BQ Yorkshire Issue 18

www.bq-magazine.co.uk

ISSUE EIGHTEEN: AUTUMN 2013

flying the flag Around the world with the colliery kings rollercoaster ride The theme park boss who wants to go faster ISSUE EIGHTEEN: AUTUMN 2013 YORKSHIRE EDITION

live debate Getting serious about giving something brewing An old county brand gets better with age

top draw

Cartoon man’s vision for big screen success BUSINESS NEWS: COMMERCE: FASHION: INTERVIEWS: MOTORS: EVENTS

YORKSHIRE EDITION

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WELCOME

BUSINESS QUARTER: AUTUMN 13: issue EIGHTEEN Welcome to the Autumn 2013 edition of BQ Yorkshire. We hope you find something to worthwhile for you to read and enjoy in these pages.

In this issue we hear the impressive tale of two mining sector workers who - instead of accepting the inevitable wind down of an industry in decline - spotted a chance to drive new profits in mining markets around the world. And, more importantly, have done so while keeping alive engineering skills that may otherwise have faded away into the coal dust.

Their determined approach is matched by Mark Bainbridge at Lightwater Valley, whose 30 years of service have ensured that Ripon remains home to a thriving visitor attraction and one which is finally getting the investment it requires after some pretty tough years in the past.

Our cover story this quarter takes in Anthony Hall’s vision for an animation business with truly global appeal. He’s an accountant by trade and remains a turnaround specialist, working with many major organisations. But his real passion is educating and helping children through the power of cartoons - and Hollywood has already come calling.

We’ve heard much talk lately about the improving UK economy, with job, housing and retail markets all giving out positive signs.

But many uncertainties remain.

The HS2 debate rages on, with some parties calling for transport infrastructure investment now, rather than years down the line.

Meanwhile in our towns and cities, Yorkshire’s high streets are still suffering more than most.

The Local Data Company reported recently that nearly 17% of shops in Yorkshire and The Humber are empty, compared to just 9% in London. But positively one of our most crucial sectors, manufacturing, is on the up.

And so in this issue we ask Terry Scuoler, head of influential manufacturing body EEF, what needs to happen to ensure these easing conditions are taken advantage of and built upon for future growth. One woman who will be leading the charge to maximise on the recovery is Suzy Brain England OBE, the recently installed head of the Institute

of Directors.

BQ catches up with her - a difficult task given the sheer volume of her other business commitments - to discover her plans in her new role and where she sees new opportunities arising.

As you’ll see from our BQ Live Debate, exciting things are happening in the philanthropic world right now. While businesses want more than just gratitude for their contributions, social enterprises are becoming increasingly entrepreneurial in their approach. We get to the heart of the matter with a room full of execs, experts and leaders.

We hope all this, and lots more in this issue, offers you valuable insights that may well help you and your business in the future.

Andrew Mernin, editor, BQ Yorkshire

CONTACTS room501 ltd Christopher March Managing Director e: chris@room501.co.uk Bryan Hoare Director e: bryan@room501.co.uk EditorIAL Andrew Mernin Editor e: andrewm@room501.co.uk Ruth Lognonne e: ruth@room501.co.uk Design & production room501 e: studio@room501.co.uk Photography KG Photography e: info@kgphotography.co.uk Chris Auld e: chris@chrisauldphotography.com sales Katie Davies Senior Sales Executive e: katie@room501.co.uk t: 07977 567478

room501 Publishing Ltd, Spectrum 6, Spectrum Business Park, Seaham, SR7 7TT www.room501.co.uk room501 was formed from a partnership of directors who, combined, have many years of experience in contract publishing, print, marketing, sales and advertising and distribution. We are a passionate, dedicated company that strives to help you to meet your overall business needs and requirements.

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While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility can be accepted for inaccuracies, howsoever caused. No liability can be accepted for illustrations, photographs, artwork or advertising materials while in transmission or with the publisher or their agents. All information is correct at time of going to print, September 2013. room501 Publishing Ltd is part of BE Group, the UK’s market leading business improvement specialists. www.be-group.co.uk

THE LIFE AND SOUL OF BUSINESS

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YORKSHIRE EDITION BQ Magazine is published quarterly by room501 Ltd.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

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CONTE BUSINESS QUARTER: AUTUMN 13

thriving in a new world order

48 live debate

Features

How can philanthropy support innovation and business growth?

54 rollercoaster ride Meet the theme park boss who’s ready to ride his business to the next level

24 getting animated

58 business lunch

The fast-growing entertainment force with big screen potential

BQ breaks bread with an executive class leader with a weighty CV

28 flying the flag

76 tipoff to expansion

Keeping mining sector skills alive through global trade missions

36 on the hunt How one marketing firm is racing ahead as others falter

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

Insider info opens door to flourishing mobile phone business

80 success brewing Yorkshire Tea has come a long way and now plans to grow even further

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36 a rollercoaster ride in business

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TENTS YORKSHIRE EDITION

32 commercial property

ringing the changes

Deals, developments, moves and expansions from across the county

62 wine Lovely bubbly for Arena Group’s Lisa Butterworth

Regulars 08 on the record EEF chief executive shares valuable insights on key manufacturing sector

12 news Who’s doing what, when, where and why here in Yorkshire

64 motoring How one Yorkshire executive was smitten by an Italian beauty

68 equipment The world is watching in the planet’s flashiest of industries

When do you take time out to evaluate the true potential of your business?

an executive class leader

72 fashion Why the old ways are the best in denim

84 bit of chat With BQ’s backroom boy Frank Tock

22 as i see it

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86 events Important dates for your diary

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58 BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

ON THE RECORD

AUTUMN 13

>> Corner turned but a long road ahead Is Yorkshire showing green shoots? Andrew Mernin spoke to Terry Scuoler, chief execuitve of EEF, for a perspective from the manufacturing sector Positive noises from Whitehall and the City suggest the UK economy has turned a corner in its recovery – even if a full-blown feel good factor remains elusive as job market fragility and the fallout from spending cuts linger.

Leaving the assurances of house-builders, retailers and the Chancellor aside, however, it is at the factory gates where the truest picture of economic flux can often be found. And, with recent data showing UK manufacturers enjoying their strongest growth in activity for two and a half years in August, things are looking up. Furthermore, influential sector body the EEF is expecting ongoing growth in the industry in 2014. But what of the challenges manufacturers continue to face here in Yorkshire and across the UK in getting their expansion plans and export markets moving? I asked EEF chief executive Terry Scuoler – who also serves as a board member of the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Institute.

AM: What are your forecasts for the manufacturing sector in the coming months?

TS: We’re projecting growth in the second half of this year but I don’t think it’ll take us into positive territory for the whole year given the poor start to 2013. We are forecasting measurable growth for manufacturing in 2014 of 1.8%, potentially knocking on the door of 2%, and nothing would give me greater pleasure as a raft of data continues to come in for us to be revising that data upwards in the weeks to come.

And how are we doing in Yorkshire?

It’s very much benefitting from the positive trends we are seeing around the country.

We’ve seen a number of Yorkshire businesses being pretty dynamic and aggressive in sourcing regional growth funds from the Government and using it to support some of the successful sectors we’ve seen. Further ports development at Hull is critical, as is the upgrade of the A180 to the docks at Immingham. But I’m getting pretty positive

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

Innovation is absolutely key to the future developing the technology, product development and technologies that underpin product development feedback from the region.

You’ve recently been talking up the power of innovation – your Innovation Monitor report showed that 70% of manufacturers are planning to move into new markets on the strength of innovation in products and services is up from 54% three years ago…

Innovation is absolutely key to the future; developing the technology, product development and technologies that underpin product development and of course key

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to opening up developing this market and opening up export markets. We’ve been picking this up possibly for the last year or so, maybe even coming out of when we started to stutter out of recession in 2010/11 and it’s nice to see some positive trends here that we can back with evidence. We’re also seeing more SMEs engaging with universities and I think historically smaller companies have been reluctant to work with universities. Universities have been somewhat insular in their approach in terms of smaller businesses so this is >>

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ON THE RECORD positive as well. In 2010 around 47% of SMEs we questioned were working with research institutions and it’s now around 62%.

What about other government-funded efforts to get small and medium sized manufacturers innovating?

It’s early days for the seven catapult centres set up to assist businesses with product development but they’re being very strongly supported. However I would like to see more of the catapults engaging with more SMEs. I think this is still something that we need to develop.

Equally SMEs need to better engage with the catapults but the catapults need to exert a pull and a desire to work more with SMEs. With the German equivalent to catapults, Fraunhofers, a certain portion of their funding is contingent on working with SMEs. The situation remains patchy here in the UK. So, with markets picking up, are manufacturers now investing more on research and development (r&d)?

Manufacturing accounts for around three quarters of business spending on r&d in the UK and, in our industrial strategy last year, we set a target of having a 60% increase in the take-up of the r&d tax credits. Recent HMRC data shows a 49% rise in SME claims for them between 2008/09 and 2011/12, which is obviously very encouraging. We are still measurably below the pre-recessionary level of investment [on r&d and innovation] and we are encouraging our member companies and the entire sector to try and push forward here. Just to take advantage of the emerging markets around the world and perhaps the EU as it comes out of recession, then that investment is more important than ever.

How do we measure up against other nations in term of our focus on innovation among manufacturers?

It gives me no pleasure to report that our spend on research across the UK, not just manufacturing, as a percentage of GDP is measurably below those of our competitor nations. We spend about £3.4 to £3.5bn on research on the UK – that’s about 1.1% of our GDP. One of our concerns at EEF is that we are not spending enough investment on innovation.

How can the Government help the situation?

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

AUTUMN 13

While I applaud the Chancellor’s aim to make the UK the most competitive tax economy there’s still a long, long way to go.

Is the UK’s reputation as a nation of inventors fading?

Far from it, but equally it needs to be constantly energized and reenergized. A UKTI report on last year shows we were the most dynamic nation in the EU for foreign direct investment (FDI) and an element of that is the acquisition of British industrial assets. I do think we’re a very good place for overseas businesses to invest in but we must never take our foot off the gas. More and more, investment is a global and mobile commodity and we must never forget that. In South Yorkshire Rolls Royce has revolutionised its process at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in blade manufacturing in that it ‘grows’ the alloy. This is now going into production and will produce ‘single crystal’ turbine blades - which are stronger than ordinary turbine blades - for aircraft engines.

We understand this has directly created 150 jobs. Other r&d investments are taking place at companies such as Gripple and Forgemasters.

How are manufacturers navigating export markets currently, given the climate in the EU and sluggish growth being experienced elsewhere?

Over the last four years we have seen a 45% increase in UK manufactured exports to the emerging economies. What he have to recognise is that that increase was from a relatively low base but none the less we’ve seen significant increases in percentage terms and that trend is increasing as we speak to those emerging economies. Our sector is concentrating less and less on the EU and looking further afield. Also, something that we don’t recognise enough, is that if you go

back to the 70s and 80s every management technique was imported into the UK. But British management and British industrial management has moved on a generation and is measurably better than it was 20 years ago.

And that’s a trend we’ll see continuing.

In the US, manufacturers have enjoyed a rapid resurgence recent years. What lessons can we learn from the States to apply here?

The US has seen some very measurable and meaningful reshoring of manufacturing activity and therefore manufacturing jobs are coming back home. We are seeing signs of that and those are very welcome signs, perhaps as supply chain development continues to take place here. The US is also benefiting massively from cheap energy costs as a result of fracking and energy prices have tumbled by a factor of almost 30% of where they were. That is making the US manufacturing sector much more competitive than it has been historically and that means a debate on energy prices here. Obviously we are not a setter of energy prices here but I would love to be able to report in six to 12 months that we are doing much more of this reshoring.

Back home manufacturing bosses are faced with worsening skills shortages.

How are you getting young people inspired towards careers in the sector?

We are slowly but surely improving the image of manufacturing and rubbishing some of the old stereotypes of manufacturing in terms of the cloth cap and chimney stack and we are seeing a greater awareness among graduates and youngsters. There’s a growing awareness that manufacturing is very varied and multifaceted now whether it be aluminium, steel and cement or IT, handbags, yachts, fast cars – this all involves manufacturing. n

It gives me no pleasure to report that our spend on research across the UK, not just manufacturing, as a percentage of GDP is measurably below those of our competitor nations.

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NEWS

AUTUMN 13

Super broadband rolled out, output and employment up, major corporate finance deals, LED firm continues export drive, Yorkshire victory in European tourism, Wakefield’s site op acquired by Manchester company and Japanese investor flies into the region >> Making connections A £21.96m contract between four West Yorkshire local authorities and BT has been agreed to transform broadband speeds across West Yorkshire by the end of Autumn 2015.

The new project, “Superfast West Yorkshire” plans to extend high-speed fibre broadband to 97% of households and businesses across the majority of West Yorkshire. As well as providing high speed fibre, the partnership aims to upgrade 100% of premises in this area to speeds of more than 2Mbps.

Superfast West Yorkshire builds on BT’s commercial investment of £2.5bn to roll fibre broadband out to two-thirds of UK premises by the end of Spring 2014. Leeds City Council, Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Wakefield Council and Calderdale Council will work with BT to bring fibre broadband to premises in West Yorkshire which are not currently included in commercial roll-out plans.

Together with Kirklees Council, a demand stimulation and business support programme will be developed to demonstrate the benefits of high speed internet to residents and businesses. This part of the project has already registered demand from more than 780 businesses and residents across West Yorkshire through the website www.superfastwestyorkshire.co.uk.

>> One door closes Staff and businesses affected by the closure of Northallerton Prison, and the closure of the Rural Payments Agency office, will be supported by a range of agencies and organisations, coordinated by the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Enterprise Partnership. David Kerfoot, deputy chair of the Local Enterprise Partnership and member of the Northallerton Prison Independent Monitoring Board for 27 years said: “I was shocked and saddened by the Government’s announcement of the prison closure, but as

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

Dave Coplin

>> Looking for the future for today’s youth Delegates from business and education will gather alongside parents and young people from across the Bradford District later this year to discuss the city’s priorities for education, enterprise and employment. This all-encompassing group will unite for the inaugural E3 Bradford Summit on November 28th to discuss key issues in an open forum.

Bradford City Stadium will play host and delegates will also be able to view a range of exhibition stands showcasing enterprising activities undertaken by employers and schools involved in the programme. The afternoon’s itinerary will be filled by several VIP speaker slots including the main keynote address from futurologist Dave Coplin – chief envisioning officer at Microsoft UK. He said: “I am delighted to appear as the Keynote speaker at this event. As chief envisioning officer at Microsoft it is my role to imagine the workplaces of the future. The young people of today and the way they use technology is crucial to this picture. It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that today’s children receive the right kind of education that prepares them for the challenges of the new working environments they face.”

E3 Bradford Chairman, Paul Mackie said: “The E3 Bradford Summit will be a celebration of the pioneering work done so far by the businesses and schools involved. It is also an unmissable opportunity for everyone concerned for the next generation’s prospects in business to get together, talk and then take action.

“Everything we do today will make a difference to the young people of Bradford’s aspirations for tomorrow.” Other speakers at the event will cover the broad themes of leadership, change and transformation.

someone with a foot in both the LEP and the prison camps I can assure all those affected that we will be doing everything we can to help. I’m commissioning a dedicated Task Force to pull out all the

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stops here. The Enterprise Partnership brings together the public and private sectors to drive economic growth, but it also has a key role to play in coordinating the response to economic shocks such as this.”

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NEWS

AUTUMN 13

>> Licked up Icelolly, the Bradford-based online holiday price comparison business, has been snapped up in a £17m management buyout backed by Palatine Private Equity’s Manchester office.

Palatine partner Andy Lees and investment director Beth Houghton led the deal and will both join the Icelolly board as nonexecutive directors.

The Bradford company, which runs the Icelolly.com site, offers about 40 million holiday packages from more than 50 UKbased tour operators.

It also trades as an online travel agent via a series of brands as well as selling advertising space via its site traffic and email database.

The buyout was led by Icelolly chief executive Dave Clayton, who has 23 years of experience in the travel industry having spent 11 years at Global Travel before joining the company.

Chris Allen the former chief executive and chairman of LateRooms has also joined as non-executive chairman

Employment grew fractionally for the third successive month in August. Staffing levels across the UK as a whole rose at a marginally faster pace than in Yorkshire & Humber.

Respondents in the region suggested increased production and client numbers were the main drivers of cost inflation. Backlogs increased for the third successive month in August, and at the fastest pace since the series began in November 1999. Panellists attributed this to increased order volumes and an unanticipated spike in demand.

Input prices rose for the 12th consecutive month in August, and at the fastest pace in two years. Higher import costs, caused in part by the weak pound, and a rise in fuel prices were commonly cited by panellists as the key factors driving cost inflation.

