Sussex Business Times Issue 376 2014

SBT SUSSEX BUSINESS TIMES

ISSUE 376 FREE

lewes in business

Page 30

Review of the Jaguar XJ PORTFOLIO SWB

Page 52

PLUS

Finance: Tax Benefits of Charitable Giving Page 21

Infinity Lighting Solutions Page 33

The White Hart hotel review Page 37

Code 9 Emergency?

Page 44

New Kind of Giving

Cover Story: Sussex Community Foundation: showing local businesses how charity can begin at home

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01903 371072 www.chandlersworthingbmw.co.uk www.chandlersworthingmini.co.uk Official Fuel Economy Figures for the BMW range: Urban 13.8-64.4mpg (20.5-4.4l/100km). Extra Urban 26.2-83.1mpg (10.8-3.4l/100km).

Combined 20.3-74.3mpg (13.9-3.8l/100km). CO2 emissions 325-99g/km.

Official Fuel Economy Figures for the MINI Hatch Range: Urban 36.7-72.4 mpg (7.7-3.9 l/100km). Extra Urban 58.9-91.1 mpg (4.8-3.1 l/100km).

Combined 48.7-83.1 mpg (5.8-3.4 l/100km). CO2 Emissions 136-89 g/km.

Offers available to business users and expires 31st March 2014. Figures exclude VAT. Based on 36 month Contract Hire agreements for a BMW 320d EfficientDynamics Saloon based on a 6 + 35 contract, a contract mileage of 24,000 miles and an excess mileage charge of 11.14 pence per mile exc. VAT (non maintained), a BMW 518d SE Saloon Automatic based on a 6 + 35 contract, a contract mileage of 24,000 and an excess mileage charge of 11.14 pence per mile exc. VAT (non maintained) and a MINI Cooper D with MINI tlc and Metallic Paint based on a 6 +35 contract, a contract mileage of 24,000 and an excess mileage charge of 6.52 pence per mile exc. VAT (non maintained). Vehicle condition charges may apply at the end of your agreement. Subject to status and in the UK only (excl. the Channel Islands). Individuals must be 18 or over. A guarantee may be required. The amount of VAT you can reclaim depends on your business VAT status. Rentals may change if VAT rate changes during agreement. Hire provided by BMW Group Corporate Finance. BMW Group Corporate Finance is a trading style of Alphabet (GB) Limited, Europa House, Bartley Way, Hook, Hampshire, RG27 9UF. Offer expires 31 March 2014.

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SBT Welcome MEET THE TEAM

Lee Mansfield, Managing Director/ Publisher

Laura Knight, Editorial

Graham Carn, Financial Editor

Stephen Watts, Commercial Business Manager

Samantha Ash, Business Development Manager

Lottie Dowdeswell, Sales Assistant

Simon Skinner, Motoring Correspondent

Harriet Weston, Production Manager

Contributor, Lucy-Ann Prideaux, Nutritionist

Contributor, Dean Clark, FCCA, Partner in Turpin Barker Armstrong

For many of us, April represents the true beginning of a new year. After several daunting years and a long, hard slog out of the recession, it’s refreshing to have so many positive stories to report at this time. Sussex truly is leading the way in fresh and innovative business, and there’s plenty of motivation, products and services on offer to help that trend to continue.

We’re kicking off this issue with updates from the political and financial sectors: CBI talk us through their recommendations for the upcoming Budget and our Finance Editor, Graham Carn, explains the ins and outs of donations to charity, and what they can do for your tax bill.

This issue, we’re beginning our town focuses by centering ourselves in Lewes and exploring the business community there. Our county town, which grew up around its castle and markets, is a blossoming creative hub with some really exciting plans for 2014 and some hidden gems amidst its historic locations. We got to know several stand-out Lewes businesses in this issue and are looking forward to doing the same in towns across Sussex in the coming issues.

We were pleased to welcome so many of you at the SBT Dining Club during February and are looking forward to the next couple of events. Be sure to join our Linkedin group if you’d like to be kept up-to-date with our networking opportunities.

Laura Knight Editor

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Contents SBT Issue 376

SBT SUSSEX BUSINESS TIMES

ISSUE 376 FREE

LEwES IN BUSINESS

PaGE 30

REvIEw oF ThE JaGUaR xJ PoRTFoLIo SwB

PaGE 52

PLUS

FINaNcE: Tax BENEFITS oF chaRITaBLE GIvING PaGE 21

INFINITy LIGhTING SoLUTIoNS PaGE 33

ThE whITE haRT hoTEL REvIEw PaGE 37

codE 9 EmERGENcy? PaGE 44

NEw KINd oF GIvING

cover Story: Sussex community Foundation: showing local businesses how charity can begin at home

Kevin Richmond, CEO, Sussex Commuinty Foundation www.sussexgiving.org.uk

Sussex Business Times Managing Director/Publisher: Lee Mansfield lee@lifemediagroup.co.uk Commercial Director: Simon Skinner simon@lifemediagroup.co.uk Commercial Business Manager: Steve Watts steve@sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk Financial Editor Graham Carn Editorial Laura Knight laura@lifemediagroup.co.uk Subscriptions subs@lifemediagroup.co.uk Design: Harriet Weston harriet@lifemediagroup.co.uk Media Director Linda Grace linda@lifemediagroup.co.uk Accounts: Clare Fermor/Amelia Wellings clare@lifemediagroup.co.uk amelia@lifemediagroup.co.uk Published by LMG SE LTD Park View House 19 The Avenue, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 3YD 01323 411 601 Printed by Gemini Press, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, BN43 6NZ All material in this publication is strictly copyright and all rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. The views expressed in Sussex Business Times Magazine do not necessarily represent the view of Life Media Group LTD. Every care is taken in compiling the contents but the publishers of Sussex Business Times Magazine assume no responsibility for any damage, loss or injury arising from the participation in any offers, competitions or advertisement contained within Sussex Business Times Magazine. All prices featured in Sussex Business Times Magazine are correct at the time of going to press.

Copyright Life Media Group LTD 2013 ©

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Welcome

Roll up roll up for another great issue of SBT – your essential guide to business brilliance in Sussex

Spending It! That health kick will be a whole lot easier with the right equipment for the job

Company Profile Now in their 25th year, PAV IT want to help Sussex move forward

Finance Graham Carn, SBT’s Finacial Editor takes a look at the tax benefits of charitable giving by business

Lewes Football Club Lewes FC is using people power to drive plans forward

Lewes Lewes is a business hub that looks after its own... and it’s attracting investors and businesses on the move from all over

Start-ups - Infinity Lighting Solutions Childhood friends team up for the UK’s first company to offer the design, supply and install of lighting solutions

Review in Lewes SBT stops by Pelham House for a bite to eat then relaxes at the White Hart Hotel

Young Money Inside the Hidden World of Wall Street’s Post-Crash Recruits

Success Story hrscreative have carved their niche in bespoke, hands-on media management that’s compact and cost-efficient

Motoring SBT’s Simon Skinner tests out the new Jaguar XJ PORTFOLIO SWB

Made In Susex This issue’s homegrown heroes are Sarah Edmunds Solicitors

specialist, quality & affordable solicitors

our clients say Perfect in every way on our sale. Why can’t all solicitors be like this?

Outstanding is an understatement and would highly recommend and would use again! Many many thanks.

castle works westgate street lewes, east sussex bn7 1yr t. 01273 407970 m. 07590 099970 sarah@sarahedmundslegal.co.uk

we come to you

at home or at work at no extra cost

when it suits you

www.sarahedmundslegal.co.uk

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 5

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SBTNews On a Rolls

Big Night of Culture Some of the biggest names in journalism, literature, film and TV have come together for one night to raise money for a domestic abuse charity working throughout West Sussex.

Those who have already promised their services include Caitlin Moran, Linda Lewis, Jackie Clune, Julie Graham, Suzanne Moore, Dominique Olliver, Vanquish, Dora Dale and Tamzin Maria Outhwaite.

Known as ‘End Of’, it is the brainchild

of writer Julie Burchill, who came up with the idea when she heard that Rise was having its funding cut.

She says: “Let’s have a big night out, raise some money, and tackle this issue head on. We’re not putting up with this any more. End of.”

Tickets are now on sale and cost £20 each (inc VAT). Head online to www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ end-of-fundraiser-and-discotickets-10613759039

Juice 107.2 Appoints new MD Tracy Skinner is joining Juice 107.2 as Managing Director of Brighton & Hove’s favourite local radio station. Tracy, whose appointment officially began on 4 March, will be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the radio station, as well as overseeing digital strategy and forging new business opportunities.

Tracy joins from Fontwell Park Racecourse where she has been General Manager

since 2012.

Laurence Elphick, who leaves the station at the top of its game after thirteen years said, “Juice has more listeners than ever before.. This is largely down to the superb team of people working on air and behind the scenes. I’m delighted to be handing over the reins to Tracy who is well known by many of our clients and partners. I wish her every success in her role.”

First Year Success for Chichester Team John Lewis At Home Chichester is paying a bonus to all Partners (employees) of 15% of their salary equivalent to nearly 8 weeks’ pay.

Ben Pearson, branch manager, John Lewis at home Chichester said: “We are delighted with the successes of John Lewis at home Chichester in our first full trading year. There has been sustained interest and growth in all home

assortments. Additionally our Click and Collect service continues to be well received. Our thanks go out to the hard work of all our Partners and the continued positive reaction from customers in and around the West Sussex community.”

Goodwood-based Rolls-Royce Motor Cars says that its Bespoke business has become more successful than ever with content on its range of super-luxury cars reaching new heights in 2013.

Almost 95% of Rolls-Royce cars purchased last year were personalised by their owners.

Global Bespoke take-up increased in 2013 as customers for Phantom and Ghost commissioned higher levels of Bespoke content on their cars. In its first year of availability, 90% of Wraiths were purchased with bespoke options specified by their owners.

All three models surpassed their revenue targets in 2013 with an overall revenue increase of 30% over 2012.

Permanent Solutions Recruitment consultants in the South of England reported another rapid increase in candidates placed in permanent jobs in February.

The rate of growth eased to a three-month low, but remained stronger than the UK-wide average.

The three other English regions surveyed also registered marked growth of permanent placements in February. The rate of inflation eased slightly since January, but was still the second-fastest since May 2007 and was broadly in line with the UK average.

Born in the USA

Trade experts from the United States have converged on Gatwick Airport to help local businesses learn more about the opportunities available.

The event, organised by government export body UK Trade & Investment provided over 40 local businesses with the opportunity for meetings with five specialist trade officers from Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta.

The event came as export statistics reveal the United States is the South East’s largest export partner- with the region exporting £5.9 billion worth of goods and services to the country.

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 7

SBTNews Driving Ambition

A new online car sales portal, specialising in used German cars, has launched. The brainchild of a young Sussex entrepreneur, AutoAuktion.co.uk has gone live just as latest research reports that sales of quality German car brands soared in the last two years.

Ollie Manning, 25, spotted a gap in the market for a vehicle-trading platform focused on specific car brands. Ollie said: “Like any new business venture, there is risk and also great excitement. Getting to this stage has involved obstacles – and there have been a few, but it has been worth it.”

Tyre kicking has gone on-line and backed by an extensive marketing campaign, Ollie is confident that people will soon know that if they want to buy or sell a German car then Auto Auktion should be their first visit

Wage Rise Sees Warm Welcome Dev Biswal, the owner chef of the award-winning ‘Ambrette’ restaurants in Kent and Sussex, has bucked the industry trend by backing the Chancellor George Osborne’s proposal to raise minimum wage.

Biswal has also called for a government to clampdown on the widespread tax evasion within the catering sector, which he describes as “endemic”.

He believes that better wages for the low paid working in restaurants, pubs, hotels and cafes would benefit both the catering sector and the wider economy as a whole.

Biswal, whose father recently retired from a senior at the Bank of India, believes the short-term pain felt by restaurants’ rising wage bills, would be quickly offset by increased takings.

“Paying a living wage, would put more money in the hands of kitchen and waiting staff – which would be spent on the high street, boosting company profits and restoring the balance sheets in the beleaguered banking sector,” said Biswal.

The Ambrette pays its entire staff above the minimum wage, invests heavily in staff training and boasts full restaurants and a crammed awards trophy cabinet.

Sussex Receives Coastal Cash Injection Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles announced a multi-million pound package to create jobs and apprenticeships in coastal towns across the country.

Over fifty projects were awarded a share of £27.7 million, including Arun District Council in West Sussex, which has been awarded £1.65 million to regenerate the central public realm areas of Bognor Regis.

In East Sussex, Lewes District Council successfully bid for £1.9 million to

rejuvenate the economy of Newhaven, by developing linkages between existing facilities on Denton Island on the River Ouse in central Newhaven. The project will provide new Innovation Space at an existing Enterprise Centre, construct new training rooms and create a Café providing extra space for networking. It will create 6 direct and 29 indirect jobs.

This announcement has been welcomed by the South East Local Enterprise Partnership. Chair Peter Jones said: “We welcome today’s

announcement in this key location in the South East LEP area; the Coastal Communities Fund is giving our seaside towns and villages a real chance to grow.

“We are pleased to see them being given the chance to build on the range of opportunities for growth that they offer. The Coastal Communities Fund is important way of helping these areas to tap into new business opportunities and create jobs.

“The South East LEP has identified Tourism and Creative, Cultural and Media as two key business areas for our economy, we are pleased to see this range of projects which will continue to build upon these sectors”.

Government Must Slash Refurb VAT to Boost Economy by £15 billion A VAT reduction on housing renovation and repair could boost the UK economy by more than £15 billion from 2015 to 2020 according to new research by Experian. This reduction could also create more than 95,000 jobs and save 240,000 tonnes of CO2 from thousands of homes.

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said: “A VAT reduction on housing renovation and

8 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

repair work will empower home owners to contribute to growth, without placing a burden on the Treasury.

There is no other proposal that will help the UK achieve so many of its economic, environmental and social aims with so little cost to the public purse. This research

shows that the wider benefits of a VAT reduction on housing renovation and repair would stimulate more than £15 billion of wider economic activity, which completely overshadows any direct losses to Treasury coffers due to a drop in the percentage charged for VAT.

Sussex Community Foundation supports companies and individuals across Sussex to make the most of their charitable giving.

For more information, call

01273 409440 or visit

www.sussexgiving.org.uk/businesses Company limited by guarantee no 5670692 Registered charity 1113226

“William Alexander decided we would like to raise money for smaller local charities and community groups but didn’t really know how to go about it.

Sussex Community Foundation has been invaluable in helping us to identify who to support and have made the whole process very easy. We look forward to working with them for a long time to come.”

Alex Colwell, William Alexander www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk Recruitment, Hove

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Spending It

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1. Back Nodger, £29.99, www.boots.com 2. MisFit Shine, £99, www.johnlewis. com, 3. Nike Cross Training Shoes, £84.99, www.nike.com 4. GOOD SEED shelled hemp seeds, £13.23, www.goodhempnutrition.com 5. Polar Unisex Loop Activity Tracker Watch, £79.50, www.WatchShop.com 6. Adidas Originals ZX 700 Contemporary Trainers, £65.00, www.bankfashion.co.uk 7. Multicoloured Sports Swimsuit, £10, www.dunnesstores.com 8. Citrus Zinger, £15, www. sciencemuseumshop.co.uk 9. Calorie-Burning Sumo Soft Drink, Pac of 24 for £29.99, www.sumodrinks.com 10. Karrimor 2 Bottle Belt, £17.99, www.sportsdirec.com 11. Pure Move Portable digital and FM radio, £79.99, www.pure.com 12. PoolMateHR Swimming Monitor, £160, www.swimovate.com 13. iBitz Monitors, £29.99, www.johnlewis.com 14. Reebok Hand Weights, from £12.95, www.johnlewis.com 15. Nathan QuickView Hydration Pack, £23, www. johnlewis.com 16. Garmin Vívofit Fitness Band, £99.99, www.garmin.co.uk 17. FTN recovery drink, 2 week supply £39.99, www.ftnbelieve.com 18. Polar Unisex Loop Activity Tracker Watch, £79.50, www.WatchShop.com

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Company Profile

A New Kind of Giving

Community foundations are big in the States – the first was founded in 1914 - but relatively new to the UK. Sussex businesses are beginning to see how, in partnership with Sussex Community Foundation, this model of very local giving can really work for them Increasingly, businesses are becoming more Profile involved in giving back to their communities in a variety of enterprising and innovative ways. Not only do they feel a genuine responsibility to the people that live in the communities around them but there are bottom-line benefits associated with this way of managing charitable giving.

