Global Business Insight Volume 5, Issue 2

GLOBAL B U S I N E S S

FEBRUARY EDITION NO. 04 • 2018

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F I N A N C E

B U S I N E S S

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S E C T O R

N E W S

I N S I G H T

3 GROWTH LESSONS COMMERCIAL PROPERTY INVESTMENT SPIKES IN

EUROPE

EVERY BANK CAN LEARN FROM AMAZON In our digital world, what can traditional retail banks learn from tech companies

FINLAND Crowned the place to invest, as commercial property volumes rise BY 121.60%

TOM CRIDLAND GROWING UK BUSINESS DEFYING POST BREXIT

TRUMP STRIKES AGAIN WITH STEEP TARIFFS

WWW.GBUSINESSINSIGHT.COM

REGTECH WILL

REDUCE WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Wealth managers will again find themselves dedicating much of 2018 to adopting new compliance requirements

NEARLY 60% OF PEOPLE are worried about their data being used by mobile apps

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Magazine Tempate

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trump strikes again

Trump said on Thursday that the United States would set tariffs of 25% on steel imports.

3 in 10 uk employees discriminated

37% of UK workers have felt discriminated against at work.

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a third of job hunters have lied on their cv 83% of candidates who lied on their CV, their falsehood was never discovered.

hitachi capital uk appoints chief risk officer

With over 25 years experience in compliance,risk, finance and general management, John Shields.

commercial property investment spikes in europe Finland crowned the place to invest, as commercial property volumes rise by 121.60%.

3 growth lessons every bank can learn from amazon Rumours of tech giants Amazon,Apple and Facebook moving into the financial services

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quality and safety in today’s shipping industry The shipping industry has dealt with its fair share of challenges throughout the years.

the law embraces tech as new app

WELCOME

FEBRUARY ISSUE

Offering instant access to free legal advice launches in Manchester.

technology is a top priority

For job seekers in the construction industry.

clearwater has advised the shareholders of apple

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“The market opportunities in Apple enterprise, creative industries and services are what set Jigsaw apart.

metro bank salutes uk plc with £1 billlion pledge

FOLLOW US @ GBUSINESSINSIGHT

Metro Bank has promised to ringfence a further £1 billion of funds to support businesses across the UK.

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growing uk business

Over the past two years we’ve grown the business into one of the world’s leading fashion brands

regtech will Reduce wealth management

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TO THE

CONTENTS

the energy industry

Looks to the Internet of Things to cut waste and drive down emissions.

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BUSINESS

TRUMP STRIKES AGAIN WITH STEEP

While heightened worries of a trade war could pressure the Dollar, speculation over higher US interest rates has the ability to cushion the downside. Focusing on the technical picture, the Dollar Index is at threat of extending losses if bears are able to conquer the 90.00 level.

TARIFFS

Sterling turns to Theresa May for direction This is certainly shaping up to be a painful trading week for the British Pound, thanks to renewed jitters over Brexit negotiations. The fresh dispute over Northern Ireland’s border has effectively eroded market optimism over a “soft Brexit” outcome, consequently weighing heavily on the Pound.

stocks crumble.

A negative vibe lingered across financial markets on Friday, after Donald Trump’s vow to impose severe tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium sparked fears of a global trade war.

Theresa May will be in the spotlight today as she delivers a speech about Britain’s future relationship with the European Union after Brexit. Markets will be closely scrutinizing May’s remarks for any fresh clues on how the UK plans to address the EU’s Irish border proposal.

Sterling could turn volatile today, especially when considering how the currency remains highly reactive to Brexit developments. Taking a look at the technical picture, the GBPUSD remains bearish below 1.3850. Sustained weakness below this level could invite a decline back towards 1.3750 and 1.3700, respectively.t

In a move that dealt a blow to global sentiment, Trump said on Thursday that the United States would set tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminium.

This bombshell development is likely to fuel concerns of retaliatory actions from major US trade partners consequently weighing on risk appetite.

Investors are clearly jittery by the threat of a potential global trade war and its possible effect on stock markets.

COMMODITY SPOTLIGHT

GOLD Asian equities were under intense selling pressure during early trading on Friday, following Wall Street’s painful declines overnight. In Europe shares ventured lower, as investors maintained a safe distance from riskier assets.

The negative sentiment from Asian and European markets could find its way back into Wall Street this afternoon.

Gold staged a sharp rebound on Thursday evening after Trump’s tariff plan sparked risk aversion and weakened the Dollar.

Dollar slips on Trump’s tariff hikes

From a technical standpoint, prices remain under pressure below $1324.15. A failure for bulls to break above this level could result in a decline back towards $1310 and $1300, respectively. Alternatively, a breakout above $1324.15 may pave a way higher back to $1340.

The Dollar sharply depreciated against a basket of major currencies on Thursday evening after Trump’s tariff announcement sparked market jitters.

Federal Reserve Chairman Powell’s softer tone during his second day of testimony also played a role in the Greenback’s decline - with the Dollar Index trading around 90.20 as of writing.

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While the yellow metal could venture higher in the near term amid the skittish market sentiment, losses are likely to be limited by US rate hike expectations. It must be kept in mind that Gold is a zero-yielding asset which will feel the burn in a high interest rate environment.

Written by Lukman Otunuga, Research Analyst at FXTM

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INSIGHT

BUSINESS

THREE GROWTH LESSONS

EVERY BANK CAN LEARN FROM AMAZON

Rumours of tech giants Amazon, Apple and Facebook moving into the financial services space have long been prevalent. In our digital world, what can traditional retail banks learn from tech companies that have mastered the customer onboarding and sales experience? Derek Corcoran, Chief Experience office at Avoka, explains what he thinks banks can learn from the largest internet retailer in the world.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has a very simple concept for his business, which he calls the Amazon Flywheel. The tech giant has always been focused on maintaining a strong growth outlook, and the starting point for that growth is delivering an unmatched customer experience. The retailer’s superb customer experience drives constant traffic through returning customers and word-of-mouth. That traffic then allows Amazon to attract more sellers to the site. The more sellers there are, the better and more diverse the selection of goods to the end customer.

This in-turn improves the customer experience, thus setting in motion the flywheel to drive growth. This growth in turn spreads any fixed costs across a higher number of transactions, which allows Amazon to have a much lower cost structure. That structure delivers lower prices which improves the customer experience. So, if you can find what you’re looking for at the lowest possible price and have a frictionless customer experience, why would you go anywhere else to do your shopping?

Amazon’s growth has been truly spectacular, growing revenues faster than Google in the last eight years. So how else do they keep their place at the top of the pile? Aside from Amazon’s revolutionary, yet simple, model; there are three practical lessons that today’s retail banks can learn from Bezos’ model:

1 Understand that different customers look for different experiences

Sales experiences are different for each customer. Amazon invested in “One-Click” – the ability for its customers to store payment and delivery details for reuse, enabling a purchase at the click of a mouse. One-Click was so revolutionary that Amazon got a patent for this concept, and Apple now pays a royalty to Amazon every time a one-click purchase is made through iTunes. But Amazon recognise that One-Click isn’t for everyone. While it’s perfect for one-off product replacement purchases like chargers or headphones, the traditional and more familiar shopping basket may be a better option for large, multiple item purchases. Having both options readily available allows customers to create the experience which is most convenient and comfortable for them.

Similarly, in the world of consumer banking, there are many different paths to purchase. Some customers want a high-touch experience from their bank. They want the traditional guidance, complete with a needs analysis, product recommendations and guidance through the application process. Other customers just want a quick and easy ‘checkout’, they have done their research and know exactly what they need. Banks need to treat their customers as individuals, catering for all scenarios.

2 Just because someone doesn’t complete a purchase doesn’t mean they’re not interested

The premise is simple but is rarely acted on effectively by banks. It is vital that banks get better at generating and nurturing leads. If a shopper put something in their Amazon cart, but does not complete the purchase, Amazon almost immediately generates reminder emails as well as targeted advertisements with the ‘abandoned’ product, which remind the shopper. Applying for financial products takes time, and everyone is busy. So, if a customer takes the time to begin an application and goes to the trouble of filling out their name, email address and phone number, recognise that they are interested. If they don’t complete the application, you should still consider them a lead and follow up.

Avoka’s proprietary data shows significant success for banks that have followed up on applications that were abandoned or saved and never completed. One bank that followed up abandoned Personal Loan applications achieved a 40% conversion rate. In follow-up conversations one parent explained that their child was sick whilst they were completing the loan application, so they abandoned the process. Life gets in the way; an uncompleted application doesn’t necessarily mean that the customer was not interested.

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INSIGHT

3

ADAPT OR DIE

Have a real-time strategy for improving the customer experience.

Amazon has software and processes dedicated solely to continuously improving their customer experience through every channel that their platform can be accessed on. These processes are completely separate from any back-office technicalities, allowing for rapid and agile changes to the customer experience. The site is constantly evolving, and they continually tweak little things like the shape, colour, text, icons and fonts on the Add to Cart / Buy Now button. All of these experiments are designed to make it easier for people to complete a transaction.

It’s vital that banks take note of this approach and start to put customers at the centre of their website and app architecture, particularly when it comes to their digital onboarding processes. In today’s fast-moving world, banks don’t need to wait until they’ve saved up stores of data to make major improvements to the digital customer experience. Instead, they should focus on making real-time, incremental changes to each step in the user journey.

Analyse metadata to see where people abandon. Or to see where potential customers get stuck for too long and where they use auto-fills. Use this feedback loop to look for trends and see if you can work out what’s happening and why.

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BUSINESS

HEARTHSTONE APPOINTS CEDRIC BUCHER AS CEO

cedric bucher Hearthstone Investments plc, the residential property investment specialist, has appointed Cedric Bucher as CEO. Cedric will be responsible for driving the growth of the specialist fund manager and its residential property investment funds. He joins Hearthstone from investment adviser Cardano, where he was co-head of defined contribution overseeing all commercial aspects of its new Defined Contribution business.

Prior to that, he spent six years at Architas, the multi-manager of the AXA Group, ultimately as Head of UK with responsibility for strategy, P&L, sales, marketing and proposition. Cedric has also held senior commercial positions in the fund management business lines of SEI and Barclays Wealth.

Alan Collett, Chairman of Hearthstone, commented: “Cedric has a wealth of experience within the investment industry and a strong track record in growing fund management businesses. His appointment demonstrates the strength of our proposition and his knowledge and expertise will be invaluable as we drive the business forward.”

Cedric added: “As the UK’s first specialist residential property fund manager, Hearthstone offers an exciting proposition, strong heritage and an established performance record for advisers and their clients. I look forward to joining its team of residential property and financial services specialists and helping to grow the business and build assets under management.”

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INSIGHT

BUSINESS

PAUL HORLOCK CEO OF THE NPSO

THE NEW PAYMENT SYSTEM OPERATOR APPOINTS CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER The New Payment System Operator has today announced the appointment of two C-Suite Executives as it moves closer to taking responsibility for the UK’s retail payment systems. Matthew Hunt, currently COO for the Monetary Policy area at the Bank of England, will take on the role of the NPSO’s Chief Operating Officer, while Jenny Crawford, currently Deputy CEO of UK Payments Administration Ltd, has been appointed as Chief People Officer.

Matthew Hunt has worked at the Bank of England since 2006, covering a variety of operational and payments leadership roles. Matthew is currently COO for the Monetary Policy area and until recently was Head of Customer Banking Division, with responsibility for banking, securities and gold custody services provided to the UK Government and other central banks.

Matthew has also performed senior management roles running the RTGS payment system and banknote distribution. Prior to working at the Bank, Matthew was a business manager for UBS Investment Bank and a consultant with Accenture.

Matthew Hunt said: “The payment schemes perform a vital function for everyone in the UK and, from my roles within the Bank, I have followed closely the changes happening in the industry. I am looking forward to working with colleagues, participants, users and regulators to maximise improvements, whilst staying focussed on the strong operational performance that the schemes have demonstrated to date.”

Jenny Crawford joined UKPA eight years ago as the Head of HR and has more recently worked as Director of Operations and Deputy CEO. Since August of last year she has been leading UKPA in its transition into the NPSO. Jenny has over 20 years’ HR experience and holds both a professional HR qualification and a Masters in Human Resource Management. She is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Her previous HR experience has been gained both in organisations going through periods of significant change and those in their relative infancy, helping them to develop and implement new systems and to deliver cultural change.

Jenny Crawford said: “The UK’s payment schemes lead the world because of the talented people that work within them who continually demonstrate an unparalleled dedication to delivering the services that enable a vibrant UK economy. Colleagues from the payment schemes and UKPA will be vital for the NPSO to deliver collaborative and globally competitive retail payments services that benefit all users, now and in the future.”

The NPSO will consolidate Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs), Faster Payments Scheme Limited (FPSL), and the Cheque & Credit Clearing Company Limited (C&CCC) which incorporates the Image Clearing System (ICS) that will replace the paper processing system for cheques currently managed by C&CCC. These retail payment systems will be joined by UK Payments Administration Ltd (UKPA) which provides business services support to the payment system operators.

In addition, the NPSO will lead the delivery of the New Payments Architecture (NPA) having received the blueprint for the NPA in December 2017 from the Payments Strategy Forum (PSF), the body set up by the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to bring the payments industry and users together.

Paul Horlock, CEO of the NPSO, said: “Jenny has been instrumental preparing the transition of UKPA into the NPSO as well as leading our People workstream, making her a strong competitor for the role of Chief People Officer. Matthew has a wealth of knowledge and expertise and we are delighted that he is joining us as our COO at this key stage in our organisation’s development. “Matthew and Jenny will be invaluable as we work to ensure that this country’s payments infrastructure remains world-class whilst also having the capability to develop and advance the NPSO for the benefit of the UK as a whole”.

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INSIGHT

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BUSINESS

THREE IN TEN UK EMPLOYEES

DISCRIMINATED AGAINST AT WORK

• 37% of UK workers have felt discriminated against at work • More than one in ten 12% believe they have suffered age discrimination • One in ten women 11% have suffered gender discrimination • Under 35s most likely to have faced discrimination

INSIGHT

“Workplace discrimination has hit the headlines in the last 12 months, with the #MeToo movement and BBC pay row shining a spotlight on the inequality that still exists within many professions,” commented Jeff Phipps, Managing Director at ADP UK. “Our findings show that the problem is by no means limited to the entertainment and media industries, suggesting that more needs to be done across all sectors to ensure these types of prejudices are rooted out of the system.”

In an effort to reduce pay-based gender discrimination in the workplace, the Government introduced gender pay gap reporting in April 2017, for any organization employing over 250 staff.

However, the findings suggest this has received a mixed response, with two thirds of workers (66%) saying that they don’t feel there is a need for gender pay gap reporting, compared to just 14% who believe that it is necessary – even though official figures show that women earn on average 9% less than men across the UK. Phipps continues: “Equal pay for equal work is one of the founding principles of the European Union, so it’s shocking that this inequality still exists between men and women. While many employees may believe gender pay gap reporting isn’t necessary in their organisation, the facts suggest otherwise. Regular reporting on pay levels is one strategy for ensuring all employers face up to any ingrained biases that may exist within the workplace, and tackle these head on. I would encourage organisations to look at top-down diversity bias training. When leaders become aware of unconscious bias they are often shocked, and in turn motivated to address it.”

More than a third of UK employees (37%) have felt discriminated against in the workplace, according to a new study of 1,300 working adults by ADP®. The research reveals that age is the most common reason for discrimination, cited by one in 10 employees (12%), while 8% feel they’ve been discriminated against due to their gender - rising to 11% amongst women. UK employers are obliged by law to ensure equal treatment of workers and combat any kind of discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. The findings suggest that despite these rules, many prejudices still exist and are affecting behaviours and decisions - whether explicitly or implicitly - within the workplace.

Discrimination is more prevalent in some sectors than others, according to the study, with workers in IT and telecoms most likely to have felt discriminated against (53%), along with those in financial services (52%) and arts and culture (50%). In contrast, less than a quarter of those in the travel and transport industry have felt this way, (23%) alongside just 27% in manufacturing. The study also suggests that standards and perceptions of behaviour have shifted across the generations, with those in so-called ‘Generation Snowflake’ more sensitive to unfair treatment than their more mature colleagues.

According to the findings, half (50%) of those under 35 say they have felt discriminated against, compared to just a quarter (26%) of those over the age of 45. The contrast is visible across both age (15% vs 14%), gender (11% vs 5%) and other types of discrimination.

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BUSINESS

INSIGHT

POWELL’S TESTIMONY AND MACRO DATA TO DOMINATE MARKETS ACTION Asian equity markets kicked off the week on a strong footing following a positive lead from Wall Street on Friday.

Bulls seem to have taken control after the S&P 500 rallied 1.6% on Friday and Treasury yields retreated further from the 3% critical level. The broad-based rally on Friday was led by the utilities, energy and technology sectors, suggesting that investors shrugged off concerns about rising interest rates. The Cboe’s VIX decline of 11.9% on Friday also indicates that the worst of the volatility is most likely behind us. However, investors shouldn’t take anything for granted, as this week is shaping to be a busy one, dominated by Fed Chair Jay Powell providing testimony to Congress and key data releases from the U.S. and Europe. The FOMC’s latest minutes show that policymakers have grown a little more hawkish recently, but the trajectory on interest rates has not changed significantly according to CME’s FedWatch.

Investors are pricing in a 62% chance of three rate hikes in 2018, suggesting that markets see Powell as a similar version of Yellen. A gradual policy normalization with three rate hikes in 2018, is likely to be the base case scenario in Powell’s message.

Any signal towards a fourth rate hike will likely disrupt markets, similar to the selloff witnessed last month. The shape of the yield curve has also become a key indicator for risk. Although a flattening yield curve should signal slower economic growth, it has been enthusiastically welcomed by investors for the last couple of years.

From November 2013 until late January 2018, the Treasury 30-5 year swap spread shrunk to 41 basis points, the lowest since 2007. This was accompanied by new records in equities. Any indication from Powell that Trump’s fiscal policies should be met with higher long-term interest rates will also be problematic for stocks. However, given where Treasury yields stand now, it doesn’t seem bond traders are worried.

On the data front, Thursday’s U.S. Core Personal Consumption Expenditure will be closely scrutinized given it’s the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation. A rise above 0.3% will again intensify fears that the U.S. central bank needs to accelerate rates at a faster pace. Investors will also be watching US GDP second reading, durable goods orders, home sales, personal income & spending, manufacturing PMI, and consumer confidence levels.

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BUSINESS

HAVE YOU EVER SAT AT YOUR DESK AND ASKED YOURSELF,

WHY AM I HERE? IS THIS REALLY ALL THERE IS?

Today, over half of the largest economies in the world are global businesses - controlled by the few, while impacting the many. Business has the power to change the world. But what if we, as individuals, had the power to change the world of business? We are in the age of the intrapreneur: where rebels bring their entrepreneurial prowess to big business, to change it from the inside out. The Intrapreneur is the story of a dream to do exactly that. For over a decade, Gib Bulloch led a team in a corporate ‘guerrilla movement’. Their goals were huge: they wanted to revolutionise the role of business in the aid and development sector and offer their skills and expertise to not-for-profits in parts of the world with greatest need. The Intrapreneur is a call to action for a new breed of social activist disillusioned by today’s business world - to be the change you want to see in your company.

Gib Bulloch is an award-winning social intrapreneur who consults, writes and speaks on topics relating to the role of business in society. After an early career spent at BP and Mars, Bulloch’s epiphany came from a year as a business volunteer with VSO in the Balkans in 2000. Over the following 15 years, Gib founded and scaled Accenture’s global ‘not-for-loss’ consulting business, ADP. He left Accenture in 2016 to explore new ways of supporting purpose-driven insurgencies within the corporate world.

INSIGHT

INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT - IT AND TECH RECRUITMENT FEATURE WHAT CANDIDATE SKILLS ARE NEEDED TO SUPPORT UK TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION? There are three key innovations that we’re seeing impact the technology space in regards to recruitment: coding, DevOps and cyber security. The current challenge for any organisation is that technology is continuously evolving, meaning they need to be agile enough to ensure they stay at the forefront of their respective industry. Employers within the technology sector have to increase their efforts to retain experienced staff – the market is already suffering due to a lack of permanent talent. Over the last seven years, coding skills have been in even higher demand with a particular increase and focus on Python, Java and C++, to name a few. This is because companies are growing at such a pace that they need to employ skilled developers in order to meet the demand of customers.

For example, for mobile, customer demand is continually growing as the search for new and improved products is constantly on the technology development agenda. This has been particularly apparent with Sky – originally its developers worked solely on set-top boxes, but now it has a number of added services such as SkyGo, Sky Sports and the recent addition of Sky Kids (developed with a child friendly UX) that need to be operational on a number of different devices. To ensure these applications work across all devices effectively, specific coding is required, which reinforces the demand for people with those skills.

• The personal story of a maverick employee who utilised the resources of one of the world’s largest global companies to find creative and profitable ways to solve problems and improve the world.

• As an award winning social intrapreneur, Gib Bulloch recognises that Millennials, who will represent 75% of the world’s workforce by 2022, are crying out for careers with purpose – something today’s business leaders need to acknowledge.

• The author gives a searingly honest account of the personal toll of his dream, resulting in a spell in a Scottish psychiatric hospital.

The second innovation to note is DevOps skills, with DevOps Engineers being among the highest paid IT practitioners in the industry. DevOps practices, such as cross-team collaboration and continuous delivery, are proven to increase both agility and reliability. Having skills such as Linux, AWS, Puppet and Jenkins, for example, are highly desirable as improved performances are driving the adoption of DevOps practices. Technology businesses that have embraced DevOps are reported to be deploying code 30 times faster with 50% fewer failures. The final innovation is around cyber security, which has also been a catalyst for the increasing demand for skilled workers within the technology sector.

