Global Business Insight Volume 4, Issue 12

GLOBAL B U S I N E S S

EDITION NO. 02 DEC 2017

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F I N A N C E

B U S I N E S S

HOW TO AVOID CRYPTOCURRENCY FRAUD

•

S E C T O R

N E W S

I N S I G H T

BLAKE MORGAN Law firm Blake Morgan has appointed an experienced new partner

At present, security in the world of digital currencies is still very much in its infancy

ABU DHABI

REAL ESTATE MARKET

EURO DIPS AFTER CATALAN VOTE WWW.GBUSINESSINSIGHT.COM

interview

STACEY DOOLEY ON THE FRONTLINE WITH THE WOMEN WHO FIGHT BACK

HOW TO MOTIVATE STAFF The day after the Christmas party

06 14 18 27 31 34 39

private rented sector value

The value of the PRS in Great Britain currently stands at nearly £1.4trn.

abu dhabi real estate market Abu Dhabi’s real estate market has continued to stagnate during 2017.

12

dollar selloff

With only two trading sessions remaining for 2017, liquidity dried up acroass the global markets.

app designed to reduce cost burden On motorists launches crowdfunding campaign with the aim to raise £650,00.

BSI STRENGTHENS POSITION

In Asia Pacific with acquisition of Neville Clarke.

WELCOME

stacey dooley

On the Frontline with the women who fight back.

40 45 58

glance to acquire

Cryptocurrency technology from #4 top block chain influencer.

solteq to acquire

DECEMBER ISSUE

TM United A/S Group expands to Denmark and Norway.

plastic surgeon renews agreement with kier The UK’s number one surface repair specialist, has renewed its contract with Kier Group.

gibraltar stock exchange

WWW.GBUSINESSINSIGHT.COM

Acquires Grant Thornton Fund Administration and GT Fiduciary Services.

TRIGO ESTABLISHES IN THE UK Trigo has acquired 100% of the capital of Bridge Group.

08

TO THE

CONTENTS

28

eos investment

Has acquired Eurofiere, a company focused on the design and creation of exhibition stands.

how to motivate

Staff the day after the Christmas party.

42 ISSUE 02 | 04

mapbox acquires

Fitness Ar to deepen its focus on Augmented Reality.

ISSUE 02 | 05

BUSINESS

The total

INSIGHT

number of households in rented

Tenant demand is growing more

accommodation is growing much

slowly too. Just 5% more landlords

more slowly. There are nearly 5.6m

reported rising tenant demand than

households across Great Britain in

those reporting it fall, the lowest

the private rented sector, just 2.2%

balance in at least five years. This

more than a year ago. This is less

has been reflected in easing in rental

than a third of the rate of increase

inflation. Average rents per property

seen in 2014. Slower growth reflects

now stand at £895 per month across

landlords’ fragile confidence in the

Great Britain. Although this is another

sector. Just 41% of landlords are

new high, the typical rent increased

confident about the prospects for

by 1.5% annually, down from 2.4%

their portfolios. While this is a slight

a year ago, with sluggish growth in

recovery from the record low reached

London weighing on the national

in the second quarter of 2017, back to

average. Rents are likely to continue

the level seen at the start of the year,

to climb as 29% of landlords expect

it remains far lower than in recent

to increase rents over the next six

years. Confidence has been hit by

months, ten times the number who

tax reform reducing the amount of

expect to reduce them. As taxation

mortgage interest that can be offset

rises over each of the next three

against tax, rising costs, and new

years, buy to let landlords could look

mortgage rules that have tightened

to pass on rising costs to tenants

criteria.

where possible.

PROFESSIONALISATION OF PRS CONTINUES AS LIMITED COMPANY LENDING GROWS

PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR VALUE

CLIMBS TO £1.4TRN

A cocktail of tax reform and tighter regulation for landlords is slowing the growth of the PRS, despite its value hitting a new high, according to the seventh edition of Kent Reliance’s Buy to Let Britain report. The value of the PRS in Great Britain currently stands at nearly £1.4trn, a rise of 6.4% or £82.6bn in the last year. Rising house prices have been the key driver in this increase, with the average rental property climbing in value by 4.2% in the last year.

ISSUE 02 | 06

Where supply is expanding, it is being driven by larger-scale landlords. In a survey of 856 landlords, run in association with BDRC Continental, among those that bought or sold properties in the last three months, investors with more than 10 properties made a net addition of one property. There is no growth among those with less than five properties. Given investors with just a single property comprise 62% of the landlord community, a lack of growth in this segment of the market is dragging on the expansion of supply. Those landlords still buying properties are increasingly doing so as a limited company, rather than as an individual, allowing them to continue to offset mortgage interest costs against tax. Kent Reliance’s data shows that in the first three quarters of 2017, more than seven in ten buy to let applications for house purchase were via limited companies, up from 45% in 2016. As the amount of mortgage interest that landlords can offset against tax progressively diminishes over the next four years, interest rates rise, and tax bills climb, this will spur on demand for incorporation. Professionalisation is also being driven by the PRA’s recent intervention in the market. Since the end of September, for those with four or more mortgaged properties, lenders must account for much more detail about their portfolio, their experience and track record, assets and liabilities, and business plan. For many landlords, this means creating business plans for the first time, and considering longer-term planning for their portfolios. Andy Golding, Chief Executive of OneSavings Bank, which trades under the Kent Reliance and InterBay brands in buy to let, comments: “Landlords are swallowing the unpleasant cocktail of higher taxation and tighter regulation, and this is undermining the expansion of the private rented sector. A fundamental shift in the landlord population is now underway, as buy to let moves from being a popular past-time for hundreds of thousands of British amateur landlords, to the preserve of committed long-term investors with experience and expertise. The pace of professionalisation will only increase following the PRA’s latest moves, and incorporation continues apace.”

ISSUE 02 | 07

BUSINESS

INSIGHT

HOW

XMAS

TO MOTIVATE YOUR STAFF THE NEXT DAY.

Providing recovery packages is great for ensuring that your staff come in well the next day.

Tim Stevens, Managing Director of event organisers Best Parties Ever, commented:

HOW TO MOTIVATE STAFF THE DAY AFTER THE CHRISTMAS PARTY

“We have our own ways of trying to make sure that the effects of Christmas events aren’t felt too strongly the following day.

At midnight, we supply a hearty Survivors’ Breakfast to help soak up some of the bubbles.

“We also enjoy putting together an ‘emergency rations’ goodie bag which we give out to guests – these usually contain well-tested hangover cures such as Red Bull, a water bottle, a sachet of Beechams Resolve, a fruit tonic/elixir, blister plasters, a chocolate bar, Berocca, and a sachet of coffee.”

JOHN

A recent

survey conducted by office furniture expert, DBI Furniture Solutions revealed that one in three people in the UK naturally expect their employers to organise a Christmas party. Hosting a festive get-together can have clear business benefits. Not only does it encourage your teams to interact with each other, it can also act as an effective stress-buster. Managing Director of DBI Furniture Solutions, Nick Pollitt has highlighted the importance of Christmas parties: “Christmas is stressful for many of us, and it’s easy to bring this tension into the workplace.

Many of us look forward to the Christmas party where we can let our hair down. This is an opportunity for employers to say thank you for their staff’s hard work and is also a fantastic chance for employees to socialise with each other, build connections and forging new friendships in the workplace.”

The work

Christmas party has become an annual tradition, so much so that any manager neglecting to organise something is almost immediately outed as a ‘Scrooge’.

Lorraine Bow, Fun Facilitator at Musivate, commented on the repercussions of a Christmas without a party.

“An office manager who doesn’t organise a party for their staff is seen as a miserly Scrooge. What’s more, they’ll miss out on a brilliant chance to bring people together, and a happy workforce is a productive workforce.”

Remember that you don’t need to host an expensive bacchanal – moderation is key where both money and alcohol are concerned – but with a few simple measures you can host a Christmas party to remember without the lack of productivity the day after!

ISSUE 02 | 08

one in three people in uk expect their employer to organise a christmas party

Larsen, Director of Evidence and Impact at alcohol education charity Drinkaware

The festive season is a time to socialise with colleagues, but many of us may end up drinking more than we intended

“Alcohol lowers inhibitions, making us more confident and less anxious, which can make you accidentally say or do something that you regret.

“Alcohol also upsets our sense of balance and co-ordination, slows down our reactions and impairs our vision and hearing, making us more prone to falls and more serious accidents.”

Measures put in place by the employer can prevent such things from happening. It’s vital that employees take care – things can get very messy if something goes wrong.

ISSUE 02 | 09

BUSINESS

INSIGHT

EUROPE AND JAPAN

HELP KEEP COUTTS AHEAD OF PEERS

SOLID PERFORMANCE FROM COUTTS INVESTMENTS

Coutts investment performance this year to the end of November was ahead of peers, boosted by our exposure to key equity markets and low allocation to gilts. A typical balanced portfolio was up 7.9% year-to-date compared to an investment industry average of 5.5%.While past performance cannot be taken as a guide to future returns, this solid set of numbers so far this year is encouraging news for Coutts investment clients. A key contributor has been our preference for the European and Japanese equity markets, as both markets have been doing well this year. Europe is among 2017’s best performing markets in sterling terms while the Japanese rally included the Nikkei 225 Index hitting a 25-year high. See more detail on the performance of a Coutts typical balanced portfolio in the table below.

Bank of England Governor must write to Chancellor Bank of England governor Mark Carney must now write a letter to UK Chancellor Philip Hammond explaining why the bank has missed its 2% inflation target by more than 1%. It follows UK inflation rising to 3.1% for November – its highest level in six years. Air fares and computer games contributed to the increase, according to the Office for National Statistics,

ISSUE 02 | 10

and prices in the services sector are also rising. Higher inflation is usually good for our portfolios and funds because of our preference for equities and property over bonds. The BoE said it was relaxed about the rise and maintained its stance that inflation is peaking and will trend downwards over the course of next year. The Monetary Policy Committee of the BoE voted unanimously this week to keep rates at 0.5% despite the higher inflation figure.

Mr Carney reiterated his statements from November that further rises could be in store in 2018. Markets expect two rises before the end of 2020, although they don’t see the first happening until late next year.

BUSINESS

STACEY DOOLEY

bbc

IMAGE BBC

documentary

ON THE FRONTLINE WITH THE WOMEN WHO FIGHT BACK

After spending a decade on screen travelling the world to give audiences the human story behind the headlines, in her rst book On the Frontline with the Women Who Fight Back Stacey Dooley weaves these narratives together to show the problems shared by women across the globe. She reveals how she has been personally ins pired by the people trying to e ect real change, frustrated by bureaucrats who repeatedly stand in the way of it, and motivated to continue bringing these voices to the forefront in her work. In the book Stacey celebrates the inspirational women she has met and uses her rst-hand encounters to shed light on the global issues we must all still come together to tackle.