Some of those advantages are around tax as discussed by Graham Carn on page 21 but others are to do with staff development and a desire to leave a lasting legacy to the area where a company has made its name and played an active role in the lives of the people (and staff) living, working and volunteering there.

Based in the county town of Lewes, Sussex Community Foundation was founded in 2006. Since then, it has raised a very healthy £12 million for Sussex people. Around half of this has been given out in grants to support the work of over 1,500 smaller Sussex charities and community groups. The other half is in endowment – an investment in the future of our county which will provide sustainable funding for the Sussex voluntary sector way into the future.

“Our unique selling point – what really makes us different from other fundraising charities or grant-giving bodies – is that we provide a service for donors, people who want to give in the county they have been living and working in and are so committed to,” says Kevin Richmond, Chief Executive of Sussex Community Foundation. “We link donors and prospective donors with charities and causes they have a passion for and

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“We provide personal support to ensure that giving is effective and matches the donor’s charitable interests” want to support but don’t know how to reach. Often, people and companies know they want to give locally, as opposed to perhaps giving to one of the larger national charities, but don’t know how to go about it. The bigger national charities have a lot more money to spend on raising their profile but the very small charities and community groups we support – the older people’s lunch clubs, the local sports clubs or special needs’ support groups being run on a shoestring - just aren’t in a position to get their voices heard in that wider fundraising arena. Often nobody even knows they exist yet these are the people our donors want to support. Putting them together is a no-brainer, in all honesty!”

The Foundation’s main donor service is the named fund. This is a ring-fenced sum of money held on behalf of the donor and used to make grants. “A named fund is a great way for a donor to get directly involved in community philanthropy, without the cost and administration of setting up a separate charitable trust,” says Kevin Richmond.

“We provide personal support to ensure that giving is effective and matches the donor’s charitable interests with local

needs. We handle all administration and correspondence related to the fund.

Donors can make decisions on what kind of causes they wish to support and where the funds should be directed. We operate an open and accountable application process and all applications undergo a rigorous and transparent assessment process to ensure there is good governance, financial and project management and to assess the positive impact on the community.”

Named funds can be distributed over a period of time in a ‘flow-through fund’ or invested in an ‘endowment fund’, where the capital remains and the income from the investment is used each year to distribute as grants. Typically, the minimum donation to establish a flowthrough fund is £10,000 per annum and, for an endowment fund, the initial donation would be £25,000. The advantage of an endowment fund is that it remains as a permanent resource year after year. Over a relatively short period, the value of grants awarded becomes greater than the original donation which remains as a capital fund. A donor can set up a combination of flow-through and endowment, says Kevin. “Of course, these amounts and way of doing things are negotiable. We’re very flexible to what our donors want and innovative is our normal!”

The Foundation has fast become an expert in understanding the microeconomies of the county’s voluntary sector and also the deprivation and disadvantage facing Sussex communities.

Many people perceive Sussex to be a very wealthy place but that’s not the whole story. Last autumn, the charity launched a major report, Sussex Uncovered, which it believes to be the first in-depth, county-wide appraisal of

Profile

Kevin Richmond, CEO

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 13

William Alexander with staff at the Brighton City Table Tennis Club

the needs and strengths of Sussex. The report threw up some shocking findings: that in some parts of Hastings 67% of children live in poverty and that men living in more affluent areas of Brighton & Hove will live on average over ten years longer than those in the most deprived areas.

However, its overall message was that Sussex is a great place to live – if you can afford it.

Many Sussex businesses are beginning to feel they want to do something to help the people on the ground, supporting the more disadvantaged among us and over £2.1 million of the £12 million raised for Sussex over the last seven years by the Foundation has come from small, medium and larger Sussex-based businesses, such as those featured here.

The young business William Alexander is an IT and Business Change Recruitment Consultancy, based in Hove. Established in 2010, they are continuing to grow year on year. William Alexander decided early on that they would like to be involved with local charitable giving and have chosen Sussex Community Foundation to enable this. Their annual fund of £10,000 makes grants twice a year within Brighton & Hove to support causes close to their hearts. “This was always something we hoped to do. Fortunately, we are now in a position to be able to, with the help of Sussex Community Foundation,” says Director, Will Larcombe. “All of the employees at William Alexander live in the area and so are keen to give locally to

14 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

smaller charities and groups where their help can make a real difference.”

The William Alexander Fund gave out their first grants last autumn and included £1,740 to Plot 22, a local community allotment garden, £1,500 to Craven Vale Community Association to run weekly dance sessions for young people who live in the Craven Vale and Queen’s Park estates in Brighton, and £1,000 to Brighton City Table Tennis Club to help purchase additional table tennis tables, in order to expand membership. Pictured here are staff from William Alexander, meeting young players and volunteers at the table tennis club.

The family firm William Reed Business Media is a privately-owned family business, founded in 1862. Most of the Reed family have always lived in Sussex and the company itself moved out of London in 1990 to its current site at Broadfield Park, Crawley.

It employs over 350 people, publishing B2B magazines in the food and drink sector, as well as managing exhibitions, events and other trade-related business solutions. The company set up its named fund to provide a focus for the company’s local charitable giving and to help engage employees in supporting their local communities. Since 2008, it has given out £175,000 in grants for social welfare projects with a particular emphasis on supporting local organisations where employees have an involvement and where a small grant can go a long way.

“Many of our employees live locally so

Chris Coopey

supporting the community is a priority for us,” says Director Nicholas Reed.

“Sussex Community Foundation has provided a simple and flexible mechanism for us to identify and fund local charities and voluntary groups. They vet the groups applying so we can be confident the funding is used well. Over time, the Foundation has helped us adapt our targeting of funds. Whereas initially we supported projects across Sussex, we now focus on those in Crawley and the surrounding area. Many of these are smaller projects that we wouldn’t have found ourselves and it’s particularly satisfying to know we’re helping the local community where our business is based.”

Pictured (above right) is one of those groups Asperger’s Voice Self-Advocacy Group in Horsham that received £1,360 from the William Reed Fund to pay some of their core costs, such as hall hire for their meetings.

The nation company Little Cheyne Court Wind Farm was officially opened by the former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP in 2009. The wind farm is owned by RWE Innogy UK (formerly npower renewables) and is one of the largest in England. It first started exporting electricity to the National Grid in 2008 and makes a valuable contribution to the South East of England’s targets for renewable energy. The 26-turbine wind farm is on Romney Marsh near the Kent/ Sussex border. To demonstrate its long term commitment to the communities

Company Profile

Asperger’s Voice

that neighbour the wind farm, operator RWE Innogy UK Ltd funds an annual community investment fund managed independently by Sussex and Kent Community Foundations. Since 2009, the RWE Innogy Little Cheyne Court Wind Farm Fund has given out over £174,000 to 36 small Sussex charities and community groups operating within ten miles of the wind farm.

These include Hastings & Rother Credit Union (H&RCU). When high-street banks refuse to lend to, or otherwise engage with people on very low incomes, organisations like the credit union often step in to provide a totally communitybased savings and loan service to local clients. Hastings and Rother remains a low-wage, benefit-dependent area. Child poverty stands at over 25% and residents are under very real financial pressures.

A £5,000 grant from the wind farm fund helped H&RCU set up an outreach office, targeting an area where 40% of Rye residents live and incomes are low. The Credit Union has around 1,200 regular savers who save as little as £1 or £2 a week for a rainy day, as well as weddings, Christmas or holidays. Once people have shown themselves to be regular savers and the Credit Union can offer them a loan at 2% interest. “One of our savers was long-term unemployed but had been managing to save a very small weekly amount. He had about £140 in his account when he finally got a job,” says H&RCU Manager Richard Parkinson (pictured here, left, with Kenneth Bird and John Foster). “He needed £50 to

Hastings and Rother Credit Union

buy a bike to get him to his new job. We were able to give him a loan for the bike which he then paid back from his first wages, leaving his hard-won savings intact. Because we know our customers so well, we can be really flexible and we like to help people who are trying to help themselves.”

The professional advisors Carpenter Box LLP is a firm of chartered accountants and chartered tax advisors, based in Worthing. Throughout its 90year history, the firm has always been a great contributor to charitable causes and, in 2010, it set up the Carpenter Box Grassroots Fund at Sussex Community Foundation. An initial endowment donation of £25,000 was matched £1 for £1 through a Government match-funding scheme being run at the time, which brought the fund total up to £50,000.

The Fund is invested and a proportion of the interest drawn down each year and given in grants to support small, local voluntary and community groups active in the Worthing & District area. A panel of Carpenter Box staff get involved in choosing which projects receive funding, with an emphasis on benefiting projects working with young people and older people.

So far, the Carpenter Box Grassroots Fund has given £7,303 to 11 groups, including West Durrington Phoenix Youth Group who received £1,100 to run extra youth club session for 12-16 year olds.

“The match-funding was a definite incentive for us to set up the Fund

when we did,” says Carpenter Box Partner, Chris Coopey, pictured here.

“As accountants and tax advisers, maximising our charitable giving in this way, this kind of fiscal leverage, was a major plus. In terms of what else the Foundation does for us, their staff are hugely knowledgeable about what’s going on on the ground in Sussex and who needs what funding. They are able put us in touch with groups that, quite simply, we wouldn’t know existed but are exactly the kind of local community groups our staff wish to support. As an effective model of charitable giving, I would advise any business serious about giving something back to consider working with a community foundation.”

Until March 2015, Sussex Community Foundation can match donations to its endowment funds with a further 50p for every £1.00 through a Government match-funding scheme called Community First. For information, go to www.sussexgiving. org.uk/communityfirst

For more information about Sussex Community Foundation, call 01273 409440, email info@ sussexgiving.org.uk or visit www.sussexgiving.org.uk/businesses

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Profile

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PLUS

FINANCE: BREAKING UP THE BANKS

WOMEN ON BOARDS

PAGE 17

BUILDING PROSPECTIVE CLIENTS TRUST

The UK still has a long way to go to meet EU equality targets

PAGE 24

PAGE 34

THE SPREAD EAGLE HOTEL REVIEW PAGE 40

Cover Story: Meet the MD of The Kitchen Store, Sussex’ Entrepreneur of the Year

PLUS

TAX ADVICE PAGE 43

FINANCE: BUDGETING & TOP TIPS ON SAVING TIME

PAGE 10

PAGE 15

DEFINE DEVELOP DELIVER

PLUS FINANCE: RECOVERING FROM THE RECESSION PAGE 17

THE TOAST OF SUSSEX PAGE 38

THE ALEXANDER HOUSE HOTEL REVIEW

PAGE 34

FROM LEARNING TO EARNING

PAGE 44

DRAKES RESTAURANT, BRIGHTON REVIEW PAGE 41

POP-UP BOOKS HOTTEST TRENDS IN BUSINESS

PAGE 48

Cover story: jag press & publicity on communication you can’t afford to ignore

PAGE 44

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CELIA SAWYER OFFICIALLY INSPIRATIONAL!

Cover Story: PAV IT are here to help Sussex Businesses ready to step from recovery into growth

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In the Spotlight

The Big Interview Veritek is a remarkable success story. Started by one man and a van in 1985, it has metamorphosised into an international operation with revenues in excess of £25m and employing c. 300 staff across nine countries Veritek provides European-wide installation, Insight maintenance and support services to blue-chip brands in an array of high tech sectors. Last year Jim Edgar, Managing Director, together with Jonathan Briant, Finance Director, completed a successful £11million MBO of the company. In 2012, Veritek received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade and last month Mr Edgar was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year at the Insider Dealmakers Awards.

Jim has also been nominated for Director of the Year Award with the Institute of Directors London and the South East.

We talk to the gregarious MD, about his success at the helm of Veritek since 2007.

Jim, how does it feel to be called an entrepreneur - and an award-winning one, at that - given your background?

To be awarded for developing a business that I find both exciting and challenging is really a bonus. For someone who spent 33 years in the banking sector, it is interesting to be called an entrepreneur.

When I took to the helm of Veritek, seven years ago, it was a successful business but mostly focused on just one sector - photo imaging. Now it has grown and expanded into many other high tech sectors to include healthcare, ophthalmic, graphics and digital cinema.

What do the awards you’ve won recently mean for you and for the business?

We have been honoured with several awards over the past number years and it has been really great.

Scooping an award gives our entire team the opportunity to reflect on the journey so far, to be proud of their work, their fellow colleagues and be confident in the future of the business. I see these awards as an independent stamp of recognition on the achievements of the

Jim Edgar, MD, Veritek

business and all the staff. Our business success is as a result of our vision, a planned growth and diversification strategy and, of course, our entire team’s dedication.

Do you think of Veritek as a local business, or an international one now?

Veritek is an international business with its HQ in Sussex. We have offices in London, Madrid, Turin, Warsaw, Willich, Prague and Brisbane plus some 300 staff spread across nine countries. Our USP is our Europe-wide offering so our business is an international one, but our roots are very much in local ground.

How have you managed such rapid expansion successfully?

Our expansion has been carefully fuelled by four key elements: Firstly, our competitive advantage of being able to offer a truly pan-European proposition, rare in the service industry.

Secondly, our brand independent status bridges the gap between manufacturer and customer, while reducing cost and improving service delivery for our customers.

Thirdly, we have the ability to diversify quickly and effectively into other high tech sectors - almost at a moments notice. This has been crucial to our

growth. As the business is built on a large international team of highly skilled engineers, who are able to work across almost any technology, we have been able to take on large international service agreements in a range of sectors. Other service providers are not geared up to do.

Finally, we are ultimately a service company so customer care is the very fabric of our business. It’s not just looking after our customer that has supported our expansion; it is impressing them at every opportunity. This has helped grow our reputation as a trusted and sought after service and support partner for many of the world’s leading brands.

How do you plan to continue this upward curve?

The sustaining big idea and backbone of Veritek is exceptional expert service and support for high tech equipment, delivered 24/7 by highly skilled teams of field engineers across Europe.

We plan to expand and diversify in the same vein that we’ve been doing over the past five years. We will continue to provide high quality outsourced service to a range of sectors dependent on fast and efficient technical support to maintain equipment availability, as well as expand our European footprint geographically and by sector. www.veritekglobal.com

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 17

Lewes Enterprise Ltd

Helping your business grow Lewes Enterprise Ltd

LEWES & DISTRICT ENTERPRISE EXPO (LDEX) Thursday 20th March 2014 10:00am - 4:00pm Lewes Town Hall, (Corn Exchange & Assembly Rooms) High Street, Lewes, BN7 2QS Exhibition Stands, Free Entry, Talks, Seminars & Local CafĂŠ Laportes A FREE one day interactive B2B event aimed at local businesses, social enterprises and organisations from across the district.

This event is also useful for anyone thinking of starting a business.

Promote your business and share your expertise.

If you are interested in booking a stand at this event or want to ďŹ nd out more about promotional and sponsorship opportunities, email: claire@lewesenterprise.co.uk or call 01273 473311

www.lewesenterprise.co.uk

18 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk THE

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Lewes District Council www.lewes.gov.uk

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In the Spotlight

Recruiting for Sussex Hastings Direct buck trends with steady growth

What’s the state of recruiting in Sussex right now?