This is as a result of recent, heavily publicised hacking events, for example Sony and TalkTalk. These security breaches sent shockwaves through the technology industry and put pressure on large companies to ensure that their in-house security capabilities are of the highest quality; the private sector has never seen such demand for security talent.With increased cyber threats, major defence firms are also investing in these skilled workers, which has been particularly apparent with major companies, such as Northrop Grumman and its creation of three cyber laboratories dedicated to its U.S. and UK government clients.

The issue is that there aren’t enough skilled workers to meet the demand, and as more companies are scrutinised for the level of information security that’s in place, the pressure is ever growing. The constant introduction of new technologies means that skill sets need to be enhanced in order to meet this demand. One tactic that companies are adopting in order to combat this challenge is creating innovation hours to give employees the time and support to progress technology passion projects. Google, Facebook and Spotify have been doing this for years, giving staff the opportunity to identify new products and develop new skills that they aren’t using during their day-to-day jobs. These innovation hours are helping create greater engagement whilst fostering the products and solutions of tomorrow.

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BUSINESS

INSIGHT

EQUITY MARKETS EXPECT A DOVISH POWELL. CURRENCY TRADERS ON THE SIDELINES After a strong rally in U.S. equity and bond markets on Friday, the upward trajectory resumed on Monday. The S&P 500 gained 1.18% and the Dow added an impressive 400 points, ending the day 1.58% higher. Both indices are now 3.4% away from their record highs, after regaining more than two-third of their correction losses.

ANTICIPATION AHEAD OF

OF POWELL TESTIMONY

There is a huge sense of anticipation across financial markets today, as investors brace for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s first congressional testimony later in the day.

Powell’s debut appearance is a big deal and could offer investors a rare opportunity to carefully assess the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy approach under the new chair. Markets will scrutinize Powell’s every word, especially his views on inflation and where he sees interest rates this year. Expectations are that he will express optimism over the economic outlook and as such, this could support the Dollar.

With global equity markets still highly sensitive to fears of rising inflationary pressures and higher interest rates, there is a strong suspicion that Powell will choose his words very carefully. If he succeeds in striking an overall balanced view to Congress, market players, who were expecting fireworks, may be left empty-handed. There still remains a possibility of equity bears making an unwelcome appearance if the testimony results in stimulating expectations of four US interest rates hikes this year.

Taking a look at the technical picture, the Dollar Index struggled for direction during Tuesday’s trading session with prices steady around 89.80 as of writing. The Index still remains pressured below the 90.55 lower high. Sustained weakness below 90.20 could encourage a decline back towards 89.60 and 89.00, respectively. Alternatively, a breakout above 90.20 may invite an incline higher towards the 90.55 level.

Currency spotlight – GBPUSD Sterling’s explosively volatile price action continues to highlight how increasingly sensitive the currency has become to monetary policy speculation. It’s remarkable how Pound bulls initially entered the trading week with a renewed sense of confidence to attack, following hawkish comments from Bank of England (BOE) deputy governor Sir Dave Ramsden. The lack of inspiration to push prices higher on Monday afternoon was an invitation for bears to re-enter the scene. With the Dollar finding support from expectations of higher US interest rates, the GBPUSD could be exposed to downside losses. From a technical standpoint, the GBPUSD remains pressured below the 1.4000 resistance level. A failure for prices to break above 1.4000 could result in a decline back towards 1.3900 and 1.3850, respectively.

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Investor appetite for risk has returned strongly in the past two trading days, thanks to stabilizing interest rates. Not only did U.S. Treasury yields fell further away from last week’s highs, but even high yield bonds attracted some decent inflows. Volatility fell to a three-week low, with the VIX Index ending the day below 16, having declined 68% from its 6 February peak. Having been welcomed to office by the steepest correction in more than six years, equity investors feel that the new Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, will restore confidence. However, the reaction in currency markets was muted, with the EURUSD and USDJPY trading in narrow ranges as traders appear to be sitting on the sidelines until Powell provides a new catalyst. Powell’s first semi-annual monetary policy testimony to Congress later today is likely to be the most significant risk event of the week. The new Fed Chair will likely downplay the latest market correction and show confidence in highlighting improvements in the economy, but the markets’ reaction will depend on how the Fed reacts against such a development.t

Investor focus should be on whether recent inflation and wage growth figures are starting to become a concern for the central bank.

If Powell stated that faster-than-expected inflation would lead to a more aggressive tightening policy (suggesting four rate hikes instead of three) in 2018, investors will go back on the defensive, and risk appetite will be killed. Such a scenario will see a sharp rally in the U.S. dollar, and a steep selloff in equities and bonds.

However, financial markets believe that Powell will not be this transparent regarding the path of interest rate hikes, and that a gradual policy normalization with three rate hikes this year is likely to be the base case scenario in today’s message. There’s likely to be some room for disappointment here, especially if Powell feels that the Fed is slightly behind the curve and isn’t overly concerned about investor response.

In Europe, the focus will return to macro data, with the German preliminary CPI release likely to show that inflation abated in February. Meanwhile, speeches from the ECB Governing Council members Jens Weidmann and Yves Mersch will be of greater importance to the Euro, especially if they provide fresh insights on the ECB’s monetary policy outlook.

By Hussein Sayed, Chief Market Strategist at FXTM

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BUSINESS

tom cridland

growing uk Business defying post brexit tom, 25, is half British and half Portuguese, with our manufacturing team based in Portugal, and, over the past two years we’ve grown the business into one of the world’s leading sustainable fashion brands, from that small start-up loan to a current turnover of £600,000.

Since Brexit, we’ve rallied with our team in Portugal and pledged to each other to continue working together. We’ve had the honour of making clothing for the likes of Daniel Craig, Sir Rod Stewart, Ben Stiller, Hugh Grant, Stephen Merchant, Frankie Valli, Jeremy Piven, Robbie Williams, Leonardo DiCaprio and Neil Young, among others, with the latter two particularly inspiring us to try to encourage people to be more sustainable in their consumption of fashion. As a result, we launched The 30 Year T-Shirt, a sustainable fashion campaign in the form of a t-shirt that we guarantee for thirty years. In the wake of Brexit and its possible implications for the financial services industry in the UK, we believe it is more crucial than ever that aspiring entrepreneurs and people wanting to start businesses, particularly those who are young, are given a greater level of support and mentorship, as they will be the lifeblood needed to ensure our economy’s health. As such, we will be launching a campaign called The Entrepreneur’s Shirt in September, in conjunction with the charities, DEKI and Young Enterprise.

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INSIGHT

BUSINESS

A THIRD OF JOB HUNTERS HAVE LIED ON THEIR CV WITH 96% ADMITTING THEY’D DO IT AGAIN

Adzuna.co.uk conducted a survey of 3,587 participants either in, or looking for, employment. When asked if they had lied on their CV, a whopping 37%, or just over a third, admitted to doing so at some stage in their professional career. Of those that had lied on their CV, 83% said they still got the job, with 43% stating that their lie directly contributed to them bagging the role.

But did they ever get found out? According to 83% of candidates who lied on their CV, their fib was never discovered by their boss or co-worker. Which is perhaps why 96% of CV liars said they would do it again (with 37% revealing they would be prepared to tell a “big lie” to get their dream job).

However, not all CV discrepancies are there to maliciously hoodwink hiring managers. Most of the time survey respondents just wanted to “inflate the truth”. Yet, according to Risk Advisory, there has been a rise in university degree falsification, whereby a company (a “degree mill”) supplies candidates with false degrees from universities that do not exist. According to Adzuna. co.uk’s survey, most people fib about: their skillset, e.g. being proficient in Excel (43%), their work experience (39%) and then their education (35%). One respondent stated: “I only told a very small lie about my punctuality. I don’t think it’s worth risking not getting the job by telling huge lies”. So, what does your average CV fibber look like? According to the results, they are usually male (58%), aged between 25 to 34 years old (34%), and looking for a job in Marketing or Advertising (17%). Other sectors where candidates were more likely to inflate the truth were: Retail (14%), Finance (12%) and Law (12%).

One survey respondent expressed the opinion that it is almost expected to lie on one’s CV, stating “if a white lie gets you to an interview, there’s no harm done. Employers know CVs are rarely completely true”. Whether they expect it or not, 48% of HR professionals admit to not always checking an employee’s qualifications, and only 62% believe you should check references, (according to AXELOS, governmentally-run specialists in professional best practices). “I was a fake reference for a friend” one participant told Adzuna.co.uk. “The company rang me up and I pretended I was her manager, told them what a great worker she was, what responsibilities she had. She got the job and they were none the wiser!”

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE JOB SEEKERS THAT DO GET BUSTED? Adzuna.co.uk spoke to business owners and hiring managers about some of their experiences.

Ruth Sparkes, Director at Education Marketing company EMPRA said “My colleague and I were interviewing for a new PR account manager and this candidate was really pushing home her fabulous contacts with ITV - I asked her for examples of work she’d done, stories she’d placed - she listed three - all three were our actual clients and I had personally placed those stories [...] I got up from my chair and opened the office door for her, I asked her to ensure the front door was closed behind her.”

37% of job hunters are prepared to tell “a big lie” to bag dream job.

83%

David Vallance, Head of content at car leasing company LeaseFetcher told us: “In all our job ads, we’ve had one non-negotiable requirement — must be interested in cars. I was amazed at how many people claimed to have a lifelong love of all things motoring on their CV or covering letter only to discover they hadn’t the foggiest idea in their interview!”

Doug Monro, Co-Founder of Adzuna.co.uk, has stated that candidates should never lie on their CVs “It is best to find the right angle for your experience; dig deep and think about relevant tasks that you might not have realised you had.

Tailor your skills and experience to fit the role you are applying for, because putting something that isn’t true on your CV might get you the interview- but it won’t get you the job”.

of candidates who lied on their CV, their falsehood was never discovered.

DOUG MONRO

CO-FOUNDER OF ADZUNA.CO.UK

43% stated that their lie directly contributed to their success.

MOST JOB HUNTERS ARE NO STRANGERS TO SLIGHT EXAGGERATION ON THEIR CVS. Whilst it is always good to be self-promotional when looking for new employment, there is a difference between stretching the truth and telling an outright lie.

Yet, a recent survey by job site Adzuna.co.uk has revealed that as many as a third of job hunters are doing just that.

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INSIGHT

BUSINESS

INSIGHT

TIME TO DELIVER ON BREXIT TRANSITION PERIOD, SAY SMALL FIRMST Responding to Theresa May’s speech on the UK’s future relationship with the EU at Mansion House this afternoon, Federation of Small Businesses National Chairman Mike Cherry, who attended the speech, said: “We welcome hearing the Prime Minister say the Government is doing what it can to encourage more small businesses to export not just to the EU but also around the world. To make Brexit a success small businesses must be at the heart of negotiations on the future economic partnership.

“We also welcomed her commitment to ensuring trade is low cost and “as frictionless as possible and with no hard border” in Ireland. Both the UK and the EU must have the shared goal of reaching an agreement which allows small businesses both in the UK and the EU 27 to flourish. That is why we are calling for both sides to take a pragmatic approach. All small business eyes will be on the forthcoming EU Council meeting to provide the certainty that small businesses urgently need. “The Prime Minister set out five pillars that guide her in the negotiations. In response, there are five key questions small businesses need answered. “The most pressing question is when will an agreement on the terms of the transition period be reached? This is vital to allow trade, access to labour and skills to continue on current terms while new trade arrangements are finalised.

“Secondly, with the Government’s call to boost free trade, will small businesses maintain as frictionless trade as possible with the EU27, whilst also benefiting from reaching out to new global growth markets? We cannot have a situation where small businesses are weighed down by additional burdensome paperwork, queues and costs. “Third, will small businesses be able to have easy and cost effective access to the skills and talent they need to grow and innovate?“Fourth, will small businesses and the self-employed be able to easily travel across all the EU 27 member states to win new contracts and do their day-to-day work? “Finally, when powers are returned from Europe, will Government prioritise the needs of small businesses across all nations of the UK and remove unnecessary barriers to growth?.

“Small businesses, as a group, now find themselves at the centre of the Brexit debate. Theresa May ended her speech by saying “let’s get on with it” – that’s a sentiment shared by small businesses as there is now an urgency for all sides to find the solutions that empower and strengthen the small business community and the many people they employ.”

mike cherry fsb national chairman

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BUSINESS

EMPLOYER DRIVING SURGE IN DEMAND FOR INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONALS A growing “professional gig economy” of highlyskilled, independent workers is flourishing in both the UK and Europe, driven by organisations cutting back on core staff and instead increasingly relying on outsourced professionals working for themselves.

The findings come in a pioneering study from Source Global Research published by Odgers Connect, the consulting arm of global executive search firm Odgers Berndtson. Researchers interviewed senior executives across 250 UK and European organisations and found that changing attitudes to professional support are driving demand for independent workers.

The biggest impact, according to Source, is at the very top of the professional workplace.

Looking at management consultancy bought by organisations in the UK in 2016 for example, Source estimates that independents supplied 20% of all consultancy bought by organisations, worth around £2 billion of the £9.75 billion total.

However, if this were translated to the wider market for professional services in the UK, valued by Source at around £215 billion in 2016, it would imply the UK professional “gig economy” – defined as projectbased work – is already worth over £40 billion a year. This is an approximation, (as no firm data exists), but nonetheless gives a first indication of the size and value of the independent professional sector. “An army of independent professionals and consultants is growing within both private and public-sector organisations,” said Adam Gates, Principal of Odgers Connect. “Brexit is accelerating this trend due to the uncertainty it is creating.

Companies need professional support to navigate through these uncertain times, without increasing costs and headcount – further encouraging them to bring in independent operators.”

“All organisations - across both private and public sectors - want more flexibility, expertise and value, and independent professionals deliver it. A quiet revolution is underway in the professional workplace, across both the UK and Europe, driven by the changing needs of employers – and this genie isn’t going back in the bottle.” Mr Gates added.

Source conducted a survey of board-level purchasers in over 250 large and mid-sized organisations, over half based in the UK and the rest in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Its key finding is that conditions are ripe for a boom in use of independent professionals, with high demand, a skilled talent pool and a trend towards more flexibility. The study notes that Brexit, and new regulation, are likely to favour independent consultants because organisations will seek the increased flexibility they offer and resist taking on permanent staff.

Other key points include the following: • Nowhere is the ‘professional gig economy’ having more impact than at the very top end, in the rapidly evolving management consulting industry: • 40% of organisations, the largest group, revealed they now use a fairly even split of traditional management consulting firms and independent consultants.

• When asked why organisations would select an independent consultant over a big firm, flexibility is most important, prioritised by 48% of organisations. This makes flexibility more of an issue than price, prioritised by fewer (38%).

• Quality is also encouraging companies to make greater use of professionals working independently.

Organisations reported that independent consultants deliver higher- quality work than consultants at traditional firms in four consulting services asked about, and on a par in a further two. As a result, they said they intend to increase use of independent consultants in the future • Where high demand and high-quality overlap, Source identifies sweet spots for growing use of independent consultants, notably in regulatory work and technology, notably data & analytics and digital technology. In both areas, around a third of employers plan to increase use of independents.

• Companies’ main concern centres on the lack of quality control when sourcing independents. At present, and unlike at the lower end of the gig economy, there are few well established providers and platforms to assist and, in any case, when it comes to professionals, organisations want assurances over quality and capability. Most employers now rely on personal connections and recommendations to find individual professional operators but, with demand for independent consultants set to increase, particularly in hardto-find areas like digital and data & analytics, Source says this will soon become unsustainable.

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INSIGHT

FINANCE

RUBLE, STERLING AND YUAN ADVANCE AS DOLLAR STRUGGLES AHEAD OF POWELL TESTIMONY

The Dollar is under threat to losses once again, with the Greenback at time of writing currently trending lower against all of its G10 counterparts, with the exception of the Canadian Dollar. The Dollar is also weaker against many emerging market currencies, as investors take some Dollar exposure away from the table ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s Congress testimony later in the week. The new Fed Chair is expected to be heavily quizzed on policy, with congress likely to be particularly interested in Powell’s US interest rate outlook. If Powell suggests that the Federal Reserve could raise US interest rates four times in 2018, it could be seen as a positive sign for the US Dollar.

Away from the highly anticipated testimony of the new Fed Chair, one of the major stories making the rounds are reports that President Xi Jinping is set to tighten his grip on leadership in China by scrapping the two-term presidency rule. Premier Xi remaining in power past his set term is likely to lead to an opportunity to drive through his policy agenda, and appears to have been warmly received by investors. The Shanghai Composite Index advanced by 1.2% on Monday, while the Chinese Renminbi climbed around 0.5% against the USD. Centralizing power under Premier Xi should also lead to China making further reforms and progress towards liberalizing its financial markets, which should provide another reason to expect a stronger Chinese Yuan.

Another currency to have started the week positively against the USD is the Russian Ruble, with the USDRUB down by 0.35% at time of writing and 1% since Friday. S&P Global Ratings raising Russia’s credit rating to investment grade BBB-/A-3 on Friday has increased momentum for the Russian Ruble. The Russian economy has withstood a variety of different obstacles over the past couple of years, including international sanctions following the Crimea conflict and declining commodity prices. The economy does, however, appear to have weathered the storm with the outlook for the economy now being more stable. The upgrade should continue to lift sentiment towards the Ruble, as investors receive encouragement to hold capital in Russia.

A hawkish shift in tone from Bank of England Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden towards higher UK interest rates has encouraged the Sterling to climb against the Dollar. Ramsden has previously voted against raising UK interest rates, but his comments over the weekend signal that another member of the Monetary Policy Committee is becoming upbeat on the UK interest rate outlook. This has also encouraged the market to be more optimistic over a potential UK interest rate rise before the second half of 2018. The expectations that UK Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, will support staying in a customs union with the EU after Brexit will also help investor sentiment, as it complements the view that the United Kingdom is heading for a ‘softer’ Brexit.

The GBPUSD is currently trading 0.4% higher against the Dollar for the day and, as long as the GBPUSD manages to remain above the psychological 1.40 level, the outlook will be that the Pound can trade higher as the week continues.

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FINANCE

CATELLA PROPERTY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INCREASED AUM 33% IN 2017 TO EUR 5.6 BILLION

OPEN BANKING TO BOOST UK ECONOMY BY 1BN

C

atella’s regulated fund operations in Germany, CREAG, and the specialised residential and student housing portfolio manager CRIM were the biggest contributors to the growth in assets under management (AuM) and profitability. The capital flows to German funds were strong, totalling approximately EUR 900 million in AuM growth. The fastest growing fund, Catella Wohnen Europa, targets German investors, while its property investments are made throughout Europe. Within two years the fund’s AuM have grown to EUR 590 million, with 3,000 residential units in five European countries. Another successful fund launch was Catella Modernes Wohnen, which has reached EUR 100 million in AuM after only six months of operating. The existing property funds of CREAG executed transactions worth approximately EUR 550 million, with net AuM growth of EUR 320 million, and delivered returns above their target.

In the project development service area, Catella’s German project management unit CPM was able to achieve major progress in rezoning an old postal logistics site in Dusseldorf’s central business district.

Following the publication of a report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) which found that Open Banking could provide a £1bn boost to the UK economy.

Nancy Kalogeropoulou, UK Country Manager at Fidor Bank said:

Grand Central is a major urban planning project in Dusseldorf, with approximately 140,000 m2 gross floor area of residential, hotel and mixed-use building rights. CPM operates nationwide in residential and commercial developments, and is managing projects with a total underlying market value of EUR 1.0 billion. In France, Catella Asset Management had a successful year, in particular by closing the acquisition of around 200 office and light industrial real estate assets from EDF Group. The portfolio covers floor space of approximately 400,000 m2.

In 2017, Catella started new regional asset management operations in Sweden, Benelux and Germany. After having expanded the regional platform to a total of nine European countries, Catella has now reached the point at which investors are offered a strong local operating partner with European reach. As part of this effort, Catella opened an office in Hong Kong in 2017 to offer Asian investors access to European real estate investments. “Catella’s strategy to offer local investment capacity with European reach to global and local investors has turned out to be highly appreciated. The growth of AuM is a sign of strength and an acknowledgement of confidence in our approach and ability to deliver in local European markets. The increased cooperation between Catella’s business areas has furthermore brought value to both our customers and Catella. We intend to continue this growth in 2018, strengthen our local teams further and leverage on our now pan-European offering,” comments Timo Nurminen, Head of Property Investment Management.

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“With it estimated that the new Open Banking initiative could provide a £1 billion boost to the country’s economy, it highlights how the UK has taken a leading role in implementing innovative, far-sighted policy decisions.”

“However, financial organisations should not just rely on Open Banking to drive innovation. Instead, I believe they should do beyond the initiative by integrating the APIs of their competitors to launch cutting-edge personal finance tools and products. This would benefit both banks and consumers, while also keeping the UK, and especially London, as one of the fastest-growing and most reputable fintech hubs globally.”

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FINANCE

INSIGNIS

INSIGNIS

CASH SOLUTIONS LAUNCHES CASH MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR LEGAL SECTOR

Giles Hutson, CEO of Insignis Cash Solutions, said: “It’s important that any cash held during or as a result of legal proceedings is not only kept safe but also actively managed in the best interest of the underlying client to generate the best return possible.

Choosing where to invest the funds while keeping client interests at heart and meeting regulatory obligations can be challenging, and a manual approach to shopping around to identify the best returns, balanced with liquidity and security can be very time consuming. “Our cash solutions service dramatically cuts the administrative burden for legal professionals, identifying the right account for each client and allowing them to fulfil their fiduciary duties in a time and cost-effective manner.”

Insignis Cash Solutions, a leading cash management provider, has launched a new service enabling legal professionals to improve its advice to clients around all aspects of cash.