>> Fantastic deal Fantastic Media have agreed a new sponsorship deal at the John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield. For five years Huddersfield Town and the Huddersfield Giants have seen a return to the Championship for the Terriers and the Giants becoming the winners of the Super League Leader’s Trophy. Fantastic Media’s sponsorship of the North stand has been extended and increased investment will also see the Fantastic Media branding alongside the scoreboard on the Chadwick Lawrence Stand, sponsorship of the stadium control tower and other marketing.

>> August output growth The sharp growth in output enjoyed in the region during the summer continued into August, according to Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking Yorkshire & Humber’s PMI® data.

The data shows that input prices recorded a twelfth successive increase and rose at the fastest pace for two years.

The seasonally adjusted index that measures the combined output of the region’s manufacturing and service sectors – fell from 59.8 in July to 57.3 in August.

The index remained well above the 50.0 no-change mark separating growth from contraction, and indicated the tenth successive increase in business activity in the region.

New orders also continued to expand sharply in August, though the pace of growth eased marginally from July’s nine-year high. Panellists largely attributed the rise to an increase in clients and larger export orders. A number also cited an expansion in domestic demand as a key driver.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

>> Torque takes stock for swimwear specialist Yorkshire-based logistics firm Torque has won a contract with men’s designer swim and resort wear retailer Orlebar Brown. Torque now manages the holding of all the client’s European stock, overseeing deliveries from the retailer’s suppliers and shipment into its own 550,000 sq ft distribution centre at its head office site in Wortley, Leeds. The logistics specialist also picks, packs and dispatches all sales orders to Orlebar Brown’s wholesale and retail customers.

In addition, Torque picks replenishment orders for the client’s e-commerce site and sends these, with the retailer’s packaging, which it holds, to Orlebar Brown, for packing and despatch.

The logistics specialist’s initial task after being appointed was receiving, and undertaking a full count of, stock transferred from the client’s previous warehouse. Torque has also already achieved the full integration of its industry-leading RedPrairie warehouse management system with the retailer’s Netsuite platform.

London-based Orlebar Brown currently has three stores of its own in the capital and plans to open another in Canary Wharf later this year. In addition, more than 250 independent retailers sell its output globally. Torque’s headquarters and other Yorkshire sites, in Bradford’s Cutler Heights Lane and Holme Lane, total almost 1,000,000 sq ft and employ nearly 500 people.

An independent company with a turnover of £60m, Torque employs over 700 people across sites in Leeds, Bradford, Wigan and London.

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>> Alderton takes the helm at Squire Sanders Squire Sanders has announced that John Alderton, partner in the firm’s restructuring and insolvency Practice Group, has assumed the role of office managing partner in Leeds. Alderton succeeds corporate partner Jonathan Jones, whose term as office head recently ended. The office has advised on several high-profile transactions recently – including Trustmarque Solutions’ Dunedin-backed MBO, Eve Trakway’s sale to Ashtead Group, the Business Growth Fund’s various investments, and the sale of the Summly mobile news app to Internet giant Yahoo!. John Alderton has been with Squire Sanders for 14 years and leads the local team that was recognized as Corporate Recovery Team of the Year at the Yorkshire Lawyer Awards in 2010 and 2012.

He advises banks and other financiers, insolvency practitioners, directors and management teams as well as creditors on all issues arising in stressed and distressed scenarios both within the UK and cross-border - including restructuring, reorganization, lender security reviews, and enhancement, as well as contentious and non-contentious insolvency. Recent cases of note include the rescues of Barratts Shoes, Past Times, and Extra Motorway Services.

He said: “It’s a privilege to be picking up the mantle in Leeds and at such an exciting time for the office. Jonathan has done a marvelous job in strengthening our presence in the region, making businesses aware of our important legacy and our new capabilities. We want to spread that message wider – that a firm with deep local roots offers specialist expertise across a global platform.”

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NEWS

AUTUMN 13

development manager for the region. Bari said: “People across Europe, America and Australia know Harvard as a quality brand and a company they can trust and I want to extend this image across the Middle East.” The expansion into the Middle East is part of Harvard’s five year growth strategy to increase exports from 25% of turnover at the end of 2011 to 50% by the end of 2015. The company this year has appointed sales representation in the Benelux region complementing the existing sales representation in France, Italy, Germany and the US. Harvard also has distribution partnerships in the United Arab Emirates, Australia and the Czech Republic.

>> Big deals make corporate sector recovery Further evidence of an upturn in the corporate finance deals came at the start of September as Grant Thornton’s transaction advisory services team in the North of England announced four major deals in the space of a single week. The deals included acquisitions by Harrogate-based Vp plc and by Damartex SA, which operates its Damart brand from Bingley. Conviviality Retail plc, which operates as Bargain Booze across the North, has acquired Wine Rack, while performance materials group Low & Bonar plc has made an international acquisition. Partner Will Oxley, who leads the transaction advisory services team across the North of England and is practice leader for Grant Thornton’s Leeds office, said: “While we wouldn’t go as far as saying we’re returning to the deals volumes of 2007, transactions look good for sustained activity for the rest of the year.”

>> New man at Begbies Traynor Nick Reed has joined business rescue and recovery specialist Begbies Traynor as partner in its Leeds office.

Having spent 28 years with PwC’s advisory practice as a director based in Leeds, he brings a wealth of experience of working with both regional and national businesses in complex personal and corporate insolvency cases. His broad ranging expertise includes restructuring advice through to investigative insolvency.

A chartered accountant and insolvency practitioner, he has previously been president of the West Yorkshire Society of Chartered Accountants and is also a former chair of insolvency trade body R3 in Yorkshire.

“I am excited about joining the largest independent insolvency practice in the UK and the opportunity this brings to assist corporates

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

and individuals facing financial challenge,” he said. “I am looking forward to working with the Leeds team to further build its strong position in the regional market.

“While we are, at last, starting to see some signs of growth in the economy, the pressures continuing to face business over the coming years will remain challenging in a fastevolving corporate landscape. Adopting a proactive approach, as well as understanding and representing the position of key stakeholders will remain key to success for businesses in Yorkshire.”

>> Harvard looks abroad Harvard Engineering, which makes LED drivers and control products for the lighting industry from its base in Wakefield, has expanded into the Middle East with the appointment of Arsalan Bari as business

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>> Yorkshire’s Turkey triumph Yorkshire was crowned winners in Europe. The county overcame tough competition from a range of capital cities including London, Berlin and Madrid to win Europe’s Leading Destination at the World Travel Awards in Antalya, Turkey.

Capping an already successful ceremony for Yorkshire, the county’s tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire was also recognised, winning Europe’s Leading Marketing Campaign for the second time. Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “It’s fantastic to see Yorkshire taking its rightful place as one of the top holiday destinations in Europe. It’s a real validation of both Welcome to Yorkshire’s work and the efforts of the thousands of attractions, restaurants, accommodation providers and other tourism businesses which make this county great.”

>> Growing Faith Yorkshire-based agency Faith PR, is moving into a new, larger base and has appointed Carl Hopkins as commercial director. Founded by consultant Stefanie Hopkins in 2007, Faith PR has recently secured major account wins and outgrown its current Brighouse office.

Now, as it moves into its seventh year, it has moved to the Centre 27 Business Park in Birstall where it will service its growing list of clients.

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COMPANY PROFILE

Making networking work for your business Combining traditional face- to- face contact with online networking So you’re stood in a hotel with dozens of other business people , racking your brain for something to say to get started? Sound familiar? Not many people find networking easy, and talking about your business in those situations can be terrifying. But it doesn’t have to be. Preparing your ‘elevator pitch’ well can make a huge difference for both face-to- face and social networking, but your pitch must be clear.

Whether standing in front of someone telling them about you and your business, or writing your LinkedIn headline and summary, your pitch must: Start with something catchy to get people interested. Include key benefits to your customer – why should they care in the first place?

Involve a call to action – what they need to do next...Be clear and easy to understand – avoid

acronyms or MBA-speak However, networking is not just about meeting new people for the sake of it. Establishing quality connections is the aim of the game – how will that person help you to achieve your goals? How mutually beneficial will the relationship be?

Before you start, make sure you consider your ideal network members (whether that’s face- toface or online) and establish your goals - what do you want to achieve? If you know who (and what) you’re looking for, this will then make it much easier to home in on the right person at a networking event, or search for new connections on LinkedIn, and will ultimately help you on the road to establishing and building those quality relationships for your business.

Now for the practice! Come along and try out your

elevator pitch at our next large event, ‘Superfast Business Success’, taking place at Rudding Park Hotel, Harrogate on Tuesday 15th October, plus find out more about using LinkedIn to generate leads for your business at one of our taster workshops on the day.

To find out more about the Superfast North Yorkshire business support programme and book your free places, visit www.sfny.co.uk or call 0845 002 0021.

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Expect More

NEWS

AUTUMN 13

>> Site Ops take over Growing asset valuation and recovery group Winterhill Largo, based in Manchester, has acquired Yorkshire environmental and decommissioning consultancy Site Ops. Wakefield-based Site Ops is a specialist consulting and contracting team providing independent services at high hazard sites.

The firm manages risks associated with the closure of manufacturing plants and industrial facilities that utilise chemicals.

Site Ops founder and chief executive, Des Kelly, will remain with the business, which aims to expand and grow its team of engineers and consultants as part of the wider Winterhill Largo group.

The deal, part of Winterhill Largo’s ongoing strategy to become the UK’s leading services supplier to the insolvency and turnaround sector, will see Site Ops rebrand as Winterhill Site Ops from September.

The company’s services are often required when administrators are selling property assets of distressed businesses, and so the acquisition makes perfect sense as an extension of our portfolio of asset services,” said Winterhill Largo chief executive, Neil Duckworth.

“We are now able to offer a comprehensive service to our insolvency clients that takes sites from initial closure to fully documented decommissioning and environmental approvals. The addition of the Winterhill Site Ops business follows the expansion of the group this year, with the acquisition of debt management specialist Sovereign and field services provider Chase Solutions, as well as the launch of a new risk management division.

Winterhill Largo now operates from 12 offices in the UK and overseas and employs 95 staff. Further acquisitions are planned in 2013 and beyond.

“We are gaining critical mass all the time but always in complementary businesses.

Crucially with this deal we have been able to again pick up one of the industry’s leading players in a niche market,” said Neil Duckworth.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

>> Investor visits Leeds Bradford Airport and Surgical Innovations (SI) - a designer and manufacturer of creative solutions for minimally invasive surgery (‘MIS’) – has welcomed an influential Japanese investor to the region. The president and chief executive of AMCO, Akihito Koshikawa, flew to Leeds Bradford from Tokyo with British Airways to visit Surgical Innovations headquarters in Leeds. Akihito Koshikawa spent two days at Surgical Innovations with co-founder Professor Mike McMahon and CEO Graham Bowland, where he participated in a tour of their design and manufacturing facilities. Headquartered in Tokyo and with six regional offices across Japan, AMCO is a private company established in 1951 employing 180 people. The company sell a range of medical devices including SI’s pioneering range of Resposable® laparoscopic instruments, which combines reusable and single use elements, to offer high quality, cost effective solutions.

>> Bank move Yorkshire Bank has strengthened its commercial banking team in Leeds, with the appointment of a new business development manager. Pete Sumners, who has more than 25 years’ experience in commercial finance, will focus on West Yorkshire customers with funding requirements between £250,000 and £10m. A Chartered Institute of Bankers (ACIB)-qualified corporate banking specialist, Pete began his career with Barclays Bank in 1985 and joins Yorkshire Bank after five years with the Co-operative Bank in Leeds.

Sumners, said: “We are beginning to see improved market confidence and demand for finance among businesses in West Yorkshire; a region which remains one of the most dynamic areas to do business in the UK.

We are beginning to see improved market confidence and demand for finance among businesses in West Yorkshire; a region which remains one of the most dynamic areas to do business in the UK >> Sun comes out for energy scheme Leeds City Council is in the process of issuing planning permission for the North of England’s largest solar installation. With the City Council’s Planning Committee giving the green light to the proposal, two issues remained outstanding. The first related to Leeds Bradford International Airport being satisfied with glint and glare issues. The second involved taking on board landscaping concerns expressed by the Ramblers Association. These issues have both now been resolved.

The project will see a 32,000 panel, 14-hectare site at Haigh Hall Farm to the south of Leeds being developed and operated by Leeds-based Oakapple Renewable Energy. The solar farm will sit in part on green belt land and will generate 7,200MWh per annum, providing enough electricity to power 2,000 homes. It will also deliver carbon savings of 3.8m kilogrammes of CO2 a year.

Oakapple’s solar installation at Haigh Hall Farm will use photovoltaic panels that do not require direct sunlight, just natural daylight. They will have limited impact on the local landscape and will be well screened. The photovoltaic panels will sit one metre above the land, allowing the landowner to continue grazing sheep or to create an environment to encourage wildlife.

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THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE IT MIGHT BE AT THE CENTRE OF THE COUNTRY, BUT IT’S NOT AT THE CENTRE OF LOGISTICS. PD PORTCENTRIC LOGISTICS

IGNORE ALL THE COMPLEX JARGON AND CONFUSION. IT’S TIME TO CHANGE AND GET BACK TO BASICS. IT’S TIME TO MAKE LOGISTICS, LOGICAL. With project P, we’re championing the case for portcentric logistics, a solution that seeks to get products from a to b simply, taking a common sense, straight talking approach to logistics.

As the UK’s number 1 provider of portcentric logistics we’re well placed to talk about the commercial and environmental benefits it can deliver, and how it can be a viable alternative to the ‘Golden Triangle’.

Every year in total we save our customers over £15m in supply chain costs, 5m road miles and reduce their carbon emissions by 12,000 tonnes.

We’ve a proven track record in a range of sectors and are the UK’s only port operator to offer integrated portcentric logistics solutions in both North and South locations.

We also operate the UK’s best connected feeder port, which delivers unrivalled connectivity to Europe and the world.

All of which means we’re committed to the future of portcentric logistics.

So let’s take a new look, and make your logistics logical. For further information on our portcentric logistics solutions please call: +44 (0) 1642 877 000 or visit www.pdportcentriclogistics.co.uk

NEWS

AUTUMN 13

>> Lumby joins Howard Gary Lumby MBE has been appointed to the board of Howard Civil Engineering to help drive continued expansion for the £17m turnover construction business. Lumby, a former UK Director of SME Banking at Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, is the first nonexecutive director of the 120-strong Leeds business, which has posted a 70% increase in turnover in the last 12 months. The milestone coincides with a raft of contract wins for Howard Civil Engineering which includes the Groundworks package for both the £90m Monks Cross development on the edge of York creating 1,000 jobs and the new Arla Distribution Dairy in Aylesbury - the world’s first billion-litre plant providing the world’s first zerocarbon milk. Managing director Michael Howard, who founded the business in 2003, said: “We are bringing Gary on board at a formative period when we have a number of significant developments across the UK in the pipeline. With plans to significantly expand the team as further new contracts go live, Gary’s powerful track record as a non-executive director, coupled with his depth and breadth of financial and non-executive expertise, will strengthen our board and be instrumental in our ambitious growth strategy.”

>> Web brain wins pod A promising entrepreneur emerging from The Prince’s Trust’s Enterprise Programme in Leeds has been selected to launch his start-up company with a year’s free use of a high-tech office pod at the Round Foundry Media Centre in the creative quarter of the city.

Indian-born Bhavik Savjani, will use the work pod to launch ‘Web Brain’, a specialist SEO and Ad Words service. Bhavik was selected for the Enterprise Programme which aims to help young people into business, on the strength of his business plan for ‘Web Brain’ and for the benefit that free use of the office pod at the RFMC, having secured some start-up funding from The Prince’s Trust charity, could bring to the business.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

>> Airport takes off Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) has broken its three million rolling year passenger figure, according to latest figures from the Civil Aviation Authority. Passenger traffic was up by 19.6% in May and 12.9% in June compared to the same months last year, boosted by the successful delivery of its aviation development strategy to increase airline and route choice. Growth drivers include Jet2.com, LBA’s largest based airline, which has continued to widen its destination choice and now serves 48 destinations with new routes to Greece (Zakynthos) and Croatia (Pula and Split) introduced this summer. Expansion continues into 2014 with new services to Budapest in Hungary, Fuerteventura and Reus in Spain and Kos in Greece. Meanwhile, Monarch

launched its sixth UK base this spring at LBA, introducing 12 sun and city destinations supported by their in-house tour operator Cosmos. This has resulted in the creation of 200 new jobs within the local area. April this year saw the introduction of British Airways’ services from LBA to Heathrow’s Terminal 5 hub, providing Yorkshire’s business and leisure customers with connections to their global network of over 100 destinations. This has encouraged the delivery of inward investment and inbound tourism in Yorkshire. Thomson re-introduced a based aircraft at LBA for Summer 2013 serving Summer sun package holiday destinations. Eastern Airways also introduced base capacity operating business services to Aberdeen.