Insight Do people have the skills you need them to?

We recruit regularly for front-line customer -facing staff and managers and receive a steady flow of applications each week. Considering we tend to recruit from a fairly small catchment area, we see great people who successfully secure a position with us. We also recruit for a range of more specialist and professional positions that can be more challenging. We often need talented individuals who have commercial, analytical, marketing, finance or IT skills and whilst we can cast the net wide, we’d prefer to find these skills in Sussex! This can be a challenge.

How is Sussex weathering the UK’s unemployment problems?

Well we know that unemployment in Sussex has been falling and is below the national average. We like to think we’ve played our part in that! Our front-line roles do not require any specific work experience – just a passion for good service and solving problems. Because we provide great training irrespective of background, we can recruit people of all sorts of backgrounds with all kinds of experience. Being the biggest employer in the area we can usually find a career for those that demonstrate the right attributes. Luckily we have a good reputation for being great place to work, and we often appoint family and friends through staff referrals. And of course

we’re about helping people grow careers not just a job – a particular passion of mine.

Hastings Direct has seen remarkable growth. How are you managing that in such a challenging time?

From a commercial perspective there are a number of initiatives that have created success including stepping up our direct marketing activities, as well as being back on television. We’ve focused a lot of attention on fighting fraud and passing those benefits onto our customers by providing the best deals. Indeed we are passionate about our customers and doing the right thing. Doing the right thing is a big theme for us as a business. We have a 4Cs philosophy – if we do the right thing by our Colleagues, they will serve our Customers well, which is good for the Company and in turn allows us to give back to the Community. We are well known in the area for supporting local charity and community initiatives – including helping students develop employability skills. So it’s about building a reputation for being a good place to work and offering satisfying jobs and careers.

How do you plan to continue this trend?

We have ambitious five year plans as a business and we are committed to delivering these as we have done over the last five years. We also want to build further on our employer brand and continuously review the proposition we go to market with. Never complacent! www.hastingsdirect.com

“Being the biggest employer in the area we can usually find a career for those that demonstrate the right attributes.” www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 19

ADVERTORIAL

Marketing Course Wins Professional Acclaim

A high number of marketing students gaining top marks in their professional qualification exams has resulted in the University of Portsmouth winning acclaim.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), which awards professional qualifications in marketing, has commended the University for achieving excellent results.

To be commended, more than five students have to achieve higher than 90 per cent in their CIM exams for their Introductory Certificate, Professional Certificate or Professional Diploma qualifications, or higher than 80 per cent in their Chartered Postgraduate Diploma exams.

Tutor Karen Middleton oversees professional marketing qualifications at the University. She said: “This is absolutely brilliant news. These qualifications are a gold standard in industry and are not easy.

“To have a large number of students achieving distinctions is testament to the hard work both of our students and our teaching staff. It is very heartening to see that the supportive environment we seek to engender in the Business School has delivered results.”

Students taking the CIM courses alongside their degree studies credit their tutors for their success.

Aymar Dimi, 36, from Eastleigh, is studying towards his BA in Business Enterprise Development and is one of the students to gain a distinction in his CIM professional qualification exams.

He said: “I came to the University with little knowledge of marketing principles although I had some previous work experience in sales, so it is fair to say that the teaching and the mentoring support I received really helped me achieve this great result and learn new skills along the way.”

High achievers: (l-r) Aymar Dimi, tutor Karen Middleton, Chris Bartley and Craig Mole

Show you mean business. Go back to school.

Portsmouth Business School’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) will provide you with the opportunity to develop your strategic problem-solving skills whilst mastering the latest business knowledge and practice: • • • • •

Develop your management abilities Benefit through innovative work-based learning Generous scholarships Taught part-time in two-day blocks over two years Accredited by the Association of MBAs

To find out more about our wide range of degrees, come along to one of our regular open evenings – details of which can be found at www.showyoumeanbusiness.com.

‘The Portsmouth MBA has been a lifechanging experience and one that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss.’

Heather Short, Entrepreneur

20 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

www.port.ac.uk

For more information or to apply: T: +44 (0)23 9284 4888 E: mba.admissions@ port.ac.uk W: www.port.ac.uk/mba

Finance

Charity Begins at Work Graham Carn, SBT’s Finacial Editor takes a look at the tax benefits of charitable giving by business Giving to charity by businesses is Finance supported by the Insight government and HM Revenue & Customs. Whilst still remaining a clearly philanthropic exercise there are incentives and tax breaks that are available dependant on whether your business is a sole trader, partnership or limited company, and whether you are giving cash or stock. As with most tax issues, the rules can be complicated and it’s always advisable to take appropriate professional advice before deciding on your route for giving, but here’s a summary of how you may or may not benefit.

Gifts of money to charity by sole traders or partnerships If you’re a sole trader or a partner in a partnership, you pay Income Tax as an individual on your business profits, so you can take advantage of the tax reliefs on gifts of money to charity that is available to individuals. If you give money to a charity you can also use Gift Aid, which increases the value of your donation to the charity by allowing them to reclaim basic rate tax on your gift. If you pay higher rate tax you can claim extra relief on your donations.

You cannot deduct the full donation from the total profits of your business as you would normal overheads such as rent, rates, salaries etc. It is simply

your ‘personal’ gift and does not affect the calculation on the tax chargeable on your profits. All gifts of money that sole traders make to charity through Gift Aid are treated in the same way as gifts from any other individuals, so normal Gift Aid rules apply.

Gift Aid – how it works In order to make a Gift Aid donation you’ll need to make a Gift Aid declaration. The charity will normally ask you to complete a simple form one form can cover every gift made to the same charity for whatever period you choose, and can cover gifts you have already made and/or gifts you may make in the future.

The Gift Aid scheme is for gifts of money by individuals who pay UK tax.

Gift Aid donations are regarded as having basic rate tax deducted by the donor. Charities take your donation which is money you’ve already paid tax on - and reclaim the basic rate tax from HM Revenue & Customs on its ‘gross’ equivalent - the amount before basic rate tax was deducted.

Making sure you’ve paid enough tax to use Gift Aid You can use Gift Aid if the amount of Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax you’ve paid for the tax year in which you make your donation is at least equal to the amount of basic rate tax the charity will reclaim on your gift.

If you pay higher rate tax, you can

claim the difference between the higher rate of tax 40 and/or 45 per cent and the basic rate of tax 20 per cent on the total ‘gross’ value of your donation to the charity. For example, if you donate £100, the total value of your donation to the charity is £125 - so you can claim back: • £25 - if you pay tax at 40 per cent (£125 × 20%) • £31.25 - if you pay tax at 45 per cent (£125 × 20%) plus (£125 × 5%).

You can make this claim on your SelfAssessment tax return and you can ask for Gift Aid donations to be treated as being paid in the previous tax year if you paid enough tax that year to cover any Gift Aid gifts you made that year AND the ones you want to backdate. Your request to carry back the donation must be made before or at the same time as you complete your Self-Assessment tax return for the previous year.

Telling HMRC about your Gift Aid donations It’s important to keep a record of the total amount of your Gift Aid donations for each tax year.

You’ll need to let HMRC know about your Gift Aid donations if: • you claim higher Personal Allowance, Married Couple’s Allowance or tax credits • you pay higher rate tax • you want to carry back a Gift Aid donation If you normally complete a tax return

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 21

you can tell HMRC about your Gift Aid donations by completing the section on Gift Aid payments.

Sole traders and partnerships - other gifts to charity Although Gift Aid only applies to gifts of money, sole traders and partnerships can also get tax relief on gifts to charities of equipment, trading stock and the costs of ‘secondment’ of your employees.

Gifts of equipment If you’re in business as a sole trader, a partnership or a company, you may be able to benefit from full capital allowances on the cost of equipment that you give to a charity. You must have used the equipment in your normal business activities for it to qualify, and it must be considered plant and machinery for capital allowance purposes, this could include things like office furniture, computers and printers, vans and cars, tools and machinery.

So, relief is given bringing a nil disposal

value into your capital allowances computation rather than market value.

Gifts of trading stock If you donate goods that your business makes or sells - your ‘trading stock’ to a charity, you can claim the cost of these goods in your business accounts.

This applies whether you’re a sole trader or in business as a partnership or company. You don’t have to include anything in your sales income for the value of the gift. So you can reduce your business’s taxable profits by the full cost of the goods.

Secondment of employees If your business lends or temporarily transfers an employee to work for a charity you’ll be able to treat the cost as a business expense in your accounts.

If your business carries on paying that employee, you’ll be able to set the cost against your business’s taxable profits as if they were still working for you.

The cost includes their wages and any business expenses. Your business will need to carry on operating PAYE (Pay

As You Earn) on their wages. The same applies if any of your employees are volunteering in work time. Your business can continue to claim tax relief for the costs of employing them such as salary and employer’s national insurance.

These costs can still be treated as a business expense when calculating chargeable profits for your business.

VAT implications If your business buys goods to donate to a charity this isn’t counted as a business activity for VAT purposes. You won’t have to account for VAT on the items you’ve purchased to give away.

If your business is VAT-registered you won’t be able to reclaim the VAT you paid when you bought the goods. This is because you can only reclaim VAT on things that you buy for business purposes.

If you donate goods that you make or sell in your business - known as your trading stock - to a charity, this counts as a taxable business supply for VAT purposes.

If you’re VAT-registered you’ll need to account for VAT on the goods you give away at the appropriate rate, depending on what the items are - either the standard rate (20 per cent), the reduced rate (5 per cent), or zero rate. However, you can zero rate your supply - even if normally the goods are standard-rated or reduced-rated - if your company makes the donation specifically so that the charity can: • sell the goods • hire out the goods • export the goods This means that if you’re VAT-registered your company is entitled to reclaim the VAT on the purchase of the trading stock that you donate.

Gifts to charity made by companies Companies can get tax relief on gifts of money to charities. The relief works differently than for individuals, selfemployed sole traders and partnerships.

Claiming Corporation Tax relief on gifts to charity Gifts of money made to a charity by your company should be paid gross (without deducting Income Tax). The donations are deductible from the total profits of your business when

22 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

Finance

calculating Corporation Tax. The charity can’t make a Gift Aid tax repayment claim because no tax has been deducted.

Donations that qualify for Corporation Tax relief Your company can claim tax relief as long as the donation is a payment of money and meets all the qualifying conditions. For donations to qualify any benefits provided to your company or a ‘connected’ person in connection with the donation must be below the following limits:

Benefit limits for donations Amount of donation £0 - £100

has received a benefit over the values specified above in return • gifts that come with a condition or arrangement that the charity will purchase property (other than as a gift) from your company or a connected person • a distribution of profits such as a dividend Companies can also claim Corporation Tax relief on other gifts to charity such as land, buildings or shares and also companies can get tax relief on gifts of equipment or trading stock to a charity.

Maximum value of benefits 25% of the donation

£101 - £1,000 £25 £1,001+

Made on or after 6 April 2011 5% of the donation (up to a

of £2,500) maximum

These limits apply separately to each donation.

A company is a person in law and a person is ‘connected’ if they are: • a company controlled by the same persons as the donor or persons connected to the persons who control the donor • the persons who control the donor company and any persons connected with them An individual is connected with an individual if they are: • the individual’s husband, wife, civil partner or linear relative, for example son, daughter, parent, grandparent, or grandchild • any linear relative of the individual’s wife, husband or civil partner Donations that don’t qualify for Corporation Tax relief The following will not count as qualifying donations: • gifts that come with a condition about repayment • gifts where your company or a person ‘connected’ to your company

“Your company can make a claim in its Company Tax Return to deduct the amount of the donation from its taxable profits”

It will be able to reduce the taxable profits the business makes by the cost of the gift made, so it can pay less tax, similar to that of a sole trader or partnership. The same applies to getting tax relief for the costs of temporarily transferring an employee to work for a charity - on ‘secondment’.

How to claim Corporation Tax relief When your company makes a qualifying donation to a charity, the amount paid is a charitable donation. This means that your company can make a claim in its Company Tax Return to deduct the amount of the donation from its taxable profits. Your company should keep normal accounting records to support entries on your Company Tax Return along with any other relevant documentation, for example correspondence with the charity in relation to the donation such as a ‘thank you’ letter.

You must keep your tax records for at least six years after the end of the accounting period to which they relate. If HM Revenue & Customs make

any enquiries about your Company Tax Return you will need to keep the records until the enquiries are completed.

Charitable donations can’t be used to create or increase your company’s trading losses, and they can’t be carried over from year to year. So if you make a donation of more than your taxable profit, the excess is not tax effective. However if your company is part of a group of companies the excess can be used as group relief.

You can also make donations if your company is not resident in the UK but is part of HMRC’s Corporation Tax regime.

This will generally apply to companies trading in the UK through a branch or agency. You should claim the relief in the accounting period in which your company makes the donation.

For further details of the tax rules and benefits to small businesses please refer to the HM Revenue & Customs website www.hmrc.gov.uk or your professional tax adviser.

Graham Carn, SBT Financial Editor Graham Carn is also the senior partner of Blackstones Consulting – any comments or questions on this article please email blackstones@btinternet.com

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 23

Quite Interesting So the speculation over interest rates is over (for the time being!) – but where does it leave ‘forward guidance’ now?

Amid increasing speculation that Finance interest rates were Insight going to rise this year, as a result of faster than expected falling unemployment, the Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, has revisited the Bank’s interest rate policy to reduce the focus on purely unemployment figures and balance it more broadly with the economic recovery.

Governor Carney’s February statement asserted that the Bank’s forward guidance policy “is working” and had helped to secure growth but the Bank’s interest rate policy will now be determined not just by unemployment, but by a wider range of indicators.

He also added that the recovery was not secure and that when rates rose, they would do so only “gradually”.

Investors and analysts took this as an indication that rates would now rise next year, and there was an immediate strengthening of the pound on the money markets.

Introducing the Bank’s forward guidance policy last August, Mr Carney then said that the Bank would not consider raising interest rates from their current low of 0.5% until unemployment had fallen to 7% or below. This policy was designed to reduce uncertainty and encourage businesses to hire and spend.

Sticking to his innovative policy the Governor gave the assurance that “Forward guidance is working expected interest rates have remained low even as the economy has recovered strongly, uncertainty about interest rates has fallen, and most importantly, UK businesses have understood the message.” However, he added that

the policy needed to be revisited “as a result of exceptionally strong jobs growth”. “The unemployment rate has fallen much faster than anticipated... and is likely to reach 7% by the spring” he said.

The Bank’s latest inflation report also stated that the “Bank rate may need to remain at low levels for some time to come” and Katja Hall, Chief Policy Director of the CBI Business Group “Forward guidance has clearly been effective in influencing companies’ expectations of when interest rates will rise and in cementing their confidence in the recovery” but “the Bank’s new guidance will give businesses further

The Bank will be producing forecasts on a range of indicators, and these will be based on market expectations of 2% interest rates by 2017 and a first rise in spring next year. “On the basis of the economy following the Bank’s expected path, the first rate increase is now pencilled in for the spring of 2015,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit. “Rates are then projected to rise to 2% by early 2017. Beyond 2017, the message from the Bank is that even when the economy has returned to normal... the appropriate level of Bank rate is likely to be materially below the 5% level set on average prior to the crisis”.

While highlighting the UK’s improved economic performance, Mr Carney said there was still a great deal of work to do to secure the recovery. “Households are saving less and spending more, and business investment is likely to gather pace this year”.

As a result of this improved outlook, the Bank has increased its forecast for growth this year for the UK economy to 3.4% from 2.8%.

However, Mr Carney also warned that the recovery was “neither balanced nor sustainable”, and highlighted the fact that economic activity was still below pre-financial crisis levels. He added that productivity growth had been disappointing. “A few quarters of above trend growth driven by household spending are a good start but they aren’t sufficient for sustained momentum,” he said.