IMAGE BBC

STACEY DOOLEY

STACEY HAS BEEN

ON THE FRONTLINE

is one of the UK’s most loved documentary presenters, since she joined our screens as part of the 2007 BBC series ‘Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts’.

filming documentaries for a decade and has covered topics including prison reform, drugs, abortion, domestic abuse, transgerderism,child ponography and war.

will be published in time for International Women’s Day on 8th March 2018

ISSUE 02 | 12

THE WOMEN WHO FIGHT BACK

STACEY ON THE FRONTLINE Stacey’s career has taken her to all corners of the globe to meet women empowered to liberate themselves from the same cycles of abuse and poverty that underpin so many of their experiences. From the Yazidi women putting themselves on the frontline to free members of their own family from the physical abuse they face at the hands of ISIS ghters, to the local women setting up shelters in Honduras to combat the devastating surge in femicide and domestic abuse. But as Stacey shows, for so many of these incredible women, political apathy and social discrimination prevent them from making a lasting impact.

INSIGHT

I’ve never for a moment thought that single handedly I could bring about signi cant change or be able to x things that have been broken for such a long time. But I do think that making people aware of what is going on in the world, especially for women, can help them feel differently and bring about change

ISSUE 02 | 13

In On the Frontline with the Women Who Fight Back Stacey shows that to protect the next generation of young women, we must continue to keep the conversation on global feminism going and keep bringing these stories into the dialogue, to rally global leaders to take action in the ght for true gender equality. Stacey immersed herself in di erent groups with extreme ideologies and beliefs in a two-part series Brainwashing Stacey Dooley for BBC3 last year where she embraced the challenging world of pro-abortionists and the controversial arena of big game hunting. In 2016, Stacey travelled to Iraq and presented the critically acclaimed documentary, Stacey Dooley on e Frontline: Gun Girls and ISIS, also for BBC3. 2017 has seen Stacey explore the dangerous world of child pornography in Japan, investigate the missing indigenous girls of Canada and go undercover in the growing criminal world of Britain’s digital drug dealers

FINANCE For now, Cluttons says, the rate of decline in rents across the city’s residential investment areas slowed to -1.8% in Q3, from -3.6% in Q2. The annual rate of change has however slipped further to -11.8%.

dec 2017

In the sales market, Cluttons’ report indicates that residential capital values across Abu Dhabi’s freehold investment areas declined by 0.4% in the three months to the end of September, leaving them just shy of AED 1,150 psf, a level not seen since early 2014. Overall, house prices are now 4.1% below where they were at the same time last year.

Cluttons previously forecasted rents to end 2017 8% to 10% down on 2016 across Abu Dhabi’s freehold residential investment areas.

ABU DHABI Prolonged economic headwinds have meant that Abu Dhabi’s real estate market has continued to stagnate during 2017, with the majority of sale and lease activity driven by affordability and incentives being offered by landlords and developers, according to leading international real estate consultants, Cluttons.

Faisal Durrani, Head of Research at Cluttons said: “The nervousness we have been reporting on for almost three years is well entrenched in the market at present. Weaker economic growth has taken a toll on the hydrocarbon sector in particular, which has been a key driver of demand in the residential and commercial markets in the emirate historically.

Cluttons Winter 2017/18 Abu Dhabi Property Market Outlook report indicates that the rental market has been relatively more buoyant than the sales market, with higher levels of activity compared to this time last year. A lot of demand stems from households relocating to make savings and to take advantage of incentives being offered by landlords. These include the accepting of rental payments through multiple cheques, as well as a growing number of landlords who are willing to pay agency fees, which is often up to 5% of the annual agreed rent.

Cluttons’ report also highlights the reduction of headline rents across the city. Even the top-tier Grade A buildings have seen rents weaken, with the Aldar HQ building (-2.8%) and International Tower (-3%), for instance, both registering falls in headline rents in Q3.

Still, over the last five years, prime office rents have declined by just 5.4% to AED 1,750 psm, shielded by the relatively small number of Grade A office buildings.

Secondary rents have fallen by a sharper 39.3% over the same period, to AED 850 psm.

REAL ESTATE MARKET

ISSUE 02 | 14

Office Market

EDWARD CARNEGY

“With household finances under pressure due to a reduction in housing allowances, the removal of various subsidies and the impending introduction of VAT in January 2018, tenants are focused on value for money, as well as quality”.

Similar to the residential market, subdued growth in the oil and gas sector continues to undermine overall activity in the office market.

The public sector on the other hand, which includes government departments and other quasi government entities, appears to be mobilising in response to the weak rents, with a range of

equirements in the market. While some are looking to consolidate, others are attempting to upgrade from older offices.

Carnegy said: “We are seeing fairly significant churn from public sector and related entities, with at least 50,000 sqm requirements currently in the market. This is attributable to various drivers including consolidation exercises, upgrading offices from older legacy locations and the availability of new office supply to enable such relocations. These factors are all framed by a requirement to cut cost and drive efficiency. Similarly, corporate occupiers are still consolidating, cost cutting and requiring increased lease flexibility.”

prime office rents appear to be on track to end the year roughly 5% to 10% down on this time last year and it is our view that a similar pattern is likely during 2018. The key to unlocking the current stalemate will be a turn-around in oil price growth and perhaps an easing of the cost containment measures introduced by the Government in the wake of the oil price collapse in 2014.

ISSUE 02 | 15

16

Magazine Tempate

17

FINANCE

DOLLAR SELLOFF IN FINAL TRADING WEEK OF 2017

BFI

EMERGING MARKET DEBT

BFINANCE

With only two trading sessions remaining for 2017, liquidity dried up across the global markets. This has been obvious in U.S. and European equities, where volumes dropped significantly.

T

However, some investors continued to tweak their portfolios slightly, leading to insignificant price action. I don’t expect

here has been very rapid evolution in the EMD active manager universe (excluding hedge funds), with a far larger number of funds now available to investors. 2017 has also seen strategic shifts, such as a larger number of players beginning to define their focus in terms of differentiation between commoditysensitive and less commodity-sensitive emerging markets. Blended vehicles now accounting for approximately 60 funds, versus 20 in 2009. The hard currency and local currency sectors also offer more choice than in previous years, almost doubling over the same period.

equities to deviate much throughout Thursday and Friday. nterestingly though, traders continued selling off the U.S. dollar.

One could blame Wednesday’s U.S. consumer confidence report which fell from a 17-year high, but the dollar was declining before the release. I think the best explanation for the dollar weakness is the sharp fall in U.S. Treasury yields.

10-year bond yields dropped 7 basis points on Wednesday, to reverse almost 50% of the gains from mid-December towards last week, where yields broke above 2.5% for the first time since March 2017.

Commodity currencies are also enjoying a decent upside, after copper prices rallied to their highest level in almost four years.

Oil prices remained close to a two-and-a-half year high, and gold hit a one-month high. Considering that no Tier One economic reports will be released, the Aussie, Kiwi and Loonie will continue to follow commodity prices’ direction.

EURO DIPS AFTER CATALAN VOTE BITCOIN TUMBLES

Ilocal n emerging market debt, the use of versus hard currency bonds

has dictated performance over the past decade. This has helped to drive a dramatic increase in Blended EMD strategies.

The Euro sharply depreciated against the Dollar during early trading on Friday after pro-independence parties in Catalonia triumphed in Thursday’s regional elections. With three pro-independence parties winning a combined 70 seats of the 135 available, concerns are once again heightened that tensions between Barcelona and Madrid could escalate.

Although political uncertainty in Spain has the ability to punish the Euro shortterm, losses are likely to be limited by the growing optimism over Europe’s economic recovery.

Taking a look at the technical picture, the EURUSD remains supported above 1.1850 on the daily charts. Prices are trading above the 50 SMA while the MACD has also crossed to the upside. A weekly close above 1.1850 could signal a further incline towards 1.1920 and higher. Alternatively, a

By Lukman Otunuga Research Analyst at FXTM

failure of prices to keep above the 1.1850 pivotal level may reopen a path back towards 1.1730.

ISSUE 02 | 18

Mixed flows are at their highest ever level while, from a product perspective, the number of Blended EMD funds has trebled while the number of specific local and hard currency funds has doubled. JP Morgan has announced the launch of its first official Blended EMD benchmarks for 2018 – a significant step. Yet the purpose, practices and performance of these managers are not clearly understood. This is the focus of the latest Implementation Insight paper from bfinance, Emerging EMD back in the spotlight Emerging market debt has witnessed a dramatic return to favour in 2017, with flows even outstripping emerging market equity in a year when both have shown strong performance. Yet investors’ negative experiences in local currency EMD during recent years are colouring the picture. A closer look at the data shows a shift in appetite from local currency towards hard currency in 2009-12, and subsequently towards blended strategies that combine different EMD sub-sectors.

MATHIAS NEIDERT MANAGING DIRECTOR AND HEAD OF PUBLIC MARKETS “We have seen a very significant increase in emerging market debt searches in 2017, much of which has been directed towards blended strategies. With the trend appearing likely to continue, this seemed to be an opportune time to share some detailed scrutiny of the Blended EMD sub-sector.

ISSUE 02 | 19

FINANCE

Digital agency launches

Digital Asset Management system

16i, a Cheltenham-based digital design agency, has launched a Digital Asset Management system, which gives brands anytime, anywhere access to their digital assets via a single portal – without the need to be in the office or connected to the company server. The new offering enables businesses to easily manage and share their digital assets such as electronic documents, data, imagery, emails, spreadsheets and more from a centralised portal, with branded templates meaning organisations that use it can ensure continuity of branding.

DIGITAL AGENCY LAUNCHES DAM

DAM Statistics demonstrate that a DAM system helps provide 97% brand consistency, while also maximising employee time with a 62% reduction in search times, as it removes unnecessary file searches. The DAM system is a new development for 16i, and enables them to offer an enhanced service to existing clients and a more attractive one to prospective clients. Alex Clough, the managing director of 16i, said: “The beauty of a Digital Asset Management system is that it brings everything together in one easily accessible place, which streamlines processes and allows for greater brand continuity.”

MindTrace is one of the few companies worldwide developing intelligent machines capable of ‘unsupervised learning’ or teaching themselves independently, which is regarVded as the next step in the development of AI. Its systems could have a wide range of applications including data management, cyber security and the internet of focus will be on systems for autonomous vehicles. The company is developing an advanced collision avoidance system which will offer faster response times than current systems, perform better in poor lighting conditions and require less power and bandwidth.

ISSUE 02 | 20

The funding will allow the company to recruit a research and development team and a CEO, develop a prototype in collaboration with a major car manufacturer and raise Series A investment to bring the product to market.

Ken Cooper, Managing Director at British Business Bank, said: “It is good to see ADV, a platform backed by British Business Bank, and the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund through Mercia working together to back high tech businesses like MindTrace.”

FINANCE

FRP ADVISORY FRP Advisory further expands advisory services in Brighton and across south-east Hire of Adrian Alexander as partner to FRP Corporate Finance team

FRP Advisory LLP, the business advisory firm, has boosted its national Corporate Finance team with the appointment of Adrian Alexander as partner based in the firm’s Brighton office. The appointment forms part of FRP Advisory’s strategy to create a national corporate finance offering to complement the other advisory activities of the firm. FRP Advisory now has dedicated, specialist corporate finance advisors across five of the firm’s 18 locations: Brighton, Bristol, London, Birmingham and Manchester. Adrian will handle corporate finance advice and transactions across the south-east of England. Adrian’s arrival is a response to client demand for corporate finance advice from companies and private equity groups, both south of the M25 and across the wider south-east and south of England. His arrival ensures the whole of the south of England has coverage from

A

drian has worked across a broad range of sectors within corporate finance and spent the early part of his career at Grant Thornton, working with companies in the tourism, leisure, software and engineering industries.

