin label so if the fish on aa proof of origin origin label so ifif the the fish on proof of on the counter says label it is so from thefish West counter says is from theand West the counter says ititIis from the West Country, then at least now know, Country, then at least nowknow, know, and Country, then least IInow I am satisfied inat that knowledge.

Asand a am satisfied satisfied inthat that knowledge.

Asaa I am in As consumer though, I amknowledge. looking after consumer though, amlooking looking after consumer am my pennies though, and theIIrule for 2012after is pennies and the the rule for 2012 isis myI am pennies and rule for 2012 that now going to be more choosy that Iwhich I am amnow now goingto to be more choosy that going more choosy about products tobe buy and will about which products tobuy buyis and will about products to and will only buywhich locally if the quality high only buywords locally the quality high only buy locally quality isishigh – in other itifif isthe value for money other wordsit itis isvalue valuefor formoney money – inI other words that am after. that am after. that after.

WithII am more than 1,000 food and With more being than 1,000 1,000 food foodanand With more than and drink products evaluated drink products products being evaluated andrink nually through thebeing Tasteevaluated of the Westannually through through the the Taste Tasteof ofthe theWest West nually Awards Scheme, this is the definitive Awards Scheme, Scheme, this thisis isthe thedefinitive definitive Awards benchmark for consumers to help benchmark for for consumers consumers to to help help benchmark them seek out quality, so look for the them seek seek out out quality, quality,so solook lookfor forthe the them Gold, Silver and Bronze Award labels.

Gold, Silver Silverand andBronze BronzeAward Awardlabels. labels.

Gold, If If wewe think the West Country food and we think thinkthe theWest WestCountry Countryfood foodand and drink sector isis ok, then how does ititit drink sector is ok, then how does drink sector ok, then how does fare in national and international fare in in national national and and international international fare markets? markets? markets?

Well, ofof course, nationally and even Well, of course, nationally and even Well, course, nationally and even atat anan anEuropean Europeanlevel, level,economic economic European level, economic growth growthisis ispretty prettydire direand andnon nonexexgrowth pretty dire and non existent.

However, look further afield toto istent.

However, look further afield to istent.

However, look further afield the Asianmarket marketand andthey theyare are the Asian Asian market and they are achieving double digit growth levels, achieving double digit growth levels, achieving double digit growth levels, and inin Singapore’s case nono debt whatin Singapore’s case no debt whatand Singapore’s case debt whatsoever, inin fact they have money inin the soever, in fact they have money in the soever, fact they have money the bank – lots ofof it.it. bank lots of it. bank –– lots InIn India and China ititit isis a asimilar In India and China is a similar similar India and China story with growing levels ofof affluence story with growing levels of affluence story with growing levels affluence

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Used Used commercial commercial catering catering equipment equipment forsale sale for tel:0845 0845266 2668848 8848 tel: tel: 0845 266 8848 www.mwcateringequipment.com www.mwcateringequipment.com www.mwcateringequipment.com info@mwcateringequipment.com info@mwcateringequipment.com info@mwcateringequipment.com

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too. With the Government imploring the too. small business sectorimploring to lead us too.

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FOOD WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 47 WESTERN BUSINESS 2012 47 FOODFOOD WESTERN DAILY DAILY PRESS PRESS BUSINESS GUIDEGUIDE 2012 47

When high-profile entrepreneur and cricket supremo Giles Clarke decides to back a project, people tend to sit up and pay close attention

Thinking that is both powerful and sustainable Michael Ribbeck talks to Giles Clarke about his thoughts on 2012, and why he thinks the Green Investment Bank is so important to Bristol

When it comes to business heavyweights in Bristol they don’t come any bigger than Giles Clarke. And when the high-profile entrepreneur and cricket supremo decides to back a project, people tend to sit up and pay close attention.

The 58-year-old comes from one of the oldest and best known families in the city and at the start of the year, a unique hat-trick underlined the Clarke dynasty’s influence and impact on the city.

In this year’s New Year’s Honours list it was announced that Giles Clarke had been appointed a CBE, following in the footsteps of both his father and his mother. The honour was made more in recognition of his work as chairman of the English Cricket Board but the proud Bristolian has one of the most formidable business records not only in Bristol, but also the whole of the West Country. For not content with turning Majestic Wines into a national business he then went on to repeat the trick with Pet City.

The cricket fanatic could never be

accused of taking things easy and as well as having interests in 12 businesses, he also finds the time to run the national game.

If that was not enough, Mr Clarke is a highly influential figure in the Merchant Venturers and only recently stepped down as head of the historic organisation. His latest mission is the fight to bring the coalition Government’s Green Investment Bank to Bristol. Mr Clarke is nothing short of passionate about the cause, which he believes would be a massive boost for his home city.

He said: “We have the second largest economy outside of London and it is fair to say that the city has punched below its weight for far too long. There was political mismanagement in Bristol for more than 20 years, stretching back to the mid1970s. When you compare Bristol to the other major cities in the UK we really do struggle in terms of facilities and projects.

“But it is too easy to blame the politicians. People get the governments they vote for, that is how demo-

cracy works. For far too long there has been a lot of apathy in Bristol.”

He added: “There is a real debate to be had around the issue of local democracy. The idea of a mayor is really interesting but you have to have the right quality of candidate to make it work for the city.”

But Mr Clarke believes that a corner has been turned and attitudes are starting to change in the city.

The emergence of the Local Enterprise Partnership, a joint venture between local government and the business community, is used as proof of the new attitude emerging in Bristol.

He said: “There is a new powerful consensus emerging and people genuinely appear to want to work together to create a better city. The squabbling which has blighted Bristol for far too long appears to be history. The city has not punched its weight for far too long but we appear to be doing something about that at last.”

Key to the new spirit of co-operation between public and private is the Local Enterprise Partnership.

Headed up by Wessex Water Chairman Colin Skellet, the organisation is replacing the South West Regional Development Agency.

Mr Clarke said: “There is no budget for the LEP and no staff but Colin Skellet is already showing just what can be achieved with very limited resources. He is extremely focussed and very, very effective. I think the LEP will have a very big impact on the city. In the past, money has been invested in areas that are already struggling, and the aim of the LEP is to build on the successes that are already in place.

“Investing in failure was an economically disastrous policy, you only have to look across the water. The LG Plant in South Wales is a white elephant on an incredible scale.

“The best way forward is to invest in success rather than failure. You only have to look at the South West Regional Development Agency, which

‘We have a lot to feel optimistic about here in the city of Bristol’ Giles Clarke

Giles Clarke believes the Green Investment Bank would be a perfect fit for Bristol and the city would meet all the criteria was little more than an exercise in pouring millions of pounds of investment down the drain.”

The interview with Mr Clarke takes place in the busy Boston Tea Party café on Park Street – yet another of the businesses he has a personal interest in. The café is packed and on the table next to us is a young women with pink hair enjoying a lunch-time treat.

Mr Clarke is constantly weighing up his surroundings and is clearly proud of the thriving business.

He said: “Bristol is a great place to be, it has such a vibrant and successful culture all of its own.