>> Region sells more overseas and more to come New figures show a rise in the value of regional exports from Yorkshire and the Humber, with a substantial growth across Asia and North America for businesses across the region. Regional director for UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), Mark Robson, has welcomed the rise and is optimistic further growth will follow as global markets continue to recover. The latest trade in goods statistics released today by HM Revenue & Customs reveal that total exports for Yorkshire and the Humber were worth £4.43bn for the second quarter of 2013 (April to June), up from £4.24bn for Q1 (January to March 2013) and up from £3.93bn for the same period last year. Yorkshire and the Humber was the only northern region to show second quarter growth, with export values decreasing in the North East and North West. The figures also reveal major increases in exports to Asia and Oceania, which were worth £467m for the second quarter, an increase of more than £50m versus quarter one, while exports to North America grew from £683m to £1.1 bn. Robson said: “It’s refreshing to see sustained growth for the total value of regional exports in 2013 versus 2012. This was our strongest quarterly showing since 2011, and it is a further sign that local businesses are taking the initiative and fulfilling their global potential.

“There is still a lot of uncertainty in some areas, not least the EU and Middle East where we have seen little or no regional export growth in 2013, but that is countered by impressive gains in Asia and North America.

“It is also pleasing to see that we are holding our own in emerging Eastern Europe, which will remain a key region for the years ahead. We have the skills, products, services and expertise as a region to capitalise on international opportunities wherever they arise, and I am quietly confident that we will continue driving forwards for the remainder of 2013.”

It is also pleasing to see that we are holding our own in emerging Eastern Europe, which will remain a key region for the years ahead

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GOOD FOOD, GREAT WINE...

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AS I SEE IT

AUTUMN 13

When do you take time out to evaluate the true potential of your business?

In the frantic push for business growth a hurried approach all too often leads to opportunities being missed, argues Armstrong Watson Financial Planning’s managing director Andrew Kilby Most businesses I speak to say they want to grow. Very large businesses may have specific individuals whose role it is to think about strategy and growth. However, for the majority of businesses out there, how many really think effectively about what growth means?

I have been reflecting on a recent dinner meeting with two directors of a successful company. Their business has been growing in turnover and profit over a number of

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

years and this trend is expected to continue as further products and new markets are developed. The company is owned by several shareholders, all of whom are actively involved in running the business.

As we sat down to dinner, the clients raised various areas for discussion, initially very much focussed around day-to-day practicalities, but as the evening progressed, the nature of the conversation changed and we began to

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talk more openly about the potential for the business. Without doubt, the company will continue to grow as it is, but it is clear there are other avenues which could enable it to truly optimise its potential.

It is fair to say that the remainder of the discussion raised more questions than it answered, but some key discussion points were:Should the business seek external investment?

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External investment would certainly allow both product and market development to be accelerated, increasing both turnover and profitability. Alternatively, it could provide funding to purchase another business, but by which route? Conventional bank borrowing may be an option, or the business could look for a suitable third party investor who can bring capital and expertise. This will, of course, dilute the shareholding of the existing directors, but the value of the business will potentially be greater.

What are the aspirations for the business?

Is the plan to continue to grow the value of the business and ultimately capitalise this through sale, thus creating personal wealth, or is the business to be maintained long term, meaning personal wealth needs to be generated through income?

What are the individual needs of the shareholders and do they differ?

The shareholders had started the company with the common objective of building a successful business and this has been the focus to date, with the feeling that shareholder’s interests are aligned. As our discussions progressed, further questions highlighted that this might not actually be the case.

The shareholders range in age from mid 30s to early 50s. Retirement for some is a long way off, but much closer for others. So how does a shareholder exit the business? An older shareholder may wish to capitalise value in

AS I SEE IT

The directors left with the strong belief that they need to set quality time aside to fully consider their strategy and options.

the medium term to secure future retirement, whereas a younger shareholder may want to continue to generate income, or capitalise the value to allow them to consider other projects.

Whilst many questions had quite literally been brought to the table, the directors left with the strong belief that they need to set quality time aside to fully consider their strategy and options. Although already a successful business, there is clearly the opportunity to develop it further to truly optimise its potential. There is also acknowledgement that this needs to start with open and honest discussion around each individual shareholder’s personal objectives, as these need to dovetail with those of the business for any long term strategy to be successful.

Having reflected on the evening, it is clear that

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allowing time for conversation away from the business permitted the directors’ thoughts to move from specific business related issues, to considering their individual objectives and the longer term business potential.

I am not suggesting that all business owners should rush to the nearest restaurant and evaluate their growth plans, but do wonder, with the day-to-day pressures of running a business, how many owners can honestly say they have “invested” in allowing themselves quality time to consider ways to truly optimise their potential and to achieve both their business and individual goals?

Andrew Kilby is Managing Director of Armstrong Watson Financial Planning Limited

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ENTREPRENEUR

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in association with

a vision drawn from experience A cartoon series, big screen movies and a plan to help kids beat their fears beckon for rising animation force Antyx, writes Andrew Mernin Who is the more intelligent, David Beckham or Albert Einstein?

Becks is no Mensa man, but neither was Albert a genius executioner of free-kicks which defied the laws of physics.

The question, once posed in a newspaper story on a Harvard theorist, challenges traditional notions about IQ, education and how the mind works. For Yorkshire entrepreneur Anthony Hall, it also provides a simple explanation of the belief system that has shaped his emerging animation business, Antyx.

He believes – as, increasingly, do education and training bodies – that there are multiple ways of measuring intelligence, aside logical thought, and therefore there are also better ways of teaching.

“If you look at that book it doesn’t look kid friendly does it,” he says flicking through a text book on ‘accelerated learning’.

“I thought if you could attract children with cartoon characters to learning and development activities then you are much more likely to get them engaged. And so I came up with the Learning Monster.”

The Learning Monster is now one of three strands of the £1.2m animation business Antyx which Hall launched this year and is already heading up a £20m big screen movie project from its Leeds base.

An online interactive experience for young children and a planned cartoon series are expected to help the business grow its turnover to £1.9m within a year, rising to £11.3m by year three.

The feature length movie could prove

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significantly more lucrative, according to Hall.

At the heart of the business is the theory of accelerated learning, which Hall first discovered when some forward-thinking consultants entered his life as an accountant for British Gas around 15 years ago.

The encounter started him out on a journey which saw him become a “trainer of trainers” and of teachers, business leaders, and individuals – he even qualified as a hypnotherapist, helping people overcome their phobias.

His aim now is to create a multi-million pound business with animation that will focus on child development “by getting their attention with laughter and entertainment.” Initially it will have 20 staff, and his plans are already well underway.

But achieving his vision won’t be easy, he admits, especially as he has other boots to fill including his accountancy-related consultancy role as an interim finance director.

“I do the stuff that other people can’t or don’t want to do like company turnarounds, and also other corporate stuff as well as training,” he

says, having worked with the likes of Disney, Asda, IBM and the Ministry of Defence.

“With Antyx I want to build a company that works commercially rather than just going in and fixing them.”

With Hall aiming to have Antyx fully operational by November, he will look to wind down some of his financial sector commitments and is adamant that he’ll pay someone else to do the animation firm’s books.

Antyx worked with the GrowthAccelerator service in developing its structure and business plan and received £3,000 grant funding to carry out an IP audit.

On the back of this the company now has ambitious plans for expansion.

But, while no growth projections are a foregone conclusion – especially given the risky nature of the entertainment sector – Hall does draw confidence from his work with Leedsbased consultancy Dubit.

The company researches and builds digital experiences for kids’ brands and lists the BBC, Sky, Viacom and Kelloggs among its clients.

It takes a ‘kid-centric’ approach to game >>

I remember somebody told me ‘there’s no way you’ll ever make a film’ and I just thought ‘why not? What’s stopping me?’

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ENTREPRENEUR

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ENTREPRENEUR

developments, focusing on how young people engage with products.

It is working with Antyx to help it de-risk its products by involving children in the development of ideas and using its various testing methods.

As Antyx grows it is likely to have a permanent presence in the same office space on Wellington Road as Dubit.

After creating the concept for the Learning Monster, with help from illustrator Matthew Robson and CGI animator Jamie White – both based in Leeds and now involved in Antyx – he sold it to Welsh TV station S4C. “I was very excited. I presented to the women who commissioned Teletubbies and I got a cheque for £10,000, which isn’t bad for an idea.

“They took an option to develop it but unfortunately they ran out of money and didn’t develop it, so my idea was tied up for three years.”

While Hall’s day job as a business turnaround specialist working with major organisations continued, he pursued the animation business in the background. But only in the small amount of time around his career and duties as a father of three.

“I got my rights back on Learning Monster about eight years ago but decided to put it on the shelf to develop Phobes.”

At this point he hands me a leather-bound black book and says: “You’re looking at £80,000 worth of book there.”

It is the script for Phobes, which Hall commissioned to the pair of writers behind the 2011 animated British movie, Gnomeo and

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Juliet, featuring voices from Hollywood A-listers like James McAvoy and Jason Statham.

“It was based on my hypnosis work and is about overcoming fear of things. I also felt it’s very commercial because you’ve got something like 2,300 registered phobias in the world which gives you unlimited scope for characters.

“It started off as an idea for a TV show but then I thought it might make a great movie. I remember somebody told me ‘there’s no way you’ll ever make a film’ and I just thought ‘why not? What’s stopping me?”

The premise – an island populated by creatures which accentuate the phobias of children – is underpinned by Hall’s experiences with accelerated learning. But it was inspired by his own children.

“We were on holiday in France and my daughter was learning how to swim. She got in the pool and started swimming across the water and was doing well. Then my eldest daughter shouted ‘you haven’t got your armbands on’ and then she just sunk as was petrified from that minute. So she developed a phobic reaction to water. People who are phobic learn very quickly to associate with a reaction. So the film is about getting over your fear and laughing at it.”

It took two years to get the project to the script stage and Antyx is now partnering with one of the largest visual effects businesses in Europe, London-based Cinesite, to produce the movie – with work starting on pre-production in October.

“We have the script and now need to do the visuals. Then we can take that to a sales agent who will look to sell distribution rights before it’s made.”

It will have a production budget of around £20m, assuming it is sold successfully.

“It’s not an easy thing to put the budget together and that will take some time,” says Hall, whose business will effectively own 75% of that project, to Cinesite’s 25%.

“Cinesite has a 150 animators and about £10m of kit,” he says.

“Commercially it really depends on how good the film is. It has to be a good story, which is why we’ve invested heavily on the script.

“My worst fear was, what if I spend all this

Innovative risers are vital to our economy The mid market is the engine room of the economy and it’s very positive for Yorkshire that we are seeing more dynamic, fast growing businesses like Antyx emerging in the region.

At Grant Thornton, we have always had a keen eye for the entrepreneurial business owner, recognising their potential and the need to invest in these relationships by combining high quality personal and business advice. Our role helping to drive the GrowthAccelerator programme enables us to work with an even greater number of young, innovative businesses from an early stage of their development, delivering the expert skills and tailored support they need in order to realise their potential.

We’ve worked closely with Anthony Hall from the outset, helping him to structure his business affairs correctly to put him in the best possible position moving forward. This is an exciting time for Antyx and with our long track record of working with entrepreneurial businesses, we look forward to continuing to use our expertise as the business grows and prospers. We know first hand that it is these innovative companies that stimulate growth and drive the wider economy.

Neil Sengupta, partner in Grant Thornton’s entrepreneurial tax team in Leeds

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money and I get it and it’s s**t. But I was really happy with it. I was flying off to Austria for work and read it on the place in two hours solid – and I don’t read much.”

Raising money for companies is something Hall has a wealth of experience in, but on this project he has enlisted an external expert who is confident that distribution deals will be found.

“We’ve got a great script and a great partner – Cinesite has worked on Harry Potter, Skyfall, John Carter, so they know what they’re doing.”

Away from what Hall calls the sexy part of the business, the other potential revenue earners are the Monster Project and Fantums.

Based on Learning Monster, the Monster Project will be an interactive world where children can play games with other children.

Around £500,000 of funds have been

ENTREPRENEUR

allocated to the building of the site which is based on a “freemium” model – giving players free access to standard games with an option to pay to upgrade to a premium level.

Fantums will be an online-only cartoon series which can be downloaded for a fee of £1.89 per episode.

Longer term, Hall sees the potential to create virtual worlds out of Fantums and Phobes, while he is also keen to explore productplacement opportunities within those worlds.

“TV is absolutely not the business model we’re going down. What I learned from S4C is that you give your rights away and then it’s in someone else’s hands. So you don’t get the opportunity to do exactly what you want to do with it. With technology being what it is today, we can put together a cartoon series for £40,000 for the first episode and £30,000 for the following episodes. That’s about half the

price you would pay for broadcast, but this will be broadcast quality. We hope that’s the way the industry is moving. You’d have to spend over a £1m to make 13 episodes of a TV series, and you might put it out and no-one buys it.

So you have to be very cautious with what you do and can’t be as creative.

“If we can build up a huge customer base with the Monster Project, we will have a big audience to sell into. We can turn episodes round in a month and the key is if it doesn’t work we can switch it off. If we’re going to do that we’re going to need a stream of ideas.

Antyx will be the creative house which creates the ideas.”

With three other ideas in development, including one for very young children and something “Derren Brown related” for older kids, Antyx certainly looks to have many exciting episodes ahead. n

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BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

SUCCESS STORY

AUTUMN 13

in association with

Made in britain, remade in britain and resold worldwide The terminal decline of collieries in the UK has forced one band of Yorkshire coal men to sell their talents into other markets which appreciate them more. And, as Andrew Mernin discovers, their global success is keeping alive the engineering prowess that once put British mining on the map Armies of proud pit workers were sent trudging off into dole queues and service sector jobs when the decimation of British collieries came.

And as they switched off their headlamps for the last time, their valuable skills which had helped to power British progress for generations were in many cases lost forever.

But on one patch of South Yorkshire, a band of ex-pitmen is continuing to prove that the engineering nous at the heart of the British coal industry remains the envy of the world.

“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel as a company, but we just know the British equipment backwards,” says Eddie Daly, sales director at Webster Machine Limited in Doncaster.

Webster – staffed almost entirely by former UK coal industry workers – is Mr Fix-it to the world when it comes to British-made mining machines.

Out of a crumbling industry at home, it is an emerging force overseas with its uniquely in-depth knowledge of the equipment once

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widely used in British mines.

A few days after our interview, Daly and finance director Dave Dean are off to China where Webster has sourced an unwanted British machine that it will ship home, overhaul and sell into the Indian market.

“India is a massive market with a massive requirement for coal,” says Daly. “They use a lot of older methods of mining there but India knows for it to be competitive it must update its mining systems.”

Daly and Dean are at the heart of the success of Webster, which is approached for pieces of drilling equipment by companies, the majority of which are in the mining sector.

It then sources them second hand, strips them down and refurbishes them in Yorkshire, before selling them as new for around a third of the price of a new machine.

The company’s latest overseas mission comes after it secured £400,000 of investment from Reward Commercial Finance to enable it to purchase a ‘Dosco’ machine in China.

In the coming weeks this will be brought back to Doncaster and overhauled and then moved on to India, where Webster’s engineers will re-assemble it for the client.

Amid terminal decline in the UK market, such global contracts are increasingly becoming the norm for the business. >>

We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel as a company, but we just know the British equipment backwards

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Going global: Eddie Daly (left) with fellow director Dave Dean

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SUCCESS STORY

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SUCCESS STORY “Straight from school” Daly and fellow founding director Dean entered the mining sector and both worked for the UK’s largest mining equipments supplies firm, Mining Supplies in Doncaster. Then, in 1999, came their first entrepreneurial foray, D&D Mining.

Daly recalls: “We would locate equipment predominantly for British mines. But then we saw a market in selling this equipment as there was a lot of redundant stock as the UK mines were closing. We also knew the export markets very well.”

Instead of merely playing middle men between equipment sellers, subcontractors who restored the equipment, and buyers, in 2009 they decided to do the whole process themselves.

They spotted a dormant but well known equipment-making brand, Webster Machines of Doncaster, and D&D was

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re-introduced back into the market place at a fraction of the original cost.

Webster now supplies machines for civil applications, mining applications, hydroelectricity projects, and in any application requiring tunneling work.

Over time the business has grown a team of 12 and an annual turnover of around £2.2m but in the longer term it sees the potential to become a £20m-a-year empire on the back of its growing exports prowess.

While the equipment is “scattered all over the world,” according to Daly, China has proved to be a particularly rich seam of sellable assets.

“In China there were 5,000 collieries at one stage but they have now tightened up the restrictions on mining there and have done away with all the unsafe mines – and by that I really do mean a hole in the floor and a bucket. And so now they have a network of

When we became Webster, we could control the capacity by utilising our own people to take on more jobs and that worked to our advantage subsequently reversed into it, with royalty agreements signed.

