Post Business - 3rd May 2013

postbusiness thisweek Lawyerbacks thegrowers Legal 14

Stirringchange comingtothe teaindustry

BigFeature4-5

Calling time Tough decisions that revived a pub giant

Firm’sfight againstthe norovirus

News3

YachtClub’s risingstar Women in Business 15

SoundCity’s globalfocus

Creative10-11

P12 &13

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Thursday, May 2, 2013

Advertising Feature DWF LLP

A supporting network for families

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HETHER you’re embarking on a new stage in your relationship and looking for a cohabitation agreement or a pre-nuptial agreement, or you’re going through a divorce or civil partnership dissolution, having a legal advisor you can trust to work hard to reach the best possible outcome in your situation can make all the difference.

Leading law firm DWF has a team of specialists who offer expert advice in all areas of family law, and can support and guide you through the legal implications of family change; all with a sensitive, commercial and pragmatic approach tailored to your unique circumstances.

This is even more important when there are children involved. Their futures will understandably be a priority, so it’s important you can rest assured that their best interests are safeguarded.

DWF’s family team is a member of Resolution – a specialist family lawyers association committed to the constructive resolution of family disputes – and where possible, the experienced solicitors aim to solve complex situations out of court.

DWF is a national law firm with a local office in Liverpool

What are your parental rights after a split?

Beverley Jones, associate in the family team at DWF, answers the most frequently asked questions about legal rights in relation to children Q: MY EX-PARTNER WON’T LET ME SEE MY CHILDREN. WHAT CAN I DO? A: One option is to attend a mediation with a view to reaching an agreement directly with the assistance of an independent mediator.

However, where this is unsuccessful or inappropriate, an application can be made to the court for a defined order.

The court will always look at what is in the child's best interest, and it is generally thought to be in a child's best interests to have a relationship with both parents.

Q: MY CHILDREN DON’T WANT TO SEE THEIR DAD. DO I HAVE TO MAKE THEM GO? A: If you’re the resident parent you have a duty to promote contact with the other parent.

However, children’s wishes and feelings will be taken into account, subject to their age and understanding.

Q: I’M A DAD WITHOUT PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY BUT I HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH MY EX-PARTNER AND WE’VE COME TO AN AGREEMENT ABOUT ME SEEING OUR DAUGHTER – DO I

NEED TO OBTAIN PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY? A: It is advisable to obtain parental responsibility to ensure that you share the rights and responsibilities as a parent with your ex-partner.

This will allow you to consent to medical treatment for your daughter and be consulted in all major decisions concerning her upbringing. You can obtain this either by entering into an agreement with your ex-partner or by way of Court Order.

Q: IF CHILD MAINTENANCE HAS BEEN AGREED, DOES THE CHILD SUPPORT AGENCY (CSA) HAVE TO BE INVOLVED? A: No, the CSA does not need to become involved if agreement is reached as to the appropriate level of child maintenance.

Q: HOW DOES THE CSA CALCULATE CHILD MAINTENANCE? A: The Child Support Agency looks at several things to work out child maintenance, including: ■ The paying parent’s net weekly income

Beverley Jones ■ The number of children needing child maintenance ■ How often those children stay overnight with the paying parent ■ If the paying parent or their partner gets Child Benefit or is paying maintenance for any other children There is a child maintenance calculator on the CSA website which can give you an accurate assessment as to what is a reasonable and appropriate level of child maintenance.

The court will consider your reasons for the application and also your relationship with the child.

Generally, such permission is granted, but this is not guaranteed.

Q: WHEN CAN A CHILD BE REMOVED FROM ENGLAND AND WALES?

Q: IF I AM A GRANDPARENT, DO I HAVE RIGHTS TO MY GRANDCHILDREN?

A: A child can only be removed permanently from the jurisdiction when all parties with parental responsibility consent or the court orders it.

A: You do not have an automatic right to make an application to the court for contact to your grandchildren, but you can make an application for leave (permission) for this.

■ If you have any queries relating to the above, or another aspect of family law, please do not hesitate to contact Beverley Jones on 0151 907 3372 or email her at Beverley.Jones@dwf.co.uk.

Meet the expert BEVERLEY Jones has been appointed to lead the family team for the Liverpool office of national law firm DWF. Recognised in the North West region as an expert in her field, Beverley is well known for her extensive experience across a range of areas, including divorce, financial settlements, children cases, cohabitation disputes and pre-nuptial agreements.

David Pickering, national head of the Family team at DWF, said: “As a solicitor in the family sector, it is essential to be more than just an excellent legal practitioner. It is also crucial that you are able to communicate effectively and sensitively with your clients, at what can often be a difficult time for them.

“Beverley has an excellent reputation within the region and will help us to continue providing a first class service to all of our clients.”

Thursday, May 2, 2013

news

Opportunity for JLA passengers to take piece of city home PASSENGERS at Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) can take a genuine city souvenir home after Made Here announced it is opening in the departure lounge.

The Liverpool gift shop stocks items made in Liverpool, ranging from homegrown arts, crafts, jewellery, gifts and accessories.

It has just completed its first year trading in the city centre – initially as a ‘pop-up’ in Liverpool One and now on the first floor of Metquarter.

This new location will offer visitors to the city something to remember Liverpool by and something that has Liverpool at its heart.

Founder, Kate Stewart, said:

“We’re passionate about marketing the talent that Liverpool has to a wider audience.

“Keeping money you spend in the city is the best way to support and showcase its entrepreneurial spirit.”

She added: “Opening at JLA celebrates the success we have had over the last 14 months of selling to tourists and visitors

to the city who are always delighted with the range of products we have on offer, but more importantly, it’s a platform for us to show, to the world, just what a creative place Liverpool is.”

Lucy O’Shaughnessy, retail director for Liverpool John Lennon Airport, added: “We are very excited about going

into a summer season with a new local offering.

“The ‘Made Here’ brand and product range is all about celebrating the city of Liverpool.

It complements the rest of our high street retail brands and gives passengers an opportunity to take a locally-sourced product home or to friends when they fly from here.”

Cheshire company takes its norovirus ‘killer’ to market

by Tony McDonough POST BUSINESS STAFF

tony.mcdonough@liverpool.com

A “REVOLUTIONARY” disinfectant that combats norovirus and kills hospital superbugs in just a minute has been developed by a Cheshire company.

The Noroclear product, which it is claimed is the first of its type in the world, has gone on sale in the UK in the form of surface wipes, hand wipes and a hand rub.

Strict European standard tests prove that the product – which is free from bleaches and other dangerous chemicals – combats the norovirus germ within a minute of contact.

It kills superbugs including MRSA, C Difficile, e.coli, salmonella, listeria and all influenza viruses in less than a minute.

Norovirus is the most common stomach bug in the UK, affecting between 600,000 and 1m people of all ages every year.

The Noroclear developer, Arcis-Altos, which is based in Daresbury, just outside Warrington, has put its product through a rigorous European testing regime called EN testing.

This underpins the company’s claims for its killing power against superbugs, all human flu, HIV, swine flu, SARS virus, TB-causing bacteria and norovirus.

Not even harmful bleaches kill the norovirus in such a short space of time. Standard hand alcohol-based hand wipes and rubs are also ineffective.

Other products combat bacteria but are ineffective against not just the norovirus but other human viruses and the spores which cause a wide range of other illnesses.

Noroclear has been developed at the Sci-Tech Daresbury science campus and is already in use in clinics and hospitals in Germany and Austria.

The company’s chairman, Dr Tim Riley, spent a number of years as chief executive of NHS trusts in the North West of England.

He was head of NHS public health policy for the Government in the 1990s and led the team which developed and set up the National Institute of Clinical Excellence.

He said: “The technology behind the product is revolutionary in its impact because it gives people one product which deals quickly and across the board with superbugs and common globally occurring debilitating infections.

“We are recommending that people use it as a simple precautionary measure in situations where the risk of

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Novus to bring new jobs and growth NEW growth and jobs are predicted at Novus Property Solutions after a change of name by property maintenance specialist Seddon Property Services.

Novus chairman Stuart Seddon made the prediction for the rebranded Bootle-based firm which delivers planned and reactive maintenance and refurbishment services across the UK. He said: “The Novus name gives us a strong identity in the marketplace and reflects our commitment to delivering fresh, innovative and forward-thinking solutions for our clients.

“This move is all about growth and we anticipate it will create new employment opportunities locally.”

The name change to Novus – Latin for ‘new’ – follows a reorganisation of the ownership of parent company Seddon Group.

Mr Seddon added: “We’re excited about this move and the opportunities for growth it brings to our national property services business which is supported by a strong balance sheet, an extensive geographical presence across the UK and significant sector expertise.”

SkillBuild heats at college Noroclear has gone on sale in the UK in the form of surface wipes, hand wipes and a hand rub infection is raised, such as when entering hospital or when travelling.

“It will also be extremely useful in helping to prevent the spread of infection in families where one or more people has contracted norovirus.

“We know there are other products out there which claim to be effective in killing these bugs but none of them are proven to act so quickly, so effectively and against such a wide range of pathogens.

“It is this speed of efficacy which is so important in guarding against infection.

“This speed makes the products convenient and effective in real-life settings – a quick wipe or spray and the germs will be killed within 60 seconds.

“With other products, you would have to keep using and re-using for at least 15 minutes in many cases before they took effect.

“The rise of superbugs in hospitals and in other settings, aligned with the resistance of these bugs to antibiotics, makes it more important than ever that we concentrate on preventative measures.”

Norovirus is the most common stomach bug in the UK

BOOTLE’S Hugh Baird College is today hosting the second of two heats to find the best construction trainees and apprentices across the North West.

SkillBuild 2013 is organised by CITB-ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council and Industry Training Board for the construction industry.

More than 60 trainees will compete to be the best in their chosen trade.

The highest scoring competitors could then go on to compete at the three-day SkillBuild UK final in September at the NEC in Birmingham.

Outstanding competitors from this year’s UK final could then be selected to represent the UK at the WorldSkills competition in Rio de Janeiro in 2015.

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post business big feature

Bill Gleeson No triple dip for the UK, but what about the regions?

WE all know about the north-south divide.

You could confidently bet your last penny that last week’s growth rate of 0.3% means something like a growth rate of 0.7% in the South East and -0.3% in the North West.

The nation as a whole may have avoided a triple dip recession but the chances are that this region is still in negative territory.

Further evidence of the divide comes with the latest house price data which shows property prices in London rose 9% last year while they continued to fall in the north. How can that be?

How can house prices rise so strongly in recession conditions? Of course they can’t, so you can deduce quite readily that if last week’s GDP data could be broken down regionally, the dual speeds of England’s north and south economies would be easily perceived.

It all adds to the sense that a single set of economic policies can not work effectively for all parts of England. What suits London may not suit the north.

While London may be creating the private sector jobs to offset job losses in the public sector, the same thing is not happening in the north.

In other words, you can get away with stringent austerity in the south, but doing the same in the north is deeply damaging to the lives of millions of people.

CHANCELLOR George Osborne was wheeling out the hyperbole at an event in Manchester last week.

Mr Osborne recalled how Manchester was the first industrial city in the world and now it has a chance to take a leading role in a second industrial revolution.

He was speaking at an initiative to strengthen ties between Manchester and China. Mr Osborne added that the city could take the lead in improving relations between Britain and the emerging eastern giant.

What wasn’t so clear was how Manchester would do this.

The fact is, everybody is at it. Just this week, Liverpool John Moores University announced that it was sending a history professor to China to

improve ties with the country.

As with business, China offers a huge market place for Britain’s academic institutions.

However, there is a risk that in fixing on China we will overlook the potential of so many other places too: Brazil, Russia, India and Indonesia among others.

However, given China’s tariff policy, it may prove hard for our exporters to break into the market in any significant way unless they relocate manufacturing operations to the country, just as Jaguar Land Rover has been forced to do.

We had been hoping for Chinese investment in Britain, but that has yet to happen, though that is due to weak demand conditions in the west.

Whatever Manchester is trying to do, you get the impression it is a bit late off the mark.

Liverpool has forged links with China for more than a decade now, culminating in the World Expo in Shanghai 2010.

The new international trade centre in Birkenhead is also a step ahead of what they are doing in Manchester.

Ultimately, though, it doesn’t matter which city takes the lead, as long as our businesses get on with forging links with the country.

CAMMELL Laird was making headlines again recently as it raised the prospect of 2,000 new jobs at its shipyard in Birkenhead if it wins contracts to help fabricate parts of windfarms to be constructed in the Irish Sea and for the nuclear industry.

It’s very salutary to recall that this yard nearly closed for good. It also shows how the fortunes of an industry can ebb and flow within a relatively short time frame.

Of course, such hopes have been raised before, but the difference is that after some setbacks, most notably the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the momentum appears to be gathering pace again with important announcements expected in the Autumn.

The yard’s strategy of diversification is working, but you would wonder whether the yard’s management will struggle to find sufficient skilled labour.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Brewing up a Neil Hodgson looks at fears for the cuppa from changing economic and climate conditions

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EA is still the drink of choice for Britons, it was claimed last week, in a poll conducted for the WRVS charity.

It said we drink 166m cups of tea every day – 11m gallons – despite the surge in popularity of high street coffee shops which help fuel the daily consumption of 70m cups of coffee.

William Gorman, chair of the UK Tea Council, said tea’s health benefits would guarantee it remained Britain’s most popular drink: “It calms the muscle system, is a fantastic source of hydration being 99% water, and has a fraction of the caffeine that is contained in coffee,” he said.

But for how much longer will we savour our daily cuppa?