“Commerce has always been one of its strengths. Boston Tea Party is very much a local business and represents that spirit. It is an ethical business based on sound principles; all the people we employ are from the area and we sell good quality West

“You have to have the right atmosphere, everyone has to care about the performance of the whole. We have the same ethos at Boston Tea Party as we do at the English Cricket Board. When people come into one of our cafés they are met by people who care about the service and the products; that is why we were successful.”

Despite all the demands on his time he is only too happy to back the Green Investment Bank.

He said: “I am a proud Bristolian and my family have connections with this city going back hundreds of years. It is only right that I do something to support my city and make it an even better place.

He added: “The Green Investment Bank would be a perfect fit for Bristol and the city would meet all the criteria. It would all too easy for the Government to chose London only for it to disappear into the background alongside everything else that is going on in the city. We have the ability to recruit the staff here and we also have the expertise.

“The bank would have funds of £2 billion but that would be just the tip of the iceberg, we are talking about renewable projects worth hundreds of millions of pounds and Bristol would be at the centre of it all. It is an opportunity that is simply too good to ignore.”

A decision is likely to be made in March and if all goes to plan the Green Investment Bank will be a key part of the Enterprise zone which is being set up around Temple Meads station.

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Country produce; it is exactly the kind of thing we do best in this city.

You have to have ethics in business, it is about being honest and straightforward.

“There is nothing wrong with making a profit but you have to do it with honesty and integrity.”

As a result of his numerous business interests and high profile in the world of sport, the demands are huge on his time. Although he is no longer involved in the day-to-day running of any businesses, he still takes a keen interest in his various investments.

Mr Clarke takes part in board meetings and advises on strategy and business development.

As Master of the Merchant Venturers last year he played a part in making the historic organisation more transparent and open to the public. The Merchant Venturers have played a major part in shaping modern Bristol but in the past the organisation kept a low profile.

His flair for commerce made him a natural choice for heading up an organisation which is made up of the leading businessmen in the city.

He said: “I suppose I am an obsessive. For me business is the same as sport. I compare running a successful business to making runs, and in many ways cricket is no different to business. You have to appoint the right people to do the right job. If you give them the right tools for the job and make it clear what is expected of them then the rest will follow.

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48 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 INTERVIEW

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50 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 CREATIVE

Tech trends 2012 a legal view Roxburgh Milkins Ian Grimley Partner Working with local digital media businesses such as Sift, ConnectIB and Nameless gives lawyers like me an excellent perspective on tech trends in what continues to be a strong market.

Social media, now very much mainstream and employed on a corporate level through companies’ marketing operations, is still dominated by the likes of Facebook.

But by its very nature, there is always room for new players who can capture the imagination of users.

Last year we helped Bath-based social media newcomer, Natter.com, a website that allows people to meet and chat with each other safely by webcam. The company is signing up users fast and has recently been to Silicon Valley to talk to venture capitalists. This market has always been driven by newer, more innovative players.

IT security and data protection have always been important, but as the Information Commissioner has begun to levy bigger fines, these issues have taken on more significance. I have recently been negotiating with price comparison websites and we have been pushing hard on stronger contractual protection around data protection and information security.

There is definitely a trend towards more data protection regulation rather than less.

So if you are providing any sort of digital service processing and storing information or personal data, expect to be pushed hard on your technical back-up and security solutions and also the contractual protection you offer, particularly when operating in the ‘cloud’.

The law relating to cookies also changed last year, so that a website owner can no longer assume a user’s consent to cookies.

‘This region has always had an excellent reputation for its digital media, securing national clients and accounts’ The change has not been welcomed by web developers but it is the law and the Information Commissioner will start to enforce it from May this year.

App development continues to be a big market, with some significant players locally – we have been working with AR specialists Kudan. A trend I have seen is for more licensing-based deals as opposed to one-off development but, whatever the deal, developers need to ensure IP ownership is properly protected, just as they would in web development.

This region has always had an excellent reputation for its digital media, securing national clients and accounts. The difficult economic climate can only mean more of those big contracts coming to town, as I am seeing with some of my clients. Hopefully this will be another good year for digital media in the West.

Telephone 0845 241 9505 Email ian.grimley@roxburghmilkins.com Website www.roxburghmilkins.com Address Wapping Road, Bristol

Scene set for creative to grow and grow inside its very own zone The creative industries of the West Country have multiplied exponentially in the last decade, and now represent one of the biggest communities in Europe. And that, should just be the beginning

Over the past five years, the West Country has held its undisputed position as one of Europe’s leading creative hubs, home to world class TV production companies, multi award winning marketing and digital agencies, internationally renowned animation and publishing companies and some of the most innovative design and PR consultancies. London no longer exclusively wears the crown as king of creative, the ‘silicon gorge’ centred around Bristol and Bath appears to be forever deepening.

And it seems government, at both national and local level, has seized upon the vast levels of experitise that have been quietly multiplying among the digital and creative sector over the past decade. The announcement of Bristol’s Enterprise Zone and the regenation of the area around Temple Meads into the areas new Temple Quarter is not just a reboot of the old Bristol Development Corporation, it could quite conceivably be the future of business in Bristol, if not the West Country.

The aim, to create 17,000 jobs in the creative, media and communications sectors over the next 25 years, is ambitious but achievable. If nothing else, the city council appears to have learnt its lesson from the empty flats that largely populate the regenerated Harbourside area – building needs to be done sustainably, and building homes and jobs in tandem in Temple Quarter to create a truly mixed-use residential, commercial and leisure development will be a feather in the city’s cap.

The zone is still in its embryonic stages, and it’s difficult to tell if it will meet its maker’s ambitions. It must however, be seen to be generating new business, rather than simply relocating existing businesses from around and outside the city. There is however, a lot to be said for clustering creative companies into a ‘hub’. As Chris Arnold, ex Saatchi creative, author of Ethical Marketing and the New Consumer and founder of Creative Orchestra , said during his speech at the Vision conference on Bristol last year, the city’s creative community: “They really know each other, and not just on Facebook. They talk, exchange ideas and share.

Unlike London, they do have geography on their side.”

Connecting the Enterprise Zone to the wider West will be the next challenge though, Bath has long been something of a darling for the creative sector and will not want to be left as millions are pumped into driving Bristol to the forefront of the industry. There is an ambition to create a successful economic corridor connecting Bath City Riverside Enterprise Area with Keynsham and Bristol’s Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone. We want to build upon Bath’s international reputation as a centre of academic excellence and a world leader in a range of knowledge-intensive sectors, including digital and creative industries.

Creating a business destination at Bath City Riverside, where higher value businesses can locate and expand, creating up to 2,000 jobs for local people and a further 3,500 homes, is a fundamental part of the

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Hectares the Enterprise Zone covers surrounding Bristol Temple Meads Railway Station. It features a range of development opportunities including over 240,000 sq m (2.6 million sq ft) of new or refurbished space, featuring offices, research and development floor space and retail as part of a wider mixed use development highly attractive to creative media businesses looking to relocate

council’s long-vaunted ‘City of Ideas’ where those industries can thrive.