With founders who were “old Doncaster mates”, South Yorkshire was deemed the obvious location for the business and today it continues to thrive from its base on Womersley Mill Business Park.

“With D&D we were restricted in what we could do in terms of overhauling as subcontractors in our game were busy supplying what was left in the industry in the UK,” says Daly. “When we became Webster we could control the capacity by utilising our own people to take on more jobs and that worked to our advantage.”

Webster’s emergence came at a time when the market was being stifled due to high prices and long lead delivery schedules that contractors could not live with.

Also at the same time, the UK deep mine market was in decline, and there were a number of used quality machines available that could undergo a full overhaul and be

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‘super mines’.

“Formerly the Chinese government, wanting to produce coal for their own industry, had no restrictions on costs and so came to the UK to buy the best equipment.

“But in real terms what they’ve done now is copy that equipment and it’s mainly manufactured in Chinese control now. So we’ve located British-made equipment in excellent condition and are now marketing it actively. In my opinion the Chinese manufactured is substandard and so we only supply UK-made equipment.” Perhaps surprisingly to the uninitiated, there are pockets of British manufacturing continuing in the sector – namely through Joy Mining and Dosco. And so, as mines close around the world, there is no shortage of valuable equipment for Webster to acquire. At the same time, markets like India and South America are driving new industry demand.

Daly says: “Sometimes you have a situation where a mine may have closed recently and

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you have equipment available that’s state of the art. That’s when it’ll be particularly competitive to get the machines. For the slightly older equipment, though, we’ve got three or four sources we can buy from at any one time.”

Much of Webster’s overseas work involves roadheaders – excavating equipment consisting of a boom-mounted cutting head, a loading device usually involving a conveyor, and a crawler traveling track to move the entire machine forward into the rock face.

A glance at the figures from one of Webster’s recent roadheader deals reveals a healthy, business model.

A machine is purchased for £250,000, shipped back to the UK for between £12,000 and £16,000, overhauled at a cost of £100,000 to £200,000 and installed for around £30,000 – after being sold for between £650,000 and £1m.

But Webster is now aiming for bigger transactions. Longwall systems are, says Daly, the only machines that can close an entire mine down if they malfunction.

These are vast machines, weighing thousands of tonnes, which enable the mining of a long wall of coal in a single slice.

Daly roughly estimates them to cost around £5m to £8m to buy, £1m to ship back to the UK given their 2000 to 3000 tonne weight and £4m to overhaul. But their sale price could spiral up to tens of millions.

“A longwall system can take between 12 and 15 months to supply new but we can locate them and have them on water within eight to 10 weeks. And we could offer a fully overhauled longwall for less than 50% of the price of a new one.”

Although it is yet to complete a longwall contract, it is actively quoting them in the market and recently came close to its first longwall-related transaction – before fire burnt the opportunity out.

Webster had sourced specialist roof supports in China to be used in longwall mining at Daw Mill colliery – one of the UK’s last remaining deep coal mines . VISAs were arranged and flights booked. But then a fire ravaged the mine, closing the site and scuppering the deal for Webster.

Daly is hopeful of new longwall opportunities

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though, with such transactions financed through staggered payment arrangements with the buyer. However, while there has been no shortage of global demand for Webster’s buy-fix-sell model, finance in general has been a tough area to navigate.

Daly says: “Traditionally to obtain finance for exports you had letters of credit that were virtually cash but the restrictions that the banks apply today on letters of credit are ridiculous.

“When the banks went into meltdown the facility became extremely difficult to obtain, basically due to a lack of trust between UK and foreign banks.

“It’s getting better now but it’s still difficult so it controls what you can do. We had a scenario where we had to cancel an export order in Turkey worth £650,000 because the bank agreed to it, but then backed off.

“We also get offered a lot of equipment which is a steal, in terms of price. There are certain things we could buy knowing we could sell for profit in the future if we had funding available to us.”

Another hurdle to Webster’s anticipated growth is a lack of readily available skills, although it does now have two young apprentices on its books.

“It’s amazing if you go to a colliery today, the average age is probably 50. For us to progress into the future we need to bring in people who are aware of what we do. Young people are hard to find and you’ll see in the collieries that are left in the UK, the younger generation isn’t really bothered about coal and working underground.”

Meanwhile, as overseas markets continue to emerge around the world for Webster, in its depleted home market might fracking offer new opportunities?

“Fracking’s fantastic and is another method where we’ve got our own resources rather than importing someone else’s. I’m looking now at some of the drill rigs that are used and we’re waiting to see how it’s going to transpire because you don’t want to gear up for something that’s going to close down. I’ve seen it in the US, it’s fantastic and we’re just waiting in the wings to see how it plays out here.”

In the meantime Webster is focused on mining

SUCCESS STORY

increasingly lucrative international deals. But Daly still harbours hopes for a revival of sorts for coal in the UK. Or at least he is infuriated by what he sees as the needless dismantling of an industry with much richness yet to give the national economy. Exasperated by the Government’s shunning of our remaining underground coal reserves, he believes there are ways to overcome the environmental arguments against a rebirth of collieries here.

“There were 153 collieries here 20 years ago, each supporting local communities all paying tax but we are now importing into the UK around 75 million tonnes of coal every year and we are producing about 6 or 7% of that amount, which to me is ridiculous.

“The UK is now dead and in the last 12 months there have been more closures of collieries – today there are two collieries in England and one in Wales. That’s the market.

“Coal seems to be taboo but we live in

a country where we are sat on coal. I understand the green issues and there are ways to overcome them if there was a will to.

But unfortunately the UK energy minister is anti-coal and as long as the will is not there it won’t happen.

“Other countries have dumping taxes for coal – so anyone that imports to, say, Poland, will automatically receive a dumping tax which is used to prop up their coal industry. Whereas in the UK we’ve just let it go. If that’s political from the history of the industry I don’t know, but there is not yet an alternative to coal. Our power stations are all burning coal and until we get a better method of producing energy, coal will be here.”

Daly’s vision for an environmentally sensitive return of the collieries may never be realised.

But at least – through Webster - the engineering skills that made Britain the great mining nation it once was continue to be exported, even if Blighty’s black stuff isn’t. n

Move fast on funding gap At a time when banks are still keeping a watchful eye on their purse strings, lenders such as Reward Capital are filling a vital gap in the market.

Supporting entrepreneurs who might have struggled to gain finance from the banks, the Leeds-based asset-based lender is seeing demand for its services rocket.

Reward provided finance to more than 60 organisations in 2012 and is set to exceed that number this year.

Backed by wealthy South African businessman Christo Wiese – the sixth richest man in Africa according to Forbes – Reward’s average deal size to the small and medium-sized enterprise market is £350,000.

In the majority of deals it is involved in, Reward helps businesses leverage off assets to maximise opportunities where speed is of the essence.

According to partner Dave Jones, the £400,000 support given by Reward to Webster to enable the company to acquire a major piece of drilling equipment demonstrates the demand by many businesses for quick funding solutions.

“But this demand isn’t being met by the majority of mainstream lenders, on many occasions due to demanding timescales,” Jones says.

“Cash and the ability to move quickly are driving the marketplace. Reward is certainly seeing this and the number of deals we are completing proves it.”

He adds: “There are some fantastic businesses out there but some of them are being hindered by traditional lenders that are blocking funding streams.

“An inability to move quickly, banks’ own capital constraints and current risk averse nature as a result of having had their fingers burned, all combine to make life difficult for the average business to access funding.

“It is still a problem but given the economy appears to be picking-up, lenders such as Reward Capital are in a strong position to take advantage.”

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

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New tenants fill Tower Works, GMI wins Lancashire week, Landwood sells to gift company, Central Square changes hands for £5m and GVA calls on Government to give back £1bn >> Use it or lose it

>> Growing market creates towering success Creative Space Management has let the final two units at the landmark Tower Works development in Leeds; securing 100% occupancy at the historic building just one year since it reopened as contemporary office space.

The company, which is the managing and letting agent for Tower Works on behalf of the owner, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) secured the final tenants, costume design company, Charles White Costumes, and Synthetic Studios, a new start-up digital design agency, in August.

The new lettings bring to 20 the total number of companies based at the creative and digital hub, occupying more than 18,000 sq ft of office space designed specifically for growing businesses from one to 20 people.

Paul Taylor, a director at Creative Space Management, puts the success of the scheme down to providing the right product at the right time for a growth market.

He said: “The fact that we can offer short-term leases and have a range of flexible spaces is a hugely attractive proposition for fast growth SMEs. “Creative companies are particularly attracted to this area, to the south of the city centre, which is home to some of the most dynamic businesses in the city, many of which themselves have experienced tremendous growth.

“Business owners like the fact that they can build an important network here for the long term and keep them close by when the time comes to move to larger premises: we see many tenants migrate to the neighbouring digital hubs of the Round Foundry Media Centre or Igloo’s Marshall’s Mill.

“We already have a waiting list for spaces here so we’re confident occupancy levels will remain high for the foreseeable future.”

Tower Works reached completion in July 2012 having endured the recession, thanks to continued investment and support from the HCA. The mix of contemporary canalside office and studio space and historic architecture, which includes the three listed Italianate towers within its grounds which are modelled on the Renaissance towers in Italy, have proven a winning formula, and the HCA is now looking to the take the next phase to market in the autumn to continue the development of the site.

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Businesses across the UK are losing out on millions of pounds in unclaimed property allowances and run the risk of significantly reducing the value of their premises as new tax rules bite.

Changes in the Finance Act that come into effect in April 2014 mean that tax allowances for commercial building fixtures could be lost to a new buyer and all future owners.

The warning comes from a senior tax consultant at global information services company Wolters Kluwer.

Neil Tipping, tax consultant at Wolters Kluwer, said: “It is no exaggeration to say that the vast majority of commercial properties have embedded fixtures for which their owners and accountants have never claimed tax relief.

“It may sound too good to be true, but our experience working with a range of businesses, and their financial and legal advisers, confirms the extent of the dormant tax benefit nestling in integral features of buildings.”

Unless a company has already had its buildings and books reviewed by specialist surveyors and tax experts there are almost certainly unclaimed allowances available.

Since April 2012, property sellers who have claimed or intend to claim allowances for integral features must agree a fixed value for the transfer.

And from April 2014, sellers who have not yet claimed must also ‘pool’ – though not necessarily claim – these allowances to keep them alive for future owners.

>> GMI appointment Award-winning Yorkshire construction company GMI have been appointed to build and refurbish two prestigious warehouse and industrial units for Phase One of Burnley Bridge Business Park by Junction 9 of the >>

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

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www.evanspropertygroup.com

BUSINESS QUARTER |AUTUMN 13

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

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>> Leeds-based Landwood sells for Co-op The Leeds office of the Landwood Group, the property surveyors, auctioneers and asset managers, has sold a flagship retail warehouse close to the A1 at Newark-on-Trent.

The 21,000 sq ft detached warehouse at Grosvenor Court in Brunel Drive was bought by Newark-based novelty gift company Creative Conceptions.

The warehouse, which is let to Magnet and owned by an offshore investor, was sold on behalf of the Co-operative Bank.

Simon Dove, associate director with Landwood and head of the company’s Leeds office, said: “We were instructed by the Co-op Bank as receivers earlier this year and have since explored all disposal angles. We also managed the property and carried out a marketing campaign resulting in this recent sale.”

M65 in East Lancs.

GMI have been contracted to build out Magnesium Court and refurbish The Cobalt Building. Magnesium Court comprises 29,000 sq ft of excellent warehouse and industrial space, while the larger Cobalt Building is 64,100 sq ft.

James Chapman, managing director of developers Eshton, commented: “This is a very important appointment and crucial to the success of Burnley Bridge. GMI Construction has an excellent reputation for being reliable, efficient and professional and for completing quality projects on time and within budget”.

“Our business park is set to create up to 1,400 jobs for the region and it is appropriate that a first-class northern construction company should be working with us to kick start the project.”

GMI Construction Group PLC, based in Leeds, was formed in 1986 and has grown to become a well-established successful building and construction services company operating throughout the UK. Jarrod Best,

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group managing director for GMI Construction Group, said: “We are delighted to be involved in this exciting project with Eshton. The development of Burnley Bridge Business Park will bring excellent industrial/distribution services to the local area and beyond”.

>> Carter Jonas Move National property consultant Carter Jonas is expanding its commercial division with the appointment of Henry Erdozain (39) to the Leeds office, who will join as a senior associate.

A member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Erdozain will head up the northern commercial property management team to deal with key corporate accounts.

In particular he will focus on management and professional work currently undertaken by Carter Jonas for major regional and national clients, including the

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Bettys & Taylors Group.

Since graduating from the University of Northumbria in Newcastle with a degree in international business studies, Erdozain has worked for six years as a surveyor in London and Leeds.

He joins Carter Jonas from global real estate adviser DTZ. He said: “I’m delighted to join Carter Jonas, one of the largest firms of specialist property consultants in the UK. “I will be working hard to maximise the value of investments for our clients, whether they are corporate, private or public authorities.”

John Webster, Carter Jonas’ head of commercial and development in the North, said: “We are delighted Henry has chosen to join our well-established and well regarded team.

“His years of experience will make him a valuable addition.”

Outside of work Erdozain has a wide variety of interests, including cycling, and is thrilled Yorkshire will play host to the Tour de France’s Le Grand Depart 2014.

>> Eyesore sold A consortium of private investors has bought the 1.5-acre former ‘Lumiere’ site in Leeds, now known as Central Square.

Investment vehicle Roydhouse Properties Central Square has exchanged to buy the development site in a deal understood to be about £5m.

Acting on behalf of the liquidators Nicholas Edwards, Daniel Butters and Christopher Farrington of Deloitte, Jones Lang LaSalle confirmed that contracts have been exchanged in the sale of Central Square.

The proposed twin glass tower Lumiere project was put on hold in 2008 following the economic downturn and has since been an eyesore at the heart of the city.

It was originally intended to provide 54 and 32 storey residential towers, linked by a glazed “winter garden”. The taller tower was located on Whitehall Road, and the shorter tower was on Wellington Street.

Revised plans for a 262,000 sq ft scheme were approved by Leeds City Council earlier

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

this year and the development comprises two buildings of approximately 89,000 sq ft and 173,000 sq ft arranged over eight and eleven floors, which front Wellington Street and Whitehall Road.

Richard Thornton from JLL said: “Rarely does a prime site like this present itself to the market and we received a high level of interest during the sales process.”

Mark Barnes, asset manager to Roydhouse Properties Central Square, added: “Our acquisition means that the Central Square development, the final remaining part of undeveloped land in this area, can now move forward with confidence. This is nearly 1.5 acres within the core of Leeds city centre.

“It provides us the opportunity to start our new venture with an iconic building on a great site in Leeds.”

>> Give cash back GVA has called upon Government to return what it says is an estimated £1bn in savings, to businesses worst affected by the impending postponement of the business rates revaluation.

According to GVA, the UK’s largest independent commercial property advisor, the Government will accrue savings in the region of £1bn as a result of not having to pay transitional relief payments when the revaluation gets deferred.

Despite protest and lobbying across many fronts, GVA recognises that the Government will not change its decision to delay the 2015 revaluation.

GVA therefore urges it to re-employ these significant savings through not having to operate a transitional adjustment scheme from 2015 and look to help businesses that need this assistance the most.

Susan d’Arcy, associate at GVA in Leeds, said the Yorkshire commercial property market would be adversely affected by the business rates revaluation postponement.

She said: “Markets outside London, such as Yorkshire, are undoubtedly affected by the revaluation deferment. Rental values have fallen more dramatically in the North compared to the South East and London.

Therefore, this impending postponement will continue to cause hardship.”

>> On Bourse for success after receivership Ilkley-based property developer and investor Opus North has completed two new lettings at The Bourse, the office and retail complex in Leeds city centre.

Wealth management firm The Private Office (TPO) has doubled the size of its offices at the site by taking 4,000 sq ft on the second floor of Sterling House, one of the three self-contained buildings which comprise the 50,000 sq ft Bourse.

Meanwhile Allport Cargo Services, which has moved from the nearby City Point office buildings, has taken 3,500 sq ft on the top floor of Sterling House.

The rent is £17.50 per sq ft.

The Bourse, which was bought out of receivership by Opus North in conjunction with Palmer Capital for £7.4m in 2011, has undergone a comprehensive refurbishment.

Its 20 tenants include multi-national office occupiers and retailers including William Hill, Evans Cycles and two convenience food operators.

Bond House and Equity House are now fully let, apart from 2,400 sq ft of office space available on one floor of Equity House.

Andrew Duncan, managing director of Opus North, said: “These two deals are another chapter in the success story of The Bourse. The Private Office, who are already tenants, have doubled the size of their offices, which is a resounding endorsement of the development.