The new Insignis service allows legal professionals to facilitate suitable accounts that best meet their end clients’ individual cash needs. Insignis scans the market to identify the best available returns, while maintaining the most appropriate level of liquidity and security. Through one application, cash can be split among various institutions to maximise Financial Services Compensation Scheme protection, and funds are fully segregated on behalf of the end client. The service can be tailored to different cash management client requirements in a wide variety of legal situations, ranging from divorce proceedings, major asset disposals such as selling a property, to power of attorney and trust management.

Hitachi Capital UK has bolstered its leadership team with the appointment of experienced finance and risk professional John Shiels as Chief Risk Officer, based in Leeds.

With over 25 years’ experience in compliance, risk, finance and general management, John will lead Hitachi Capital UK’s 2nd line risk function with responsibility for overseeing the assessment and mitigation of risk across all business channels..

John joins from online investment service, Interactive Investor where he oversaw all aspects of risk, compliance and financial crime.

With a strong background in the financial services industry, holding senior positions at Clydesdale Bank, Virgin Money and RBS, John will ensure that Hitachi Capital UK is identifying and managing risk, improving efficiency across its reporting procedures and delivering on the business’s key strategic objectives.

ROBERT GORDON CEO OF HITACHI CAPITAL UK

The service also helps maximise the flexibility of new client money rules to deliver better returns for their clients. Changes made to the Client Assets sourcebook regulation in January 2018 mean client funds can now be held in bank accounts with unbreakable terms of longer than 30 days.

Legal professionals often hold client money for days, weeks or months, depending on the situation, and under the new rules they can now consider a broader range of bank accounts to hold this cash.

GILES HUTSON

Robert Gordon, CEO of Hitachi Capital UK, said:

“I’m delighted to welcome John as part of our senior leadership team. Risk management is an integral function in today’s complex operating environment.

“John’s significant experience and expertise in the financial services space will play a crucial role in challenging our approach and driving our performance.”

HITACHI CAPITAL UK APPOINTS CHIEF RISK OFFICER John Shiels, Chief Risk Officer, Hitachi Capital UK, said:

“Hitachi Capital UK has a strong and growing reputation as a reliable and trustworthy finance provider and I’m excited to play a part in supporting its development from a risk and operational perspective.”

This appointment represents the second senior hire for Hitachi Capital UK in recent months, following the appointment of Vincent Reboul as the new Managing Director of its consumer division.”

CEO OF INSIGNIS CASH SOLUTIONS

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ISSUE 03 | 35

FINANCE

UK FINANCE RESPONDS TO FCA NEW CREDIT CARD RULES

DOLLAR FINDS A FRIEND IN POWELL AS GLOBAL STOCKS SLIP

Responding to the Financial Conduct Authority publication of its final policy statement on new rules for the credit card market.

Richard Koch, Director of Cards at UK Finance, said: “Today’s announcement is an important outcome for consumers. Alongside the voluntary measures devised by financial providers, these rules will reduce the cost of borrowing by encouraging individuals to pay back their card balances quicker, where they can afford to do so. “We will continue to work with the regulator to ensure the credit card market remains competitive, innovative and responsive to the needs of all its customers.”

By Lukman Otunuga, Research Analyst at FXTM

Dollar bulls were injected with a renewed sense of confidence on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell struck a careful but fairly upbeat tone during his congressional testimony.

Powell expressed optimism over the health of the US economy with inflation pushing towards the 2% target, while downplaying concerns of market volatility. He deftly maintained a safe distance when quizzed on whether the central bank would raise rates more than three times this year – ultimately preventing market fireworks. A key takeaway from the testimony was Powell’s statement that the US economic outlook “remains strong despite the recent stock market turbulence”.

These hawkish remarks have not only reinforced market expectations over a rate hike in March, but stimulated speculation that the Fed may raise interest rates four times this year.

Today’s main risk event for the Dollar will be the second estimate of the fourth quarter US GDP, which is expected to show that the US economy expanded 2.5%. A growth figure matching or exceeding market expectations could support the prospects of higher rates, consequently boosting the Dollar further. Focusing on the technical picture, the Dollar bounced back to life against a basket of major currencies on Tuesday, with prices venturing towards the 90.40 region. A decisive breakout and daily close above the 90.55 lower high could signal the end of the downtrend on the daily charts, ultimately bringing bulls back into the game. The level of interest above 90.55 will be the 91.00 resistance level. Asian equities were depressed during early trading on Wednesday following Wall Street’s steep decline overnight.

Hawkish comments from Jerome Powell have rekindled interest rate hike fears and as such continues to pressure stock markets. European shares could edge lower as investors adopt a guarded approach with the caution potentially trickling back down into Wall Street later in the day.

It is becoming increasingly clear that global stocks still remain highly sensitive to the prospects of rising inflation and interest rate fears. With Powell’s testimony fuelling market speculation of higher US interest rates this year, stock markets remain exposed to downside risks as equity bears lurk in the background.

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FINANCE

VIETNAM ENTERPRISE INVESTMENTS LIMITED ADMISSION TO THE MAIN MARKET OF THE LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE The Board of Vietnam Enterprise Investments Limited is pleased to announce that its ordinary shares have today been admitted to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.

Launched over 20 years ago, VEIL was the first-ever Vietnamese closed-ended fund. Today it has assets of approximately $890 million and provides exposure to a portfolio of Vietnamese equities, approximately half of which are at their foreign ownership limits and are otherwise difficult for foreign investors to access.

The Company’s move to the Main Market is expected to create a more transparent and liquid market in the Shares, widening potential ownership, attracting greater analyst coverage, increasing VEIL’s profile and narrowing the discount to NAV at which the Shares currently trade.

The Company’s market quote on the London Stock Exchange has been redenominated into Sterling (the Shares were previously traded on the main securities market of the Irish Stock Exchange in US Dollars). The Company’s admission to trading on the Irish Stock Exchange has been cancelled.

Dominic Scriven, Executive Chairman of Dragon Capital Group, said: “We are delighted for VEIL to become part of the most active and successful market for listed investment companies. With its premium listing, robust governance arrangements and a portfolio management team who have been together for the last 15 years, we believe VEIL provides a strong investment opportunity for both institutional and retail investors”.

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INVESTMENT

DRAPER ESPRIT

ANNOUNCES NEW COMMITMENTS OF £12 MILLION IN FIVE LEADING EUROPEAN SEED FUNDS

Furthermore, it complements the Company’s core strategy to invest approximately £100 million a year in technology businesses in series A, B and C+ rounds across the Group’s funds and gives the management team further access to high quality deal flow from across Europe.

Commenting on the announcement Simon Cook, Chief Executive said:

These investments are a continuation of the Company’s Fund of Funds strategy to invest £75 million over a five-year period in Europe’s best seed funds, as announced in October 2017.

Alongside previous investments in Seedcamp, Episode1 Ventures, Crowdcube and Seedrs, these investments enable Draper investors to gain access to some of Europe’s highest quality seed

SIMON COOK

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

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in Europe, developing and investing in disruptive, high growth technology companies. We believe the best entrepreneurs in Europe are capable of building the global businesses of the future.

draper esprit

a leading venture capital firm investing in high growth digital technology businesses today announces two new investments in Europe’s top seed funds: Join Capital in Berlin and Icebreaker in Finland. Commitments have also been made to three other funds based in London, Cambridge and Ireland. The total commitment is £12 million across all five funds.

draper esprit is one of the most active venture capital firms

“In October last year we announced our intention to invest in seed funds to give investors access to early stage technology businesses through Europe’s top seed funding platforms. This gives them exposure to a very important asset class on a pooled portfolio approach; giving a degree of risk mitigation, with added liquidity and without them having to sift through and pick individual seed funds themselves. It also gives shareholders and investors an opportunity to support European tech from British shores, helping to ensure the UK continues to have a leading role in European venture.”

INVESTMENT

IT ENTREPRENEUR INVESTS SIX-FIGURE SUM INTO LEADING DIGITAL AGENCY

The founder of Rockford IT has invested a six-figure sum into leading Shropshire marketing and digital agency Reech, with plans to increase the company’s turnover four-fold by 2022. Entrepreneur Tom Sykes, who founded Rockford in 2001 and later sold it in a landmark £3.9m deal to SysGroup at the end of last year, has taken a 30% stake in Reech – and hasn’t ruled out further business acquisitions in the next 12 months.

INVESTOR CONFIDENCE ROSE in february by 4.4 point to 107.4

Rob Hughes, 34, started Reech along with his wife, Joanna, in their box bedroom in 2009 after being made redundant. He has since grown the business to 11 staff, with clients including Wolverhampton Wanderers, Aico, The Shingler Group, Technology Supplies, SJ Roberts Homes, and the ARH Group. He said the investment would make Reech a “major player” in the Midlands. “It was incredibly flattering when Tom approached James and I with this offer,” Rob explained. “The business has grown impressively from humble beginnings but this investment will accelerate our expansion plans significantly.”

“We worked with Rockford IT for a number of years while Tom was chief executive and we’re delighted he’s had the faith to put his own money into Reech. “The business will continue to offer ground-breaking branding, design, website development, and digital marketing, including content creation and SEO, but we also want to enhance our offering in the coming years to become a major player in the Midlands.” Rob said he also intended to continue with Reech’s ambition of giving something back to the local community. “We do an incredible amount of work for local charities – over the last few years we have worked with Shrewsbury Town in the Community, the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund and Severn Hospice amongst others. As we grow, it is important to us that we continue to contribute to our local community.”

The move, announced on Monday 26 February, will seek to double Reech’s office capacity, increase staff and expand the company’s digital marketing operations, specifically mobile apps and bespoke software solutions. Rob will retain the majority shareholding while James Brinkler, now technical director, has upped his stake in the business. Head of design, Dena Evans, will become creative director and a shareholder. “All of this will add huge amounts of value to our existing and future client base,” said Rob proudly. “We have built up an enviable reputation in Shropshire with our Reech relationships and this offering will only be enhanced with this new investment.” Tom, 36, will become executive chairman and brings chartered accountant Grant Thomas, 37, with him as a highly-experienced financial director. Grant joined Rockford in 2010 and implemented PLC levels of reporting and monitoring with Tom, which they now use as a baseline for any business.

“We’re investing in Reech because we recognise the great talent they have to offer,” Tom explained. “Even when Reech pitched for our business some years ago they were the only agency to come and find out what we actually did. Their attention to detail, along with their commitment to going the extra mile, already puts them head and shoulders above the rest and now we’re able to give them a launchpad for expansion. “What’s particularly exciting about this project is that we have grown a business before and learned a huge amount during that process. Our aim is for Reech to be turning over in excess of £2.5m by 2022 and proving itself on a bigger stage.” Tom said six staff would be recruited in 2018 and didn’t rule out further acquisitions of complementary businesses.

The deal was truly a Shropshire affair, thanks to the fact that Reech instructed Shrewsbury solicitors, Lanyon Bowdler, to work on its behalf, while Tom and Grant instructed fellow Shrewsbury firm, Aaron & Partners. Rob said: “We have worked with Gráinne Walters, who heads up Lanyon Bowdler’s corporate team, for a number of years and have absolute faith in the level of service and professionalism she delivers. “Hugh Strickland, a partner in the Corporate Finance team at Shrewsbury legal practice Aaron & Partners, and Zoe Lloyd, a Solicitor at the firm, were responsible for the deal that sold Rockford IT to SysGroup in 2017, so all parties were confident that the deal would be as smooth as possible.”

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LEE FERRIDGE State Street Global Exchange today released the results of the State Street Investor Confidence Index® for February 2018. The Global Investor Confidence Index increased to 107.4, up 4.4 points from January’s revised reading of 103.0.

North American and Asian investors expressed a renewed appetite for risk, with the North American ICI increasing by 6.1 points to 104.4 and Asian ICI rising by 7.8 points to 108.5. Meanwhile, the European ICI declined by 12.9 points to 100.6.

The Investor Confidence Index was developed by Kenneth Froot and Paul O’Connell at State Street Associates, State Street Global Exchange’s research and advisory services business. It measures investor confidence or risk appetite quantitatively by analyzing the actual buying and selling patterns of institutional investors. The index assigns a precise meaning to changes in investor risk appetite: the greater the percentage allocation to equities, the higher risk appetite or confidence. A reading of 100 is neutral; it is the level at which investors are neither increasing nor decreasing their longterm allocations to risky assets. The index differs from survey-based measures in that it is based on the actual trades, as opposed to opinions, of institutional investors. “The month of February was far from boring. Global markets witnessed inflation concerns and growing fears about the pace and degree of rising rates. However, it appears that the return of market volatility did not suppress institutional investors’ risk-seeking appetite,” commented Kenneth Froot.

“While investors in aggregate showed resilience in the face of increased market volatility, the divergence in regional performance is interesting. The market gyrations were led by the US but it appears that this impacted European investors more than those in North America and Asia. This divergence is certainly notable and worth watching in the months ahead,” said Lee Ferridge, senior managing director and head of Multi-Asset Strategy, The Americas, State Street Global Markets.

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M&A WATCH

ASG FUNDS SELL LAST GERMAN Office Building as Real Estate Strategy for Germany Shifts to Corporate Acquisitions

ActivumSG Capital Management, the specialist in turnaround situations in European real estate, has completed the sale of the last German office property owned by funds that it manages. The sale highlights a shift in focus by ASG’s latest funds onto corporate acquisitions as a way to access attractive value-add opportunities in German real estate. ActivumSG Real Estate Fund II sold the Theo & Luise building in Mannheim, 55 miles south of Frankfurt, to TLG Immobilien for €47.6 million, a price that reflects a net initial yield of 5.9%. The 2011 vintage fund had purchased the 26,000 sq.m. Grade A property from an affiliate of RBS, which had held it in a non-performing loan portfolio.

Saul Goldstein, Founder and Managing Partner of ActivumSG, said: “We are very cautious about direct property investments in Germany today. This sale ends a successful theme of early ASG funds, where we anticipated that repositioned assets in medium-sized German cities would attract institutional demand as the Big Seven cities got too competitive. Private equity investments or mezzanine lending generally appear the best way to access strong real estate themes in Germany for our newest funds, since their complexity allows us to avoid the crowds and to generate value-add returns for our investors.” ASG announced in January that its fifth fund has attracted €489 million of commitments from global investors at its final close for investing in Spain and Germany. The fund started 2018 by acquiring fairvesta, a German real estate fund management platform for retail investors. Its other investments include mezzanine financing for various developments in Berlin as well as residential development and land purchases in Spain.

The Theo & Luise building sold to TLG is currently 89.4% occupied and the largest tenants are Deutsche Telekom (through Generalmietgesellschaft GMG), Camelot Management Consultants and Euromaster. The property provides parking for 401 vehicles. The property is in Fahrlach, on the eastern edge of Mannheim, which is a popular office location due to its proximity to the City Airport. The region is a hub for transportation and industry in Germany.

Richard Wartenberg, Head of Real Estate at ActivumSG Advisory GmbH, said: “This investment was a lease-up story following the departure of two large tenants, which left us at one point with a 56% vacancy rate. We transformed the property into an institutional quality asset through modernization works and a focused leasing campaign. Market conditions have certainly made it harder to find opportunities of this kind. We’re still open to making direct acquisitions, but only when we find buildings with a compelling investment case for adding value.”

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M&A WATCH

europe

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY INVESTMENT SPIKES IN EUROPE

Indeed, the recovery in UK volumes has been primarily driven by the sale of large assets in London to overseas buyers, particularly in Hong Kong. Including a single €1.4 billion deal – the largest noted in the third quarter of 2017.

The UK’s position as a strong contender in commercial property therefore, should not be overlooked. Particularly as other European locations experienced catastrophic falls in commercial investment volumes, the top 3 identified as Ireland (-58.30%), Sweden (-38.60%) and Switzerland – with an average -35.50% fall in investment figures.

Darren Best, managing director of savoystewart.co.uk, comments: “This rise and fall could reflect how investors are beginning to look toward locations outside of populist countries; places which may offer a renewed energy and stability to commercial business in uncertain times.

I believe the top ten countries will certainly be commercial locations to watch in 2018. But what is also crucial to note, is that investment in commercial property in Europe is thriving, overall – and the UK plays a large part in that.”

RESEARCH

released by Knight Frank in the European Quarterly, Commercial Property Outlook (Q3 2017) proves a strong third quarter last year has put 2017 European investment volumes on course to beat 2016. In fact, a total of €47.4 billion was invested in European commercial property in the third quarter (Q3) 2017; a 13% increase on the same quarter of 2016.

Inspired by the strong performance in Q3, which took European commercial investment volumes for the first three quarters of 2017 to €144.4 billion, up by 3% year-on-year, commercial property specialists, Savoystewart. co.uk sought to uncover the countries stirring the most interest in investment in Europe.

In analysing the figures, Savoystewart. co.uk found several countries experienced a spike in commercial investment in 2017. Most notably in Finland, with a total investment of €5.6 billion, Q1-Q3 – a rise of 121.60% on figures from 2016.

Hungary (89.90%), Romania (73.50%), the Czech Republic (43.30%) and Netherlands (41.70%) followed, with considerable increases measured.

Though missing out on the top ten for highest commercial investment volumes, the UK received a gargantuan €37.6 billion in commercial investment, Q1-Q3 2017, which accounts to a 2.80% rise on 2016.

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finland crowned the place to invest, as commercial property volumes rise by 121.60%

Furthermore, Savoystewart.co.uk discovered the top five preferred sectors for investors* in 2018 are Logistics and Industrial (51.0%), Specialist – including automotive/ student/healthcare – (28.3%), Office at 15.2%, Hotel (3.4%) and Retail with 2.1%.

58.9% of the same investors believe there will be a “stronger demand” for commercial property in Europe in 2018, while 31.5% claim there will be no change and 9.6% agree the demand will be weaker.

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48

Magazine Tempate

49

M&A WATCH

ERT RECOGNIZED FOR

ADVANCED CENTRAL TRIAL ANALYTICS AND PATIENT ENGAGEMENT

“ERT is committed to exploring and developing solutions that help the biopharmaceutical industry bring new treatments to the patients who need them quickly, and with confidence,” said James Corrigan, President and CEO, ERT. “We’re honored to be recognized for enabling sponsors to simplify patient participation and for helping them avoid costly trial delays by spotting risks before they become problems during clinical development.”

ert

ERT, a global data and technology company that minimizes uncertainty and risk in clinical trials, today announced that its clinical trial technology solutions have been shortlisted for two Informa Clinical and Research Excellence Awards.

Informa, a leading business intelligence and academic publishing company, conducts the annual CARE Awards to showcase significant accomplishments and highlight innovation across the industry. ERT is being recognized in the category of Best Sponsorfocused Clinical Development for its Centralized Clinical Trial Analytics Solution and in the category of Best Patient-focused Clinical Development for its novel Voice Assistance Data Capture solution. “Our panel of independent experts carefully judged all entries to produce a shortlist that displays the industry’s wealth of innovation, unwavering commitment and passion to make human lives better,” said Karen Currie, Executive Director, Editorial, Citeline, Informa. “We received a record-setting number of entries for this year’s program and are pleased to recognize ERT as a finalist for these key award categories.”

Developed in collaboration with Orbita, a healthcare software provider, ERT’s Voice Assistant Data Capture Solution improves patient engagement by enabling clinical trial participants to complete daily assessment surveys, report vital statistics measurements, ask questions, receive training and report health concerns via voice recognition technology. Additional applications are under development.

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KAREN CURRIE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EDITORIAL, CITELINE, INFORMA

JAMES CORRIGAN PRESIDENT AND CEO, ERT

M&A WATCH

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

STILL MAJOR ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT FINDS NEW REPORT

With the latest research from Gallup revealing that 67% of the global workforce is disengaged.

Representing approximately $7 trillion in lost productivity, it is clear that employee engagement has to be at the top of the HR agenda. That’s according to employee communications and engagement specialist, Workvine which has produced a report detailing the top factors which cause employees to be actively disengaged. By aggregating and curating several major sources of research over a number of years from bodies such as CIPD, WERS, Investors in People, and Gallup, the report has highlighted the most frequently cited drivers of employee engagement which were then ranked in order of workplace impact. The top five were: • Positive Motivation: The report found that this was one of the largest drivers of employee engagement – but also one of the most expansive. While employees may be content to do what is required of them, they will be more willing to emotionally invest in their work and consequently increase productivity if they get recognition and reward for good performance. Other positive motivation factors include access to professional and personal development and tailored benefits packages.

• Room for Innovation: While employees can be one of the one of the best sources for new ideas, the analysis reveals that less than half of managers actively seek out employee suggestions – or give feedback. The clear message to employers is to encourage staff to share their ideas and encourage innovation, but also to ensure that these suggestions are responded to in a timely manner.

• Employee Wellbeing: Today’s employees want to feel valued not only in terms of their contribution to the business, but also that their employer is taking their wellbeing into account and seeing them as more than just a worker.

Demonstrations of this can include supporting healthy lifestyles by encouraging employees to take their lunch breaks and holidays through to more formal support for health problems

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• Communication and relationships with management: The world of work is changing; hot desking, remote, part time and flexible working is challenging the way that employees and employers communicate and it is all too easy for employees to feel isolated or cut off from the business for which they work. Employers could explore whether their existing communication methods are working or if additional channels harnessing new technology such as employee apps could be key to better understanding and a faster flow of information.

• Development and Control: Job satisfaction is clearly linked with the amount of control employees feel they have over their own destiny in terms of both the scope of their role – and the opportunities for personal and professional development. The aggregated research found that less than half of employees felt that they had enough opportunities for development.

Commenting on this analysis, Chairman of Workvine said: “It is interesting – and even little depressing - that even though there is plenty of evidence to show that a valued workforce is a loyal workforce and that a happy workforce breeds productivity which in turn is a key driver for business growth – we are still having to have the conversation about how to actively engage employees. There is ‘no one-size fits all’ approach and while there is still much to be done, if employers can communicate effectively with each individual, make them feel valued, listen to their ideas and guide them through their career, this lays the foundation for true engagement, increased productivity and a workforce that actually feel good about being at work. After all, we spend much of our adult lives in the workplace, so why not make it as enjoyable an experience as possible.”