Bath’s business credentials are on the up but it needs to be careful with its image. As Creative Bath’s Greg Ingham points out, the city is more than tourism. He said: “As long as Bath continues to present itself externally as a tourist toytown pickled in Georgian aspic, so its reputation as a thriving creative city will be held back. Student talent won’t be retained. Creative businesses need new talent; students need work experience, internships, job placements.

There is so much more to be done to connect the two.”

Bristol has Paintworks, Spike Island, Hamilton House, Pervasive

Duncan Laker Managing Director Welcome Telecom was founded in 1999 intending to supply small local businesses, but it quickly became apparent that there was also a market for a responsive supplier servicing larger businesses with particular requirements.

With many decades of telecoms experience, with businesses such as BT, WorldCom and other resellers, Welcome Telecom became early adopters of new products, adding high speed ADSL2+ from 2006 opening the IP Telephony space and allowing the delivery of cost-effective, efficient telecommunications to customers. Welcome has been providing IP Telephony since then and is particularly strong in the hosted space. Welcome also offers a variety of SaaS services including Lync, OCS and Exchange, which can be integrated with its hosted telephony offering.

The final piece of the jigsaw, mobile, was introduced to the Welcome portfolio in 2011.

Key partners include Gamma, Virtual 1, Microsoft and Cisco. The product set is integral to Welcome’s success, but also key is the customer services that are offered. This is the area that converts costs into value and differentiates Welcome from the many commoditised offerings in the market.

STAND OUT FACTORS Welcome’s big differentiating factors hinge on its reputation, delivery, service and noncommoditisation, all of which help to turn challenges into opportunities.

Constant downward pressure on prices means a closer relationship with the end user is needed to make true comparisons, however, consolidation of the industry creates larger

Aardman award The creativity of the staff at Bristol’s Aardman Animations has been recognised once again after its latest film, Arthur Christmas, pictured left and above, was nominated for a Bafta. Arthur Christmas, the company’s first full-length computeranimated 3D film, was nominated in the category of animated film for the 2012 awards of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. The film has already bought the Aardman team success – it was just pipped at the post in Sunday night’s Golden Globe awards by Steven Spielberg’s foray into animation, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn.

Yesterday the team behind the film

said they were over the moon at this new recognition. David Sproxton, producer, co-founder and executive chairman of Aardman, said: “We’re all really delighted that Arthur Christmas has received a Bafta nomination for best animated feature film. “It’s been a bumper year for animated films, so we are especially pleased that our film has made the final cut.” It will again go up against The Adventures of Tintin, and Rango, a Western about a chameleon, and could add to Aardman’s heaving awards cabinet of four Oscars, 11 Baftas and three Emmys Arthur Christmas was directed by Aardman’s Sarah Smith and produced by Peter Lord and David Sproxton. and features the voices of some of the film industry’s biggest stars, including James McAvoy, Bill Nighy, Hugh Laurie,

Imelda Staunton and Joan Cusack.

A production by Aardman and Sony Pictures Entertainment, the story is seen through the eyes of Arthur Christmas, the hapless son of Santa.

It is Christmas Eve in the Father Christmas household, and Santa once again has to deliver all his presents in one night. When Arthur discovers that one gift was accidentally left undelivered, he becomes determined to make sure that it gets put under the right tree before sunrise. Aardman and Sony spent 18 months working on preproduction and design in the UK, before relocating to Sony’s Culver City in America for another 18 months of production. Released on November 11, it took more than £2 million on its opening weekend and has taken almost £21 million at the UK box office

Media studios, the Bottle Yard and more. It’s rightly proud of its creative companies. The Bath economy actually has a proportionately greater reliance on creative businesses but for the moment no hub for them to engage in – instead they are “dotted in and around in townhouses and above shops, gaggled together in coffee shops,” as Mr Ingham puts it.

The City of Ideas could solve this, but it needs to move quicker now that Bristol is pushing ahead. Bath has tremendous talent – take microchip manufacturer Picochip. Born on a kitchen table in the city’s Sydney Buildings just a decade ago, it has now been bought by a US semiconductor firm Mindspeed Technologies for $51.8 million. It is telling of Bath’s reputation as a new ‘silicon valley’ that Picochip will not be moving operations to Mindspeed’s base in the ‘original’ silicon valley. Rupert Baines, vice president, said: “What we’ve got here in Bath are some of the most experienced, talented and skilled engineers in the world and that’s what they (Mindspeed) are buying. The site and the processes in Bath will be carrying on, perhaps even growing.”

The companies, the success stories and the people already exist, local government just needs to guide them together, to build an even more successfully future.

‘Welcome has developed a knack for building long-term relationships with large and small customers across the UK’ providers that seek to gain business on price and accept higher churn. In effect, these players treat businesses as consumers and are only interested in headline offerings.

In the long run, their lack of service, openness and clarity will lead those customers to understand that cost is not the same as value.

In the current economic environment all businesses are working hard to reduce costs, but many businesses are simply looking for the cheapest prices.

More forward-looking firms are looking for efficiency, functionality and value, which combined with the technical advances becoming available, offers great opportunities to communication providers and their customers. More specifically, Unified Communications using hosted and cloud technologies with fixed mobile convergence are, without a doubt, the future shape of the industry. Welcome has developed a knack for building long-term relationships with large and small customers across the UK that value its product set and services. Its long-term retention of key blue chip customers, low churn and ISO9001:2008 certification lend weighty support to its approach to business.

Address The Old Convent, Beeches Green, Stroud, Gloucestershire Telephone 01453 704821 Email duncanl@welcometelecom.co.uk Website www.welcometelecom.co.uk

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Welcome to the telecoms challenge Welcome Telecom

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Where next for our academies in 2012?

Rickerbys LLP

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52 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Richard Knight Partner

Weston College’s Construction and Engineering Centre of Excellence principal Roger Powell, with students on the college’s level three bricklaying apprentices course

Excellence in apprenticeships David Clensy discovers how a new ‘centre of excellence’ in Weston is encouraging youngsters to go back to traditional building site trades

You might be forgiven for thinking the recession’s mothballing effect on the construction industry would have caused a steep decline in the numbers of young people going into the traditional building site trades.

But as it reaches the end of its first year, Weston College’s “centre of excellence” for construction skills’ rising student numbers tell a different story.

The numbers of 16 to 18-year-old full-time students training for a traditional trade at the centre has risen by 58 per cent from 142 in the year 2010/11, to 224 for 2011/12.

Far from the recession discouraging young people to take up a trade, it seems the rising cost of an academic education is making youngsters think again about going for a more practical further education course.

“The figures speak for themselves,” says centre director Roger Powell, as he leans back in his office chair and examines the figures on his computer screen. “The fact is there are still plenty of opportunities for young people to get into the construction industry, there are plenty of jobs; plenty of apprenticeships.

“You may have to work a little harder to get a job because of the recession, but contrary to popular belief the industry hasn’t ground to a halt all together. Just last year we had the announcement that 5,500 homes are going to be built in the next few years here in Weston-super-Mare, on the former RAF Locking site,” he adds. “That’s a big project that will bring plenty of site jobs into the area.