“Households are saving less and spending more, and business investment is likely to gather pace this year”

24 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

peace of mind that interest rates will stay low for some time, until investment and incomes are growing at sustainable rates.”

It does not seem unreasonable to argue that forward guidance, in the form it was sold just a few months ago, is in the dustbin of monetary history” Outlining the Bank’s revised forward guidance policy, the Governor said the Bank would now be looking at a wider range of indicators, including wages, productivity and spare capacity within the economy. “We have taken stock” he said. “We’re still looking to maintain the momentum of the recovery, but we have to make more nuanced judgements.”

So what does this all mean for ‘forward guidance’?

The most important thing the Governor has now said is that the interest rate the Bank controls, the Bank Rate, will not be raised for some time and could still be as low as 2% in 2017.

Money Matters

Bank of England ©

Mark Carney, Bank of England Governor

For Bank watchers, perhaps more important is how he has ditched the simple revolutionary system of so-called forward guidance on the future path of rates, introduced only last summer, for a more complex and fuzzier approach.

The previous statement last August had left room to manoeuvre but the markets were increasingly speculating on an immediate earlier rise in interest rates once the unemployment rate fell below 7%. That speculation was seen as not being helpful for business so with the 7% threshold set to be breached in the coming months, considerably earlier than the Bank had originally expected, the Governor is now saying that rates won’t be raised till the slack or spare capacity in the economy is on its way to being eliminated.

Mark Carney wants this to be seen as a bold statement, that the Bank remains committed to supporting further falls in unemployment and long-delayed improvements in living standards. Some may see it as almost a political statement to a hard-up nation that the Bank is on its side. However, it is slightly less clear what it means in respect of monetary policy and economics. The Bank has published an estimate that the economy currently has spare capacity equivalent to up to 1.5% of GDP or national output and it says at least half this gap is due to people

being unemployed or under-employed, and that it does not expect the gap to be closed for more than two years.

This supports Carney’s ‘commitment’ that money will remain very cheap, that interest rates will remain at historic lows for years, but he also categorically refuses to give any kind of binding commitment to keep rates low for a specific period. He also concedes that the Bank’s estimate of the output gap and the rate at which it will close are bound to be wrong!

The big change between Carney’s Bank of England and that of his immediate predecessors is that they refused to talk about what they thought the future path of interest rates would be, whereas he relishes making nonbinding, very general statements that interest rates should remain low - unless the Bank of England’s view on spare capacity turns out to be wrong. That feels like a cultural difference, and maybe it is economically significant, if somehow businesses and households take confidence from it and therefore invest and spend more. However, the Bank of England priority remains the same as it ever was, to keep inflation at more or less 2% over the forecasting time horizon (albeit that since 2009, and till recently, this was a target consistently overshot). Therefore the moment that the Monetary Policy

Committee were to conclude that inflation was rising above 2% in a sustained and dangerous way, interest rates would rise. That judgement would be made in more-or-less the same way today as it would have been under Carney’s predecessors - on an assessment of whether the economy was growing above capacity, bringing the risk of self-reinforcing rises in wages and other costs determined by domestic demand.

So Carney’s focus on spare capacity is not such a break with the past, and in that sense, it does not seem unreasonable to argue that forward guidance, in the form it was sold just a few months ago, is in the dustbin of monetary history. However, the way the Bank of England is now openly joining in on the debate, on the big issues in our economy, is a refreshing development. In my opinion it is a healthier way of proceeding, lessening more extreme speculation and providing clearer, authoritative, and balanced expectations upon which business and individuals can base their financial decision making.

Graham Carn, SBT Financial Editor Graham Carn is also the senior partner of Blackstones Consulting – any comments or questions on this article please email blackstones@btinternet.com

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 25

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18/03/2014 14:48

Business Awards

Lewes District Launches New Awards Scheme

Lewes District Council is pleased to announce the launch of the Lewes District Business Awards, the first of its kind for the District Celebrating excellence amongst the District’s Awards business community, the Awards are now open for entries and are FREE TO ENTER. With ten trophies up for grabs, including the prestigious Company of the Year and Best Independent Retailer, along with special awards to recognise innovation and entrepreneurship there is a category for every type of business.

The following categories available for 2014 are: • Company of the Year • Small Business of the Year • Businessperson of the Year • LEAP Entrepreneur of the Year • Award for Business Innovation • Award for Business in the Community • Award for Clean, Green & Marine • Award for Best Place to Visit • Award for Best Independent Retailer • Award for Social Enterprise This year’s sponsors include The Santon Group, Knill James, Veolia Environmental Services, Wave Leisure, Basepoint Business Centres, LEAP, Harvey & Son Ltd, The Aldridge Foundation, Lewes District Council and Viva Lewes.

The panel of judges will be chaired by Hugh Burnett OBE DL FCA. Hugh is a Chartered Accountant with a background in IT and retail systems and has spent much of his career developing small businesses

in that sector. His emphasis has been on sales and marketing and he has creatively led both manufacturing and distribution businesses to significant growth. His company has achieved two Queen’s Awards for Export and Enterprise, Sussex Company of the Year and the UK’s Best Small Manufacturer Award.

Hugh has also been actively involved with regeneration in Newhaven and was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion last year. As a Deputy Lieutenant and an ambassador for East Sussex, he was also awarded an OBE in 2001 for his contribution to regeneration and exports.

Hugh commented: “We are very proud to be launching the first ever Awards for the District.

“This is a great opportunity to highlight some of the outstanding businesses in the LewesDistrict.”

Councillor Rob Blackman, Lead Member for Business, Economic Development and Tourism at Lewes District Council also commented: “I would urge local businesses to take the time to look at the Award categories and make a decision to enter as soon as possible.

There are some great businesses out there and they should get the recognition they deserve!”

To enter simply go online at www. lewesdistrictbusinessawards.co.uk.

You can enter up to three categories and deadline for submissions is 14 March 2014.

The Awards Ceremony will take place on 24 April 2014 at the Lewes Town Hall and will be attended by over 200 of the District’s leading business people.

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Turning Customers Into Owners

Lewes FC is using people power to drive plans forward

How many owners Business does your business have? One, two, Model three… ten? Aligning the sometimesdiffering strategic ideas of the owners can be a challenge in any organization.

If you’re a sole trader you can feel free as a bird to run your business how you see fit. But then again, things can go so much faster and be more fun when you have a business partner or two to work with. So what’s it like running a business that has over NINE HUNDRED owners?

Well, Lewes Football Club currently has well over nine hundred individual owners and is making what might sound like a nightmare work very much to its advantage.

So how and why does the football club have so many proprietors? And how has this ownership structure led not only to

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the club being saved but now thriving to the point where it is working on a £5m plan to regenerate its home ground The Dripping Pan? It all dates back to late 2009 when the club faced a demand for £110,000 in unpaid tax and VAT from HMRC. Not the most promising of launch pads for a new business you might think. But, as they say, from great adversity comes great triumph. Or rather it can come. The threat of being wound up not only focused people’s minds it also attracted some new people and, crucially, some new thinking. The new vision was to take what was good about the club and use that as a foundation for a business turn-around.

On the basis that a new plan was being formulated, enough money was given and lent to see off the threat of closure and give the club some breathing space.

In business parlance, what was being planned was a ‘restructuring’. In football

terms, it was a revolution.

A team of people spent many months looking at what the ‘core essence’ of the business was, what it was that we could re-base the football club on and build a new foundation upon. And we also looked at what other successful clubs were doing. We found that the essence that emerged was ‘community’: Being a fan (customer) of a football club is, at its heart, about your relationship to the club and to all the other fans. When fans (customers) feel connected then they come to more matches, tell other people about their experience and stay fans for longer, rather than drifting off. Does this sound familiar? Hopefully it does because this is exactly the same as the core principles and outputs of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that every good company is ‘supposed’ to follow.

So it was that, partly through deliberate

Business Model

strategy and partly through gut feeling and personal beliefs that we decided to turn the football club from a privately owned limited company into a mutually owned Community Benefit Society. On July 8th 2010, the football club formally came under the ownership of a new entity called Lewes Community Football Club Ltd. And that entity was, and remains, a mass-ownership vehicle that enables and encourages as many (predominantly local) people as possible to spend £30 a year to become owners. In the early days, some people paid much more than the standard £30 but no matter what they paid, no one could receive more than a single share and all shares were equal.

This is still the case. Having over nine hundred owners may sound to some readers like a recipe for indecision and disaster. But it has been the making of the football club.

Think about it. The great majority of our fans (customers) now have a share in the business. This means that they can stand for the Board (one third of which is elected/re-elected every year), vote for the Board and easily voice their ideas and concerns. The Board is free to develop ongoing strategy, it does not constantly refer to the owners, but it does take their judgment at election time.

What community ownership really means is that Lewes FC fans feel CONNECTED in a way that most football fans (customers) don’t. By giving customers a voice, the club benefits from their ideas and their support but most of all, it unlocks their passion for the club. And it is that passion that is the key. It is the engine that has enabled the most incredible turn-around in the club’s

“A whole new building that aside from housing incredible music/drama/media facilities for young people will also be home to a Business Hub” finances and in its prospects – it is the ultimate CRM strategy.

And now, thanks to unlocking the passion of our customers, we are working on a major regeneration of the Dripping Pan that will see it transform from a football venue into a multi-function community hub. The first phase of this work is well underway and will include a new 3G all-weather pitch just outside the ground as well as a new clubhouse that will have a fantastic bar/café and conference/meeting hire space for use by the whole community, seven days a week. A later phase will include a whole new building that aside from housing

incredible music/drama/media facilities for young people will also be home to a Business Hub where the club will bring local businesses and young people together, to foster a new generation of entrepreneurs and business-ready school leavers.

All this is a long way from the dark days of the HMRC winding-up order. But it has all been made possible by harnessing the passion of our customers.

www.lewesfc.com

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Lewes In Business

With a distinct community identity and even it’s own currency, Lewes is a business hub that looks after its own... and it’s attracting investors and businesses on the move from all over Lewes, the county town of East Sussex, has been a thriving business hub since records began. There’s evidence of Focus prehistoric settlement in the area, and the town’s reputation as a place to trade dates back to the Saxon establishment around the famous castle, so – no – it didn’t all begin with Harveys!

Originally a market town, Lewes continues to be a stronghold for local trading, with regular farmers markets and opportunities for traders from the surrounding area and those prepared to make the short hop across from Dieppe, via Newhaven, so although Lewes is now one of the most trendy and desirable towns in Sussex.

The current incarnation of Lewes Farmers’ Market, one of the first of its modernised kind in the UK, was started in the 1990s by Common Cause Co-operative Ltd and served to re-invent Lewes as a market town. Combined with the continuing success of the town’s most iconic brand – Harveys, who have been distributing beers, wines and spirits since 1794 and brew some of the finest ales in England today – Lewes’ business community has its roots firmly in tradition.

The close networking culture resulting from the traditional approach to supporting the local economy has contributed to the survival and indeed thriving of independent business: Lewes has been identified nationally as an unusually diversified town with numerous specialist, independent retailers, counter to national trends toward ‘chain’ retailers and large corporate retail outlets. It attracts a huge amount of talent from creative centres like Brighton and London, with well-established city businesses (like hrscreative, who you can read more about on page 46) choosing to relocate to Lewes because, as a business base, it affords them an ideal balance of access to business resources and pleasant surroundings that make for happy, productive staff. For creative and forward-thinking businesses – particularly those who wish to put an emphasis on working with other local, independent companies – Lewes is an attractive and affordable alternative to other locations famed for the same benefits.

Culturally, Lewes has a quirky approach born of a long and varied history centred around its caste, Crown Court and

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Town Focus

famous figures. Lewes’ 5th November bonfire night celebrations are the biggest and most famous in the country, attracting thousands of visitors to the town and achieving nationwide news coverage, often due to the burning of quite controversial effigies. Lewes is not a town that’s afraid to do things a little differently, and that’s evidenced by the spread of individual independent businesses; shops, restaurants and cafes. The town has a very distinct identity, and it’s one that locals are keen to preserve.

One of the defining features of the Lewes economy in recent years has been the introduction of the ‘Lewes Pound’: an equivalent, complementary currency designed to encourage people to shop local, and for local businesses to do business with local suppliers.

Although it’s not legal tender, The Lewes Pound is essentially a voucher or token that can be traded locally as a complementary currency, alongside Pounds Sterling. The idea – which has been adopted by a number of other locales – is that money spent locally circulates within the local economy, to the benefit of local business, whereas money spent in a national chain equivalent would not.

“The Lewes Pound encourages demand for local goods and services,” say the team behind the scheme. “In turn this builds resilience to the rising costs of energy, transport and food.”

“The Lewes Pound also benefits shoppers by creating stronger and more local shops, increasing a sense of pride in our community, decreasing CO2 emissions and increasing economic resilience. Furthermore, the Lewes Pound benefits local traders by increasing footfall and local business activity, encouraging people to buy local and increasing customer loyalty, highlighting the benefits of local shopping, bringing attention and attracting visitors to Lewes and minimising card-based transaction costs.”

Interestingly, the idea of a Lewes Pound is not a new one: Lewes had its own currency once before, between 1789 and 1895. Complementary currencies are not new either, having existed since records began. Papua New Guinea still has

‘bead money’ and the WIR, established between the World Wars, is now used by 16% of Swiss businesses. More recent examples have been created by local merchants, governments and citizens during times of great economic change, inflation or unemployment.

“A single Lewes Pound passes through far more hands – in exchange for goods and services – than a pound sterling, and remains in the local economy,” explain the organisers. “It is also a

size as Lewes and where over $1.5 Million have been issued or the WIR in Switzerland which is used by 16% of Swiss businesses.

“We’re not isolating ourselves but we’re building resilience from the environmental and economic challenges ahead while strengthening our community. We still welcome many aspects of the national and global economies, without which we would not be able to thrive as a community.”

That sense of community has been drawing businesses to Lewes for many years, and is bound to continue to do so as the town’s reputation for being forward-thinking, juxtaposed with its traditional loyalty and historic roots, continues to spread.

With proposed plans to improve the A27 in addition to direct rail links to the capital and easy access to ports and airports, Lewes could be on the cusp of unprecedented growth, but keeping the quirky, standapart community feel for which it is so well loved as a business location, a travel destination and a home will be key to maintaining this success.

“The Lewes Pound benefits local traders by increasing footfall and local business activity, encouraging people to buy local” powerful marketing tool since it helps the residents of Lewes understand some of the challenges we are facing and the benefits of a focus on local resilience.

In the longer-term, if the Lewes Pound proves to be successful, it will have a much bigger impact as more Lewes Pounds are released in the community, similar to the situation the US county of Berkshare, which has a similar population

www.lewes.co.uk www.thelewespound.org

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From Here to Infinity Estranged childhood friends team up for the UK’s first company to offer the design, supply and install of futuristic, ecologically conscious and cost saving lighting solutions Mathew Rutherford and Thomas Wynn known each Start-Up have other since they were seven, but it would have been hard to predict the twists and turns that would lead these childhood friends to be in business together today.

After all, since those days they’ve actually been working independently at opposite ends of the country, so is it fate that has brought them back together to form Inifinity Lighting Solutions, or just good business sense?

Infinity Lighting Solutions may well be the only lighting specialists in the UK to offer the design, supply and install of innovative lighting solutions for business and home consumers as one package.

By doing so, they aim to save businesses time and money and provide them with an all round better service by eliminating the need to hire a designer for one part of the job, source appropriate lighting products and then employ an electrician to fit them. It sounds simple, but Mathew highlighted that this was a gap in the market and, like all good businessmen, saw an opportunity in filling it.

Mathew had been working in sales for a major lighting company for some time, and was earning a good wage with decent perks when he became frustrated with the restrictions on him and began to think about starting his own business.