Whilst at Grant Thornton, Adrian also spent time managing due diligence investigations and offering litigation support, and was regularly seconded to the firm’s Corporate Recovery Group to carry out investigation work for major banks. In addition to his corporate finance work, Adrian’s professional activities included authoring CCH Accountants’ Digest and Audit and Assurance Digest, and acting as Executive Editor of CCH’s Corporate Finance Series. He has also authored part of the UKTI guide on international companies acquiring businesses in the UK and regularly speaks at corporate finance seminars.

blake morgan appoints new london banking and finance partner

BUSINESS INSIGHT FRP Corporate Finance thanks to teams in place overseen by partners Matthew Flower in London and Mark Naughton in Bristol. Adrian joins as a partner and brings nearly 30 years of corporate finance experience, including the past 24 years at Mazars LLP where he was a corporate finance partner handling a range of mid- market sales and acquisitions. Adrian set up and grew Mazars’ corporate finance department in Brighton, making it one of the most respected corporate finance teams in the south-east. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants corporate finance faculty and has extensive experience in exit strategies, buying and selling companies, management buyouts, raising finance and deal support services, including valuations, with particular expertise in IT, telecoms, waste and renewable energy.

BLAKE MORGAN APPOINTS NEW FINANCE PARTNER

Adrian Alexander, FRP Corporate Finance partner, said: “I am delighted to join the firm and work alongside the range of dedicated, experienced business advisory professionals at FRP Advisory. As an FRP Corporate Finance partner, I will be providing on the ground advice for a range of businesses across sectors and look forward to working both with my colleagues in Brighton and my fellow Corporate Finance partners spread across the other offices. Part of the pleasure of my job is helping clients realise and add to the value they have built up in their businesses over the years. The south- east has a wealth of industries clustered within the region and I look forward to bringing commercially-driven solutions to meet a variety of needs across the full spectrum of M&A, disposals and other corporate transactions.”

GLOBAL NEWS ISSUE 02 | 22

meera jansen “Blake Morgan has an excellent reputation in banking and finance law, and offers a first class service to clients.

I am very much looking forward to joining a firm with such a strength and depth of expertise, and contributing to its further success.”

Law firm Blake Morgan has appointed an experienced new partner to further strengthen its Banking and Finance offering in the London market. Meera Jansen, a specialist finance lawyer, brings a broad range of expertise in all aspects of debt financings, funds finance, leveraged finance, real estate finance, general corporate finance, asset backed lending and more. Her experience spans various multi-jurisdictional acquisition finance transactions, cross border equity bridge transactions, development finance transactions and all aspects of insolvency and restructuring.

Joining from London firm Brecher, Meera has over 20 years’ experience in law, including time at the Royal Bank of Scotland on secondment. Recent achievements include establishing a banking practice at a previous firm and acting for major banks in relation to high value financing of real estate and investment property. She will join Blake Morgan in its New Street Square offices and will be a key figure in the Banking and Finance team’s future plans, alongside a team of specialists highly regarded for their work across a range of sectors, on transactions from the simplest to the largest and most complex Kath Shimmin, Partner and Head of the Banking and Finance team at Blake Morgan, said: “Meera’s broad expertise and client following makes her an excellent addition to our team of leading banking and finance lawyers, and will further strengthen our offering in the London market. I am delighted to welcome her to the team.”

Blake Morgan’s highly regarded Banking and Finance team act for lenders (including major UK banks) and borrowers, on mid-tier corporate transactions. Ranked highly in legal directories, the team has an excellent reputation in retail banking, insurance regulation, general investments, compliance and consumer credit issues.

Advising funders, lenders and borrowers in all types of financing transaction, their specialists offer fast, expert advice on all aspects of lending, security, product development and financial regulation.

ISSUE 02 |23

FINANCE

HUSSEIN SAYED CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST AT FXTM

BITCOIN RECOVERY AS MARKET ENTER SLEEP MODE With most financial markets in vacation mode, Bitcoin is the only currency making big moves in a holiday-thinned trading week.

After crashing by more than $8,000 from an all-time high, Bitcoin is up 3.5% at the time of writing. Although the recent plunge frightened many bitcoin fans, when looking at the relatively short history of bitcoin trading, the price action seems just normal. During 2017 the cryptocurrency crashed by 30% or more six times. Every fall was followed by huge price appreciation until it peaked on 17 December. Whether the Bitcoin bull market is close to an end or just pausing for a short break, remains to be a wild question for 2018.

JIM TOTTY AND NICK CURTIS BITCOIN I still believe that Bitcoin is in a bubble formation.

However, there’s no effective test to measure at which stage we are currently standing. For example, equity prices may be said in a bubble territory if investors are willing to pay much more for a stock than the intrinsic value which is justified by the discounted divided stream. Similarly, econometric tests may be run on bonds, commodities, currencies or any other asset to come up with a justified value. For Bitcoin, there isn’t any fundamental basis to justify the price.

Traders should look at multiple factors to anticipate the next move, such as government regulations, hedge funds interest, the stability of the network, and broader mainstream adoption.

ISSUE 02 | 24

However, latest signs are not encouraging.

Here are a few: Israel became the most recent country to propose banning companies based on digital currencies to trade on its stock exchange.

A South Korean bitcoin exchange has been hacked, leading it Ainto bankruptcy.

Cryptocurrency exchanges are disabling transaction temporarily due to high traffic

ProfessionAL traders on CBOE seems to be going short on Bitcoin.

FINANCE

ESTABLISHES £10M LOAN

the loan notes are secured, fixed-rate, medium-term debt

lgb

CORPORATE FINANCE

infrastructure monitoring, search and rescue and environment monitoring. SRT’s products provide customers with information, analysis, dynamic event visualisation and management functionality that enable them to understand, monitor, control and manage maritime activities. Secured loan note programmes geared towards the lower-mid market have been pioneered by LGB Corporate Finance to address a significant funding gap faced by UK SMEs that has not been filled by either bank debt or alternative sources of private capital.

has arranged a £10million secured loan note programme for AIMquoted SRT Marine Systems PLC (“SRT”), one of the UK’s leading providers of maritime tracking, management and surveillance technologies. An initial issue of £2 million of secured loan notes was completed concurrent with the establishment of the programme.

The first issue of loan notes have a three year term and pay interest at 8.0% per annum. SRT supplies technologies, products and systems which provide maritime domain awareness (MDA). Its systems are used across a broad range of applications including maritime border control and security, fishery monitoring and management,

ISSUE 02 | 26

securities issued by SMEs and growth business, with regular, fixed cash yield of 5-10% per annum, with maturities varying between six months and five yearsv

LGB CORPORATE

APP DESIGNED TO REDUCE COST BURDEN ON MOTORIsTS LAUNCHES CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN

NORTH EAST tech business, honcho, is turning to crowdfunding after EU funds allocated to support the launch of its new app designed to reduce costs for young drivers, were put on indefinite hold.

Honcho, which will create the UK’s first ‘reverse auction’ marketplace for car insurance, thereby reducing costs for motorists and decreasing the dependence on price comparison websites (PCWs), has launched its fundraising exercise on CrowdCube. The app enables insurers to bid for consumers’ business, competing with each other to offer the best value package in real time rather than just endless fixed quotes like PCWs.

GAVIN SEWELL CEO OF HONCHO “Businesses cannot afford to wait for political negotiations to decide if funds allocated to UK regions will be released. The JEREMIE 2 fund alone was meant to invest £120 million into businesses such as ours, and this was only one of the funds targeting regions of the UK meaning that potentially thousands of businesses are losing out.

Crowdfunding is the logical and immediate solution for innovative tech start-ups such as honcho looking for alternative funds, and also gives UK investors the chance to support enterprises and get in on the ground floor of exciting new ventures.”

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The campaign aims to raise £650,000 to help bring the app to market.

The honcho investment page can be found at: www.crowdcube.com/honcho

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

M&A WATCH: ENGINEERING

EOS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT ACQUIRES EUROFIERE

Eurofiere is market leader in the creation of exhibition stands and high-quality retail outlet interior design. EOS IM’s purpose for this acquisition is to enable the company further increase its growth and international presence.

EOS Investment Management has acquired Eurofiere, a market leading company focused on the design and creation of high quality exhibition stands, through professional engineering, architectural, technological standards, and temporary stores & shops, showroom and interior designs. The main goal of the acquisition is for EOS IM to support the company’s expansion plans in Italy and internationally.

Founded in 1961 Eurofiere has a strong market presence, with an international client base of many famous name brands among its top clients there are for example OAKLEY, VERSACE, FENDI, FIAT and YAMAHA MARINE. It develops projects of communication, brand image and brand enhancement in partnership with these clients. In 2017, the turnover of the company exceeded 30m (+10% compared to 2016). These results have been achieved as the result of a combination of innovation, organisation and technical capability. This deal follows EOS IM’s acquisition of Poplast, an Italian manufacturing company specialised in the creation of flexible packaging, focussed on the food, pharmaceutical and industrial sectors. Giorgio Falzone and Cristina Bergese, respectively General Manager and Deputy General Manager, are co-investing along with EOS IM and 5 other top company managers in the MBO operation.

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head of eos private equity

M

arco Giuseppini, Head of EOS Private Equity, adds

“Eurofiere has been able to successfully meet new market trends and dynamics in the world of exhibits, temporary and interior”. Working alongside Marco in the investment team are Alessandro Besana, Investment Manager and Lorenzo Bovo, Director.

alzone and Bergese comment

Since discussions began, the EOS team has demonstrated its in-depth knowledge of our market sector, of the business dynamics and of potential prospective upsides. We are convinced that finding such an investor as EOS IM to acquire the company is the best way for us to express our growth potential. We are working together to identify targets in line with our growth strategy in Italy and abroad.

C

marco giuseppini

EOS IM has been advised by Lombardi Segni e Associati for legal aspects, by the law firm Russo De Rosa e Associati for tax issues, by PwC for financial due diligence, by LTP for business due diligence and by KPMG for the ESG due diligence. The vendors have been assisted by Vitale & Co, by the law firm Gattai Minoli Agostinell for legal aspects, by EY for tax and financial issues and by Bain&Co for business.

iro Mongillo, EOS IM founder and CEO, says

With this deal, we maintain our pursuit of EOS IM’s mission to support the Italian market growth, with a focus on profitable, niche SME’s. We believe that the combination of strategic market positioning and the evolutionary business model, along with a thorough commercial policy focused on the client are the ingredients for the success. This has been achieved by Eurofiere over the last few years, both in Italy and abroad. We are focussed on facilitating the further enhancement of this growth.

ciro mongillo

eos im founder and ceo

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AGRO MERCHANTS GROUP

BSI STRENGTHENS POSITION IN ASIA PACIFIC WITH ACQUISITION OF NEVILLE CLARKE

ACQUIRES GROCONTINENTAL AND COMPLETES GLOBAL REFINANCING

A

GRO Merchants Group, a global leader in cold storage and logistics solutions, announced today the acquisition of UK-based Grocontinental Limited. This transaction reinforces AGRO’s position as the leading cold storage and logistics provider in the United Kingdom and Ireland, deepens its commodity expertise, and substantially enhances its value-added service offerings for customers. David Grocott and Linda Grocott, third generation owners of Grocontinental, will continue to lead the business as Joint Managing Directors.

