Boost for horticultural research

£26.95m merger

Brighton-based business advisory fi rm Quantuma has completed a merger with AIMlisted K3 Capital Group plc (AIM: K3C), for an initial consideration of £26.95 million, to create an independent global advisory practice.

The merger will help K3 to build a more diverse professional services group with enhanced capabilities in restructuring, corporate fi nance, tax advisory, forensic accounting and expert witness services. The deal sees a cash free, debt free initial consideration of £26.95m million, in addition to maximum combined earn outs of £15 million and an additional 645,513 growth shares.

Quantuma was set up in Southampton in 2013 by Carl Jackson. The fi rm has grown to become a £23 million turnover business, with 250 staff across 17 UK sites.

Quantuma CEO Carl Jackson will join the K3 board as an executive director. off er the best of both worlds, connecting this strategically vital trade route with local

A specialist research project in Kent will benefi t from a share in £18 million government funding, set up to strengthen the competitiveness of Britain’s food and drink production industry.

NIAB EMR at East Malling will lead Growing Kent and Medway, one of seven national projects to support research and development in the sector. The money comes from UK Research and Innovation’s Strength in Places Fund and will build upon more than a century of strategic and applied horticultural research undertaken at the research centre.

Growing Kent & Medway will promote the adoption of the latest horticultural technologies, plant growing techniques and the development of crops to boost food production and economic growth.

The project brings together universities and leading innovators in the industry and will establish Kent and Medway as a world-leading region for the climatesmart production and processing of high-value, nutrient-rich foods and plant-based products.

MD of the research centre, Professor Mario Caccamo, said: “Growing Kent & Medway can now get to work to consolidate this part of the UK as the leading region for the production and processing of high-value foods. The timing of this support is particularly signifi cant as we look to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis, and address some of the most pressing Boost for horticultural research challenges faced by the agriculture sector.

“It would not have been possible to successfully reach the fi nal stage of this very competitive scheme without our partners, the support of the Kent and Medway Councils and our local MPs, who have collectively recognised the signifi cance of what the excellent scientifi c and research programmes can do for the regional economy. We will drive inclusive wealth creation so that untapped human capital can contribute to, and share in the region’s prosperity.”

Christian Brodie, chairman of the South East Local Enterprise Partnership, which backed the bid to government, said: “Our area already delivers 40 per cent of high-value horticulture in the UK. Growing Kent & Medway will drive innovation and productivity, meaning we can now expand the sector, strengthen supply chains and existing businesses, and create

The plus side of a crisis Let’s look on the bright side – could Kent be household names including Aston Martin. E X P E R T C O M M E N T in the right place at this pivotal moment in A new Lower Thames Crossing costing north of £5 our history? billion will strengthen Kent’s connections with the

There’s no denying Covid-19 has hit the rest of the UK and Europe. It will also have a positive country’s economy and, whatever your knock-on eff ect on Kent’s economy. Highways position on Brexit, it’s clear Kent is getting a England is in consultation over what will be the UK’s lot of attention as the UK’s closest trade route longest road tunnel. We’ve got to ensure it gets built to Europe. The challenge will be ensuring – and that work can start quickly. the county remains a vital cog in the nation’s It appears our trade post-January, 2021, is economy, with investment to support its restart, a government focus. Under the guise of smart the return of freight services from the Thanet-based recovery and growth. infrastructure (possibly code for no trade deal with airport. Let’s see if its ambition takes off . Literally.

Just over 25 years ago, Kent became home to the EU) the government has bought 27 acres of There’s also Panattoni’s proposed £180 million the fi rst fi xed link between the UK and mainland land at Junction 10a of the M20, to create a Customs investment at the former Aylesford Newsprint site Europe since the Ice Age, with the opening of clearance centre for 10,000 vehicles a day. near Junction 4 of the M20 – a project Maxim is the Channel Tunnel. It’s now integral to the UK’s Few in Kent may welcome this intrusion, which proud to be working on. The fi rm, Europe’s largest international supply chain, with Eurotunnel’s appears to be an expensive last-minute attempt privately owned industrial developer, has plans shuttles the logistics lifeline of our Just-in-Time to put a Customs solution in place, given that a to develop 177,000 square metres of high-quality economy. frictionless free trade agreement soon looks likely to space for industrial, logistics, distribution and

The Port of Dover has come forward with be a distant memory. On a positive note, let’s hope it manufacturing uses. proposals to be a Freeport. With little land will protect the county’s wider road network. Let’s hope those with infl uence recognise that of its own, it is seeking to deliver a virtual Few will have missed the government’s decision to level up the UK economy you need free-fl owing Freeport, one whose benefi ts embrace Kent to grant permission to reopen Manston Airport. ports in Kent and a and go way beyond to support the Midlands’ The announcement will have come as a surprise strong South East Engine and Northern Powerhouse. It’s a to many, not least the Planning Inspector, who economy – and to be smart move by Dover Harbour Board to recommended refusal. It gives the green light for open to investment. sustainable new ones.” sites such as Discovery Park at Sandwich and CONTACT Andrew Metcalf, director, Maxim PR & Marketing Ltd Maxim_PR