“I was having to turn down perhaps three out of every ten jobs that came our way, because of the way the business worked: we only worked with particular

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suppliers, so it was common not to be able to get every lighting product required for a project from that limited list. Turning jobs away, or having to rework designs to suit the products available, does not represent the best outcome for the supplier or the consumer but that was something I encountered a lot in the trade.”

Infinity’s product catalogue is made up of their picks of popular products but, Mat explains, it’s really just a showcase to give examples. If none of the favourite options highlighted by Infinity are right for your job, they’re free to source whatever’s appropriate from wherever they can get you a good deal. And of course, because you’re cutting out at least one, potentially two sets of ‘middle men’ and a lot of

legwork and research for yourself, this represents a substantial saving in time and money.

Of course, spanning these diverse areas of business requires focused expertise, and that’s where Thomas comes in. Whilst Mathew was forging his career in the sales, design and customer service side of lighting, Thomas - all the way up in Liverpool and no longer in contact with his childhood friend – was training and working as an electrical engineer.

Their reunion was even more fortuitous.

Mathew, hard at work writing up business plans for what was to become Infinity Lighting Solutions, knew he wouldn’t be able to realise his dreams on his own, but hadn’t yet consolidated his ideas enough

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An example of Infinity Lighting Solutions’ LED Downlights

to start looking for a partner, and he chewed this problem over with a friend.

This friend – who, it must be noted, had been sworn to secrecy about the whole conversation – happened to meet up with Tom whilst Tom was visiting family in Eastbourne, and noting the overlap of their career paths, nudged Tom back in Mathew’s direction.

Presumably Mathew forgave the mutual friend for his indiscretion as not only was he reunited with his first best friend as a result, but Tom turned out to have the exact set of skills Mat needed to complement his own and make Infinity Lighting Solutions a reality.

As a two-man team, Infinity began over a drink and within a couple of months, they had completed their first job for a satisfied customer, and ambitious plans were in place. Infinity intend to grow their team substantially as demand builds, and aim to be manufacturing their own LED products within 30 months, and the reason they are able to plan this ambitiously is because, they say, switching to LED lighting should be a ‘nobrainer’ for most businesses because it is an environmentally friendly solution which actually saves money.

“We do personalised cost-analyses for our customers,” explains Mat, “and find that typically, converting to LED lighting can save a business or home consumer up to 60% on their energy costs. When you then factor in reduced costs for maintenance and replacement, as LEDS that are fitted properly with

to reduce their carbon footprint, LEDbased lighting is a sound investment that will also reduce their ongoing energy consumption costs.

And of course, there’s the visual perspective: LED is softer, more modern than traditional workplace lighting, which can have a beneficial effect for staff wellbeing and customer impressions.

“LED lighting really is just a better option for the future, for everyone,” enthuses Mat. “It’s not just for businesses: we have plenty of interest in the products for home use, as they contribute to a really clean, calm, modern aesthetic. The effectiveness of this in a business setting is obvious, but LEDs also make very effective lighting solutions for larger workplaces such as industrial plants and warehouses.”

With the knowledge to make their offering an appealing one for the marketplace and the skills to put it into practice for a growing number of domestic and business clients, Infinity Lighting Solutions are prepared to carve their way in a growing market that has the potential to boost businesses all over Sussex. www.infinitylightingsolutions.co.uk

“For businesses looking to reduce their carbon footprint, LED-based lighting is a sound investment that will also reduce their ongoing energy consumption costs”

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the appropriate peripherals can last indefinitely, the saving is actually even more than this.”

Because it’s an ecologically sound measure, converting to LED lighting is a step that some businesses can qualify for a grant towards. Infinity Lighting Solutions are approved under the Enhanced Capital Allowance and Carbon Low Cost schemes, so they are eligible for the use of this funding. For businesses looking

Business start-ups

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Maximising People Potential Here in Lewes, we love to support our local entrepreneurs and none come more engaging and dynamic than Debbie Roberts, Management Coach and Training Specialist extraordinaire Here in Lewes, we love to support our local entrepreneurs and none come more engaging and dynamic than Debbie Roberts, business coach and training specialist extraordinaire of Aardvark Training.

Do you have a Petulant Pete within your organisation? Is his negativity affecting staff morale? If so, this could mean lower levels of productivity and potentially a high turnover rate, damaging your bottom line. Your key people are well, key to the success of your business.

She can turn Petulant Pete into Positive Pete for you. The results? Improved working relationships, better decisionmaking and much more confident communication. Your work place is calm and happy, people actually smile at each other and work towards shared goals.

Motivated, contented staff look forward to their working day and you, as a business owner benefit enormously – not to mention increased profits.

Founded in 1999, Aardvark Training is a friendly local business which helps people to achieve their goals within their careers or businesses and to be supported every step of the way. Since its inception Debbie’s trained, developed and coached over 3,000 people.

As an experienced management coach, she works with individuals to improve their leadership and management skills, increase confidence and self-belief with the ultimate aim of fine tuning overall team performance. A jolly good thing, wouldn’t you say?

Aardvark Training’s target market is two-fold: corporates, with which she works to develop the skills of managers and executives within them, perhaps newly promoted and in need of some management training. Smart company owners recognise that when a team pulls together and stays motivated, fewer people leave, thus saving time and

money. She also works with the individual who wants to progress his or her career and who realises that a little bit “extra” may be needed.

Debbie’s skills, however, are perfectly attuned to working with her second target market: local business people and sole traders. She understands that working on your own is tough. It can be a lonely world out there if the only person motivating you is...you.

That’s not all though. She loves to work with small teams or individuals within organisations to train and develop newly promoted managers, under performing executives or unmotivated managers.

Within a business, productivity equals profitability. Aardvark Training can deliver standard training programmes as required, and also work with organisations to uncover what’s going wrong and then to develop customised training programmes specifically to address the issues.

Aardvark Training’s courses are designed to encourage maximum

participation without dragging people through muddy fields and making your managers build things from old tins. Yikes. There’s a lot of self analysis, feedback, skills assessment, exercises and discussion. Each course is tailor made for your organisation and we’ll establish some challenging learning outcomes before we start.

Before setting up Aardvark Training, Debbie Roberts had a long and successful career in human resources.

Her warm and friendly style enables her to adapt to any sort of company culture, becoming a valuable part of the team as soon as she walks through the door.

Let’s leave the last word to Debbie: “I’m genuinely interested in people and I think it shows. The vast majority of my clients enjoy our sessions hugely and bounce out of our meeting ready to take on the world! I love what I do and I get great customer reviews”.

Intrigued? Good. Contact me, as below, to find out more.

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Get in Touch 01273 472048 / 07952 498527 | debbie@aardvarktraining.co.uk

A Timeless Classic Lewes’ White Hart Hotel blends mod cons with historic beauty

The White Hart Hotel Lewes Address: High Street, Lewes BN7 1XE 08444 119 474 res-whitehart@legacy-hotels.co.uk

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Walk into the White Hart Hotel and you walk back in time, Review as this has been the County town’s central meeting place since Tudor times. Originally a coaching inn, owned by a celebrated chef of the time William Verrall, (whose book is still in print), it became the headquarters of the ‘Headstrong Club’, a debating society which endures to this day. Outside, a blue plaque declares: ‘this inn is regarded as the cradle for American Independence which he helped to found with pen and sword’ Entering the hotel from the High street was an immediately welcome break from the howling wind and rain outside, doubly comforting because of the building’s wooden interiors and soft furnishings: there are no harsh glass, metal and ceramic fixings to jangle the sounds around and jangle your nerves the way there so often are in modern-styled hotels. We were greeted by the extremely affable Graham Coles who took over as Manager last summer. Throughout the rest of the evening - until at least 11 p.m. when we retired and then from 7a.m. the following morning when we came down for breakfast, we couldn’t help but notice his presence and unobtrusive attentiveness to other guests and to his staff. Does the man sleep?

He furnished us with details of the Hotel’s conference and business facilities, which are varied and competitively priced. The White Hart boasts three conference rooms; the Sherriff and Tudor rooms, and the larger purpose County Suite.

Graham is able to offer an extremely flexible and varied service with hire of these rooms, and associated catering, the rooms being charged at a rate of between £75 to £500.

The health suite boasts sauna, heated swimming pool, and a fully equipped gym. Adjacent to this is the back terrace area, from which you can enjoy a panoramic view of the downs.

We sat in the magnificent panelled dining room and enjoyed a delicious meal including a starter of smoked breast of duck with a cranberry and orange dressing, and a main of guinea fowl breast with dauphinoise potatoes and aubergine puree, buttered green beans and red wine jus.

Our room was beautifully interesting, being opened up to the roof beams, and as you would expect of a Tudor building had a less than level floor! In the morning, we were rewarded with a view to the south across the higgledy piggledy historic rooftops of Lewes.

A restful sleep, and no, no ghosts in Tudor ruffs appeared at any time – I did ask Graham but he refused to be drawn in on the topic.

Tried & Tested in Lewes

Working Lunch

A pleasant change of pace in the heart of Lewes

Pelham House Lewes

Address: Pelham House, St. Andrews Lane, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1UW Tel: 01273 488 600 Web: www.pelhamhouse.com

A meeting at Pelham House feels Review like lunching over business might have felt back in gentler times… people taking their time to meander around the issues of the day, discussing and deliberating, rather than grabbing a coffee and a wrap and firing off emails from the train…

There had been a house on the site of Pelham House for 200 years when, in 1725, Thomas Pelham bought the house and re-fronted the Elizabethan mansion in the classical style it bears today.

The Pelham’s current incarnation as a 21st century hotel and conference centre wears its history proudly. There’s a nod to local Bloomsbury heritage - look skyward in reception to see artist Julian Bell’s tightrope walker traverse entrance hall ceiling - at the same time as offering the visitor everything you’d expect from a modern venue. There are meeting rooms for hire and many a wedding and civil ceremony has graced its terrace and chamber rooms.

However, we’re here for lunch and, from the minute we arrive, our waiter Sam – calm, efficient, and courteous – does all he can to make our visit as much about pleasure as business.

My lunch partner goes for the wood pigeon salad starter which comes with a delicious lentil accompaniment, served beautifully on a slate tile. I go for the scallops which come with a creamy hollandaise sauce and watercress garnish.

The hotel buys wine from Brighton-based Portuguese ‘Wine Importer of the Year’ and, on Sam’s recommendation, we chose a crisp Vinho Verde. There’s a slight fizz to the wine which gives the whole occasion a celebratory feel.

The wine also works well with the white and red meats we’ve chosen for our main courses. My lunch companion opted for ballotine of chicken – roundels of chicken breast wrapped in proscuitto, accompanied by a layered black pudding dish, with a delicious crispy almost tempura-style broccoli.

Nothing but nothing on my friend’s plate, she said, was anything less than a delight. My venison was exquisitely tender and immensely satisfying.

Although time was pressing by the time we got to desserts, we threw caution to the wind and ordered the chocolate pudding, with honeycomb and vanilla ice cream which the menu warned would take 20 minutes in preparation. In fact, Sam quietly did his stuff and it arrived in a respectable ten, at the same time as a cheeseboard which included an impressive spread of local and more regional cheeses.

There’s nothing not to like at Pelham House – perfect staff, extremely good food prepared by Glen Lester, who until recently worked at Terre a Terre, and a stylish wine list. The atmosphere is relaxed and certainly not intimidating and at the same time feeling pleasurably special. Highly recommended - if business were always this much fun, the weekends would roll around much too quickly!

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Thursday 3rd april 2014 @ La cantina, eastbourne

DINERS CLUB

ÂŁ14.95pp including Welcome Cocktail and Wine!

Dine and Network at La Cantina of Eastbourne and meet with the people that make Sussex great!

Experience the incredible rolling menu, exclusively tailored for the SBT Diners Club members.

Pre-booking with payment is essential as numbers are limited for this event.

BOOK NOW

Complete and return to confirm your seats, or simply call Lottie on 01323 411601.

Alternatively email lottie@sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk with your requirements.

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Thank you to everyone who has supported the Diners Club - Eastbourne so far. We look forward to seeing you all in the new year.

Book Extract

‘Young Money’ Inside the Hidden World of Wall Street’s Post-Crash Recruits

Most people who follow the headlines are aware of the lifestyles of Wall Street’s titans — and the vast bonuses that fund those lives of luxury. Kevin Roose’s new Young Money looks at the bottom of that ladder: the college kids who arrived on Wall Street after the economic crash of 2008, prepared to put their noses to the grindstone in the hopes of making it big — or just making a decent living.

Roose’s previous book, The Unlikely Disciple, chronicled his semester undercover at Liberty University, the evangelical school founded by Jerry Falwell. This time around, Roose knew that more undercover work was probably out of the question — so he set out to befriend a group of young bankers.

What motivated them to crank out 100-hour weeks making insanely detailed Excel spreadsheets, to surrender their lives, to endure sneers at family gatherings when the industry seemed to be in free fall? And most importantly, how did living that life change these young people?

In these two chapters, we meet one of the bankers Roose befriended over the course of three years, and we catch up with the author, who’s wondering how college kids get into finance in the first place. Just a note: Names and personal details — as well as the names of some of the firms in the book — have been changed to preserve anonymity. Young Money will be published Feb. 18 2014.

Chapter 1 Arjun Khan straightened his tie, Insight brushed a lint ball off the charcoal gray suit he’d bought for $179 at Lord and Taylor to wear to his high school graduation, gave his hair a final pat, inspected his teeth for food in the bathroom mirror, and bounded out the door of his apartment and into the elevator of his downtown high-rise.

A confident, bright-eyed twenty-twoyear-old with an aquiline nose and a slight belly paunch, Arjun was on his way to his first day of work as a mergers and acquisitions analyst at Citigroup. His neck muscles were tense and his stomach was turning over, but those were just surface nerves. Mostly, he was filled with the flinty resolve of the newly emboldened.

After thousands of hours of preparation, dozens of interviews and expertly crafted e-mails, and one extremely lucky break, he had finally become a junior investment banker at a major Wall Street firm — the job he’d been chasing for years.

Nine months earlier, Arjun’s plans had been derailed by the financial crisis. The Queens-born son of a data engineer father and a social worker mother who had both emigrated from India to New York as young professionals, he headed into the fall of his senior year with a prestigious job offer at one of the best banks on Wall Street: Lehman Brothers.

Arjun felt lucky to have gotten Lehman’s attention in the first place. He attended Fordham University, a Jesuit school in the Bronx that, while strong academically, wasn’t among Wall Street’s so-called target schools, a group that generally included the Ivies, plus schools like Stanford, New York University, Duke, and the University of Chicago. That meant he had to work harder to get his

foot in the door — joining the Finance Society at Fordham, attending lectures at Columbia Business School, spending his free time watching CNBC to pick up the cadence of the investor class. And his strategy worked. He secured a junior-year internship at Lehman, and he did well enough that at the end of the summer, he was offered a fulltime job beginning after his graduation. His recruiter told him, sotto voce, that he had been the only Fordham student to get an offer from Lehman that year.

Kevin Roose’s previous book, The Unlikely Disciple, chronicled his semester undercover at Liberty University, the evangelical school founded by Jerry Falwell.

Janine Cheng During Arjun’s internship, things began to go south. Ever since the Bear Stearns collapse earlier that year, industry watchers had been speculating that Lehman would be the next bank to fail.

The firm’s stock price had tumbled, thousands of workers had gotten laid off, and one well-regarded hedge fund manager jolted Wall Street that summer by proclaiming that Lehman wasn’t properly accounting for its real estate investments. Still, Arjun assumed that Lehman would be fine.

He was wrong, of course. In September 2008, while Arjun was starting his senior year at Fordham, Lehman filed for bankruptcy. (Most of its U.S. operations were bought several weeks later by Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of the large British firm.) The same day, Merrill Lynch, which had also been pummeled by the housing collapse, announced it was selling itself to Bank of America for $50 billion. AIG, an insurer weighed down by towering piles of credit default swaps, had to be given a massive

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“In the worst Wall Street hiring climate in a generation, he’d finally gotten a seat at the table.

