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Thursday, April 18, 2013
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Work Ready scheme reaches 50th apprenticeship placement ST HELENS Chamber of Commerce’s Work Ready scheme has hit a key milestone. The programme prepares young people for the workplace and helps them find apprenticeships and it has seen its 50th young person secure employment since it launched last September. The council-backed initiative has also been adopted as a model for national roll-out. Council leader Marie Rimmer said: “Getting that foot on the first rung of the ladder is crucial, and apprenticeships can open so many doors for our young people. ” Shaun Potter, from Thatto Heath, was the 50th person to secure employment after recently starting work with specialist software development company, Momote. Graham Whistance, Momote managing director, said: “The quality and hard-working nature of the apprentices we have taken on has delivered a rapid return on our investment in them.” Young people wishing to apply for a place on the ‘Work Ready’ programme can attend the next open day on May 6. To book a place call 01744 742018. Businesses interested in offering an apprenticeship can attend the chamber’s free Meet the Apprentice events. The next event takes place on April 26. Call Debbie Hillon on 01744 742064 or Daniel Manchester on 01744 742123.
From left: Martin Foulkes (St Helens Chamber), Cllr Marie Rimmer, Shaun Potter, Kath Boullen (St Helens Chamber chief executive), Stephen Griffiths (Momote)
Kellogg increases capacity on Ship Canal route to Liverpool by Neil Hodgson
POST BUSINESS STAFF
neil.hodgson@liverpool.com
GLOBAL cereal group Kellogg is to increase capacity on Peel Ports’ Manchester Ship Canal container shuttle service between Manchester and Liverpool In a deal that includes flexible ‘on demand’ warehousing at the Port of Liverpool, Kellogg will use the “green highway” to increase the volume of breakfast cereals it transports and take hundreds of trucks off UK roads. The Ship Canal shuttle service already serves other major retail names such as Princes Foods, Kingsland Wine, Tesco, Typhoo, Regatta and a major global sportswear brand. Up to 2,500 containers of Kellogg cereals will be transported on the waterway between Kellogg’s Manchester,
Ireland and Iberia distribution hubs this year. The containerised product is transhipped at the Port of Liverpool on to a coastal feeder service to serve the Irish and Spanish markets. The Port of Liverpool’s flexible ‘on demand’ warehousing offers storage for up to 7,000 pallets of cereal product when required. Kellogg’s use of the shuttle service will equate to an 85% reduction in road miles for the supply chain, as well as a reduction of 40,000 road miles, and 61 tonnes of CO2 during the coming year. Kellogg spokesman Paul Blears said: “We are working closely with Peel Ports to activate the increasing opportunities for waterborne transport. By reviewing our supply chain strategy and integrating waterways we are seeing our sustainability goals come to life.” Paul McCoy, business development
The vessel Deniz carrying Kellogg’s products along the Ship Canal manager for containers and barge at Peel Ports, said: “We have developed a strong relationship with Kellogg. “We have a comprehensive understanding of their logistics needs and
Everton in social responsibility scheme EVERTON FC will strengthen links with businesses at a morning seminar at the club next Tuesday, April 23. Downtown Liverpool in Business head Frank McKenna will host the
event which, together with Blues’ chief executive Robert Elstone, will also support the club’s official charity, Everton in the Community. It will be followed by
the launch of a new corporate social responsibility scheme, ‘Everton in the Community Ambassadors’ Club’ for individuals and local businesses. For an annual contri-
bution of £199 to the charity, participants can become Community Ambassadors of the charity which is in its 25th year. Email ambassadors@ everton fc.com for details.
aspirations. As a result, we are now working with them on a whole range of low-carbon initiatives including container handling, warehousing and consolidation.”
Export week MERSEYSIDE firms are being encouraged to join in a week of events aimed at boosting the region’s exports. UK Trade & Investment is running an Export Week from May 13-17, with a launch in Liverpool on May 13 to direct businesses towards support.
New pub opening leads to 70 jobs PUB group JD Wetherspoon is creating 70 jobs with the opening of its latest Merseyside site next Tuesday. The group has invested £1.7m in New Brighton’s The Master Mariner on the site of former nightclubs RJ’s and Darcy’s Bar, in Marine Parade. Manageress Stephanie Nolan was previously at The Dee Hotel, in West Kirby. The new pub is part of Union Terrace, a short row of seafront properties that were originally lodging houses. They were built for the seaside resort of New Brighton in the 1830s. The pub is named in honour of a former resident. Wetherspoon said, in 1851 Ann Cobboon, thought to be a mis-spelling of Cubbon, was a lodging house keeper in Union Terrace. Henry Cubbon, Master Mariner, also lived there at that time and in 1855, the death of Captain Cubbon, “aged 40, late of the barque Regulus”, was announced in the Liverpool Mercury. The Master Mariner will specialise in real ales and a wide range of beers, including local and regional brewers. Photos, local history and information boards relating to the history and characters of the area, will be displayed. Manageress Ms Nolan said: “Myself and my team are looking forward to welcoming customers into the pub and we are confident that it will be a great addition to New Brighton’s community.”
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
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Luxury Woolton housing development nears completion A MULTI-MILLION pound luxury housing development in one of Liverpool’s most exclusive suburbs is close to completion. Quarry Street in Woolton, made famous by The Beatles, is now the site for 10 “boutique” homes, ranging in price from £235,000 to £275,000. Cheshire developer Step-
pingstone Group is behind the project and Liverpool architect Falconer Chester Hall were brought in to design the homes.. Steppingstone managing director is Steve O’Connor, a former Liverpool Post Business Person of the Year. He said: “The focus has been on the best use of design
to create maximum light and living space and this is the reason we decided to bring in an independent architect. “We wanted total design control and to be involved in a fantastic redevelopment project.” The development includes a range of terraced and detached properties, all with
their own urban garden space and secure integrated private parking. A “key feature” of the homes is the “bi-fold” doors which open across the full length of the living space. Mark Doohan, director of Falconer Chester Hall, added: “There is a limited amount of choice within the housing market and it was important
for us to develop for Steppingstone new and unique housing that was high quality design and specification yet still affordable. “This project aims, in design terms, to fuse the heritage character of the conservation area with the desire for open-plan contemporary living space.”
Medicash boosts premiums, surpluses and membership by Neil Hodgson
neil.hodgson@liverpool.com
Steve AndersonDixon managing director Trinity Mirror North West, Manchester and North Wales
Full video interview, at www. ldpbusiness. co.uk Matt Allen expects employer-paid accounts to compensate for for fewer individual clients the number of claims paid, the fall in the average value per claim and increase in earned premiums, combined to reduce the claims ratio. Medicash finance director Matt Allen said: “While we expect the number of individual policyholders to continue to decline because of the continued pressure on household income
and redundancies across the public sector, we expect the number of employer paid policyholders to increase as the popularity of cash plans as an employee benefit increases.” Chief executive Sue Weir added: “Despite the pressure on our prices and margins through increased com-
Certero extends NHS client base WARRINGTON IT software firm Certero is continuing to drive growth in the health sector after securing three new contracts with the NHS. It signed deals with Blackburn with Darwen CCG (Clinic Commissioning
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LIVERPOOL-based health cash plan provider Medicash has reported growth in its written premiums, a return to surplus at its non-insurance arm, and another rise in policyholders, despite the economic downturn. In its annual results for the year to December 31, 2012, it revealed £20.4m of premiums written, compared with £19.6m in 2011. The rise contributed to a surplus of £199,000 for the insurance operations of Medicash. The non-insurance side of the business, such as investments, also achieved a surplus, of £1.76m compared with a loss of £959,000 in 2011. A rise in employer-paid policyholders more than offset a fall in the number of individual policyholders – consistent with continued pressure on household incomes and redundancies – leading to 135,171 contributing policyholders against 131,000 in 2011. During the year, Medicash introduced further innovative products including being the first cash plan provider to introduce an exclusive online discount platform, and enhancing its Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to include a Day One Stress Intervention service. And as price competition intensified Medicash sought to differentiate itself from rivals with an increased focus on providing excellent customer service which was rewarded with an “excellence” award in an independent customer service assessment. The business achieved a 99.1% payout on claims as a proportion of those received, compared with 98.3% in 2011, and complaints received as a percentage of those paid fell to 0.05% from 0.08% the previous year. Claims incurred during the year as a proportion of premiums fell to 80.2% from 82.6% in the previous year. And while there was an increase in
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Group), East Lancs CCG, and Greater Preston and Chorley and South Ribble CCGs. Certero managing director John Lunt said the firm is already the largest supplier of PC power management to the NHS and the latest round of
deals will see Certero delivering its software licence optimisation solution, AssetStudio V4, to its new clients. All IT software requires licences and AssetStudio pinpoints overspend on unnecessary software licences.
petition within the employer paid cash plan market, we believe that continued investment in our service proposition, information technology, product range and relationships with employers and intermediaries, will enable us to maintain and grow our policyholder base.” Medicash gave £118,000 to charities in 2012 compared with £85,000 in 2011.
Mills’ TV listing BIRKENHEAD creative production house Mills Media Group is celebrating its Business TV division’s listing as a Top 50 business by trade magazine Televisual. Televisual’s corporate production list celebrates the best in the business television and live event industries and is traditionally dominated by London-based companies.
Pub to be care home A FORMER Liverpool pub is to be converted into a care home after its sale for several hundred thousand pounds. Pub operator Spirit Pub Co has sold the Derby Mills site in Muirhead Avenue, West Derby, via agents at Colliers International. The buyer is Leeds-based LNT Group which planning to convert the two-storey building into a three-storey 64-bed care home for the elderly.
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
post business big feature
Bill Gleeson
Mersey firms
Only time will tell if Cains’ property plans will succeed
Alistair Houghton hears how Liverpool firms are moving into China in 2013 – the Year of the Snake
THE plan unveiled last week by the owners of Cains brewery to withdraw from canning beer for supermarkets’ own brands and to convert a large part of the Stanhope Street brewery into cinemas, shops and apartments came as no real shock. For years, Cains, whether during the ownership of the Dusanj family or others before them, has struggled to make a worthwhile profit. Cains’ branded beers are excellent to the palate. The raisin beer and premium lager are as fine as you could hope to find anywhere. The problem is they are difficult to find. The beers don’t sell widely enough to allow for sufficient economies of scale. Even within the brewery's home town of Liverpool I have come across off-licence and supermarket shelves stocked with nicely presented rival brands, such as Newcastle Brown, but no sign of Cains. Cains’ traditional pub chain has always been small – a dozen or so pubs – hence the need to can for supermarkets. If you have ever been inside their Stanhope Street brewery and seen the thousands of cans of supermarket own-label brand beers whizzing past you on the conveyor belt, you could be forgiven for wondering how the brewer doesn't make a profit from canning. Suffice to say, it must be a very competitive business with only fractions of a penny being made on every can, if that. Then there was the disastrous stock market flotation. A reverse takeover of a struggling pub chain called Honeycomb Leisure a few years ago was a daft idea from the start. The Dusanj brothers called it a turnaround situation. That proved unjustifiably optimistic. In the end, losses and debts forced Cains into administration until it was salvaged by the Dusanj duo. The move out of canning operations is rational and probably something that should have been done a long time ago. Only time will tell
ROM traditional shipping specialists to hi-tech gaming pioneers, many Merseyside firms are making an impact in China. Liverpool has long had trade links with the Far East, and the city boasts Europe’s oldest Chinese community, so the city was well-placed to benefit when the People’s Republic began opening up to Western trade and rocketed up the global economic league table. Those links were reinforced in 2010 when Liverpool became the only UK city to have its own pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai. The pavilion, which promoted Liverpool as a place to visit and invest in, attracted more than 770,000 curious visitors. We were warned at the time that the Expo visit would not suddenly lead to a flood of investment. Three years later there have been some positive developments, including plans for the proposed International Trade Centre in Wirral, but the man on the Crosby omnibus could be forgiven for thinking that China links have hardly developed. But behind the scenes, many Mersey companies are busy forging strong links that may well help to bring jobs to the region in the not-too-distant future. Leaders from some of those companies took to the stage at this week’s It’s Liverpool in China breakfast event, organised by economic development agency Liverpool Vision. And representatives from many more such firms, including architecture practice Brock Carmichael, were also in the audience at the HSBC-sponsored event in Liverpool’s Malmaison hotel. Martin Kitney, founder and chief operating officer of Liverpool video games company Thumbstar, told the audience how his small firm had made a big impact on China’s mobile telecoms market. Thumbstar is the sole provider of Android games on China Telecom’s mobile platform. It signed a one-year contract last year, and recently signed a four-year extension. Thumbstar’s founder and chief operating officer, Martin Kitney told the Post: “If anybody wants to put a game on there, they’ll have to come through our procedures,” The games website is now live, but it will be formally launched next month in a massive marketing push by China Telecom. “They’ll be sending 50m texts to consumers so they know about the service,” said Mr Kitney. Thumbstar first spoke to China Telecom 18 months ago, and the relationship developed rapidly. “They were looking for a game provider to supply this contract,” recalled Mr Kitney, “and we’d been recommended to them. “From there it progressed fairly quickly and we’ve been working ever since to get games ready. “We need to get 100 games ready for the launch, translated into Chinese and tested for the local handsets.
whether the proposals for the site will succeed. The development plans for Stanhope Street do sound a bit of a long shot. The premises are a bit too far out of town, but you never know. Certainly, the time isn’t right currently for more apartments in the city. You just need to look at the abandoned construction projects at the Baltic Triangle and Sefton Street to see that. However, the Stanhope Street brewery is a fine old building with some fantastic tiling and woodwork. When the property market does come back, somebody should be able to find a good use for it. The proper answer to Cains’ troubles is probably to distribute its excellent beers more widely by gradually and organically growing its pub chain and getting a foothold in more supermarkets for Cains’ branded beers, backed by an advertising campaign. GENERAL Motors went to some trouble last week to reassure Germans that it wasn’t going to abandon its European operations. At an event at one of its car plants in Germany attended by German government officials and diplomats, the carmaker emphasised that it was committed to Europe. The fact it needed saying is interesting. There are good grounds to be concerned. GM has closed plants in Europe recently. The European operation continues to be loss-making. GM hummed and hawed considerably about a possible sale a couple of years ago. Europe is holding back an otherwise profitable company. GM used the event to remind everyone that it is investing 4bn euros in Europe, a good deal of it in Ellesmere Port, which, like Tata’s Land Rover factory at Halewood, has its production lines turned up to full speed through day and night. It still doesn’t feel right to me that, while British car plants are going from strength to strength, their German counterparts need reassuring that they, too, have a future.