I think young people are realising

that the academic world and learning a craft are not two mutually exclusive avenues for them. After all, here am I as centre director of the college – and I am a bricklayer by trade.”

Roger left the building sites behind more than 20 years ago, to develop his teaching career, first at Wiltshire College in Trowbridge, before taking on the role of faculty head at the City of Bristol College, and then taking on the top job at the new construction skills centre at Weston five months ago.

“We have some truly fabulous facilities here,” he says, as he leads the way out of his office and into the first of a series of workshops.

A group of young men are getting to grips with bricklaying – a surreal row of brick arches is sprouting up around the edge of the workshop, each with a young student focusing intently, trowel in hand, on their individual piece of handiwork.

Student Chris Crennell, 18, of Weston, says it makes sense in the current economic climate to consider an apprenticeship or a college course that will lead to a practical job.

“I’m doing the level three diploma in bricklaying,” he explains. “But I’m also doing one day a week on carpentry.

“Not necessarily because I want to pursue a career in carpentry, but because I know as a bricklayer I’d be working with carpenters on the sites quite often, so it would be useful to know the basics of their trade too.

“I love the practical nature of the course. It’s not like sitting behind a school desk. You really feel as if you’re learning something that is

Weston College student Harvey Steele, 18, from Weston-super-Mare, at work on the carpentry level three course

going to be useful in your daily working life when you progress on from here.”

The former Clark’s shoe factory, off Locking Road, has been transformed into a sophisticated learning space for the Weston students.

Next door from the bricklayers, another workshop is packed with carpentry and joinery students.

Harvey Steele, 18, also of Westonsuper-Mare, is concentrating on building a wooden window frame.

“I’m enjoying it,” Harvey says, putting down his hammer. “I’m working on the level three site diploma.

“When you’re working on stuff like this, there is a real sense of satisfaction – you feel as if you’re getting somewhere.” Roger says the college also specialises in training electricians, plasterers, painter and decorators and teaches students the skills needed to install the latest green technologies – from solar panels and rainwater harvest reservoirs to wind turbines and biomass boilers.

“It’s about preparing our learners for the modern-day construction site.” he explains. “It’s a constantly evolving industry.”

The college will be opening its doors to the public tomorrow, from 1pm to 4.30pm, to give visitors taster sessions in any of the individual trades on offer.

Roger says: “The idea is to give prospective students the chance of not simply just having a tour of the college, but also of rolling their sleeves up and having a go at the particular crafts they’re interested in pursuing. Whether it is as a part-time student who is simply keen to be a bit more DIY-savvy, to youngsters keen to go into a traditional trade, or mature students who are keen to step out on the route to a change in profession, I think it should be a useful way of learning a bit more.”

For many schools and local authorities 2011 represented a sea change in terms of the numbers of schools converting to academy status. The take up surprised both government and professional firms involved in the process with numbers peaking during the summer and thereafter continuing but in a much more steady fashion.

As we begin 2012 it is therefore useful to look both backwards at the lessons that have been learned and forwards to the issues facing the educational sector.

It is increasingly clear that whilst the conversion process is essentially a sound one there are a variety of issues that were either overlooked in the rush to bring the legislation to the statute book or have assumed greater prominence within the realms of central government.

Complicating factors which we have encountered and which need great care and professional expertise include the following: ■ Land ownership and issues relating to “publicly funded” land – this has particular relevance where there are third party landowners. Many schools exist on land where there are multiple owners and these often include trusts which are related to the original establishment of the school; ■ Building contracts – the benefit of all relevant building contracts will need to be transferred to the new academy trust. A full audit of recent building contracts needs to be undertaken as part of the conversion process in order to ensure that the benefit of warranties is transferred upon conversion.

■ Non core activities – central government has proved to be increasingly concerned that funding may be used for non core activities such as sports centres and nurseries. We have set up a number of subsidiary companies in order to cater for this issue. In some cases those companies will also enjoy charity status. This is an area of increasing complexity.

Looking ahead to the future there remains considerable interest from a wide variety of schools in both academy conversion and free school status. Some converting schools are already looking to establish new free schools to cater for areas where the existing provision is lacking – notably for sixth form education where previously children would have to move post GCSE. The only uncertainty (as with so many issues today) is that of finance. Central government needs to ensure that there is sufficient support for those schools that have converted and also for those schools that continue to exhibit a strong interest in conversion. There is also huge difficulty arising from discrepancies in funding per pupil on a county by county basis across the country which needs to be addressed very urgently.

In spite of this interest within the education sector remains strong with schools now approaching the new environment in loose clusters. This raises a number of issues in terms of both structural and tendering issues.

Rickerbys remains wholly committed to the sector in difficult times.

Telephone 01242 246468 Email richard.knight@rickerbys.com

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A bridge to the past: how the corporation changed a city Hopes are high that the new enterprise zone around Bristol Temple Meads can help revive that part of the city, but it’s not the first time that attention has been focused there. Mike Ribbeck looks back 20 years to the era of the Bristol Development Corporation, and the dramatic changes it made

The next couple of years are likely to be a crucial time for Bristol and if all goes to plan the enterprise zone centred around Temple Meads station will be at the centre of the city’s economic recovery.

The aim is to create thousands of jobs by attracting new companies to the city with the promise of reductions in business rates and access to super-fast broadband.

The idea is to create a thriving centre for digital and creative enterprises and the moves are already in place to regenerate the area around the station.

But this is not the first time the Temple Meads area has been at the centre of town planning on an enormous scale.

Back in the late 1980s, the Bristol Development Corporation was created with the specific aim of breathing new life into an area which was long seen as an eyesore.

The difference between then and now is the fact that the Corporation was given planning powers and a multi-million budget. This time around there is no extra money and limited powers available to the people behind the enterprise zone.

The most obvious sign of the success of the Bristol Development Corporation is the £50-million spine road which was designed to open up the southern side of the city.

The road took up the bulk of the BDC’s budget and has opened up the city to businesses and development.

The BDC was only in existence for a brief period and it achieved the vast majority of its objectives but many of those involved in the project believe they were never given the recognition and appreciation they deserved.

During its lifetime, 676 new houses were built and around 4,825 new jobs were created with some £235 million of private finance brought into the city. Just over 180 acres of derelict land was reclaimed and 4.1 miles of new road and footpaths put in place.

Those who played an active role in the BDC have long claimed that their efforts were never properly recognised thanks to the politics surrounding the formation of the organisation.

The area around the station was

mostly derelict and large swathes of land was being left to fall into disuse.

According to the founder members of the BDC the new housing in the area, the creation of new retail parks in St Philip’s and the development of the area around the station all came as a direct result of their efforts.

The people involved were drawn from the great and good of the Bristol and included heavyweight business leaders and financiers.

The idea for the corporation came from a Conservative government and was imposed on a city which was led by a staunchly Labour council. There were even questions asked in Parliament about the

£50m

The cost of the spine road through St Philip’s built by the Bristol Development Corporation in the 1990s Corporation by Bristol’s Labour MPs and the whole concept came under serious attack.