New research by some of the world’s leading players in the tea industry warns of unprecedented upheaval among producers, retailers and consumers over the next 17 years which could have a bearing on one of Merseyside’s iconic manufacturers, Moreton-based Typhoo, which employs almost 300 staff and supplies tea to 50 countries – including China.

Tea 2030 is a partnership of some of the most influential organisations in the tea chain, including Tata Global Beverages, Unilever, Yorkshire Tea, Twinings, the Ethical Tea Partnership, and Fairtrade International. It is facilitated and managed by the global sustainability and non-profit Forum for the Future.

It conducted a series of in-depth interviews with key players in the industry to forecast how a variety of factors could affect their markets and is now seeking further input to safeguard their future.

The interviews unearthed more than 90 factors which have been prioritised to a shortlist of 19 that are believed will drive the future development of the industry.

The report’s preface says: “Imagine this. Tea prices in western markets have soared as most producing countries now consume the bulk of their own tea.

“Tea plantations are densely planted and highly mechanised, designed to cope with scarce water supplies, expensive input prices, competition for land, and unpredictable weather patterns.

“But even this innovative scenario is under threat, as radical new technologies take hold. In kitchens around the globe, mini 3D printers allow people to ‘print’ the tea they want at home with molecular ‘patterns’ downloaded from the internet.

“Could this be the future of the tea industry?”

Some of the 19 key factors identified in the brainstorming by participants from Indonesia, China, Sri Lanka, India, Malawi, Kenya, the US, Netherlands, Germany and the UK raise major concerns – for example, a shift in the balance of power across the supply chain.

In the past 20 years big food companies, from processors to supermarkets, have penetrated most continents and in many countries a handful of supermarkets dominate.

But in the future, tea producers could wield more power as demand outstrips supply and the growing middle class in producing nations such as China and India means they see more domestic consumption than ever.

Instead of exporting, many countries are now drinking their own tea. China drinks 60% of its tea and Bangladesh is

now importing. This could lead to producers emerging as power brokers.

Also, if demand for tea outstrips supply, buyers could respond by either developing longer-term relationships with producers, or by moving quickly from one producer to another to ensure a consistent supply of tea, which could affect producers and local economies.

Land to grow tea is another concern as pressure emerges for other uses from food and non-food crops, as well as increasing urbanisation.

Among the interviews was the comment: “In Rwanda they are putting in a huge amount of tea. The growth of tea volume will be in Africa, not India, where land is plentiful and there are good growing conditions.

“However, Kenya, one of the most fertile countries in Africa, is experiencing pressure on land due to urbanisation, and there is no room to expand tea production.”

Between 2005 and 2010, 13,000 hectares of land was converted in Indonesia from tea to other crops, such as rubber, palm oil and fruit. And there is pressure to invest in agriculture in developing coun-

Mini 3D printers let people ‘print’ tea at home

tries if there is to be enough food for 9.1bn people by 2050.

“Will tea become deemed a luxury – would the land better be used for growing potatoes or rice?” said one interviewee.

Labour issues are another factor. Tea has high demands for labour, but changing aspirations of young people in producing countries for city-based jobs – urban populations in the developing world are forecast to rise from 45% today to 66% by 2050 – together with historically low wage levels, are taking their toll on workforces.

This could be overcome by increasing mechanisation, but the fear is that crude mechanisation, while cheap, would affect tea quality, while mechanisation to a high standard would lead to a rise in costs.

Climate change and water availability will also be factors in future production.

Tea is a delicate perennial plant and sensitive to changes in temperature and rain and it is possible many areas will become unsuitable for production.

In Kenya the ice cover on Mount Kilimanjaro, a source of meltwater, has reduced in size by 82% since 1912 and is expected to disappear within 15 years.

Also, the UN estimates that 1.2bn people do not have access to safe drinking

Thursday, May 2, 2013

big feature post business

storm in tea industry Tea pickers in Sri Lanka. A new report has warned of ‘unprecedented upheaval’ in the tea industry in coming years

Typhoo chief executive Keith Packer takes a tea break at the Moreton plant

The iconic brand that many Merseysiders don’t realise is part of the region’s fabric

water today and 2.8bn people in 48 countries will face water stress or scarcity conditions by 2025. In a water-constrained world, how will the tea industry compete?

And the growth in global population could be a double-edged sword for the industry.

With Africa and South Asia forecast to experience the biggest population growth, sales opportunities will improve, but the extra population will also put pressure on available land for tea crops.

Dr Ann-Marie Brouder, from Forum for the Future, said: “The 19 factors we’ve identified will drive change in the tea industry and make for a fascinating read.

“We cannot predict exactly how they will pan out, or what the industry will look like in the future, but identifying and exploring these important factors will help the industry build a sustainable future.”

Typhoo chief executive Keith Packer said: “We do see some of the trends that have been raised by the report and they are issues that we need to address as an industry.”

He said tea continues to out-sell other hot and cold beverages, adding: “The rise

in prices reflects the global demand recently.”

But he said Typhoo has been careful to ensure its future supplies and work with its suppliers to improve conditions.

“Tea is produced in over 38 origins so we work closely with our partners at source so we have supply over the long term.

“We help them improve their farming practices and yields and quality and there is a number of programmes and charities and non-governmental organisations working on that.

“We are doing some work with the Farm Africa charity where we are trying to make sure we encourage tea estates to become sustainable and improve their yield.”

He added: “Some of the previous programmes on tea estates were services for workers around education, health services, and housing.”

Mr Packer said: “Education is needed to help tea estate management as an attraction. We need to make sure tea estate management is attractive for younger people to go in and work and have a sustainable living.”

Growth of tea volume will be in Africa

TYPHOO employs about 265 staff at its Moreton plant, making it one of Wirral’s biggest employers, although many people, even across the region, are unaware of the iconic brand’s Merseyside heritage.

It has been estimated that the workforce has more than 4,000 years of experience in tea production at the site.

In 2005 Indian conglomerate Appeejay Surrendra, which also has interests in hotels, financial services and shipping, bought Typhoo.

In 2006 Global Tea & Commodities, a London-based trading business that owned the Gold Crown tea factory in Kirkby, also took a stake in Typhoo.

Chief executive Keith Packer said both investors are in Typhoo for the long term.

Apeejay is also promoting Typhoo in India.

Mr Packer said: “One interesting thing about India is that there are consumption habits that are very different to ours.

“For example, there’s a Typhoo orange spiced product,

and Indian consumers are drinking it with 7-Up. “It’s an interesting way of consuming teabags, rather than the traditional way here of drinking it hot.”

Typhoo’s owners have invested in the plant in a bid to turn historic pre-tax losses into profit. Mr Packer said: “We restructured the business in 2009. 2010-2011 was not particularly great as we struggled to get through that restructure.

“But now we have seen some very positive movement in the business.

“That’s down to teamwork from the staff and management team here.”

In the current economic climate, increased costs cannot be passed on to retailers or consumers and so the company has had to find efficiencies to drive its cost base down.

So Typhoo moved production lines at Moreton around to make them more efficient, alongside other measures, such as trialling double-decker trailers to transport produce

from Moreton to its Deeside warehouse, cutting costs and carbon emissions by reducing the number of daily journeys it needs to make.

It also introduced cardboard “slip sheets” instead of pallets when transporting sacks of tea.

It meant it could then fit an extra layer of tea sacks onto each forklift load.

The efficiencies also go hand-in-hand with its “Greenprint for Good” environmental improvements which has seen it able to recycle 100% of its waste and cut utilities usage by 20%.

Two years ago the firm also invested £1m in blend quality.

Mr Packer said: “There’s been a dramatic improvement and consumers have noticed a big difference.”

The brand is also more prominent after the company signed up TV personality Ben Fogle as its brand ambassador and clinched sponsorship packages with Superstock P1 Powerboat and a shirt sponsorship deal with rugby league club St Helens.

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Thursday, May 2, 2013

post business wealth management IN ASSOCIATION WITH

notes

Risks remain but Japan now offers potential for investors

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FURTHER moves to strip away “hidden” charges so investors can compare costs more easily and shop around for the best deal have been announced by the regulator.

New rules introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) mean that fees for investors using online “platform” services will be more transparent because they must be clearly shown upfront and agreed by the investor instead of being disguised in other costs.

Platform services act as middlemen and give people an online view of their investments in one place.

They work in a similar way to online banking, in that people can keep track of all the products they hold with a particular provider all grouped together.

The selection of investments hosted by each platform varies.

At the moment, some platforms can give the impression that they are offering a “free” service, which means that the investor does not understand the true cost they are paying.

market analysis

by Anjali Roberts

LIVERPOOL OFFICE OF CHARLES STANLEY THE Japanese stock market has been recovering strongly since the election in November last year.

The main index, the TOPIX, has risen faster than most global markets over that period, 33% in sterling terms.

The main reason the market has outperformed over this period is due to the economic policy framework set in place by the new prime minister Shinzo Abe. The policy has come to be known colloquially as Abenomics.

One of the key objectives of Abenomics is the ending of deflation.

The new government has set in motion more aggressive monetary stimulus which has already significantly weakened the yen.

The stimulus should help persuade companies to raise wages but the main issue the government faces is reversing the entrenched deflationary expectations.

Inflation expectations are starting to shift and both consumer and corporate sentiment is improving rapidly.

For the last 15 years Japan has existed in a unique economic situation where cash produced a positive return however low nominal rates were.

This situation has, unsurprisingly, affected the behaviour of companies and individuals by encouraging them to hoard cash.

As a result of this behaviour Japan’s tax base has been eroding since 1998 as nominal growth has been depressed.

Japan has had a tough time over recent years, with the devastating tsunami in March 2011 as well as the affects of the global financial crisis.

On top of this because of the ongoing problems in the eurozone, the yen has been strengthening relentlessly against other global currencies owing to the country’s position as a relative safe haven.

Since 2008 companies in Japan have been cutting costs significantly at a rate of approximately 6% per annum.

As mentioned earlier the yen has

Prime minister Shinzo Abe has put a new economic framework in place for Japan significantly weakened since monetary stimulus has been introduced and this should benefit companies by increasing their profitability.

For the year ending March 2014 profits of Japanese companies are likely to rise by around 40%, but this is an early estimate and could be too low.

With the yen at this new lower level companies in Japan may look to re-shore some production to Japan.

In the last few years Japanese companies have been moving production away from China to other areas in Asia. China has been a less popular investment destination because of rapid wage inflation and political tensions.

Japan’s reporting season is well underway with more than 50 companies listed on the Nikkei 225 reporting last week.

The earnings figures need to deliver to justify the Nikkei’s strong start to 2013. Companies will also produce their forecasts for the current year

with the focus on how they are utilising the additional flexibility from a weaker currency.

They may aim to increase their market share or increase margins in overseas markets.

This course of action could particularly have implications for the car industry, as it could result in global re-pricing.

A recovery in profits could allow dividends to grow significantly – the market currently yields 1.6%. If companies regain confidence the prospects for income growth from Japan could be better than most other markets.

So are there opportunities for investors?

Japan nearly exited deflation between 2003 and 2007 during the last economic expansion but that was without a centralised coordinated approach from the government.

There are risks including regional tensions from North Korea and Japan’s tricky relationship with China but the stock market is still relatively

■

Anjali Roberts cheap and expectations are low.

There could be opportunities for investors in Japan but risks still prevail and anyone considering investing should be cautious.

As with all investments a well diversified portfolio is key.

SALES of homes worth more than £1m have soared to their highest level since the height of the 2007 housing boom Top-end property sales increased by 2% year-on-year in 2012, with Scotland, the East Midlands and London all seeing rises, Lloyds TSB found.

Million pound properties out-performed the rest of the market in 2012, as sales of homes below this price bracket dropped off by 3% year-on-year, the report said.

Across Britain, 7,397 homes with a price tag of over £1m were bought last year.

Halifax reports new-build value rises fast

People missing payments

NEW-BUILD house prices have risen at a faster rate over the last five years than property prices generally, a study found this week.

The typical price of a new-build home has increased by 12% across England and Wales between 2007 and 2012 to reach £233,822, while house prices generally have risen at a slower pace of 9%, Halifax found.

However, there were sharp variations in the direction of new build house prices across the country.

They have plummeted by 10% in the North over the five-year period to reach £157,190 on average.

ONE IN FIVE Britons has deliberately skipped a loan repayment in recent years because they could not afford it, a study suggests.

Credit reference agency Experian warned that the problem of people missing payments appears to be on the increase, which will drag down their ability to borrow more cash in the future.

Some 19% of more than 3,000 people surveyed said they had missed a payment on purpose in the last six years.

These payments were missed on

New build prices have also dropped by 5% in Wales and in Yorkshire and the Humber between 2007 and 2012, to average £174,814 and £161,254 respectively.

Meanwhile, the price of a new build home in London has soared by 29% over five years to reach £415,540 typically and the South East recorded the second biggest uplift, with a 17% increase taking average new build prices to £292,316.

Various initiatives have been launched by the Government to give people a helping hand to buy a new build property and boost the con-

struction industry. These include the NewBuy scheme, which Halifax and other lenders have signed up to, which gives buyers who have a deposit as low as 5% a helping hand to buy a new-build home.

The Government also announced a new scheme called Help to Buy in its recent Budget, which has had the effect of extending an existing equity loan scheme to help people buy a new home with a low deposit.

Craig McKinlay, at Halifax, said: “In a relatively flat housing market, the new homes market has changed enormously.”

various types of borrowing, such as personal loans, overdrafts, credit cards and store cards.

Six years is the length of time that a missed payment will remain on someone’s credit records.

Failure to stick to agreements over cards, loans and overdrafts will show up on someone’s credit records and make it tougher for them to take on more borrowing.

Another common reason Experian found for people not making a credit payment was that they had simply forgotten.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Eight year ban for Formby director A FORMBY man has been disqualified from holding a directorship for eight years after an investigation by The Insolvency Service.