CARLOS RODRIGUEZ CEO OF AGRO

Established in 1941, Grocontinental is today a leading provider of cold storage and logistics services to the food industry with a particular expertise in the dairy and meat sectors. Based in Whitchurch, Shropshire, Grocontinental operates from a purpose-built 35-acre complex with a warehouse capacity of 197,000 pallets and owned transport solutions.

The business offers a range of specialist services including cheese cutting, blast freezing, ingredient sorting, de-boxing and reboxing, shrink-wrapping, bar coding, labelling and export packing. Multi-temperature storage is available from -28°c to +12°c. Grocontinental’s Quality Management System and effective process control is applied throughout the business at every level.

The company holds a number of industry accreditations and export approvals including Customs Approved Storage, BRC Global Standard for Storage and Distribution, BRC Global Standard for Food Safety and SEDEX. “This transaction is the culmination of a process that for me began more than three years ago,” said Carlos Rodriguez, CEO of AGRO Merchants Group. “When we founded AGRO in 2013, I quickly identified Grocontinental as the ideal potential partner in England to join our network. This is not just due to its market leading position, high-quality assets, and deep commodity expertise. I was most drawn to the culture and values of the Grocott family, their commitment to the local community, and the long-standing relationships with customers and employees.

We could not be more pleased to welcome Linda, David and the entire Grocontinental team to AGRO Merchants Group.”

Grocontinental is the third significant investment by AGRO in the UK/Ireland, following the 2014 purchase of Castlecool and 2015 acquisition of the Sawyers Group. The large cold storage capacity in Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and England, together with expertise in all commodity types and a strong transportation network, positions AGRO as a market leader providing unique value-added solutions to customers.

Linda Grocott and David Grocott commented: “Joining AGRO Merchants Group is great news for Grocontinental. We are very proud of the progression and success we have achieved over the years and now we have an excellent opportunity to take the company into a new and exciting era. To move Grocontinental into a larger group is not a decision we have taken lightly. We have been very impressed with AGRO’s ambitions, the strength and depth of its structure and expertise; and its respect for our 76-year family-owned business heritage. We are looking forward to being part of the future success of the Group and continuing to grow our business at Grocontinental.” Concurrent with this acquisition, AGRO successfully completed a global refinancing of its senior credit facilities that substantially reduces its cost of capital and provides for a new revolving line of credit. AGRO also received a substantial equity investment from funds affiliated with Oaktree Capital Management.

“The completion of this refinancing not only facilitates a transformative acquisition for AGRO but also strengthens our investment capabilities going forward, and delivers longer term funding at improved rates,” said Arjan Kaaks, Chief Financial Officer. “We are now even better positioned to continue with the implementation of our ambitious strategic plan.”

bsi

THE BUSINESS STANDARDS COMPANY, TODAY ANNOUNCED THE ACQUISITION OF

Neville Clarke, an Asia Pacific business specializing in organizational training and capacity building. This will see Neville Clarke become an operating subsidiary of BSI’s Professional Services business and will function under the name, “BSI Neville Clarke - A BSI Professional Services Company”. Neville Clarke complements BSI’s strategy to offer a greater range of training services in the ASEAN market. It enhances BSI’s product offering by expanding the range of training courses and intellectual property in three key areas: Assurance, Engagement and Performance, at a regional level and in future at a global level. The acquisition of Neville Clarke significantly broadens BSI’s footprint and scalability of the training and associated capacity building services with the addition of 150 staff and offices across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

This investment also provides BSI with a market entry into the fast-growing Philippines market.

Howard Kerr, Chief Executive at BSI says: “For a number of years, our strategy has been to build critical scale in the ASEAN market. The acquisition of Neville Clarke enables us to do this by not only expanding our footprint in this region but by strengthening our training expertise and product offering for our clients.”

David Horlock, Asia Pacific Managing Director at BSI comments: “Neville Clarke provides us with immediate growth opportunities in Asia Pacific and further strengthens BSI’s commitment to the ASEAN market. Neville Clarke has a strong and long-established reputation in the region with a diverse range of government, international and blue-chip clients that span the manufacturing, financial, healthcare, technology, food and automotive sectors.

The addition of Neville Clarke’s professional team, their intellectual property and technical expertise combined with the internationally recognized BSI brand and broader services will help unlock excellence for our clients. The acquisition also provides professional development and career enhancing opportunities for Neville Clarke’s technical specialists. I’m delighted the Neville Clarke leadership team will be joining the BSI team.”

Alan Russell, Director at Neville Clarke states: “The Neville Clarke Board are delighted with the acquisition of Neville Clarke by BSI. The strong reputation and values of both companies make for a good marriage and will provide a secure future with greater opportunities for both our highly committed staff and their clients.”

Kerr concludes: “For over ten years BSI has grown our client base organically, increased our global presence and expanded our portfolio offering to match today’s business needs. This acquisition reinforces our commitment to encouraging Organizational Resilience across our clients. To ensure we remain a resilient organization - one that is agile, adaptive, robust and competitive - we have even greater ambitions for growth which will include quality acquisitions like Neville Clarke.”

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

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CYBER SECURITY FIRM INTEGRITY360

ACQUIRES SPECIALIST UK SECURITY PROVIDER

Engagement & Experiential Marketing Agency Engine Shop Acquires The Gamer Agency A Preeminent Esports Entertainment Company

Engine Shop, the award-winning lifestyle, and marketing agency, today announced the acquisition of The Gamer Agency, a preeminent esports strategy, event production, and development company. TGA’s live events and digital broadcast productions have reached millions of fans worldwide, and its team boasts decades of collective experience in gaming and entertainment. For Engine Shop, a Bruin Sports Capital company, the acquisition puts it at the forefront of this exploding genre where, according to the latest Newzoo research, advertising investment in esports is expected to surpass $1bn by 2020.

Cyber security firm Integrity360 today announced the acquisition of UK IT security specialist Metadigm for an undisclosed sum, expanding the firm’s presence in the UK. Adding to its current services portfolio, Integrity360 will extend the reach for its managed security and cyber security services in the UK market.

The acquisition will deliver enhanced industry knowledge and expertise to customers. One of the first cyber security companies in the UK, Metadigm, has been operating for more than 20 years and has an expected 2017 turnover of £3m. Integrity360 currently operates in the UK through its London and Birmingham offices. The firm reported year on year growth of 53 per cent in 2016 with an increase of €13 million in annual turnover from €24.5 million to €37.5 million. Integrity360 plans to significantly increase its penetration of the UK market, driven by a twin strategy of both organic growth and acquisitions. Ireland’s largest cyber security provider, the firm employs 175 people at its HQ in Sandyford, Dublin.

Jason Simper, Director, Metadigm said: “This is a great opportunity for us to be part of a leading cyber security organisation, positioning the UK team to offer enhanced IT security services with greater reach. We are very excited about the move to Integrity360.” Integrity360 works with more than 300 companies in Ireland and internationally, across key sectors, providing managed cyber security; incident handling; cyber risk and assurance; cyber security integration and penetration testing services, in order to secure clients’ information, networks and infrastructure. Founded in 2005, Integrity360 is 12 years in business.

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CEO OF INTEGRITY360

EOIN GOULDING It’s fantastic to be integrating Metadigm’s expertise into our overall business, reinforcing our growth strategy and introducing a further skill set for our clients in Ireland. I am delighted to announce the acquisition. Metadigm has a strong reputation in the UK and we look forward to welcoming them to our team. The people and skill sets at Integrity360 are

TGA operates exclusively in esports specializing in strategy, tournament and event production, and broadcast production. Among its work, the agency designed and continues to operate the state-of-the-art Mixer NYC Studio digital production facility at the flagship Microsoft Store in New York. This year alone, the studio will produce and broadcast approximately 100 esports and other gaming events across various titles. Through these activations, Microsoft Store and TGA have mobilized the NYC esports and gaming communities at the flagship Microsoft Store. Engine Shop, the 2017 winner of Best Sports Event & Experiential Marketing Agency from Sports Business Journal, acquired TGA from GameCo, Inc. and will integrate the company into the business immediately. TGA was founded by GameCo, whose business is attracting esports enthusiasts and video gamers to casinos and is the inventor of the Video Game Gambling Machine.

Brian Gordon, Engine Shop, CEO: “By acquiring TGA, we are adding a team with profound expertise and connections in esports to our existing consumer engagement business model. It will enable us to create and activate esports solutions for brands looking to tap in to this passionate community of fans and endemics seeking to broaden their offering and expand their fan base.”

Blaine Graboyes, GameCo CEO “We are very proud of the growth and development of TGA which has become among the foremost authorities bridging marketers into esports. Engine Shop’s expertise in Engagement and Experiential marketing will enhance its offering to the market. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with them to meet the needs of the global esports marketplace.”

George Pyne, Founder & CEO of Bruin Sports Capital, “This is a very strategic acquisition for Engine Shop and continues to fulfill their promise of staying at the leading edge as an agency. It smartly positions the company to be the go-to resource for marketers, leagues, team owners, publishers and producers looking to maximize the opportunity to engage esports’ very impressive and growing fan base.”

fundamental to the cyber security services that we deliver internationally.

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M&A WATCH: TBC

GIBRALTAR STOCK EXCHANGE ACQUIRES chairman of the gibraltar funds and investments association

adrian hogg

GRANT THORNTON FUND ADMINISTRATION AND GT FIDUCIARY SERVICES

NICK COWAN CEO OF GSX GROUP A

s part of its continuing expansion, GSX , the Gibraltar Stock Exchange, announces the acquisition of Grant Thornton Fund Administration Limited and GT Fiduciary Services Limited. GSX has acquired the largest fund administrator in Gibraltar as well as a fiduciary and corporate services provider to expand the GSX Group’s product offering and develop its financial services and fintech ecosystem.

The acquisition received regulatory consent and closed on 30 November 2017. The acquisition will see the Grant Thornton companies change their names to ‘Juno’ and form part of the Juno Services group. Adrian Hogg, Managing Director of the Juno Services group, will join the GSX Group’s executive committee as Group CFO.

I am very excited for this new stage in our development; we can begin offering a full range of services to our clients within the GSX and GBX ecosystem.

Nick Cowan, CEO of the GSX Group welcomed the move: “I am very excited for this new stage in our development; we can begin offering a full range of services to our clients within the GSX and GBX ecosystem. In addition, Adrian Hogg, who has served on the board of the Gibraltar Stock Exchange since licensing, will bring additional expertise to our fast growing group of companies.”

The acquisition is part of the GSX Group’s expansion plan which includes the recent launch of GBX, the Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange, which will operate as a leading token sale platform and cryptocurrency exchange. The timing is perfect for the GSX Group, as the distributed ledger technology regulations come into operation in Gibraltar on 1 January 2018. These principles based regulations will regulate firms that utilise blockchain technology for the storing and transmitting of value belonging to others. GBX will come under the scope of this new regulation, which Nick believes is a huge strength to both Gibraltar and the GSX Group: “Gibraltar is leading the way in terms of regulation within this space and the GSX Group will be a forerunner in the market.”