He was proud of how far he’d come”

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$182 billion bailout, and Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last freestanding American investment banks, turned themselves into bank holding companies in order to give themselves better access to the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending window. Congress passed a $700 billion bailout package that gave a lifeline to banks and kept the markets afloat, and the entire country sunk into a recession that would cost millions of jobs, engulf every sector of the economy, and... well, you can probably fill in the rest.

From the Fordham campus, Arjun watched reports about Lehman’s bankruptcy with a knot in his stomach, knowing that it would probably cost him his job. And several weeks after the bank’s sudden death, he was in chemistry class when he got a call from an unfamiliar number with a 212 area code. He let the call go to voice mail, then checked it in the hall after class.

“Hi Arjun, this is John from Barclays Capital,” the voice on the message said.

“Obviously, you know why I’m calling. I just wanted to let you know that I’m very sorry, but we’re not going to have a seat for you next summer.”

After the bankruptcy, Barclays Capital’s human resources department tried to help Lehman’s spurned analysts find new jobs. But that just salted the wound.

One human resources staffer pointed Arjun to a job at a small private wealth management firm in Miami — the financial sector equivalent of being cut from the Yankees’ starting lineup and offered a benchwarmer spot with the Toledo Mud Hens.

“I’m just interested in investment banking,” Arjun told the staffer. “I don’t care what city it’s in.”

Arjun knew that Wall Street operated on a strict power hierarchy. Within every firm, there were so-called back-office workers who cleared trades, maintained the firm’s computer systems, and performed all other kinds of technical and administrative work. One step up was the middle office, which comprised lots of disparate jobs that were important to the functioning of the bank but were not revenue-generating in their own right: legal, compliance, internal risk management. And then there was the promised land: the front office. The front office was what everyone pictured when they thought of Wall Street — pinstripeclad deal makers and red-faced traders,

making millions and getting their work on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

And when he decided to pursue a job in finance, Arjun decided he would accept nothing less.

But now, everything had changed. With the failures of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill Lynch, the so-called bulge bracket of top-tier American banks was whittled down to just five firms: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and JPMorgan Chase. And even those firms looked to be in jeopardy. All around the financial sector, the markers of success and failure were shifting.

Tiny boutique firms were weathering the changes better than global financial conglomerates. In some cases front office bankers were being laid off while backoffice IT workers were being promoted.

Up was down. Down was up.

That year, as the crisis unfolded, the message boards at Wall Street Oasis, a popular finance-industry website, filled with posts from confused young finance aspirants, wondering what the industry’s changes would mean for them: Reconsidering Wall Street?

Will banking recover? How long?

Are banks really not hiring for the fall?

In September, one poster summarized many of the fears about what would happen to the financial industry: “I think it’ll be a long time, if ever, before the swagger returns to Wall Street. The ‘Masters of the Universe’ image has been shattered.”

Newly jobless, Arjun spent the rest of his senior year looking for work.

He applied to financial internships on Craigslist, sent out dozens of résumés and cover letters, and pressed on every finance-industry connection he had. But nothing materialized — nobody was hiring. Finally, in late spring of his senior year, Citigroup contacted him about a last-minute opening in the bank’s mergers and acquisitions division, where they needed another analyst to help with a bigger-than-expected workload going into the summer. Citigroup, like most banks, had been battered by the financial crisis, losing billions of dollars and being saved only by a massive government bailout.

But the bank was alive, and it was doing deals again. Arjun knew that with the year’s recruiting cycle already over, it was likely to be the only front-office offer he

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 41

Book Extract

would get. So a few weeks before his college graduation, he accepted.

Throughout college, Arjun had drawn inspiration from the lives of people who had made it big on Wall Street despite not having the advantages of privilege or pedigree. The most famous example was Sidney Weinberg, a working-class Jewish kid from the slums of Brooklyn who started as a janitor’s assistant at Goldman Sachs in 1907 and eventually worked his way up to become the senior partner of the firm. But there were more recent role models, too. Arjun knew, for instance, that there had been a Lebanese-American executive who had gone to Pace University — not exactly a finance feeder school — yet had become the vice chairman of Bear Stearns and one of the most powerful deal makers on Wall Street. Even Citigroup’s CEO, Vikram Pandit, was an Indian-born outsider who had trained as an electrical engineer before breaking into finance. On Wall Street, he thought, it didn’t matter whether you were a blueblooded WASP with degrees from Exeter and Harvard or, like him, an Indian kid from Queens with no family connections. If you were talented, if you could make money, and if you were willing to kick down every obstacle in your path, you could qualify as what is known in certain parts of the financial world as a “PHD” — a “poor, hungry, and driven” worker — and, eventually, you could make it to the inner circle.

But now, as he surveyed the wreckage of the crisis, Arjun felt even less sure than ever that the old social compact still held.

After all, who knew what would happen to Wall Street in a year? More banks could go under. Entire lines of business could be wiped out by new regulations.

There was no telling whether New Wall Street would look anything like Old Wall Street, or whether the traits that had mattered in American finance for the better part of three hundred years — hard work, hustle, and commercial instinct — would still be rewarded in the future.

As he got ready for work on his first day, though, Arjun’s anxiety was trumped by excitement. In the worst Wall Street hiring climate in a generation, he’d finally gotten a seat at the table. He was proud of how far he’d come. He knew he’d made his parents proud, too, by getting a job at a prestigious bank they recognized by name and reputation. And

42 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

he was determined to prove to his new colleagues that he could work every bit as hard as they did, even if he didn’t have an Ivy League degree behind him or a trust fund lying in wait.

As he walked out into the brightly lit Manhattan streets that morning, Arjun gave his building’s front desk attendant a smile and a wave. Then, he walked through the open door, pointed his captoe shoes toward the bank, and started to strut.

Chapter 3 After my Excel boot camp was over, I decided to back up a bit and try to answer a more basic question about young financiers: namely, how do they get to Wall Street in the first place? So I booked a ticket to a place where the vast majority of financial careers are born — the campus of an elite university — and went to see the finance recruiting machine in action.

I wound up in Philadelphia, on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.

On the day I arrived, it was raining buckets, but a biblical flood wouldn’t have kept a small army of students from making their way to Houston Hall. There, in their illfitting suits, their leather padfolios clutched tightly to their sides, hundreds of eager Penn sophomores, juniors, and seniors filed into a recruiting session for Morgan Stanley, where they would hear a one-hour pitch for the bank’s virtues and, hopefully, score a business card or two.

When most of the seats were filled, the lights inside the room dimmed, and a Morgan Stanley recruiter pressed Play to begin a promotional video. Upbeat poprock music played as the screen filled with text banners: IN THE FINANCE WORLD, EVERY DAY IS A NEW DAY. SOME DAYS, FORTUNES WILL BE MADE. OTHER DAYS, HISTORY WILL. THE STORY OF A NEW GENERATION OF LEADERS. FROM THE FIRM THAT BROUGHT YOU GOOGLE, UPS, AND JETBLUE COMES THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME. BOUNDARIES WILL BE SHATTERED. EVERY VOICE WILL BE HEARD. AND THE FUTURE WILL BE BRIGHT.

Excerpted from the book Young Money

by Kevin Roose. Copyright 2014 by Kevin Roose. Reprinted by permission of Grand Central Publishing. All rights reserved.

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www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 43

A Code 9 Emergency?

HMRC to step up its investigation of tax fraud under Code of Practice 9 Tax investigation numbers to increase!

Focus There can be no doubt that HM Revenue and Customs, have made concerted efforts to raise public awareness in relation to matters of tax compliance. Frequent Television and Media campaigns have been broadcast, reminding us all of our responsibilities and obligations in this respect.

More recently HMRC have made known their intentions of intensifying their approach to tax compliance, and through improved internal efficiencies one can reasonably expect to see a significant uplift in the number of tax investigations undertaken, year on year.

Indeed, if further proof was ever needed, during the year ended 31st December 2013 the number of HMRC criminal prosecutions rose by almost 50% when compared with the preceding calendar year!

44 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

Code of Practice 9 (COP 9) – Investigation of Tax Fraud 0Amongst the most serious type of tax investigation is HMRC’s ‘Code of Practice 9’.

Typically HMRC will conduct investigations in accordance with COP 9 in cases where they have reason to suspect serious tax fraud, likely to generate a ‘significant’ total yield of under declared tax, interest and penalties following this rather formal investigative process.

These investigations are carried out by main specialist divisions within HMRC, the ‘Civil Investigation of Fraud’ (CIF) unit, or the ‘Specialist Investigations’ (SI) team. Both divisions are staffed by experienced and highly trained tax fraud Inspectors, and the seriousness of enquiries undertaken by both divisions simply cannot be overstated.

What is a Code of Practice 9 Investigation?

COP 9 investigations cover all the

main taxes: Corporation Tax, Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax, CIS Tax, PAYE and VAT. Once notification of an investigation under COP 9 has been issued, under HMRC’s formal Contractual Disclosure Facility the recipient can obtain protection against the threat of criminal prosecution for the alleged tax fraud, providing they agree to provide full cooperation and compliance with the investigation, with a view to making full and complete disclosure of all tax irregularities.

It should be noted that HMRC reserve the right to instigate criminal proceedings where materially false statements are made during the course of the investigation.

A Twenty year window of review.

Under a COP 9 investigation, HMRC can go back as far as 20 years, to reclaim tax, if they have reason to suspect that the tax irregularities identified stretch back this far.

This of course can lead to much soul

searching, and recourse to numerous third parties, in an attempt to obtain the necessary responses and/or supporting documentary evidence deemed appropriate The Key Points Following initial contact from HMRC, the recipient will be granted a statutory 60 day time period to comply with the terms of the Contractual Disclosure Facility.

This will involve the recipient: • Preparing and submitting an initial ‘Outline Disclosure,’ volunteering all known areas where tax irregularities are thought to have arisen.

• Sign a formal statement to confirm to HMRC that the information provided is accurate and complete.

• To agree to pay all taxes, duties, interest and penalties due.

• To stop any tax fraud/evasion, with immediate effect.

Following this 60 day period, the recipient is then ‘invited’ to attend an initial interview with HMRC officials, at which point formal questioning will be undertaken. At this meeting opportunity will be given to discuss all matters incorporated within the initial Outline Disclosure, and to agree to make a full and complete disclosure of all known irregularities in their tax affairs over the last twenty years.

It should be noted, that prior to launching a COP 9 tax investigation, one can be assured that HMRC will have carried out a vast amount of their own background research on each case, and through their own due diligence HMRC will have compiled its own dossier of facts and relevant matters, which are expected to be incorporated in the recipients initial outline disclosure. Naturally if there are material gaps and/or omissions, HMRC reserve the right to take matters forward under a criminal prosecution basis, a course of action which those subject to this type of tax investigation presumably wish to avoid.

Having then broadly reached agreement with HMRC as to the content and matters covered by this initial outline disclosure, HMRC will then formally instruct the recipient to produce a full Disclosure Report. This is a most comprehensive and detailed report, to include (but not limited to) a brief personal and business history, plus

“HMRC can go back as far as 20 years, to reclaim tax, if they have reason to suspect that the tax irregularities identified stretch back this far” the nature and extent of all tax irregularities identified, and how they arose.

The report will also include the computational effects of each area of tax fraud identified and will ultimately look to quantify the ‘correct’ levels of tax and duties due and payable.

Allied to the full disclosure report will be the many appendices documenting the third party responses received, and additional schedules prepared, to support the views and findings contained within the aforementioned ‘full disclosure report’.

Lastly, the recipient shall also be obliged to submit a certified statement of ‘worldwide’ assets and liabilities, together with certificates of all bank / building society accounts, and credit cards operated, throughout the period covered by the Disclosure Report.

Usually HMRC has an expectation of receiving the Full Disclosure Report within six months following the date of the opening meeting, although it would be fair to note that in many instances HMRC demonstrate some flexibility in this matter, and are not adverse to granting additional time should this be required in order to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the report.

A good report is considered critical in helping to determine the correct amount of tax and duties payable, whilst assisting the recipient to negotiate and mitigate the additional interest and penalties assessable. Whereas a badly prepared report may potentially increase a taxpayer’s eventual liability, and also the risk of criminal prosecution!

Professional representation – a must !

Due to seriousness of these tax fraud investigations, HMRC encourage those under COP 9 investigation to appoint professional advisors, with suitable experience in dealing with these types of investigation, to help guide them through the process and to offer advice, assistance and support throughout.

As mentioned above, at a relatively early stage in proceedings, COP 9 offers the recipient a chance to avoid criminal prosecution, and it is therefore essential that help and advice should be taken at the earliest opportunity For reasons outlined, appointing the right professional advisor therefore tends to be critical. Working closely with the recipient, the advisor should offer comprehensive support to ensure that from the point of initial contact, right through to the eventual conclusion of the investigation, the recipient is professionally represented, and that they are treated fairly and their best interests protected at all times.

HMRC expects high standards from the appointed professional advisor, who ordinarily are expected to attend each meeting held with HMRC In summary A COP 9 tax fraud investigation can be a very distressing and stressful time for the recipient. Help though is at hand, and one should not feel embarrassed to ask for help.

For further information on COP 9 tax investigations please visit HMRC’s own website.

By Dean Clark FCCA, partner in turpin barker armstrong, 020 8661 7878 dean.clark@turpinba.co.uk.

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 45

Small But

Perfectly Formed “I felt completely ready to run the business with clear ideas for growth and progression, and the time was right”

OPPOSITE, Top to Bottom: Clare Crouch with Cliffe Bonfire Society Inside the hrscreative studio hrscreative’s studio in lewes

46 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

Lewes-based hrscreative have carved their niche in bespoke, hands-on media management that’s compact and cost-efficient

hrscreative - headed up by Clare Crouch - offer big city Profile perspective with all the benefits of working with a small local business. They provide a wide range of local and national clients with services related to their web design, digital media, corporate identity, marketing campaigns, display, literature and newsletters as well as managing print and photography.

“We maintain a close, friendly and trusting relationship with all our clients,” explains Clare Crouch. “Because of the size of our business, we’re able to really keep clients in the loop at every step of their project, giving them the personal service and tight, consistent management that many feel is missing from larger agencies.

“Of course, it also means our overheads are lower than a London based company’s would be, which in turn means we can offer more transparent costings and savings for our clients.” hrscreative started life in 1987 as Hill Rae Smith Associates Limited, based in a Victorian Hop Exchange at London Bridge. Relocating to the Star Brewery in Lewes allowed the team to surround

themselves in businesses involved in the arts and crafts, from illustrators to jewellery designers, guitar makers to architects, and in the historical and beautiful surroundings of East Sussex’ county town. “It’s a fascinating place to work,” says Clare. “Im very much involved with the Cliffe Bonfire Society and other local communities so the more you put in the more you get out, it’s like having an extended family.”

Having grown up in Lewes and worked in the area since leaving school, Clare is actively involved in the local community and dedicated to combining hrscreative’s high standards with that elusive local touch. Shortly after hrscreative answered their creative calling to be centred in the artistic community of Lewes, Clare answered her own calling to immerse herself in creative business thinking and move the business of hrscreative in the right direction for its clients.

“I started working for hrscreative in 1990 as a secretary and bookkeeper whilst attending evening courses in accountancy at Lewes College and thought this was the way my life would pan out,” Clare explains. “But then, I started working in a creative environment and quickly realised it was time for a re-think!

Success Story

“The Directors of hrscreative were great people to have around me whilst I had this epiphany – I couldn’t have been in a better company. They saw my potential and trained me from within, sending me on training courses in Lewes and Brighton, and then giving me the opportunity to put the skills I was developing into practice for our clients. My role grew considerably, quickly seeing me taking on the role of Studio Manager, covering a multitude of disciplines including the day-to-day running of the office, allocating projects to designers, estimating and scheduling projects and client liaison. As part of this, I would spend a lot of my time having project meetings and informal catch-ups with clients, which I realised was an integral part of offering them a rewarding creative experience which would lead to the results they wanted.