“We are also delighted that a company of the calibre of Allport Cargo Services has taken space at the Bourse. This letting, together with the strong interest shown in the remaining space in Equity House, vindicates our decision to buy this very special office complex.”

He added: “There is now a strong financial services sector presence in the Bourse, including companies such as Portfolio Evaluation, JLT, TPO and Robert Half. The building is superbly located in the commercial and retail heart of Leeds and is close to Yorkshire’s excellent motorway network, as well as being next door to the station.”

David Jones, senior director at GVA, added: “The revaluation deferment is creating continued hardship for businesses in some of the worst affected areas of the UK. “We therefore favour easing the burden for

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those affected but we recognise this could be difficult to target. As we have highlighted, solutions exist however. We’re calling on Government to give some further thought to this matter.”

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ENTREPRENEUR

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ENTREPRENEUR

On the acquisition trail in media’s murky world From the heart of Marshalls Mill in Leeds a growing entrepreneurial force has emerged which is taking full advantage of the marketing sector’s new world order. Andrew Mernin talks to Boutique Media’s Simon Bollon to find out more The recession wreaked havoc across the advertising and marketing landscape, slashing spending and diminishing budgets.

Its negative impact, however, may now have faded, with research last quarter showing the number of marketing departments increasing spending in the UK at its highest level since 2007.

That was according to IPA’s Bellweather Report, while another recent report revealed a 90% increase in mobile advertising spend in

the UK in 2012 to £1bn.

But, besides the fallout from economic fluctuations, other game-changing forces are also at play among agencies embroiled in the marketing game.

Disciplines are merging, digital dominance is growing and many firms are finding the old ways are now obsolete.

One firm which looks to be geared up to thrive in the current and impending climate is Boutique Media, based in Leeds.

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The media planning and buying company has set out plans to grow its workforce from seven to 25 as it stretches its reach into other marketing spheres, like digital and PR. Director Simon Bollon meets BQ having just registered a solid second year in business for the firm – and is optimistic that much bigger things are to follow.

Turnover in year one was £600,000, rising to £1.2m in year two and now in its current third financial year it expects to hit around >>

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ENTREPRENEUR £1.8m. Its client spend makes more impressive reading, though, standing at £6m in year one, £10m the year after and projected to hit £12m this year.

Starting up with £3m “worth of goodwill” made its market entry as a new brand smoother – in an industry that is notoriously tough to dive into as a relative unknown.

“As a media agency you have to have accreditation insurance,” Bollon says. “If we book £5m worth of advertising with ITV they need to be covered, so it’s very difficult to get accreditation and you have to have cash in the bank. That makes it almost impossible to start a media agency.

“So we trade through Mediacom which is the UK’s biggest agency. So if we book advertising for say £1m, the media owners charge us 85% or 90% of that and we invoice Mediacom for that commission.”

Having developed a national spread of clients since its launch, Boutique Media now aims to exploit a perceived gap in the market.

“We are trying to be that middle ground between the big network agencies and the small privately owned ones. Any small privately owned independent agency just can’t compete on price, but we can because of our association with the bigger agencies and therefore we’re able to tap into the scale and spending power of those agencies. But we also do everything structured as a small agency. So it’s a very niche position in the market that we’ve got.”

As it targets future growth, the business has this year launched a new digital division and, in the coming months, hopes to add a PR agency to its arsenal. Success has been achieved, says Bollon, through its approach which guarantees clients that a director within the business will head up their account. The recent recruitment of a new head of digital has also delivered a “massive” boost.

Amid fragile recovery, marketing remains a relatively stagnant sector, and such tactics by Boutique perhaps show the need to do more to appease client demands.

“We’re a privately owned business and our clients will get directors heading up the account. So to an Asda that doesn’t matter because they’ve got a team of 20 in their marketing department and 20 in an agency.

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But clients like Xercise 4 Less [the Leeds-based budget gym business], which are privately owned entrepreneurial businesses, completely get what our proposition is.”

The landscape for marketing agencies is, says Bollon, getting “murky” as the traditional boundaries between the realms of “create, publish and promote” are being dissolved.

“You’ve got specialists doing the digital bit and the promote bit and in the middle of it you’ve got old school PR agencies but PR agencies more and more have moved into doing it digitally – but that’s the role of a

People need to get away from this obsession with social media; it’s only as much a part of the future as everything else

digital agency so you end up with this murky line as to who looks after what.

“You’ve got the digital, the PR and media agencies and we’re trying to bring that all together and we want to be seen as the leaders in that integration.

“The bigger agencies aren’t able to do [that] because they’re just not flexible enough.

The two biggest agencies in the North have separate entities to run their digital divisions.

They tried to integrate them but it’s just not possible because of their size and scale. At the same time small agencies can’t do it because they don’t have the scale and the client base to do it. So it gives us a good position in the market.”

In the future Bollon believes customer needs will also drive an increasingly integrated marketing offering.

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“People need to get away from this obsession with social media; it’s only as much a part of the future as everything else is. What they need is integrated communications.

“Businesses are obsessed with social media ‘what do we do with it and how do we do it?’

Take law firms for example, how do you make Twitter interesting? How do you get someone to follow a law firm? How dull is that?

“Everybody thinks they’ve got to have a Twitter page, they’ve got to do Facebook, got to have followers. You might do but actually you might not as it might not be appropriate.

So maybe you should be focusing on PR or blogging that adds value. That’s why we’re structuring our agency as a communications agency not as a digital or media agency.”

As Boutique chases new opportunities through its all-in-one approach, it is also setting out on the acquisitions trail.

Its aim is to open offices in Manchester and the North East and is now actively on the hunt for potential assets to purchase in those areas.

“We are in the market for buying agencies and we’re open minded whether it’s £100,000 or £1m. The purpose is to feed the growth, and we could either get the people and then source the opportunities or just buy it all and keep pumping more into it to grow it.

“The majority of agencies are in London, then you’ve got Manchester the heartland and then Leeds of which there are very few of us now actually – and then you’ve got the North East.

We want to have a Boutique in the North East and Manchester but the only way we’d be willing to do that is through purchasing an agency or giving somebody an equity stake so almost like a franchise. The North East is like its own economy. You cannot get a piece of business out of there if you’re not there and don’t have the accent.

“If you can get the right kind of person I reckon there’s £5m to £10m worth of billings up there in the North East. We could build up a database of 100 North East clients who we could service better than what they’re getting but not without an office.”

Beyond that, Bollen’s key target is “to be the biggest independent agency outside London by 2015”. Whether or not that’s a realistic goal remains to be seen, but the firm certainly seems to be on the right track at least. n

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ENTREPRENEUR

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

COMPANY PROFILE

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The new face of recruitment Thought you knew Pertemps? Think again. No longer just a high street recruiter, the company is making huge strides in Leeds and across the UK. If your business has ever been in search of staff on a temporary or permanent basis, chances are you have come across Pertemps. The company originally launched way back in the sixties as a one-off family run business but has grown to become one of the largest independent recruitment firms in the UK – and that climb is showing no sign of descent.

In fact, the business recently reported a 15% rise in turnover for the calendar year 2012 and now has its sights firmly set on becoming a £1bn company within four years.

The award-winning company continues to grow in stature, having started off life in Birmingham in 1961. It has since evolved into a hugely successful privately owned recruitment business with more than 100 branches across the UK. Both Pertemps Ltd and the wider Pertemps Network Group – made up of specialist recruitment agencies, operating independently – have a strong presence in the Yorkshire region and have been major players in the group’s improving year-onyear growth. More importantly, they have been influential over the last two decades in finding the good people of Yorkshire steady employment with both small and medium sized businesses and some of the biggest blue chip names around.

It is an exciting time for the company as it prepares to launch an ambitious re-brand project, with the modernisation of its UK-wide branches getting underway later this month. Pertemps and the Network Group are undergoing the re-brand to better reflect the shift from being identified primarily as a high street recruiter to that of providing recruitment solutions across all sectors and professions. Indeed, the company is just as capable these days of placing people in positions within specialist and niche markets than it is in supplying drivers and office staff. Its service offering is broad; from local temporary and permanent placements to fully outsourced managed services and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) solutions.

In Leeds, Pertemps has two branches, one

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Commercial Recruitment Manager, Steve Jackson

Whether you are a candidate or a client, you can be assured of receiving exceptional quality of service specialising in industrial recruitment and the other working in the commercial field. The industrial division can be found in the city centre and has been established for over 22 years. Its employees, however, have Pertemps experience spanning many more years, loyalty that is reflected throughout a company where the family values that were present on its formation in 1961 are still present today.

The award-winning branch recruits for roles including warehouse staff, cleaners, FLT drivers, assemblers and skilled and un-skilled engineers and manager Sharon Stephen has watched the division grow since it opened in 1991.

Sharon, who has led the industrial branch for 18 years, said: “We pride ourselves on being at the forefront of recruitment in Leeds and the

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surrounding areas and deliver excellent results for our customers. What makes us stand out is our customer service. Pertemps excel in this area and it is driven into our staff from day one that they have to understand the customer’s needs and make lasting relationships with them.

“Our clients range from small, independent businesses through to multi-national Blue Chip companies, including DHL, K&N, the NHS and BOC, to name a few. We never stand still and only recently invested substantially in the opening of a new Driving Division that, in such a short space of time, is already growing from strength to strength.

The Driving Division is continually in the market to recruit additional drivers and there are endless opportunities for drivers in the Leeds area who are on the lookout for temporary or permanent work opportunities on the road.”

Pertemps prides itself on the longevity of employee service with more than a quarter of the workforce having been with the company for between five and ten years whilst nearly a tenth have worked within the business in excess of 15 years. Indeed, the current chairperson of the business, Carmen Watson, began life as a secretary in the 1970s before moving up the ranks.

All employees have even been made to feel part of the forthcoming company re-brand having been encouraged to take part in a survey at the very start of the process. This asked for their thoughts on the existing Pertemps brand and where they thought the business sat in the recruitment market. This kind of employee engagement is clearly appreciated as staff have continually ensured that Pertemps has, for seven consecutive years, featured in the ‘Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to work for.’

Sharon of Leeds industrial added: “There are lots of people at Pertemps who have been at the company for a good few years. I have been with the company for 18 years and I would like to think I know the business inside out. This is of direct benefit to the people we work with as we can build stronger ties with our communities. I know the

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COMPANY PROFILE

Sharon Stephen, Mark Hughes, G Ogden, Alex Harris and Craig Phillips of Leeds industrial

people of Leeds very well and I also have strong connections with many of the big companies in the region. Consultants at the industrial branch build and maintain strong relationships with both candidates and clients, which I think has been one of the contributing factors behind our success in this region.”

The impending re-brand of Pertemps will see the existing Jobs@Pertemps logo consigned to the history books and replaced with a logo that better represents the company’s standing and services across the entire recruitment market.

The industrial branch in Leeds will soon enjoy an in-store re-fit and new signage will be displayed on the shop fronts. Another branch that will be revamped as part of the re-brand project is the commercial arm of Pertemps in Leeds.

The commercial branch is based in Princess Exchange, Leeds, and is managed by Steve Jackson who joined the firm in November of last year,

having previously worked for a competitor for more than 12 years. The branch serves Leeds and much of West Yorkshire and provides anything from short-term positions to high salary permanent roles. Currently, the branch is seeing an increase in the number of commercial engineering roles in the region, such as project management positions, as well as the always-in-demand call centre staff positions.

Despite only being with the company for a relatively short space of time, Steve is already reaping the benefits of working within a business that views all employees as part of a family.

He said: “Pertemps is very family orientated, a lot more personable than other companies which allows you greater autonomy in your area of work.

“We have good relationships with our clients and we work closely with them throughout the entire recruitment process to ensure that we are delivering precisely what they need. We also listen

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to each and every candidate who comes to us looking for work and take his or her welfare very seriously. Whether you are a candidate or a client, you can be assured of receiving exceptional quality of service.

“The feedback we have been getting from clients is really positive and very pleasing from a business point of view. Two of our key accounts are DEFRA and the Environment Agency and our successful relationships with these have led to a lot more business. We have had over 20 new clients this year so our client base is very healthy and I can only see it expanding further in years to come.”

It has been a busy start to life at Pertemps for Steve who is confident that the commercial branch in Leeds has a healthy future ahead.

“The first eight or nine months for me have been about consolidation and we are now looking at growing the business. Generally speaking, we are in good health. We are getting a lot of >>

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COMPANY PROFILE repeat custom and growing all of the time so things are looking good.”

Things are looking good across the business.

Pertemps Ltd continues to show annual growth, reporting a turnover increase from £310.2m to £357.6m for the calendar year 2012. This was in addition to the increase in gross profit in 2012, which grew to £58.3m on the previous year’s £48.5m profit. This profit rise was reflected in the profits of the wider Network Group. Revenue at Meriden-headquartered Network Group Holdings climbed by 7 per cent to £68.5m in 2012, the year in which a management buyout (MBO) brought the recruitment group back together with Pertemps.

In February 2012, Network Group Holdings delisted from AIM and re-joined the Pertemps family to form the Pertemps Network Group. The MBO brought the two businesses back together after Network demerged from Pertemps in 2004.

Network is the specialist recruitment agency side of the Pertemps Network Group and comprises more than 40 independently run businesses, one being Network Sales and Marketing Ltd, which has a branch in Leeds as well as Manchester and London. The business has been recruiting UK-wide since 1996 and in November will celebrate 17 years of trading.

Employing 20 consultants, the business is one of the largest UK-based specialist marketing recruiters and can find roles ranging from Marketing Directors to experienced individual marketing professionals.

Network Sales and Marketing has a big reputation in Leeds, bolstered by strong links to the local business networks and by lending its support to community projects, notably ‘Simon on the Streets,’ the homeless charity operating in Leeds and other parts of West Yorkshire. Company director Jonathan Hirst recently slept rough on the streets on behalf of the charity to help raise muchneeded awareness of the plight many homeless people face.

As well as supporting the local Leeds community and deserving causes, Network Sales and Marketing continues to assist some of the largest PLCs throughout the UK, helping the growth of many blue chip marketing departments along with niche marketing agencies. The company’s understanding of marketing disciplines has put the business in an ideal position to deliver on any specialist brief, something that has seen the business come through some challenging times in

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Steve Jackson, Sophie Bambra and Ellie Craven from the Leeds Commercial Division

This year we have seen a significant growth in staff and there is renewed optimism in the market

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recent years.

Jonathan Hirst explained: “The overall economic outlook has obviously had an impact on our business over the last five years but we have also enjoyed some successful years in that period. This year we have seen a significant growth in staff and there is renewed optimism in the market.”

The increase in profits for Network Group Holdings has continued into 2013 where revenue doubled

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for the first six months of the year. Businesses that make up Network Group enjoy the benefits of being part of the strategic partnership with PNG and Jonathan has used this to further strengthen his Leeds-based enterprise.

He said: “Being part of the Network Group has enabled us to pick up larger contracts we would otherwise not been aware of and we benefit from the leadership experience of Directors. It also allows us to network with a broad range of recruitment businesses, to see what they can offer to us as a business, and what we can offer them.

“Like all members of the Network Group, people can expect a friendly, professional and knowledgeable service from Network Sales and Marketing.”

Also based in Leeds is the sister company of Network Sales and Marketing, The Book Recruitment. Launched in 2004, The Book is a niche recruitment company purely for the creative industry, recruiting a range of positions on a permanent and freelance basis. Based predominantly in the North, it quickly became the market leader in its sector and has a strong reputation with clients and candidates alike. It is known as a company that really understands creative professionals and this has been instrumental in its success to date.

The Pertemps brand may be firmly established in Leeds but that doesn’t mean the business is resting on its laurels. Only recently did another Network Group company set up shop in the city with bold ambitions to expand its enterprise throughout the Yorkshire region. The Education Network was founded in 1993 and has already established itself as a high quality, responsive education recruitment specialist with a strong presence in the North West, Nottingham, North East and Midlands. It covers all sectors of the education world including primary, secondary and SEN schools, pupil referral units, FE colleges and early years and provides all levels of permanent and contract jobs, short and long term assignments as well as emergency supply positions.

The new Leeds office is based at Thorpe Park Business Park and managed by experienced recruitment professional, Siobhan Goodfellow, who has shown her commitment to not only the business but also the region, by recently re-locating from Hull to make a success of the Yorkshire project.

“We have big plans to expand the Education

COMPANY PROFILE

Leeds industrial branch manager Sharon Stephen

We pride ourselves on being at the forefront of recruitment in Leeds and the surrounding areas Network in Yorkshire and the opening of the Leeds office is the first step,“ explained Siobhan, “We are new to Yorkshire but have been operating successfully in many other parts of the country and we will be looking at further branches in the Yorkshire area as we go along. It is an exciting time for the company and we are just starting to win new business in this area and will be speaking to local schools to see how we can help them.