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“We must have presented 500 or 600 games to them. “We are sensitive to the games they want in their market. They want to get Western products into China, and we do have some games from Chinese developers that we were working with in Europe anyway.” Thumbstar decided early that it needed to have a presence in China. He said: “The thing that has really assisted us to progress and enhance our relationship with China Telecom has been opening a small office in Hong Kong, from where we service our day-to-day communications with our client. “I’ve also been heavily involved in terms of the promotion there. I’ve been out to Hong Kong and to Guangzhou, where the platform is physically based. “We try to make sure we have senior management out there at least once a month. We do have trusted people working out there, but they like to see us have a presence there as well. “In China, it’s about relationships – they like to make sure we’re taking care of it personally.” China is often talked about as a challenging environment for foreign firms, but Kitney stresses that Western and Chinese companies need to adapt to each other’s needs. He said: “It has been a challenge for us,
We can stand on our own two feet in China
but it’s a challenge for them to work with us, too. Our processes are different to how they normally do things. “It’s not all been plain sailing. We’ve had to get used to their culture and their level of business processes. “Having an office in Hong Kong and having a member of staff there who is very astute in terms of their processes and protocols has been a real help to us.” Despite the challenges, Kitney recommends that small businesses looking to grow should consider looking to China. “The opportunities in Asia are massive,” he said. “It’s where the real growth is. And China itself is such a huge opportunity for businesses. “You have to be careful who you’re working with. We have heard some real horror stories. But the value that can be generated is unbelievable, really.” BDP is a North West architecture practice that was heavily involved in the development and delivery of the city’s £1bn Liverpool One retail scheme. Planning director Andrew Teage has been central to the continued momentum of BDP’s interests in Liverpool and he made a personal contribution to the final chapter of BDP’s book, The Regeneration of a City Centre, suggesting what the future of Liverpool might be post 2008. The practice is also expanding internationally, particularly in China, following its involvement alongside Liverpool City Council at the Shanghai Expo when Liverpool spent six months there, within the BDP-designed Liverpool pavilion.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
big feature post business
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making China impact The panel at the It’s Liverpool in China event, from left, Frank Fox of Lombard Shipping, Martin Kitney of Thumbstar), David Wade- Smith, Andrew Teage of BDP and Steven Foo of Mitchell Charlesworth Picture: GAVIN TRAFFORD
Peel’s Liverpool2 container terminal will help firms grow their trade with China
Mr Teage, another panellist at Tuesday’s debate, said BDP decided as early as 2008, due to the state of the UK and European market, that it needed a global presence. Through existing links with clients, and especially its design brief with Liverpool for the Shanghai Expo, it focused on China. “To understand the market and opportunities and to win and grow our offer in China we had to be in China and it was in 2009 that we decided we needed a permanent presence in China,” he said. BDP has won a number of new architectural commissions in the retail and leisure youth sector and Mr Teage said: “This demonstrated that we can stand on our own two feet in China.” But he revealed new opportunities after a shift in thinking recently on the east coast of China which has seen most of the country’s development. “On the east coast they have realised that there is value in regeneration,” he said. Mr Teage said previously the attitude had been one of: “Here’s a five-mile piece of land, build me a new city. “Now,” he added, “along the east coast where they have been becoming a lot more westernised, they realise they need to regenerate their cities and urban areas.” BDP’s Shanghai office currently has 25 staff but there is room for 40, which Mr Teage said they will achieve comfortably
during the year. “We will then develop additional studios across China,” he said. Staffing, he said, will be predominantly Chinese, adding: “We learned early on that you need to have ethnic Chinese in your studio because of the culture and language to develop business.” Building business links with China is also about building personal relationships with Chinese business leaders. Steven Foo, business development director at Liverpool accountancy firm Mitchell Charlesworth, told the meeting how his business had made inroads into the Liverpool Chinese community over the past five years. He added: “In my experience of going to China, and doing business with people from China, I’ve found dining at a business level to be very interesting. I’ve learned that Chinese people like to do business over dinner rather than in a boardroom at 9am or 10am.” Mr Foo said that people wanting to do business with China should avoid potentially sensitive political subjects, such as China’s relationship with Japan, and should ensure they are well-dressed. He added: “It’s good to make the effort in terms of making promotional material or websites bilingual, so everybody can read them properly. And, on your business cards, if you get your name translated into Chinese it goes a long way.”
Get your name translated into Chinese
Shipping veteran says £300m Liverpool2 plans will help Mersey firms grow trade with China THE massive Liverpool2 container terminal being built in the Mersey will provide a massive boost to businesses trading with China – that was the message from logistics leader Frank Fox at the It’s Liverpool in China event. Peel Ports has now started work on Liverpool2, the £300m expansion of its Seaforth terminal to allow it to handle larger “post-Panamax” ships. The terminal will allow more traders to bring goods directly into the North via Liverpool rather than having to route it through Southern ports. Mr Fox, managing director of Liverpool’s Lombard Shipping and Forwarding, has been helping companies trade with China for 25 years. He told this week’s It’s Liverpool in China briefing that the terminal will reduce costs for importers and help take lorries off the roads. He said: “For the future, from Liverpool’s point of view, I’m looking forward to when the post-Panamax terminal is open and operating.
“I see that as an opportunity for North West importers and exporters to reduce their costs. “When you consider, at the moment for example, freight rates from China to Felixstowe and the haulage costs from there to Manchester, Liverpool or even Yorkshire – well, crazy as it sounds, you pay as much to get goods from Felixstowe to Liverpool as you do to get goods from Shanghai to Felixstowe. Then there’s the carbon footprint that creates.” And the terminal will, Mr Fox said, have wider benefits. “This city was built on its maritime trading,” he said. “I think this (post-Panamax) is a great opportunity from a jobs point of view. The more jobs we can bring into Liverpool via the port, the more employment opportunities it creates going forward.” Earlier, Mr Fox told the Post that Lombard’s relationships with Chinese companies have strengthened after he visited the country as part of a UK Trade & Investment delegation to the World Expo in Shanghai. He said: “We were also able to travel outside Shanghai to
meet the companies we’ve been dealing with in China for a period of time. “That has helped us to cement the relationship with the companies that we’ve been dealing with. “Plus, we got a good picture of what was going on in Shanghai, as opposed to the mind’s eye picture. “The can-do attitude there was unbelievable. When you look at the Expo site, created on a brownfield site, you got a ferry from one side to another. There were purpose-built ferry terminals – it’s the equivalent of building Pier Head or Birkenhead from scratch.” Mr Fox said the recession had badly hit volumes of trade to and from China. But that, he said, meant freight rates had fallen – benefiting any firm wiling to risk trading in current conditions. He added: “If people are looking to source products, China has been the first port of call. I think it still is. “The way their factories are tooled up from a manufacturing point of view, there’s not a lot they can’t make.”
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
post business wealth management
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
Constant drip of dispiriting economic news for Europe market analysis
by Mike Taylor
LIVERPOOL OFFICE OF CHARLES STANLEY THE global economic environment is much less risky than it was a year ago, but still conditions remain sufficiently fragile to warrant continued active government/central bank support as we continue to live on that knife edge with everyone seeking a balanced outcome. The gentle positive momentum behind both the global economy and the return environment continued during the first quarter, but the gravitational pull of renewed recession has been offset by monetary policy continuing. The global economy is still taking time to heal, and momentum remains dependent on a considerable degree of central bank support and government intervention. Indeed, it is not just intervention to support more buoyant economic activity that we must pay attention to, but government action is also seen as the main means of coordinating public and private interests in the post crisis world. With global central banks taking out over $150bn per month of government supply via QE purchases, global markets are utterly in thrall to the effects. Prices across the risk\credit spectrum are distorted by the consequences of unlimited QE. No asset classes are immune with
Mike Taylor
the exception of Europe which remains an extreme version of the Chinese Water Torture – a constant succession of challenging bad news dripping on to the forehead of Euro confidence. It was Cyprus, Italian Elections, Slovenia, and now Portugal. With the Portuguese constitutional court saying no to austerity, it’s likely to precipitate a new election, raising the fear threshold another few notches. That every single Southern European economy will miss ECB deficit targets is pretty much inevitable. Drip drip drip. Away from Europe, Global stocks are higher on expectations of higher growth, but also on the miserable returns available in bond markets. It’s overcoming all the pundits calling for stock corrections but as there really isn’t anything cheap to buy, and the search for yield remains paramount, it’s possible to make a rational argument to buy anything How long can it last? Well, at least there is an economic answer to that question: if QE succeeds in driving global growth – and with Japan acting as a driver for growth, not just domestically but for the whole of the Pacific Rim alongside renewed US growth, then the inevitable consequences down the line will be a bond rout, hence the talk of a rotation from bonds to equities. As economies recover, then there is bound to be rates pressure on central governments to hike rates vs inflation. Who wants to buy bonds when rates are rising? Hence, the US Federal Bank is warning banks about the need for “intensive and sophisticated stress testing”. From a market perspective, even though we hope the regulators are on the ball about how critical the systems are, it’s well to remember how short the market’s memory is. With the market gorging on risk assets, clearly the pain will be enormous if/when it pops. And some sectors look like screaming asset bubbles. Money chasing itself into stocks or bonds, causing an accelerating upside shouts irrational. If it breaks then the effect in stocks and bonds will be gory in the extreme, hence the difficult investment world we live in of chasing the upside, or at least not being left behind or taking a very defensive position to avoid the possible collapse in markets. As I said at the outset, it is about balance and your own perception of risk and/or reward.
tions, while the top three features mentioned by more than 90% of respondents were access to the full ATM network free of charge, a debit card coming with the account, and for payments to be accepted in all shops and retailers. Transparent costs and charges and quality online banking also scored highly. Laura Willoughby chief executive of the MoveYourMoney.org.uk campaign, said: “These results show that the public want full and fair access to banking services in the UK. “The Post Office must heed these
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ONE-FIFTH of complaints about banks and building societies’ current accounts are not being cleared up to customers’ satisfaction, a consumer group has reported. The findings, which come at a time when moves are under way to make it easier for people to switch current accounts and encourage competition, were made following a survey of 2,000 people across the UK in February by Which? The group found that one quarter (26%) of UK bank customers, equating to 12m people across the country, have experienced problems in the last 12 months. Of these, two-thirds have made a complaint and 22% of people who did so were not happy with how their issue was resolved. Common causes for complaint included poor customer service, incorrect charges, difficulty getting through to someone and mistakes showing up on statements.
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THE bank of mum and dad is less in demand by younger people, according to research from a debt advice charity. While large numbers of first-time homebuyers report receiving parental help with deposits, new data from StepChange Debt Charity reveals that young adults do not borrow as much from friends and family as older generations. In 2012, the average amount owed to friends and family by those under 25 and seeking help from the charity was £1,761. This was far lower than £3,458 for those aged 25 to 39.
Drip, drip, drip, Chinese water torture of bad economic news
PO accounts can challenge ‘bloated’ banks THE Post Office’s new current account service could challenge the dominance of the big five UK high street banks, a poll suggests. Campaign website MoveYour Money.org.uk found that more than 80% of respondents said they would consider switching to the Post Office if it offered a current account with full banking facilities, while more than 78% said that they would trust the Post Office as a provider of financial services. Features customers would expect included access to their money and the ability to use it without restric-
notes
results by offering accounts with the full range of features, not just basic accounts that exclude the most vulnerable from everyday banking facilities. “If the Post Office get this right they can challenge our bloated high street banks, but only if they offer accounts that people can actually use properly.” She added: “With the overhaul of the benefits system where people will receive a single monthly payment it is more vital than ever that everyone has access to a bank account that meets their needs.”