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M&A WATCH

AG’S HEAD OF SPECIFICATION ON A MISSION

Tyrone-based specialist building products and structural precast manufacturer AG (Acheson + Glover) is to increase its focus on the professional market with the appointment of a new Head of Specification Sales. For Cookstown man Rodney Davidson it is a return to the company after a seven year stint working in Kenya as a missionary charity worker.

Rodney, who worked for the company for 18 years returns to Northern Ireland after spending 7 years living in Kenya with his family, where they devoted their time to charity work. Alongside his wife Alma and their four children, Jordan, Amy, Calvin and Grace, the family lived on an 18 acre orphanage among the Wakamba tribe with FAME Mission. The former Sunday School teacher at Cookstown Free Presbyterian Church, began his career as a dispatch clerk before rising up the ranks to become Group Specification Manager prior to moving to Kenya.

Established in 1960, AG is one of the most trusted producers of innovative concrete products in Northern Ireland and beyond.

Now an employer of more than 400 people, across nine sites located at Fivemiletown, Dungannon, Ballygawley, Birmingham, Magherafelt, Carryduff, Toome, Pomeroy and Derry it remains a family-run business, committed to the highest standards of product quality, company culture and staff care.

Stephen Acheson, the company’s Commercial Director “For many years Rodney was a great asset to AG, and he’s one of the key people who have helped build the company to the point where it’s at today.

“We are very proud to have Rodney back on board after his time in Africa - he brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge and is a fantastic example of career progression through hard work and determination coupled with enthusiasm and loyalty.”

stephen acheson

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M&A WATCH The Clearwater International team comprised of Partner and head of TMT Carl Houghton, Directors Rob Burden and Emma Rodgers, Executive Daniel Delooze, and Associate Kirsten Handley.

feb 2018

Andrew Skinner, Investment Manager at NorthEdge Capital, said: “Jigsaw24 has achieved sustained growth since NorthEdge’s investment and has built an impressive client base, including some of the UK’s best known brands. Through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, we have expanded the business’ geographical presence and enhanced its offer for customers. It has been a pleasure working with Roger, Martin, John and the rest of the management team at Jigsaw24 and we are confident that the firm will continue its upward trajectory in its next chapter.”

CLEARWATER Clearwater International UK has advised the shareholders of Apple reseller, Jigsaw24, on the secondary management buyout supported by Alcuin Capital Partners and PNC Business Credit. This secured a successful exit for private equity firm NorthEdge Capital.

Founded in 1992, Jigsaw24 is an IT solutions and services provider and the undisputed leader in the B2B Apple reseller market which has been built upon the foundations of a 25 year relationship with Apple, and consistent yearon-year growth. Jigsaw24’s core markets are corporate, creative and education. It has built a loyal client base in excess of 25,000, with clients including Harrods, Disney, KPMG and Sky, and recently announced sales of £125m in the year to May 2017. The business also provides creative solutions as Adobe’s primary partner, offering software, services and support to its creative network. Jigsaw24 has completed three bolt-on acquisitions to extend its product and geographical portfolio including: Square Group, the B2B Apple reseller; Matrix Software Development, the automated catalogue production software business; and Root6, the storage, solutions and service provider to media and creative industries. The secondary management buyout was led by Managing Director and Founder of Jigsaw24, Roger Whittle, and Finance and Operations Director John Hughes, with the support of Alcuin and PNC Financial Services. Jigsaw24’s CEO, Martin Balaam, will exit the business with NorthEdge.

ADRIAN LURIE PARTNER AT ALCUIN CAPITAL

“Jigsaw24 is a leader in its field with a great team and strong track record of profitable growth. Their plans going forward are exciting and we are looking forward to working with Roger, John and the whole of the Jigsaw24 team to support this next exciting phase in the business’ development.”

HAS ADVISED THE SHAREHOLDERS OF APPLE

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ANDREW SKINNER

ROB BURDEN DIRECTOR OF CLEARWATER INTERNATIONAL “The market opportunities in Apple enterprise, creative industries and services are what set Jigsaw apart. With Apple likely to increase its penetration in all three areas over the next few years, this is a core attraction that led Alcuin to back the very talented team at Jigsaw24.”

Investment Manager at NorthEdge Capital “Jigsaw24 has achieved sustained growth since NorthEdge’s investment and has built an impressive client base, including some of the UK’s best known brands. Through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, we have expanded the business’ geographical presence and enhanced its offer for customers. It has been a pleasure working with Roger, Martin, John and the rest of the management team at Jigsaw24 and we are confident that the firm will continue its upward trajectory in its next chapter.”

CLEARWATER international focuses on providing corporate finance advice for mid-market transactions including M&A, private equity, debt advisory and restructuring services. The business has completed over 1,400 transactions worth an aggregate value of over €60bn.

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M&A WATCH

PROPERTY INDUSTRY LEADERS BARNES INTERNATIONAL HAVE RELEASED THEIR SECOND ANNUAL GLOBAL PROPERTY HANDBOOK The prestigious handbook is aimed at the world’s Ultra High Net Worth Individuals and market influencers, offering them an in-depth insight into the luxury property market for 2018. Analysing the current geopolitical climate, predictions for major economic events, the buying trends of both the established and emerging wealthy elite and the top investment opportunities globally, Barnes provide a detailed report for those looking to grow their property portfolio.

Year on year the number of UHNWI has continued to increase and in 2017 the global population of UHNWIs grew by 3.5%, reaching a record-breaking 226,450. In their report BARNES predict the number of UHNWIs will only continue to increase, with the number of global ultra-wealthy expected to rise to 299,000 members by 2021. With a projected combined wealth of 35,700 billion dollars within four years this emerging elite are not only looking for lifestyle and environment choices but are increasingly viewing property as a desirable and low-risk investment. The report also notes a number of profound transformations in the UHNWI sector, those of a growing tendency to work remotely, a shift to lifestyle and experience driven motivations over traditional considerations such as wealth preservation and generation, emotionally driven choices joining the safe house of property as an investment.

Luxury property is a sector in a league of its own, and has gradually adopted the codes of the luxury world, which are generally founded on the following basis: superior quality, “God is in the details”, recognizable and reassuring, exclusive membership, loyalty to clients and longterm trust. With a unique understanding of the luxury property market, the BGPH provides readers with bespoke membership, services and exclusive listings of some of their prime international properties.

Alex Newall, Managing Director of Barnes Private Office in London, says: “UHNWIs are in consistent growth and the luxury property market internationally reflects this. Navigating this sector with its opportunities and challenges requires expertise and the BARNES Global Property Handbook offers vital data and guidance for this elite market. The shifts in top tier cities makes for interesting reading, but what remains key in this marketplace is the increased demand for global residential portfolios amongst our private clients. Property remains a low-risk investment our clients, as it does for most, but the shift in trend in motivations, to increasingly seek the unique, is also guiding investment decisions. Factors such as technological advances enabling global communication and productivity from anywhere, and extraordinary locations, whether urban central or remote, are all coming into play.”

Newall adds: “As London loses its crown as the top global destination to invest, the city and surrounding areas are throwing up investment opportunities. The BGPH details Runnymede in Surrey as growing by as much as 14% last year for properties over £2m and in PCL discounted properties offer up huge potential for growth as the market volumes start to increase once again. With increasing market volumes, prices will stiffen and we should see growth in the medium term.” The BARNES global growth forecast shows Brazil, India and France are on the rise in 2018, and the report indicates changes in the Top 50 most desirable cities to purchase luxury property. London loses its number one position, being replaced by New York, Paris comes second and London is now third. Los Angeles and Hong Kong follow.

Experts Thibault de Saint Vincent, President of BARNES, Heidi Barnes, founder of BARNES, Frederick Warburg Peters, CEO of WARBURG, and Clelia Warburg Peters, President of WARBURG all provide comment and expertise detailed in the report, including recent developments in luxury residential property. The BGPH details the key spots for UHNWIs to own second homes, and beyond these premier cities, the report identifies the oceanfront and high-altitude destinations leading the market for second homes - St-Tropez, Balearic Islands, the French and Swiss Alps.

Barnes Private Office manages the investment, enhancement and realisation of real estate, and other assets, on behalf of some of the world’s most affluent individuals.

A division of BARNES International Realty, with access to a global network of over 70 offices, Barnes Private Office is headquartered in London, has access to over £5bn of global real estate, including the leading properties in Prime Central London, the Home Counties and Surrey.

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CROSS BORDER

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS CONFERENCE

Cultural differences between jurisdictions are just as important as legal and commercial issues when entering the complex world of Mergers and Acquisitions.

This is just one of the areas of discussion at a conference being held by national law firm Ashfords LLP later this month (26/27 Feb), which will hear from M&A experts from around the world. The conference is organised by Ashfords’ M&A Team in association with ADVOC, an international network of independent law firms founded by Ashfords in 1989.

More than 100 delegates from over 20 countries are attending the event at The Millennium Hotel in Mayfair which is now in its fifth year and growing from strength to strength. The keynote speakers are from The City UK, EY (London), Houlihan Lokey (Frankfurt), Apisith & Alliance (Bangkok), Seufert (Munich) and VDB Law (Luxembourg).

Ashfords’ Corporate Partner and Head of ADVOC Marketing, Simon Rous, said; “Despite the uncertainties of Brexit on the horizon, cheaper sterling and low interest rates is driving M&A activity in the UK and wider European markets. Whilst this is a huge opportunity, it also represents a challenge in ensuring that cultural norms and manners are observed when negotiating. We recently completed a deal with one of world’s leading providers of sanitary fittings involving seven jurisdictions across Europe, Japan and the Middle East.

“While it was essential to understand the hierarchical decision-making processes in Germany and the consensus approach adopted in Japan, we also needed to be sensitive to the importance of the Shariah in the Middle East and the closure of business there from Thursday to Saturday and during religious festivals such as Eid. “ Other topics to be covered at the conference will include valuation of businesses, cross-border structuring and managing post-closing integration.The event is recommended for In-house Counsel, Corporate Lawyers, Corporate Finance Advisers, Accountants, Bankers, Tech Deal Managers, PE/VC Managers and other M&A Professionals.

Delegates will be attending the conference from Belgium, Denmark, Fiji, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, UK and USA, amongst others.

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M&A WATCH

EU-UK SCIENCE PACT IS VITAL SAYS BREXIT HEALTH ALLIANCE Responding to the Prime Minister’s Brexit speech today, Niall Dickson, co-chair of the Brexit Health Alliance, said: “A far-reaching science and innovation pact with the EU is vital for the UK and the rest of Europe and it is great to see the Prime Minister championing this, as well as a commitment to cover our share of costs to take part in EU programmes.

S

apinda Holding B.V. announced today that it has acquired 100% of the shares of La Perla Global Management UK Limited “La Perla”, the parent company of La Perla Group, a leading global luxury-fashion brand, rooted in lingerie.

Founded in 1954 by Ada Masotti, today La Perla is a global luxury-shopping brand. Headquartered in London, La Perla employs more than 1,500 people in over 150 global locations, with flagship stores in all key metropolitan cities in America, Europe, the MiddleEast and Asia.

“It was also good to hear the desire to remain part of the European Medicines Agency, to abide by its rules, and make appropriate financial commitments. That is the best way to make sure patients have quick access to the drugs and treatments they need.

“For the Alliance, the key in all this is to put patients first - both the UK Government and European Commission must make public health and patient safety a priority in the negotiations.

Nothing less will do.”

LARS WINDHORST CEO OF SAPINDA

SAPINDA HOLDING B.V. ACQUIRES LEADING GLOBAL LUXURY FASHION BRAND LA PERLA

“La Perla has redefined the face of luxury. The business has never been in a stronger position and we want to thank our loyal customers, the exceptional brands and the brilliant people who we are fortunate enough to work with. They inspire us every day to be better. We are delighted that Sapinda has acquired La Perla to continue our vision of creating the leading global luxury-fashion brand that explores the feminine imagination in all its facets.I have known Sapinda and its CEO Lars Windhorst for many years and have worked with him a number of times in the past. I know that Sapinda has the necessary resources to take La Perla to the next level and continue my vision of building a global luxury brand, but keeping production in Europe. “La Perla heritage in corsetry was the foundation for starting a real revolution in fashion. We are proud to have a unique team, with the ability to create luxurious and unique products which are ‘Made in Italy’”.

Lars Windhorst, CEO of Sapinda, said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to become the owner of La Perla, an iconic brand and one of the world’s leading players in the luxury space. Silvio and his team have done a tremendous job in expanding the business in a sector that continues to demonstrate huge growth potential. We are prepared to further invest, to improve the financial performance of the company and to continue implementing Silvio’s vision for La Perla and its ‘Made in Italy’ creations.

“We have been looking to invest in the luxury goods sector for a while, and after analyzing a number of opportunities during the last few months, we are pleased that we were able to secure the acquisition of La Perla.”

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Lisa Tracker®, the most comprehensive monitoring range on the market covering all gastroenterology patients Croissy-Beaubourg, a company specialising in in vitro diagnostics and theranostics, announces the publication of a large number of abstracts on the benefits of biotherapy monitoring during the annual Congress of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation, which focuses on Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis), and which was held in Vienna on February 14-17, 2018.

Growing use of monitoring kits During this 13th Congress of ECCO, over 90 publications presented data on biotherapy monitoring, of which approximately 20 provided results of studies conducted with Lisa Tracker® kits [1], thereby confirming the scientific community’s keen interest for biotherapy monitoring.

Furthermore, this growing number of publications reflects the increasing use of monitoring kits, in a number of centres that is also rising continuously.

Lisa Tracker® remains the most comprehensive range on the market, able to monitor all gastroenterology patients.

Confirmation and reinforcement of the results obtained for Vedolizumab monitoring.

A total of 8 abstracts presenting the results for Vedolizumab (EntyvioTM) monitoring using Lisa Tracker® tests confirmed the correlation between drug serum levels and clinical response, both for induction and for maintenance (long-term) therapy. These results were also used to define the therapeutic threshold.

“Data presented during the Congress of ECCO 2018 reinforces the use of biotherapy tests and confirms once again the reliability of our tests and the interest of the scientific community. The growing number of abstracts reflects the increasing use of monitoring tests, which we welcome as it improves the treatment of IBD patients,” comments Prof Gérard Tobelem, Chairman of Theradiag’s Board of Directors. “With our Lisa Tracker® monitoring range, we are the only company on the market to cover all gastroenterology patients.”

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M&A WATCH

METRO BANK

SALUTES UK PLC WITH £1 BILLION NET LENDING PLEDGE

BATM LAUNCHES VIRTUAL CYBERSECURITY SOLUTION WITH TREND MICRO

For the second year running, Metro Bank, the revolution in British banking, has promised to ring-

BATM Advanced Communications Limited, a leading provider of real-time technologies for networking

fence a further £1 billion of funds to support businesses across the UK, following the success of its

solutions and medical laboratory systems, announces that Telco System, a high-end software

2017 pledge, which allowed thousands of businesses to expand, recruit and innovate.

development and design business within the Group’s Networking & Cyber division, together with Trend Micro Inc. (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, have launched

Craig Donaldson, CEO at Metro Bank said: “Businesses are the very heart of the UK economy, yet they

a software-based cybersecurity solution for deployment across virtual networks. This new virtual

remain underserved and undervalued by the big five banks, who revel in holding over 80% of the business

network function enhances the market position of the Group by expanding its NFV portfolio to include

account market. They deserve far better service than they currently receive. With the business landscape

security solutions and it is the only vSecurity offering by a worldwide software vendor that operates on

rapidly changing, unlocking opportunity for growth and innovation, more than ever before, businesses

both Arm architecture and all Intel platforms. As previously announced, the Group has established a

need to know that their lender is on their side, supporting them at every step.”

number of partnerships in recent months with leading telecoms organisations to offer joint solutions for network virtualisation, which forms part of BATM’s strategy to leverage the telecom industry

Given its own entrepreneurial beginnings, Metro Bank understands the important role that access

transition from hardware to Network Function Virtualisation and Software-Defined Networking. This

to finance plays for all organisations. Avoiding a ‘computer says no attitude’, the bank takes a

latest launch is a vSecurity VNF that is based on Telco’s NFVTime, which can convert any operating

common-sense approach to lending, getting to know more than just a customer’s balance sheet, but

system into a software-based virtual network and that comes with a broad portfolio of VNFs, and

the people and plans behind the organisation, with credit teams meeting customers directly.

Trend Micro’s Virtual Network Function Suite that offers flexible and high-performance network

The bank’s refreshing approach means however customers want to go about their banking, they

security functions. As a result, telecoms operators and managed service providers can seamlessly

are fully supported. Local business managers are available in-store and on the phone whenever

deploy a high quality network security service that provides increased performance, flexibility and

customers need them; the bank’s award-winning mobile app and online platform is accessible 24/7;

cost savings on their networks, regardless of their hardware or what systems they may choose to use.

and even its high street stores are open at the convenience of customers, seven days a week.

What’s more, larger businesses also benefit from the support of experienced sector specialists,

Dr Zvi Marom, Chief Executive Officer of BATM, said: “We are delighted to now be able to offer a

who are able to guide them at every stage of their growth, as well as its state-of-the-art commercial

cybersecurity solution in our NFV portfolio, which we believe is the most sophisticated option available

online banking platform.

and the only vSecurity solution provided by a worldwide vendor that can operate on both Arm and Intel platforms. Our partnership with Trend Micro, a global leader in its field, is testament to the strength of our NFV offer and the increasing momentum that we are gaining in this key target market for our networking and cyber division. We look forward to continuing to expand our portfolio to offer the most comprehensive NFV platform to telecoms operators and managed service providers globally.”

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M&A WATCH

VERMEG ACQUIRES LOMBARD RISK TO CREATE GLOBAL FINANCIAL SOFTWARE LEADER Vermeg, a European banking and insurance software solutions leader, has acquired Lombard Risk, the leading global provider of integrated regulatory reporting and collateral management solutions.

This move is a key milestone in Vermeg’s ambitious strategy to create a leading force in financial services solutions, via a powerful combination of organic and external growth. Lombard Risk will rapidly expand Vermeg Group’s geographical footprint and product lines into fast growing areas including collateral management and regulatory risk solutions.contamination.

Vermeg has offices in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, the Netherlands and Tunisia, and annual revenues of €54 million. This acquisition increases Vermeg’s key business lines and adds collateral management operations, regulatory reporting and compliance products for banks and buy-side firms to its 150-strong customer base of insurers, institutional investors, asset managers, depositories and central banks.

Lombard Risk’s presence in the United Kingdom, North America and Asia-Pacific provides Vermeg with a promising platform in these areas and the ability to further expand its existing operations.

Commenting on the acquisition, Badreddine Ouali, Chairman and Founder of Vermeg said: “Through our acquisition of Lombard Risk, we will reach a turnover of 100 million Euros. Moving forward we will further develop our offering so that clients can benefit from a team, expertise and proposition that are more established than the newer FinTechs, and much smarter and more responsive than the incumbent larger software houses. We will be able to better meet the global needs and expectations of our clients wherever they may be. Lombard Risk has an excellent reputation in its respective markets and our combined strength will give us an even higher level of stability and credibility in the eyes of our customers.”

Pascal Leroy, CEO of Vermeg, said: “Our strategy is guided by our analysis of the future evolution of the market and the changing needs of our customers. We take into account several key trends including the convergence of banking and insurance, coupled with increased levels of complexity in regulation and efficiency. With tier one organisations across the world facing these challenges, the combination of Lombard Risk and Vermeg means that we will be in a greater position to decisively help our clients in the ongoing digitalisation and IT revolution. This larger Group will also enable us to attract even more world class talent and provide our employees with amazing opportunities.”

Alastair Brown, CEO of Lombard Risk: “We believe that the combination of Lombard Risk and Vermeg will create a powerful, global financial services software champion, and we strongly believe that the new group will be well positioned to generate and seize exciting opportunities in the future. Our dedicated focus on the collateral management and regulatory reporting industries will continue, whilst opening access across the Group to the markets in the UK, North America and Asia-Pacific. ”Vermeg’s Financial Markets, Securities Services, Pensions, Insurance and Wealth and Asset Management business are highly complementary and will give the combined Group a significantly strengthened portfolio, which will enable us to make an even bigger difference for existing and future clients.”

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M&A WATCH

MBS AND SECURITISED CREDIT “ALTHOUGH ISSUANCE IN THE NON-AGENCY RMBS MARKET HAS DRIED UP, MANAGERS ARE INCREASINGLY TAPPING IN“ SECTORS SUCH AS CRTS”

These differences make agency MBS and securitised credit both attractive and challenging in fixed income portfolios.

They provide diversification, largely due to prepayment risk and exposure to the financial health of the consumer and the housing market rather than the corporate credit cycle.

jargon buster

Pass-through MBS vs. Collateralised Mortgage Obligation

WHAT’S NEW?

The past few months have seen asset managers encouraging investors to look at securitised credit (MBS / ABS).

Their pitch in a nutshell: diversification from conventional fixed income, healthy returns over the past 15 years, value in an “unloved” sector while traditional bonds are rich, and a complexity premium given that the instruments are famously dificult to value. Investors are told that pre- ‘GFC’ problems in MBS have been addressed: reliance on credit ratings has decreased with more loan-level analysis and third-party due diligence; misaligned compensation practices in mortgage origination have been tackled by risk-retention rules; loans are underwritten to a more conservative standard.

Yet there are notable headwinds in play. The Federal Reserve is beginning to unwind its Agency MBS purchases.