Alexis Jon Stone, 39, was a director of Bike Insurer Services Ltd, a motorbike insurance comparison website that traded from premises in Formby.

Mr Stone, now living in America, paid himself, or his American company, ahead of other creditors after the liquidation of the Formby business.

Bike Insurer Services was incorporated on December 22, 2004, and Mr Stone was a director from March 16, 2005, until liquidation on August 2, 2011, when the company had debts of at least £281,569.

Between May 27, 2011, and July 29, 2011, Mr Stone removed more than £500,000 from the company accounts, which resulted in it being unable to pay all its debts.

He decided to put the company into liquidation in May 2011, but delayed this until August 2011, to allow him time to convert company assets into cash, totalling £150,000.

He then transferred these funds to his American company, including £100,000 paid on the morning the company went into liquidation and the balance paid a few days later.

Robert Clarke, head of company investigations, said: “The disqualification sends a clear message to other directors that if they act in a way that is detrimental to creditors they will be investigated by the Insolvency Service and removed from the business environment.”

news

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Sweet smell of success no mystery for The Fragrance Shop

From left: Fragrance Shop store manager Meagan Hughes and sales assistant Joannie Currie

THE Fragrance Shop in St John’s Shopping Centre enjoyed the sweet smell of success, again, after winning a mystery shopper award conducted across the city at the beginning of 2013.

It clinched the Best Overall Retailer title in the Mystery Shop Awards 2013, hosted by Liverpool Council BID (Business Improvement District), for the second year running.

In total, 300 stores were mystery shopped by the BID team who looked out for the very best in customer service and expertise.

Store manager Meagan Hughes, who has been with The Fragrance Shop for five years, said: “Me and my team are delighted at clinching the top spot again at awards.

“We have a great customers base, wide range of fragrances including Chanel, and lots of great promotions that make our store one happy place. The fact we’ve been recognised from all the stores in Liverpool is fantastic.”

The Fragrance Shop spokesman Daniel Thompson added: “To see our Liverpool St John’s store perform so well for a second year running is great news.”

Potential for Bosch contact centre to expand threefold EXCLUSIVE by Neil Hodgson

POST BUSINESS STAFF

neil.hodgson@liverpool.com

A CONTACT centre set up in Liverpool

by German group Bosch could expand threefold after going 24/7 this week.

The Bosch Communication Centre network has 25 global sites, including Liverpool, providing contact centre services for its parent and a range of clients around the world.

The Liverpool site was based in Old Hall Street’s Cotton Exchange where it employed about 60 staff three years ago before moving to bigger offices in

The Plaza last June where it now employs 175. General manager John Milburn said the operation will grow to 200 employees by the end of the year, with the option to treble in size.

“We have just over 200 workstations and this Tuesday we went 24/7, so we can potentially get three people on each desk.”

He said they could take more space in The Plaza where it occupies two thirds of its eighth floor floorplate.

Clients include German airline Lufthansa, Burger King and Warrington-based American Golf and Mr Milburn said the plan is to attract more new businesses and expand work with

£580m ‘wasted on energy costs’ SMALL firms across the region are over-paying for energy by a total of up to £580m a year, claim Liverpool analysts.

Energy broker Inenco Direct says this is because many fail to keep track of information like their contract renewal date.

Inenco based the figures on a survey of their 1,390 clients in the region, which have a combined annual consumption of 180m kWh. They include 313 based in Liverpool, 105 in Warrington,

post business

and 153 in the Chester area.

The Corn Exchange-based broker said 70% of Britain’s 5m small- and medium-sized businesses were affected by the problem.

It said one-in-four small firms have had their energy contracts “rolled over” onto higher rates – which can be up to 200% higher – without their knowledge.

Watchdog Ofgem has proposed that energy firms put contract end dates on all invoices and has announced that new standards of con-

duct for how suppliers should treat Britain’s smallest businesses are due to come into force from this summer.

It will also consider whether automatic rollover of contracts for businesses should be banned altogether.

Karen Trepte, Inenco managing director, said: “Energy bills can be the tipping point for some companies operating on the edge.

“That is why these changes are so important to avoid potentially damaging shocks.”

its existing range of clients: “We have had a great year so far and the plan is to continue to grow Liverpool.”

Staff in Liverpool, all locally sourced, speak 18 different languages, from French or Spanish to Norwegian or Slovakian and Mr Milburn said: “We have become regarded for our versatility. We are the only (Bosch) location that does 18 languages, the nearest is Romania that does 12.”

He added: “Our German colleagues are impressed by the positive attitude of our people and their willingness to go the extra mile – I think that is about our spirit as a city and a country.”

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the travel industry, working with the likes of Lufthansa, Thomas Cook and business travel agency Egencia, but Mr Milburn said he is keen to explore other sectors, particularly the automotive industry.

Bosch, itself, makes auto components and works with the likes of Mercedes Benz and BMW, but Mr Milburn is targeting firms in the auto sector closer to home as potential clients of the future including luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover and gearbox maker Getrag Ford, both in Halewood: “We have been talking to Liverpool LEP about how we can work closely with target businesses on our doorstep.”

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8

Thursday, May 2, 2013

post business the bottom line

Improved cargo volumes and savings lift CMA CGM profits

by Bill Gleeson

POST BUSINESS STAFF

bill.gleeson@liverpool.com

THE UK arm of one of the world’s largest shipping lines filed its latest accounts at Companies House this week.

French owned CMA CGM (UK) Shipping, which has its British base at Princes Parade on Liverpool’s waterfront, says it has benefited from an improvement in world trade conditions and a vigorous cost cutting programme that has seen the size of its UK managed fleet reduced.

Accounts for the year to December 2012 show annual turnover of £211.5m, down substantially from £311m in 2011.

The sharp fall in topline sales was due to the sale of three of the seven vessels it owned and operated at the start of its financial year. CMA CGM also provides shipping agency services and freight forwarding in the UK for other businesses in the group. The shipping agency contributed £12.5m to turnover, up from £11.1m in the prevous year.

Shipping contributed £13.1m to profit on ordinary activities before tax, up from £10.3m the year before. The shipping agency made £417,000 compared to a £37,000 loss in the previous year.

Cost of sales was £179.4m, compared to £289.6m, leading to a gross profit of £32m, higher than the £21.3m recorded in 2011.

Operating expenses of £17m were sharply up on the £4.3m in the previous year. As a result, operating profit was £14.9m against £17m in 2011.

Interest receivable and similar income was £2.5m in 2012, compared to £23,000 in 2011.

Interest payable and similar charges was sharply down at £3.9m compared to £6.7m. The biggest saving came from finance leases and hire purchase contracts, which were £2.1m, down from £5.7m, due to the operation of fewer ships.

Tax on profit on ordinary activities was £701,000, against £375,000. The relatively low tax bill is mostly due to the company opting to use the “tonnage” system of assessment which calculates the corporation tax charge based on the tonnage of vessels operated by the shipping line, rather than the trading result. This option appears to have saved CMA CGM £2.8m. As a result, profit for the financial year was £12.8m compared to £9.9m.

In their report, the directors state: “The result from shipping operations has reflected the improved trading conditions that have been experienced

Seaforth container port, above, and Princes Dock, left

generally throughout the industry durng 2012.

“This has led to increasing volumes and freight rates for the company, resulting in the margin increasing from 8% to 15% giving a profit before tax of £13.1m versus £10.3m.

“Results of the UK agency operations were similarly affected, with agency revenue of £12.5m versus £11.1m, leading to a net profit before tax of £417,000 versus a loss of £37,000.”

Under the heading strategy, the report continues: “In order to maintain the profitability of shipping operations, vessels employment is under constant review and a programme is underway to reduce operating costs.

UK agency operations are expected to remain profitable.”

The accounts also reveal that a fourth vessel has been sold since the year end, resulting in further contraction of the UK fleet. The sale made a

profit on disposal of £3.7m.

The directors added: “The principal risks relate to international competition, notably its effects on freight rates and fuel costs. The risks are managed by changes to vessel employment as necessary.”

There are no plans to pay a dividend.

The balance sheet shows cash at bank of £3.6m, down from £7.8m. Short term bank loans are £9m versus nil in 2011.

Finance leases were shown at just over £50m, down from £123.6m.

In February, the French parent clinched a deal with its bankers to restructure its debts as part of efforts to strengthen its finances.

The family-owned group had been in talks with its bank for a year to modify its debt terms to ease the financial pressures caused by a volatile freight market. The company, which had net debt of around $4.6bn at the end of 2012 is considering a listing in Paris.

Lloyds pleases markets with better-than-expected profits LLOYDS Banking Group revealed the bill for offloading more than 600 branches under the TSB brand is likely to reach £1.3bn after its deal with The Co-operative collapsed last week.

The taxpayer-backed lender said the costs of the branch spin-off were already near £1bn and would rise by up to another £300m as it presses

ahead with a flotation for the middle of 2014, if it can gain EC approval to extend a year-end deadline.

But shares in the group, which is 39% owned by the Government, jumped 5% higher after it reported a better-than-expected leap in first quarter underlying profits to £1.5bn from £497m a year earlier and said lending had

returned to growth thanks to stronger business borrowing.

Lloyds profits were boosted as its bad debts plunged by 40% to £1bn and after it slashed costs by another 6%.

The group said it was ramping up cost-cutting efforts by another £200m this year under a programme that has already seen more than 8,800 jobs culled – including nearly 1,900

in the first quarter alone.

It said extra savings would be made across the business but were not expected to lead to further job losses on top of those already planned.

Group chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said the group had made “substantial progress” in the first three months of the year, with lending to businesses boosted by

the Government and Bank of England’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS).

Net lending to small firms rose 4% while its overall commercial loan book returned to growth earlier than planned, although net mortgage lending is not expected to start increasing until the third quarter as it continues to shrink its home loan business.

notes ■

WHITBREAD vowed to step up expansion of its Premier Inn and Costa chains in a move set to create 12,000 jobs over the next five years.

The latest pledge by the leisure group, which also owns Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants, came as it reported an 11% rise in underlying profits to £356.5m for the year to February 28, this week.

Having created 3,000 UK jobs over the financial year, it announced new targets which will see it grow Premier Inn by 45% to around 75,000 rooms and double coffee chain Costa’s sales to around £2bn.

Whitbread has 40,000 staff serving 22 million customers every month at more than 2,500 UK outlets.

In the last year, it sold 14 million Premier Inn rooms, 46 million restaurant meals and 320 million cups of Costa coffee.

The continued strong demand ensured revenues rose by 14.2% to £2bn, with sales figure up by 3.7% when expansion is stripped out.

The hotels business increased revenues by 13.1% to £853.8m in the year, with the figure ahead by 3.1% on a like-for-like basis.

Chief executive Andy Harrison described the results as “excellent”. During the downturn the company has grown sales by 11% a year and profits 12% a year.

■

TRANSPORT group Stagecoach issued a pre-close trading update for the year on Tuesday, ahead of a series of meetings with analysts.

The bus and train group, which owns 49% of the Virgin Trains franchise, said its regional UK bus operations showed a 3.6% increase in like-for-like revenue for the 48 week period up to March 31.

Its London bus arm showed a 1.2% improvement.

The UK rail division reported a 5.4% increase, while Virgin Rail Group posted a 3.1% rise.

North American operations, including its Megabus.com business, posted a 9.7% jump in like-for-like revenues for the 11 months to March 31.

The statement said: “Overall current trading remains good and the prospects for the group remain positive.”

The group will announced its annual results on June 26.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

small business post business

notes

small

business of the week

■

TIME may be running out for bringing a court claim against the banks for the misselling of interest rate swaps, warns Glyn Lancefield, commercial litigation solicitor at Brabners Chaffe Street in Liverpool.

Earlier this year financial services regulator the FSA published further updates regarding the mis-sold interest rate swaps by the banks.

It reviewed the sale of around 40,000 interest rate hedging products and found that more than 90% failed to comply with one or more of the FSA’s regulatory requirements. It has also added new criteria to the test of whether a customer is “sophisticated” or not.

However, small- and medium-sized businesses who bought interest rate hedging products have been warned to check the date their product was entered into as any product which commenced in 2007 will be approaching its six year anniversary and, in legal terms, approaching the limitation period meaning that businesses could be barred from pursuing court action.

by Neil Hodgson

POST BUSINESS STAFF

neil.hodgson@liverpool.com

A

SOUTHPORT company has, this week, raised the bar for wheelchair users with a move into the world of high-end luxury

vehicles.

Tucked away in a small unit on Blowick Industrial Park, Graham Lloyd, Steve Truesdale and Jo Carroll are building up their Accessible Vehicles business.

They have more than 40 years’ experience in the industry between them. Mr Lloyd and Mr Truesdale both worked for Southport firm Aspect Conversions which collapsed in 2011.

But they saw the potential in serving Aspect’s previous clients, Keighley-based Lateral Designs and Wilson Healy, from High Park in Southport, who both specialise in converting vehicles to take wheelchairs.

Accessible Vehicles is, effectively, now the public face of both these companies, acting as their sales arm.

Currently, the vehicles mainly used for conversion range from Fiat Doblos, Qubos, and Scudos, to the Renault Kangoo and the Ford Connect.

But when the three business partners were establishing their new venture last year, they realised that the sector was badly in need of some unashamed luxury and pizzazz.

Mr Lloyd explained: “Wilson Healy only do one type of vehicle and we thought if we could get some more in the range we could be a supplier of these vehicles.

“There are 10,000 wheelchair accessible vehicles sold in the UK each year and we saw a market for people who want to buy something different.”

The kind of people who have money and want a high specification vehicle which, currently, does not exist.