“I like to work as an extension of our clients’ team so regular contact via telephone, email and face to face is important to me and highly valued by our clients and ensures their needs are met. This is one of the principle tenets of our business, and I feel one that really sets us apart from other agencies – even offering something over and above the bigger competition!

“In 2011, Deb Rae Smith - the ‘rs’ in ‘hrs’ - was unfortunately taken ill. I said ‘just go and get better, I’ll keep things running here…’ which, of course, I did. Unfortunately for Deb the recovery process was longer than we had really anticipated, but

we carried on and the business continued to be successful. In 2012, Deb gifted me a 30% share of the business as a thank you for my hard work in running everything and in recognition of how well I was doing.

“Last Summer, still not ready to come back to work, Deb asked me if I’d be interested in buying the rest of the company as she’d decided it wasn’t practical for her to come back. Although I was sad that I would no longer be working with my friend and mentor as I had been, I felt completely ready to run the business with clear ideas for growth and progression, and the time as right. We came to a mutual agreement, and we completed on the 14th February 2014.”

Under Clare’s leadership, hrscreative will continue to build on its unique blend of interactivity, expertise and big-city business sense with the creative approach so befitting a Lewes business.

Despite priding themselves on being ‘a small business’ in the sense of premises and number of team members, it’s clear that hrscreative are no lightweights in their arena, with a client list that includes national organisations such as NatWest Bank, Kings College, London, Prezzo Restaurants plc and Unison, as well as more local clients such as East Sussex County Council and Action in rural Sussex. Working with such a broad spread of businesses, hrscreative are well on their way to shaping the aesthetic of Sussex business.

Examples of hrscreative’s Work

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 47

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Nutrition

How to be an Athlete at Work The “workplace” in today’s fast-paced and highly competitive Tips world, demands from the individual a constant flow of “energy”: day-in, day-out. Whether your “workplace” is an office in a high-rise building, a classroom or lecture theatre, van, kitchen, or your very own home, makes no difference. Each day, we all require energy to focus, concentrate, and

be mentally and physically alert.

Think of an athlete, who trains daily to enhance his or her physical (and mental) performance. Part and parcel of this “training” is correct fuelling (i.e. eating fresh, natural, health-giving foods), and of course recovery (i.e. rest and sleep). You are no different! Just as an athlete realises the importance of these aspects in order to reach his or her full potential, so too must the individual at work take all these points into consideration…

“You are what you eat” is a commonly

used term nowadays, and has possibly lost some of its impact! However, no truer words could be spoken, when referring to “energy” of the body and mind. Good nutrition is the “fuel” to produce physical and mental energy, and is closely linked to your productivity – at work and in the home. The healthier and fitter a person, the more productive and energetic they will be. In addition, eating healthy nutritious food “equips” the body to handle the inevitable stresses and challenges of working life.

Improve your nutrition, and boost energy at work… or take some simple raw crudités such as baby tomatoes, sliced cucumber, chopped carrot, celery, courgette and mange tout peas, and pot of hummus, or an avocado.

Begin each day on the right note. Eat a high-energy nutritious breakfast – choose oats with fresh berries, or a simple dish of chopped apple and pear with natural yogurt and a handful of almonds. If you have a long morning ahead, try a proteinrich breakfast, such as a courgette and pea omelette, or poached or scrambled eggs on wholegrain toast.

Snack on whole fresh fruits, or small handfuls of raw seeds, mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Try healthy food bars too, such as “Nakd bars” - perfect “food on the go” or for lifting flagging energy levels.

Drink plenty of water or watereddown fruit juices to stay fully hydrated throughout the day. If you want something hot, choose green tea, or peppermint tea for a refreshing lift.

Avoid relying on, or fuelling on stimulants or “fast sugars”. These are infact “dietary stressors” and include caffeine, highsugar, or highly refined foods such as biscuits, most commercial cereal bars, sweets, cookies, donuts, chocolate bars, pastries and cakes. Although you may initially feel an “energy lift” or boost, these foods and drinks will ultimately “drain” precious energy.

Keep healthy snacks at work. The least messy and nutritionally ideal would be a raw seed mix, a banana, grapes, an apple, cherry tomatoes, clementines, Nakd bars, a pot of yogurt, or some hummus and raw vegetables.

Choose a protein-based lunch such as fish (tinned or fresh), with a wide variety of vegetables, a bean or pulse salad,

Move away from your desk, or out of the office, especially to eat lunch. If you can, take a walk at lunchtime, and breathe in some fresh air. This in itself will energise you for the rest of the day.

Finally, let’s sum up…

Ensure you take regular breaks throughout the day, try and get outside at some point, and remember to eat well, and eat natural! Be aware that the food you eat will either “drain” your energy, or “feed” you energy!

Lucy-Ann Prideaux MSc BSc RNutr Registered Nutritionist

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 49

The Sky’s the Limit

Boldy going where no printer has gone before For a company that has been around for over three decades, expanded dramatically in the past three years, reinvested more that £2,000,000 in its infrastructure, employs over 200 people and has a turnover of £15 million, the MD, Steve Cropper is rather unassuming and totally relaxed.

The company, or group of companies that make up Gemini Group, operates in quite possibly the most competitive and price sensitive market in the world yet it continues to out perform its annual targets.

Steve Cropper of Gemini Print talks about what makes this business a rocketing success.

Since the time of the Gotenberg press the ability to put ink on paper has kept us printers in business! However, the world has moved on monumentally and we weren’t going to be the next poor Triceratops – en route to extinction. No, we were going boldly where no one has gone before!

The key growth strategy for Gemini, as with businesses in almost every sector, has been to expand our services – offering a lot more than just printing.

Despite the sometimes unbelievably competitive nature of this sector, bordering on commodity price wars, where other businesses have been reluctant to expand, we have shifted up a gear.

It was clear that our business model could not simply start and end with the actual print job. Data and the creative

management of this media have helped strengthen our relationship with clients.

Our investment in providing personalised print and a fulfillment service has helped clients achieve more from their marketing communications budgets - as research shows that personalised print consistently delivers superior response rates.

Of course traditional print still has its place. And interweaving this with the growing power of social media will give us even more opportunities to grow our client relationships.

Gemini has investment further in high tech digital printing and this is allied to our web2print service - so customers with outlets in various locations can order print on demand.

The result of all of this: we now own and control the entire job from start to finish. From a customer’s point of view, this makes the whole process easier and of course, cheaper.

I would put our success under three headings: Investment and capabilities A problem for many businesses, not least most printer operations, is that they don’t have all the capabilities in-house and therefore need to subcontract various elements. For sure, it is an expensive business investing in all the latest printing and finishing equipment. Our latest highspeed litho printer cost £1,000,000 and this kind of investment is not available or affordable for most other print operations.

However, our constant investment has

given us the rocket fuel to power our success.

Control However it’s important to be a good navigator of this super fuelled rocket too.

Having complete ownership and control of an entire print project brings with it a high element of confidence - we know where we’re going and what to expect.

Gemini is not reliant on any another supplier to finish a job, to store a job, or even to deliver the final product to a customer. We do it all - from design concept to delivery.

Skills and the team Of course a big element of our success is the team that is manning this super fuelled rocket. Printing is a skill, and yes a lot of it is automated… but attention to detail and anticipating issues help propel our success. Our team knows the business inside out. They are highly skilled advisers and help keep our customers loyal.

We encourage a roll-up-your-sleeves meritocracy, and I sometimes dive in and help with the work so everyone can see we are in this together. And we aren’t afraid of competition; competition pushes us to excel in our field, to go further, and do it faster. Next stop Mars!

Gemini Print is at the hub of the Gemini Group, that consists of four printing companies making it the largest and most capable print operators in the southern half of England.

For more information visit: www.gemini-print.co.uk 50 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

Steve Cropper, Managing Director, Gemini Group

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 51

Test Drive SBT’s Simon Skinner tests out the new Jaguar XJ PORTFOLIO SWB

Review

Jaguar xj portfolio swb

One thing is clear, this Jaguar represents the first ‘major’ redesign of the legendary XJ series, the shape of which has been synonymous with the brand; perhaps even as much as the classic 911 shape has been to Porsche over the last few decades. Considering this, it was with some excitement that the keys were received at the SBT offices with the promise of a week’s luxury motoring ahead.

Straight away, the car felt instantly as Jaguars have always done: smooth, sleek and with a drive that is akin at times to floating. Not the kind of floating that you might have experienced with an older, top of the range Jaguar but a newer, more defined drive that offers an experience better suited for those who like corners and the odd rumble of an imperfect road. Of course, there are a host of options to consider in this respect; it would be difficult not to find a setting that suits the individual.

It’s fair to say that this is the sort of car in which one is more likely to be driven, and not one that one would find themselves at the wheel too often.

It comes as no surprise that this car is the choice of many a politician and let’s face it, they are along the lines of customer at which this car is aimed and certainly the kind of customer who can afford it. With it’s [optional] rear screens, bluetooth headphones and retractable desk which pops neatly in and out of the front seats, this is the kind of drive in which you could easily and comfortably get a lot of work done; and the kind of smoothness which will prevent your writing being jogged as you travel.

Back behind the drivers seat though, one feels that some compromise

52 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

has been made with rear visibility somewhat in favour of the ‘eyes’ in the centre console. Whilst this technology is extremely clever and brilliantly effective, it takes some getting used to and an unusual amount of trust in the engineering to put your hands (or your eyes) fully into the ability of the car.

Personally, I’d still like to be able to see the blind spots easily. Just to check.

The response of the beastly engine is palpable and a dream in full auto but especially using the flappy paddles.

It’s my first experience of automatically controlled high/low beam headlights and I have to profess to the fact that I now believe that Jaguar Land Rover now have their own set of magicians working within their walls.

Still, I’m sure this kind of thing will become more and more commonplace in cars as time moves on and rear screens will become less and less of a requirement. I know that I would happily take the chance to get used to it, given the opportunity to keep hold of this 3.0 litre V6 Supercharged petrol powered beauty for longer!

Motoring

Technical Information Engine: 3.0 litre V6 Supercharged Petrol Engine Capacity: 2995cc Cylinders/valves per cylinder: 6/4 Maximum Power - EEC PS (kW): 340 (250) Maximum Torque - EEC Nm (lb.ft): 450 (332) Transmission: 8-speed transmission with Jaguar Sequential Shift™ Acceleration 0-60 mph (0-100km/h) sec: 5.7 (5.9) Maximum Speed - mph (km/h): 155 Limited (250) Urban - mpg (l/100km): 20.9 (13.5) Extra urban - mpg (l/100km): 38.2 (7.4) Combined - mpg (l/100km): 29.4 (9.6) Carbon dioxide emissions - g/km: 224

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 53

SBTSport News Sport Support

Lewes FC are rejucenating the ‘Dripping Pan’ that has been the home of the club since 1885.

When the project can be undertaken will depend on the popularity of the club’s Regeneration Share Offer, which allows supporters to invest in the club in a protected manner andl receive 30% tax relief on the amount they put in.

The first phase will involve building a 3G all-weather pitch adjacent to the Dripping Pan, which will be used every day by schools, colleges, clubs and community groups. Inside the ground, a new two-story block is to be built, which will comprise changing rooms, officials’ rooms, first aid room, physio room, toilets plus a large cafe/bar and function room area.

Accelerating MotoGP Success!

Brighton’s Eyesite Opticians and Worthing-based FAB-Racing are helping a young MotoGP star become a champion of tomorrow thanks to sponsorship in the form of the very latest in prescription sports eyewear and eyecare.

16-year-old Brad Ray from Lydd is the only British rider chosen f to compete in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. By 2013 Brad had risen to become one of the best young MotoGP riders in the world, but he was being impeded by his poor eyesight. Thanks to this local support he may be well on his way to glory.

54 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

Amex Parking Overhaul Paul Barber, Chief Executive of Brighton Hove Albion Football Club, has announced measures to tackle mounting difficulties surrounding parking arrangements at the AMEX Stadium.

“Moving up to 30,000 people in and out of any football stadium is a significant challenge,” said Paul. “It’s no different at the Amex and it’s even more challenging for evening matches when people tend to arrive at the stadium later, leave immediately after the final whistle, and use their cars more with many people coming to the Amex directly from work.”

New measures to control the flow of traffic from and to the carpark is also aimed at promoting use of the excellent train links to the stadium; the stadium’s

park and ride services and the various Seagull Travel and supporter club coach services, as well as reducing the risk of significant accident.The current position is not acceptable to many supporters or to the club.”

As a result of these decisions, the club’s park and ride buses and supporter coaches will be prioritised immediately after the final whistle, and the club’s own Bennett’s Field and VIP car parks will be closed from the 70th minute of the match until a minimum of 45 minutes after the final whistle to ease traffic Pick ups and drop offs inthe Village Way area will no longer be allowed. There are further changes, which can be read at www. seagulls.co.uk

Sussex County Cricket Club Announce New Major Sponsorship Sussex County Cricket Club have signed a major new sponsorship deal with Jointing Technologies, which will see their name displayed on the Sharks’ NatWest T20 Blast playing shirts for at least the next three seasons.

Jointing Technologies is a local business supplying a range of market leading products into power generation, distribution, renewable energy and private network projects from a distribution network nationwide.

With the shortest format of the game having been rebranded to the NatWest T20 Blast this season, and with the majority of games being played on Friday evenings, the Sharks are aiming to get their T20 season off to an explosive start when they begin this year’s campaign against rivals Surrey at

The BrightonandHoveJobs.com County Ground, Hove on Friday 16th May. Sussex’s Chief Executive Zac Toumazi said, “We’re absolutely delighted. It is crucial that as well as maintaining fruitful relationships with our existing sponsors that we continue to attract new businesses and organisations to be involved at Sussex.”

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It’s estimated that up to 50% of businesses in the SME market are still using Windows XP, Office 2003 and Small Business Server 2003. Microsoft is closing the support door for these products on 8th April 2014, Checkaprofessional speaks with Aztec Computers about how this could affect your business

Why is the support ending?

Microsoft introduced a support lifecycle policy for all its products in 2002.

This allows users to know when support for a particular product will become ‘end of life’. As per this policy, Windows Operating Systems and Office products, such as Outlook, Word and Excel receive a minimum of 10 years support. Windows XP was first released in October 2001, so it’s now over 12 years old!

Microsoft release new versions of Windows to take advantage of improvements in computer hardware such as faster processors, and to meet the demands of current software.

All of these factors benefit the end user, so it is worth upgrading your Operating System at a time that suits your business before you are left with a product that no longer has any support.

You wouldn’t run your car without a valid MOT, so why take the risk of running your business on ‘end of life’ products?

How important is this to your business and what implications does it hold?

It means you should take action, and soon. After April 8th no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates will be available for Windows XP machines.

Running Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003 in your business after this date may expose your company

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to potential risks such as security holes in unpatched and unsupported applications as well as a lack of support from many third party independent software vendors and hardware manufacturers.

I’ve got security software, surely this will keep me safe?

Whilst most major security software vendors will continue to provide definition updates in the short term, after April 8th XP will have a large target painted on its back for malware and unpatched security vulnerability attacks.

Your security software may be able to stop these attacks, but it may not. The security software and a fully patched, up to date version of Windows are tightly integrated and have a strong partnership with each other. After April 8th, XP won’t be holding up its side of the partnership.

I know I need to upgrade, but where do I start?

The best place to start with any potential upgrade to your business software or hardware is to talk to an IT specialist that can give you sound advice and assist you before, during and after the transition to the new products. After assessing your business needs they will be able to advise you on the best way to manage the upgrade, and what products will work for your particular business setup.

I don’t have an internal IT department and outsourced IT companies will want me to sign up for a lengthy contract! What should I do?