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Adrian, Chairman of the Gibraltar Funds and Investments Association, member of the Gibraltar Finance Centre Council and a partner of Grant Thornton for 10 years, with extensive and proven financial services and corporate structuring experience commented: “We are delighted to join the GSX Group and look forward to being part of the GSX Group’s global offering. We believe that we can achieve significant growth and that joining the GSX Group will open up new opportunities for our clients and new clients alike.”

Grant Thornton Fund Administration Limited and GT Fiduciary Services Limited historically have a strong technology focus, specialising in the provision of fund structuring, fund administration, and regulatory services, together with corporate and related ancillary services.

Providing services to a wide spectrum of clients from a broad range of jurisdictions, from private clients to multinational enterprises, clients will still receive services as normal under the new banner of Juno Services.

Adrian Hogg and Freddie White, the owners of Grant Thornton Fund Administration Limited and GT Fiduciary Services, sold to the GSX Group for an undisclosed amount. Part of the consideration was shares in the GSX Group such that Adrian and Freddie are invested, as shareholders, in the ongoing success of GSX, GBX and the Juno Services gr.

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M&A WATCH: TBC

IMPRIMA STREAMLINES

ACCESS AND UPLOAD FOR LENGHTY M&A DEALS

LEADING GLOBAL SEARCH

AND ADVISORY FIRM RUSSELL REYNOLDS ASSOCIATES ACQUIRES SPECIALIST BOARD ADVISORY FIRM THE ZYGOS PARTNERSHIP

Ensuring that technology is a time saver, rather than a hindrance, in high-stakes M&A deals, Imprima has announced a bulk upload feature that doesn’t require any plug-ins or additional software.

Mergers and acquisitions are a drawn-out, complicated process. From a virtual data room perspective, the sheer scale of a complicated deal involves an enormous number of files and folders, so bulk upload is a basic requirement. The true frustration comes when deal managers attempt to upload large folder and document structures of more than 5GB at one time and the software is not compatible. Imprima’s new bulk upload tool does not require administrative rights for installation.

Users are also not required to run Java, .NET or ActiveX to function, allowing them to bypass any security issues faced when operating a bulk upload.

M&A deals inevitably involve reams of confidential documents. Taking into account the pressure points of some of Imprima’s most high-profile customers, the bulk upload tool is built with security in mind, no matter which Internet browser your business chooses to use for uploads.

TOM HORSMAN

HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY AT IMPRIMA

CLARKE MURPHY

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF RUSSELL REYNOLDS ASSOCIATES Russell Reynolds Associates, a leading global search and leadership advisory firm, today announced it has agreed to acquire Londonbased Zygos Partnership, one of the UK’s preeminent board and CEO advisory firms. The combination of Russell Reynolds Associates and Zygos brings together unparalleled access to global talent and depth of sector expertise to help organizations address critical leadership and corporate governance challenges in today’s complex and uncertain business environment. The Zygos Partnership started in 2002 as the first and now the largest specialist board advisory firm in the UK. They have established themselves as a market leader, focused on working with business leaders and significant organizations seeking advice at the highest levels.

“Zygos and Russell Reynolds are a natural fit with shared values and a relentless passion for serving clients,” said Clarke Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of Russell Reynolds Associates. “This combination complements our strategy to expand our existing relationships in the board advisory and C-suite space. With board performance and accountability under intense scrutiny, our clients need help with governance and strategy, as well as with finding global talent. This acquisition is an important step in strengthening our position in this key area of board advisory service. We will add exceptional depth of experience in guiding boards around multiyear succession planning, coupled with strong sector insights provided by the wider firm,” said Murphy.

TOM HORSMAN, HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY AT IMPRIMA Imprima understands that time is of the essence during a crucial deal. The new and improved bulk upload functionality is OS and Browser agnostic, another important step towards making modern mergers and acquisitions as painless and streamlined as possible.

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Julia Budd co-founded The Zygos Partnership 15 years ago and states, “We are very pleased to be joining our new partners at Russell Reynolds Associates. In combining our two businesses, we have taken the time to get to know each other well. We are confident that Russell Reynolds’ partnership culture, professionalism and approach to business and clients is very similar to our own. For our clients, we believe that this combination will bring additional resources and international reach while preserving the expertise and discretion that they expect. We are looking forward to continuing to serve our clients and to working with our new partners at Russell Reynolds for many years to come.”

“Together we will be creating the preeminent board advisory group. We will be based in the UK, but will have a comprehensive ability to deliver internationally,” commented Luke Meynell, Zygos’ Managing Partner. “All of our clients want to ensure that they have access to outstanding leaders, wherever those individuals are based. The current and future clients of both firms can be confident that this combination will provide them with that capability underpinned by the highest levels of service.”

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REED & MACKAY TRAVEL ACQUIRE FRENCH TMC

International TMC, Reed & Mackay continues what has been a significant year by furthering their global footprint through an agreement to acquire Frequent Flyer Travel Paris. “Following on from the launch of the international partnership in April and the investment in German based Travel Management Company, Moll Travel, the acquisition of French TMC, Frequent Flyer Travel Paris (FFTP) creates further opportunities to deliver the extraordinary service we are known for,” says Reed & Mackay CEO Fred Stratford.

“FFTP are an incredible business and we are delighted to join forces with them.The alignment between Reed & Mackay and FFTP will bring additional benefits to our clients, creating strength in our European offering as well as ensuring we continue to put the best technology in the hands of the best people in the industry around the world,” continues Stratford.

FFTP is one of the few TMCs in France to be accredited to the AFAQ ISO 14001 standards, giving the assurance of compliance to quality standards at all times.

As the only TMC in France with an integrated geolocation service through an exclusive agreement with an industry leading provider, they offer a natural extension of the Duty of Care provision we provide as well as having an in-house 24/7 emergency travel team. They also have a strong events and group travel department capable of servicing full event management.

SCIBITE ACQUIRES FACTBIO SciBite, a firm whose technology is revolutionising R&D for pharmaceutical companies across the globe, has acquired Cambridge based FactBio, a leading developer of semantic software for data management and curation for the life sciences. FactBio will become a wholly owned subsidiary of SciBite and all business will relocate to SciBite’s offices at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The era of data-driven R&D is motivating investment in technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, data integration and natural language processing to provide deeper insights into new drug development strategies. While the key to making such efforts successful is clean, high quality data, in reality the data cleansing and annotation work required to achieve this can be costly, often prohibitively so. Through its knowledge management platform, Kusp, FactBio provides the tools to streamline this process and generate the high quality data needed for meaningful analysis.

TRIGO ESTABLISHES IN THE UK BY ACQUIRING BRIDGE GROUP

TRIGO has acquired 100% of the capital of Bridge Group from its founder Neil Endley. Bridge Group will be TRIGO’s development platform on UK territory in the automotive, aerospace and heavy transportation industries.

TRIGO also intends to leverage Bridge Group’s proven expertise in supplier turnaround management, training and technical resourcing to further enrich its global supply chain performance service range. Bridge Group was created in 2007 by seasoned automotive quality specialist Neil Endley, with a mission to assist automotive suppliers in recovering from deep quality crisis. With c. 5 MGBP in annual revenues and more than 100 staff today, the company offers a full combination of quality and supply chain services to large manufacturers such as Opel/Vauxhall, Honda and a number of suppliers.

TRIGO’s acquisition strategy aims at continuously expanding both its geographic span and service depth to best address its customers supply chain challenges. This is the second acquisition for TRIGO in 2017 and the fourth one since French private equity Ardian started backing the Group in 2016.

“One more time this year”, said Benoit Leblanc, EVP Europe, “TRIGO is happy to welcome a new team of talented professionals in the group. Bridge Group’s supplier development DNA, its proven inspection capabilities and its customer centric, entrepreneur culture are a perfect fit for TRIGO and will for sure benefit to our customers”.

Neil Endley, Bridge Group’s founder and general manager, added: “I and the whole Bridge team have great ambitions for our customers in the UK and beyond. Within TRIGO we are convinced that Bridge Group can develop a stronger, wider and more international service offering, both for our current automotive clients and in other industries such as aerospace and railway.”

“FactBio’s platforms address a critical step in the data analysis pipeline, a growing issue for our customers. The technology shares SciBite’s principles of using strong semantic data representation through high quality ontologies and together provide a holistic solution to today’s big data challenges,” said Rob Greenwood, CEO of SciBite.

“Being part of SciBite will mean FactBio and its technology can fulfil its potential to meet the data needs of its life science customers as part of a much broader platform strategy,” said James Malone, CEO of FactBio. “It’s a great fit for both companies and we are very excited about the future.”

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GLANCE TO ACQUIRE CRYPTOCURRENCY TECHNOLOGY FROM #4 TOP BLOCK CHAIN INFLUENCER

Glance intends to utilize the Blockimpact cryptocurrency platform to accelerate the creation of its rewards based cryptocurrency, which is also intended to be implemented on the Glance Pay platform. Glance hopes to complete the Blockimpact acquisition within the next 15 days and then work to integrate the Blockimpact block chain technology with the existing Glance pay mobile payment network architecture.

Completion of the acquisition is subject to the parties negotiating and entering into a binding agreement for the acquisition, on the satisfactory completion of due diligence by Glance, and upon the approval of the transaction by Board of Directors of Glance. Ztudium has agreed to a 30-day exclusivity period during which it will not negotiate the potential sale of Blockimpact other than with Glance. Closing of the acquisition is further conditional upon Mr. Guarda and other members of the Ztudium management team responsible for the development of Blockimpact entering into a consulting agreement with Glance on terms satisfactory to each of Glance and the Consultants pursuant to which Guarda and the Consultants will assist Glance with Glance’s adoption and use of the Blockimpact platform, in planning and executing Glance’s planned rewards based cryptocurrency strategy, and by introducing Glance to block chain experts, influencers and partners.

“We are selling the Ztudium Blockimpact platform at a significant discount to what we believe is its true value because we are extremely excited about the opportunity to apply our team and technology to the Glance Pay rewards cryptocurrency,” says Dinis Guarda, “We feel strongly that there is a large potential for this in the marketplace and we feel the combinations of our teams, technologies, and marketing capabilities are unmatched in the cryptocurrency space today,” added Guarda. The Glance rewards based token will be granted as rewards to users of the Glance Pay mobile payment app every time they spend on the Glance Pay mobile payment network, whether they have paid with the new cryptocurrency or via other payment methods. This strategy is intended to support rapid adoption of the cryptocurrency to a broad range of consumers, although the app will also be marketed to crypto users in leading urban centers.

BLOCKIMPACT is a full end-to-end cryptocurrency block chain

Glance also intends to apply elements of its anti-fraud technology to cryptocurrencies to reduce the risk associated with converting traditional currencies to and from cryptocurrencies. The market cap of all cryptocurrencies has gone from $17 billion USD one year ago to over $245 billion recently, which is an increase of over 1,340% (according to coinmarketcap.com). This incredible expansion of the cryptocurrency market demonstrates a significant increase in demand for cryptocurrencies and increased demand for ways to spend them.

solution, which includes the following features: • Biometric ID • Blockchain Distributed Ledger Technology

In addition to the recently announced $11 million CAD bought deal financing, Glance currently has cash in the bank in excess of $10 million CAD, which puts Glance in a strong position to pursue acquisition and partnership deals such as this.