Mr Lloyd said: “There are a lot of retired couples coming from an Audi or a Mercedes and they don’t want to go to a Fiat.

“Just because you use a wheelchair doesn’t mean you’re not interested in cars, or you want something dead cheap.

“So we needed not only an affordable range, but a luxury range, and we wanted to produce a luxury vehicle.”

The answer to their dreams was unveiled at a trade show in Birmingham’s NEC this Tuesday, in partnership with Lateral, in the shape of a new model built on a Mercedes platform.

Mr Lloyd said: “There’s nothing else like it out there.

“Mercedes have been very helpful.

They’re really keen on us doing this.

The industry is not geared up to do a luxury vehicle.”

Conventional conversions cost around £13,000, but the Mercedes model will cost £36,000.

It allows the wheelchair user to sit up front next to the driver and involves them in configuring their own vehicle.

Mr Lloyd said: “There is not normally the same level of contact with the customer, saying to them ‘what do you want?’

“The new model is about showing that there is a top level and that people who use chairs want a bit more, and demand a bit more.”

He compared the model with one of Ford’s top of the range sports cars aimed at a particular market: “It’s a bit like Ford do the GT40. They aren’t going to sell many of them.”

He said Ford have already

9

■

Graham Lloyd, left, and Steve Truesdale with a wheelchair-accessible Fiat Cubo

Picture: ANDREW TEEBAY

Wheelchair accessible cars get luxury touch approached the firm to do a similar project as the Mercedes model and he expects other high-end manufacturers to follow suit.

Mr Lloyd said: “There are companies that do low price vehicles and sell 250 a month, but we want to create a bespoke business so that you ring and speak to the same person and you are treated as a personal customer.”

The company currently sells about 20-25 vehicles a month, but he said: “The business plan is to get to a stage where we get this product spread.

“We are looking for about 30 vehicles a month, constantly, by this July.

“The plan then will be for Steve and Jo to lead their own teams and have three to four sales people under them looking after other parts of the UK.”

The new Mercedes model launched this week by Accessible Vehicles

TAKING time out from the day-to-day running of your business to put a detailed strategy in place is the first step on the pathway to growth, according to a new report from GrowthAccelerator.

Liverpool businesses who have taken the time to plan say it has put them, on average, 11 months ahead of where they would have been without planning.

The ‘Working On, Not In’ report found that of the Liverpool firms who had taken time to work on, not in their business by paying for professional support, 90% cited the support as ‘very helpful’ or ‘invaluable’.

However, 39% said finding time to take a step back is impossible, citing it as a bigger challenge to their growth prospects than the current economic environment.

Also, 55% said they spend less than two hours a week leading their company, spending the rest of their time doing day-to-day work.

As one owner said: “One minute I’m a builder, the next minute I’m an MD.” Andy Campbell, of GrowthAccelerator, said: “Many owners are consumed with the day-today running of their company, particularly if they feel they are under-resourced.

However, while operational effectiveness is important, leaders who want to achieve growth need to plan for it.”

10 post business creative & digital

Thursday, May 2, 2013 IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Property firm tells brand tale PROPERTY giant Bruntwood discussed its brand strategy at a Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) event in Liverpool.

Kate Vokes, the group’s marketing and HR director, met CIM members at the Cotton Exchange in Bixteth Street.

She discussed a research project carried out by the family business that helped staff to understand how the company was perceived by customers. That research helped the company to adjust the branding it uses on its buildings.

Bruntwood, founded by Ms Vokes’ father Michael Oglesby, in 1977, own properties including Liverpool’s Oriel Chambers, and the Cotton Exchange.

She said: “Our focus is on keeping customers happy and maintaining stable, successful relationships, even in difficult times. It was important our brand reflected this ethos and we didn’t appear to be just another property company.

“We are confident our rebranding exercise over the few years has achieved that goal .”

‘Inspirational’ music figures take the stage at Sound City

by Alistair Houghton POST BUSINESS STAFF

alistair.houghton@liverpool.com

MUSICAL delegates from around the world will be flocking to Liverpool Sound City from today for its latest “inspirational” music conference.

Sound City is best known for its programme of concerts, but has always included a music business conference designed to help Mersey music firms to meet new contacts and develop their businesses.

This year’s keynote speaker is Andrew Loog Oldham, who managed and produced the Rolling Stones and led their push into the US market.

Dan Smith, frontman of hit band Bastille, will discuss what it takes to form and establish a band while his manager Polly Comber and A&R Nick Burgess will offer their perspective on artist development.

Everything But The Girl singer Tracey Thorn will speak about her new autobiography, Bedsit Disco Queen.

Matthew Murphy, of Liverpool band The Wombats, along with the band’s manager Simon Bobbett, will discuss their experiences in the music industry.

Other sessions at the conference, which runs today and tomorrow, will

discuss topics from touring to promoting music online.

The UK Music Student Awards, scheduled to tie in with Sound City, has its own high-profile guest speakers. Simon Moran, managing director of promoter SJM Concerts and one of the most influential people in the UK’s music industry, will be interviewed onstage by festival CEO Dave Pichilingi.

“The feedback we got from last year’s conference is that people wanted more inspirational stuff,” said Mr Pichilingi, “and we’ve really worked hard to meet that request.

“Someone like Andrew Loog Oldham – you don’t get much more inspirational than that. And it’s 50 years since the first ‘British invasion’ of the US music scene.

“Then there’s Tracey Thorn, who will be telling some of the stories from her autobiography which is a funny and moving account of her life in the music business. Dan, from Bastille, and his creative team will talk about building new artists.

“Then Simon Moran is being interviewed onstage. SJM started as an independent promoter above a taxi shop in Warrington and has become one of the most influential companies in the world – it got Take That and the Stone Roses back together.”

Dan Smith, frontman of Bastille, is speaking at Liverpool Sound City

Video firm cleans up with Kärcher

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One of the videos produced by Curly Productions for cleaning firm Kärcher VIDEO specialist Curly Productions has created a series of “how-to films” for cleaning products company Kärcher.

The Baltic Triangle-based company produced 20 videos, each examining a different household chore, to promote Kärcher’s cleaning machines from pressure washers to steam cleaners.

The films, covering subjects from cleaning wheelie bins to scrubbing decking, can be seen on Kärcher’s website and on YouTube.

Curly was briefed by London’s Shine Communications on behalf of Kärcher.

Christian Hughes, Curly’s managing director, said: “We love working on a premium brand like Kärcher, and together with Shine Communications we have been able to produce some really helpful videos for their customers.

“I’m confident that the high-end results produced by our commitment to using the latest technology and the very best crews will

serve Kärcher well over the next few years.”

Curly has worked with Kärcher before, most notably on 2012’s Clean Up Britain campaign. Phil Springall, marketing manager at Kärcher, said: “Curly really got to know our business and became a crucial part of building the brief which made the shoot simple, fast and effective.

“The end results speak for themselves and we very much look forward to our next collaboration”.

creative & digital post business 11

Thursday, May 2, 2013

www.ldpcreative.co.uk

Architecture students to show their verve at Northern Soul MORE than 50 architecture students from the North of England will next week take part in the first “Charrette” one-day design contest to be held by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

The contest, called “A Northern Soul”, will see stu-

dents from 11 architecture schools in the North meet in Stockport on Friday, May 3, to compete against each other on a “tightly defined” design brief.

RIBA says a charrette “is a time-honoured method of producing a large amount of cre-

ative design thinking in a short space of time”.

Participating institutions include the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University and the University of Sheffield.

RIBA Northwest regional director, Andrew Ruffler, said:

“A Northern Soul will provide a fantastic opportunity for architecture students from universities in the North of England to really showcase their talent on a national stage, and at the same time help foster strong links between education, the profes-

sion, clients and suppliers.

“We are proud to be hosting the inaugural event here in the North West, and we look forward to congratulating the winners and displaying the outputs from the event in a touring exhibition at the end of the year.”

Ben Hatton

Data can win you business

Uniform’s Postcard Player has been nominated for a Big Chip Award. Inset left, Shaun Fensom and, right, Lawrence Jones

Award shortlist shows NW is a ‘region to be reckoned with’

by Alistair Houghton

POST BUSINESS STAFF

alistair.houghton@liverpool.com

MERSEYSIDE and Cheshire firms have been named among the region’s top digital companies in the shortlist for the Big Chip Awards.

The Big Chip awards, now in their 15th year, celebrate digital innovation across the North of England in areas including web and app development, video gaming, design and social media.

Video games developer, Playrise Digital has been shortlisted in two categories at this year’s awards. The Wallasey based developer has made the shortlist for Best Use of Gaming for Table Top Racing, a multi-player racing game, and has also been nominated for Best Start-up.

Momote, a mobile workforce technology provider in Newton-le-Willows

has made the shortlist in the Best Mobile Project category for MyMobileWorkers, an app focusing on the waste industry.

Liverpool-based Uniform, which has offices on Fleet Street in Liverpool, is shortlisted for the Big Chip Imagination Award for its Postcard Player.

Uniform’s “digital postcards” have buttons that allow people to play music.

Banking giant MBNA, in Chester, is up for the Best Digital Marketing Campaign title thanks to its email alert programme.

Meanwhile Warrington’s Space 48 has been nominated in two categories.

It was shortlisted for the Best E-business Project title for its Taps Website Redevelopment, and for the Best Use of Search title for the Naylors Search Project.

The awards attracted 246 entries from 127 digital and creative organisations and freelancers from across

the whole of the North – the widest spread of entries to date.

This year there are 16 categories, including The Best Application of Technology Award which saw the highest number of entries of any category, and the new Best use of Brand in Digital Award.

But no entries have been shortlisted for the OffBeat or Best Use of Social Media awards as the judging panel felt no entries were suitable.

Shaun Fensom, chairman of the Big Chip steering group, said: “As in previous years the judges have applied a strict and rigorous standard in selecting this shortlist – a reflection of the rising standards in the industry.

“This year we have a more diverse geographical spread of entries than ever, highlighting the broad range of digital sector talent we have in the North, and as always, it’s great to see new companies coming forward.”

For the second year running, the awards are partnering with Trinity Mirror’s titles, the Post, the Manchester Evening News and the Newcastle Journal.

The headline sponsor for this year’s Big Chip Awards is Manchester-based cloud and managed hosting provider, UKFast.

Its chief executive, Lawrence Jones, said: “The North West is fast becoming the most important digital hub outside of London, and awards such as these really showcase what we have to offer.

“The level of innovation, creativity and energy in the North is evident in this shortlist, and shows exactly why we are a region to be reckoned with.”

The judging panel will be chaired by Michael Nutley, former editor-in-chief of New Media Age. Judges include Liverpool-based Herb Kim, of Codeworks, and Liane Grimshaw, from Hootonbased Click Consult.

REPEAT customers are the lifeblood of any online business.

To keep the metaphorical bell ringing above the shop door, customers need to be persuaded to come back time and again.

In many ways online outlets have an advantage over traditional stores as they have direct access to information about their customer base.

Which is why, very much to my surprise, Barclays published research showing almost half of online businesses have no way of tracking their repeat customers either buying or browsing their websites.

Given that most marketers agree that personalisation is key to the success of a website, it would seem that far too many companies are using much of their marketing muscle to attract new customers with no effort made to find out who their customers are and get to know them.

This may actually be detrimental to the business as less effort is expelled to nurture loyalty leading to brands not offering the right product to the right people and missing out on potential sales. Customers will be going through the front door and straight out of the back with no incentive of a return visit.

Tesco is a shining example of a company which pioneered the tracking of customer data.

It pays attention to what is viewed and bought, subsequently giving offers tailored to that particular customer – for instance, someone buying pet food may be interested in pet insurance.

By ensuring all opportunities are relevant, Tesco doesn’t let opportunities slip.

It may seem simple to overlook, but tracking repeat customers could transform many online brands.

■ INTERNET entrepreneur Ben Hatton is founder and managing director of digital agency Rippleffect. Follow Rippleffect on Twitter @rippleffected

12 post business big feature

Alistair Houghton meets KEVIN GEORGEL, managing director of Admiral Taverns

T

HERE couldn’t have been a worse time for Kevin Georgel to sit down with a writer from a Liverpool paper.

Georgel, a lifelong real ale lover and chairman of a Devon brewer, is managing director of Chester pub company Admiral Taverns.

Georgel joined the group after it was hit hard by the recession and the impact of the smoking ban. He helped the group shed hundreds of under-performing pubs while focusing on its core estate and helped steer it to the top title of Pub Company of the Year at last year’s Publican Awards.

So at our meeting, scheduled weeks earlier, we were all set to discuss Admiral’s turnaround and what the future held for UK pubs.

But then, the day before we met, news broke that popular Liverpool pub The Caledonia was to close after Admiral sold the leasehold to an unidentified bidder. The pub is set to be converted into student flats.

The news sparked outrage among regulars at The Caledonia, which became a popular real ale pub and music venue after it was taken over by landlady Laura King three years ago. Campaigners are now working to block the sale, while the council has also pledged to help keep it open.

And so halfway through our meeting, after we had chatted at length about the challenges facing the pub trade, I raised the expected Caledonia question.

The warm and chatty Georgel said he “completely understood” the outcry by regulars, but insisted that Admiral had no choice but to sell its leasehold when it received an offer for the building.

“The lease on the property was drawing to an end,” he said.

“The business, unfortunately, despite the fact that it has a good reputation and has some very passionate consumers, had not proved itself capable of sustaining sufficient enough income for its licensee.”

He added: “It does have a small group of passionate followers, but unfortunately there aren’t enough of them.

“It’s been a difficult decision.

“We don’t have the freehold. It’s a leasehold property. We had to make the decision for all the right reasons and sell the lease on, which is what we’ve done.”