Valuations are tight. The level of issuance in non- Agency RMBS remains low thanks to tighter lending standards and banks’ preference for agency loans in their portfolios, although shortage of supply can be positive for pricing. Interest rate volatility can be detrimental to MBS performance, although the key relationship – that between prepayment risk and rates – is exceptionally hard to model. The sector has seen substantial changes since 2013.

While Non- Agency RMBS issuance has dried up due to reduced origination of these mortgages, managers have turned their attention to newer sub- sectors such as GSE Credit Risk Transfers, Re-REMICS, RPLs/ NPLs and SFRs. Not everyone is on board: certain managers claim to stay away from CRTs, arguing that high demand has made them expensive and that they have not been tested through a housing downturn. Within the universe of managers, the large differences between US and European securitised credit strategies persist, with the U.S. market enabling a large number of standalone Agency MBS offerings while European managers invest across a range of ABS and MBS. One notable development since 2013 is the rising number of unconstrained fixed income strategies covering government and corporate debt as well as securitised credit, providing investors with another way to get their feet wet in this asset class.

WHAT IS IT?

Asset-Backed Securities (ABS, the majority of which are Mortgage- Backed Securities) may look and behave rather like bonds. Yet they are fundamentally different. A bond is a security issued by a government or company, usually with an interest component (coupon) and a principal repayment at maturity. ABS, on the other hand, are issued by a third party/ parties based on the cashflows derived from a collection of underlying loans: mortgages, car finance, credit card debt et al. Most of these loans amortise (debtor simultaneously repays interest and principal) over their lifetime. Some, particularly residential mortgages, are subject to “prepayment risk” - the risk that the debtor will repay their mortgage early, reducing duration and interest paid.

Depending on the underlying loans, the primary collateral for the security may not be the “real assets” against which cash is borrowed: what are being securitised are contractual cashflows, with varying guarantees depending on structures, issuers and counterparties. They can be passed straight on (“pass-through”) or sliced and diced to meet different needs, as with CMOs. They can be securitised and re-securitised, again and again.

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When securitised, cashflows from a pool of mortgages can be passed through in their entirety (pass-through), or - for a CMO - sliced into tranches. Structures include: Sequential (highest- rated tranche gets cashflows first, the next- highest next, and so on, in sequence), Planned Amortisation Class (PAC tranche protected from prepayment variability, ‘support’ tranche absorbs it), and Interest-Only / Principal-Only tranches. Managers can use them to manage rate sensitivity, prepayment risk etc.

Prepayment risk and negative convexity Interest rate volatility is unhelpful for MBS. Falling rates may encourage mortgage prepayments (more incentive to overpay / re-mortgage), reducing overall returns (negative convexity). But rising rates discourage prepayment, lengthening duration precisely when duration becomes unappealing. Prepayment risk is famously hard to model: it is not only ratedependent but interest rate path- dependent, and linked to the consumer cycle, unemployment and more.

investment challange

It is often said that securitised credit can deliver a “complexity premium” (a higher potential return due to the difficulties involved). The “premium” can be uncertain, but is no doubting the “complexity.” This is a morass of securitisations and re-securitisations with various types of instrument delivering different interest rate risk, pre-payment risk and credit risk characteristics. There is no widely accepted benchmark for MBS, ABS or other securitised credit.

There are indices for Agency MBS and some other sectors (Investment Grade CMBS, non- mortgage ABS etc), but the market structure makes this very different to traditional fixed income where an investor could ascertain their strategic asset allocation based on the different benchmarks’ market capitalisation. MBS are notoriously diffcult to value, in part because prepayment risk is exceptionally hard to estimate; various sources of MBS pricing data use different models that give very different valuations. It is also hard to judge excess returns. Since the duration of an MBS portfolio/index swings wildly, it is usual to compare it to a portfolio of Treasuries whose duration is reset on a monthly basis to match the duration of the MBS portfolio at that time – a highly artificial comparison.

manager selection Securitised credit offers great scope for creativity and customisation. While there are plenty of pooled funds (in Agency MBS, at least), segregated accounts are widespread. Managers generally require at least $50 - $100 million to do thi.s In Agency MBS, managers primarily seek to identify the price bracket (e.g. ‘on the run’ vs ‘premium’) or the coupon stack (e.g. 30yr vs 15yr) with the most value. Duration management, sometimes involving derivatives, is a secondary source of returns. Managers can also use CMOs to adjust the duration and convexity pro le of their portfolios, i.e. they could dabble in Interest-Only CMOs ahead of expected rises in yields. In the U.S., it is more common to nd dedicated MBS strategies, given the sheer size of the market compared to Europe.

Agency MBS are part of core portfolio for U.S. xed income investors and the existence of this sector has been a driver in the larger number of dedicated managers compared to the European market, where most funds invest in a broad universe of MBS and other ABS. In this space, infrastructure, experience and dedicated resources are critical given the importance of loan-level analysis and cash ow modelling. Additionally, it is valuable for managers to leverage expertise across di erent dimensions of risk, such as duration and credit.

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Marcus Thiel, CIO AXA Konzern AG: “Digitalization and innovative positioning on debt capital markets are important action areas for AXA. The new digital platform credX allows us to directly and efficiently initiate and close transactions with issuers.”

Equally positive, Markus Schäfer, Head of Capital Markets at Deutsche Telekom, comments that “credX has finally simplified the issuance of promissory note loans. So far, this segment has been inferior to bond markets in terms of price and efficiency. The credX platform complements our existing access to capital markets and significantly reduces the effort required to bring supply and demand for promissory note loans together.”

CREDX OPENS DIGITAL MARKETPLACE FOR DEBT ISSUES FIRST PROMISSORY NOTE LOAN CONCLUDED BETWEEN TELEKOM AND AXA The credX platform is now operational. Right at the outset, Deutsche Telekom issued a promissory note loan with a volume of 50 million euros and a 10-year maturity to insurance companies of the AXA Group. With immediate effect, issuers with good to very good credit ratings on the one hand and professional investors on the other can register. As members they can use the

Not only is the credX-Team headed by CEO Ralf Kauther delighted with its successful production launch. “Another piece of good news is that the experienced industrial manager Wolfgang Reitzle has taken a stake as a shareholder”, says Kauther. “Much like platform pioneer Joachim Schoss, the founder of Scout 24, not only does Reitzle support the company as a capital provider; he also does so actively with his expertise and contacts.” “Industry, SMEs and the public sector need highly transparent and efficient access to debt capital,” says Wolfgang Reitzle. “On the credX platform, treasurers and financial officers can contact investors directly – with little effort and expense and without any compromises regarding security. I already know a number of decision-makers who really appreciate such an innovative offering and want to use it to augment their past access options.”

Joachim Schoss says: “We established Scout 24 exactly 20 years ago. In these two decades I’ve seen, time and again, how well positioned platforms develop their functionalities for many years and realise exponential networking benefits after only modest beginnings. I’ve been actively engaged as a lender and consultant to credX for a year now. And I’m impressed how fast the team has succeeded in thoroughly digitising the complex business processes for issuing and lending and attracting initial, top-class clients. We’re now ideally poised to extend our customer base and gradually develop additional applications.”

web-based platform to prepare, negotiate, conclude and manage the processing and settlement of debt issues and loans. As a neutral intermediary for private placement of bonds, promissory note loans (Schuldscheine) and credit, credX provides an alternative to the predominant placement and syndication via banks.

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IS THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY SET TO BENEFIT SMES THIS YEAR?

TRAFALGAR NEW HOMES PLC PROPOSED ACQUISITION OF BEAUFORT HOMES LTD, PROPOSED CHANGE OF NAME AND NOTICE OF GENERAL MEETING

As the struggle for SMEs to gain appropriate finance to facilitate growth and expansion continues, a capital funding company is keen to highlight the benefits that the circular economy may hold for small to medium sized enterprises.

GIC Capital offers business loans and financial expansion opportunities to SMEs through substantial privately owned investment companies and thinks that the circular economy, which offers an alternative to the traditional linear economy in the sense that it keeps resources in use for as long as possible, could provide SMEs with vital money saving opportunities that could support growth. The circular economy and recycling are both hot topics at the moment, and while efforts to become more eco-friendly can be seen across Europe, there is still plenty to be done. At present, Europeans generate 25 million tonnes of plastic waste each year, but less than 30% of this is collected for recycling.

Kennedy Zvenyika, Managing Director of GIC Capital said: “SMEs in the UK should be concerned about behaving in a more eco-friendly way not only to support the environment, but also to aid their financial situation. “The collection, treatment and disposal of waste are increasingly costly procedures for businesses, made worse by the fact that the prices of raw materials continues to rise. If SMEs were to invest in new technologies to support innovative recycling methods, they could see their outgoings reduce and would also be supporting the global economy. This would leave them with more capital that they could use to further grow their business. “We offer a number of financing options that includes unsecured business loans of up to £500,000 pounds and business overdrafts that work in the exact same way as traditional bank overdrafts do, meaning that there is a financing option available to suit every requirement.”

GIC Capital takes a personalized approach to financing by ensuring that they get to know each and every one of the clients and businesses that they work with personally, enabling them to suitably match them with privately owned investment companies.With the EU having recently launched a strategy aiming for 55% of all plastic waste to be recycled by 2030, now is the time for SMEs to get on board with preserving the planet and subsequently, their businesses.

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Trafalgar, the AIM quoted residential property developer operating in southeast England, announces that it has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of Beaufort Homes Limited. The consideration for the Acquisition will be satisfied through the issue of 186,815,190 ordinary shares in the Company to the owners of Beaufort Homes. The Company will shortly be posting to shareholders a circular to convene a general meeting of shareholders at which the Company will seek, inter alia, an increase in its share authorities to enable the issue of the Consideration Shares.

Beaufort Homes was established in October 2016 and has signed a number of option agreements for the acquisition of sites in southeast England which, subject to securing planning permission, would be developed into extra care and assisted living schemes. The UK population is aging, leading to a growing demand for specialised housing for the elderly, and an increasingly favourable planning environment. Beaufort intends to develop units for purchase by owners, who would then receive extra care in their own homes.

At the General Meeting, the Company will also be seeking shareholder approval for a change in the Company’s name to Trafalgar Property Group plc, in order to more accurately reflect the strategy of the enlarged group, as well as seeking approval for a share capital reorganisation.

Notice of general meeting The general meeting will be held at the offices of Allenby Capital Limited, 5 St. Helen’s Place, London, EC3A 6AB at 10:00 a.m. on 16 March 2018.

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cybg

LEADING THE WAY ON ADOPTION OF CHEQUE IMAGE CLEARING

CLYDESDALE AND YORKSHIRE BANKS a new lease of life. Feedback from our customers has been extremely positive, with people commenting on the ease of use and the benefit of being able to deposit a cheque whenever is convenient for them.

“We are pleased to be leading the way in our industry and our volumes for image clearing are increasing daily, which is extremely encouraging.”

The app uses the latest security techniques, including industrystandard 128-bit SSL encryption, multiple firewalls and a real-time intrusion detection system that looks out for security breaches.

CYBG has also been shorted by FSTech Awards for Best Use of Mobile for its cheque imaging initiative.

cybg

the owner of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks and its digital banking service B – is spearheading the industry adoption of cheque imaging, currently processing a quarter of all clearing traffic.

The Cheque and Credit Clearing Company revolutionised the centuries old cheque clearing process when it launched the Image Clearing System on 30th October 2017, providing banks and building societies with the option of providing their customers with a more convenient way to deposit cheques without needing to visit a branchand speeding up the time it takes for cheques to clear.

CYBG was one of the first banks to use the new feature via its mobile banking offer. It was launched on the B app in November 2017 and the capability has since been added to the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks banking apps. The service offers enhanced functionality and the convenience of depositing cheques, up to £500, in a few simple steps to more than one million registered users. The new system is running in parallel with the paper system until the second half of 2018 when all cheques will be cleared via image only. At CYBG, its currently responsible for 25 per cent of all daily image clearing traffic across the whole industry, which is 10 times more than the 2.35 per cent of the paper items we are processing.

The Bank is also aiming to stop paper clearing by July 2018.

MARK CURRAN DIRECTOR OF PAYMENTS AND OPEN BANKING AT CYBG CYBG PLC is a full-service bank focused on UK consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises and operates under the Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank and B brands. We serve nearly three million customers through an omni-channel model of online, mobile and telephone banking, together with a network of 169 branches and business banking centres, mostly in the UK’s economic heartlands of Scotland, the North of England and the Midlands.

Mark Curran, Director of Payments and Open Banking at CYBG, said: “Quick mobile cheque clearing is an excellent example of how we are making our customers’ lives easier – offering functionality that is smart, secure and simple to use. “Cheques have been embedded in our society for more than 350 years, but advances in technology have given the product

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QUALITY AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT IN TODAY’S SHIPPING INDUSTRY Skill shortages and security risks pose real threats to shipping organizations everywhere. Donald Anderson at Dynama says it’s time to take control with a fresh two-step approach to workforce planning and technology The shipping industry has dealt with its fair share of challenges throughout the years. Most recently, the sector was alarmed by the surprise collapse of shipping giant Hanjin along with continued pressure caused by widespread consolidation and merger activity and pricing challenges. Also there are constant concerns about skill shortages and security risks with incidences of piracy and cyber attacks regularly appearing in the news.

What is meant by skill shortages? The latest five-year BIMCO/ICS Manpower Report forecasts a serious shortage in the supply of seafarers. This sentiment seems to back up what many in the shipping industry have known for a long time: expert and specialist skills are often in high demand but in short supply, a situation worsened by the demographics of an ageing marine workforce. As for security risks, these encompass the traditional danger zones including adverse weather conditions and heavy equipment. In addition to keeping staff safe, shipping companies face increased regulation and stiff financial penalties should they fail to comply with important safety and data regulation standards. All in all, the drive to do more with less, stay safe and profitable is today more intense than ever before.

The drive towards effective quality and safety management Does any of this sound familiar? If so, it’s time to take a look at your own workforce processes, putting quality and safety management at the top of the agenda. It needn’t be as difficult as you think if you consciously make the time to reconsider your strategy and re-assess your approach to technology. The following vital two steps should put you on the right track:

Step One – Create an effective Skills Matrix – creating a successful shipping company starts with a successful

team of people and the first step is to understand what talent you already have. Developing an effective training and skills matrix helps you capture and understand existing qualifications as demonstrated by licenses or certificates and competencies reflected by specific job skills, knowledge and experience. Knowing what skills you have then highlights any critical gaps in training and skills shortfalls. This is valuable information that can be used to devise meaningful personal development and career progression programmes that truly engage and retain quality staff for the long-term.

Another bonus is that better utilization of existing staff avoids wasting time and money on hiring costly contractors or running expensive and unnecessary recruitment campaigns.

The other benefit of maintaining a skills matrix is compliance management, particularly with regard to safety. Shipping companies are regulated by international bodies such as the International Maritime Organization and seafarers must show they comply with their regulations through documentary evidence such as certificates. Using a skills matrix, safety and compliance teams can see if enough skilled staff are available to meet safety requirements. Then to check which personnel are missing mandatory or required certificates or competences as well as training records, skills expiry dates and any endorsements necessary for different geographic regions.

Step Two – Invest in the right technology – the latest workforce management solutions have the power to underpin important quality and safety management processes. Look out for a fully automated, integrated system that offers skills and compliance management functionality out-of-the-box. This guarantees:

• A global view - modern workforce management solutions bring together every single piece of information you’ll ever need in minutes. A centralized repository of real-time data gives a complete picture of seafaring staff skills and activities affecting safety compliance. Any shortcomings can be quickly identified,proactively addressed and remedied to minimize the risk of non-compliance.

• Easy compliance with health and safety regulations – a single, web-based skills matrix that stores all the relevant associated documentation provides the hard evidence necessary to simplify and accelerate the auditing process.

• Future-readiness - when it comes to managing big data, the latest solutions are innovative, highly scalable and futureproof. They are sophisticated enough to analyze current resource competencies and model for future requirements quickly and efficiently. This means that all subsequent recruitment programmes reflect the needs of the business by attracting the right number and types of talent into the organization.

• Happy clients – powerful skills management information makes it easy to produce meaningful reports that demonstrate vessel and position compliance against a published skills matrix or specific client requirements. This inspires confidence, boosts client loyalty and enhances corporate reputation.

In conclusion, quality, well-trained and motivated staff are vital to overcome the challenges that lie ahead for the shipping industry. Aim to cultivate a culture of quality and safety across your organization by combining the right processes with the right technology. In return, you’ll keep the staff you want and ensure they are safe at all times now and in the future.

About Dynama Dynama, an Allocate Software company, builds on 25 years’ heritage and is a leading provider of maritime and defence workforce deployment software. Headquartered in London, Dynama has a fully fledged new office in Canberra (Australia) with sales and support in the USA. Its flagship product, Dynama OneView, is designed to underpin complex workforce management in safety critical and high skill level environments, delivering both safe staffing and productivity savings.

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ARQIS ADVISES JX NIPPON MINING & METALS ON THE PURCHASE OF

EUROPEAN FUND FLOWS, JANUARY 2018

TANTALUM & NIOBIUM DIVISION FROM H.C. STARCK European Fund-Flow Trends, January 2018 Despite some disruptions in fund distribution coming from the introduction of MiFID II on January 8, 2018, January was the thirteenth consecutive month showing a positive picture for long-term mutual funds. European fund promoters enjoyed net inflows into equity funds (+€30.2 bn), followed by mixed-asset funds (+€14.0 bn), bond funds (+€10.5 bn), and alternative UCITS funds (+€4.2 bn) as well as real estate funds (+€0.7 bn) and commodity funds (-€0.5 bn). Meanwhile, “other” funds (-€1.3 bn) faced net outflows.These fund flows added up to overall net inflows of €58.7 bn into long-term investment funds for January. ETFs contributed €12.8 bn to these inflows.

Money Market Products Money market products (+€29.8 bn) also enjoyed healthy net inflows and were the second best selling asset type overall for January.

Opposite to their actively managed peers, ETFs investing in money market instruments posted net outflows of €0.3 bn. This flow pattern led the overall fund flows to mutual funds in Europe to net inflows of €88.6 bn for January 2018.

ARQIS has advised JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation on the purchase of all shares in H.C. Starck Tantalum and Niobium GmbH. The transaction took place through JX Metals Deutschland GmbH. Seller is H.C. Starck GmbH. The closing of the transaction is subject to the approval by the regulatory authorities. JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation is a subsidiary of JXTG Holdings, Inc., which is listed in Japan.

The company has been actively expanding its electronic materials business products towards the upcoming Internet of Things society which foresees a drastic increase in use of electronic components and devices. Through the transaction, JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation will establish and strengthen the revenue base of its group and contribute to the development of IoT society through the stable supply of raw materials.

The H.C. Starck Group is part of the portfolio of the private equity investors Advent International and The Carlyle Group. H.C. Starck Tantalum and Niobium GmbH has its seat in Germany and conducts business in the area of development, production and distribution of Tantalum and Niobium products (high-purity metal powder) together with its subsidiaries in Japan and Thailand.

About ARQIS ARQIS is an independent law firm which operates in Germany and Japan. The partnership was founded in 2006 at its current locations in Düsseldorf, Munich and Tokyo. About 45 lawyers provide the highest standards of legal advice for domestic and foreign companies regarding key issues of German and Japanese commercial law. The prime focuses are in the fields of M&A, Corporate Law, Private Equity, Venture Capital, Labour Law, Private Clients, Intellectual Property Law and Litigation. For further information, please visit www.arqis.com.

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Money Market Products by Sector Money Market USD (+€22.4 bn) followed by Money Market EUR (+€15.1 bn) were the two best selling fund sectors overall for January. Money Market PLN (+€0.3 bn) was the third best selling money market sector.

At the other end of the spectrum Money Market GBP (-€6.7 bn) suffered the highest net outflows overall, bettered by Money Market EUR Leveraged (-€0.5 bn) and Money Market NOK (-€0.4 bn). Comparing this flow pattern with the flow pattern for December 2017 showed that European investors bought back into the U.S. dollar and the euro in January while they reduced their holdings in the British pound sterling.

These shifts might have been caused by asset allocation decisions as well as for other reasons such as cash dividends or payments, since money market funds are also used by corporations as replacements for cash accounts.

Within the bond sector, funds domiciled in Ireland (+€6.1 bn) led the table for January, followed by those domiciled in Luxembourg (+€2.8 bn), Switzerland (+€2.4 bn), Norway (+€1.0 bn), and the Netherlands (+€0.2 bn). Bond funds domiciled in Spain (-€1.2 bn), Italy (-€0.6 bn), and France (-€0.4 bn) stood at the other end of the table.

For equity funds, products domiciled in Luxembourg (+€13.8 bn) led the table for January, followed by funds domiciled in Ireland (+€6.0 bn), the United Kingdom (+€2.4 bn), and Switzerland (+€2.4 bn) as well as Germany (+€2.0 bn). Meanwhile, the Isle of Man (-€0.3 bn), Denmark (-€0.1 bn), and Iceland (-€0.1 bn) were the domiciles with the highest net outflows from equity funds.With regard to mixed-asset products Luxembourg (+€5.7 bn) was the domicile with the highest net inflows, followed by funds domiciled in Spain (+€2.7 bn), Germany (+€1.3 bn), the United Kingdom (+€1.3 bn), and Belgium (+€0.8 bn). Opposite to this, Slovenia (-€0.01 bn), the Netherlands (-€0.01 bn), and Iceland (-€0.01 bn) were the domiciles with the highest net outflows from mixed-asset funds.

Ireland (+€3.1 bn) was the domicile with the highest net inflows into alternative UCITS funds for January, followed by Luxembourg (+€1.6 bn), France (+€0.7 bn), and Spain (+€0.5 bn) as well as Germany (+€0.1 bn). Italy (-€1.4 bn), bettered by Sweden (-€0.3 bn) and the United Kingdom (-€0.1 bn), stood at the other end of the table.