• Digital messaging / group chat (with functionality similar to Whatsapp) • Financial wallet • Open application program interface • Crypto/token/fiat wallet (which allows seamless conversion between currencies) • Reward system Glance Technologies Inc. announces that it has entered into a non-binding LOI to acquire the blockchain and cryptocurrency with rewards tokenization platform Blockimpact from Ztudium Limited, a company founded and led by leading blockchain influencer Dinis Guarda.

Ranking.influencer.world ranks Mr. Guarda #4 worldwide in Blockchain and Crypto.

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• Encrypted cyber security • In-app support system • Document sharing • Social network features • Peer to Peer marketplace functionality

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MAPBOX ACQUIRES FITNESS AR

TO DEEPEN ITS FOCUS ON AUGMENTED REALITY

Scotiabank Formalizes Agreement With BBVA to Acquire its Shares in BBVA Chile

CEO OF MAPBOX

ERIC GUNDERSEN

Scotiabank announced today that Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. has formally accepted Scotiabank’s offer to acquire its 68.19% ownership in BBVA Chile, and its interests in certain subsidiaries, for approximately US$ 2.2 billion. Scotiabank has entered into definitive agreements with BBVA and intends to merge BBVA Chile with its existing operations in Chile, subject to regulatory approvals.

Mapbox, the mapping and location platform for developers, today announced it has acquired Fitness AR, the augmented reality activity tracking app. Fitness AR creator Adam Debreczeniwill join Mapbox to help build out a team of talented designers and developers, focused on showing the art of the possible to create practical AR applications in key verticals such as travel, weather, fitness, sports and gaming. Working together with his co-founder Eric Florenzano, Adam will apply the learnings from building consumer applications for AR and VR, to help build new experiences using Mapbox’s flexible location platform.

The Said family, which owns 31.62% of BBVA Chile, has waived its Right of First Refusal to acquire BBVA’s shares of BBVA Chile, but maintains

Launched this past September, Fitness AR was the first mapping AR app, allowing Strava users to connect their accounts and visualize their runs, hikes and bike rides on an 3D terrain map in AR on an iPhone or iPad. Built using the Unity Maps SDK and Apple’s ARKit, users are able to explore existing routes projected on any surface in 3D to plan adventures and share their activities. Featured by Apple as one of the top apps in this new category, Fitness AR showed what is possible with maps and location data on an everyday mobile device in AR. “Designing augmented reality experiences for applications is still a very nascent field, requiring new tools and new thinking,” said Adam Debreczeni, co-founder of Fitness AR. “With the Unity Maps SDK, Mapbox is the leader in the exciting new space of AR and location. It’s thrilling to join the company at this stage to help build a team and show the world what’s possible if you mix real-time location data and AR.”

In this scenario, and if the transaction is completed, Scotiabank’s Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio will be impacted by approximately 90 basis

The growing team will work on building out the Mapbox native AR SDKs, designing real-world AR examples with Mapbox location data, and working closely together with Mapbox customers to help bring AR into their mobile applications. Focusing on practical projects such as travel, fitness/sports and weather applications, the team will be able to help developers move quickly from concept to working app by providing the building blocks that solve common problems. “This is about building interactive experiences. AR is going to be bigger than the browser and bigger than mobile,” said Eric Gundersen, CEO of Mapbox. “The addition of Adam and Eric accelerates our play of building a world class team of designers and developers rooted in the future of AR. Not only is this critical to games and mobile apps, but also will enhance our AR guided navigation and enterprise data visualizations.”

Mapbox’s North American offices are based in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. Debreczeni and Florenzano will join a growing AR team and will be based in San Francisco, California. In Europe, Mapbox is expanding their offices in, Minskand now Helsinki, hiring talent from the automotive, AI, AR, embedded systems, and gaming industries.

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the right to tender all or a portion of its shares in the mandatory tender offer to be carried out by Scotiabank. The Said family has indicated their willingness to potentially remain in the business and, if so, would invest up to approximately US$ 500 million in order to own up to 25% of the combined business when Scotiabank Chile and BBVA Chile are merged.

points. Scotiabank’s Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio would be impacted by approximately 135 basis points, if the transaction is completed and the Said family tenders all of its shares to Scotiabank. This transaction is in line with Scotiabank’s strategy to increase scale within the Chilean banking sector and the Pacific Alliance countries. It will double Scotiabank’s market share in Chile to approximately 14%, and make Scotiabank the 3rd largest private sector bank in the country.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with BBVA to acquire their shares of BBVA Chile. We look forward to a partnership with the Said family and to build a better bank in Chile,” said Brian Porter, President and CEO at Scotiabank. “BBVA Chile has a proven track record of providing leading financial products and services to customers across the country and this transaction demonstrates excellent synergy between both banks with customer-centric cultures.”

“This acquisition allows us to create a leading bank in Chile underpinned by a solid risk culture and provides opportunities to accelerate our digital transformation, while building a high performance team,” said Ignacio (Nacho) Deschamps, Group Head, International Banking and Digital Transformation at Scotiabank.

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M&A WATCH: TBC

SOLTEQ TO ACQUIRE TM UNITED A/S GROUP EXPANDS TO DENMARK AND NORWAY

PLANVIEW EXTENDS WORK AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLATFORM INTO LEAN AND AGILE WITH ACQUISITION OF LEANKIT

Planview establishes a firm foothold in Lean and Agile with its acquisition of LeanKit. The addition of LeanKit’s “Enterprise Kanban for Engineers” solution advances Planview’s work and resource management vision of supporting all the ways organizations work, ensuring they can plan and scale more effectively to deliver customer value faster.

greg gilmore ceo of planview

By combining enterprise-class Kanban with powerful workflow and collaboration capabilities, LeanKit helps those in application development, DevOps, and IT operations leverage Lean principles and scale agility across the enterprise. LeanKit’s solution furthers Planview’s ability to serve engineers and technical professionals at the heart of the digital transformation movement that is disrupting many industries. In addition, for manufacturing and product engineering organizations, LeanKit provides the opportunity to extend Lean principles to the domain of engineering and design, advancing Planview’s “business PLM” vision. “In today’s hypercompetitive, digitally driven environment, more and more companies are looking to leverage Lean and Agile to increase their ability to innovate,” said Greg Gilmore, CEO of Planview.

Solteq Plc has agreed to purchase the entire share capital of TM United A/S. The group, comprising TM United A/S and its subsidiaries, is known to the market as Theilgaard Mortenssen. The acquisition allows Solteq to expand to the Danish market and open an office in Norway. The company also has offices in the United Kingdom, Sweden and Spain. TM’s solutions are focused on digital transactions and the optimisation of the online customer experience. The group posted net sales of €4,8 million for 2016 and currently has a staff of 35 experts. Solteq estimates that after the acquisition about one fifth of the company’s annual net revenue comes outside Finland.

“By joining Planview and LeanKit together, we’re committing to helping our customers execute better and build process excellence that will advance all their work and resource management capabilities.” “Planview and LeanKit share a common vision of providing our enterprise customers with best-in-class, scalable solutions that enable them to run better and faster,” said Jon Terry, cofounder and co-CEO of LeanKit. “We are excited to join the Planview family and together deliver top-performing work and resource management solutions to the enterprise market,” said Tim Mulron, co-CEO of LeanKit.

The parties have signed the sale and purchase agreement for all shares of the company on 1 December 2017. The net debtfree sale price is €3.5 million; ca. €1 million will be paid by a directed share issue to the seller. The transaction is conditional to standard conditions precedents regarding the target, and ownership arrangements between the seller and current owners. The parties intend to complete the acquisition in January 2018. Mutually complementary services and geographical compatibility TM’s solutions are focused on digital transactions and the optimisation of the online customer experience.

The company also has a 50 percent market share in the systems used by the Danish public sector’s dental healthcare organisations.

“The necessity of work and resource management for organizations requires them to structure and streamline their tasks, activities, projects, and portfolios in a methodical manner, but also support Lean- and Agile-based approaches,” said Mark Smith, CEO and chief research officer at Ventana Research. “Planview’s acquisition of LeanKit and its innovation in enterprise Kanban provides Planview the ability to deliver on the value of work and resource management and elevate beyond traditional project-based processes.”

As more companies adopt Agile work methodologies to innovate and evolve at a faster rate, they are also embracing Lean principles to support their digital transformations. The integration of LeanKit into Planview’s broader portfolio of WRM solutions allows customers to not only optimize work and resources, but also enables the continuous improvement, cultural change, and strategic execution required for successful transformation.

On Nov. 7, Planview launched a new era of work and resource management with the announcement of Planview Enterprise One – the first enterprise solution designed to unify a broad set of work and resource management domains to help break down organizational silos, bring teams together, and accelerate the strategy-to-delivery process. Planview Enterprise One goes beyond point solutions for project portfolio management, enterprise architecture, and collaborative work management, and now with the addition of LeanKit to Planview’s WRM platform, Lean-Agile to orchestrate strategic execution enterprisewide across all work and resources.

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After the purchase, Solteq will be offering the Deep Vision cloud service for its customers – the service is used to determine why online sale targets, i.e. conversions, are not being realised. Companies can use the service to better understand the behaviour of the visitors to their website. “This acquisition will distinguish us among Nordic digital players, complementing our electronic transaction solutions. Going forward, we will be the premier online service developer who can implement services with superior usability and fix existing defects,” says Olli Väätäinen, CEO of Solteq Plc. The company’s digital commerce solutions are based on the same technology and expertise that Solteq uses in its current customer solutions. The acquisition will hence increase Solteq’s delivery capacity to its existing customers, as well as the Danish and Norwegian B2B and B2C customers introduced by the acquisition. “This acquisition is another step in Solteq’s Nordic expansion strategy. We will now become a truly Nordic company,” says Väätäinen.

“We have worked with Solteq for a number of years and have formed a good corporate relationship. In particular, we find Solteq’s values to closely match ours. We have sought growth in the Nordic countries and possibly Europe for a long time. We believe that this can be best achieved together with Solteq as a bigger company. This new arrangement will make it possible for us to better serve our customers’ demand with a wider selection of services,” says Kim Theilgaard, CEO of TM.

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M&A WATCH: TBC

vodat

EXTENDS ICT CAPABILITY WITH THE ACQUISITION OF AXONEX

VODAT

v

odat Communications Group, backed by Maven Capital Partners, has extended its ICT capability with the acquisition of Cheltenham based Axonex Limited, a Cisco Gold Partner. odat Communications Group, backed by Maven Capital Partners, has extended its ICT capability with the acquisition of Cheltenham based Axonex Limited, a Cisco Gold Partner. The two businesses are joining forces to form a group with an enhanced solution set that will benefit both customer bases and create an excellent platform for increased organic growth.