More generally, Georgel said that he and his team did not enjoy selling pubs on but sometimes had to, in order to ensure Admiral’s survival.

“We rarely close pubs,” he said. “A closed pub is abhorrent to me, particularly if it’s a community pub.

“If you close a community pub you’re curtailing a community facility. Your customers are quite habitual – if you close it, you break the habit. It’s hard to get them back.

“It’s always a hard decision to make to sell a pub.

“Most of us in the pub industry have been in it for years. We’re passionate about pubs.

“There is a moral/ethical concern about letting a pub to an individual when we don’t believe it will stay profitable for them.

“You cannot avoid the fact that social behaviours over the past 20 years have shifted. More people drink at home. There’s overcapacity in the market, sadly.”

A

DMIRAL was founded in 2004 and, through a series of acquisitions, grew to have a 3,000-pub estate.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Tough decisions for Admiral boss with a passion for pubs

The Queens Arms in Toxteth, above, is one of Admiral Taverns’ success stories.

But the sale of The Caledonia, left, has caused controversy But, Georgel says, the smoking ban in 2007 led to double-digit revenue declines at Admiral’s pubs as sales “dropped off a cliff ”.

He added: “It had a very dramatic and intense impact on the pub sector – probably on community, wet-led, urban pubs more than most.

“Fairly soon after the smoking ban, we started to come across the economic challenge of the recession etc. As a result of that, the business found itself in quite a difficult position financially.”

So in late 2009, Admiral secured a

debt-for-equity swap with Lloyds. At that point Jonathan Paveley joined as executive chairman – and the following July, he brought in Georgel as MD to lead a “period of transformation”.

Georgel, who was born in Galashiels, spent some time in the armed forces before moving into the pub trade with Bass.

He started as a sales rep in North Devon and, following Molson Coors’ takeover of Bass, rose to national account manager looking after the Punch Taverns account.

q&a Age: 43 Highest educational qualification: A-Levels Biggest achievement in business: Winning the Best Tenanted/Leased Pub Company of the Year title at The Publican Awards this year. It’s a fantastic achievement for everybody Biggest regret: I rarely look back – I’m much more about being for-

ward-looking. What’s gone is gone Best advice received: Keep things simple, focused and measurable – and have some fun along the way Still to achieve: I’d like to get the opportunity to champion the cause of community wet-led pubs at an industry level. I want to be able to give something back to the industry at large for the career I’ve enjoyed.

Next, he moved to Punch as its regional operations director for the South West. After three years he became operations director for the South of England, finally becoming national operations director before heading to Admiral.

He said: “Simplistically, the challenges at Admiral were twofold.

“One, to improve the balance sheet by paying down our residual debt.

“That was to be achieved through assessing the estate, identifying pubs that really didn’t promise a long-term viable future for a licensee, first and foremost, and then for us – and selling those pubs.

“We have completed about 2,000 individual disposals between 2009 and the current time, significantly reducing the debt in the process and strengthening the balance sheet.

“The second objective was starting to turn around the operational performance of the pubs that we knew would form part of our long-term future.

“But there’s no getting away from the fact that it was a difficult couple of years.

“The business, because of its financial pressures, was unable to

invest in its pub estate. That’s something we’ve corrected.”

Georgel said it was never an easy decision to dispose of a pub.

But he added: “It’s morally wrong to put a licensee into a pub where we believe that pub will not sustain a reasonable level of income.

“We look at a pub’s trading history, the competitive environment in which it sits, how many competitors are around, and the demographic diversity. We take all that into account and say ‘is this pub going to be able to serve the community, and can we trade it and make it economically viable for the licensee and, therefore, ourselves as well?’

“There are some pubs we have sold where it’s what we call a ‘gold brick’.

The asset value of the pub, mainly in London, means that the pub itself could be reasonably viable, but the income we would derive doesn’t make sense versus the asset value when we’re trying to pay down debt.”

Today Admiral has pubs throughout England and Wales. Its core estate is now made up of community pubs that are “wet-led” – ie make their money mainly from beer sales, rather than food.

big feature post business 13

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Alex

Turner The empty boasts don’t add up AFTER reading and re-reading a news report, I was still none the wiser.

I could follow the idea that a grant, of £3.3m, is going to fund work at Haydock Island, where the East Lancs Road meets the M6 motorway.

The improvements are designed to reduce congestion at what is a busy junction.

But then came the bit I couldn’t grasp at all: “According to (St Helens) council, by improving traffic flow at a key gateway to the borough potential knock-on effects could lead to 1,000 new jobs being created and 2,000 more homes being built.”

The original council press release doesn’t add any detail as to how this might happen.

Which is presumably because it can’t.

Better road junctions don’t create jobs – that’s the work of investment and business, just as it doesn’t somehow cause there to be thousands of new homes built.

Understandably there is a desire to quantify the potential effects of schemes like this, but such pronouncements detract from and demean the genuine ones.

The link between a road junction and unspecified future job creation is all-but-impossible to establish.

But then there is a wish to make everything have a direct economic benefit – is it not enough to improve a road junction to improve congestion and so reduce travelling time?

Earlier this month there was another overstated claim in the same local paper that a new car park would help boost the town centre economy.

It won’t. Car parking in St Helens does not have the capacity or cost problems of somewhere like Liverpool’s commercial district.

It also presupposes there is this large group of car owners who would shop in the town centre, if only there was somewhere to park. Much more likely is there is a large group of car owners who would park in the town centre, if only there was somewhere to shop.

Instead of this regeneration window dressing, the focus should be on the substance of the offer – the economic landscape makes this tough, but not impossible with imagination and endeavour.

We shouldn’t put up with claims that have no substance just because we are desperate for signs of sustainable long-term economic improvements.

‘Better junctions don’t create jobs’

Kevin Georgel says he and his team at Admiral are passionate about pubs “We slightly see ourselves as a champion of the community wet-led pub,” said Georgel.

“The reason we like them is that the dynamics of community wet-led pubs are habitual consumers with high levels of low-value expenditure.

“They’re highly sustainable. More than 60% of people that go out still go out for drinks-only occasions. That suggests the pre-occupation with food is maybe a little bit overstated.

“Community-led wet pubs are alive and well, and will continue to do well in the future.

“There are probably still too many of them. But as the market rebalances to the shift in demographics, those that are left will do extremely well.”

Lagers are still the biggest sellers for Admiral, though it is working to promote real ales in many of its pubs.

“Cask ale is the only category of beer that’s showing any real growth at the moment,” said Georgel.

Pubs cannot compete with supermarkets on price, but they can do so on quality and by offering ales on draught that have no equivalent on supermarket shelves.

Once Admiral had stabilised, Paveley and Georgel set out to find new investment. That led, in January, to the news that private equity firm Cerberus was buying Admiral for a reported £200m.

While Admiral and its new owners work out their plans for the business, Georgel wants to see the pub sector get more help from Government.

He welcomed the Chancellor’s decision in March to scrap the beer duty escalator, but still wants to see other changes such as annual reviews of business rates.

“The beer and pub industry is an incredibly important one in this country,” he said. “It contributes more than £19bn to the UK economy. It employs more than 1m people across the UK, paying £12bn in wages.

“Eight out of ten people consider themselves to be pubgoers. More than 15m visit a pub once a week.

“Locally, the average pub injects over £80,000 to the local economy by employing people, buying equipment, hiring DJs and decorators, etc. And

£120m is donated to charity through pubs every single year.”

G

EORGEL soon disappeared, briefly, to wave off a cycle ride to raise money for Macmillan cancer care.

Admiral staff have been raising cash in memory of colleague Chris Horsley, who died last year.

We then turned to Admiral’s recent award win – evidence, said Georgel, that his company operates much more like a family-run business than a gigantic “pubco”.

Admiral may be a big pub owner, but Georgel shies away from the word “pubco” that gets applied – often in negative terms – to industry giants.

But Georgel said much of the criticism levelled at pub companies, such as that they put too much pressure on licensees, is unfair. He said: “It’s clear the large pub companies such as Punch and Enterprise have made significant efforts to improve the relationship with their licensees over the last two or three years.”

Georgel spends at least one day a

‘Always a hard decision to make to sell a pub’

week in Chester, spending the rest of the week touring Admiral’s pub estate and the weekends with his family in Devon.

He is a keen rugby fan who loves outdoor activities, including walking on Dartmoor. But beer plays a key part in his life, even outside work.

In January last year he became non-executive chairman of Dartmoor Brewery, which proudly bills itself as the “highest brewery in England”, to lead its growth plans.

And Georgel is proud to have spent his career in the pub trade.

“If you’re passionate about pubs, it gets into your blood a little bit,” he said. “Pubs play a critical role in society.

“I have four children and I want them to enjoy the experience of pubs.

“Having all those different social stratas all mixing in the pub is a fantastic thing, and it’s unique to Britain.

“Well-run pubs have been around for hundreds of years. They’ll be around for hundreds more.

“They might look different. There might be less of them.

“We want to ensure our pubs are as good as they can be.”

■ Alex Turner is the general manager of financial training firm Ambitious Minds

14 post business legal

Thursday, May 2, 2013

www.ldplegal.co.uk

Growers’ bid for more growth is being held back, says lawyer

by Tony McDonough POST BUSINESS STAFF

tony.mcdonough@liverpool.com

LEADING Merseyside lawyer David Kirwan is backing a campaign that claims UK planning laws are restricting the growth of farms.

Mr Kirwan of Kirwans, who himself has a smallholding with pigs and chickens, claims the agricultural sector currently needs all the help it can get. He has thrown his weight behind a group of “long-suffering” growers, led

by Hertfordshire’s Lea Valley Growers Association.

They claim that in addition to the bad weather and import competition, the sector is also being hampered by the current planning system.

Mr Kirwan told Post Business: “The Government operates stringent rules around planning which often means that the volume of crops produced is not what it could be and farms struggle to compete with foreign imports of fresh produce.

“The main issues are around glasshouse development, which would allow for further food production, creating more jobs and contributing to the growth of the economy, but which receive a lot of opposition.

“Planning officials need to see beyond what they believe to be the negative visual impact of these structures, and to instead embrace the opportunities that more glasshouses would offer to growers, and to the economy as a result.”

The Lea Valley Growers Association has highlighted the fact that its members produce up to three-quarters of the UK’s cucumbers and half of the UK’s sweet peppers, and could grow more if the planning system allowed.

Mr Kirwan added: “I applaud the Lea Valley Growers Association for taking matters into its own hands and pushing for planning restrictions to be relaxed.

“So much – from the bad weather to the poor economy – is out of the hands of the growers, and indeed the planners.

“Agreeing to forward-thinking, economy-boosting measures such as developing glasshouses, however, is a pro-active move that could make a significant contribution to the fortunes of these long-suffering farmers.”

David Kirwan believes passionately that UK farmers need more support to grow

Legal Aid cuts set to leave huge gap in provision, warns city practice

Brabners hosts charitable Moot

MAXWELL HODGE is warning that the North West will suffer from “legal advice deserts” as £350m is cut from the legal aid budget.

The Government has made extensive cuts to civil legal aid which has put many legal firms at risk and led to the closure of several centres which offer free legal advice.

Locally, the cuts have already resulted in the closure of the Warrington Law Centre and two Citizens Advice Bureau branches in Wirral.

STUDENTS from the University of Liverpool met at the city offices of Brabners Chaffe Street to participate in its annual Charity Law Moot Competition.

A moot is a legal debate, based on a factual situation, where two teams of counsel, representing appellant and respondent, attempt to persuade the judges of the strength of their case by reference to legal authority.

The overall winner was Jessica Tierney, whose prize is a week-long work placement at Brabners , to be taken up over the summer holidays. The winning team (the appellants) and the respondent team will all receive a small gift from the firm.

Claire Banks, lawyer at the Liverpool law firm, said: “Across the UK we are seeing the pool of legal advice available drying up.

“The Red Cross has even warned that it could be forced to withdraw expert help for family reunion claims and the house charity Shelter has shut down nine advice offices in England.

“Closer to home we’ve seen Citizens Advice Bureau and advice centres shutting – this is a taste of things to come.”

Civil legal aid is now no longer available for cases involving divorce, child custody, clinical negligence, welfare, employment, immigration, housing, debt, benefit and education.

Ms banks added: “The North West in particular will be disproportionately affected by these cuts. Many of the UK’s legal services are concentrated in the South East and London where the cuts will be felt less because there are lots of private legal firms.”

Warning on threat to legal practices THE Co-op Bank’s withdrawal from buying 632 Verde branches from Lloyds Banking Group is a stay of execution for solicitors, it was claimed.

Peter Noyce, partner and head of professional services at Menzies LLP, said: “The purchase would have immediately given Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) a high street presence and the ability to attract clients that would ordinarily deal with a traditional high street law firm.

“The Co-op brand enjoys high levels of trust with the public, and many mediumsized legal practices consider CLS as their major threat in the next 5-10 years.

“The Co-op’s financial capability would have given CLS the resources to break in to the legal services sector and achieve significant market penetration, while cross-selling to other areas in the Co-op group.”

He said the decision puts the threat to traditional legal practices into abeyance – but it has not gone away.

“Given the wider pressures facing the sector, such as the outcome-focused regulation and well-capitalised market entrants attacking firms’ core client base, law firms will appreciate a degree of respite.

“However, this is temporary and regardless of what the Co-op decides to do in the longer term the sector can expect a tough time from competitors skilled in using sophisticated retail practices to win public trust while generating substantial profits.”

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women in business post business 15

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Former city yacht club waitress returns as operations director

by Tony McDonough POST BUSINESS STAFF

tony.mcdonough@liverpool.com

MALLY BEST was just 16 when she landed a waitresses job at Yacht Club Liverpool.