At the time, the regeneration of the Harbourside was getting into full swing and there was a tension between the two projects from the outset with both bidding for funding from central government. It was only when Graham Robertson, the then Labour leader of the council, came on board, that things started to change for the better.

Sadly earlier this year Chris Thomas, the chairman of the BDC, passed away and his death was met with little fanfare.

Geoff Matthews, who was the managing director of chocolate firm Elizabeth Shaw, still speaks highly of Mr Thomas and the way he coped with all the politics surrounding the development corporation.

He said: “The BDC was almost strangled at birth. The city council fought vehemently to emasculate it but in the end we managed to get the legislation passed in parliament.

“After its formation the city council continued to make life

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BRISTOL WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 55

The building of the spine road was a key achievement of the Bristol Development Corporation, above; and Andrew Reid and Geoff Matthews at Temple Quarter, which was another of the organisation’s successes, below difficult for the corporation. The council continued to be obstructive and attempted to block developments at every opportunity.

“At the same time as the BDC was being created the Harbourside team was driving the regeneration of the of the dockside area. The relationships between both groups was not always comfortable, probably because to some extent they were fishing in the same pond looking for the same inward investment.”

He added: “However, it was the calm and personal style of Chris that eventually came through. He knew what the BDC had to achieve and talked to the city council at length until it decided to change its stance and come on board. The Bristol Development Corporation had one of the shortest lives of any, it only had seven years in which to make its mark and deliver regeneration. It was also one of the least well funded. Our neighbours in Cardiff received grants totalling just £80 million, of which £50 million was spent on the spine road.”

The area which has now become the Temple Quarter is now seen as the ultimate proof of success.

Mr Matthews said: “The most outstanding success of Chris and his team was the regeneration of the area around Temple Meads. It is difficult to remember how the area looked in the 1990s. It was wasteland and a few fairly tacky distribution sheds.

“The whole site was acquired on

both sides of the Floating Harbour and a master plan produced with the vision that this would become the new commercial centre for the city. Early commitment from Osbourne Clarke and Bristol and West, which both built their head offices there, ensured success, Others followed and that vision is still succeeding today with the recent move of Burges Salmon into their new headquarters.” Stella Clarke, who has held a string of influential posts across the city, also played a part in the development corporation.

She said: “I think the feeling has always been that we didn’t get the recognition we deserved because of the political opposition to the BDC in Bristol. The area around the station was a wasteland and no one was interested in moving into the area. You only have to look at the businesses that were operating in the area to realise that we achieved what we set out to do. We were working in a very difficult environment and there were some difficult conversations.”

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Profile James White Director, White Consultancy Limited After 10 very successful years working with a variety of FTSE 100 companies worldwide, including two years consulting for IBM, White Consultancy Limited Director James White, 32, is bringing his considerable experience working at the cutting edge of IT Services, back home to Somerset.

As a father of two, White has left the politics and red tape of the corporate world, to return to the area he loves and grew up in, offering professional IT services in support of local business growth.

White Consultancy is a local company with a lot to give, focused on helping its neighbouring businesses become more efficient through IT improvement.

White’s professional, motivated and co-operative approach forms the ethos of a consultancy, able to provide a highly skilled IT service that is best in class without the London price tag or the pin stripe suit.

White observes, “as our businesses become more reliant on IT for economic growth, so does the need for reliable and secure IT systems”.

White Consultancy promotes long term IT solutions rather than

‘White Consultancy facilitated our transition from a few networked computers with no real IT strategy, to a sustainable IT infrastructure that has the capacity to grow with our work. They clearly have the knowledge, but also have personality’ Thomas Fowler, of the Wells Connect Centre

simple ‘fire fighting’, ensuring reliability, while keeping costs down. Microsoft specialists, proficient in server infrastructure, workstation environments, printing, security and backup solutions, as well as managing system upgrades such as moving from Windows XP to Windows 7.

It is able to provide project management and technical guidance, maintaining an ongoing supportive client relationship.

White Consultancy endeavours to give back to the local community, offering a bespoke service, with an honest, approachable, ‘can-do’ attitude.

Telephone 01749 870831 Website www.whiteconsultancylimited.co.uk Email info@whiteconsultancylimited.co.uk

An opportunity that presents itself just once in a generation The Annual Business Guide speaks to Rupert Cox Chief Executive of inward investment organisation Into Somerset, about the opportunities for businesses around the pioneering Hinkley Point C nuclear development Momentum around the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear new build development is increasing and 2012 brings great opportunities for South West businesses to become part of the supply chain for this once-in-a-generation project. Nothing of this scale has been built in the UK for 30 years and the development will be looked upon globally as a model for how nuclear power plants will be built in the future, so now is the time for companies to stand up and be counted.

Business development will be key this year, with proactive companies using the coming months to cultivate relationships and partnerships that will enable them to be in a good position to contribute to the build and supply chain. Generally the lead time for local and regional suppliers to win work is one to two years so making a start now will ensure businesses have plenty of time to build the relevant relationships and comply with the requirements of the project.

Into Somerset has been working closely with EDF Energy for some time to raise awareness of the wide range of opportunities on offer in Somerset for businesses and investors. Together with the Somerset Chamber of Commerce, it is developing a robust supply chain that will support the multi-billion pound investment at Hinkley Point. Over 1,000 businesses have already registered on the Hinkley Supply Chain portal, www.hinkleysupplychain.co.uk, which captures the capabilities of those businesses interested in getting involved in the project. Once registered, they have access to the support and information they may require to win a place on invitation to tender lists and with that a chance to be successful with their bids.

Through Into Somerset and the Hinkley Supply Chain portal, businesses can engage early, find out what is required and give themselves the time needed to innovate and expand their core skills. In some cases, for companies based outside the county, collaboration with existing Somerset businesses can provide enhanced capability as well as giving them a local presence, so Into Somerset, through the Hinkley Supply Chain portal, helps businesses outside Somerset find potential local partners too.

As well as nuclear-related industries, the project will require involvement from a huge range of other sectors, from professional services to catering suppliers, and from construction companies to designers.

The opportunities are vast and we would strongly recommend companies that want to be part of it to register

on the relevant supplier portal as soon as they can to maximise their chances of success.

The Hinkley Project is already gaining pace and the past year has seen a number of important advances. In July 2011, West Somerset District Council granted approval for preparatory works at the site, which are expected to begin early this year.

This stage will begin to unlock the benefit for business through early investment and is expected to create around 500 new jobs.

In November 2011, the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) confirmed that EDF Energy’s application for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset, and the associated development, has been accepted and will now be taken forward for examination. The IPC’s final planning decision on the site is likely to be announced within the next 12 months so it is imperative that businesses that want to get involved have registered their interest before

500

Jobs involved in the preparatory works at the site, which are expected to begin early this year. This stage will begin to unlock the benefit for business through early investment then. Assuming the IPC gives its approval to the site, a number of significant work packages, including the main civils contract, are likely to be awarded in 2012. The preferred bidder will then be working hard to complete the sourcing of its own suppliers and some of these Tier 2 and 3 suppliers will also need to set up their own supply chains, so once the IPC announcement is made things are expected to move even more quickly.