Mortgage freedom day HOMEOWNERS have typically earned enough cash by this week to cover their mortgage payments for the whole of 2013. But people living in the rental sector will have to wait another month on average – until May 12 before they find themselves in the same position, Halifax found. Halifax pinpointed April 13 as “mortgage freedom day”, after working out that on the 103rd day of the year, people will have earned enough from their average annual take-home pay of £23,450 to
cover their yearly mortgage repayment costs. The calculation is based on yearly mortgage repayments costing £6,597 typically for a new borrower. The figure is also based on typical house prices of around £161,400, as well as someone having a 30% deposit or equity in their home. Every penny of someone’s income for the year so far would have to be channelled just towards mortgage payments in order for them to have mortgage freedom.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
news post business
Maritime sector in skills plea to drive Superport ambitions by Neil Hodgson
POST BUSINESS STAFF
neil.hodgson@liverpool.com
A CALL has gone out to the region’s education and learning sector providers to meet the skills needs for the region’s Superport growth plans. Birkenhead-based trade body Mersey Maritime Group (MMG), which represents 1,700 firms operating in the maritime sector, issued the rallying call today. MMG chief executive Jim Teasdale was involved in producing part of the Liverpool City Region’s Skills for Growth Annual Report which was unveiled by the region’s Employment Skills Board (ESB). He is also a member of the Superport committee and sector representative on the ESB. Mr Teasdale said the region has a “unique opportunity” to deliver step changes in performance with £12bn of investment planned in the next decade, including Peel Ports’ £300m Liverpool2 container terminal, potentially creating 100,000 more jobs by 2025. “The Superport Skills for Growth Agreement aims to identify current and future skills needs across our maritime sector,” said Mr Teasdale. “It will be used as a planning framework to enable local schools, colleges, learning providers and universities to plan courses and educational provision which is likely to create a large number of employment opportunities in the coming years. “It will also provide parents, learners and job seekers with a better understanding of the future job opportunities within the city region.” Mr Teasdale said huge investment is expected in the region’s maritime sector in the coming years. “Our Superport will, in a relatively short time, require around 20,000 more skilled people. “This will ensure we can transport ever-increasing volumes of freight by air, rail, road and river, canal and sea. “The work to develop these skilled people needs to start now if we are to cement the Mersey’s reputation as a key global gateway and unleash the full potential of our airport, port and
‘Our work to develop these skills has to start right now’
Jim Teasdale, Mersey Maritime Group chief executive and Employment Skills Board representative logistics hubs.” MMG will work as a “skills broker” to ensure the marine sector’s skill demand is communicated to suppliers, such as schools and training colleges. In November 2012, port operator Peel Ports Mersey signed up to a partnership agreement with MMG, saying the agreement underlines a common commitment to provide job-specific training and employment opportunities in maritime and other growth sectors within the region. “The latest report presents a terrific
opportunity for skills providers, like our own Maritime and Engineering College North West (MECNW), to match courses with the demand for skills,” said Mr Teasdale. “As skills brokers, Mersey Maritime Group aims to inform learning providers about apprenticeship frameworks related to Superport and specific details on investment projects. “We can further advise on funding packages.” Richard Else, operations director for Jaguar Land Rover Halewood, and
ESB chairman, launched the Skills for Growth Annual Report. He said: “For too long our skills system has been stuck in a vicious circle, with businesses finding that the skills delivered by schools, colleges and universities don’t always meet their needs, but not always being fully clear about what skills should be delivered. “The report marks a break with this and the opportunity to be absolutely clear about what the economy needs and to get on with delivering a skills for growth programme.”
Tennis tournament director appeals to firms THE director of the Liverpool International Tennis Tournament is renewing his appeal for local corporate backing for the event. Now in its 12th year, the Calderstones Park tournament has grown and now routinely welcomes tennis legends including Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg as well as up-and-coming
players from the circuit. Liverpool City Council has been a major backer of the event but due to cutbacks its financial support has dwindled. This means that Anders Borg, whose company Northern Vision runs the event, is now keen to persuade more Merseyside firms to get on board.
Mr Borg told Post Business: “We have the second-biggest corporate area in Liverpool after the Grand National but we are dependent upon corporates taking advantage of our event in terms of branding.” He added the tournament offers “excellent” opportunities for exposure. As well as being hugely popular with Merseyside tennis
fans it attracts around 2,000 corporate guests. Mr Borg, pictured right, added: “This is in addition to being showcased on our website which registers more than 300,000 hits each year.” He said 10% of all sponsorships will go towards the newly started Liverpool Tennis Foundation for Merseyside youngsters.
7
Langtree on site at Festival Gardens SITE investigation works have begun on the site of the festival dome at the Festival Gardens on Liverpool’s Otterspool Promenade in advance of the proposed development for housing. Owner Langtree has begun early stage clearance and ground investigation works in advance of the remediation works and subsequent development on the 25-acre site, which has received planning permission for up to 1,400 new homes. The move comes exactly a year after the gardens of the original festival park were re-opened and returned to the people of Liverpool following a multi-million pound refurbishment by Langtree. “The Government’s initiatives around kick-starting the housing market are clearly beginning to have an impact and there’s been an increasing number of positive announcements by listed house builders in recent months,” said Langtree chief executive John Downes. “The market’s starting to move and it makes sense to prepare the land so that house builders can take advantage of this unique site which is both in the park and on the waterfront.” Since the Festival Gardens re-opened more than 100,000 people have walked through its gates to enjoy the mix of formal and oriental gardens and woodland walks. The site boasts views across the river to the Welsh hills and has entrances on both Riverside Drive and Otterspool Promenade.
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
post business the bottom line
notes ■
A BUSINESS used by major companies for conferences and residential training was this week put up for sale by a leading hotels and leisure group. De Vere Venues caters for as many as 700,000 conference delegates a year, including at Cheadle House, near Manchester Airport, Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire, and at the Kassam and Ricoh Arena football stadiums. De Vere Group said its decision to appoint Lazard to advise it on a possible sale of the 30-location business followed a number of unsolicited approaches from interested parties. Reports said analysts valued the business at between £280m and £300m.
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A POOR Cheltenham festival left its mark on bookmaker Ladbrokes this week after it was forced to scale back expectations for annual profits. The company, which has more than 2,700 betting shops, said lower revenues from high value gaming customers and the big number of horse racing fixtures lost to the weather also impacted the three months to March 31. Profits were down £13m to £37.4m in the period, including £6m in lost revenues at the Cheltenham festival. Shares fell 6% as Ladbrokes said it expects operating profits for this year to be at the bottom end of current market forecasts. The firm received a boost this month when 66-1 outsider Auroras Encore won the Grand National at Aintree, triggering a £15m windfall.
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Cheshire fertiliser firm enjoys strong profit and sales growth by Bill Gleeson
POST BUSINESS STAFF bill.gleeson@liverpool.com
CHESHIRE-based fertiliser firm Growhow enjoyed a strong 2012, according to financial accounts lodged last week at Companies House. Growhow, a joint venture between Norway’s Yara International and North America-based CF Industries, saw turnover for the year to last December rise 3% to £506m. Last year’s sales rise came on top of a 25% increase in 2011, largely fuelled by a sharp rise in fertiliser prices. As well as fertilisers sold to farms, the firm also supplies the chemicals industry. At the same time, the company managed to trim its cost of sales by almost 10%, resulting in a gross profit of £138m in 2012 compared to £85m the year before. Operating profit was £124.6m, 27% up on £97.8m in 2011. By the time interest receivable and payable and taxation are taken into account, the fertiliser firm made a profit for the financial year of £95m, 30% higher than £73m in 2011. The firm’s balance sheet shows year end tangible fixed assets of £243m versus £248m at the end of 2011. Cash in the bank was £33m, up from £31m. Net current assets were £92m, compared to £61m in 2011. The increase resulted from a decision to invest “in higher finished product inventories ahead of a major schedule of a plant maintenance programme” in quarter one 2013. Growhow had no bank debts at the end of the year, an improvement on the £33m owed at the previous balance sheet date. However, it had finance leases and hire purchase contracts worth £379m due to be repaid within one year. This figure is up slightly on 2011’s £374m. In the report, the directors reveal that all outstanding loans to its shareholders were settled by way of cashless dividends. An additional £10m dividend was authorised and paid. The report also reveals that, whereas last year’s hike in fertiliser prices benefited 2011’s turnover figure, this year’s more modest rise was down to increased sales volumes. It also enjoyed a £23m boost to income from an insurance claim following a fire at its Billingham plant. It received £48m from the same claim in the previous year. The group had to support an increase in pension liabilities of £10m due to a fall in corporate bond yields. The directors say they are confident
A view from Lordship Lane on Frodsham/Helsby marshes looking towards Growhow’s Cheshire factory about the future outlook of the business. During the year Growhow negotiated a new £51m five-year unsecured revolving credit facility with Royal Bank of Scotland that expires in September 2017. In their annual report the directors add: “Business forecasts show continuing strong profitability and healthy cashflows. This assumes continuing strong demand for fertilisers and economic gas prices based on sufficient availability of gas supplies.” Nevertheless, the report adds that: “gas represents a significant portion of
product cost and prices have been subject to significant volatility in recent periods.” The directors continue: “Existing bank facilities include financial covenants that are adequately covered by the expected financial performance of the business. “The key sensitivities to the financial forecasts are raw material costs, sales pricing and sales volume. The directors believe any significant adverse impact in raw material pricing can be reasonably recovered in sales pricing before becoming a risk to
meeting the financial covenants.” The 55-hectare Ince complex near Ellesmere Port was opened in 1965 by Shell and Armour Star. It was bought by Finnish company Kemira in 1988. Today, Growhow employs 400 people. It produces 1m tonnes of fertiliser a year. Growhow was founded in 2007 as a joint venture between Kemira Growhow and Terra Industries. That same year, Kemira Growhow was taken over by Norwegian group Yara. Last year, Terra was taken over by CF Industries.
Broker downgrades recruitment agency as Q1 profits fall For News, Sport and Business on your phone
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LIVERPOOL stockbroker Panmure Gordon posted a ‘sell’ note on the stock of recruitment specialist Michael Page International this week after a poor first quarter performance. The Chapel Street broker also said it had placed its current forecasts for Page under review after the first quarter announcement. Page, which has a legal and financial recruitment base in Liverpool’s Edmund Street, said total year-on-year
gross profits for the first quarter 2013 were down 6.7% at £126.8m compared with the same period in 2012. They were ahead by 0.2% compared with the fourth quarter, but chief executive Steve Ingham said that, despite good performances in some regions, such as Asia and North America, its businesses in France and Germany which operate mostly in permanent recruitment “experienced another challenging quarter, down 17% and
27%, respectively”. He added: “Activity levels remained strong in the quarter, but with difficult trading conditions continuing in several markets, we anticipate quarter two to be a challenging quarter.” Mr Ingham said: “Overall, we have had a robust first quarter. However, to target our long term growth and profit opportunities, we have continued to invest in our key growth markets of China, South East Asia, Latin Amer-
ica, Germany and, now, North America.” The UK, which accounts for 24% of overall group gross profits, achieved a figure of £30.2m for the first quarter, which was 1.2% below the same quarter last year, and 0.1% worse than the previous quarter. Panmure Gordon analysts said: “A first quarter update does little to dispel our fears that trading remains tough in recruitment markets.”
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small business post business
notes
small
business of the week
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by Neil Hodgson
POST BUSINESS STAFF
neil.hodgson@liverpool.com
H
AVE you heard the one about the dry cleaning business that uses water to clean all of its items? Strange, but true. Mason McLean is one of only a dozen businesses in the UK using water, meaning there’s none of the usual solvent smells pervading its shops in Heswall and West Kirby. Founder Shaun Mason, 49, claims to use the most environmentally friendly cleaning system in the world based on water and biodegradable detergents: “Even cleaners who claim to be ‘green’ use man-made organic solvents,” he said. “Water is the solvent of life and I have been cleaning with water for 14 months. All the stuff I use goes down the drain.” The move to water-based cleaning is gathering pace, with many solvents being banned around the world. Mr Mason said: “About 80% of stains on garments are water-based, like wine or coffee, so solvents aren’t the best for removing them, whereas water is very much the way to do it, even for highly embellished wedding dresses.” Mr Mason uses the Electrolux Professional Lagoon wet-cleaning system and his work with the company has so impressed Electrolux that they have invited him to speak at a business start-up exhibition in London in June. He developed his interest in specialist cleaning care after working eight years for former Bootle dry cleaner Johnson. Originally from Jersey, he studied as a biochemist at Hull University and worked in the laundry industry before he was head-hunted by Johnson in 2001. He was responsible at board level for business development but was then made managing director of Jeeves of Belgravia, which Johnson had bought. “We had franchises in New York, Jakarta and Hong Kong and that’s where the clothes care element really came in. I held the Royal Warrant and we cleaned for Prince Charles and other Royals.” He later ran a restoration service for Johnson linked to insurance companies involving restoring damaged garments and curtains involved in fires or floods. Mr Mason left Johnson in 2009, and admitted: “I was at a Burns Night Supper where we had drunk too much and a friend said there was a shop in Heswall called Rob Roy Cleaners lying idle. “I did a deal with the previous tenant for the equipment and we opened in May 2010.” Apart from a small bank loan the business is entirely self-funded. Mr Mason’s wife, a University of Chester professor with a marketing degree, is the McLean in the title. He said: “We started building ourselves as a bit of a specialist cleaner through my knowledge of Jeeves and Johnson and recruited some former Johnson staff. We have nine now, including me. “I have gone from being corporate to very much hands on. I like the cleaning and the chemicals bit of it.” In the first week the business took about £1,000. This year turnover is
Shaun Mason pictured at his Heswall shop which specialises in water-based cleaning techniques
Cleaner makes waves with water process expected to come in at just under £300,000. In September 2010 he started to revisit the insurance sector, and then began to restore leather and suede using water, which led to a specialist handbag restoration service that has attracted business from all over the UK through the firm’s website. Clients send their Louis Vuitton, Mulberry, Prada and Chanel bags for a bit of TLC, ranging in cost from £80 to £300 per bag. Mr Mason said: “It is something over the next few years I am going to grow significantly. It is potentially franchisable.” He added: “Because I started off in business a bit late in life I have to find a way of growing my business quickly.”