She has fond memories of that first job so when she was offered the chance to return more than 20 years later, she jumped at the chance.

Mally has accepted the role of operations director at the club, which is located at Liverpool Marina, just a few minutes outside the city centre.

She returns to the venue with a wealth of hospitality sector experience under her belt.

As operations director, Mally will be responsible for spearheading the growth of Yacht Club Liverpool and the company’s event catering arm.

It is her job to ensure the smooth day-to-day running of the club.

Her role will also involve co-ordinating events, making sure both front and back of house runs like clockwork, and administrative duties, such as recruitment and training staff.

She told Post Business: “I started my hospitality career at Yacht Club Liverpool many years ago, so it feels really special to come back here as general manager.

“I am really excited to working with the team already established here, and while I have so many great memories of my time here as a waitress, I am very much looking forward to the future.”

After leaving school Mally attended Liverpool Polytechnic (now Liverpool John Moores University) to study engineering.

But when she landed the waitressing job it gave her a real taste for the hospitality sector.

After leaving the club first time around, Mally and her boyfriend Danny travelled to the Caribbean to manage her aunt’s hotel, before returning home to Liverpool to open their own restaurant, Left Bank, in Church Road, Allerton.

Her other jobs have included being a waitress at Feathers outside catering company and manager of the couple’s second restaurant, Crystals, in Birkdale.

She was also match-day co-ordinator at Everton Football Club, and general

‘No doubt this is a unique venue in Liverpool’

Mally Best will be responsible for the smooth day-to-day running of Yacht Club Liverpool manager of the Lunya restaurant at Liverpool One. She added: “There is no doubt that Yacht Club Liverpool is a unique venue in the city, partly thanks to its stunning location and the amazing people who work here.

“I want to utilise all its strengths in

taking Yacht Club Liverpool forward and to capitalise on its already outstanding reputation as a premier bar, restaurant and function venue.”

Commenting on Mally’s appointment, Adam Franklin, chief executive of Invincibles Catering, operators of Yacht Club Liverpool, said: “On behalf

of everyone here, I would like to officially welcome Mally back to the family at Yacht Club Liverpool.

“We are very much looking forward to working with Mally and are confident that with her years of experience, the venue has an exciting future with her at the helm.”

Caroline Oates secures deal with high street fashion outlet LIVERPOOL fashion designer Caroline Oates is selling her designs through a high street boutique for the first time.

Her business, called Caroline Oates, has been producing colourful and flamboyant clothes for Liverpool fashionistas for more than 18 years.

The former Liverpool Community College design student worked out of premises in Newington, just off Bold Street in Liverpool city centre.

In February, her latest collection featured in the Post’s sister paper, the Liverpool ECHO, and shortly after she was contacted by Julie Trigg, owner of the boutique, Dressing Room Leeds.

Now the store is stocking Caroline’s designs and she hopes there will be further similar deals.

“We are both really excited to see where this will take us,” she said.

“This is the first boutique to stock my designs and it’s exciting times.

“Since the Christmas rush we had been working hard on our designs and orders ahead of the Grand National and Ladies Day – Aintree is one of the biggest annual fashion events.

“Liverpool fashion design has never been more vibrant.

We are currently working on our summer prom dress and long and short styles are always popular.”

Caroline Oates in her city centre workshop

Liverpool One team scoops accolade THE head of Liverpool One’s commercialisation team has spoken of her delight after it won an award at the inaugural British Council of Shopping Centre’s Opal Awards.

The awards celebrate excellence in commercialisation and the team from the £1bn retail and leisure development won the Media category for a campaign to support the Bodies Revealed exhibition.

The campaign ran for three weeks during November and December last year and brought an additional 2,658 visitors to Bodies Revealed, achieving a return-on-investment for the organiser of 20:1 in ticket sales.

Cathy Maddock, commercialisation manager at Liverpool One, said: “We are delighted to have won this award for what was a highly successful commercial partnership that demonstrates what can be achieved with some imagination.

“Working with Eco-Street Adverts and Bodies Revealed, Liverpool One produced a creative campaign that focused on the innovative use of space, resource and budget to deliver measurable results and an impressive return on investment.”

The Opal judges added: “Striking, simple and effective, this was a great use of the space available and achieved a number of other significant benefits. The campaign was sustainable and low impact, interactive and accountable.”

The awards, launched last year, attracted more than 40 entries across four categories from retail destinations throughout the UK.

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16 post business location

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Developers need to be careful before they venture onto the ‘village green’

view point

by Eric Wright, a partner at Hitchcock Wright & Partners WHEN the words “village green” are used I wonder whether, like me, a vision of an idyllic village surrounding a cricket pitch, swings and slides and a traditional family pub comes into your mind.

Happy tenants at dock PEEL claims 90% of the people working within its Princes Dock development are “happy” to be working there.

Its customer satisfaction survey of firms based at the Liverpool waterfront site also show that 90% of occupiers would recommend the location to other organisations.

Liza Marco, property manager for Princes Dock, said: “Some of the UK’s most profitable business have chosen to make Princes Dock their home This type of survey helps us continue to improve the professional workplace.”

Martin Heath, senior partner at one tenant, PwC, Liverpool, said: “Finding an ocean liner parked outside your front door is certainly a unique experience.”

However, section 15 of the Commons Act 2006 changed the legal definition of a town or village green and set out the qualifying circumstances in which land could be newly-registered as a green.

Anyone can apply to have land registered as a green if it has been used by local people for recreation “as of right” (ie, without permission, force or secrecy) for at least 20 years.

The Commons Registration Authority need to be satisfied only that a significant number of local inhabitants have used the land in a qualifying manner. The period of time for which the area of land has been in this use is also important.

It will be noted that nowhere in the definition does the land have to be “green” or indeed within a village, merely, the public must have been using the area for lawful sports and pastimes. Last month, a Court of Appeal decision illustrated how far away from the description in my opening paragraph registration of land under the act has come.

The case involved a tidal beach known as West Beach in Newhaven, Sussex.

Newhaven Port and Properties were challenged by two local authorities.

In 2010, East Sussex County Council registered the tidal beach as a village green following an application by the town council.

Newhaven Port and Properties had fenced off a public access to the beach claiming that the seawall was dangerous.

The questions before the court included whether a tidal beach could be a town or village green, whether the byelaws rendered the use of the land precarious and not as of right, and whether the lack of right of access precluded the use of land as of right.

‘A diligent purchaser will make a careful enquiry’

The judges decided that this beach could and should be registered as a village green.

These decisions have important implications for owners where the public have been using the land for at least 20 years even if that period may have been discontinued.

It puts developers in a difficult position because pre-contract searches only show existing registrations and pending applications.

A diligent purchaser will make a careful enquiry. There are opportunities for local people to cement their use of land which has been used for this period of time “as of right” without the landowner’s consent.

Bruntwood reveals new deal for high-speed connectivity Bruntwood’s Cotton Exchange in Liverpool

by Tony McDonough

BUSINESS to BUSINESS

POST BUSINESS STAFF

tony.mcdonough@liverpool.com

COMMERCIAL PREMISES

FOR SALE / MAY LET

Freestanding Chester City Centre Office Building 14,000 sq ft with car parking Potential for Re-Development

Further information please contact Neil Dryburgh or Euan Ross at

T J THOMAS 0151 708 6544 ERSKINE ST close to City centre Business units 850sqft £550pcm www.tjthomas.co.uk

FOR SALE

FORMER MASONIC LODGE BIRKENHEAD CH41 6HG • Prominent Position leading to the main shopping area.

• +/- 974.5 sq m (10,490 sq ft) • Suitable for a variety of uses (STP) • Freehold • Offers invited

All Enquiries

0151 207 2537

Email; seanc@winterhilllargo.com www.winterhilllargo.com

INDUSTRIAL UNITS To Let. South L’pool 500 to 4000 sqft, monthly tenancy, competitive rents. From £50pw Tel: 0151 427 5051 C H E A P S T O R A G E Space 3,600 sqft. £125pw. 486 0004

INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY INDUSTRIAL UNITS 3,000− 20,000 sqft. 0151 486 0004

OCCUPIERS at Bruntwood’s nine Merseyside office buildings are to benefit from some of the UK’s fastest broadband speeds.

The firm has struck a deal with internet service provider, Metronet (UK), which will see people working in buildings such as The Plaza and the Cotton Exchange become “super connected”.

The partnership will see all of Bruntwood's office and retail space in the city connected to the Metronet (UK) high-speed internet network. They will have direct access to internet speeds up to 1Gbps and even 10Gbps in some instances.

It will create, claims Bruntwood, “one of the most advanced metropolitan area networks in the UK”. Metronet (UK) is a business-only service provider, currently employed by almost 1,000 businesses in the North West.

The Cotton Exchange building is now a Metronet (UK) core point of presence, making it one of the few places in the UK where users can order a 100Gbps internet connection The network employs technology which ensures the site stays connected even if multiple fibres fail.

James McCall, managing director at Metronet (UK), said: “Internet connectivity is a mission-critical service to many companies as is flexibility, rapid installation and first-rate customer support. This partnership will allow every Bruntwood customer to benefit from these services, regardless of which office they choose.”

Thursday, May 2, 2013

location

Kersh raises £6m at hotel auction

by Tony McDonough POST BUSINESS STAFF

tony.mcdonough@liverpool.com

SUTTON KERSH has held what it says was the largest Merseyside property auction since 2004 – generating receipts of more than £6m.

Kersh offered 129 lots at the event, which took place at the Liverpool city centre Crowne Plaza Hotel.

High interest in the build-up to the auction resulted in 17 lots being sold beforehand.

There were also 14 lots withdrawn, some of which will be offered at Sutton Kersh’s next sale on June 6.

A total of 85 lots have sold so far and more sales are expected to complete afterwards.

What the firm described as “competitive bidding wars” resulted in a number of lots selling for significantly more than their guide prices.

Amongst them was lot 33 which sold for £69,500 above its guide price. The former Rangers house in Thurstaston was offered on behalf of Wirral Council.

The vacant residential property was guided at £240,000 and sold in the room for £309,500.

James Kersh, director at Sutton Kersh, said: “The outlook for the property market is looking positive both in the auction room and on the high street some five years on from the start of the financial crisis. Transactions have increased as has demand.

“While interest rates remain at an ultra-low level, property is an attractive investment as a means for growing personal capital and I believe this is key driver for the growth in demand for auction properties.”

Auctioneer Andrew Binstock added: “There was a fantastic turnout for the auction and it soon became clear that many of the people were there with intention of buying.

“Numerous bidding wars resulted in lots selling for significantly more than their guide prices, and this wasn’t a result of poor valuations – it was a result of sheer determination from investors to buy.

“It isn’t just in the Sutton Kersh auction room that bidders are behaving like this. At Auction House London’s recent auction a building guided at £170,000 sold in the auction room for £795,000.

“Confidence has certainly returned to the market.”

Minister’s visit to Sci-Tech Daresbury Business Minister Michael Fallon, left, with representatives of Sci-Tech Daresbury

BUSINESS Minister Michael Fallon visited Sci-Tech Daresbury to tour the facilities and learn more about the work taking place at the science and innovation campus.

During his visit, Mr Fallon was given an overview of the site and met some of

the 100 high-tech science and technology small companies based there.

He was also shown around the UK’s most advanced centre for high performance computing, the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Hartree Centre, at its

Daresbury Laboratory.

John Downes, chief executive of Langtree and Director of the Sci-Tech Daresbury joint venture company, said: “At Sci-Tech Daresbury, we’re opening up access to world-leading technology to businesses of all sizes.”

JLL agrees deals at Aragon Court THE Liverpool industrial team at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has agreed a three-year lease to AB Storage on a 25,591 sq ft unit at Aragon Court, Runcorn, on behalf of First Investments.

AB Storage will relocate from its current premises in

Widnes to occupy the accommodation.

It is joined by sports nutrition start-up, The Protein Works, which will occupy 11,616 sq ft on a long-term lease which will allow it to gradually expand.

The estate is close to the Daresbury Expressway, approx-

imately four miles from Runcorn and eight miles from Warrington.

JLL, along with joint agent Legat Owen, is also marketing units at Christleton Court, Manor Park of 15,500 sq ft and smaller units at Boleyn Court from 3,310 sq ft.

Louise May, senior surveyor business space at JLL, said: “Manor Park offers an attractive mix of location and infrastructure and it is proving a popular choice for both start-ups and established businesses planning ahead for growth.”

Bidders at the Sutton Kersh auction

post business 17

18 post business economic development

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Overseas visitors boost focus on

growth

by Bill Gleeson

POST BUSINESS STAFF

bill.gleeson@liverpool.com

M

ERSEYSIDE is one of Britain’s most popular destinations for both holidaymakers and business travellers from overseas, according to official figures..

The Office for National Statistics says 622,000 overseas residents stayed at least one night in Merseyside durng 2012. The majority, about 580,000, were visitors to Liverpool.

By this measure, the region is Britain’s fifth most popular destination for visitors from overseas, behind London (15m), Lothian (1.3m), Greater Manchester (1.1m) and Birmingham (970,000). The region is well ahead of Strathclyde (just 100,000) and West Yorkshire (452,000).

However, Merseyside slides a long way down the table when ranked by the total number of nights overseas visitors stay in the city.

Using this measure, Merseyside is only the 15th most popular destination. Overseas visitors spent a total of 3.3m nights in the area.

That compares to 94m for London and 6.6m for Greater Manchester.

Places where visitors stay more nights include Kent, Devon, Oxford and Cambridge.

Mike Dewey, chairman of the Liverpool Hoteliers’ Association, believes the city’s musical and cultural heritage make it attractive to overseas holidaymakers, while the BT Convention Centre will have attracted overseas business travellers.