Not all independent IT support companies insist on a paid contract

arrangement, one such company that is breaking the mould is Aztec Computers based near Chichester, West Sussex.

Their approach to IT support is refreshingly different. No contracts, no lengthy tie-ins, just good honest IT support as and when you need it.

Aztec Computers support a wide range of industries and support them for their IT needs covering the supply and install of hardware and software, everyday desktop support, and fully managed networks whether it is a one off job or continuing support for your company and staff. In short. They offer a pay as you go service leaving you the freedom to use their services as little or often as you wish!

Why should I outsource my IT? Outsourcing IT to a company like Aztec Computers can save you money and reduce the risks associated with buying and supporting IT in-house. It is also a way of accessing the technology skills and experience that can drive business change without having to train staff and take the risks of doing something for the first time. They have already helped many companies upgrade from Windows XP and they can help your business through this transition.

They deal with each case individually, they do not view all upgrades as a ‘one size fits all’ and they will not to try sell you a product that is not right for your business. They have many happy clients and this feedback is published via CheckaProfessional.com which is independently verified so you can see for yourself what they can offer.

Contact Aztec Computers on: 01243 200 175 or visit www.networksupport.uk.com

0808 901 9042 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 55

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SBT speaks to Steve Mcdonald at Chandlers BMW: Do you have difficulty maintaining the quality of your service when supplying your product to consumers via a third party? Or do you wish your end users could fully understand the benefit of doing business with you and your team directly?

The motor industry has changed dramatically over the past 30 years.

The industry is considerably more professional, commercially astute and retail conscious. The internet has empowered consumers with a vast array of information at their fingertips with which to research products, investigate service levels and ultimately fulfil a purchase. This has affected all aspects of the modern automotive retailer. With a shift in consumer behaviour towards brand extremes the middle ground is vanishing fast but, as a consequence, the prestige sector has become ever more competitive.

We now see customers making only one visit to a dealership to complete their buying process having now completed the majority of their research online. Traditionally business buyers would engage with their local business specialist or fleet sales person to fulfil their operations vehicle requirements.

However a vast array of businesses are falling into the trap of not engaging with their local dealership in the buying process and, more importantly, in a longer term more commercially beneficial relationship.

info@checkaprofessional.com 56 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

Online vehicle brokerages exist because dealers within the franchised network who under-perform will chose to sell vehicles via a brokerage arrangement, therefore increasing their audience.

The common perception is that the brokerage can offer a better “deal” than a franchised retailer. This is an urban myth as ultimately the franchised retailer has a finite margin and in addition is paying a commission or introduction fee to the broker which is largely passed on the purchaser.

Chandlers Worthing BMW & MINI takes a different approach. We work hard within the local business community to raise awareness of how competitive a franchised retailer is and in addition the benefits of doing business direct.

Many business buyers ignore the overall cost of their purchasing decisions leading to higher costs in the long, medium or even short term.

In what way do businesses benefit from engaging directly with you and not purchasing via a broker?

The biggest benefit of engaging directly with us at Chandlers is the fact that we offer a complete solution. Business buyers usually look only at the initial monthly rental and make a long to medium term decision based on this one piece of information before even having a discussion with us. There are many benefits that come from dealing direct with us: we are as competitive in terms of payment simply because we aren’t paying extra delivery charges and commissions. We can offer a bespoke service and maintenance solution direct with our service department therefore saving on on-going running costs and potentially staff down time bringing their vehicles to us. All of these small benefits add up to represent considerable cost savings over a 3 year cycle.

You’re also helping your clients to network. Tell us about that?

Consumer behaviour is changing and buyers have access to considerable

amounts of information about businesses and the way they behave and interact.

Recognising that you can now buy a BMW from someone trading in a back room we work hard to make sure that our customers get something more. We don’t want a business to come and see us, buy one or a handful or cars for us to only see them again when it is time to change. Part of doing business with us is that we will help your business meet other local businesses. If we can help your business be more successful by using our contacts and local knowledge then surely that’s a benefit over doing business with someone on the internet?

Some people would say this is an old fashioned way of doing business; what do you say to that?

I understand why they may think that.

We are currently investing heavily in our online presence because we accept that people will continue to do more and more research online. We aren’t trying to change consumer behaviour. What I am saying is that whilst we will work hard to ensure our voice is heard on the internet, ultimately, our conduct as a business and the added value of doing business directly with us will set us apart. If you are a local business just give us a call, we’ll do all the hard work. We’ll come to you, run quotes and provide expert advice on buying or renting a BMW or MINI. That’s what we are here for.

If there was one message you could put out to business owner or fleet buyers/managers what would it be?

Give me a call on 01903 784147 / 07810 793288 or drop me a line smcdonald@chandlers-bmw.co.uk.

You’ll find everything we do really helpful and professional and you won’t pay any more for it. We aren’t expensive and we are here to work hard to find the right solution for your business. We will value your business and work hard to make you feel valued as a customer and organisation.

0808 901 9042

BUDGET The

In Brief

The CBI - the UK’s leading business organisation, speaking for some 240,000 businesses that together employ around a third of the private sector workforce - shares its recommendations for the upcoming budget

The CBI’s Budget Submission calls on Budget the Chancellor to prioritise measures to boost business investment and trade.

The UK’s leading business group expects robust growth this year and next but warned of the need to rebalance away from consumption to secure a sustainable recovery.

John Cridland, CBI Director-General, said: “The economic recovery is taking hold with businesses and consumers both feeling more confident but we must make sure that it really takes root and this can only be done through rebalancing.

“There are encouraging signs that business investment and net trade are on the up and now is the perfect time for the Government to get full square behind it, particularly in the case of smaller firms.

“Above all, British businesses must have secure and affordable energy that enables them to compete internationally and keep jobs in the UK.” Energy The CBI warned that the UK’s longterm energy investment needs must be balanced against the costs borne by businesses and households.

A robust EU carbon price is necessary to incentivise investment but the price level of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is likely to be lower than the UK Carbon Price Floor (CPF) for the foreseeable future, so firms in the UK are paying more in top-ups to make up the difference. British businesses, especially those that are energy-intensive and are operating internationally, are therefore being put at a disadvantage.

Mr Cridland said: “It’s vital that we have a robust carbon price across Europe if we are to obtain the investment in energy infrastructure that the UK needs.

“At the same time, we need to recognise that British businesses,

especially energy-intensive industries, are struggling with high energy costs so we want to freeze the Carbon Price Floor to help firms compete internationally, as well as ease pressure on household bills.”

Investment and exports The CBI is calling for the Government to: • Extend the Annual Investment Allowance at £250,000 beyond its current deadline of January 2015 – this would boost capital spending in plant and machinery which is below the EU average • Introduce a capital allowance for structures and buildings to encourage investment in critical areas like energy infrastructure - the UK continues to be let down by a historic under-investment in infrastructure, which is deterred by the lower returns on structures and buildings than in other countries • Freeze UK Air Passenger Duty (APD), which is the highest in the EU, and review the APD system, especially for long-haul flights where it is the most distortive.

Mr Cridland said: “To successfully rebalance our economy we need to give businesses a leg up to invest in new equipment and to sell more of their goods and services around the world.”

Support for growing small and medium-sized firms To help firms access the finance they need to grow and to boost alternative sources, the CBI is calling on the Government to: • Introduce an incentive for holding individual equity holdings beyond five years, which could be achieved by applying a relief on Capital Gains Tax • Make the successful Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) permanent.

The Government should also review other barriers to finance including: • Reviewing the level of collateral held at the Bank of England for banks to access the payments system • Boosting the take-up of retail bonds by

keeping compliance costs down • Ensuring that forthcoming regulation of the crowd-funding and peer-to-peer lending is proportionate.

Mr Cridland said: “We need to nurture the UK’s vibrant alternative finance market and encourage even more competition in banking so that businesses can get growth capital.

“Equity finance could play an important role in longer-term capital but the takeup in the UK is behind the EU average and well behind the likes of Sweden and Norway. Many smaller firms say they would be more likely to use equity finance if the investment was longer-term, which is why we want a tax incentive to encourage this.”

Housing The CBI is calling on the Government to: • Introduce a more specific timetable for asset sales • List all public sector property holdings on a central ‘Rightmove-type’ website • Hold local authorities accountable to set aside five years’ land supply for house builders • Tackle the tax burden which institutional investors face when contemplating investment decisions in the private rental sector.

With the deficit reduction less than half complete the CBI wants this package of measures to be implemented in a fiscally neutral way. It should be paid for by efficiency savings gained through public services reform. The Government should maintain the pensions’ income tax relief and the tax-free lump sum and the NICs relief on employer pension contributions, which encourages employers to go beyond the statutory minimum.

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58 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

How Do You Make a Business Out of Eco Technology?

With a focus on showing forward thinkers practical ways of using technology to save energy now, the Eco Technology has found a natural home in Sussex, a county with undisputed green and ethical and entrepreneurial credentials The Show opens its doors for the third time this June 26-27, returning to The Brighton Centre with a bigger and better exhibition and seminar programme than ever before. The 2014 Show will focus on: energy use, build, transport, technology & resource efficiency and will be packed with ideas that forward thinking people can turn into business opportunities A must-attend event for anyone interested in the practical potential of innovation and low carbon solutions, the show will highlight ways to deliver genuine benefits to communities, businesses and cities.

A free programme of over 70 talks and workshops will provide practical ideas to visitors covering renewable & energy efficient technologies, domestic & commercial, new build & retrofit, plus low carbon transport solutions, innovation & financing, future cities & waste. The Eco Technology Show provides the perfect opportunity for the public sector, business owners, managers and trade installers to meet the experts.

The impressive line-up of speakers includes Greg Barker, Minister of State at the Department of Energy & Climate

Change who will deliver the keynote address on the economic sense of shifting to a lower carbon economy.

A big debate on ‘Our Energy Future’ will provide a platform for supporters of the various energy technologies to understand what implications they may have for the UK’s energy future.

Practical case studies will be presented, for example a local authority will showcase how they have made money from investing in renewable energy infrastructure and Simon Brammer, UK Programme Manager, Ashden Awards, will bring to light ground-breaking green energy champions in the UK and the developing world. A major endorsement of the quality for the exhibitors and speakers comes from representatives from the UK’s Sustainable Cities Network, who have chosen the Brighton Show for their summer meeting.

With the cost of energy for individuals and businesses still headline news, the show’s 140 exhibitors will provide costcutting solutions through investment in the right technology and low-carbon solutions for your business.

Solar panels continue to be the most commonly-installed technology on private business premises, but there

are other options such as Open-Loop Ground Source Heat Pump installations which Open-Loop Ground Source Heating claim can reduce energy bills by over 50%.

Newform Energy will be showcasing The Hybrid Solar Solution. The system combines three technologies (PV, solar thermal and Heat Pumps) in such a way that the aggregate system outputs are far greater than those produced by the components individually.

Fond Nova UK Ltd (Fondital UK) will exhibit the latest in energy saving heating with new Itaca boilers and low temperature, energy saving aluminium radiators.

A special attraction returns with the transport zone, a whole floor of concept cars and vehicles including BMW’s electric car. Visitors will also be able to test a range of low emission cars and electric bikes along Brighton’s seafront.

The Eco Technology Show will be open from 9.30am-5pm on Thursday 26 June and 9.30am-4.30pm on Friday 27 June. Registration is free.

Further information can be found on the website www. ecotechnologyshow.co.uk.

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 59

01273 957 726 / info@ecotechnologyshow.co.uk / www.ecotechnologyshow.co.uk

SBT

Society

Sussex Business Awards Winners dinner

Tom Druitt (The Big Lemon) and Graham Percey (Legal & General)

Terry Nitman and Steve Hayman (Cheesmue Building Contractors) and Michael Beard (The Argus)

Peter J Field (Chairman of the Judges) and Caraline Brown (Midnight Communications)

Nick Handley (Sussex Enterprise) and Andrew Mosley (The Grand Brighton)

60 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

Kevin Byrne (Checkatrade.com), Peter J Field (Chairman of the Judges) and Julien Jones (Morgan Sindall)

John Peel (Sussex Community Foundation) and Alan Prior (Absolute Brighton)

Andrew Hookway (extech) and Adrian Alexander (Mazars)

Andrew Hookway (extech), Adrian Alexander (Mazars), Clive Smith ) HSBC) and Adrian Corbin (Scientifica)

Paul Addison (DevAssist Ltd) and Joanne Kavanagh (Morrisons Solicitors)

Iain McKenna (Heart FM) and Richard Zinzan (ARCH-angels Architects)

Andrew Hookway (extech) and Adrian Alexander (Mazars)

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 61

Home Grown Hero

Made In Sussex: Sarah Edmunds Legal

specialist, quality & affordable solicitors

Sarah Edmunds Legal was created in December 2008 “on a beanbag and a bookcase” by Sarah Edmunds, with the intention of providing legal services in a refreshing way

our clients s

“I qualified as a solicitor in 2004 at Brand the age of 26, after Focus far too many years studying in London, and have specialised in property work since that time.”

Having kicked off her career at a prestigious firm in Islington, London, Sarah’s training continued at a medium sized, predominantly private client practice in Brighton, from which she moved on to a larger, more commercial practice in Uckfield and was quickly promoted to head up the firm’s Residential Property Team across its three branches.

In 2008, this experience became the foundation on which Sarah Edmunds Legal was built, and Sarah quickly diversified to provide Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney as well as Property law.

Sarah and her team now operate out of beautiful and historic offices in the heart of Lewes, with a second branch in Uckfield.

“Along the way, I have developed a small but brilliant team, of all of whom I am very proud. They all hold similar values and work in a similar way to me and are completely committed to providing the highest quality legal services in the most effective fashion.

Ultimately, we love what we do and this allows us to provide a service which is second to none.”

Sarah has a customer servicecentred approach to business, which she believes is what sets her apart from other providers of legal services.

“I have always believed that if you instruct someone professional, you expect them to have all appropriate qualifications and experience in that field. You expect us to know enough about the law to give you the correct advice,” she explains. “What you do

62 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

Perfect in every wa our sale. Why can solicitors be like Outstanding is an un statement and w highly recommend would use again! M many tha

Sarah Edumnds

time with family, so to help our clients, NOT necessarily expect from a lawyer we are able to visit our clients at home is excellent service. We spend much of or at their office free of charge. We our time improving our levels of service, are available to talk and meet with our whilst - of course - keeping our own castle works clients outside of office hours, and we legal knowledge and skills up-to-date we come to you westgate street guarantee we’ll be easy to get in touch by continuous training. lewes, east sussex with, at promising to work deal with all “When I was my own homefirmly or at bn7establishing 1yr correspondence on the same day we business, I set out with the goals of 01273 407970 atit,no cost receive andextra to return all missed calls providing thet.experience my clients m. 07590 099970 within four working hours. wanted from their solicitors. Research when it suits you Sarah believes it is the small-business has revealedsarah@sarahedmundslegal.co.uk that our clients would approach which makes her team so like a solicitor who is trustworthy, successful. “I have no desire to grow approachable and friendly; flexible, Sarah Edmunds Legal in to a large pro-active and efficient; easy to firm - I believe it is better to have a communicate with; affordable and clear small, committed team with smaller on costs. You can quickly see how overheads, keeping the cost of the far these desires go beyond simply services we provide as low as possible knowing the law. and, certainly, very competitive.

“As my response to this, we have “It has always been important for adopted a number of key service us to add value to the service we standards which have seen our client provide so, in addition to the above, base grow exponentially in a short we also work with a network of trusted period of time. We now act for private colleagues who are able to provide clients and small businesses all over services such as mortgage brokers, the world, who appreciate our slightly surveyors, accountants, tax advisors different way of working. and financial planners. We would never “We understand that our clients are recommend someone we would not or busy working, running businesses, have not used ourselves.” looking after children and spending

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