Mason McLean’s Telegraph Road shop in Heswall
MORE than 40% of small firms in the North West are unaware of auto-enrolment pension legislation, a Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance poll claims. The system, introduced last October, requires employers to enrol their workers into a qualifying workplace pension scheme. The amount employers and employees pay will gradually increase, but by October 2018, employers will have to contribute 4% of earnings, and their employees 3%, with a further 1% received in tax relief. But in the survey of more than 200 small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the North West, 41% were unaware of the changes and only 13% of SMEs in the North West had a good understanding of auto-enrolment. More than a quarter (27%) of the firms said they were unaware of when the new legislation would be introduced to a firm of their size and a similar number (29%) said they were aware of a date and would be ready. This leaves almost half of the region’s SMEs (44%) aware of the date but without plans in place of how to comply with the legislation. The date an organisation will need to implement these changes by will be determined by their PAYE scheme size. For example, employers with 50 to 249 people in their largest PAYE scheme will be staged between April 2014 and April 2015. Employers with fewer than 50 people in their largest PAYE scheme will be staged between June 2015 and April 2017.
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A QUARTER of UK staff search for other employment while at work, a new report reveals. Safetica, a provider of employee monitoring and data protection software, commissioned the report into the extent that staff use their office PCs for non-work related activities. It found 32% use social media during work hours and 32% print personal files on company printers. And 12% compromised security by taking work files home. When the survey was broken down by gender, it found women are bolder when it comes to defying rules in almost all categories. It also found that the older generation seemed to be more orderly, with the young 25-34 age group scoring highest in all categories.
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
post business creative & digital
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
Printing boss prepares to back hundreds of entrepreneurs by Alistair Houghton
POST BUSINESS STAFF
JLA’s new app
Mapping system lands at airport PASSENGERS at Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) can now call on hi-tech help to guide them through the terminal with the arrival of Google Indoor Maps. The system means airport visitors with Android phones can open Google maps and zoom in on the airport to reveal a full plan of the terminal. Their location will be signalled by a blue dot. Google has mapped all three levels at the airport and has indicated facilities including toilets, ATMs and the information desk. The airport said: “Getting lost at JLA is rare, however this new Google Indoor Map will now also help passengers find their way to many of the new retailers and passenger facilities at the airport following the recent £12m terminal improvements.” Danny Pritchard from JLA, said: “Even though surveys show 97% passenger satisfaction levels, we are always looking at ways to enhance the passenger experience here at JLA. “This Google Indoor Map application will help to make it even easier for our passengers to locate a particular bar, retailer, restaurant, coffee shop or perhaps the premium lounge.”
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ONE of the leading backers of a support scheme for young entrepreneurs says he is keen to hear from people in Merseyside who want to start their own graphic design businesses. The Government-backed Start-Up Loans scheme, which allows people aged under 30 to apply for loans of up to £10,000, is being delivered by the Prince’s Trust and a range of business partners. Printing.com has pledged to help some 200 entrepreneurs in the coming year through its involvement with the £112m project. Tony Rafferty, who grew up in Liverpool, set up Printing.com when he was 24 with a £3,000 loan from his father. Today, the global business is listed on the Alternative Investment Market and posted annual revenues for 2012 of £21.7m. He said: “Our main focus will be to help young entrepreneurs from the graphic arts sector including graphic and web designers. But we want to hear from young entrepreneurs from other sectors too. “Our business is partly based on a network of franchises and we already provide lots of mentoring. We know how to help people get going. “As a former director of the British Franchise Association I’m also keen to get the Start-Up Loan Scheme out in the broader franchise community. We have a wealth of experience built up over many years in this area.” Mr Rafferty said the nature of the graphic design industry meant small start-up loans could help to build big businesses. He added: “In our sector you still really can create a business with just a Mac, Adobe’s Creative Suite and a connection to the internet – provided you
can afford the hardware and software. “I’m often struck by the level of support available to young people going into higher education, which far exceeds the backing for young entrepreneurs taking their first steps in business.” The Start-Up Loans project aims to support 45,000 young business people by 2015. Applicants should apply through delivery partners such as Printing.com, who will interview and mentor hopefuls. Entrepreneur and former Dragons’ Den panellist James Caan, who is chairman of the Start-Up Loans Company, said: “We welcome Printing.com’s involvement in the scheme and we are thrilled with the momentum the scheme continues to maintain. “To be an entrepreneur is more than having a job. It gives you the freedom to make your own mark, in the way in which you choose, and create your own path to success. “It can be challenging, and exceptionally hard work, but the rewards are immeasurable.” For details on the scheme, visit www.printing.com/entrepreneurs
Entrepreneur James Caan
Tony Rafferty, founder and chief executive of Printing.com
Next stop Warrington for growing Liverpool digital agency TRANSPORT company Network Warrington has appointed Liverpool’s Studio Mashbo to help it develop its digital communications strategy. Studio Mashbo will develop a mobile-friendly web application that customers can use to find out more about bus routes and local events and attractions. Managing director Gavin Sherratt said: “Network Warrington is an organisation that is open-minded and during the pitch process, it was open to new innovations and ideas, which is something we like when developing new working relationships.” Natalie Kissack, marketing executive at Network Warrington said: “We need to redesign our website in order for our customers to access bus information more easily and also to attract new customers who may not be as familiar with our bus services. “We are confident that we have found the right agency in Studio Mashbo, to work in partnership with on this project.” Studio Mashbo will work alongside Network Warrington’s branding and marketing partner, Kaleidoscope.
From left, Steve Todd of Studio Mashbo, Natalie Kissack of Network Warrington, Gavin Sherratt of Studio Mashbo, James Balderstone of Network Warrington and Mike Edwards of Kaleidoscope
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
creative & digital post business
www.ldpcreative.co.uk
Ben Hatton
Morrisons joins the web party
A visitor gets scared on one of Shiverpool's city tours
Theatrical firm not spooked by ambitious growth targets by Alistair Houghton POST BUSINESS STAFF
alistair.houghton@liverpool.com
SPOOKY specialists Shiverpool are launching an expansion drive in 2013 as they bid to take their theatrical skills to businesses and schools throughout the region. Shiverpool is best-known for its ghost tours in Liverpool, but has also organised a range of events from Halloween festival Scarewood Forest to a Mersey Tunnel corporate showcase. Last year, 50,000 people attended the company’s events. Founder John Stone says he hopes to attract 100,000 visitors a year to its events and tours by 2015. As well as holding more events and tours, Baltic Triangle-based Shiverpool also plans to work more closely with schools through its new Shiverschool community interest company. The company’s team, including artistic director Lucy Carew and educational co-ordinator Julie Hindle, will go into schools and hold events from Macbeth workshops to Gothic literature showcases. It has, for example, carried out workshops at Birkenhead Academy for students researching Victorian literature, while it has also worked with North Liverpool Academy. Lucy said: “Whatever the set text is, we can do something with it.” Shiverpool’s first tour was “Hope Street Shivers”, which still attracts up to 200 people a week. More recently it launched the Auld City Shivers tour aroundLiverpool’s original seven streets. That tour is proving popular with corporate groups, as well as hen and stag parties.
It now includes a descent into the former bank vaults beneath what is now 62 Castle Street. Lucy said: “They have this maze of old bank vaults. We now take people 60ft under Castle Street to explore the history that’s taken place there. “Everyone had to sign a disclaimer to go down there, it’s so steep. But it’s very popular. We are developing that space further as an events space, working with 62 Castle Street.” Shiverpool has teamed up with 62 and with other commercial district restaurants to create combined tour and dining packages. John added: “When the cruise ships pull up, we’re down there with our placards to sell the tours.” Shiverpool has also held several bespoke tours aimed at women learning English at Blackburne House. Lucy said: “They work with women from Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, Japan and China, so we go to Blackburne House and do workshops to prepare them with different bits of vocabulary.” Those tours were so successful that Shiverpool plans to run more tours for English learners this year. Lucy said: “We anticipate a 20% growth over the next two years, particularly with the increase in Chinese students choosing Liverpool as their city for study.” Among the company’s other successful events last year was Scarewood Forest, a “Hallowe’en spooktacular” held in the pinewoods at Formby. The woods were taken over by various installations with a dark, fairy tale theme. In the afternoon, the “Little Monsters” event was designed for younger children, while the evening event was darker and scarier.
‘An urban sort of Death, in a hoodie’
Shiverpool organised a Mersey Tunnel corporate event last year John said: “3,500 people turned up to Scarewood Forest. It was a massive learning curve. But we worked with some amazing artists. Julie added: “It was named one of the top things to do at Halloween by Visit Britain. That really elevated our brand.” During the event, the company worked with dozens of young actors, many from South Sefton College. Shiverpool also works closely with Liverpool Community College. And the company is not just looking to recruit actors – it also works with trainee designers and make-up artists, giving them valuable real world experience. Shiverpool will be holding the Scarewood Forest events again this year – and are even looking to hold a sister event in Wirral to capitalise on the growing demand for Halloween-themed events. The company has also moved beyond its “scary” productions into other corporate events, including a commemorative event at the Mersey Tunnel that featured a London bus and
aviator Howard Hughes. Lucy said: “Shiverpool is a theatre company. The tunnels event wasn’t spooky, it was about history.” In March, Shiverpool presented a show at North Liverpool Academy called the Jemima Vyle show. The event, a parody of the Jeremy Kyle Show, was part of the school’s careers day. It saw characters Vinny the Vampire and Death compete for a job as a tour guide. Julie smiled: “Death was an urban sort of Death, in a hoodie. But the vampire was a traditional vampire with a cloak, from Transylvania.” Shiverpool has now moved to a larger home in another Baltic Creative unit, facing St James Street. And the company now plans to work with its neighbours, including North Liverpool Academy, to hold more events and tours in the area under the name Baltic Shivers. Shiverpool also plans to hold workshops and summer schools, from character workshops to “confidence-building” sessions, at its new home.
THE recent announcement by supermarket Morrisons of its plans to finally begin selling online was met with little surprise, but it begged the question “what took it so long?” Of the four supermarket giants, Morrisons is the last to provide an online offering to its customers. The move follows the chain reporting a 7% fall in pre-tax profits to £879m, and the business admitted its weekly shoppers were down 400,000. The online grocery market is booming and Morrisons’ position is in stark contrast to other supermarkets which have stormed ahead investing in their internet offering and are now reaping the benefits of a market worth £5.6bn per annum – Waitrose alone reported a 49% increase in sales for last year. Morrisons has dipped its toe in the water with wine site Morrisons Cellar, which is allegedly enjoying good sales. One of the main reasons the company is late to the online table is that it has previously questioned the profitability of selling groceries over the internet. By having customers come into stores to purchase goods, the cost of delivery involved in online sales is avoided. But as the figures show, a company offering consumer goods can ill afford not to invest in its online market. With the rise in internet shopping, existing and potential customers may be put off if the online option isn’t available. There is a lesson for all brands to take from Morrisons’ delayed decision to sell online – if you don’t sell online, there is always someone else who does. This can lead to existing customers switching brands and potential customers overlooking you. Only time will tell if Morrisons is learning this lesson too late. ■ INTERNET entrepreneur Ben Hatton is founder and managing director of digital agency Rippleffect. Follow Rippleffect on Twitter @rippleffected
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
post business the big interview
Alistair Houghton meets MARK HENSBY, managing director of Liverpool Organic Brewery
I
T MAY be a microbrewery but, as visitors to Waterloo’s Old Christ Church this weekend will see, Liverpool Organic Brewery’s beer festivals are anything but small. Mark Hensby and LOB have already made a splash locally by organising the twice-yearly Waterloo Beer Festival – the latest event starts today and runs until Sunday. In size, the Waterloo event now rivals the renowned Liverpool Beer Festival, an event LOB also sponsors. But even as the beer is still flowing in Waterloo, Hensby’s thoughts are turning to its biggest event yet – a festival in Liverpool’s iconic St George’s Hall in September. Kirkdale-based LOB was, says Mr Hensby, founded “almost by accident” in 2008 after he decided to come out of semi-retirement to team up with brewer Karl Critchley. At first, unsurprisingly, it focused on brewing – but it’s those festivals that are now driving its growth. And, Hensby says, there may be more to come. “I’m now thinking we’ll probably slow down a little bit for a little while,” he said. “But realistically, it wouldn’t be difficult for us to continue building the team and the facilities we have to potentially operate a beer festival on the scale of Waterloo every month of the year. “If we want to go completely crazy, we’ve already had preliminary discussions with the guys behind the new conference centre being built at the Echo Arena. That facility will be bigger than the Olympia in London. We could have 60,000 to 70,000 people visiting Liverpool in a weekend.”