Fund Flows by Sectors Within the segment of long-term mutual funds Equity Global (+€11.6 bn) was the best selling sector, followed by Equity Emerging Markets Global (+€4.9 bn) along with Bond Emerging Markets Global in Hard Currencies (+€3.7 bn) and Bond Emerging Markets Global in Local Currencies (+€3.4 bn) as well as Mixed Asset EUR Balanced–Global (+€2.8 bn). At the other end of the spectrum Equity UK (-€1.7 bn) suffered the highest net outflows from long-term mutual funds, bettered somewhat by Bond USD High Yield (-€1.3 bn) and Target Maturity Bond EUR 2020+ (-€1.1 bn) as well as Absolute Return EUR Medium (-€1.1 bn) and Bond USD (-€0.9 bn).

Fund Flows by Markets (Fund Domiciles) Single fund domicile flows (including those to money market products) showed in general a positive picture for January, with 23 of the 34 markets covered in this report showing net inflows and 11 showing net outflows. Luxembourg (+€26.2 bn) was the fund domicile with the highest net inflows, followed by France (+€25.1 bn– the vast majority of these flows [+€23.6 bn] was into money market funds), Ireland (+€20.8 bn), Switzerland (+€5.4 bn), and the United Kingdom (+€4.4 bn).On the other side of the table Italy was the single fund domicile with the highest net outflows (-€1.9 bn), bettered by the Isle of Man (-€0.4 bn) and Jersey (-€0.3 bn).

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UNIGESTION SECONDARY OPPORTUNITY IV HAS SUCCESSFUL FINAL CLOSE

Unigestion, the boutique asset manager that focuses on guiding its clients with risk managed investment solutions, has completed the final close of Unigestion Secondary Opportunity IV at EUR 306 million. USO IV is the firm’s fourth global small and mid-market private equity secondary investment program, and this close is nearly twice the size of its predecessor fund.

This comes after the successful close of Euro Choice Secondary II in January, which exclusively focuses on Europe. USO IV has already completed 11 secondary transactions across North America, Europe and Asia. The final close of USO IV attracted strong investor support from both new and existing clients, including insurers, pension funds, banks and family offices across the UK, mainland Europe and Asia. Unigestion’s strategy for USO IV is to seek secondary opportunities where high quality assets can be acquired at attractive valuations, through the acquisition of Limited Partner stakes in small and middle market funds, General Partner led situations and secondary directs. The firm invests globally and focuses on the smaller end of the secondary market, with deal sizes ranging from EUR 5 to 30 million.

Unigestion has been investing the fund since the beginning of 2017, and has already deployed 40% of the fund. One of the fund’s first transactions was an investment in a portfolio of global coffee brands. Other investments include the restructuring of a small US fund consisting of two companies, a secondary direct investment in a portfolio of US wellness brands and a restructuring of a Nordic buy-and-build portfolio. More recently, the firm acquired an LP position in a well-known Chinese fund, and closed the direct secondary in a high growth US branded food business.

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The US financial services industry is getting ready for the Fiduciary Rule, which is due to enter into force in 2019. Across the board, as of January 2018 all countries that signed the OECD’s agreement on automatic exchange of information must now be fully compliant with the Common Reporting Standard and report on accounts held by their residents.

Regulation has weighed heavily on wealth managers’ operating costs in the past few years. Wealth of Opportunities II, a joint report by the British Banking Association and the Wealth Management Association, confirms operating costs increased steadily up to 2015, mainly because of increased spending to cover compliance requirements. GlobalData’s 2017 Global

REGTECH WILL REDUCE WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Wealth Managers Survey found that 75.3% of wealth managers globally regard local regulatory changes as a big concern for

COMPLIANCE BUDGETS, SAYS GLOBALDATA

Silvana Amparbeng, Wealth Management Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The two associations estimate that technology

Wealth managers will again find themselves dedicating much of 2018 to adopting new compliance requirements. With this come

true for compliance costs; as per our survey data, over half of wealth managers believe that cooperation with regtech will reduce

associated increases in operating costs. However, regtech will make the process more cost-efficient, according to GlobalData,

compliance costs. Of course, differences apply across markets. Asia Pacific is the most willing to implement regtech solutions going

a leading data and analytics company. In 2018 the wealth management sector will face another wave of regulatory changes

forward, while North America is less enthusiastic. “Nonetheless, considering the busy year ahead in terms of regulatory changes,

that aim to make the industry more transparent and restore consumer confidence. In Europe, MiFID II entered into force in

wealth managers would do well to consider partnering with regtech companies. Smaller players with limited resources to dedicate to

January 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation will be effective from May.

compliance will find outsourcing these tasks to be particularly cost-efficient.”

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their business.

investments have been beneficial, helping the industry reduce its overall costs by 3% over 2016 compared to 2015. This is especially

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ALSTEF AND BA ROBOTIC SYSTEMS GROUP to merge with the support of future french champions

EPIRIS FUND II ANNOUNCES THE ACQUISITION OF TIME INC. UK

Epiris today announces that Epiris Fund II, advised by Epiris LLP, has agreed to acquire Time Inc. UK (“TIUK”), one of the UK’s largest consumer magazines and digital publishers, from Meredith Corporation. Financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

TIUK’s 50-plus brands reach 17 million adults and 13 million online and digital users across the UK. TIUK’s market-leading portfolio spans a range of interest areas, from entertainment and women’s lifestyle to luxury, sports and technology.

Amongst its titles are household names such as Woman’s Weekly, Country Life, Ideal Home and Trusted Reviews, as well as specialist titles such as Decanter, Wallpaper*, Cycling Weekly and Horse & Hound. Its entertainment titles, including What’s on TV and TV Times, sell more than a million copies each week.

The company is led by CEO and PPA Chairman Marcus Rich, who joined TIUK in 2014 from DMG Media. Sir Bernard Gray, who is Chairman of New Scientist and formerly Non-executive Director of Immediate Media and Chief of Defence Materiel at the Ministry of Defence, will become Executive Chairman.

Alex Fortescue, Managing Partner of Epiris, said:

“This is the second investment we have announced from Fund II following the Portals De La Rue deal, announced earlier this month. This deal is a complex corporate carve-out of the type in which we specialise. The business itself offers plentiful scope for transformation through operational improvement and M&A. We are thrilled to have got Fund II off to such a strong start.”

Orchestrated by their CEOs and backed by Future French Champions, the merger between Alstef and BA Robotic Systems Group will give birth to B2A Technology, the new French leader in turnkey automated solutions for the intralogistics, airport and robotics markets.

GAVIN SEWELL

Both companies have experienced several years of very high growth in the automated handling and robotics market segments. United and leveraging on their industrial and technological complementarities, they will become a world reference in their markets. The new Group will generate a combined revenue of €100m and employ more than 500 people. Future French Champions, the partnership between CDC International Capital and Qatar Investment Authority, will hold 32% of the new Group’s share capital alongside the two companies’ CEOs, key managers and employees. Future French Champions aim is to accompany the two companies in this new phase of their development by supporting the new Group’s expansion efforts, whether organically or through targeted acquisitions, in particular outside France.

CEO OF HONCHO

Pierre MAROL, President of Alstef, declared: “The combination of our two companies within B2A Technology will allow us to accelerate our international development. Thanks to the support of our shareholder and of our banking pool, we now have the means to carry out external growth operations to supplement our offer.’’

Jean-Luc THOMÉ, President of BA Robotic Systems Group, declared: “Our two companies have experienced many years of strong organic growth. B2A Technology will allow us to leverage the skills of our teams to continue designing and implementing the next generations of automated solutions with and for our customers. “ Future French Champions, declared: “This merger gives birth to a leading engineering player in both automated handling systems & robotics, two areas of French excellence. The technologies designed and implemented by both companies stand at the highest level worldwide. We are determined to hasten the new Group’s international development and external growth strategy to enhance its value proposition both in terms of targeted geographies and solutions. “

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Chris Hanna, Partner at Epiris, said:

“At its heart this is a diverse, robust and cash-generative business. We intend to bring clarity and simplicity to it, to focus on maximising the potential of its high-quality portfolio. We are excited about implementing our plans in partnership with Bernard, Marcus and the team.”

Marcus Rich, CEO of Time Inc. UK said:

“Time Inc. UK is home to some of the best known brands in the UK and we are delighted to be partnering with Epiris and with Bernard as we continue our transformation journey. They share the same vision for our business and we are excited by the fresh insight they will bring as we shape our shared plans for the business in the years ahead.”

The transaction was led for Epiris LLP by Chris Hanna, Ian Wood and Nicola Gray. Epiris is being advised by Jefferies International, PwC and Macfarlanes. Debt is being provided by Ares Management and HSBC.

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SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

OVERFUNDED ON THEIR FIRST DAY OF BEING LIVE! WAVE THE LIVE LOCATION MOBILE APP SENSATION LAUNCHES THEIR SECOND CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN

Wave is an app that enables users to share their live location in real time, in a private map, for a limited time period, or, gives them to option to share for an unlimited period of time with the ones that matter to them the most.

The company which was founded in 2014 and launched commercially in 2015, has grown from a team of 10 to an experienced team of 22 lead by CEO and Co-Founder Manuel De La Esperanza, and COO and Co-Founder Luis Gelado. ‘To start a business as I have done, it is essential to be courageous, otherwise there is no success. Take risks and be open to learning every single day.’ - Manuel de la Esperanza, CEO. The idea was sparked when the co-founders noticed, that while waiting for a colleague, there was no real solution in the geolocation app market – making it a huge orphan market, so a huge opportunity. With the app boasting multiple functions, including an estimated time of arrival feature (to see when friends are arriving in real-time at the desired meetup location), a group feature, and allowing users to create an editable meeting point, they’re currently standing out from competitors in this field. The app is currently being praised for its safety functionality, as users can share their live location, even while driving, without handling their phone, as the app includes a ‘no more typing function’ adding up to no more dangerous status updates, and no more accidents.

And thanks to it’s ‘Friend and Family Locator’ feature, people can find out where a friend or family member is, whether they’re meeting, or, just need to know, which will help increase the users’ safety when out and about. ‘‘Tech is also being used to increase travellers’ safety. For example, the Wave app allows two or more people to share their location with each other for a predetermined amount of time. The locations are shown on a private map, so you can track down a friend or relative if you get separated while exploring a new city.’’ - Olivia Krauth, TechRepublic.

Their crowdfunding campaign aimed to hit a target of £500,000, and, as of writing, they currently stand at an incredible £566,650 in investment in total! With the launch of their campaign today, it’s clear that many are viewing this as a great investment opportunity, and those wanting to invest can still invest, even with the campaign currently overfunding.

The company has already signed Series A for €2 million, with international VC’s, so investors should be aware they would be co-investing. There are more details about this on their campaign page.

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SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

Time: The Technology Ticking Clock

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY PREDICTIONS AN ART OR A SCIENCE?

There is no sure way of making the right prediction, which is part of the reason that three out of four start-ups fail. It’s also about being in the right place at the right time – your technology might be ground breaking but there needs to be a customer need and appetite for widespread adoption. Bill Gates once said that “ we always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.” As such, I feel it is equally important to react when one of your predictions hasn’t borne out the way you thought it would – particularly if you’ve invested time and money into that technology. Much is made of the successful modern business being “agile”, and it’s absolutely crucial in this context.

Predicting the future 100 per cent correctly is an impossible task, particularly in the technology world, so successful businesses will react to market trends and customer insights and know when to pull the plug on a project that just isn’t working. As an extreme example of this, Astro Teller, who oversees X – Google’s “moonshot” development labs - rewards colleagues when their ambitious projects fail. Teller says this helps people take risks so they can achieve their “moonshot” goals, like a balloon-powered internet. An agile business can be enabled by having a decentralised structure with a wide variety of specialist expertise across different business units.

Prediction is Data Technology (AI squared) Increasingly, predictions themselves are informed by technology. Data and AI-driven insights allow us to monitor all manner of things in real-time and help us to predict the trends that will shape our tomorrow.The concept of smart cities has been the subject of a tech prediction piece or two in its time, but real-world examples such as Singapore demonstrate that the idea is closer to reality than some might think. What’s more, by 2050 it is predicted that up to 70 per cent of the world’s population will be city dwellers, so the strain on smart city networks will only increase.

A formula in science is concise, it’s about expressing information clearly. The art of prediction in itself is a vital ingredient for business continuity and excellence. It’s an element of what every business is or should be striving for – to be able to predict and anticipate what current and future customers will need, before they even know it themselves. But how much of this process is actually led by the customer is subject to debate.

Companies like HAL24K aim to provide the real-time predictive insight that will make a complex smart city function. Its data analytics and machine learning technology mean that city planners can predict the future more intelligently than ever and tackle the challenges that will shape our world in years to come, like pollution and resource management. Despite this, I still find myself coming back to the “instinct” element of our business predictions formula. Artificial intelligence and machine learning provide us with quite frankly frightening insight into empirical data, but there is always a place for human creativity and decision-making. Machine learning requires data sets to learn from, but in their insatiable desire to be fed, can we really be sure the data sets are varied enough for the algorithm to produce an unbiased “decision”? Cathy O’Neil (author of Weapons of Math Destruction) pondered this when considering if an algorithm was up to the task of reviewing 21 years of job applications to a major corporation, and tracking those applicants against those that succeeded in their career there.

The issue she found was that so-called “objective” algorithms” may in fact reinforce human bias in favour of certain genders or ethnicities. So, before we’re ready to ask a machine to predict our next application, should a human with instinct and knowledge of the data be consulted?

E + R / I = Quantified Predictions:

The Guiding Principle – Your Network Infrastructure

E(vidence) – “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Learning the lessons and patterns of history and applying them to the future is a key ingredient in identifying trends and making predictions. So too is the evidence from within your business.

At Axians and the wider VINCI group, we have noted one universal truth; no matter what new directions technology takes us in, the network is at the heart of everything. The network and the expertise driving the technology is becoming more commercially valuable, and in turn can provide data evidence, real life insight and instinct into what is needed to keep up with the pace of demands for the latest in technology innovation. In the book The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything was generated by a super computer, Deep Thought.

As we said farewell (or in many ways, good riddance) to 2017 and ushered in 2018, the technology world took stock of the trends that shaped the year and cast an eye towards the future in search of the next big thing.

In the IT industry, predictions pieces appear as frequently as a blinking light in a data centre. But how do future gazing companies arrive at these predictions, which can range from the conservative to the utterly farfetched? More to the point, is the whole concept of annual predictions outdated given the breakneck speed at which technology is evolving?

A THREE STEP CRYSTAL BALL FORMULA (THE SCIENCE BIT)

R(eal Life) – 99 per cent of the time, the needs and problems of your customers are integral in shaping your vision for the future. It is so important to listen to and understand their real-world views and demands ‘at the coal face’. Equally it’s worth asking how analysts and experts see your industry shaping up.

I(nstinct) – The most unquantifiable element. Before Henry Ford designed and created the first truly affordable motor car, he said, “if I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” In cases like this, a single-minded visionary shapes the face of industry for years to come and their competitors are forced to play catch-up. So many great innovations have been driven by emotion, gut feel and instinct, but this is also accompanied by considerable risk.

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That computer would have had a network sustaining the calculation of its answer over seven and half million years. I’m guessing most businesses aren’t looking that far ahead, but whether it’s SD-WAN, IoT, Cobotics or simply getting data from A to B instantaneously, it’s the network that is the guiding principle to the next discovery in technology, helping to develop not only plans for year one and two, but to guide you to the next ten years of business success.

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SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

THE LAW EMBRACES TECH AS NEW APP OFFERING INSTANT ACCESS TO FREE LEGAL ADVICE LAUNCHES IN MANCHESTER

ACCESS to free legal advice will be just a finger tap away thanks to a new app for iOS and Android launching in Manchester later this year.

The first app of its kind, LawOn is designed to improve access to legal services and using the latest technology to modernise the way users interact with law firms.

Through the app, users can ask legal questions and consult with local, SRA regulated lawyers free of charge. Based on the responses they can then select which lawyer they would like to instruct to act on their behalf. The free consultation can take place via the app meaning you never need to leave the comfort of your sofa to ‘see’ a solicitor. Ismaeel Waseem, founder and CEO of LawOn believes the app will be a great tool for the disabled and elderly, who may not want or be able to travel to appointments. It will also be useful to those living in remote communities and parents of young children, and anyone who has a busy life or with limited free time.

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ISMAEEL WASEEM FOUNDER AND CEO OF LAWON

“In a world driven by convenience and digital connectivity, LawOn will allow users to contact a lawyer in the same way they have been ordering taxis and takeaways for years.

“Through the app, users can access expert legal advice when they need it, where they need it, without the need to ring around legal firms, and find time to attend appointments amongst busy work and home schedules.”

A 2017 survey by iLawyerMarketing revealed the most common way to search for a lawyer was using a smartphone, so Ismaeel has taken it to the next level by making it possible to use the app to access immediate legal advice and screen time with a lawyer, simplifying what can be a time consuming and stressful process.

Via the app, users can send relevant documents to a solicitor prior to a consultation, speak directly to a qualified solicitor about their case free of charge and then receive a bespoke quote afterwards. The app simplifies and speeds up the whole process of seeking legal advice and instructing a lawyer and offers a secure platform for users to discuss their case. The LawOn process also puts users in control by allowing them to speak to several solicitors and choose the one which best meets their requirements and budget. Initially the app will provide access to specialist solicitors who can cover family law, property law, wills and probate as well as personal injury cases including clinical negligence. But this will increase to other areas of law in the future. When a user asks a question, verified solicitors registered with LawOn who specialise in that area will be notified and have the option to respond via instant message. If a user wishes to have a free consultation instead, it will be scheduled with their chosen solicitor.

Ismaeel added “LawOn was founded with a single purpose: To make legal services accessible and affordable for everyone. As a solicitor, I wanted to promote the value of sound legal advice provided by qualified lawyers, while at the same time making it easier and cheaper for users to communicate with and choose their preferred lawyer. “LawOn gives users fast, bespoke, expert advice whenever and wherever they need it.”

The app will be launching later this year and will be free to download. Users can register their interest at lawon.co.uk to be kept updated about the app and notified when it is available.

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SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

“Despite the fact that such a large concern exists, the public continue to download free apps in abundance, meaning that companies should make efforts to keep their apps free if they want to reach the largest possible audience”. He goes on to say “Luckily, only a tiny minority of apps are capturing data with the intent to sell on, most will fall foul of the new GDPR rules, demonetising lots of the less trustworthy apps and allowing those to cut through the noise who genuinely add some value”.

NEARLY 60% OF PEOPLE ARE WORRIED ABOUT THEIR DATA BEING USED BY MOBILE APPS Surprisingly 73% of respondents said that, despite being worried about their data, they would still only download free apps – which were far more likely to be monetised with targeted advertising or by capturing their data. When asked about how they

New GDPR legalisation will mean hefty fines for those found in breach of data protection laws. Of those who have only downloaded 1-5 apps in the last 12 months, 67% admitted to being concerned about apps using their data for marketing purposes. Comparatively, 69% of participants who have downloaded 51-100 apps in the last 12 months revealed they were content with handing over their personal information to apps. This could suggest app-addicts are unsure of the potential consequences of carelessly handing over their personal information, or are comfortable with the way their data could be used.

However, the overall perception of apps asking for personal information is negative, with 60% of participants being against it; meaning apps who request this might be unpopular to download.

preferred to access premium content within free apps, more than a third of those worried about their data said they’d prefer to access premium content in exchange for being subjected to “un-skippable” in-app advertising, this compares with just 13% who preferred to pay for the content directly or as an upgrade cost. Sam Furr, founder of The App Developers said:

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BATM AWARDED FOLLOW-ON CYBER SECURITY CONTRACT BY A GOVERNMENT DEFENSE DEPARTMENT BATM Advanced Communications Limited, a leading provider of real-time technologies for networking solutions and medical laboratory systems, is pleased to announce that its Networking and Cyber division (“the Division”) has been awarded a significant contract to supply a cyber communication technology solution to a Government defense department. This contract is the fourth such contract awarded to BATM by a national government and is worth approximately $4m over the next 12 months.

BATM was awarded the new contract following the successful deployment of the Division’s solution previously and expects to commence delivery of the contract in Q2 2018 with completion by year-end 2018. The Group anticipates receiving follow-on orders after the completion of this contract.

Dr Zvi Marom, Chief Executive Officer of BATM, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded a contract following the successful deployment of our solution by a national defense department. Interest in our cyber technologies’ abilities to detect and investigate suspicious network activity and cyber threats continues to increase as governments and their defense agencies seek to prevent potential cyber attacks on their infrastructure and important institutions as well as to secure their communications. We look forward to reporting the successful completion of other ongoing proof-of-concept trials taking place currently.”

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SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

GENESYS ACQUIRES ALTOCLOUD TO EMPOWER ALL BUSINESSES WITH IMPROVED SALES AND

SERVICE RESULTS THROUGH AI AND JOURNEY ANALYTICS Genesys®, the global leader in omnichannel customer experience and contact centre solutions, has completed the acquisition of privately held Altocloud Ltd., an industry-leading cloudbased customer journey analytics provider. By adding the Altocloud solution to its portfolio, Genesys strengthens its capability in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to help organisations deliver a highly responsive, predictive, and fully-contextual experience throughout all stages of the customer journey – from marketing to sales to service.

“The acquisition of Altocloud bolsters our ability to optimise and connect the entire customer journey to ensure the best business outcomes,” said Paul Segre, chief executive officer of Genesys.

“We are particularly excited by applications, like Altocloud, which give organisations a live look into the behaviour of consumers and their potential as customers. By empowering employees with this depth of actionable insight, organisations are better positioned than ever to convert shoppers into buyers, leads into customers, and consumers into brand advocates.”