Mr Dewey said: “Between 60-65% of people who come to Liverpool come because of The Beatles.

“No other city boasts such a world famous act across several generations.

“I’m surprised Manchester and Birmingham are so far ahead of Liverpool. A large element of their figures must be business and Leeds must be all business.”

Mr Dewey, manager of The Beatles themed Hard Days Night hotel in Liverpool, added: “Our issue in Liverpool is a massive lack of corporate business. Monday to Thursday, our hotels suffer. If you look at Manchester, there is a massive difference in occupancy.”

He says that while Liverpool’s Arena and Convention Centre has helped, Birmingham and Manchester have had similar venues many years before Liverpool’s opened.

Mr Dewey said: “There is no doubt the ACC gets a lot of business that used to go to Manchester and when the new exhibition hall is built we will get even more. There are very few convention centres with a location like ours.”

Another hotelier, Paul Flanagan, points to the city hotel trade’s traditional reliance on football fans.

Mr Flanagan, who owns the Sir Thomas Hotel in the city centre and the Park Hotel in Aintree and is chairman of the city’s night time economy committee, said: “The international football supporter is responsible and the other is hen and stag

All of the city’s hotels, including the Britannia Adelphi, have benefited from an influx of overseas visitors nights. Also, the conferences at the convention centre have had an impact and then there is Aintree and The Beatles Festival and other regular events.”

Figures disclosed to the Liverpool Post last week seem to support Mr Flanagan’s assertion about the influence of the international football fan on the city’s hotel trade. According to Liverpool Football Club’s press office, about 20% of non-season ticket seats are sold to people with an overseas addresses.

Mr Flanagan warns that the prospect that Liverpool won’t be playing in any European competition next year is going to cost

the city’s hoteliers dearly.

Mr Flanagan said: “Its a massive concern. Liverpool have got to push the bar up. They have got to get back to a top four position if football supporters are to come and spend in Liverpool.

“We will not be getting that extra game every two weeks. That will have an impact on the economy.”

He says that the typical overseas football fan is from Scandinavia and will be a man with his sons. They will often spend at least two nights in the city. He says many such fans are staying in the growing number of hostels in the city.

‘Won’t be getting the extra game every two weeks’

His concerns about the impact of Liverpool’s failure to qualify for Europe are shared by David Hughes, general manager of the soon-to-open Doubletree by Hilton Hotel.

The 87 room hotel is located just a few yards from the Sir Thomas Hotel in Liverpool City Council’s former municipal annexe on Dale Street in late summer.

The new hotel will feature a spa, restaurant and events facilties.

Mr Hughes said: “These are two beautiful listed buildings. The grandeur of the place is unbelievable.

“We are not going after huge functions, but we are going after exclusive functions.

“We have great drivers into the city: football and music.

“Conferences and events at the arena are the big one for us and it’s good the exhibition centre is opening.”

Mr Hughes said a lot of hotel brands moved into the city when the ACC first opened in 2008.

“We are back into expansion mode again,” he said.

He added: “What we have noticed is that since Liverpool have been out of the Champions League, occupancy has fallen.”

Mr Hughes says the number of football fans visiting the city is closely linked to Liverpool’s on-the-pitch form.

“If they are playing well, fans will come.

“If they are not playing well, business turns off in the short term.”

Thursday, May 2, 2013

city hotel trade

economic development post business 19

start-up of the month In association with

Bayo Jide

Mike Dewey, manager of the Hard Days Night Hotel and chairman of the hoteliers’ association

Belgravia House of Gifts

Paul Flanagan, owner of the Sir Thomas Street Hotel

Upturn helps offset worst effects of the recession LAST week it emerged that hotel operator Pullman plans to open a 200-bedroom hotel as part of a waterfront development that will see a new exhibition centre open next door to Liverpool’s Arena and Convention Centre.

The £26m seven storey development is just the latest in a long line of hotels opening in the city.

The news comes as recent figures show an upturn in the number of overseas visitors to Britain. Overseas visitor numbers peaked at 32.7m in 2007 after many years of sustained and strong growth. However, the figure dropped to a low point of 29.8m in 2010 in the wake of the recession, but has since recovered slightly to 31m in the Olympics year.

The average length of stay has fallen slightly, as has total spend by overseas visitors, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Business travel to the UK saw the sharpest decline, with a 2006 peak of 9m falling to 6.5m by 2009, before recovering to 7.4m last year.

Visits to family and friends peaked in 2008 at

9.7m. It fell to a low of 8.4m in 2010 and has since risen to 8.9m in 2012.

In 2012, North Americans accounted for 3.5m visitors while Europeans accounted for 22.7m and the rest of world 4.7m.

Merseyside had 185,000 holiday visitors, 110,000 business visitors, 169,000 visits to relatives and friends and 159,000 other types of visit.

I CAME to Liverpool, fell in love, and stayed and set up Belgravia House of Gifts (BHG), with the intention of filling a gap in the market for high-quality food gifts and providing a customised selection of luxury items tastefully presented, writes BAYO JIDE. They are a long way from the traditional wicker hampers with a ribbon bow, boring biscuits and tiny jam jars.

My business offers to send a range of unique and beautiful corporate and personal Gourmet Gift Boxes sourced from all corners of the globe.

I’ve started small, with a little help from my friends, and am now set to grow after completing the new Liverpool Vision initiative – “I’m Liverpool I’m Business”.

The programme is helping to realise my desire to run a successful business which contributes to the local community with a percentage of every purchase going to the Liverpool-based charity, The Yellow House or May Project Gardens. Each customer who purchases on belgraviagifts.com can select which of the two projects they would like to support.

My modus operandi is to source the very best gourmet items by

Where: 5th Floor , Horton House, Exchange Flags, Liverpool L2 3PF What it does: Provide bespoke gourmet corporate or personal gift boxes Contact details: Email

making friends with “producers of distinction” to ensure that each BHG Gourmet Gift Box contains a range of outstanding products evoking the tastes and scents of the region it represents.

The Tuscan Gourmet Gift Box, for example, contains a multi-award winning local cheese, Gran Mugello Ubaldino, selected by local producer, Palagiacco, with a range of products specifically designed to complement it.

I am inspired by Liverpool and its ambition and also the city’s great maritime history.

Given the rich mix that has evolved through the port, it makes sense to me to collect luxury items and products from around the world and tell their stories, because it references Liverpool’s history.

I am now looking to work with producers from across the city region to create bespoke Liverpool gift collections to showcase the region’s finest produce around the world.

These items and collections will be specially packaged and will bear the name of one of Liverpool’s famous sons and daughters, although for now, I’m keeping the chosen name firmly under wraps.

hello@belgraviagifts.com or call 08432 211808 Web: www.belgraviagifts.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ BelgraviaHouseofGifts Twitter: @Belgraviagifts

20 post business professionals

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Companies urged to become more aware of cyber attacks MORE North West businesses than ever are facing the threat of losing confidential information through cyber attacks, according to research published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

The 2013 Information Security Breaches Survey, which is funded by BIS and carried out by Pricewater-

houseCoopers, has shown that 67% of North West businesses across all sectors experienced a breach more than once in the last year.

The study also revealed that 61% of companies had experienced staff-related incidents, the majority of which were misuse of web or email access.

Will Richardson, forensic services partner, PwC Liver-

pool, said: “UK and North West businesses face more advanced threats than ever before from unauthorised outsiders. The business world has changed and companies of all sizes, in all countries and across industries, are now routinely sharing information across business borders.

“Cyber security is critical.

It is no longer only an IT chal-

lenge – business leaders need to make sure they are protecting what is most critical to their organisation’s growth and reputation.”

The survey also found that 56% of North West small firms had experienced an unauthorised outside attack, such as a hack.

Mr Richardson added: “Organisations also need to

make sure that the way they are spending their money in the control of cyber threats is effective.

“Spending on cyber control as a percentage of an organisation’s IT budget is up this year from an average of 8% to 10%, but the number of breaches and their impact is also up as well, so it is clear that there is work to be done.”

M&A specialist DCS looks to move on to a whole new level

by Tony McDonough POST BUSINESS STAFF

tony.mcdonough@liverpool.com

NORTH WEST merger and acquisitions specialist, Daresbury Company Sales, has rebranded as Daresbury Company Solutions (DCS) as it seeks to arrange bigger deals for clients.

Over the past year the firm has expanded its range of services, chiefly in the area of access to funding.

Since the financial crash of 2008 obtaining funds for corporate deals from places such as banks has become more difficult and it has become necessary for dealmakers to widen their net in the search for finance.

To this end, it has formed a partnership with corporate finance specialist, Dow Schofield Watts (DSW).

Typically, DCS has been involved in deals in the £5m to £10m range and now the tie-up with DSW means it can look at those in the £10m-plus bracket.

As part of the rebranding the firm has also relaunched its website.

DCS director Jerry Scriven said: “We realise that it is a very small change for the brand, but for us it represents something much bigger. Over the last 18 months we have made significant changes to our business model, strengthening it by responding directly to the changing needs of both our clients and the market.

“We offer creativity in an industry that can often be staid in its approach, and have developed significant commercial partnerships that allow us to add depth to our expertise, in addition to being

James Dow of DSW able to innovate when identifying funding solutions for the ambitious businesses that we work with.”

James Dow, a partner at DSW, added that the partnership was a benefit to both firms.

“We have built our reputation as a partner-led, innovative business that employs specialists who are experts in their field,” he said.

“In recent years we have seen the value of our deals increase and this demands the delivery of high-level, commercially astute advice throughout each transaction.

“This finely-tuned model requires an almost forensic approach when we consider who fits well as a potential partner and we are delighted that Daresbury Company Solutions are part of our extended team.”

DCS director Jerry Scriven with Angela Downey, a consultant at the firm

Murray secures top Euro accolade A LIVERPOOL research consultancy group has achieved European award recognition.

It is the second time the Murray Consultancy has won Research Consultancy of the Year following its first taste of award success in 2006.

Presented by members of the European Business Information Group (BIG), the award is based on a live case-study requiring entrants to undertake a piece of research.

Papers from representatives from each country are then judged according to a strict criteria including interpretation of the brief, methodological process applied, research findings and the impact of the study on the client’s business.

Managing director of the Murray Consultancy, David Murray, said: “We felt it was quite an accomplishment to have won the award in 2006, but to win it twice against many more member countries – particularly with four Eastern European states recently joining – makes me feel extremely proud of this achievement.”

The winning paper was based on increasing corporate hospitality revenue for a major sports brand by conducting focus groups among some of their corporate clients.

The chair of BIG, Marcin Rezpka, added: “We are delighted the Murray Consultancy have received this well-deserved recognition for the second time.

“Their approach to this particular piece of research reflected the outstanding levels of quality and professionalism we expect from David and his team.”

on the move ■

TONY Barton has been appointed chair of conservation architects Donald Insall Associates.

Nicholas Thompson, chair for 14 years, has stepped down but will remain as a consultant to the practice.

Mr Barton is based in the practice’s Chester office.

He has been with the firm for 19 years and brings a wealth of know-

ledge to the role.

He said: “This is an exciting time for me and for the practice.”

Donald Insall Associates has offices in Bath, Belfast, Cambridge, Canterbury, Chester, Conwy, London and Shrewsbury.

■

LAW firm Maxwell Hodge has appointed Julie Thomas as a Paralegal in the conveyancing team at its head office in Liverpool.

She has more than

eight years’ experience working as a conveyancer and trainer for O’Neill Patient Solicitors in Stockport, before which she worked in conveyance at Davison Solicitors in Birmingham.

Managing partner Simon Leyland said: “Maxwell Hodge has seen increasing levels of conveyancing work over the last six months which points to a promising recovery in the property

sector on Merseyside.”

■

PRIVATE healthcare organisation Spire Hospital Liverpool has appointed Jenny Vaughan as its finance and commercial manager.

Ms Vaughan, who is from Chester, worked for Muller Dairy before joining Spire earlier this year and has a background in commercial accountancy and financial planning and analysis within the manufacturing industry.

Tony Barton – chairs Donald Insall Assoc

Julie Thomas – joins Maxwell Hodge

Jenny Vaughan – new joiner at Spire

style post business 21

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Era of sobriety dawns as the lunchtime sessions decline

Do you like a tipple at lunchtime?

Tony McDonough finds that mid-day booze outings are quickly becoming a thing of the past

WE ASKED Twitter users for their views on lunchtime drinking:

T

HERE was a time when a pint of beer or a glass of wine at lunchtime was as much a fixture of the working day as fixing a paper jam in the printer.

However, staggering back to your desk and slumping on your keyboard in a drunken stupor now tends to be frowned upon in many companies.

According to one Liverpool city centre licensee, the lunchtime drinking culture in the city has persisted for longer than in other places but added change had finally arrived.

Fiona Watkin, licensee of one of Liverpool’s most popular watering holes, Thomas Rigby’s, said tough economic times have been a factor in the change in behaviour.

“Just before the recession one of the regional sales managers we deal with told me that it was only in Liverpool that lunchtime drinking had carried on,” she told Post Business.

“But I think since the recession kicked in, people have used it as an excuse to bring that to an end.

“People are now more likely to come in for a soft drink at lunchtime.”

Matt Brannan, licensee of the Cross Keys in the heart of Liverpool’s central business district, agreed.

He said: “We have noticed a decline in alcohol consumption at lunchtimes over the last seven years.

“This is maybe due to a shift in culture and because many of our older and more traditional clientele have either retired or been made redundant.

“The majority of our functions over the past couple of years have been

■

Paul Moran @PaulMoran56 wrote: “Not yet in the past but getting there. Why? People worry their job could be at stake in the current climate.”