Beer festivals are a serious business for growing brewery
H
ENSBY, who was born in York, left school at 16 to work in Tesco. But after three years he returned to his “vocation”, playing classical piano. “I wasn’t able to make it at a professional level,” he said, “but I sold pianos for a number of years.” Next he sold insurance until, with what he called “a bit of luck”, he found himself working for the Omani royal family as a domestic aide in the UK. After four years he returned to the financial services sector in his late 20s. Over a 20-year career he travelled around the world and worked in sectors from pensions to stockbroking. His last full-time role was as chief executive of Griffin Securities in the Philippines, after which he moved into consultancy. By 2005 Hensby was contemplating running a pub in “semi-retirement”. “ I had two friends who ran very successful pubs,” he said. “I phoned one and said so you think I could run a pub? He said ‘you’ve spend most of your life in a pub, so of course you can!’” Hensby instead joined the team at Stamps Too in Waterloo for two years before considering his next move. “I saw the pub industry was absolutely collapsing,” he said. “But I came across another phenomenon, which was the explosion in the microbrewery sector.” So in 2008, he and investor John Burns began building the business. In April, 2009, the fledgling brewery took a lease on its unit near Bank Hall station and installed a test kit. Soon after, Karl Critchley, with whom Hensby had worked at Stamps
Mark Hensby prepares for the 2011 Waterloo Beer Festival – the latest event will be held this weekend. Inset, Hensby with the brewery team Too, came on board as head brewer. Most home brewers use kits and extracts to make their beers, but Critchley had spent years making his beers from scratch at a so-called “all grain” level, meaning he was more than ready to step up to the challenge of operating a commercial brewery. “I came in two or three days a week for three or four months while we finalised the big equipment and
the set-up of the building. And, in September 2009, we started trading.” At first, just Hensby and Critchley were full-time, with one part-time staff member. “We needed to sell 40 to 60 nine-gallon containers a week to break even,” he said. “We thought it would take us six months to do that. We did it in five weeks.”
q&a Age: 59 and 11 months Biggest achievement in business: I’ve done a lot of exciting things and seen some exciting places. But the thing I’m proudest of is probably this business Biggest regret: The one thing I go back to is my piano playing. But I’m now of the view that when I was young I didn’t have the concentration that you have to have was to get anywhere with a musical instrument at a professional level. I can’t say ‘I regret it’ because I don’t think
the foundations were there Best advice received: The MD of a firm I worked for in South Africa had a sign on his desk with the 10 rules of business. Number one was “never run out of money”; number two was “see rule one”, and so it went on. When you start a business, especially in this climate, you’ve got to be properly capitalised Still to achieve: If we get the St George’s Hall festival right, that will be a colossal achievement
As its name suggests, LOB uses organic malts and hops in its beers. It means the ingredients are more expensive but, as with a certain Belgian lager brand, LOB uses that as a selling point with its slogan “quality over compromise”. Its beers include several named after “Heroes of Liverpool”, including Captain Noel Chavasse and Kitty Wilkinson. In 2011, LOB took over Merseyside’s oldest microbrewery, Cambrinus, and still brews beers under that brand using founder John Aspinall’s recipes. LOB’s beers have proved a hit in Merseyside and beyond, and the brewery is now operating at two thirds of its capacity. “I think we’ll probably get up to full capacity conceivably by the end of this year, but certainly in the course of next year,” said Hensby. “Then, we have to take the decision of whether we re-equip ourselves to be bigger.”
E
ARLY in its life, LOB started selling beers at a farmer’s market at Waterloo’s landmark Old Christ Church.
Hensby started chatting to the team that runs the church, and they came up with the idea of holding a beer festival there. “I talked to the shareholders about it,” he remembered. “We all agreed that it was risky but that we could risk it, as long as we didn’t lose more than £2,000 or £3,000 the first time round. “We ran the first one in July 2010, when we weren’t even a year old. “We then had a conversation about how many beers we should get. The consensus was 50 or 60 would be enough. But I said there was no point in doing this unless we made some sort of statement – so we started with 103 beers. “930 people turned up in total, and we lost about £2,000.” LOB decided to hold another event in March, 2011, and this time made a small profit. So Hensby and his team made the bold decision to hold two festivals in 2012 – both of which attracted 2,700 people. Hensby is hoping to match that figure at this week’s Waterloo event. “At this moment, we’ve sold something like 2,250 tickets in
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
the big interview post business
Alex
Mark Hensby says beer festivals, such as this week’s event in Waterloo, are driving growth at Liverpool Organic Brewery Picture: VICTORIA TETLEY
Turner Great to see Wigan’s day in the sun IT can seem that the issue of football club ownership is all about rich man’s playthings, with millionaires and billionaires based thousands of miles away playing their own game of high-stakes fantasy football. Stick a pin in the football league tables and whichever club you land on, you buy, having pretended that you have a long-standing affinity for the fans and footballing traditions of Blackburn, Portsmouth and elsewhere. The new owners then declare unrealistic ambitions that have more to do with ego and vanity than about improving the football club. In amongst this vipers’ nest, it is great to see Wigan Athletic get their day in the Wembley sun, especially because of their chairman Dave Whelan. As a St Helens lad, it takes something out of the ordinary for me to praise a Wiganer, but Mr Whelan’s contribution to his hometown is remarkable for its impact and longevity. The most visible sign has been the transformation of the town’s football club from playing at the bottom of the Football League pyramid at crumbling Springfield Park to a shiny stadium, Premier League status and now an FA Cup Final. As a footballer whose career is remembered for a careerstunting leg break in the 1960 FA Cup Final, it will clearly mean a lot for Whelan to lead his team out against Manchester City in a few weeks’ time. It should also mean a lot to all football fans, because Wigan is a rare example of a genuinely sustainable and community-focused club. That is no accident, and it is not just through football that Mr Whelan has sought to create something of long-lasting benefit. He has also spent millions, alongside the Ainscough family, in Wigan Youth Zone, a 21st-century youth club. It is a shame Mr Whelan gets more publicity for expressing his views on, for example, whether there should be a minute’s silence for Margaret Thatcher than on some of his sincerelyheld beliefs about what can be, and is being, done to improve the life chances of the young people that are his customers, fans and most importantly neighbours. Beating Manchester City will be quite an achievement, but success is measured in more than just trophies.
‘Success measured in more than trophies’
advance,” he said. “I’m expecting that’ll get up to 2,500, and we’ll easily add a couple of hundred walk-ups. “Sunday afternoon can be the nicest session. We’ve never sold many advance tickets for it. It’s very relaxed. We’ve got the Martin Smith jazz band doing three sets.” Between Waterloo festivals last year, Hensby’s fellow shareholders suggested a beer festival in St George’s Hall. “When we went to visit I thought it was a massive long shot – I didn’t think we had a hope in hell,” he said. “We went in and said ‘we’ve been doing this at Waterloo and we’d like to do it at St George’s Hall’. The team at the hall had already been talking about a beer festival, so they were quite keen. “After a couple of weeks she gave me a phone call and said ‘it’s been right to the top and we’re all 100% behind it’.” Soon after signing the deal the brewery took on Hannah Stubbs as its events manager to help it organise this and future festivals. St George’s Hall has the capacity to welcome 1,500 drinkers for every
session, though for the first year that will be restricted to 1,100. Five months before the festival opens, more than 1,400 tickets have already been sold. “Friday evening is virtually half sold out,” mused Hensby. “We’ve sold more than 300 for Saturday daytime. “And that’s without much advance publicity – we had an advert in the Liverpool Beer Festival programme, and we emailed Waterloo attendees.” And with that, Hensby turned to his computer to show off a map of where those sales are coming from. “This is LOB going global,” he said, pointing at dots representing buyers from the USA. He then zoomed in on the UK – and while the biggest cluster of buyers was in Merseyside, there were also many buyers from London and the South East, with outliers in the Isle of Wight and Scotland. “They’re coming from all over the place,” he said, proudly. “The extraordinary thing is that Waterloo’s demographics are not a million miles away from that. “St George’s Hall is a special building. There are some hugely bigger
beer festivals all over the country. We cannot be the biggest. But I’d venture to suggest we can make it the best.” As if that wasn’t enough, the brewery also plans to hold a Christmas beer festival at the Black-E in Great George Street, and is even in discussions about holding another large-scale event in Southport.
T
HE real ale scene in the UK has been revolutionised in recent years by the growing number of microbreweries, including LOB. There are now 1,000 such businesses in the UK but Hensby believes the market is far from saturated. “I feel there’s space for quite a few more breweries,” he said. “Though the pub trade is in a terrible state, the side of the trade that’s in the worst state is the side that is focusing on selling the multinational, large-brand beers. “Those pubs are struggling, big time. But well-run real ale pubs are doing really well. “There may be 1,000 microbreweries, but their market share is relatively small. It’s not 10%, probably
nearer 5%, of on-sales to beer drinkers. If the microbrewery trade can take 20% of the market available, there’s space for 4,000 breweries.” “There’s other trends emerging as well. There’s ‘craft keg’, which we haven’t yet got involved with but I’m sure we will. That takes microbrewery beers to outlets that can’t handle cask, such as restaurants and theatres. “The big pub companies are progressively being forced to allow the microbreweries through the door because the public wants it. We’re lucky to have a contract with Mitchell’s & Butlers, who are huge. “We’ve also found more and more specialist bottled beer retailers are opening – that’s a completely new model. “This is a niche. If anybody has got a vision of coming into the microbrewery area and making a million, then they’ll have to dream. But you can make a pleasant living.” ■ TOMORROW night and Saturday night at Waterloo Beer Festival are already sold out. For other sessions, visit www.waterloobeerfestival.com
■ Alex Turner is the general manager of financial training firm Ambitious Minds
14
Thursday, April 18, 2013
post business legal
www.ldplegal.co.uk
Vehicle tracking policy covers issues over data protection Mark Grover
by Neil Hodgson
Thought vital over LASPO
POST BUSINESS STAFF
neil.hodgson@liverpool.com
EMPLOYMENT lawyers at Chester law firm Aaron & Partners have developed a policy that protects companies from falling foul of data protection and privacy laws when using vehicle tracking systems. The policy also helps to protect employees whose personal data may be used against them during disciplinary procedures. It comes as the Information Commissioner reports seeing a rise in complaints relating to the monitoring of employees. Vehicle tracking systems have become increasingly popular with companies that operate one or more vehicles. The systems enable a company to collect data on the vehicle’s use, including location, the time the ignition was switched on, and the driver’s behaviour in terms of how the vehicle has been driven. However, Aaron & Partners, which is one of Cheshire’s largest commercial law firms and employs 100 staff, believes that many employers do not realise that they need to make their employees aware that their company vehicle is being monitored, or risk legal action. This could happen if an employee is accused of misuse of a company vehicle and has been unaware that the data was being gathered by their employer. Catherine Kerr, one of the firm’s employment specialists who developed the policy, said: “Data or information from the vehicle has been allocated to a particular employee. “Without a proper vehicle tracking policy in place, arguably, employers could be in breach of data protection and privacy laws if they seek to use any data or information gathered from the tracking system. “As it is not a legal obligation for an employer to install vehicle tracking systems, it is even more important for employers to have a policy in this regard.” And Ms Kerr went on: “We envisage that these policies becoming standard for all such companies in the near future.” However, Ms Kerr stressed that a vehicle tracking policy does have a number of benefits for the company and its employees. She said that it also provides the necessary protection, and minimises the risk of potential claims that could be brought by employees in relation to monitoring, privacy and handling of personal data.
Vehicle tracking systems will become standard, says Catherine Kerr, inset, of Aaaron & Partners
Latest GT Law expansion covers South Wales GT Law, which has its headquarters in Liverpool, is continuing its UK expansion by opening its first office in South Wales, creating 12 jobs. The office in Cardiff city centre offers the firm’s full range of legal services, including employment law, personal injury, wills and probate, immigration and conveyan-
cing. Gordon Tucker, a director at GT LAW said: “GT Law is the fastest growing legal brand in the UK and as we open more offices there’s a real opportunity for experienced solicitors to join us. We are fast becoming recognised as a trusted high street brand” Andrew Foster, GT Law’s
head of private client and wealth management is heading up the new team. He said: “GT Law helps thousands of people every month, so we wanted to bring our friendly, jargon-free approach to the people of Cardiff.” He added: “We are modern law firm prepared to do things
differently to make the law more accessible to everyone.” GT Law operates from 18 offices around the UK. It is currently representing more than 3,000 of 10,000 people in what is believed to be the biggest class law action in UK legal history against former Knowsley woodchip factory Sonae.