Both businesses will continue to operate from their existing offices in Stockport and Cheltenham respectively. The three Director shareholders of Axonex will all remain with the business and become shareholders in the enlarged group. Neil Poultney, Vodat Managing Director, said “Like Vodat, Axonex have an excellent reputation with customer

Andy Peters-Smith, Axonex Managing Director, said “These are very exciting times for Axonex. There are clearly synergies for both companies which can only enhance the services for our customers. The last 12 months has seen us double our headcount and move to new offices. We have experienced significant growth during this period, with revenues increasing by 68%. Vodat Group’s combined resources and extended skill set will position Axonex for the next phase of its growth.” Axonex is the first acquisition for Vodat, and accelerates its aspiration to become a one stop shop for ICT technology as businesses transition to cloud based applications. The group’s core objective is to continue to increase growth through increased capability, organically and through further strategic acquisitions.

RSM’s team, including James Wild and Matt Ritchie, advised the shareholders of Vodat on the acquisition. James Wild, corporate finance partner, said: “The deal brings together two businesses that can benefit from each other’s capabilities and reputations in their respective markets. The newly enlarged group, with an enhanced product and service offering, is well positioned for future growth.”

Paul Johnson, Corporate Partner and Rachel Clarkson, Associate at Ward Hadaway led on the legal aspects of the transaction. Paul said “It is the first time we have acted for the group and we are absolutely delighted that Ward Hadaway has played its part in making this deal happen. We look forward to seeing the enlarged Group’s business continue to grow.”

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SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

US COMPANIES COULD FACE DATA ANALYSIS NIGHTMARE AS NEW ACCOUNTING STANDARDS APPROACH The latest findings from Aptitude Software, a global financial software specialist, show that companies in technology, manufacturing, telecoms and oil and gas could be the hardest hit by the new lease accounting standards (ASC842) which come into effect in January 2019.

that was not previously required. Leased assets include for example premises, vehicles, machinery and equipment.

For global companies, leased assets will need to be collated from all over the world and on a huge scale.

The new lease accounting standard fundamentally changes accounting for lease transactions and will move thousands of lease contracts onto a company’s books and demands a level of data collection, storange and leasing accounting

Once a company has centralised its leases, deeper analysis and additional levels of accounting will be required to comply with the new standards, for example if third parties are involved.

HACKER’S BESTFRIEND

APTITUDE SOFTWARE ANALYSIS SHOWS THAT THE NEW STANDARDS ARE likely to have significant business implications for companies across sectors due to the volume of different types of leases held on disparate systems. Sectors such as technology, manufacturing, telecoms, oil and gas maybe the most exposed as they are asset heavy and have complicated lease arrangements all over the world.

ACCORDING TO THE INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS BOARD, listed companies are estimated to have about $3.3 trillion of leasing commitments, and leasing obligations across individual corporations can range from a few million to tens of billions of dollars.

how TO AVOID CRYPTOCURRENCY FRAUD WHY DO HACKERS LOVE BITCOIN? The reason hackers love Bitcoin is not primarily due to any security flaws inherent in the system. It is the anonymity that it offers that makes it so attractive. Bitcoin’s decentralised technology allows secure payments and storage of money that doesn’t require banks or people’s names. In the wrong hands, this can make it an ideal tool for making transactions that are deliberately hard to trace.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS FROM BITCOIN FRAUD?

ROSS CHAPMAN GLOBAL MARKETING DIRECTOR “The new leasing standards are a data nightmare. One global telecoms provider estimated that they had more than 7 million leases, whereas it is more common for large companies to have tens of thousands of leases.

Lease arrangements and the process of accounting for them are complex. Finance teams need to evaluate thousands of individual lease agreements, capture the right data and apply the new accounting policies under hundreds of different business scenarios.”

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APTITUDE LEASE ACCOUNTING ENGINE The Aptitude Lease Accounting Engine offers data capture and complex accounting capabilities which allows companies to comply with ASC 842 while retaining current lease administration systems. This enables CFOs to address the new lease accounting rules, gain more financial control whilst causing minimal disruption to existing software systems. Aptitude Software is working with many of the largest organisations on their ASC 842 compliance.

At present, security in the world of digital currencies is still very much in its infancy. It may be tempting for businesses to stay well away from this area until things improve. But with the proper measures in place, Bitcoin has serious potential to revolutionise industries around the world.

Lee Murphy, owner of accountancy software Pandle, feels the benefits of Bitcoin for businesses are huge: “Moving forward, I believe Bitcoin will be a useful tool for businesses, especially in terms of payments between companies internationally. For example, the movement toward cryptocurrency means having to deal less and less with fluctuations in exchange rates across markets.” Common Bitcoin scams may well look familiar to you. They include: Malware downloads and phishing | Bitcoin pyramid schemes | Bitcoin investment schemes | Fake exchange scams. For Bitcoins owned by businesses, multi-signature wallets are a fantastic method of protection from hackers; requiring two separate authorisations from two separate parties before any Bitcoins are released.

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HOW DOES BITCOIN WORK?

THE BLOCK CHAIN The Bitcoin network relies on a shared public ledger called the block chain.

This holds a decentralised record of all transactions which is updated and held by all users of the network. It records all confirmed transactions and guarantees that each wallet has the required Bitcoins for a transaction WALLETS You install a Bitcoin wallet on your computer or mobile phone to generate a Bitcoin address. You can create more addresses whenever you need them.

By sharing your address, people and organisations can pay into it, and you can pay into theirs. A Bitcoin address should only be used once.

THE BLOCK CHAIN Bitcoin transactions from one wallet to another pass through a private key. This authorises and signs the transaction, using mathematical proof, to confirm its validity and to ensure it cannot be changed.

MINING All transactions are confirmed by the network in the following 10 minutes, through a process called mining. This prevents transactions being altered in any way.

SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

RUGGEAR NEW CEO

Ogury, the mobile data platform, today released its Mobile Banking Study 2017 - an analysis of over 1,265,000 mobile users active during July - September 2017 in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

The study reveals that UK fintechs are increasing their market share amongst mobile banking users, with 8.8% having downloaded at least one retail bank and fintech app during the period. Despite this, however, the UK’s adoption lags the US and Spain.

maverick chen ceo of ruggear

Of all fintech companies analysed, PayPal is dominant, suggesting that digital-payment services are currently doing more to disrupt the banking market than new challenger banks.

“We have created the new position of CEO to strengthen our plans for a global expansion.

With Oliver, we have gained one of the most experienced directors in the industry. His expertise in the field of mobile devices, his network and his extensive experience in sales will help us reinforce the presence of RugGear® in the individual markets key to our future growth.”

One of the most developed fintech markets is international money transfer, where UKbased TransferWise is a standout performer, registering in the top two money transfer providers in each territory bar Italy, where it placed third. This included number one spots for money transfer providers in the UK, France, and Spain.

FINTECH RUGGEAR THE WORLD’S LEADING manufacturer of “Rugged Mobile Devices”, has appointed Oliver Schulte as the new CEO. The appointment marks RugGear®’s ambition for global expansion for its range of phones, smartphones and tablets.

Maverick Chen, Founder and President of RugGear® explains: “We have created the new position of CEO to strengthen our plans for a global expansion. With Oliver, we have gained one of the most experienced directors in the industry. His expertise in the field of mobile devices, his network and his extensive experience in sales will help us reinforce the presence of RugGear® in the individual markets key to our future growth.”

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GROWING INFLUENCE Fintechs are increasing market share with 8.8% of UK mobile users downloading at least one retail and one fintech app during the period from July to September 2017. But the US and Spain have seen higher levels of fintech adoption, with 12.4% and 10.4% respectively.

When it comes to mobile banking websites, less than 5% of UK mobile user profiles have visited both a major bank and a fintech website during the same time period.

These stats demonstrate that, while UK consumers are beginning to turn to fintechs, they still need to increase levels of awareness amongst banking users.

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SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

FRANK AND OAK, the omni-channel men’s and women’s apparel brand, has selected Centric Software to provide its Product Lifecycle Management solution. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to fashion, retail, footwear, outdoor, luxury and consumer goods companies to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

IN FOUNDED 2012 Frank And Oak Offering style and advice for the moments that matter, Frank And Oak is a destination for customers who want to live and dress well. By coupling considered product design with advice through immersive digital, in-store and content experiences, Frank And Oak has transcended its role as a retailer and is redefining the shopping experience. Constantly evolving and looking towards the future, Frank And Oak offers premium design and world class customer service to its growing ranks of members. You can experience the Frank And Oak brand through frankandoak.com, shipping to over 40 countries worldwide and 14 Frank And Oak stores across North America.

Centric Software From its headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices in trend capitals around the world, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (VIP) is a visual, fully digital collection of boards for touch-based devices like iPad, iPhone and large-scale, touch-screen televisions.

CEO CHRIS GROVES

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our latest customer in Canada, Even as a young company, Frank And Oak have already established a strong product identity and a loyal following.

PARTNERS WITH CENTRIC SOFTWARE

we are delighted to welcome Frank And Oak on board as

FRANK AND OAK

SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

MERKLE

APPOINTS

JULIA CRAWLEY-BOEVEY

MERKLE

DUST EXTRACTION

oversaw the launch of new agency services and identified key investment priorities. She also led a team dedicated to the marketing services sector at Results International, the leading advisor on M&A and fundraising. Whilst there, CrawleyBoevey advised Periscopix on its acquisition by Merkle. She also played a pivotal role in securing investment for Blue Rubicon from Lloyds Development Capital, advising Profero on its acquisition

by IPG’s Lowe & Partners and Crayon on their purchase by Karmarama, to mention a few.

“M&A will be a key pillar in our renewed drive to expand our presence across EMEA and enhance our people-based marketing capabilities in the region over the next year and beyond,” said Michael Komasinski, president of Merkle EMEA

Dust extraction specialist launches compact new machine for easy transport

M ERKLE appoints Julia Crawley-Boevey

to Head of Mergers and Acquisitions

A specialist dust extraction firm in the UK has launched a new mobile extractor that offers improved mobility and easy transport for on-site use. The DC Storm provides the same high level of extraction power of previous Dustcontrol UK models, but its compact height allows for easy transport in regularsized vans and trailers, making it perfect for the hire industry and wider construction industry. Able to handle the fine dusts and materials created through common construction techniques, the DC Storm can be connected to floor grinders, cutting tools, chisel hammers, saws and more.

James Miller, Dustcontrol UK’s General Manager, commented: “The DC Storm helps to combat potential manoeuvrability issues. With workers often moving handheld equipment and kit such as floor grinders from site to site, we recognised the importance of easily transportable dust extraction equipment.”

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GENERAL MANAGER

JAMES MILLER

“The DC Storm is just the latest

example of how we look to update our extraction equipment to fit the needs of the end user. With dust a serious issue in many industries, it’s important that we do what we can to make extraction as easy and as efficient as possible.”

Merkle, a leading technology-enabled, data-driven performance marketing agency, has appointed Julia Crawley-Boevey as head of mergers and acquisitions for EMEA to help drive its ambitious growth strategy for the region. Since making its first major company acquisitions in the region in 2015, Merkle has expanded rapidly in EMEA to over 1,300 employees, with 12 offices across five countries.