■

Trevor Gornall @targetsports wrote: “Can’t remember the last time I had a cheeky lunchtime pint. Too much pressure not to make mistakes at work now.”

■

Huws Gray @Huws_Gray wrote: “Lunch at lunchtime is becoming a thing of the past!”

■

Ruth Shearn @RuthShearn wrote: “The heady days of boozy business lunches that went on for hours are definitely a relic of days long past.

Sigh.”

■

Lunchtime drinking is on the decline, say licensees Matt Brannan, top, and Fiona Watkin, bottom people holding redundancy parties.”

However, he added: “We do still have a hardcore of daily lunchtime drinkers.”

Heather Grant, an employment lawyer at Liverpool’s Maxwell Hodge, said many employment contracts now stipulate that employees must not be under the influence of alcohol or drugs

whilst at work. But she added that many would still stop short of an outright ban.

“Despite alcohol consumption clauses being written into a contract, however, I have never worked on anything where employers make a specific prohibition on lunchtime drinking,” she said.

“Many employers worry this is a step too far and will have a negative impact on workplace culture.”

As for the impact on the pub trade, Fiona Watkin isn’t too worried.

“We haven’t lost any trade,” she said. “People haven’t stopped drinking completely – they just make up for it after work.”

Jon Dunnington @JonRDunnington wrote: “You cant go wrong with a beer at lunch on occasion. Any more than 1 though and it's an early finish... And late start the next day.”

■

David Hunt @DavidHuntRenew 24 wrote: “The proliferation of coffee shops gives a more ‘acceptable’ alternative.”

past business – nostalgia

The can-do attitude that kept pilchards-to-prunes firm Princes on top

Princes House, in Liverpool’s Stanley Street, now houses a fashion store

UNDER the ownership of the Mitsubishi Corporation, Princes Foods rarely makes any public statements, In a rare interview last week, its corporate relations director, Ruth Simpson, described it as a “conservative company”.

But in 1958 its then-parent company – Simpson, Roberts & Co – had to lay itself bare to the Stock Exchange in a prospectus that took up most of page three of the Daily Post.

The company was promoting a share offer, with 416,000 shares up for grabs at five shillings each.

The Princes logo is still recognisable today – and so is the company’s conservative corporate culture.

Chairman George E Roberts proudly told potential buyers: “The president, Mr T. E. Dickinson, has been with the business since its foundation in 1880, and was chairman of the company from its incorporation in 1919 until early this year; he is now 92-years-of-age.

“I am the son of the late Mr

Frank Roberts, one of the founders, and have been with the business for over 42 years: I am 71-years-old and became chairman of the company early this year. Both Mr T. E. Dickinson and I take an active interest in the business.

“The general management of the business is controlled by Mr T. Wesley Dickinson, Mr W. Simpson, Mr A. F. Van Noyen and Mr E. A. Dixon. They are aged 56, 52, 55 and 68, respectively and have all been with the business throughout their working lives.”

Today, Princes’ interests stretch from canned fish to bottled water, cooking oils and fruit squashes. In 1958, however, the company was firmly focused on canned foods, “particularly fish and fruit”.

Mr Roberts added: “The fish includes lobster, crab, salmon, crawfish, tuna fish, prawns, shrimps, pilchards, sardines, brisling and soft herring roes: the fruit includes pineapple, apricots, peaches, pears, fruit salad, strawberries, raspberries, grapes,

The Princes prospectus was printed in the Post in June, 1958 oranges, grapefruit, fruit juices and prunes.

“Other foods include meats, chicken, rice pudding, jams, marmalade and vegetables.”

The company’s headquarters was in Princes House, Stanley Street, and it owned warehouses in

Juniper and Costain Streets, Kirkdale.

Its subsidiary Horrocks & Watson – which made “fish and meat spreads and pastes for sale in glass jars – owned a factory and warehouse in Oak Street, Southport.

ALISTAIR HOUGHTON

22 post business end piece

trading gossip ■

IN LESS time than it takes an ice cream cone to melt, Skelmersdale’s Fredericks Dairies has another new owner.

Last month, Skelmersdale-based Fredericks was sold to Yorkshire-based R&R Ice Cream, Europe’s largest own label ice cream manufacturer, in a £49m deal.

Fredericks, which could trace its roots back to the Italian Riviera in 1896 and was owned by brothers Frank and Philip Frederick, below, makes products under licence for brands including Cadbury.

But just as its staff were settling into new ownership, it was announced this week that R&R itself had been taken over by private equity firm PAI Partners in a deal valued at more than £700m.

Colm O’Sullivan, of

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Chef who takes local sourcing of mushrooms very seriously myday off Mini Patel is head chef for the Warehouse Kitchen+Bar in Southport, and in his spare time likes to forage for mushrooms

I

PAI, pledged: “The food and consumer brands sector is a core area of investment focus and expertise for PAI and we are delighted to be investing in R&R. We look forward to working closely with the company’s management and supporting the company’s continued growth.”

R&R’s existing management team will remain in place, while PAI has pledged to grow its international brands.

So it looks like it’s business as usual for the successful and profitable Fredericks business.

Trading Gossip remembers that, back when it were all fields around here, ice lollies only cost a few pence.

Seems ice cream is worth rather more nowadays.

POST

MOBILE

For News, Sport and Business on your phone

Text LDP to 67800

’M VERY busy most of the week – nevertheless, I’m always on the lookout for the next best recipe or ingredient to use in my menu.

This is why I enjoy foraging for wild mushrooms in my spare time.

To buy speciality mushrooms can be extremely expensive, especially when we have so many interesting kinds right on our doorstep.

Sourcing your own can be an absolute goldmine.

Autumn and winter produce a fantastic range of mushrooms and that’s why it’s my favourite time of year to forage.

You’re often able to find all kinds, such as ceps, hedgehogs, blue hewitts, trompettes, purple deceivers and many more.

My personal favourites are oak tree ceps. They’re absolutely delicious and I use them in quite a few of the dishes in the Warehouse, including the wild mushroom omelette available on the gourmet lunch menu.

I first got into foraging for mushrooms when I was a young chef back in Yorkshire.

I started out by watching programmes and reading books on it. I never went foraging without Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Guide to Mushrooms.

It takes a long time to get to know the different mushrooms – what’s safe and what’s not – so it’s important to always cross-reference.

Foraging for mushrooms is definitely a skill you develop over time.

With being so busy at the restaurant I’ve not had an awful lot of time to forage around the North West.

When I do get the chance, I usually enjoy going out on a Sunday – either by myself for some peace and quiet, or together with fellow chefs.

I’ve actually been getting the other chefs at the Warehouse into the benefits of foraging for your own mushrooms.

We have planned a trip coming up soon in Pinewood, Formby – I’ve been told this is a great place to find a good selection of mushrooms.

It’s often the case that if you find a specific place with a good spot, you always go back to guarantee a good find.

I’m excited to see what Pinewood has to offer.

We have a few new recipes coming up for the a la carte menu, including a

Mini Patel cooking some of the mushrooms he has found through foraging locally starter of cep mushrooms on toasted brioche with fried duck egg and watercress salad.

I’m also working on a main dish of vegetarian pasta involving wild mushrooms and roasted squash, so hopefully my upcoming trip will result in some interesting varieties.

Watercress is something that also features heavily throughout the Warehouse menus.

What’s great about foraging for mushrooms is that you come across a whole range of fantastic seasonal foods.

Along with watercress I also enjoy finding loganberries, hawthorns and

wild blueberries – all of which are great for the desserts.

I source my own ingredients wherever possible.

I’ve even attempted to start my own herb garden at home, but with spending so much time at the restaurant they often have a short shelf-life.

All chefs respect the importance of sourcing produce locally and I’m a firm believer in celebrating the great produce the UK has to offer.

Unfortunately, we’ve had a terrible year for harvesting crops with the enormous amount of rainfall and non-existent summer.

‘All chefs know how important sourcing locally is’

This has meant that the price of fruit and veg has rocketed, resulting in many chefs resorting to importing from overseas.

Nevertheless, the Warehouse has tried to continue sourcing its produce locally.

We have potatoes from Ormskirk and broccoli and cauliflower which travel all the way from Formby.

Although at the moment I’m often very busy inside the Warehouse kitchen, I’m lucky to be able to experiment with such an interesting, wide range of wild mushrooms and foods.

I always appreciate the chance to get outdoors and hunt for the next best ingredient, so this is definitely something which I’ll continue to pursue for many years to come.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

end piece

The Academy in Duke Street

networking

Morecrofts event

LAW firm Morecrofts Solicitors opened its new office in Allerton Road last Friday.

Among the guests were, above, from left, Richard Lovegrove (RSJ

Financial Planning), Helen Broughton (Morecrofts), and Paul Scanlon (CDP), and, left, Laura McDonald (Morecrofts), and Lee Hagan (The Collective).

Olive helps centre THE Olive restaurant in Castle Street raised £566 to support the Linda McCartney Centre at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.

Diners were asked if they would like to support the charity by addition a £1

donation to their total bill.

General Manager, Neil Cooper said “The charity is obviously very dear to a lot of people.” Mr Cooper is pictured with Rebecca Grime from the Linda McCartney Centre.

my favourite lunch Alistair Risk, manager, Atlantic Tower by Thistle Q What is your favourite lunch venue?

A Liverpool Community College’s The Academy Restaurant in Duke Street.

Q Why is this your favourite venue?

A It is run by a team of dedicated staff, and highly motivated students developing professional skills ready for employment in the catering and hospitality industry. They are actually currently number one on Trip Advisor.

Q What is your favourite dish and why?

A Chicken and ham hock pie with vegetable garnish and parsley mash – a perfect dish that helps to warm you up during the winter months.

EU ‘in or out’ debate

DOWNTOWN Liverpool in Business hosted a breakfast event at Radisson Blu Hotel, debating whether the UK should leave the European Union.

Downtown’s chief execut-

business diary WEDNESDAY, MAY 1

ST HELENS Chamber of Commerce is hosting a free event designed to enable new and recent exporters find out how they should be using their website and other communications to attract foreign buyers and raise their profile abroad. Raising Your Company Profile Overseas – Breakfast Networking takes place between 9am and 11am and covers issues such as: does your website directly target international customers? Can international customers understand the products and services you

are offering? Is your website optimised for searches conducted abroad? Can you answer enquiries arising from your website in other languages? and How best to get your goods to their overseas destination. Online registration is not available for this event. For information call 01744 742028.

TUESDAY, MAY 7

WIRRAL accountancy and business support firm McEwan Wallace is holding a free seminar on Real Time Information (RTI) at Thornton Hall Hotel which will tackle the issues

23 post business

around RTI for businesses, and the aftermath since its implementation on April 6. David Connolly, McEwan Wallace Payroll Bureau managing director, will offer advice and support and will answer questions on RTI and PAYE arising from the changes.

The seminar will also address how employers should prepare for changes to workplace pensions and the new automatic enrolment process. Craig Muir from Scottish Life will discuss the steps employers need to take and the implications of the new process. The event will run from 8am to 10am with breakfast and refreshments available. To book a place con-

ive, Frank McKenna, chaired the debate and participants included politicians, commentators and business people.

Mr McKenna is pictured on the panel, centre.

tact Rebekka Cairns at enquiries@mcwallace.co.uk or book online at www. mcwallace.co.uk/events

MONDAY, MAY 13

BUSINESSES in the North West are being encouraged to take part in a UK Trade & Investment (UKTI)-backed week of events aimed at boosting the region’s exports to a wide range of high growth markets. In the North West this will include free events focusing on India, Eastern Europe, Central and Latin America, starting with a launch in Liverpool showcasing opportunities. Visit www.exportweek.ukti.gov .uk for details of events.

MONDAY, MAY 27

Q What is the best bit of business you have done over lunch?

A When I was working for the Holiday Inn in Reading and managed to get 7,000 room nights from a number of our competitors and move them all to our hotel. A lunch meeting I am sure to never forget.

Q Who would you most like to have lunch with?

THE Employability and Skills Group of companies is holding a series of open days at its Liverpool operation in Bold Street. It invites schools and pupils, parents, teachers, heads of departments and careers advisors, training providers, job centres, community agencies, and employers to its informal events, from 10am to 4pm, on the second floor of Link 19 in Bold Street’s Central Village. Refreshments are included. It says the open days will provide an opportunity to find out how ESG staff can help individuals to obtain full-time jobs via the apprenticeship programme. For further

Alistair Risk A Richard Dawkins – he is an English evolutionary biologist and author. He came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution. I’d love to ask him some questions on his thoughts and views of the world.

Q Where else do you like to go for lunch?

A Oxton Bar and Kitchen near my home in Wirral. It’s a good place to take the family and also somewhere I can go with friends for a few beers.

details contact Jules Westbrook or Pauline O’Brien on 0151 702 6111.

THURSDAY, MAY 30

EXPORT Sales – winning orders overseas, is a course offered by Liverpool Chamber of Commerce that is aimed at companies involved in the manufacturing or services sectors; business development or sales managers and senior personnel responsible for identifying and winning international business; and those new or inexperienced in international marketing as well as more established exporters looking to develop their sales techniques and learn practical new skills. Examples and

exercises are used throughout the workshop to illustrate key elements, and consideration is given to the individual objectives of participating companies with delegates encouraged to share their own experiences. The course takes place from 9.30am to 4pm at the chamber’s Old Hall Street offices and costs £200 for chamber members, or £250 for non-members.

For more information visit www.liverpoolchamber. org.uk/ eventitem.aspx/ show/473 or to attend email export@liverpool chamber.org.uk ■ Send your diary events to neil.hodgson @liverpool.com

24

Thursday, May 2, 2013

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