INSURANCE professionals need to act now to respond to the changes in personal injury (PI) work while the market is still sorting itself out, or risk losing ground to competitors, says a report. Liverpool personal injury law firm Antony Hodari produced ‘All Change: The new world of PI’ which looks at how to respond to changes introduced this month by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). The report comes after Antony Hodari itself unveiled its new strategy, working in partnership with brokers and insurers rather than paying for work from claims intermediaries. Insurers quizzed for the report said their key demands of potential law firm partners include a strong leadership team, guaranteed and specified revenue streams, a trusted relationship and streamlined systems. The report concludes: “Whether insurers, brokers and lawyers like it or not, change is being thrust upon them and they need to consider very carefully what their response should be. “It could be that doing nothing is right for a particular business, but that needs to be a positive decision, rather than one made out of apathy.” Antony Hodari chief executive Mark Grover added: “Action isn’t necessarily vital, but thought is.”
Riverview award joy RIVERVIEW Law, the Bromborough-based fixed-priced legal services business, has won the 2013 Managing Partners’ Forum award for best emerging firm. The award recognises “the organisation whose willingness to blaze their own trail is bringing about disruptive innovation and market
change.” Riverview launched a year ago aiming to changing the way businesses use, measure and buy legal services, through fixed price annual and multi-year contracts. The Managing Partners Forum represents the leadership team at professional service firms.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
women in business
Cast in the role of businesswoman
Louisa Houghton, left, and Laura Seymour of Frame
by Bill Gleeson
POST BUSINESS STAFF bill.gleeson@liverpool.com
LAURA Seymour is puzzled. She doesn't understand why nobody has tried her business model before. Ms Seymour's business, co-owned with business partner Louisa Houghton and called Frame Model and Casting Agency, has been up and running for seven months. Ms Seymour said: “We are unique in that we are a modelling and casting agency. There are plenty of casting agencies and modelling agencies, but nobody has thought to do them together. I don’t see why they wouldn’t.” The former newspaper advertising sales manager says the region is experiencing growing demand for cast extras and models from film and television production firms and advertising businesses. “It’s really exciting times as so much is coming up north from London because it is cheaper to film here,” she said. “Lime Pictures now films part of The Only Way is Essex in Childwall. “They are also doing a lot of reality TV, period dramas and rom coms. And CBBC is at Salford where they make Cbeebies. “We have also just provided the extras for two films.” Ms Seymour took redundancy from her job four years ago to look after her first child during the pre-school years. Modelling and working as a film extra is something she had done as a sideline for many years, including appearing as an extra in Al’s Lads, a film about two Scousers who end up working for New York gangster, Al Capone. “I was also an extra in 51st state, Brookside, The Bill, Hollyoaks and I modelled quite a bit when I was younger,” she said. “There was never an agency here that had a good portfolio of work. “There was a little bit in Manchester, but the lion’s share was in London. “If you wanted to make it in this industry you had to go to London,” said Ms Seymour. She believes she can generate sufficient work to keep about 80 people busy. With TV or
Picture: MIKE DEAN (Eye Imagery)
film extras attracting a daily rate of £85, she believes it is possible to make a living from the trade. She said: "It’s hard for TV and film companies to get enough people together. It’s mainly time. Take CBeebies: once kids reach school age, parents don't want to take them out of lessons. “We are hoping production companies will pass that recruitment of people to us. "We have about 30 people on our books at the moment. We want another 50. We know that we can provide them with enough work. “When we take on more work, we will recruit more. "We take 20%.” Frame also charges a registration fee of £49, which, she argues, is extremely good value for money. She said: “We have our own in-house photographer. We put them on the website and clients can choose them for promotional work. “There's lots of catalogue work for the likes of Studio (a gift catalogue), wedding shows and events. Also, a lot more magazines are sprouting up.” Ms Seymour’s company is currently running a modelling talent competition. She explained: “We are looking for the face of the Grange and Pyramids shopping centre. The competition is called Modelmania. We are doing it through local papers. “We are the official sponsors of it. “They are looking for a child aged three to 15 and a girl and a guy aged 16 plus. “They are going to be the face of the Pyramids for the next 12 months. “They will do lots of campaigns for shops like Burtons and River Island. They get a year’s contract with us, a free portfolio and vouchers to spend in the stores. “If this is successful, we will do work for their other shopping centres. “In this day and age, everybody wants a dream and if you can give somebody a chance by giving them a part in a film or modelling for a catalogue, then that's a good thing.” Ms Seymour, who has previously run her own contract publishing business when she was in her 20s, says she really loves running her own business.
Wendy Sweeney, 22, takes part in Model Mania
15
post business
16
Thursday, April 18, 2013
post business location
Construction industry needs to unite to make sure its voice is heard
view point by Steve Housden, sector strategy manager at CITB FOLLOWING a positive Budget outcome for the construction industry, local construction leaders have
called on people in the Liverpool construction industry to sign up to the Construction4Growth (C4G) campaign and have their say on the future of the local economy. Recent figures from the Construction Skills Network (CSN) report show that the North West region suffered a 13% decline in output last year, making it imperative that investment is made in construction at a local level, with the wider benefit that it can boost the regional economy. The CSN also forecast a further decline in output in the North West
of 0.4% annually between now and 2017, so it is more important than ever that investments are made to reverse this prediction and help the industry get back on its feet. At CITB, we’re working with industry and government for the biggest impact on economic growth as we feel this is vital if we’re going to get Britain building again. The greater the number of sign-ups we have to C4G, the more
influence and impact the campaign can have. While the Chancellor’s Budget announcements were welcome, C4G partners believe that more can, and should, be done. At the beginning of the year, the CSN predicted a 1.1% decline in the North West construction industry’s annual recruitment rate. With construction returning 3,200 jobs for every £100m spent, it’s vital that employers in Liv-
‘More sign-ups means more influence’
erpool are getting behind this campaign and lobbying for further investment and support. Last year, David Cameron publicly endorsed C4G as a key tool in kick-starting the UK economy. And in the Budget, following a meeting with Skills Minister, Matt Hancock at 11 Downing Street and C4G partners, George Osborne echoed the Prime Minister’s support and made the construction sector a priority. Getting involved in C4G couldn’t be easier. Just go to www.construction4growth.co.uk
Glacier welcomes two new tenants by Tony McDonough POST BUSINESS STAFF
tony.mcdonough@liverpool.com
TWO deals totalling 15,875 sq ft have been agreed in Brunswick Business Park in Liverpool. Ashtenne Space Northwest has secured the lettings in the Glacier Buildings with Hobs Reprographics and Rawcliffe’s Foods. Hobs has taken 7,905 sq ft of industrial space in unit 11 on a five-year lease. Established in Liverpool in 1969, Hobs is one of the UK’s most successful independent reprographic firms. It employs more than 300 people across the UK and Ireland through its network of 29 branches. The unit is in addition to its existing city centre offices in Castle Street and at the Vanilla Factory in Fleet Street. Rawcliffe’s, a food manufacturer, has taken 7,970 sq ft of factory space on a five-year lease in unit 13. It has relocated from the Great Homer Street
area and Glacier Buildings is in close proximity to existing premises occupied by the company. The deals come on the back of one of the largest industrial lettings in Liverpool in 2012, when healthcare products provider, Bullen Healthcare Group, took 42,884 sq ft at Glacier Buildings. Sarah Williams, asset manager at Space Northwest, said: “It’s been a really positive start to the year for Glacier Buildings. The Bullen Healthcare deal has been followed by these two additional lettings to high quality brands, leaving just four units remaining at the site.” Glacier Buildings forms part of a terrace of industrial units created from refurbished red brick dock warehouses. Roy Backhouse, agent for the scheme, added: “We have seen a lot of interest in Glacier Buildings and I’m not surprised that we’ve successfully secured another two new lettings in close succession. “Glacier is a very popular site for businesses looking for high quality accommodation.”
Glacier Buildings at Brunswick Business Park and, inset, Sarah Williams
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17
Thursday, April 18, 2013
location post business
ISG signs a 10-year lease on waterfront
Listed Liverpool office building is on market for sale or let AGENTS at Mason Owen have been instructed to let or sell a Grade II-listed office building in Liverpool city centre. The former Guardian Assurance Building on the corner of Dale Street and Moorfields comprises 17,468 sq ft of space over ground, mezzanine and four upper floors. Built in 1893, the property was redeveloped in 1985, with the front façade retained. It also offers 16 car parking spaces at the rear while a “substantial” basement provides storage space. There are also two passenger lifts. The freehold is being offered with full vacant possession. Andrew Owen, director of Mason Owen, says it could either suit an owner occupier or may be suitable for alternative uses subject to planning. Mr Owen added: “This is a unique opportunity for an owner occupier or developer to acquire a high quality listed building located within a prominent position within the city centre. “The extremely low holding costs due to its listed status only add to its appeal. “We are confident that we will receive good levels of interest.”
PEEL has secured a 1,000 sq ft office letting at its Princes Dock development on Liverpool’s waterfront. International construction services company ISG is taking around 1,000 sq ft on a 10-year lease at No 12 Princes Dock. ISG delivers fit-out, construction and a range of specialist services, working across a number of sectors including education, health, hospitality and leisure, living, office, public and community, technology and industrial, and retail. It has 18 offices in the UK and will be joining a long list of national and international companies who are already based in Princes Dock. Liza Marco, property manager at Peel, said, “No 12 Princes Dock offers occupiers impressive Grade A office accommodation in an unrivalled location on Liverpool’s waterfront.”
The former Guardian Royal Assurance building in Liverpool was built in 1893. Inset, Andrew Owen
ESCORTED HOLIDAY
Property invesment soars in Warrington by Tony McDonough POST BUSINESS STAFF
tony.mcdonough@liverpool.com
MORE then 1m sq ft of commercial space was sold or let in Warrington in 2012, new figures reveal. The figure is slightly down on last year, although regeneration leaders anticipate a rise for 2013. Regeneration body, Warrington & Co, today publishes the 15th Warrington Annual Property Report which also reveals investment sales netted £80m – a 285% increase on 2011. And the town’s office market is off to an “outstanding” start to 2013 with more than 60% of last year’s total already achieved. Deals totalling 137,000 sq ft have already been done. The Independent Police Complaints Commission has taken 38,000 sq ft at the former Northwest Development Agency’s office at Centre Park. Your Housing has signed to 35,000 sq ft at Birchwood Park and Golden Gates Housing is having a purpose-built 20,000 sq ft headquarters on a site next to Bank Park. The figures also include MWH (a water and environmental engineering firm) which took 13,500 sq ft at Dominion House and United Utilities taking
Cllr Terry O’Neill 10,500 sq ft at Lingley Mere. Office deals accounted for 213,000 sq ft of the total commercial space taken, with 35 deals recorded for the year. More than half of the office deals were at Birchwood Park. However, the largest single deal was made by Swiss hearing aid manufacturer Phonak which committed to a 44,900 sq ft new-build office and assembly facility at Centre Park with landlords Marshalls CPD. The building will be ready to occupy later this year. The industrial sector recorded its
sixth best annual take-up figure in 15 years at 872,000 sq ft. Omega contributed significantly to the take-up figure, with the commitment by Brake Brothers to lease 200,000 sq ft at Omega North. The pre-let attracted the highest industrial rent at £5.15 per sq ft. The report is being presented today to more than 100 guests at the Village Hotel by Peter Crompton, chairman of Warrington & Co and director of BE Group. He said: “The resilience of the local economy, recognised in national surveys, is reflected in Warrington’s property market. “This year has got off to a great start with significant property lettings already secured.” Omega will play a “key role” in 2013 activity. Bericote has received planning consent to build a £100m, 600,000 sq ft logistics facility and two further developments at Omega North are due on site this year. The four projects will see 1.5m sq ft under construction in 2013. Cllr Terry O’Neill, leader of Warrington Council, said: “The results of the report are very good news for our town. “There are many exciting projects either on site or in the pipeline that will bring investment and jobs.”