“One of our consultants is a qualified teacher which gives a great advantage when speaking to candidates as she understands precisely what teachers need when they are looking for work. We pride ourselves on our knowledge and understanding of the education sector and are committed to driving up standards in the classroom.”

One of the strengths of the Education Network in other parts of the country are the close links its branches enjoys with local communities and things are unlikely to be any different in Yorkshire.

Siobhan said: “The Education Network supports local schools in every aspect and we have many sponsorship arrangements with schools in place elsewhere. Here in Leeds we will be looking to

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sponsor local sports teams and clubs and will aim to set up close links with schools and community projects. It is something the company does well and will be a key part in our plans here.”

They may all be offering different solutions to varying recruitment situations faced by local businesses but all share the wider company goals of development and growth. With a new image just around the corner in the form of a huge company re-brand, and with its many businesses improving and expanding all of the time, chances are the people of Leeds and Yorkshire may be seeing a lot more of Pertemps in the months and years ahead.

For more information see call 0800 072 3191 or visit www.jobsatpertemps.co.uk

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Turning ambition into results

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INTERVIEW

An ambitious young business services group is rapidly building a big domestic and international reputation from its national network of offices. Brian Nicholls speaks to Alastair MacColl to uncover what is driving the BE Group’s emerging success A cleverly designed prospectus currently being picked up across the country carries a five star promise of experience, established infrastructure and a commitment to developing innovative products.

Copies of the publication are going to local enterprise partnerships (LEPs), local authorities and a range of strategic public and private sector partnerships. It sets out a portfolio of services designed to help businesses succeed and grow.

The services are being offered by a group which has quickly carved out a strong track record in fostering business success. It carries with it bags of expertise - in commercial development procurement, supply chain development, investment programmes, business advice and business to business publishing and events. Its methodology is to generate very specific results for particular customers operating in their chosen markets.

It’s an approach that has helped the group expand its reach, enabling it to now work with businesses and organisations of all sizes and that cut across a range of sectors.

Launched in February 2007, the BE Group’s client list now includes the likes of Marks & Spencer, Gatwick Airport, BT, BAE Systems, Santander, Lockheed Martin, Skanska and Network Rail, with more equally big corporate names expected to come on board in the coming months.

Since its inception it has invested heavily in talent, infrastructure and systems - a strategy which chief executive Alastair MacColl says has given the group the ability to make tangible, genuine differences to the businesses they are involved in.

In the public sector, meanwhile, The

Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, Scottish Development International and Scottish Enterprise are among its clients, along with local authorities in places like Westminster, Croydon, Derby and Durham.

Further afield, the company is also working with Sydney Rail Infrastructure in Australia – one of several examples of the group’s increasingly global presence.

The business is now well established across

Our team is creative, energetic and committed.

And we all care passionately about being better at what we do than anybody else the UK - with offices in Glasgow, County Durham, London and Yorkshire.

Since being commissioned to work on behalf of UKTI in England (the UK government department strengthening the foothold of UK businesses in foreign markets) some years ago, BE Group has been running inward and outward international trade missions, operating in about 31 countries during the last 18 months. The group also works globally with Scottish Development International.

BQ meets MacColl as the BE group is

Onwards and upwards: Keen rock climber Alastair MacColl tells how the BE Group is on the up.

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preparing for imminent trade missions in Brazil, China, South Korea, Ghana and Turkey.

Some missions are sector focused, some centred on specific marketing opportunities, while others are more general.

Increasingly though, the BE Group is taking its own services into international markets, recently working on projects in the USA, Australia and France.

MacColl summarises: “We operate what is essentially a comprehensive portfolio of business services designed to help businesses of all shapes and sizes to succeed and grow. We do this partly through business to business information and events. The business information is distributed via magazines (BQ magazine for example is part of the group), and also via websites, emails and through all of the other communication channels people now use to get the information they want when they want it. We like to think our information and content is unique and adds real value to those that use it. Increasingly we are also producing a great deal of highly specialised sector specific information in the form of commissioned reports.

“Our events activity complements our approach to information with the ability to get your message across online, in print and face to face. We run everything from large conferences and targeted exhibitions to intimate consultation events and everything in between. We specialise in helping businesses get in touch with other businesses to uncover opportunities and build commercial relationships.”

His assured approach to understanding how businesses want to communicate is understandable, given the way the group has chosen to specialise and the fact that before this role at the BE Group, he worked in newspapers and media related businesses across the UK for almost two decades, leading publishing businesses for Trinity Mirror plc, the Daily Mail and General Trust Group. >>

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INTERVIEW

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The BE Group also helps develop and manage domestic and global supply chains. “We focus largely on major infrastructure projects and optimising the impact of particular sectoral, market or event specific opportunities,” he says. “We make sure that supply chains are working as effectively as possible, that they are efficient and sustainable.

“Again it’s about bringing businesses together in a way that provides commercial benefit for all those involved.”

It is on this sort of assignment the group has worked with organisations like Heathrow Airport and Westminster Council, and with big construction firms like Skanska (which Swedish students have recently voted a better place to work than Google, Ikea or Volvo). “We’re working with businesses all over the UK and elsewhere now to ensure they’re properly equipped to seize advantage of supply chain opportunities on particular projects or in particular areas,” says MacColl.

One of the companies in the group, Action Sustainability, operates a supply school for the Construction Industry Training Board and a group of influential construction contractors.

MacColl explains: “We’ve created an online resource to help train and develop a number of key individuals within construction firms to help them to operate sustainably. Top tier contractors can ensure through this their supply chains are as sustainable as possible.

“Procuring large projects is complex and demanding. To supply, say, Skanska, contractors will need to have demonstrated that they can establish how much water they’ll use on a project, how much power, whether or not those working on the project understand how they must behave and operate towards it, and use certain materials.

“When companies pitch for the next major job, like a big football stadium in Rio, or the London Olympics, they need to be able to say with authority that they have an effective and sustainable supply chain that is as carbon efficient as possible and as commercially efficient as possible.

“We also bring together big contractors and small businesses with great products and services that can add value to both new and established supply chains.

“It’s a feature common with other businesses

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We’re working with businesses all over the UK to ensure they’re properly equipped to seize advantage of supply chain opportunities in the group, that they specialise in certain key sectors.

“Our supply chain teams work largely in the UK. But over the last six months we’ve started working in Australia on a large rail project, advising on procurement. Consultancy teams have also been working in the USA and France. Increasingly, our portfolio is starting to internationalise.”

Much of the group’s work outside the UK comes via companies it has worked with at

46

home, and which want further support for their international activity. At the same time, the group is building contacts and networks through its own people as they travel, to developing markets in particular.”

The group also has established structures in place to runs programmes, initiatives and projects that bring together public sector sponsors wishing to stimulate private sector growth. The aim of most of this activity is quite simply to help businesses to succeed,

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grow and create more jobs.

In the North East of England, for example, the group operates the Let’s Grow programme, with Trinity Mirror and UNW, Newcastle based chartered accountants.

This involves £30m of regional Growth Fund grants being made available in the form of a competitive process to firms with capital or research and development projects that look likely to spur growth and encourage investment. Another programme in the same region, Investment for Growth, is a £12.5m ERDF funded programme, helping smaller businesses to expand with European support.

And in Yorkshire, the BE Group is helping to roll out superfast broadband on behalf of NY Net, working with a couple of thousand businesses to maximise their potential through the way in which they make the most of the new superfast broadband technology.

Innvisage is another group company that helps clients (mainly private sector) to make best use of data.

“Our portfolio is a complementary blend of products and services that are designed to help businesses to succeed and grow. That’s the golden thread that runs through our business information, events and commercial development activity,” MacColl says.

“We strive to make everything we do uncomplicated and it’s all designed to produce the very best results. There are lots of things that make our business special including our people, products and the level of service we offer. But if I had to pick out one thing that makes us really stand out from the crowd it’s our relentless effort to deliver exceptional results.”

He agrees the transformation of the BE Group has been “remarkable”. Exactly four years after start-up in 2007 it developed from a regional to a national operation almost overnight, buying London headquartered Business-to-Business. He suggests: “We’re still quite young, still developing, still maturing and still experimenting. And we’re still trying new and different things to make us better at what we do, to deliver even better results for our customers.”

Competition in all areas that the group has an interest in is “ferocious”. “In business information, publishing and events I doubt

INTERVIEW

If there’s one thing that makes us stand out it’s our relentless effort to deliver exceptional results. That’s what we do best competition has ever been more acute,” he ventures. “It has sharpened even further in what is still a challenging market place.

Businesses are fighting to develop new products and new services that will sustain their market position in an economy less predictable and more volatile, than probably at any time in the last 25 years.

“New technology also means that you need to always be thinking a few moves ahead of a fast paced market.

“We’ve some very accomplished competitors who keep us on our toes, and we constantly and relentlessly re-assess and develop our own products and services. We welcome the competition. We like to think our investment in time, energy and money ensures our products and services, and our people, anticipate where the market’s going, rather than just catching up.

“Our customers are sophisticated. They know what they want. Again, we welcome that.

We think we’re very good at understanding our customers, and we differentiate ourselves as a business by providing exceptional service.

We want to provide such good value that we represent the go-to business for those things that we specialise in.”

The group also has another competitive advantage. “Unlike many competitors, we don’t have shareholders demanding short-term results. Our business is co owned by trusts that have our employees as their beneficiaries. That means that we can choose to prioritise over the longer term and invest accordingly. We’re trying to develop a business that will be great in five, 10 and 15 years’ time. That’s very good news for our employees and our customers”.

So what is BE’s market share? “It’s very difficult

47

to judge in the service sector, much harder than in manufacturing for instance, since it’s difficult to measure the absolute output. I think it fair to say that as a relatively young business our market share is significant and growing.

We expect to gain further market share incrementally and steadily. And we want to do it through sustained growth that sticks.

“The best thing about my job is the people I work with and the satisfaction we all get from generating great results for all of our customers.

“Our team is creative, energetic and committed. And we all care passionately about being better at what we do than anybody else.” n

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in association with

BLESSED TO GIVE - AND TO RECIEVE The issue: How can philanthropy support innovation to create sustainable thriving communities and business growth, which in turn will contribute to our regional economy?

In their race to secure vital funds, charitable organisations and the gate keepers of good causes are becoming increasingly entrepreneurial.

At the same time, many businesses are looking for more from helping worthy recipients than the warm glow that comes with a cheque handover.

A desire from either side of the philanthropic pot to collaborate, share business acumen and innovate is pushing bigger trees out of smaller seeds.

Take for example the tale of the Ugly Duckling, as told at BQ’s latest live debate by Mark Skipper, from the Northern Ballet.

A £20,000 investment allowed Northern Ballet to create the Ugly Duckling, a production for young children which was performed in Leeds community venues. On the back of it came Arts Council funding worth £390,000 to tour the show across the North of England and create two new ballets for small children.

The BBC was then so inspired by seeing the Ugly Duckling that they filmed it for children’s

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channel Cbeebies where it has been seen by more than 250,000 young people. Meanwhile the two other shows will premiere in October 2013 and in 2015. Ultimately that initial investment of £20,000 was the catalyst for an estimated 750,000 children and their families having a magical arts experience. Economically, taking into account ticket sales, funding and the potential BBC spend if it films all three ballets, almost £1.2m could be returned to the economy.

And there were other such affirmations of the power of philanthropy up for discussion as delegates broke bread together at the New Ellington hotel in Leeds.

But also on the agenda was talk of underlying concerns in the third sector about business engagement, government pressures and gaps emerging in worrying areas.

With entrepreneurs, corporates and good causes represented, the debate sought to pinpoint how philanthropy, innovation and business growth can be more tightly intertwined for the good of communities

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Taking part Gerald Jennings, portfolio director, North of England at Land Securities Sally-Anne Greenfield, chief executive, Leeds Community Foundation Andrew Aitken, executive director at UBS Wealth Management Martin Port, managing director, BigChange Apps Mark Skipper, chief executive, Northern Ballet Peter Gomersall, head of employment taxes (Yorkshire), Grant Thornton Ajaz Ahmed, founder, Freeserve Svenja Keller, associate director, UBS AG Wealth Management Duncan Milwain, director, Lupton Fawcett Lee & Priestley In the chair: Caroline Theobald, BQ Live.

Also present: Andrew Mernin, BQ Venue: The New Ellington Hotel, Leeds

BQ is highly regarded as a leading independent commentator on business issues, many of which have a bearing on the current and future success of the region’s business economy. BQ Live is a series of informative debates designed to further contribute to the success and prosperity of our regional economy through the debate, discussion and feedback of a range of key business topics and issues.

across the region.

THE DEBATE: The discussion began with Sally-Anne Greenfield putting into context some of the challenges facing charitable bodies currently.

As head of the largest independent grantmaker in Leeds, her organisation has supported over 2,000 community groups and charities since 2005. But she is becoming increasingly concerned by shifting dynamics in the sector caused by changes to frontline services.

She said: “The role of local government is now not to deliver frontline services and the model that is being looked at is letting charities do that frontline work by commissioning them.

So most of the income from some of the local charities is coming from the state to deliver what the state wants to happen, whereas charity in the past has sprung up to fill gaps.

So who’s filling the gap now?”

Duncan Milwain: “This is where social entrepreneurs fit in. I’ve helped set up three organisations in the last 18 months doing things that were previously provided by the

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DEBATE

We are not going to go back to a public sector the size and shape of what we had in the past so we have to find a different model and social enterprise is part of it council, namely domiciliary care services. So there’s a market gap there to exploit. They may not survive but they are plugging the gap and [eventually] may not be reliant on a hand-out.”

Gerald Jennings: “We are not going to go back to a public sector the size and shape of what we had in the past so we have to find a different model and social enterprise is part of it. There will be a gap before the market adjusts to it.”

Duncan Milwain pointed to new social investment tax relief measures which will be introduced next year as indicative of the Government’s desire to encourage “a slug of money” to come in to fill the gap. “Whether it will or not is a different matter however.”

Ajaz Ahmed suggested that business people also have an important role to play in plugging areas short of funding created by government cutbacks. But stressed that monetary contributions are just a small part of the value they can bring to the situation.

He also urged those in business with investment in social enterprise to offer to make themselves more accessible.

“There are people who’ve got great ideas but are too scared to talk about them and people make themselves non-accessible. It’s quite daunting trying to contact a venture capitalist.”

He used TV talent show X Factor as a metaphorical example of what needs to change.

“On X Factor, they say ‘if you think you can sing come and see us’ and if they can’t they’ll

tell them straight away. If you can they’ll give you the training and make-over and make you a finished article – and that’s what’s lacking here. In business sometimes the best thing that can happen is for someone to be told their idea won’t work.

“We need more business people sharing their experience for nothing. That’s not happening at the moment.”

So entrepreneurial or business knowledge is more valuable than funding itself, suggested Svenja Keller, to which Ajaz Ahmed said: “Yes. A lot of the people that do manage to get the funds don’t have any experience of business

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and end up wasting the money. If they only had people to advise them then they might be more successful. Experience, advice and guidance are very important.”

Martin Port: “There are so many good things to get involved in and if you’re relying on the Government [to help] forget it. If you go out on the frontline and spend time with people working there you can see the amount of waste and typically it’s because a lot of contracts have been set up in the past with costs already agreed. And basically the private sector is trying to squeeze as much as it can out of local government and >>

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DEBATE

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sometimes inefficiency creates more wealth for them. I think that there is a lot that can be done and any individual can go out and help for free using common sense and trying different ideas to save money and give an improved service.”

In terms of getting more entrepreneurs involved in philanthropy, Ajaz Ahmed said: “If people have the right support we’ll find all sorts businesses being created. I also think everyone has one world class idea in their life.

But the majority of people will find reasons why they’re not going to do it. If business people can get involved with trying to help then it will have an enormous impact on communities.”

Duncan Milwain said the creation of “that bridgehead between professionals with skills to give and the organisations that need it” was required.

“We need those brokerages,” he said, before

broaching the sensitive topic of whether there was a cultural barrier in Yorkshire about giving money away.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily people being mean, it’s just that they want empirical evidence that something’s going to work.”

Gerald Jennings: “But there are some people that just don’t want to know who’ll never, ever change.”

Sally-Anne Greenfield: “There’s plenty that do want to help but are vastly inaccessible to people that want support.”

Ajaz Ahmed: “As everyone knows, life’s about who you know. So it’s not just about giving advice and money, it’s also about introductions.

There are many things business people can do but there needs to be some sort of forumbased platform for people to join,” he said.

Martin Port: “At the same time I think people have to be entrepreneurial in charities and perhaps look for people to underwrite what

I don’t think it’s necessarily people being mean, it’s just that they want empirical evidence that something’s going to work

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they want to do and let that be the last resort.