With this acquisition, Genesys increases its capability to engage and intervene in a customer’s journey at the right moment to drive a desired action, such as buying a product, registering for an event, or booking a trip. Current Altocloud customers have seen significant improvements to key business metrics including: •A global provider of voice, video and content sharing solutions reduced cost-per-lead by 62 percent and cost-per-chat by 72 percent.

•A leading provider of wearable wireless sensor products and solutions increased customer engagement rates by nearly 80 percent without additional sales or marketing staff.

•A leading online retailer realised a 30 percent reduction in cart abandonment rates.

BARRY O’SULLIVAN

ALTOCLOUD CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICE “Every company today is wrestling with one immense challenge: how to dramatically increase the infinite potential of digital channels to engage customers in a way that produces more meaningful business results,” said Nancy Jamison, principal analyst, ICT at Frost and Sullivan. “Adding the innovative, field-proven Altocloud technology to the Genesys offering will exponentially drive businesses ability to gain insight into how and when to interact with customers. Collectively, these are attractive differentiators that further solidify the Genesys leadership position within the customer experience industry.”

The combination of Genesys and Altocloud will enable businesses to score and predict a consumer’s journey in real time across channels, while they are live on a website, using a mobile app or in a conversation with an employee. This is achieved through AI and machine learning, which use pre-defined personas and past behaviour analysis to automatically predict consumer outcomes and give context to the customer’s journey. As a result, organisations can deliver the next-best action by the right employee for improved success rates. “We built Altocloud because we saw a more dynamic way to drive better business results by taking advantage of the power and potential of AI,” said Barry O’Sullivan, Altocloud chief executive officer. “Weare excited to join a proven customer experience innovator and AI leader like Genesys, so we can extend the reach of our revolutionary journey management technology even further to help thousands of companies across the globe through hyper-personalised, digitally-connected experiences.”

Altocloud is headquartered in Galway, Ireland, with a small U.S. presence in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Altocloud customer journey management solution is a perfect complement to the Blended AI strategy of Genesys, which combines AI with the power of the human touch. This is furthered by Kate, the personification of Genesys AI, automation and machine learning, who helps customers and live agents solve problems faster and more efficiently. Meet with Genesys and view a demo of Kate in booth 713 at the Enterprise Connect 2018 conference and expo, taking place March 12-15 in Orlando, Florida.

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Robert Winess, a Florida based lawyer already using the application for his business, commented: “Client confidentiality is the backbone of law, but if I upload files to the cloud I have no idea who is viewing them. On top of that, there’s the risk of cyber attack so securing my cloud wasn’t really a choice. It was an obligation to my clients. I looked at a lot of options, but get2Clouds was by far the most comprehensive and easy to use. It’s so easy to use and works so quickly that it doesn’t make a difference to my daily work, but it makes an epic difference to my peace of mind. We are particularly concerned with knowing files are delivered safely and the FaceCheck option is like a digital signature.”

Boasting secure file transfers of unlimited size, secure cloud sync, an E2E encrypted messenger and more, get2Clouds is an easy-to-use application that quickly and safely gets your data to whom it needs to go, away from the peering eyes of cloud providers, and out of the reach of hackers. get2Clouds works with all major cloud providers so users keep using their usual cloud. The app simply deconstructs the data into unreadable junk, which is changed back when the recipient safely receives it—or when they punch in the personalized password. Even if your files do fall into the wrong hands, they can’t be read. Not even the cloud provider or get2Clouds can take a peek. get2Clouds is the culmination of over 11 years experience in secure download and transfer management from NOS

SECURE CLOUD TRANSFER AND MESSENGER APP

Microsystems—a tiny independent company with very specific expertise. It began providing programs for Windows before migrating to secure and trusted messaging apps for smart phones such as BotherU&Me and LoveNotes, which have over one million downloads.

GET2CLOUDS® KEEPS COLLEAGUES CONNECTED AND PROTECTS AGAINST CYBER ATTACK

“I saw the tsunami of cloud computing coming in 1999, and I understood then as I do now that it’s as risky as it is convenient,”

Small London company, NOS Microsystems is making a big difference in cloud security with its get2Clouds application. Every

us precise knowledge and understanding, and with that we have meticulously designed get2Clouds—the app that gives users all of the

action that takes places in get2Clouds is encrypted, data is sent via a secure connection, and users can add a personalized

convenience of the cloud, but none of the risks.”

commented Oliver Wessling, Director of NOS Microsystems. ”That understanding has informed everything we do at NOS. It’s given

password, making it the most secure end-to-end encrypted file transfer option available. The convenience of cloud computing has seen its popularity soar in recent years, but big data collection, information leaks, and cyber attacks show its glaring weakness, especially for businesses. It’s estimated that most small businesses couldn’t even survive a cyber attack so high is the cost of mopping up the mess.

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SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

GLOBAL FINTECH PROVIDER SAYS PACE OF DIGITAL CHANGE IS UNITING WEALTH SERVICES Objectway, the leading supplier of digital solutions in the global wealth management industry, is to highlight the impact of the latest fintech developments at its OWIN18 conference in Rome on March 7th.

Luigi Marciano, Founder and CEO of Objectway, will host over 150 international delegates to hear of latest trends, service innovations and new digital product solutions.

Renowned fintech specialists IDC, Compeer, BNY Mellon – Pershing and KBC will also present at the conference and will focus on the challenges facing the global wealth industry and the rise of robo advice models. Objectway believes that the pace of digital change associated with wealth management services is contributing heavily to global harmonisation of financial services. Whilst there will still be country differences associated with regulation, taxation, and appetites for investor risk, the digital solutions being adopted by the major players throughout the world are driving universal enhancements in customer relationships, experiences, awareness, involvement and security.

luigi marciano founder and ceo of objectway

The company will highlight technology solutions that are enabling early adopters to overcome revenue challenges associated with the burden of increased regulation, new competitors and margin pressures whilst significantly enhancing client servicing capabilities.Objectway believes that digital solutions will be at the core of increasing the propensity for populations to confidently save and invest throughout the world.

Luigi Marciano, Founder and CEO of Objectway, said: “I look forward to welcoming many professionals from around the world to showcase and debate the future role of digital financial solutions in the wealth management industry. “We take great pride in Objectway in continually setting new standards in service and product developments to enhance the propositions of our customers and ultimately the client experiences they are able to deliver.

“There is little doubt in my mind that digital is the key to encourage future generations that saving, and investing is simple, exciting and worthwhile. “The real beauty of the digital age is quick adoption in offices around the globe, facilitating new unparalleled levels of customer experiences and in making our wealth providers more profitable and secure”.

Peter Schramme, Chief Business Development Officer of Objectway, said: “We look forward to presenting and debating with our conference attendees the many new approaches and why we believe Objectway has a high-level canvas for their future road-map considerations. “These are powerful and exciting times and we are fully committed to be at the forefront of them”.

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THE 10 MAJOR BENEFITS OF SYSTEMS

INTEGRATION WITH CLOUD CONTACT CENTRE SOLUTIONS, FROM PUZZEL

Colin Hay at Puzzel explores the virtues of connecting multiple systems to deliver seamless customer service and suggests it’s much easier than you might think.

New communication channels and real-time interaction are an opportunity and a challenge for today’s customer service operations. To ensure next generation customer service, IT systems that talk to each other are essential to provide an overview of an organisation’s information and knowledge of individual customers. Integration into a single view and the instant retrieval of full and reliable customer information allow a tailored and personalised service.

But surely, I hear you say, aren’t cloud solutions difficult or even impossible to integrate with other applications? And don’t you risk losing control and the ability to customise along the way?

When originally asked whether the cloud made it easier to make changes to the system in 2012, there was a significant difference of opinion with 44% agreeing and 31% disagreeing. Fast-forward to 2017 and the reality is very different: 75% of respondents now either ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ that using cloud contact centre solutions simplifies the process of making changes to the system.

Dispelling the myths, advocating integration and customisation in the cloud. The truth is that today’s cloud-based applications are typically built using the latest web services technology, making them easier, not more difficult to integrate with both premises‐based and other cloud applications. It’s time to dispel the myths and consider the benefits. Puzzel’s latest white paper unveils ten benefits to systems integration using cloud contact centre solutions: 1. Simple for agents, simple for customers 2. Access to a complete contact centre solution 3. A more engaging customer and agent experience 4. Fewer input errors and quicker response 5. Faster decision-making and reduced average handling times 6. Customisation is easier 7. Empowered agents and reduced attrition 8. Integration with Workforce Management 9. High levels of security 10. Time and cost savings By connecting multiple systems from the contact centre, all stakeholders from across the organisation can access a central source of truth, to drive efficiencies and increase customer satisfaction across the entire business. This is the very essence of successful integration and customisation using web services and open, flexible APIs. Puzzel’s latest white paper entitled “Seamless Integration, Seamless Customer Service” shows how clever integration and high levels of customisation combine to support a feature-rich, multi-channel contact centre environment and so deliver highly effective, personalised customer interactions. It guides readers through the evaluation process with a list of the top seven attributes to look for in a technology provider.

About Puzzel Puzzel builds on 20 years’ heritage. It was one of the first pioneers to develop a cloud-based contact centre. Puzzel can be adapted to accommodate from one to several thousand agents using any device, in any location and integrates with multiple applications seamlessly. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Puzzel employs people who are all passionate about delivering innovative customer interaction solutions for contact centres and mobile environments.

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ADDING SCIENCE TO THE ART OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 6 WAYS DATA CAN BOOST YOUR PERFORMANCE When it comes to social media marketing, brands have spent over a decade struggling to make a significant impact and to demonstrate that impact on the business.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the solution to both of these challenges is data: leveraging the right data to help you develop the right content, helping you share that content at the right time, on the right channels; and leveraging data to quantify whether you have achieved your campaign goals, whether they be around brand awareness, thought leadership or lead generation.

All decisions social media marketers make should be informed by data, at least to some degree. Here are six ways to do just that: Use the correct technology: It is absolutely vital that you choose a social technology that relies on data to increase efficiency, support collaboration and improve workflows (this means you need to go beyond the basic social metrics).

Understand every dimension of your audience: It is important to understand that your brand’s audience is not just your customers. Every single person that interacts with your brand makes up your audience, whether that is customers, employees, vendors or affiliates. You can think of this as your “total community.” Taking a total community approach means you have the ability to identify and enlist the help of every stakeholder and include them in your customer engagement strategy. You can cocreate the customer experience and then scale it to apply to every touchpoint in the buyer’s journey. Data will provide the depth of insight you need to see your total community holistically and empower you to craft truly personalized social engagement strategies.

All these steps should become a repeatable and daily process for your team over time. The right data will make your work more efficient and effective and boost your performance by giving you an edge in social engagement, strategy and interactions. Now more than ever, leveraging data is essential to ensure the actions you take result in delighted customers and better performance reviews for you.

This will allow you to increase your capabilities and activities by adding extra pieces of the suite when digital efforts and priorities change. You’ll also want to be confident that your tool can be configured in several languages to enable the development of relationships with global customers.

Slam the ROI myths: The myth that social impact is immeasurable has prevented many marketers from proving ROI for many years. This needs to be dispelled. It is possible to use data to track consumer behavior that highlights the value of social media marketing. For example, measuring attribution. What motivated the customer to buy? What was the path they took? When did they convert? This social impact is a key part of the overall ROI of a campaign, and it can and should to be measured. I’m not going to pretend it is easy, but it’s definitely possible, and the best marketers do it.

Measure, optimize and succeed: A data-driven platform will offer you performance analytics that can be housed and viewed on a single dashboard. The success metrics should be agreed up front with the marketing team and the leaders of the business, and then it should be available, relevant and understandable so all stakeholders across your organisation are able to clearly see the influence social has upon customers and revenue. Take the same approach you would with measuring and optimizing search, email and other digital channels. You need to hold social to the same standards as you do everything else.

Don’t post and pray: It is time to put an end to the content strategy guessing game. Data and machine learning provide you with information needed to know when and where to post, making uninformed decisions a thing of the past. Research shows that brands following optimized timing recommendations see an increase in reactions of 17 percent on Facebook and 4 percent on Twitter. The right tool will have an auto-scheduler that picks the optimum time to publish, removing guesswork and enhancing post performance.

Go beyond perceived influence: Too many marketers rely on perceived influence. Just because a celebrity is followed by your audience, doesn’t necessarily make that celebrity the right influencer for your brand. The use of data allows you to drill down to reveal the true influencers for your brand and then hone in on what your customers’ interests and areas of expertise are. It will also highlight how they like to engage so you can craft the right message for the right audience at the right time. There are social influence and expertise tools, such as Klout Data, which use machine learning to pinpoint the relevant trending topics, subject matter experts, profiles and influence scores for you.

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SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

THE FUTURE OF VOICE A SIX STEP SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR CONTACT CENTERS, FROM TELEOPTI According to Annika Edberg at Teleopti, voice is no longer the endangered species many would have us believe. It all comes down to adaptability and flexible workforce management. Voice may no longer be at the top of everyone’s technology wish list but the old beast still has plenty of life left. Just listen to the experts: research indicates that inbound telephone calls to live agents today account for 65.3% of all contacts with 53% of professionals claiming that this type of interaction is likely to increase greatly, slightly or simply stay the same in the foreseeable future. In today’s multi-channel contact centers, the continued existence of voice as a popular communications method puts added pressure on managers seeking to create a seamless, blended call experience for customers by ensuring the appropriately skilled agents are available to deal with telephone, email, chat, sms and social media at the right time.

The other part of the conundrum is that when combined, both inbound and outbound voice calls in contact centers are on the decline and have statistically been that way for some years now. But does it really matter? Well, it definitely matters if the status of voice affects the way that contact centers are run, evolve and even survive. Understanding how to replace voice channels and maximise schedules to maintain service levels is essential to the longer-term well-being of customer service, contact centers and the agents who work in them. Contact center leaders who choose to bury their heads in the sand or just accept that voice will eventually go away risk losing experienced staff as well as customers and revenues. Here we look at the major trends affecting voice in the contact center industry, what managers need to do to stay ahead of the game and how the latest Workforce Management solutions can help.

Facing the future: a survival guide in London, says:

1. Customer expectations are growing – this is something most of us have probably suspected but 80.3% of the 380 contact centre professionals who responded to Call Centre Helper’s latest survey believe this to be the case. Advances in mobile technology and the Internet of Things have created an always-on culture that has radically changed the way that people consume information along with the goods and services they buy. They expect instant access to an organisation’s shop window 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Technology is a great enabler and contact centers need to keepup with this trend and use WFM creatively.

2. Accept that new technology is here and make it work for you – rather than seeing new technology as a threat to the status quo or another thing to worry about, contact center leaders should view their operations as a strategic part of the corporate digital eco-system where new technologies have the power to transform customer service. Email, web chat, social media and SMS are all on the rise.

4. Chat bots – next stage in Internet revolution - chat bots

“ADAPTABILITY AND FLEXIBLE WFM IS THE NAME OF THE GAME AND WILL ENSURE THE SURVIVAL OF VOICE FOR MANY YEARS TO COME”

are computer programs that mimic conversations with people using AI and are fast transforming the way people interact.

They are revolutionizing the mundane tasks in our daily lives, rather like having your own virtual butler. They can order lunch or a taxi, set up meetings, shop and book flights. Other more complex industries, such as insurance, are experimenting with conversational personal assistants to automate claims management.

5. When only the human touch will do – despite all this, don’t force digital channels if your customers don’t want them.

Why alienate certain demographics like the less technologyconfident older generation when the spending power of the silver pound is legendary? Certain organizations, with a higher than average mix of emotional or complex enquiries (for example local housing authorities, chronic illness or emotional health charities) are more likely to consider retaining voice to accommodate their customers’ specific needs and conduct sensitive conversations. Voice will always play a part in crisis management situations such as emergency services.

Maintaining service levels depends on having agents available at the right time, therefore to ensure survival when only a human will do, WFM will need to take priority.

6. Look at the agent journey – customer journey mapping is a hot topic but if a customer has a life cycle, what is the lifecycle of the agent? Enriching the agent journey will make them happier and more productive. Look at each stage – recruitment, training, working, personal development, potential attrition – to identify the delights and the pain points and then find the solutions and technology necessary to support them. Building agent friendly schedules and providing advisors with the right tools to handle customers, based on their own judgement, improves customer loyalty and delivers the quality of service that all customers deserve and expect.

However, first of all step back and consider if it is absolutely necessary to offer all channels because if you do, the quality has to be consistently high and meet expected service levels. Next, whatever channels you decide to offer, be sure to blend them successfully with traditional voice to create a true multi-channel contact center environment that gives customers greater choice of how they can communicate and delivers a faster, highly personalised customer experience. Likewise WFM should be blended enabling resources to be switched between channels while ensuring the most qualified agents respond to enquiries when and where required.

3. Consider Artificial Intelligence (AI) to overcome staff shortages – according to Call Centre Helper, staff shortages represent a real barrier to providing great customer service, a situation that has risen steadily to 30% since 2015. In its report, ContactBabel reveals the alarming reality of agent skills today. In medium or large contact centres, 60% of agents handle voice only and 5-10% handle text only (email, web chat and social media). Perhaps it’s time to turn to the various forms of AI – virtual or digital assistants and chat bots or bots – to manage the gap between agent abilities/time and the customer experience? Start by making bots the first port of call for customers and remember to take them into account for WFM purposes. Virtual assistants, for example, can begin by directing customers to the correct part of the website or accessing the correct part of the knowledge base. If they cannot answer a request, they may then seamlessly route the customer to a live web chat agent.

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Adaptability and flexible WFM is the name of the game and will ensure the survival of voice for many years to come. Act now to face facts, address the challenges ahead and take positive steps to support the evolution of voice. Make the most of this trusted channel and robust WFM to create high-performing agent teams and maintain exceptional levels of customer service now and into the future.

Annika Edberg, Senior Project Manager and Consultant at Teleopti

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SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENTS LIMELIGHT’S ORCHESTRATE PLATFORM DRIVE UNMATCHED CONTENT DELIVERY PERFORMANCE Limelight Networks, Inc. Nasdaq: LLNW, a global leader in digital content delivery, today announced that content can now be downloaded faster and viewers can stream videos at higher quality thanks to a major upgrade to its global infrastructure that delivers breakthrough improvements to performance, capacity, and efficiency.

Limelight has completed the global rollout of a new and enhanced version of its EdgePrism OS software that’s designed to optimize user experience for the fewest video rebuffers, lowest latency, highest throughput, and superior security. This new software helps boost Limelight’s edge server capacity by more than 120 percent by maximizing the performance of Limelight’s server hardware and application suite. As a result, content can be downloaded faster, and viewers can stream videos at higher quality while experiencing fewer rebuffers. Customer-provided real-world data shows a greater than 19% reduction in video sessions experiencing rebuffers.

Limelight’s global private QoS-enabled network includes more than 80 Points-of-Presence (PoPs) in over 40 metropolitan locations with 29+ terabits per-second of egress capacity interconnected with more than 900 major ISPs and lastmile networks. Unlike traditional CDN vendors who rely on third-party technologies for key components of their content delivery infrastructure, Limelight’s ongoing investment in the development and optimization of every component of its CDN provides industry-leading performance, even over congested or changing network conditions.

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steve miller-jones senior director of product management at limelight networks

Other recent advancements and enhancements include: • Faster Servers and Connectivity: Edge servers have been updated to the latest high-density 1U servers with solid state drives and 50 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) network connectivity.

This hardware update increases edge compute capacity and improves performance and cache management while reducing the number of servers deployed.

• New EdgePrism DNS: Limelight’s rulesbased Domain Name System (DNS) now features intelligent Point-of-Presence (PoP) and server selection with real-time decision making that utilizes a constantly updated map of the internet to ensure optimal delivery performance and throughput for each customer request.

• 100 GbE Backbone Links: All major backbone links have been upgraded to 100 GbE, allowing cache-fill traffic, dynamic content, and integrated service data to bypass the congested public internet, resulting in faster, more reliable, and more secure content delivery.

• PoP Expansion: Global egress capacity has been expanded by more than 40 percent by adding 11 new PoPs and completing full upgrades of 20 additional PoPs to address growing market demand for CDN services.

“Even in emerging regions -- where viewers rely on older mobile networks for video streaming – Limelight is helping customers achieve their most important business objectives by improving the quality of experience they deliver to their viewers,” said Steve Miller-Jones, Senior Director of Product Management at Limelight Networks. “Our ongoing investments in our network and software are paying off, resulting in greater capacity, broader coverage, and increased network performance.”

The Limelight Orchestrate Platform is built on a global, private backbone network with the speed, capacity and availability to deliver the experiences today’s audiences demand. The platform includes integrated content delivery, web acceleration, origin storage, video management, cloud security and support services. The unique combination of global private infrastructure, advanced software, and expert services surpasses other content delivery networks (CDNs), enabling today’s and tomorrow’s workflows and putting audience experiences first.

About Limelight Limelight Networks, a global leader in digital content delivery, empowers customers to better engage online audiences by enabling them to securely manage and globally deliver digital content, on any device. The company’s Limelight Orchestrate Platform includes a global infrastructure with a fullyintegrated suite of capabilities and services to help you address all your content delivery needs. The Orchestrate Platform solves your most important content delivery challenges so you can deliver the next great digital experience anywhere.