Overall, the project is expected to generate £100million per year for the local economy during construction and £40million per year during operation, with an additional £6million invested in skills and training. It is estimated that the development will provide 25,000 jobs during the construction phase, with around 5,600 people working on the site during the peak construction period and many more in the supply chain off site. At least 900 directly employed permanent jobs are anticipated at the new power station over the 60 years or more of its operation.

Into Somerset continues to work closely with EDF Energy in order to make new contacts and build on existing relationships with supply

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Jobs expected to be created by the creation of a £3 million business park in Langport. Plans for the Willows at Westover development project have been submitted to South Somerset District Council and include a large office space and two flexible business units. Based at the former railway station goods yard, the scheme will create 30,000 sq ft of business units on 2.5 acres of land owned by the Rees Trust. Construction could begin this summer

chain companies likely to be involved in the new build. We are urging South West businesses to make sure they are in a prime position to benefit from the project by registering their interest on the relevant portal or calling Into Somerset for more information.

For advice and guidance on setting up a business in Somerset or relocating to the county, Into Somerset provides a bespoke service to help inward investors understand the opportunities available, offering support to ensure that the process of setting up or moving a business to Somerset is as smooth as possible.

Telephone 0845 1222 066 Website www.intosomerset.co.uk

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Profile

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The number of Higos offices located in the South West

The view towards Hinkley Point, site of Somerset’s biggest construction project for decades

Firefighting Civic leaders in Wincanton have declared they will try to bring another cheese-packing business to the town after a devastating fire was said to be a “contributing factor” by Adams Foods to scrap 180 jobs at its operation.

A 90-day consultation between staff at Adams Food and factory bosses on the plant’s future was due to finish by the end of February. But a decision was reached last week, with bosses confirming all 180 jobs would be lost to the town, with 50 relocated to a £27million plant in Leek, Staffordshire.

After September’s fire at the plant , chief executive for Adams Foods, Ian

Toal, said the blaze was only likely to have a “minimal” impact on the business.

“The decision to close the Wincanton site has been driven by available capacity at the Leek facilities,” he said. “The fire at Wincanton was a contributing factor to the decision to move packing up to Leek.

“Moving there will underpin sustainable business growth. As a result of the fire, the plant at Wincanton required investment to reinstate damaged facilities. It was difficult to justify this investment when we had a new site with capacity in Leek.

Chairman of Wincanton Businesses Together, John Smith, said: “The announced closure of Adams factory in Wincanton is a serious blow to the town. The first concern should always be for the folks who are losing their jobs. It’s hard enough

The fire that devastated Adams Foods in Wincanton in September

being made redundant and having to find a new position in good times.”

“There just aren’t enough jobs to go round.”

Following the announcement of the factory’s possible closure in December, Mr Smith called for other businesses to come forward to help out those losing their jobs.

The closure is the latest black mark in Wincanton’s employment history, but town mayor Colin Winder insists the town can recover.

“This is seriously bad news for the town but it has confirmed our worst fears,” he said. “Wincanton has survived black days before. I hope the town will recover from this.

“We have not ruled out the possibility of another cheese-packing production plant opening in Wincanton at the site, and we will try and encourage that as best we can.”

Ian’s target is to have 35 branches and £100 million GWP by the end of 2015.

Higos today features a workforce of over 210 staff. National recognition has been achieved with numerous industry awards, in addition to a number of regional awards including Western Gazette ‘Business of the Year 2011’ and ‘Somerset Business of the Year’ 2009.

Ian’s approach remains to look at current markets and to see where they can be improved upon. Ian is convinced that the impact of insurers cutting jobs and transferring their services to overseas call centres will, in the long run, backfire and remains resolute that the traditional insurance broker remains fundamentally about service to clients.

The ethos of delivering insurance advice from a team of highly skilled staff, backed-up with excellent levels of customer service, remains the foundation on which the company is built and continues to grow.

Higos is a multi-million pound business and illustrates what vision, energy and drive, supported by a dedicated and loyal team, can achieve in just 21 years.

Address Mendip Court, Bath Road, Wells, Somerset Telephone 01749 834500 Website www.higos.co.uk

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Ian Gosden is the founder and Managing Director of Higos Insurance Services Ltd. Ian established Higos in Glastonbury in 1990 and, with a key focus on staff development, marketing and quality customer service, has continued to build the company year-on-year.

Higos is now considered one of the leading insurance brokers in the UK, specialising in the provision of both personal lines and commercial insurance products.

With access to leading insurers in the market place, Higos provide its clients with excellent cover at a competitive price.

Higos has relationships with over 230 insurers and is not tied to any one insurance company, allowing it to offer professional, independent advice on insurance tailored to suit its clients’ requirements.

Ian’s view was that the traditional high street broker model, based on providing high quality personal service, still had a major role to play in the provision of insurance to both personal and commercial clients.

Higos has embarked on a series of broker acquisitions over the past five years and now has 18 offices located throughout the South West.

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Ian Gosden Managing director, Higos Insurance

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58 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Aiding global firms for twenty years BJC Europe Benita Cegarra Chief executive Benita Cegarra is celebrating 20 years at the forefront of business change, all around the world. Benita, whose business BJC Europe is based in Cirencester, has worked as a consultant for many of the top names in global business, including Amadeus, BP, Burmah Castrol, Equant, Eriks and Vodaphone.

Her key ability is to harness people power, creating teams that communicate and deliver significant bottom line results. Her delivery line is ‘Always Go for Gold’ – particularly apt in the year of the London Olympics.

Aiming for the toughest of goals is nothing new. When she’s not driving change she’s on the rugby field coaching or refereeing, both of which roles she does for Cirencester RFC. One of her clients, Carlos Barrasa, Sales Director of BP Castrol Lubricants, said: “Benita brings a proven method for effecting change and continuous improvement. Her approach combines a clear and practical framework with the ability to build relationships, understanding and alignment across different stakeholders.

“Unlike many consultants, Benita is very flexible in her approach, willing to incorporate what a customer wants to her toolkit. She works the problems from the inside out rather than the other way around and truly becomes part of the team.

“In a pretty competitive environment, Benita is uniquely positioned to help any company to leverage their knowledge and expertise to produce quick and effective change.”

Benita also runs business workshops for small to medium enterprises because she believes passionately that “we are all in the recession together and imparting good

‘The only way to win is to become totally involved in everything you do. So always go for gold’ knowledge to each other to overcome the obstacles is vital.”

Benita, who lives in Cirencester, has enjoyed building teams in all kinds of market sectors.

The latest list includes Christ’s Hospital Foundation, Dixons, Eriks, Vodafone, travel businesses, Delta Airlines, delivered by worldwide workshops, conferences and events.

Benita first found the way she wanted to go in her business life when she left university and went to work for Semperit Tyres (continental group) in Slough. This was followed by three years with Superdrive after which she was successful in joining a French marketing consultancy, with work in Cannes, Marrakech, and many other business centres throughout Europe.