There’s loads to do but I do think it’s the same people that get called upon to give and it’s only going to get harder. The people that give are getting asked by more people to give.”

Caroline Theobald wondered whether there was a way of embarrassing the people that don’t engage in philanthropic activities into doing so – perhaps by highlighting philanthropists and lauding them as role models.

Duncan Milwan, who cited the example of The Giving Pledge – a commitment of the world’s wealthiest individuals to dedicate a majority of their wealth to philanthropy – said this notion of public displays of donation was certainly something that has worked in America.

Peter Gomersall: “Is it right to actually flag it up when someone isn’t giving when the whole thing is about giving? It can’t be about ‘you must give’.

Gerald Jennings: “But perhaps we ought to be a bit more in your face about it.”

How would that approach suit the entrepreneurs in the room, asked Sally-Anne Greenfield.

Ajaz Ahmed: “[As an entrepreneur] I get asked a lot to give. Some people like to make a show of giving. I like to donate to charity and not tell anyone and I think that’s the best way.”

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Fellow entrepreneur Martin Port said: “You have to think outside the box and you have to create a challenge and do new things to bring people along. We’ve got to be leaders and take people on the journey. We need to go with our gut feeling and get on with it. I don’t believe in naming and shaming and I think entrepreneurs are willing to give up their time, but where do you start?”

Svenja Keller: “How do you make that decision in terms of which ones you pick?

Martin Port: “I have six charities that I give to every year because if you give to a charity they rely on that and have it in their budget. But there may be times when you can’t afford to give. Genuinely they could have assets but no cash. You can’t just look at a person and say ‘they live there and so can afford to give cash’, they may be starting a business or whatever – but you just have to appeal to a person. I think underwriting activities is a good idea.

Caroline Theobald: “What about people coming from the other side of this debate – is there a barrier getting to the people that you need to support you?”

Mark Skipper: “The most difficult challenge is meeting the right people. The issue is also the North / South divide does exist, certainly from the arts perspective. One statistic is that 80% of philanthropy for the arts comes from people who are in London and goes to organisations

based in London. So that makes it hugely difficult for the rest of the country. There’s a hugely disproportionate amount of money going into London and that is the biggest challenge that we face. We’ve had huge cuts in funding to the arts and when you find funding has been cut that actually allows you to do your core business it’s also quite difficult when most of the philanthropists want you to do something additional that’s not actually just allowing you to put your core business first. My agenda is always about going for those core things. We lost £1m of our funding for the last spending round, which was hugely significant and we had to look at different ways of funding and we came up with a situation where we had 40 dancers and we said, if we can’t raise £500,000 we will have to lose 25% of our dancers. But the knock on effect for that commercially is that you can’t actually afford to do the performances because you don’t have the dancers to deliver them and you can’t do the volume of work so you’re not reaching the people, so you can see that spiralling effect.”

He went on to explain how two initiatives aimed at sponsoring and ‘buying back’ a dancer have helped to secure the vital funds needed to thrive.

Andrew Aitken: “It’s a typical scenario experienced by organisations in terms of looking at the business ahead of time and

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DEBATE

involving people at an earlier stage and saying ‘this is our business, how can you help us survive and grow?”

Sally-Anne Greenfield: “It’s about encouraging people with good ideas to set up a social business. The only difference between them and a commercial business is, while they still employ people, they just choose to reinvest their profit into social issues. It’s about finding out who the entrepreneurs are in the social sector and encouraging them. If what you want to do is give them advice, then great, but how do you scale that up?”

Peter Gomersall: “I think it’s great how Northern Ballet has, instead of thinking it’s hit a brick wall, thought of ways around it.

It’s thinking of a really simple, but creative, idea to get income back into your business.

It’s fantastic.”

Mark Skipper: “Our new funding schemes came because of government cuts but where we now find ourselves is, having looked at the business differently, instead of living hand to mouth on our fundraising as we would have a few years ago, we’ve now doubled our income so we’re now raising £700,000. In 2012/13 we had all the money in place well before the end of the year, we’re only halfway through 2013/14 and have about 95% of our fundraising requirements. Looking ahead to 2014/15 we’ve got 75% so it now means >>

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we can look much further ahead and make sure we can fund the projects that we want to in 2016.”

Peter Gomersall: “So that fits as a business model because, in the accountancy business I’m in, if you don’t do that entrepreneurial business work when you’re busy, then it never happens so you don’t have that work further down the line. You’ve got to keep that level going.”

As well as gaining increasingly entrepreneurial skills, charities are also harnessing the power of workforces in a more efficient way, said Martin Port. Although most roles are voluntary, he said, the impact of a those positions to communities with high unemployment should not be underestimated.

Meanwhile, it was put to the delegates that, whichever way funding and support is sourced, it largely remains more of a struggle than it perhaps should be in Yorkshire. “Why is that?” asked Caroline Theobald.

Peter Gomersall: “I think sometimes we over complicate things. There’s also an issue about education and communication. I think we need to make it an easier process for people who give. I don’t think it is easy. We all have a responsibility to make it easier but I don’t know how we do that. One thing that is for certain in our business community is that we know nothing will stay still. So we just move around all the time – and in philanthropy it has to be the same. I don’t think there should be any barriers to investing in Yorkshire in any way.”

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Gerald Jennings: “But I’m not sure there are any? If there’s a willingness on the part of a company or individual it’s very easy to get involved.”

Peter Gomersall: “Yes but I think as Yorkshire folk in terms of how we think, I know it’s a generalisation, but we don’t shout enough about the region, what we can offer and what opportunities there are and we should be more open.”

Mark Skipper: “In this city, as far as culture is concerned, we’ve got more than every other city except London. We’ve got a ballet company, opera company, contemporary dance company – it’s absolute fact that you will not find that anywhere else in the country but we don’t shout about it.”

Challenging Gerald Jennings’ earlier claim that identifying worthy causes is easy for would-be philanthropists, Sally-Anne Greenfield said: “Quite often the people that can shout the loudest will get the support. So it tends to be the same kinds of causes that get the backing.

The trouble is getting to the parts of the cities that are hardest to reach. How do you get to those groups?”

Gerald Jennings: “It’s not difficult. If [Land Securities] didn’t get involved in this agenda and I wanted to it is so easy. I could find who to speak to, what they do and the level I want to get involved.”

Caroline Theobald: “But there could be other people that are not being found by you.”

At this point the topic of religion entered the

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debate, as Martin Port highlighted the relatively high levels of philanthropic activity in religious as opposed to non-religious communities.

“The truth is that religions tend to be a good place to start because you tend to find that the wealthier take care of the poor outside as well as within their communities.”

Duncan Milwain: “Statistically religious communities do give more in terms of voluntary hours and I think there is a genuinely interesting area in that. Local authorities have been forbidden to give to religious organisations but they also now recognise where this service delivery gap has arisen, so where might they look? They recognise that there is actually a network out there that might provide support, which is the faith-based communities. Some people might not like that but the fact is in terms of filling that gap it may be the case that you have got a prebuilt network there that might be able to deliver services.”

Martin Port: “And in Leeds we have a really strong inter-faith board working really well together. There’s a lot of good going on in the communities with everyone working together.

The thriving religious communities are helping to stimulate people to give.”

Duncan Milwain: “And there’s such a massive gap between what’s happening on the ground and the perception of the BBC and liberal intelligentsia.”

Sally-Anne Greenfield: “It’s almost a given, particularly in the Jewish community, that people will give. It’s more a question of ‘how

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much?’ rather than whether or not to give.”

As the debate draws towards its conclusion a recognition comes from around the table about the ambiguous nature of philanthropy.

A clear line is defined between donations to charity and encouraging innovation among social enterprises with new thinking and new business models. Ajaz Ahmed suggests that ‘venture philanthropy’ is perhaps a more suitable term. “That’s something that people would understand and is a way of re-branding it and repositioning it,” he said.

As with all BQ Live debates, there was a commitment among the delegates to draw up some action that could bring about real change. In this case, how could all parties represented pull together to encourage innovation and growth for the benefit of communities?

Ajaz Ahmed: “If we’re focusing on venture we should rephrase the whole thing so that we are encouraging people to invest in start-up and existing businesses that wouldn’t ordinarily be able to have access to business people. And

if we reposition it in a different way you are more likely to get success. Whereas if you focus on this word philanthropy I don’t think you will succeed.”

Sally-Anne Greenfield: “I think the word philanthropy just sounds too one way and it should be a two way transaction. You’re getting as much out of giving as they are through the pleasure of giving and the ride of seeing someone grow. The literal translation of philanthropy is love of humankind, whether you’re sharing your knowledge, enthusiasm or money. It’s modern day parlance that’s made philanthropy mean rich people giving large sums of money. Giving money for a tax break is not philanthropy.”

Ajaz Ahmed: “If you’ve got somebody with an ordinary job and they’ve got a great idea, there’s no one ever going to help them. They wouldn’t dare approach [venture capitalists] and even if they did they’d never get to them.

So wouldn’t it be great in business if you could make that process simpler?”

Duncan Milwain: “It would be fantastic if

Philanthropy sounds too one way and it should be a two way transaction. You’re getting as much out of giving as they are through the pleasure of giving and the ride of seeing someone grow

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someone could come up with something that, whichever city you are in, you can go to as a one-stop starting point. I don’t think that exists.”

Sally-Anne Greenfield pointed to recent research she was involved in which discovered 3,100 separate charities or community projects in Leeds alone. It was agreed that this was further evidence of the need for something to simplify the landscape for potential philanthropists.

Martin Port added that, for people hoping to launch enterprises, the climate today – with loans rather than readily available grants on offer from government – is also a hindrance to innovative, social enterprises getting off the ground.

Ajaz Ahmed said the youth charity Prince’s Trust was the right type of model to be followed, while Martin Port said some corporate social responsibility-driven bodies, like Business in the Community, should be more accessible to smaller businesses.

Sally-Anne Greenfield admitted a brokerage service aimed towards SMEs and entrepreneurs might be a worthy solution. She also suggested devising a worthwhile project which all those in attendance could contribute to. With everyone agreeing to take part, the debate ended with a positive intent to develop an initiative which really does encourage innovation and business growth for the good of communities.

Watch this space for more on this as details emerge. n

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It’s been a rollercoaster ride at LighTwater Valley Life in business can be a white knuckle ride, especially if you’re the boss of a theme park at the mercy of ever-changing weather and consumer whims. Andrew Mernin takes a trip to Lightwater Valley to discover how its passionate leader has navigated bumps, twists and turns to achieve its current success In the throng that buzzes around carousels and terror rides at Lightwater Valley on any given day there can usually be found one pensive chap with more than thrill seeking on his mind.

In fact even on his days off, Mark Bainbridge often takes a stroll around the park to eavesdrop on the excited chatter of teens, parents and kids, as they discuss the highs and lows of their trip.

“I get withdrawal symptoms,” says the park’s chief executive – and it’s not hard to see why.

His office overlooks a merry-go-round, fun parks, a big wheel and – weather permitting – hoards of happy people venturing off for a day of amusement.

Through an open window flow delighted distant screams, children’s laughter and, at intervals, the huffing and puffing of a little engine as its takes its young passengers on an adventure.

But this role has been no easy ride for Bainbridge. Having been at the park for almost 30 years – since its days as a mere fruit picking and farm attraction – he’s witnessed a business swing close to the brink, and back again, and survive numerous hair-raising scares in business

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along the way. But most recently the park, hidden behind trees just north of Ripon, has undergone fresh investment and is resurgent in its ambition to grow as a major Yorkshire visitor attraction.

“I put my life and soul into this and I’m so enthusiastic about it, and in fact the other week I was even back here at midnight watching out as security, after a couple of break ins we had.”

He is also optimistic now, after several false dawns, that the park is on an upward slope with no sudden plummet waiting around the next bend.

Lightwater was sold by the family of landowner Robert Staveley in 1997 for a reported £5.2m before eventually becoming part of its current parent group, Heritage GB – whose other assets include Lands End, John O’Groats and the Snowdon Mountain Railway.

During these regime changes Bainbridge has been steadily climbing the ranks at the park from catering and retail through to management and eventually the chief exec’s berth.

While previously during certain tough spells the

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park was starved of investment, its owner is now building up its offering with future success in mind.

A period of cost-cutting and “the worst two years we’ve had” preceded the takeover of the attraction by its current owners in 2001.

“But now they’ve given me a free hand to make suggestions and we’ve probably invested the best part of £10m over the last 10 years,” says Bainbridge, who’s proudest achievement at the park came in 1990.

That was the year work began on a project aimed at announcing Lightwater’s arrival as a bona fide theme park for thrill seekers – the longest rollercoaster in the world.

But like the spiralling track of what became ‘The Ultimate’, its creation veered from one dramatic twist to the next.

“The initial concept came from [the park’s then owner] Robert Staveley who went with a spray can through the woods and said ‘this is where I’d like to do it’,” says Bainbridge.

While a German firm was enlisted to design the track, staff at the park itself got involved in building the wooden structures on which it would run. >>

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“We were always catching up with the designers and so we missed an opening or two.

We were physically involved in putting the bolts in and it was just like a big Meccano set. It was unbelievable how it all worked and we did it as a team.”

A snag in building one section of the track saw it “all go a bit pear shaped”, while the track manufacturer struggled to deliver to agreed time scales and ended its journey on the rollercoaster project by going bust.

“Every section of track had to be precise and it all got very complicated. We lost both companies we were working with so I ended up taking it on and finishing it off to the point of operating it. We had people we could use, including consultants and another company we brought in that was familiar with the track, and they helped us with everything. We eventually got it up and running in 1991.”

The end result was to put the park on the rollercoaster map, particularly among teenagers, although there was a lack of other rides to cater for this market at the time.

“The numbers went through the roof, but then they were looking for the next challenge, the next big rides and we didn’t have the finances then to take it to the next level. What we should have done is built the smaller white knuckle rides like we have today and then stick the Ultimate on the end.

“The Ultimate was meant to cost £1.2m but actually cost us about £4.5m and it was at a time when interest rates were sky high, so it put a lot of pressure on the business. Even with the numbers through the gate the interest on a daily basis was probably more than we were making, and we found it very difficult to sustain the business, so it went on a very level plateau in terms of any further investment.”

Annoyingly for Bainbridge, Steel Dragon 2000 in Nagashima, Japan, has since taken the Ultimate’s mantle of longest in the world – although it still rules supreme in Europe, measuring up with its 7,442 ft of track.

“We did toy with the idea of putting an extra 200 metres of track on to regain the world title but when we got the prices through, it actually cost more than it was to build the ride in the first place.”

Given its wooden structure and the rising maintenance costs, the Ultimate may only have

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15 years of service left, says Bainbridge. And the search for rides to replace it will span far and wide. “We get a lot of manufacturers coming to see us. The countries building lots of rides are Italy, France, Holland and Germany and there are different standards for different money. If you want a really good ride you

probably go to Germany. For a middle of the road one, you‘d probably go to Holland. If you wanted a juvenile ride you might go to Italy and you know what you’re getting for your money at the end of the day. The Italians can make very nice ornate rides that will do you 15 years good service, while the Germans could

Mark was there when it was all fields Mark Bainbridge moved to Yorkshire from Staffordshire in 1984 to take up his first role at Lightwater Valley. Having grown up near Alton Towers as a regular visitor to what was a far cry from the white knuckle theme park it is today, he had some basic knowledge of the sector he still works in today.

He was originally brought in to run a shooting lodge on the surrounding estate but ended up joining the team at the park. Back then its attractions were largely restricted to self-pick fruit, a working piggery and other farm animals with an overall aim of showing visitors how the farms produce meat.

“There wasn’t much about at the time but because people turned up in droves to pick the fruit, the rides became part of their day out and numbers grew and grew so we expanded into different areas.

“It was all pedal power or rolling down hills – all very low key but as we developed over the years we got more and more rides in.”

Since starting his Lightwater career Bainbridge has witnessed the park’s evolution towards thrill rides and amusements, having moved various roles from catering and retail and ride operations.

With family happily settled in the area, he has over the years dabbled with extracurricular business ventures. At one time he and his wife ran the local village shop and even ran a B&B – this while maintaining his tenure at the park – which next year will stretch to three decades.

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build a similar ride that would cost twice as much and could do you 30 years. They are all coming up with new concepts every year looking for the next scare.”

If Bainbridge could start the park from scratch, though, he would perhaps seek a much simpler, more traditional approach.

“If you were building a park today I think you could be very successful by bringing back all the activities that people remember from when they were kids.

“When I started here we had archery, moon buggies, bikes with offset wheels, pitch and putt and roller skates.

“But what we have to remember is that kids haven’t seen these because they existed before their time, so if you introduced a bike with an eccentric wheel that goes up and down, for example, it’ll appeal to kids and families. I think that would fit in with everyone telling us to be more active, and I think families are looking for that for their children.”