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SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

GFC STYLE AND EVISION UNVEIL CONCEPT CAR

THAT SIGNPOSTS THE FUTURE OF MOBILITY

GFG STYLE AND ENVISION are pleased to present a new concept electric vehicle at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show. The concept car brings together beautiful design with beautiful energy, defining a car that integrates with its surrounding energy infrastructure. “In celebration of my father’s 80th birthday, we have designed a car that combines the comfort of an SUV with the elegance of a luxury sedan and dynamics of a sports car. It is a beautiful shape, inspired by the seamless efficiency that Envision’s EnOS™ energy IoT platform enables,” said Fabrizio Giugiaro, CEO of GFG STYLE. “Integration of EV charging into the electricity system is one of the biggest challenges for the automotive industry today. Sustainable mobility can only become a reality once sufficient clean energy is integrated into the energy system to charge millions of EVs, and for that to happen the world’s transport and energy systems need to merge into one ecosystem. We joined forces with GFG styles to address this challenge,” said Zhang Lei, Founder and CEO of Envision.

A four door, luxury sedan, empowered by Envision’s EnOS™ energy IoT platform, the car is a ground-breaking concept, introducing innovative solutions in accessibility and mastery of driving with clean energy and a connection with the broader energy ecosystem.

Empowered by EnOS™, the world’s largest energy IoT platform, the car can also become an intelligent green power plant. A car (e.g. with a 75 KWh battery) stores as much electricity as an average European household consumes in a week, and can be both a flexible demand and an energy source. With EnOS™, the car not only connects to a network of 100GW of renewable assets, but also communicates and shares energy with other vehicles, homes and buildings, enabling a flexible and smart future energy system. This makes electricity clean, secure, and affordable for millions of EV users. Zhang added: “With EnOS™, for the first time, a driver can influence the colour of their electricity and contribute to a world of Beautiful Energy®.” The car’s name, Sibylla, was chosen in reference to the figure from Latin mythology endowed with the ability to provide answers and predict the future. This connects to the ability of the EnOS™ platform to make the car smart within the wider energy ecosystem, able to provide data from the external world and support the future of e-mobility. It is also a fitting tribute to Giorgetto’s mother, named Sibylla.

Beautiful Design

Sibylla is a sporty four-seater all-wheel drive. Its design references the very low and provocative hedonistic cars Giorgetto designed in the Sixties and Seventies; a juxtaposition with the future-proofing technology which the concept car runs on. Over five metres long, and 1.48 meters high, the car is a generous size. There is a continuous outline, which descends harmoniously from the transparent upper part towards the tail, while the side is made more light and dynamic thanks to a dihedral cut running just below the base of the window. This optically connects to the wheel arches, while the sill area of the brancardo is enlivened by a strong arched recess, also connected to the wheel arches. The way the car opens is ground-breaking, with the world’s first sliding windscreen front section: the expansive windshield dome moves forward, sliding at the center and opening into a huge space for the driver and front passenger. The dashboard has a fullwidth smart interface, displaying data on the car’s performance and the wider environment which it drives through.

Beautiful Energy®

Envision has long pursued the concept of a holistic ecosystem, where energy, transport and infrastructure work in harmony, to enable the world’s transition to a sustainable future in which energy becomes clean, secure, and affordable. This is Envision’s vision of “Beautiful Energy®”. Developed and owned by Envision, EnOS™ is the largest energy IoT platform in the world, currently managing 100GW of energy assets globally; equivalent to the entire power generation capacity of the United Kingdom. Being EnOS™ Empowered, the car is intended to become intelligently integrated into the wider energy ecosystem. It becomes part of the energy solution, not only as an intelligent, interactive electricity demand movable in time and space to help integrate renewable energy generation, but also sharing energy with the driver’s home and the community when needed. This concept car is truly a breakthrough in embedding the car into a larger energy system, across our homes, communities and smart cities. The car signposts the potential, and growing need, for traditional car designers and manufactures to fully engage in the wider energy ecosystem – one which is electric, connected, clean and beautiful.

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SECTOR WATCH: TECHNOLOGY

R

carey olsen advises brazil’s 99 in us $1 billion ride sharing app sale

Lawyers from Carey Olsen’s corporate and finance practice in the Cayman Islands have advised 99, the Brazilian ride-sharing application and Uber competitor, on its sale to China’s Didi Chuxing.

epositive, the technology startup immersed in building a global genomic data marketplace from its headquarters in Cambridge, UK, has attracted platform users from over eight hundred organisations from more than ninety countries around the world, and is partnering with major pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca and Boehringer Ingelheim, to turn its vision into a reality.

Designed to accelerate pre-clinical genomic research and drug discovery for the benefit of patients, the team behind the game-changing innovation has grown by nearly 50% in the past year.

The deal, which values 99 at more than US$1 billion, comes a year after Didi secured a minority stake in the company afterinvesting US$100 million in 99’s last round of financing. 99 has been a long-standing client of Carey Olsen with the offshore law firm advising it in its earliest days as a technology start-up in 2013, as well as taking it through a number of rounds of financing.

The Carey Olsen team advising 99 on the Cayman aspects of the acquisition was led by partner Alistair Russell, who was assisted by associate Robert Coombes.

Mr Russell said: “What is most pleasing about this deal is that as a firm we have been advising 99 from its very earliest days and have seen the business grow through its various cycles to become a great success. The evolution of 99 also underlines the attractiveness of the Cayman Islands as a jurisdiction from which to structure venture capital funds, not only in Latin America, but globally too.”

The acquisition of 99 fits with Didi’s efforts to branch out overseas and its desire to expand beyond China, particularly in light of the growing number of Chinese customers who travel internationally.

Ian Broadhead has joined as Head of Data, continuing a successful career turning data into insights for the likes of Yahoo and Student.com. Jen Nucifora has been appointed as Chief Product Officer, bringing creative technical flair to the team following roles at Badoo, UKTV and V2Music.

The Repositive platform is a global community and data access portal which enables researchers to search public and private genomic data repositories for the specific data they need to power their research. It facilitates genomic data discovery, simplifies metadata organisation, and enables data sharing and collaborations for cancer and genetic disease research, through a controlled and secure environment.

Gearing up for the next phase in its growth, Repositive has moved to newly refurbished office space in central Cambridge and made three recent appointments to its senior management team: Adam Wells has joined as Head of Operations, bringing years of experience holding senior roles in large technology companies.

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ACCELERATED GROWTH FOR DATA PLATFORM REPOSITIVE Fiona Nielsen, Founder and CEO of Repositive, comments on the new appointments: “It is fantastic to work with individuals from such a diverse range of backgrounds. It means that we are continuously approaching the development of our data access platform from a multitude of angles – just like our customer base will.”

As well as bolstering its team, Repositive’s core platform now has users that span over ninety countries around the world and represent over eight hundred organisations. The first release of its global cancer models platform, scheduled for 2018 has the potential to provide easy discovery of over 2,300 PDX models from partners including Xenopat, Horizon Discovery and Shanghai LIDE Biotech.

Fiona continued: “From the data providers’ perspective, Repositive is making previously invisible data accessible to the market, igniting a community and culture of data sharing for the common good. We still have a long way to go, but it’s amazing to see how an idea I had a couple of years ago now has the potential to benefit thousands of people around the world.”

The Repositive public platform currently catalogues more than 1 million genomic research data sets from more than 50 global data sources and is available online for all researchers as a freemium service.

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SECTOR WATCH: ENERGY

THE ENERGY INDUSTRY LOOKS TO THE INTERNET OF THINGS

TO CUT WASTE AND DRIVE DOWN EMISSIONS

Energy companies are coming under increasing pressure from regulators, pressure groups and the general public to address this issue, and it is clear that many are looking to new technologies, such as IoT, to increase the sustainability of their operations and reduce their environmental footprints. Energy lost in the transmission and distribution of fuel is an area in which we could see some significant and immediate improvements. In the US, the oil and gas industry is responsible for leaking approximately 1 million tonnes of methane into the environment every year, contributing as much to greenhouse emissions as 5.6 million cars. However, by deploying IoT sensors, energy companies can automatically optimise gas distribution to manage pressure in their networks and minimise leakage. “IoT-enabled, condition-based maintenance tools, meanwhile, can also be deployed to monitor the performance of equipment, helping to identify potential problems and address them before they disrupt operations and wreak havoc on the environment,” he continued.

Meyers concluded: “IoT holds a great deal of promise for enabling the energy sector to cut waste and reduce its impact on the environment, but realising these benefits depends upon stable and reliable connectivity. The success of IoT solutions depends on the ability to regularly transmit data gathered by connected networks of sensors and devices back to a control room for analysis, and in the case of the energy sector, much of that will take place at long distances across remote locations that may lack cellular coverage, which is why satellite is critical.”

Market research specialist Vanson Bourne interviewed 100 energy companies from across the world as part of Inmarsat’s The Future of IoT in Enterprise. It found that monitoring the environment is the primary driver of IoT adoption in the sector; cited by over half (51 per cent) of respondents, ahead of ‘identifying cost saving opportunities’ (47 per cent) and ‘monitoring customer engagement’ (44 per cent).

PHIL MEYERS

VICE-PRESIDENT AT INMARSAT ENTERPRISE Energy businesses are increasingly looking to leverage Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to manage and minimise the impact of their operations on the environment. This is a key finding from an independent study commissioned by global mobile satellite company Inmarsat, which found that monitoring environmental changes is the biggest driver of the technology in the energy sector.

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Satellite communication networks are optimised to deal with critical communications, providing the reliable and resilient connectivity that is fundamental to the successful deployment of IoT solutions. Inmarsat’s L-band satellite communication network can deliver truly global connectivity to any location and collect large volumes of data with 99.9% uptime, enabling energy companies to safeguard their operations and focus on continued innovation.

Moreover, 44 per cent of respondents stated that they had already improved their environmental sustainability as a result of their use of IoT, and a further 36 per cent expected to do so in future, indicating the effectiveness of the technology in this area.

Commenting on the findings, Phil Meyers, VicePresident at Inmarsat Enterprise, said: “The energy industry is the biggest net contributor to greenhouse gas emissions globally, and while it has made great strides over the past few years to reduce emissions, there remains much work to be done.

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SECTOR WATCH: CONSTRUCTION

URBAN SPLASH AGREES TERMS TO ACQUIRE SIG BUILDING SYSTEMS, THE MODULAR OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS OF SIG PLC, AND ANNOUNCES TWO NEW INVESTORS - EXTENDING ITS COMMITMENT TO MODULAR DEVELOPMENT

The first Town House scheme was completed in New Islington in Manchester in 2016, with two further sites underway in Manchester and North Shields; a fourth site in Birmingham has also received planning permission. As well as acquiring the House factory, the company has brought in the knowledge and expertise of investors George and Noel to further extend its modular reach. Tom continued: “I have known and admired George and Noel for a number of years; they are both great entrepreneurs and it’s fantastic they have come on board as investors in and advisors to our modular housing business.

“Noel disrupted the used car market with his invention of WeBuyAnyCar.com; in housing, we’re challenging another traditional market – new homes – so Noel’s wealth of knowledge is crucial for us as we look to move innovation forward in this sector. “George will give us a brilliant design counsel; he shares our passion for the way architecture can transform our everyday lives and believes that houses are the single most important pieces of architecture – and that everyone has the right to a decent, well-designed home. “His award winning housing projects are testimony to his love for design quality and innovation. George’s fascination with housing combined with a grasp of public tastes, architecture trends and marketing making him a great asset to the Urban Splash House team.”

Echoing Tom’s sentiments, George Clarke added: “I have known the talented Urban Splash team for many years and I’ve been working with them very closely on my new Fab House design at Smith’s Dock in North Shields. We share a love and passion for great design and beautiful homes. “The values and ambition of Urban Splash are second to none, so I had no hesitation investing in the company. I am very much looking forward to the exciting journey ahead as we embrace 21st century manufacturing technology to change the way we design, build and deliver better quality housing in Britain.”

Concluded Noel McKee “Urban Splash’s timing and approach to tackling the housing shortage is a true game changer.”

Award winning regeneration company Urban Splash has today made two significant announcements to its modular housing business – Urban Splash Modular Ltd. The company, which is headquartered in Manchester but operates across England, has agreed terms to acquire certain trade and assets of SIG Building Systems, the modular offsite construction business of SIG plc; the acquisition includes SIG’s modular factory in the East Midlands, all the IP and patents of its modular housing system and around 70 staff. A second announcement sees two prominent figures join the Urban Splash Modular Ltd business – as both architect and Channel 4 presenter George Clarke and North West tech entrepreneur and founder of WeBuyAnyCar.com, Noel McKee announce their investment in Urban Splash modular operations.

Speaking of the news, Urban Splash Chairman Tom Bloxham MBE said: “We are pleased to have agreed terms on this acquisition with SIG; Urban Splash is committed to expanding its offsite construction capacity and this purchase is a way to vertically integrate our business and give us control of the production of our Houses. It is a testament to our commitment to, and investment in, modular housing. “SIG has been a great company to work with, but as the factory gradually filled up with Urban Splash product, it became clear to all that its natural home was with Urban Splash. We will continue to work with SIG’s excellent supply chain and welcome our great new colleagues from SIG into the Urban Splash team. “We are committed to delivering these homes, because we know that the accelerated use of modular will help give this country more, muchneeded homes and will help meet Government aspirations and targets.” Having established itself as a leader in regeneration, Urban Splash has been developing its modular portfolio for the past 10 years. The company’s first foray using offsite technology was at its Moho development in Manchester’s Castlefield, since its initial development of the House concept in 2012 however – it has turned its attentions to the rollout of its customisable Town House.

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SECTOR WATCH: CONSTRUCTION

THE GLOBAL INDUSTRIAL CONSTRUCTION SEES RECOVERY FROM INCREASED GROWTH IN DOMESTIC DEMAND IN EMERGING AND EMDE MARKETS

SENIOR PROMOTION SPELLS BIG THINGS FOR MANCHESTER CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

SEAN Langton’s presence in the North West’s engineering and construction industry has spanned almost 35 years – with experience delivering hundreds of national and international projects, he’s now been announced as director at Manchester’s Building Services Design.

The mechanical and electrical engineering company has had a presence in Manchester for 10 years, with 80 employees across its seven UK offices. Sean has been an associate director at BSD for five years and is delighted to have been promoted, following a long and varied career in the industry to become the Manchester office’s new director. “I studied building services engineering at the University of Central Lancashire but my first introduction to engineering was when I was 17-years-old and managed to secure my first job with DSSR,” said Sean. Sean stayed with the Manchester-based firm, moving across departments and the business’ joint ventures, making his way up the ranks to become an associate before joining BSD in 2013.

“I’ve worked on all manner of projects – if you think of a building, it’s likely I’ve worked on it; or at least something similar. My work has taken me to the Sudan and Iraq completing schemes varying in size and value.

“My varied experience – which has seen me work on completing atomic weapons research facilities, police HQs, higher education and commercial facilities, care homes and laboratories – has meant that I’ve had a really solid grounding in the industry and can tackle almost anything that’s thrown at me.” Sean is also looking forward to attending MIPIM, the world’s largest property event, next month in Cannes.

A new report from Timetric, Project insight: Global Industrial Construction Projects, reveals that the industrial sector is seeing significant recovery with the total global value of industrial construction projects tracked by CIC standing at US$2.28 trillion.

Recovery is being supported by stronger industrial production growth and increased oil and commodity prices, which underwrites many economies.

The countries and regions seeing the upturn.

The report finds that domestic demand is the key factor driving industrial production, with the emerging markets and developing economies leading the recovery in commodity exports and industrial production. Asia-Pacific has the highest value of projects with US$1.13 trillion, while India has the highest value of global project investment with a value of US$376.7 billionHowever, the highest value project tracked by CIC is the US$30.0 billion Nanjing Semiconductor Manufacturing Plant in China.

Which Project types are fuelling the upswing?

“MIPIM is a fantastic opportunity to meet influential decision makers from across the UK – and the globe. We attend representing BSD but also act as ambassadors for our regions, promoting the opportunities we have in our area for investors and how we can support the redevelopment and growth of our cities and towns. “BSD’s Manchester office is growing – we have a very bright future here as we continue to take on more and more engineers to support the transformative projects we’re working on in Manchester and nationwide with excellent clients.

“I will continue to build upon the strong relationships we’ve formed over the years with clients, continuing to create buildings engineers can be proud of and further establishing ourselves as the go-to consultancy,” continued Sean.

David White, managing director at BSD added: “Sean’s commitment, drive and hard work has been recognised by many across the business during his time at BSD. He’s an expert in his field, has pushed the Manchester office to become a leader in its field and continues to develop lasting relationships with key clients which are crucial to the survival of our business. “I wish him the best of luck in his new role and I look forward to seeing what comes next.”

Globally, manufacturing plants account for the highest value of projects with US$703.2 billion in investment, followed by chemical and pharmaceutical plants with a global value of US$525.5 billion. Private investment is responsible for the highest proportion of projects at 77% followed by public funding with 12% and public/private 11%.The highest value of projects worth US$1.06 trillion are at the planning stage. The highest value of projects will be underway in 2019 with a value of US$542.5 billion. The highest value of completions for the projects will occur in 2020, with a value of US$614.4 billion.

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SECTOR WATCH: CONSTRUCTION

technology is a top priority for job seekers in the construction industry

Those in the construction industry are now putting technology high on their wish lists when looking for a new job according to new research. The survey of 2,001 British adults carried out by gadgets and technology e-tailer, LaptopsDirect.co.uk, found that 47% of Brits in the construction industry say that the standard of technology is a key consideration for accepting a new job role.

In fact, more than 1 in 3 (37%) of those surveyed said they would decline a job based on poor hardware alone. 74% believe technology makes them more productive at work, which is why it is so important when looking for a new role.Having the latest technology was valued more than other office perks, such as flexible working (45%), the working environment/decor (39%) and staff discounts (33%).

Mark Kelly, marketing manager at LaptopsDirect.co.uk, said: “It’s no surprise that the latest technology is important for many of us when considering a new role. It appears that some employers may be focusing too much on other perks such as office design or providing staff discounts and are missing the basics. “Whilst these perks may still be important for attracting new talent, access to the latest technology enables employees to be more productive, and so has a better impact on the overall business. Also, everyone will have worked with slower, old technology at some point in their careers and experienced frustration.’’

Kelly continued: “Therefore, finding a balance of office perks is key to recruiting the best candidates and can also ensure that employees feel valued and happy in their jobs.” Workers in marketing valued technology the highest, with 84% of the votes, followed by those in creative and photographic (81%), information and communications (78%), professional services (73%) and education (71%).

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Magazine Tempate

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SECTOR WATCH: PHARMA

PCI COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF

AUSTRALIA-BASED PHARMACEUTICAL PACKAGING PROFESSIONALS Australia is a preferred destination for conducting Phase 1 clinical studies and this acquisition allows PCI to provide new services in early phase clinical sterile and non-sterile drug manufacture as well as establishes a PCI depot to serve the Asia Pacific market. PPP’s logistical services include storage capability across a range of temperature conditions including Controlled Room Temperature, 2-8˚C, -20˚C, and -80˚C environments, which expands PCI’s existing capabilities in storing, packaging, and shipping Cold Chain products. Given the considerable growth in Phase I study activity in Australia and Asia Pacific countries, PPP is currently undertaking a facility expansion and upgrade to add additional storage and distribution services, labeling and packaging rooms, Grade D manufacturing capabilities and sterile-fill manufacturing for Phase II clinical studies. PCI envisions supporting additional expansion given the anticipated growth from existing and new customers conducting clinical trials in the region.

Bill Mitchell, President and CEO of PCI Pharma Services stated: “As a leading outsourced services partner, we look for ways to better support our customers in markets where they do business. Asia Pacific, including Australia, has become an important region for clinical trials and we are focused on building upon PPP’s successes to continue to support our customers’ needs throughout the drug development lifecycle.

PCI is investing to be the partner of choice for our clients as they grow, evolve, and access new markets around the world.”

The addition of PPP marks PCI’s fifth company acquisition over a five-year period. In October 2017, PCI acquired Dublin-based Millmount Healthcare, broadening its geographic presence in the European Union and complementing its service network in the United Kingdom. PCI’s growth has been driven by both strategic acquisitions and capacity expansion within its existing state-of-the-art supply network. Business demand and market opportunities have led to facility footprint expansion in both its manufacturing and clinical trial supply businesses, as well as in Cold Chain and Ultra Cold Chain infrastructure, with the addition of refrigerated storage as well as frozen and cryogenic storage.

Leading pharmaceutical outsourcing services provider PCI Pharma Services (PCI) announced the completion of its acquisition of Melbourne, Australia-based Pharmaceutical Packaging Professionals (PPP).

PPP is a leading provider of clinical trial manufacturing, packaging, storage and distribution services and allows PCI to offer earlier stage outsourcing services to its customers conducting trials in the region.

PCI plans to establish PPP’s Melbourne, Victoria offices as its regional headquarters for Asia Pacific, led by the founder of PPP and current Senior Vice President for PCI Asia Pacific, Craig Rogers.

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PCI’s Clinical business has expertise in supporting mid-size and emerging biopharma companies and expects to continue this focus in the APAC region. PCI has also invested in its commercial packaging business through the addition of new packaging lines, along with capital investment in its market leading Serialization and Anticounterfeiting technologies and has tripled its capacity to over 80 lines in total across its global supply network. PCI’s investments will support new capacity and capability for drug development across its global supply network. PCI, headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, is principally owned (on behalf of its clients) by Partners Group, with partner investors Thomas H. Lee Partners and Frazier Healthcare Partners. Lazard Middle Market LLC acted as the exclusive financial adviser to PCI for this transaction. Johnson, Winter & Slattery and Goodwin Procter LLP acted as legal counsel to PCI for the transaction. PCI engaged global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal to provide due diligence services.

About PCI The global healthcare industry trusts PCI for the drug development solutions that increase their products’ speed to market and opportunities for commercial success. Only PCI brings the proven experience that comes with more than 50 successful product launches a year and over four decades in the healthcare business. Leading technology and continued investment enables us to address global development needs throughout the product life cycle — from Phase I clinical trials through commercialization and ongoing supply. Our clients view us as an extension of their business and a collaborative partner, with the shared goal of improving patients’ lives.

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