Fluent in English (her mother tongue), French and German with a touch of Spanish; Benita “never stops” - whether chairing the Gloucestershire branch of the Institute of Directors which she did for three years, or chairing and co-ordinate youth rugby for Cirencester Rugby Club. And she has just had her first book published Get off the touchline and make a difference.

Benita said: “You have one big chance in life, but hundreds of challenges and the only way to win is to become totally involved in everything you do. Waiting for tomorrow is the main ingredient to business disaster, especially during the recession which, as we know, is hitting the UK very hard. So always go for gold.”

This is the direction of her latest marketing proposal, which includes free Current Status Analysis by Benita.

Telephone 07785 500635 Email benita@bjc-euope.com

Why getting better connected will create a quiet revolution The multi-million Borders Broadband initiative will bring new fast broadband infrastructure for Gloucestershire. Here David Owen Chief Executive of GFirst, Gloucestershire’s Local Enterprise Partnership writes about what it means for the county Why should high-speed broadband matter to you? Does it simply mean your children can play games online and download more music and films?

Or could it be a potential lifeline for your rural community?

High-speed broadband would mean more people could work from home, or could launch new businesses. Elderly residents and young families could take advantage of online deals and public services when the nearest shops are miles away and fuel costs are escalating.

Throughout the county there is a growing clamour for an end to the gross inequalities of internet service provision between urban and rural areas.

Some parts of rural Gloucestershire have broadband speeds as low as 0.2 Megabits per second (Mbps) or no broadband service at all, in London some areas can enjoy speeds up to 100Mbps, while the national UK average download speed is 6.8Mbps.

Many rural communities have already lost their post offices, shops, schools, petrol stations and pubs. Getting left behind in the race to get on the information superhighway is seen by many as the last straw.

Take, for example, the Severnside village of Purton.

This community of 40 households has its sense of geographical isolation worsened by internet services so poor that, when it rains, they lose broadband. It means villagers can’t work from home, farmers can’t get online to access the paperwork they need and students can’t do research for their homework.

In the Forest of Dean, poor broadband services are strangling business growth just when it is most needed. Across the Forest and south Herefordshire, around 42 per cent of premises have broadband speeds below 2Mbps, the Government’s minimum standard of service.

It is a similar story in the Cotswolds – a survey by the Cotswolds Conservation Board shows nearly half of households in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty have low broadband speeds.

But there is hope on the horizon thanks to the multi-million Borders Broadband initiative to secure private investment in a new fast broadband infrastructure for the

The Royal Forest of Dean College, one of the sure beneficiaries of improved broadband in the county

rural areas of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. The project will supplement other work announced this week by BT to bring high-speed broadband upgrades for Barnwood, Cirencester, Gloucester and Tewkesbury. Gloucestershire and Herefordshire were among the first to get a share of £530million from the Government for high-speed rural broadband.

The project is managed by a partnership of Gloucestershire’s Local Enterprise Partnership GFirst, Gloucestershire County Council, Herefordshire Council and the Government agency Broadband Delivery UK. While public funding is being used to attract a commercial telecoms supplier and persuade them there is significant demand for high-speed broadband in rural areas, additional private sector investment will be vital to its success.

Telecoms companies are currently involved in a complex tendering process to provide the new broadband infrastructure. A contract is expected to be awarded in late spring 2012, with work due to begin soon afterwards in the Forest of Dean and south Herefordshire, and then extending to other rural areas.

The project is also working with Gloucestershire Rural Community

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Helping hand

Council to consult with rural communities on this issue. Residents and businesses are being urged to take part in a survey to show how much they want, and need, faster broadband. So far, thousands have responded. And a volunteer army of ‘broadband champions’ is being recruited. So far 235 people have volunteered, covering 120 parishes and towns, to be the link between their community and the Borders Broadband project, and to spread the word about the benefits of high-speed

Where can businesses turn for business support? Phil Smith, Managing Director of Business West sets the scene.

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Premises in the Forest of Dean and south Herefordshire which have broadband speeds below 2Mbps, the Government’s minimum standard of service broadband. And those benefits do need to be spelt out. Access to fast, reliable broadband isn’t a luxury. Increasingly it’s a necessity. At a recent consultation meeting in Woolaston, in the Forest of Dean, one villager made this analogy: “Electricity wasn’t available in this village until the 1930s. The residents said they were happy with gas lights – until they understood the benefits of electricity.”

Details at www.gfirst.co.uk/broadband. Pick up the residents’ survey at libraries, from parish/town councillors or from Gloucestershire Rural Community Council 01452 528491.

China’s second-tier cities are providing “excellent” growth says Gloucestershire firm Renishaw, as export companies in the county look to target areas outside the country’s main regional centres. Global engineering technologies company Renishaw, based in Wotton-underEdge, puts the trend down to rising labour costs, general costs of employment and local restrictions in the capital and main cities. It has responded to these trends in recent years by opening new offices and now has nine in different parts of the country. Renishaw is one of the county’s powerhouses, recording revenue of £70 million last year.

Pictured is Gareth Hankins, General Manager of the Manufacturing Services Division

The demise of local Business Links in November 2011 with no direct replacement, apart from a national call centre and website, leaves a huge gap in the market at a time when businesses need all the help they can get.

Ideally placed to bridge this gap is Business West which runs the Chambers of Commerce in this region – Bristol, Bath and Gloucestershire.

Most importantly Business West can act as a local access point, informing you of the range of government support and grants that are available. This can often be an area difficult to navigate and, as busy business people you can’t be expected to know all that is available out there.

If your company is facing change, new opportunities or the challenge of dealing with multiple business issues, the strategies that you employ must be clear and relevant to all customers and personnel. Ambitious companies across the South West will be pleased to know that they can benefit from a unique offer funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The High Growth Coaching Service utilises skilled experienced coaches and mentors providing an opportunity to learn from others with a broader experience to assist you as you grow your business.

Should your company be considering exporting, we can help with all aspects of international trade through UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and Enterprise Europe Network. We can take the pain out of exporting – providing help with all documentation. And our website, Acorn Interactive, can make exporting even easier by providing all the necessary tools at your fingertips saving you time and money.

Chambers of Commerce will continue to listen to businesses, understanding their needs and supporting their growth and development. With an engaged and broad membership of Corporates and SMEs - chambers are truly focused on what is best for the area. It represents the interests of the private sector, informing and challenging government policy locally and regionally. In addition, through the British Chambers of Commerce, influence is brought to bear on national government policy.

And of course the removal of the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) has brought further change to the way business is supported, replacing them with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) – in this region the West of England LEP and the Gloucestershire LEP as well as the Swindon & Wiltshire LEP. Business West is heavily involved in the business representation on the LEPs providing resources to support the success of these bodies.

Those businesses that want to develop, grow and network should consider joining the active community of their Chamber of Commerce.