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18
Thursday, April 18, 2013
post business economic development
Cheshire plans to remain focus on
growth
by Bill Gleeson
POST BUSINESS STAFF
bill.gleeson@liverpool.com
A
N anomaly that often comes as a surprise to people is the fact that right next door to Merseyside, one of Britain’s least productive sub-regions, is one of Britain’s and Europe’s most productive places. According to official figures from the Office for National Statistics, Cheshire’s output per head was £22,743 in 2011. That compares to £15,615 for Merseyside, £17,794 for the North West of England and £21,368 for the UK. In contrast to its neighbours, Cheshire is home to a wide variety of highly productive industries. Chemicals, pharmaceuticals, financial services, car manufacturing, aviation and much else besides. Big operations in the area include Ineos Chlor, AstraZeneca, Bentley, Vauxhall, Bank of America, Unilever, Tata Chemicals and M&S Money. The variety of sectors that have made their home in the county is one of the reasons for its strong performance. Stephen Broomhead, former chief executive of the Northwest Development Agency and currently chairman of economic development agency Chester Renaissance, is well placed to compare the differences between the economic performance of Cheshire and the other counties of the North West. Mr Broomhead said: “The strapline for Chester and Warrington should be ‘invest in success.’ “If you don’t include Halton, then the county rivals the economic performance of the South East. “The diversity of economic activity in Cheshire is key. It has a well developed service sector and a well developed manufacturing sector. There is strong research and development and a well developed supply chain. “That’s why it has not been as badly affected as other places by the recession. There is also a good sense of common purpose around Cheshire. All are puling together in the right direction. “The transport infrastructure helps. Rail services to Chester need improving, but things like the road network and the ship canal are strong.” Mr Broomhead believes the county’s three unitary authorities have made working with the private sector simpler. Mr Broomhead also believes the county’s future growth prospects look good. In particular, he points to the steelwork coming out of the ground at Omega, the new business park under construction on the site of the former United States Airforce base at Burtonwood, and to developments at Basford Hall in Crewe. He said: “Omega will have 3,000 new jobs there and £250m in invest-
The Rows, Bridge Street, Chester – an attractive part of the city centre that is popular with visitors ment. That’s not wishful thinking. It’s already happening. “It’s about maintaining confidence and continuing to attract private investment. “In the past, public sector support has been directed at places that needed it most. Cheshire has got to tell its story to the private sector. “Warrington was voted the second best place to do business in the UK recently. That’s because of things like flexible planning policies and the fact that firms can get to market quickly.” Notwithstanding all of its success, the county still has pockets of deprivation in towns and cities like
Warrington, Crewe and Chester. There is also the issue of what to do about the soon-to-close AstraZeneca research labs. “We need to see what can be done to attract other high-technology businesses to the site,” said Mr Broomhead. Other challenges faced by successful regions include the lack of an available pool of labour and high house prices. Skills training and the provision of affordable housing are issues right at the top of the region’s planning agenda. Christine Gaskell is chairwoman of Cheshire and Warrington Local
‘Diverse economic activity in Cheshire is key’
Enterprise Partnership. Like all LEPs, Cheshire and Warrington has the opportunity to bring greater influence to bear over the future shape of the county’s economy as a result of measures announced in last month’s Budget. Ms Gaskell said: “We need to make sure we are aligned with what central government is expecting of LEPs.” She says six priorities for Cheshire and Warrington have been identified. As well as traditional infrastructure investment such as housing and business parks, it is important to improve the coverage of broadband in the county’s rural areas. She said: “We already have more motorways and we will have HS2
coming through Cheshire. We connect the North West with east, west, north and south. “We have secured £30m investment to extend broadband coverage. That broadband funding is for a consortium, including BT, to extend broadband coverage to remote parts of Cheshire that have no broadband.” Another priority will be to change the image of the area. Ms Gaskell said: “We have realised people hold perceptions about the place that are not based on reality: they associate the county with footballers’ wives, cheese and green fields. The reality is very different. We are the best performing economy outside the south of England and we have a larger manufacturing base than either Liverpool or Manchester.”
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
economic development post business
a success story
diary of an entrepreneur I’VE never really considered myself an entrepreneur, though I have just about always worked for myself. I’ve tried to keep my eyes and mind open to opportunity and never set an end goal other than to enjoy what I was doing. The idea of opening a wine merchants only came along about 18 months ago. I had worked for 15 years or so as a musician and DJ. I do feel that I was lucky a great deal of the time. I had a pretty steady, diverse stream of work which took me far and wide. But I also believe in making your own luck and I’ve always been willing to stick my neck out, shake some hands and keep my ears open. I had taken up studying law after my wife announced we had twins on the way. I decided to leave the music behind. I’d had part time work off and on at Oddbins as well as bars and restaurants and I’d always been interested in wine. When we moved to Liverpool to be closer to the grandparents the Oddbins shop in Castle Street needed a manager. The timing was just about perfect. I really enjoyed running the shop but by then Oddbins was just about ready to fold. I took my severance pay and started R & H Fine Wines, buying and selling wine to the people I’d got to know through Castle Street. Within six months my studies were overtaken by the business and I decided I would focus on that. I was fortunate to have met some very enthusiastic people in the trade and those who became more than just customers. Their encouragement and help with time and effort, connections and goodwill was humbling and had a great deal to do with my getting on. The idea of taking on the unit in Queen Avenue was mentioned but the timing wasn’t right. I would concentrate on the private sales – I was selling to a couple of restaurants and bars as well as to a grow-
Vauxhall production line at Ellesmere Port where the Astra is assembled
ing number of private clients. I still wasn’t paying myself very much but turnover was on the increase. I was travelling around the country to meet importers and wholesalers and finding some fantastic wine along the way. Without ever setting any kind of agenda I found myself drawn to organic and biodynamically produced wines. I found myself interested in the diversity of soils and methods of production, and this was this kind of wine that I wanted to be associated with– hand made wines that speak of the place they are from. Also, it made sense from a business point of view – giving R & H Fine Wines a real point of difference to what is generally available in Liverpool. I had started looking around at possible sites for a shop without getting very far when I started to consider the Queen Avenue unit again. I had taken some advice on the kind of deals that were available and we managed to find an agreement without too much fuss. I even managed to get access to the materials in the old Oddbins unit thrown in. My shop is just about entirely recycled – the shelving, the wood flooring, the counter – and with the help of friends and family I managed to get the shop set up with change from £30. My suppliers got on board and the relationships that I’d nurtured for the year or so came in to full effect. The doors opened for trade on November 1, 2012, and, touch wood, so far so good. I’ve really enjoyed being back in Liverpool these last few years. The city feels good and the people I’ve met have been fantastic. I’m still not paying myself a great deal but nor am I being chased for money. The rent is paid and my tight-fisted set up means I have no debt to service. Turnover has been solid and seems to be growing as word of mouth spreads. Devin Stewart is founder of R&H Fine Wines
MBNA Europe Bank, part of Bank of America, at Chester business park
Scheme reflects strength of city’s employment base WORK will start on the first stage of Chester’s £100m Central Business Quarter early next year. Manchester-based Muse Developments revealed the start date after winning backing for the first phase of the iconic scheme from Cheshire West and Chester’s Strategic Planning Committee. The six-storey environmentally-friendly 70,000
sq ft office block near the city’s railway station is due for completion in 2015. The scheme, a major part of Chester’s One City Plan, also includes the remodelling of part of the Grade II-listed station and adjoining Queen Hotel complex. Phil Mayall, development director at Muse Developments, said: “The Central Business Quarter
is of huge strategic importance to Chester. “It will deliver huge benefits to the city ensuring quality regeneration, the retention of existing businesses and the promotion of growth and inward investment.” Planners hope Chester’s Central Business Quarter will offer a total of 440,000 sq ft of office space by 15 years time. Split between
seven office blocks, it is hoped the scheme will house around 3,500 jobs. Stephen Broomhead, Chairman of Chester Renaissance, said: “This is an excellent result. It shows the strength that Chester has as a key strategic employment site in Cheshire and the North West. We will continue to work with Muse as this scheme moves from planning to delivery.”
Devin Stewart of R&H Fine Wines
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
post business professional
Merseyside strong contender for share of £225m fundraiser by Neil Hodgson
POST BUSINESS STAFF
neil.hodgson@liverpool.com
MERSEYSIDE will feature strongly in the plans of a private equity firm that has £225m of funding at its disposal. NorthEdge Capital, the UK lower middle market private equity firm focused on the North of England, achieved a final close on its maiden fund, NorthEdge Capital Fund I LP, at the full fund size of £225m. It marks one of the largest first-time fundraisings in Europe since 2008 and means almost a quarter of a billion pounds is available for investment into businesses across the North of England. NorthEdge, based in Manchester and Leeds and headed by partners Grant Berry, Andy Ball, Ray Stenton, Dan Wright and Michael Joseph, has between them more than 100 years of private equity investment experience. Prior to founding NorthEdge the senior team invested more than £400m in more than 30 transactions across the North. Mr Ball, NorthEdge partner and chief investment officer, told The Post: “Historically Merseyside has been a key region for us and we have had some recent good introductions from advisers on Merseyside and starting to get some traction. “We backed Ethel Austin and Mersey TV as individuals, so it is a good region for us in terms of getting around there.” He added: We are looking to back established businesses that want capital to grow, usually effecting changes of ownership, either complete or partial, or businesses looking for capital to grow.” NorthEdge raised funds from 15 leading, global bluechip institutional investors, including CNP Assurances, European Investment Fund, Industriens Pension, MLC Investments, Pathway Capital Partners and West Yorkshire
Pension Fund. Some 48% of commitments came from Europe, 42% from the USA and 10% from Australia. NorthEdge completed its first deal in February after acquiring a significant stake in FPE Global, a high-growth specialist engineering business in Stockport. The NorthEdge fund targets investments of between £5m and £35m in businesses with enterprise values of between £10m and £100m. Grant Berry, NorthEdge managing partner, said: “We are delighted to reach final close at the maximum level and to comfortably exceed our original target of £200m during such a challenging fundraising environment. “All our investors have shown great confidence in the NorthEdge team and, more importantly, great confidence in the quality of the businesses and advisers based in the North of England. “In particular, this fundraise has really put the North on the map for institutional investors who look at global investment opportunities, and they have liked what they have seen. “We are looking for passionate, dedicated management teams who want capital to maximise the potential in their businesses. “In return we bring a positive, creative and straighttalking approach. “Crucially, NorthEdge also offers local decision-making. “The North is our home and where our network is, and this is where the investment decisions are taken by the partners.” Mr Ball added: “Investors have shown a huge appetite for our maiden fund and this final close is a very proud moment for us. “Our team knows the North. “It is where we have spent most of our careers, where we live and where we have invested. “The North remains an economic powerhouse with fantastic businesses, hungry for capital.”
China offers some major opportunities
Event to outline openings OPPORTUNITIES for financial and professional services businesses in India and China will be outlined at a special event covering the North West next Friday. UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is holding a Financial and Professional Services Showcase on April 26, where businesses can hear from international trade experts about the range of opportunities in the rapidly expanding markets of China and India. The event offers the chance to gain an insight from experts on how the financial and professional services sector is maturing, and on how that can benefit North West firms. Attendees will learn about business culture and attitudes in the markets, collect tips on how to conduct successful business relations with clients, and gain access to a ready-made network of contacts. There is also the opportunity to have one-to-one appointments with key industry experts where participants can ask specific questions relating to their business. The event takes place at DLA Piper, 101 Barbirolli Square, Manchester, from 9am to 3.30pm.
Grant Berry, left, and Andy Ball of NorthEdge Capital
on the move ■
JOCKEY Club Racecourses has appointed a head of sales to forge further growth for their sports, hospitality and conference and event services. Jeff Evans will be the head of sales for the North West, covering Aintree racecourse, Carlisle and Haydock. He has almost 14 years’ experience in sales, coming from a recruitment background, where he
worked as regional business development manager for Fircroft, heading up recruitment for the oil and gas industry. He said: “As a huge horse racing fan and a regular at Aintree racecourse I am really excited to be joining the Jockey Club and heading up the sales division for the North West.”
■
THE North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA) has announced
Sharon McDonald as its new marketing and events manager Ms McDonald will lead the marketing of the NWAA, including promoting its services and programmes to members and heading up its presence at international air shows. She was formerly with On Demand Communications, owners of the Prontaprint and KallKwik brands.
■
NATIONAL market research specialist Vision One has made two appointments at its Liverpool office. The group has appointed Kate Spicer to the role of client services director, while Claire McCartan has also joined as a research executive. Vision One counts GlaxoSmithKline, O2, First Choice and the Liberal Democrats among its clients.
Jeff Evans – in the Jockey Club saddle
Sharon McDonald – new aerospace role
Claire McCartan – joins Vision One
21
Thursday, April 18, 2013
news post business
Tough times for consumers as inflation remains at 2.8%
‘More rises to follow’
by Holly Williams
POST BUSINESS STAFF
business@liverpool.com
SHARP rises in car insurance premiums piled further pressure on household budgets last month as inflation remained at its highest level since last May. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation stayed at 2.8% in March after a 5.8% increase in the cost of transport insurance offset slower rises in diesel and petrol prices. While inflation remained unchanged on February, there are fears over a summer of financial pain for consumers ahead as economists predict CPI to hit 3.5% over the next few months. The ONS said price hikes for digital cameras, books and DVDs also kept CPI stubbornly above target last month, while the recent round of energy bill increases added to inflationary pressures. But inflation eased at the fuel pumps as petrol prices rose by 2.2p a litre against 3.3p a litre a year earlier. Diesel increased by 1.9p a litre compared with 2.6p last March. Furniture prices also rose at a slower pace than a year ago, while cheaper vodka and lager helped see a 0.5% fall in alcoholic drink and tobacco costs. This month’s unchanged rate of inflation is set to be a temporary reprieve as food inflation, higher gas and electricity tariffs and upcoming water bill rises are expected to send CPI up even further. Inflation has remained above the Government’s 2% target since Decem-
Howard Archer
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Petrol prices saw slower rises but inflation was kept high by an increase in insurance premiums ber 2009, pushed up in recent months by the weakness of the pound at the start of the year. Better-than-expected figures from retailers, manufacturers and services firms have suggested Britain has narrowly avoided a triple dip recession,
with most economists expecting growth of 0.1% in the first quarter. The Bank of England has already said it stands ready to take further action to boost recovery efforts, but it is expected to hold off from more QE until next month’s inflation report or
even the arrival of new Bank Governor Mark Carney in July. The figures from the ONS also showed that Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation, which includes housing costs, rose to 3.3% in March from 3.2% in February.