Next year will see M&A activity for Merkle increasing significantly and, with over a decade’s experience in advising companies on M&A, Crawley-Boevey has been chosen to lead the charge across EMEA. In the role, she will be responsible for both sourcing the companies best aligned with Merkle’s aims, leading all deal activity and overseeing post-acquisition integration. Prior to joining Merkle, Crawley-Boevey was head of global business strategy and M&A at digital marketing agency iCrossing, where she

JULIA CRAWLEY-BOEVEY “Merkle is a company that has consistently been at the forefront of the digital marketing revolution and it’s an honour to be joining the leadership team at such a significant stage in its journey”

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SECTOR WATCH: OIL

C

rude oil exports fron the Arab Gulf plunged from three weeks of rising exports to 121.16 million bbls, a w-o-w drop of 20.6 million bbls, and the highest weekly drop since February this year.

Loadings from Saudi Arabia and Qatar had an increase, while their counterparts observed a drop. The spike in exports last week is mostly attributed to vessel scheduling, possibly trying to push the monthly aggregate volumes due to transition of the month. The increase in Middle-East freights for Q3 has been quite short-lived with the rates starting to plateau towards the wast and drop towards the east.

MIDDLE-EAST WEEKLY OIL FLOWS

OIL FLOWS Saudi crude exports recovered from their steep drop for the week ending Dec 02nd to 52 million bbls, a w-o-w increase of 8.8 million bbls. According to a statement made in early November, the Kingdom’s December exports are to decline by 120,00 bpd. However with November exports assessed at 6.56 million bpd thereby missing the initial estimates, it remains unclear which level the decline is going to be measured from. In another announcement this week, crude shipments are expected to average at 6.9 million bpd in January. It is interesting to note that the January OSP’s for the Arab light grade were increased for

Asian and European customers while it was dropped for the US buyers. Iraq’s weekly exports from Basrah dropped from its highest weekly volumes since July 2017 to 23.28 million bbls, a w-o-w drop of 3.4 million bbls. Strong weekly reports last month pushed the montly aggregate of Basrah to 3.34 million bpd compared to 3.25 million bpd in October. The increase in exports was mainly due to the country’s effort to compensate for the drop in Kirkuk volumes from the north.

An additional SBM was added at Basrah in October, thereby pushing the country’s export capacity from the South to 4.6 million bpd.

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Iran’s crude exports dropped from their highest weekly volumes since May 2017 to 11.45 million bbls, a w-o-w drop of 8.7 million bbls. Fixture data indicate a minimum of 14.5 million bbls to be shipped this week.

Interestingly, the country increased their January OSP for their light crude to Asia subsequent to increased Chinese lifting in November.

SECTOR WATCH: MANUFACTURING

SECTOR WATCH: CONSTRUCTION

PLASTIC SURGEON RENEWS

AGREEMENT WITH KIER

INFRASTRUCTURE BOOSTS CONSTRUCTION NEW ORDER TO A TWO YEAR HIGH BARBOUR ABI For the fourth month in a row, overall construction new orders increased in value reaching £7.4 billion in November, the highest figure for two years. This was underpinned by the commissioning of the major £2.25 billion TransPennine Upgrade from Stalybridge to Leeds project. he latest edition of the Economic & Construction Market Review from industry analysts Barbour ABI, highlights the levels of construction contract values awarded in November across Great Britain.

Infrastructure was the dominant sector of the month, totalling £3.7 billion based on a three month average and is the highest post-recession figure, majorly influenced by the aforementioned TransPennine upgrade, which is more than seven times the value of the next largest infrastructure. Outside of infrastructure, only medical & health construction saw an increase in contract value on the month - albeit a small growth of 1.4 per cent.

The remaining sectors struggled in November, with commercial construction producing its lowest figures for almost five years and residential building decreasing for the third month in a row, posting its lowest value total so far for 2017.

The remaining sectors of industrial, education and hotel, leisure and sport construction all saw small declines in November. Regionally, it was Yorkshire & Humber that took the top spot away from London with 38% of the total value of construction contracts in November. In second place was the North West, thanks largely to two large infrastructure projects, the Lostock Energy from Waste facility and Ince Resource Recovery Park waste facility, with a value of £300 & £130 million respectively.

KIER GROUP

Plastic Surgeon, the UK’s number one surface repair specialist, has renewed its contract with Kier Group, one of the UK’s leading construction firms, as it continues to benefit from the positive environmental impact of repair, which helps to save unnecessary waste from landfill.

Having worked in partnership for the last 12 years on a variety of projects carried out throughout the UK,

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Plastic Surgeon has assisted Kier in the handovers of hundreds of projects during that period, building up a reputation as a reliable, honest and trustworthy trade partner over their time spent working together. Able to repair wide ranging cosmetic surface damage, Plastic Surgeon helps to provide the final cosmetic touches ahead of project completion. In 2015, Kier Group and Plastic Surgeon entered into a two-party preferred supplier agreement. The second party in the agreement provides repairs required in the East of England, with Plastic Surgeon responsible for the rest of the UK, including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland thanks to having its specialist Finishers present in every region. Since the agreement was signed, Plastic Surgeon has seen significant growth in its business, whilst being able to demonstrate its green credentials thanks to the amount of waste product saved from landfill.

Commenting on the figures, Michael Dall, Lead Economist at Barbour ABI, said: “November witnessed an increase in infrastructure figures of 177% compared to last year, providing the industry with a much needed boost for the third month in a row after a previously quiet 2017. With the residential sector continuing to decline and other sectors in an ongoing struggle, the commissioning of these large infrastructure projects have come at the right time. As the Brexit uncertainty continues to loom over construction, investors and industry figures can feel assured knowing that ‘mega projects’ and large value developments are still being commissioned.”

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SECTOR WATCH: ENERGY

UK NATIONAL GRID

KENNOX HOT ON ENERGY Kennox Asset Management, the independent Edinburgh-based investment boutique has revealed a 16% holding in energy majors in its £220m Strategic Value Fund.

It believes the energy sector is offering significant value just now for investors and predicts it will show significant developments in three key stages over the next 20 years: First stage (10 years) The global economy cannot survive without oil over the next 10 years. Alternatives are limited: • Renewables are still tiny (5% of production) • Shale is huge, but it is not unlimited, and is still finding its feet • Gas is essential but isn’t making money currently • Coal is still over 20% of global energy production, but is dead in the water (at least if we pay any attention to global warming).

G

eoff Legg Investment Director of Kennox Asset Management said: “Energy majors are not reliant on the shortterm price of oil: they are well positioned in gas, and vertically integrated with a variety of value-added products, but more importantly, they are the strongest players in the sector.

They are driving down their costs so that they can generate cash and profits at much lower prices than in the past: Shell is making as much cashflow at $50 as it used to do when oil was at $90; BP expects to have a cost base of $35-$40 per barrel in the early 2020s.

MAKE WORLDWIDE LIST OF MOST VALUABLE WORKERS

Second stage (10-15 years) Gas starts coming into its own. Electric vehicles will likely be dominating the global car fleet, but there just isn’t any other reliable and economic way of making enough electricity to power these new cars, other than gas. The energy majors saw this coming and made the investment in gas in the last ten years, positioning themselves ahead of time. It hasn’t paid off yet, but already there are positive signs – for instance, about 60% of US power generation under construction is gas.

Third stage (15-20 years) Renewables will be the bulk of our power supplies, as technologies are proven, rolled out, and achieve global scale. Energy majors will be significant players at this stage: they have the skill set for large, complex and capitalintensive projects, whether offshore or onshore, and the financial heft to take substantial holdings. Already they are making strategic moves in the area, which will only increase as the technologies are proven and winners emerge.

Expert Market, the UK’s leading B2B service comparison site, has released the findings of its latest study into the most valuable employees in the world, with the National Grid swooping into the top 10. The study used the most recent release of Fortune’s Global 500, a prestigious business list which ranks the top 500 companies by revenue, and cross referenced information on company profit, number of employees and head office location to determine which global companies’ staff bring in the most money per head. nterestingly, The National Grid, one of the UK’s leading gas and electricity utility firms, is the only British company to earn a place in the top 10, with employees there effectively generating over £350k each.

The company landed 5th place in the ranking; above global heavyweights such as Apple and Goldman Sachs.

The National Grid is also the only energy company to gain a place in the top 5 along with other notable US brands including pharmaceutical giants Gilead Sciences (2nd) and social media powerhouse Facebook (4th).

“The majors look very well positioned for the first two evolutions in the energy markets, and are likely to be significant players, if not dominant, in the third. We’ve taken a hard, analytical look at their current strengths and positioning, and what is possible and likely in the future. “ “The investment case looks very good indeed”.

“They have made huge investments recently, and now are set to reap the rewards as these investments come into operation. Shell for instance notes in their 2015 annual report that 30% of its capital employed was not generating any revenue. As this comes on stream, cash will flow with low investment needs.”

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DESPITE NOT MAKING IT IN TOP 3 National Grid employees still earn the company a huge amount, £245k more than the £105k average for the top 100 most profitable employees included in the ranking. With the 5th most profitable employees in the world it’s clear that National Grid employees are of great value to the company, however, in recent months The National Grid has received criticism from the Citizens Advice Bureau, who claim that some of these profits should be returned to consumers. Hannah Whitfield, who headed up this research at Expert Market comments: “ What is interesting about this study is that while some companies are making the Fortune 500 with huge armies of staff, some, are making that level of money with relatively few, like American mortgage firm Fannie Mae who only has 7,000 staff.”

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SECTOR WATCH: ENGINEERING

PROMOTIONS AND PROPERTIES BSD’S END OF YEAR REVIEW

Our core business is M&E; I set out to bring something different to the industry, something that wasn’t available in the 1990s – delivering quality, practical, sustainable and commercially-minded designs completed on time and to budget.

This hasn’t changed and is something we keep in mind across every job – no matter the size or value.

Founder and managing director of mechanical and electrical engineering consultancy Building Services Design, David White, talks through 2017, as well as his hopes for the coming year. The past 12 months have been huge for BSD as we celebrated 25 years in business and continued to thrive in an environment where the next challenge is always just around the corner. As always, we met it head on, overcame it and moved on with added strength and determination. It’s safe to say the industry has changed over the decades, and quite considerably since we opened our first office in Crowland, Lincolnshire, back in 1991. We have since grown nationally, boasting eight offices across the UK – London, Kettering, Birmingham, Manchester, Cambridge, Leicester, Nottingham and Derby – and turning over more than £6 million. This year has been extreme and the roller coaster ride reflects very much the nature of our industry. We have had set backs just like any business, but on the flipside, we have promoted three directors from within, which has strengthened our management team and increased unity within the company – a company culture upon which we were established and have flourished.

From a personal point of view, our new office is a piece of work that’s been really amazing for me to work on and now work within. It’s the first office space we’ve bought, built and designed ourselves, highlighting a real landmark for us as a business.

Promotions have been aplenty, with Mark Dyer, a BSD stalwart of 16 years and Joel Sawyer both becoming directors of the Cambridge and Birmingham offices respectively. Mark and his Cambridge team have made great strides to get us back to our 2012 levels of work – surpassing this year’s targets and gathering real momentum in Cambridge and East Anglia.

As we move into 2018, we are excited by the extent of the high profile projects which are going through design and will enter construction during the New Year. As our reputation grows, we are attracting larger and more complex projects, allowing us to recruit, promote and develop new engineers for the future.

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