Website www.businesswest.co.uk

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A multi-million pound deal to build 35 new wind turbines for sites in the UK has created 45 new jobs for Gloucestershire firm Mabey Bridge. The Lydney-based business, which makes the turbines at its new £38 million wind turbine manufacturing plant in Chepstow, secured the deal with German company Nordex. It rewards a leap of faith by the Forest of Dean company which announced in early 2010 that it had paid £13 million for a massive industrial unit and 18 acres of land, at Newhouse Farm Distribution Park, Chepstow to convert into its wind turbine plant

Benita Cegarra is celebrating 20 years at the forefront of business change, throughout the West Country and indeed all around the world.

Benita, whose business BJC Europe is based in Beeches Road, Cirencester, has worked as a consultant for many of the top names in global business, including Amadeus, BP, Burmah Castrol, Equant, Eriks and Vodafone.

Her key ability is to harness people power, creating teams that communicate and work well together to deliver significant bottom line results.

But aiming for the toughest of goals is nothing new for Gloucestershire’s former chairman of The Institute of Directors, who is also a business ambassador for the county. Her business change philosophies are as successful in the boardroom or on the rugby field, where Benita is a qualified rugby coach and referee.

Her key business achievements to date include: ■ She worked with Burmah Castrol in the 1990s to save £16.8 million in material cost across the European supply chain. When the new working practice was rolled out worldwide, it achieved further costs savings of $50m.

■ She introduced a programme called Easy Business with Castrol Marine, and helped release $3.5m of working capital.

■ During the tough beginnings of the current recession, she worked with business leaders to raise product profiles – and therefore sales – to protect $50m gross margin for her client.

■ Today, she also runs business workshops for small to medium enterprises because she believes passionately that “We are all in the recession together. Sharing our own knowledge and experience with each other to overcome the obstacles is vital.”

Benita has enjoyed building teams in all kinds of market sectors: the list embraces Christ’s Hospital Foundation, Dixons, Eriks, Vodafone, travel businesses, Delta Airlines, delivered by worldwide workshops, conferences and business events.

Benita first found the way she wanted to go in her business life when she left university and went to work for Semperit Tyres (Continental Group) in Slough. This was followed by three years with Superdrive (Shell Group) after which she was successful in joining a French marketing consultancy, with work in Cannes, Marrakech, and many other business centres throughout Europe.

Fluent in English (her mother tongue), French and German, Benita is one of those “never stops” people, whether chairing and coordinating Gloucestershire IoD activities, running the youth section at Cirencester rugby club, or writing. She has had her first book published – Get off the touchline and make a difference.

Benita said:” You have one big chance in life, but hundreds of challenges and the only way to win is to become totally involved in everything you do. Waiting for tomorrow is the main ingredient to business disaster, especially during the recession which, as we know, is hitting the UK very hard. So always go for it”.

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Benita Cegarra Chief executive, BJC Europe

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60 WESTERN DAILY PRESS BUSINESS GUIDE 2012 BATH

The eye-catching city of fashion proving retail still has life in it Bath has attracted tourists since the concept of tourism was conceived, but civic leaders have continued to push the boundaries in the search for new markets, which the city of Georgian splendour will certainly need in its heavy reliance on retail

Bath’s identity as a tourist and shopping destination continued to grow in 2011, helped by the growing stature of the SouthGate shopping centre and several council and business-driven initiatives to bring people into the city.

While many parts of the West will aim to export their way to growth in, the retail, leisure and service sector of Bath will concentrate on doing the opposite. Numbers show an increase in Chinese visitors to the city thanks to marketing and advertising campaigns in Asia, while traditional visitor numbers from France and the rest of Europe are strong.

The confidence in retail has made Bath something of a microcosm compared to the rest of the UK, with a spate of new shops opening in 2012.

It’s unique, boutique-style shopping ‘experience’ has been somewhat protected from the fall of the identikit high street. Only SouthGate has been affected by the fall of names such as La Senza and now Peacocks while figures from Bath and North East Somerset Council reveal that only 2.5 per cent of local authority-owned retail properties are empty, compared with a national average for all shops of 13 per cent. Given the council is the city’s biggest commercial landlord, it is clearly in their interests to celebrate and expand this.

The newest businesses to open are NS Hair, in Newmarket Row, at Grand Parade; Aria Lingerie, in George Street; and Caffe Dolce, now at the bottom of Milsom Street after the recent closure of units at The Podium, which is being taken over by Waitrose.

Bath Business Improvement District manager Andrew Cooper said the city was still proving to be a popular place for traders. He said: “The quality of the place where retail premises are located is a crucial part of attracting businesses here. The activity of the business improvement district, providing initiatives such as promotions and events to drive footfall is vital in supporting all businesses working in partnership with the council, and property landlords.”

Four businesses have also taken over previously let premises in the city; the bakery Bertinet, which is now at New Bond Street Place; chocolate firm Leonidas, in Lower

Borough Walls; clothing store The Kooples, in Milsom Street; and Regency Laundry, in Westgate Buildings.

Councillor David Bellotti, the council’s cabinet member for community resources, said he was pleased that Bath was performing well in such difficult economic times. He said: “It is excellent news that the council is able to let premises so quickly in such harsh national economic circumstances and that our void rate is well below national figures. It reflects the work the council, local partners, and the private sector have done, like SouthGate and the Roman Baths improvements, to ensure that people want to shop here and visit our superb tourist attractions.

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Job losses at Bath-based Future publishing, after a restructing in July. Boss Mark Wood has said the publishing giant will continue to keep its centre of operations in Bath following the unification of its UK and US arms. The company, which employs 680 people in the city, reported an £18 million pre-tax loss, after revenues dipped six per cent to £141.7 million. However, once exceptional costs were taken into account, the firm lodged an adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to September of £5.1 million, down 39 per cent on 2010

“Our property services team has been able to help those businesses who have had to leave The Podium and I’m pleased to say that we’ve also been able to help other existing Bath businesses move to other premises to meet their commercial requirements.”

Maintaining momentum will be important though, with the council’s support likely to wane with fears of another recession upon us. Spending on tourism-related events will fall by nearly £140,000 this year, and so the impetus is likely to lie with the businesses themselves.

Potentially lucrative links between Bath and a fast-growing province in China are being forged though, and

A model at a Bath in Fashion event held at the Roman Baths last year. The series of fashion shows were organised to promote the city as the style capital of the West, bringing attracting boutique shoppers to the area have been strengthened by a visit to the country. A five-strong delegation attended an international conference in Nanchang in the latest stage of work to ensure the Bath area is at the forefront of Chinese decisionmakers’ minds when making investment decisions. The city of five million people is the capital of the Jiangxi province, with which Bath and North East Somerset Council has signed a friendship agreement. A

council spokesman said: “The area’s developing relationship with Jiangxi province is intended to strengthen our business, cultural, and education opportunities both in China and in Bath and north east Somerset. This will help our area increase local jobs, tourism opportunities and support economic growth.”

Aside from being a retail safehouse, Bath has also carved itself out a reputation for digital and creative

excellence, together with several niche manufacturers and engineers.

The biggest is perhaps Rotork, the global flow control manufacturer which employs 350 in Bath but it is the tight and interdependent business community that has been nutured in the Georgian city through several progressive networking groups like The Bath Business Club and Creative Bath that has caught the eye.

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