HOWARD ARCHER chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said the unchanged CPI data will offer “limited relief ” for consumers ahead of further rises to come. He added: “Consumer price inflation of 2.8% in March is still putting a significant squeeze on households’ purchasing power given that it is nearly three time annual average earnings growth of 1% in January.” The Treasury shrugged off inflation fears, stressing that CPI is still down by almost a half from its peak of 5.2%. James Knightley, ING Bank economist, said last month’s lower fuel price inflation and the pound’s recent bounce back suggested concerns over CPI may be overdone. “We suspect that the Bank of England’s view that inflation is likely to remain above 2% for pretty much all of the next couple of years could be a little too negative,” he said.
past business – nostalgia
Mrs Thatcher ‘carefree as a Wirral housewife’ on torpedo factory tour EVEN as early as 1981, the late Margaret Thatcher was arousing strong feelings in and around Liverpool. In April, 1981, Mrs Thatcher travelled to Wirral, to open the £13m Marconi Space and Defence systems torpedo factory in Neston. She was met by several hundred demonstrators from across Merseyside who were protesting against nuclear weapons and spending cuts. The Liverpool Echo reported that, just six months after her famous “The lady’s not for turning” speech, the protstors jeered “another U-turn” after she arrived late and was rushed into the plant through the back entrance. Once inside, Mrs Thatcher said the plant’s 200 workers should be proud their torpedoes “will make a really vital contribution to deterring and countering the Soviet military threat at sea”. The Echo’s Diana Pulson was impressed by the PM’s energy, confidence and elegance, writing: “She looked as carefree as a Wirral housewife who had just stepped out of her bath and was
en route to a Heswall coffee morning.” Mrs Thatcher dismissed concerns the event was running late. Pulson noted: “The words were said with a smile but with the bossy sort of imperiousness which made another onlooker groan ‘God, I bet she’s hell to live with’.” Pulson said Mrs Thatcher’s face was full of character and concern. “But,” she added, “her headmistressy bossiness does keep taking over to the extent that you feel if she had been around at the time, we would never have lost India.” The PM gave no clues as to whether the Government would award an upcoming torpedo contract to Marconi or to US rival, Gould Incorporated. But a draft of her speech, archived by the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, shows she warned workers: “Marconi will realise that price will be an important factor in deciding where the order will eventually be placed.” In an ominous warning on the day of the visit, the Post’s leader column said: “Mrs Thatcher, as Prime Minister, has visited the
Protestors jeered Margaret Thatcher as she visited Marconi’s Neston site North West only twice and this neglect is deeply resented in Merseyside where it is creating a hostility which will be hard to breach. Furthermore, this lack of attention to severely depressed areas is causing Mrs Thatcher to lose touch with the traumatic effect her policies, whether they be right or wrong, are having on communities.” The Toxteth Riots broke out three months later. ALISTAIR HOUGHTON
Margaret Thatcher inspects a torpedo at Marconi’s Neston plant, 1981
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
post business endpiece
trading gossip ■
WITH Fredericks Dairies hitting the headlines last week after it was sold for £49m, Trading Gossip thought it would be a good time to relive some of former owner Frank Frederick’s greatest interview hits. In May 2009, for example, The Grocer met Frederick, below, at his luxury London apartment, where visitors were “greeted by a wall mirror adorned by a pair of neon ice-creams”. He was, it’s fair to say, bullish about his Skelmersdale family firm’s battle against the ice cream world’s multinationals, insisting that his firm could take on all comers –even Magnum. Frederick started his career driving an ice-cream van in Lancashire. He said: “There was fighting, it was territorial and I would get beaten up.” In the late 70s he and brother Philip took over
the family firm and, thanks to a focus on choc ices and some serious hard work, grew it into an ice-cream empire. “All my competitors were working eight hours a day,” he recalled. “I was working 24. “The factory was working 24, so I bought another machine, a bigger machine.” But it’s his answer to the “snapshot” section that was the most eyebrow-raising. Asked for his hobbies, he said: “My hobby is ladies. Some people like to hunt and shoot and fish. To me it’s a sport.” That, by the way, wasn’t his only interview in 2009. He also spoke to website Growthbusiness and, when asked for his “greatest indulgence”, replied, tongue still presumably wedged firmly in that tanned cheek, “Girls under 30”. His pet hate was “Anything to do with restricting speed limits”. And on his gravestone, he hopes to have the words: “The girls he liked, didn’t like him. The girls who liked him, he didn’t like. He died alone.” The Frederick brothers are retaining their Kirkby cold storage firm Freezeserve – let’s hope there are many more interviews to come.
Peter’s passion for promoting the glories of classical music myday off
Peter Davison aims to make classical music more accessible to all
West Kirby-based Peter Davison runs Helios Associates, an arts management company, and is the artistic consultant at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall
A
S A classically-trained musician and entrepreneur, I enjoy being able to combine my music skills and financial acumen to develop viable musical programmes; something which is essential in times of declining subsidies for the arts and music. I have applied these skills to many major organisations in my role as a National Lottery assessor and as a development consultant. I was formerly the director of development at the Liverpool Philharmonic and now run my own arts management company. I am also the artistic consultant at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, developing the venue’s classical programmes, having also helped to create the financial model for the organisation before it first opened in 1996. Outside of my professional capacity, my real passion is to make classical music more accessible for people who haven’t heard it before or may think they dislike the style of music. This is why in my spare time I co-manage a festival in Wirral called the Two Rivers Festival, which each year runs a series of classical programmes for the people of Merseyside and Cheshire. I have been incredibly privileged in my career and I have worked with some of the leading names in the classical world – ranging from Daniel Barenboim to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Twenty five years ago I made Wirral my home and it has always provided a welcome base for me. In 2008, I made the conscious decision to give something back to the area and came up with the concept of the Two Rivers Festival. Two Rivers is a joint collaboration with Birkenhead School and Andrew Thomson – who has held many auspicious roles. Andrew has become a close friend through our time at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society in the early nineties and he is very committed to the arts, having acted as chairman of the Chester Music Festival and deputy chairman of the RLPS. Andrew, who is 72, lives in Willaston with his wife Caroline and it has always been his ambition to
set up top quality classical concerts in Wirral – he is also closely associated with the European Opera Centre in Liverpool. John Clark, the headmaster at Birkenhead School, kindly agreed to host our events on the school’s Oxton campus and provide the administrative support for the concerts, whilst Andrew and I create the programmes and use our contacts to get the events off the ground. Two Rivers has been a success, and we are able to bring some of the leading names in the classical world to Wirral. Past programmes have included appearances by cellist Natalie Clein, soprano Dame Emma Kirkby, and the actress, Patricia Routledge. Last month, tenor James Gilchrist performed songs by English composers to celebrate Benjamin Britten’s centenary. On Friday, April 26, we will be hosting a concert by renowned Japanese pianist Noriko Ogawa. Noriko will be returning to Two Rivers to perform pieces by French composer Debussy and Japanese composers Takemitsu, Fujieda and Kanno. East will meet West, as we
Encourage families and young people to come along
Peter Davison, right, with Birkenhead School head John Clark explore oriental influences on the innovative Frenchman. To offer a taste of Japanese culture, the concert includes a demonstration by a Japanese calligrapher. Our concerts have been successful because of the intimate setting of the recently refurbished Bushell Hall which ensures our performers are accessible to the audience. Our prices are not the cheapest, but we offer
half-price tickets for all under-21s – the festival has never been about us making money, but giving something back. The festival attracts a range of ages and we encourage families and young people to come along. There is something special about being able to open up classical music to a new audience, and we also hope that it inspires youngsters to take up learning a musical instrument or to study music.
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
endpiece post business
networking
Panoramic is Liverpool’s highest restaurant
Wine bar opens PICTURED at the opening of City Wine Bar in Old Hall Street last week were, from left, Paul Hampson from Hampson Hughes, Edward Leyland and Paul Burgess from Goodman Wells, Gary
Bond from Bond Media and Matt Case from Russell & Case Jewellers. Chris and Sally Clay of Investec, left, also attended the launch of the venue and eatery which has been opened by Jaf Siddiqi.
my favourite lunch John Welsby, managing director of Liverpoolbased Conlons Opticians Q What is your favourite lunch venue? A The Panoramic restaurant in West Tower. Q Why is this your favourite venue? A It is a great restaurant and a spectacular way to promote Liverpool to outside clients. The views really show the city at its best
China trade viewpoints LIVERPOOL VISION held the latest It's Liverpool in China event at Liverpool's Malmaison Hotel. Among those attending were, from left, David Wade-Smith, board member of the Liverpool Mayoral Development Corporation, Andy
business diary FRIDAY, APRIL 19
LIVERPOOL Hope University's Business Gateway is staging an Entrepreneurship Trade Fair, sponsored by solicitors Weightmans, from 12 noon to 2pm at its Creative Campus, Shaw Street, Everton. Anyone wishing to attend should email Sarah Atherton on atherts@hope.ac.uk as numbers must be monitored for catering purposes. People are free to attend between 2pm and 3pm after lunch has been
served. The event will involve students, staff and graduates setting up trade stands to showcase the work they are undertaking. Cash prizes will be presented on the day for the best trade stand, which will be voted by attendees, and the most Enterprising Student of the Year, which will be based on activities undertaken throughout the academic year. There will also be a separate prize for the Best Young Enterprise Trade Stand.
TUESDAY, APRIL 23
CHARTERED accountants Mitchell Charlesworth is staging a free seminar entitled “How to grow the value of your business” at the Old Hall Street offices of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. The event will take place between 8.30am-10am, and is aimed at business owners and directors. To book call Cara Bartlett on 0151-255 2300 or email bookings@ mitchellcharlesworth.co. uk
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24
SEFTON Chamber of Commerce, UKTI and Invest
Snell of Liverpool Vision, Rikki Griffiths, HSBC, Martin Kitney, Thumbstar, Frank Fox, Lombard Shipping, Andrew Teage, BDP and Steven Foo, Mitchell Charlesworth. Left, Mr Wade-Smith chaired the panel discussion
Sefton, are assisting companies in the borough to explore overseas opportunities for the first time and help existing exporters to look at new markets. The second of two free events is being held at the Sefton Economic Forum. As in the first event last month the forum is at Aintree Racecourse and is themed around international trade, featuring workshops and experts from UKTI with specific support on key markets. Sefton Chamber chief executive Steve Dickson said: “The local authority’s Invest Sefton team, who we deliver the forum alongside, are also working
Q What is your favourite dish and why? A This is difficult to answer because the food is always beautiful and varied. If you push me I’d have to say the slow roasted leg of lamb. I’ve also had the trio of lamb in the evening which was delicious. Q What is the best bit of business you have done over lunch? A Lunch is not for business but for enjoying – hopefully you’ve completed the deal early to be rewarded by the lunch.
on achieving this target and this support event will include an international trade theme with seminars.” To book a place or find out more details visit www.events.sefton chamber.org.uk or call 01704 531710.
THURSDAY, APRIL 25
MARKETING Research for Exporters is a course being run by Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, at its Old Hall Street offices, designed to encourage the development of a structured and objective approach to international business development and
John Welsby Q Who would you most like to have lunch with? A Any of my friends from London and the South to show we can really push the boat out here in Liverpool. Q Where else do you like to go for lunch? A Chaophraya in Liverpool One is great – it’s got a very lively atmosphere and delicious Thai food
to emphasise the importance of effective research in achieving export success. The speaker is John Harrison, who is an experienced trainer currently working in a consultancy capacity with a range of organisations involved in international trade and also on e-Government issues. The course runs from 9am to 5pm and costs £200 for chamber members and £250 for non-members. For more information visit www.liverpool chamber.org.uk/eventitem. aspx/show/472 or to attend email export@liverpool chamber.org.uk
TUESDAY, APRIL 30
BRAND Ubiquity Ritual’s next lunchtime networking session will take place at Hanover Street Social, situated in the Casartelli Building, 16-20 Hanover Street, from 12 noon to 2pm. The event will cost £5 for Brand Ubiquity Ritual members, and £10 for guests. Please RSVP for the next event in the networking schedule to: joel@ubiquitypr. co.uk ■ Send your diary events to neil.hodgson @liverpool.com
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Thursday, April 18, 2013
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