For now though the park has white knuckle riders to cater for as well as parents with young children and it generally aims to attribute equal levels of focus to its different key markets.

Perhaps the biggest challenge to the park’s future success, though, is dealing with the weather - and the inaccuracies of those paid to predict it.

“We’ve had two terrible years weather-wise but this summer we’re up on last year considerably in income. We had a terrible Easter – there were four inches of snow on the opening day – but things have picked up since.

“People don’t want to part with their money if they think it’s going to rain so they’re looking for a good sunny day before they make their decision.

“Actually, as we’re in the valley, we have a fairly stable climate. We grow corn, wheat and rape and things that need sunshine but the weather forecast can cost us dearly when they just say it’s going to rain in the North and blanket the whole of Yorkshire on the weather map. It has a massive impact on us.”

The obvious solution now being invested in at Lightwater is to increase the spread of its indoor attractions.

To break even the park needs to attract 285,000 visitors per year and, over the last seven years, it has maintained a level of around

320,000. While this is down from a peak in the mid-1990s of almost 500,000, it is significantly up on its performance during its troubled period in the late 1990s.

The short-term aim is to hit 350,000 and, eventually, return to its 500,000-a-year heyday.

A key part of its strategy to attract more visitors is its plan to build 100 holiday lodges on land adjacent to the park over the next three years.

The infrastructure alone for the lodge area will cost £2.5m – before any accommodation has even been put on the site – but Bainbridge says the benefits the project will bring far outweigh the costs.

We’re a million years from where we want to be but the potential is massive and the ability to work revenue out of this place his immense “Once the lodges are up and running, they’ll probably have an operating profit of around £650,000,” he says. But it is their wider advantages that are most exciting to Bainbridge.

“They will increase our catchment area from the two or three hour drive time that it is currently. We envisage that people will spend a day on the park, and the rest of their time exploring Yorkshire. We’ll get a bigger draw of people who wouldn’t normally drive here and it also opens us up to international guests, with Hull and its port being very close, then we’ve got Leeds Bradford Airport not far away and Ireland to the west – so there are lots of positives of having our own accommodation.”

Adding to its increased pulling power is the £1.1m invested in its new activity park developed under the banner of global video game phenomenon Angry Birds. The activity centre, which opened earlier this year is a theme park owner’s dream, given its global appeal, its visitor throughput rate and the

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limited number of staff needed to run it. It is anticipated to bring about a 10% rise in visitor numbers.

“Angry Birds is a market that’s followed by all continents and we’ve certainly had a significant increase in foreign visitors because it is the biggest activity park of its kind in the UK. It wasn’t easy to get [the franchise’s Finnish owners] to come here and whatever we do we have to consult with them first on the brand, so it’s been a bit of a learning curve.

“From their point of view, they are being seen as encouraging kids to be active and they were very keen that it wasn’t a sit on ride.”

Expansion plans aside, being located in a patch of Yorkshire which is particularly picturesque, means Lightwater must tread carefully when it comes to maintaining a harmonious relationship with locals.

“We support Ripon where we can and market each other and have built relationships so people now trust us and don’t see us as this big monster that sits here causing trouble.

Some people do see us as a pain, but others as a blessing.

“Some don’t see us as a company that’s put thousands of local kids through university and colleges over the years. Our wage bill at the moment is just over £2m, which is spent on the local community.” Currently Lightwater employs around 50 full time staff, with 280 on the books as seasonal staff.

As new opportunities emerge to enable the park to boost its visitor appeal – and in turn its positive economic impact – how might future developments in the park take shape?

“We had ten years of no investment up to 2001 and then we’ve started to rebuild. We’re a million years from where we want to be but the potential is massive and the ability to work revenue out of this place his immense.

“You could walk round here and think of 1,000 ideas and that’s what keeps me fresh and why people enjoy working here, there’s always those opportunities but you can only make so much investment and £1m to us is £10m to Alton Towers.

“But we are chipping away at it and we want to provide a quality offer that’s better than everybody else - not necessarily the best rides in the world but the best experience and that’s what we are going to strive towards.” n

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BUSINESS LUNCH

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BUSINESS LUNCH

AN EXeCUTIVE CLASS LEADER The region’s new head of the Institute of Directors, Suzy Brain England OBE, leads by example when it comes to driving change, achieving success and personal development. Andrew Mernin steals a precious window of her time to find out more Suzy Brain England OBE has what she calls a “portfolio career” and it’s a pretty weighty portfolio at that, taking in an array of sectors and disciplines.

Her lunch meeting with BQ, at Crafthouse in the glass-covered summit of Trinity Leeds shopping centre, is sandwiched between diary slots at an airport and a hospital – a sign of the hugely diverse nature of her chock-full working week.

Currently she chairs two housing organisations – Berneslai Homes in Barnsley and Derwent Living, which covers Milton Keynes to Sheffield.

She also serves as a non-executive director at Barnsley Foundation Hospital and welfare to work organisation AVANTA, as well as running her own remote mentoring business Cloud Talking.

At the IoD she was initially appointed chairman last January before taking up the regional director’s berth in August. Since then, as well as busying herself with preparations for an upcoming IoD awards event, she’s generally getting to grips with her mission to support directors in the region.

“We’re all wanting to encourage the green shoots, the business growth and I think everything we do is to inspire directors to be better directors either through introducing them to inspirational speakers and leaders of other businesses that have done things to get them thinking differently, or through some formal education.”

A career in journalism, which included roles at the Robert Maxwell-owned Daily Mirror and London Daily News in the 1980s, preceded Suzy’s prolific life as an organisational leader.

Born in Harehills, Leeds, she emerged out of journalism and into the managing director’s seat at a publishing business called Morley

Books before embarking on a remarkably varied career.

She was CEO of the South Yorkshire millennium project the Earth Centre at the turn of the century and has served at director level for various bodies, including skills development organisations The Talent Foundation and Library Services UK. Her non-executive life has taken myriad forms including hospitals, building societies, independent regulator Ofcom, young people’s advisory service Connexions and the Department for Work and Pensions – a position for which she was awarded an OBE. “It was an immensely proud moment,” she says. “I was the chairman of the decisionmaking standards committee, so I had a very small team where, as lay people, we had a look at how benefits were handled – pensions, disability and other benefits. Then we did reports into the DWP and they were very pleased with the way I handled that and received the OBE for public service in 2009.

“What was wonderful was that Prince Charles asked me ‘how long have you been with the department?’ I told him I was independent as it was a scrutiny role and he leaned forward and said to me ‘I bet they’re terrified of you aren’t they?’ To which I replied ‘absolutely’.”

Today her predominant role, at the IoD, is less terrifying authority and scrutiniser and

more listener and advisor.

Pushing the importance of leadership skills development seems high on her agenda, with the IoD opening doors to certificate diplomas and the respected chartered director qualification.

And Suzy herself conducts independent reviews for the chartered director programme.

But has the appetite for leadership development education waned, as challenges like accessing finance dominate life as a company boss?

“The recession probably has affected people’s investment in training and development but we are recognising two key triggers for people who want to further their learning.

“One is the young director looking to develop on their journey and the other is when individuals are considering taking on non-executive director roles.

“There’s a point in people’s careers when they feel they do have time to step slightly away from their own coal face and offer their skills, knowledge and experience to somebody else. So we’re getting them at either end of the journey.”

And Suzy – who herself propelled her early career with an MBA from The University of Bradford – believes experience is no substitute for trusted, accredited leadership training.

“The fact of the matter is that anybody >>

Prince Charles leaned forward and said ‘I bet they’re terrified of you aren’t they?’

I replied ‘absolutely’

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across the country, needs a quick and clear resolution.

“In line with what the Treasury select committee said recently, we believe HS2 appears to be very expensive for the perceived benefits.

“We’d like to see that investment now, not in 2019, and to see it in our existing infrastructure.

“We are talking about a pick-n-mix approach

because even something as simple as filling in the potholes would be helpful. What we don’t want is a stop start approach to mending the roads, we want the roads to be consistently good, because we’re not just talking about the inconvenience of hitting a pothole, it’s the impact of the damage – it’s all a cost to business. Whether they are repaired at night, it’s this type of thinking where it’s done in a business friendly manner.

Suzy’s CV Employment - current roles Chair Institute of Directors for Yorkshire & Humberside Chair, Derwent Living Housing Association Non-executive director, Barnsley NHS Foundation Trust Hospital Exam marker, Diploma in Company Direction, Institute of Directors Non-executive director Avanta, Welfare to Work/Enterprise Chair, Berneslai Homes, Barnsley Housing ALMO Lay chair, Yorkshire Deanery for doctor recruitment Mentor and Counsellor for senior people in business Chartered director, Peer Assessor & Trainer Institute of Directors

can become a director. They have an idea and set up a business and anybody can do that. But it was really after great corporate failures like the Robert Maxwell scandal and Enron back in the late nineties when the IoD thought it was important to set a professional standard which directors could aspire to, so people could feel more confident that businesses were being professionally run.

“And the chartered director accreditation remains the ultimate goal. But on the lead up to that there’s quite a number of one day and longer certificate diploma courses now, all of which are focused on making sure directors know their legal responsibilities and to help them with everything else – marketing their business, staff, strategy, and lots of people have benefited from that.”

With roles which give her an insider’s view of the housing market, public sector services and corporate employers, Suzy is well placed to assess the state of the economy.

One observation is that she believes the transport debate currently raging in regions

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Former non-executive roles Chair, Voice UK for victims of crime with learning disabilities, September 11 - September 12 Chair, Kirklees Community Healthcare Services, November 2009 - October 2011 Acting chair, Bradford Strategic Partnering Board, October 2008 - June 2011 Acting chair, Midlands, Community Health Partnerships, October 2010 - March 2011 Chair, DWP Decision Making Standards Committee, January 2006 - December 2010 LIFT Co. director, for Community Health Partnerships, February 2004 to December 2010 Lay marker, Clinical Excellence Awards, Barnsley NHS FT Hospital, 2009-11 Member, Chartered Director Committee Institute of Directors, July 2009-11 Trustee, Bladder and Bowel Foundation, from November 2010-11 Acting chair/director, Mid-Yorkshire NHS Hospital Trust, 2005 - October 2009 Chair Connexions West Yorkshire, May 2004 - June 2008 Chair, Ofcom’s Advisory Committe for England, June 2004 - August 2008 Director, Melton Mowbray Building Society, April 1997 – 2007 Tutor, Corporate Governance, Institute of Directors, 2004 Benefits Agency Standards Committee, November 1999 - July 2002 Director, Business Links, London, January 1998 – March 2001 Dept. National Heritage, Advisory Council Libraries, 1990 Director, Greater Nottingham TEC, 1994-1997 Former executive roles The Talent Foundation, chief executive, July - October 2003 The Earth Centre, CEO, April 2001 - July 2003 Focus Central London Training and Enterprise Council, director of business services, January 1998 - March 2001 Library Services UK, managing director, December 1994 - September 1997 Morley Books, managing director, September 1990 - December 1994

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“I think on the whole we’ve got good east coast, but anything cross country seems to take forever. If you try to get to Birmingham from Leeds or down to Bristol, it takes a very long time and the whole HS2 debate is about speed.

But the IoD thinks investment in the current infrastructure could improve what we’ve got.

HS2 is a long way off and we need help now.”

And, from what Suzy has garnered from IoD’s forums of debate, the organisation’s description of HS2 as ‘grand folly’ is a viewpoint shared by many directors in Yorkshire.

In lobbyist mode, the IoD carries genuine influence nationally, says Suzy, because of its closeness to government through its London HQ, alongside its local reach.

“Every part of the UK has a strong IoD branch and they respond to what members want. So I’m pretty sure that we have a voice into government that represents the business view.”

But, despite competing for memberships to cover its costs, Suzy is keen to forge relationships with other business networking organisations in Yorkshire.

“Inevitably each organisation wants to retain its distinct identity because we’re in the business of winning members and retaining them, but part of my remit will be to make contact with other bodies. Understanding the general business view and what other organisations are doing for business is going to be important.”

The IoD has 1,500 members in Yorkshire and the Humber and in October will launch a drop-in centre in Leeds enabling directors to meet with Suzy and share their concerns, ideas and feedback from their businesses.

The regional director is also in the process of re-launching the IoD’s regional awards which, to fit in with the demands of business, will take place at 7.30am in Leeds next May – as opposed to an evening event.

Away from her IoD remit, Suzy is one of the most prolific non-executive directors around, with almost 20 posts already completed, covering a vast range from Ofcom to organisations like Voice UK – which helps victims of crime with learning disabilities. The former Non Executive of the Year believes advisory involvement of experienced leaders remains as valuable as ever to businesses today.

“Non-executive directors are really important to

BUSINESS LUNCH

That was good for starters BQ’s lunch date with Suzy Brain England OBE almost didn’t happen. Juggling so many commitments as she does, even slight diary fluctuations can have major consequences. In the end, instead of the meandering journey through mains, deserts and coffees that so many executives have taken advantage of in this section, we agree for a quick chat over a starter. The venue, Crafthouse in Trinity Leeds shopping centre, through its glassy façade, looks out across the city skyline and on warmer days even provides rooftop, alfresco dining. Executive head chef Lee Bennett’s menus change with the seasons, using carefully sourced quality ingredients, most of which come from within a 50-mile radius of Leeds. Crafthouse’s Josper oven apparently provides a unique technique in the preparation of meat and fish, chargrilling at 480 degrees over charcoal. Unfortunately we’ve no time to indulge in one of the menu’s meaty mains, though, and Suzy chooses the Ribblesdale blue goats’ cheese salad which comes with heritage beets, watercress and cider dressing. I opt for the ham hock terrine with summer fruits chutney and sour dough toast - the crisp crackling and sizeable chunks of ham making for a plate just about satisfying enough to keep tummy rumblings away in the afternoon. Warm bread ensures this to be the case, however. www.crafthouse-restaurant.com, 0113 897 0444, crafthouse@danddleeds.com

bring an independent view that will describe the way they see things with warts and all. They are not shy to do so and they often bring experience from other fields which means they see the world through different glasses.

“In terms of innovation and uniqueness, non-executives have got something to offer.

One of the key roles is about acknowledging performance and that’s what’s really important.

Non-executives will get blamed if there’s corporate failure but non-one remembers to congratulate if things go well. It’s a nonexecutive’s job to ensure performance is on track and demand improvements if not.”

While a potentially lucrative pastime depending on the organisations involved, multiple non-executive roles mean “80 hour work weeks, late nights and early mornings”.

Within her working week Suzy also squeezes in

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her own business venture, Cloud Talking, which offers a mentoring service via video conferencing. Although business is the primary focus of discussions, personal issues are inevitably intertwined into the subject matter.

“Having been a mentor for some years, I have private clients who talk to me confidentially to get advice about how to run their lives better.

While it is usually about their business success, it is like life coaching. It’s talking about the whole person and everything affecting how their lives are operating.”

Lately the impact of redundancy has been a dominate topic as she helps executives rediscover their motivation and fulfil their aspirations. If Suzy’s ability to listen to problems and bring about change in her mentoring life can be mirrored at the IoD, then the region’s directors will certainly be in good hands. n

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BUTTERWORTH ON WINE

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BUTTERWORTH ON WINE

Lovely bubbly Lisa Butterworth, marketing manager, Arena Group has a fizzy weekend How better to guarantee a cracking end to a busy week than by taking up an offer from BQ Magazine to sample and review some fine wines? Not being much of a connaisseuse, I was at first a little daunted by the challenge.

However, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I found myself unable to turn it down.

Imagine my surprise then, when last thing on a Friday evening, two bottles of French Champagne arrived. Neatly packaged and dispatched from Wetherby’s Champagne Warehouse, a bottle of rosé and another of white promised the husband and I a sparkling treat of a weekend.

Each bottle was produced by a small, independent French Champagne house - no big brands here then. The first to pop its cork was the white; Jean-Paul Morel Carte Noir with a traditional looking label and originating from a co-operative vineyard in the Grand Cru village of Verzenay, located in the eastern Montagne de Reims subregion of Champagne. Most of the grapes originating here go to the big brands with the remainder aged for four years to create this champagne; only 10,000 bottles of this 70/30 Pinot Noir/Chardonnay blend have been produced. With a rich golden colour, this is a fairly substantial, dry and intense character.

The lovely people at the Champagne Warehouse had kindly enclosed some taster notes in their package that advised us to be alert for a bready palate and fruity notes of apples, redcurrants and strawberries. We couldn’t fault this description and the wine certainly complemented the fish we enjoyed for our evening meal. Endless bubbles and a complex, almost licorice taste, made this quite different to your average Champagne but it’s certainly very drinkable

and it didn’t last long. This is a bubbly that stands out from the crowd, it would be a delight to enjoy without food as an apéritif or shared with friends - the more we drank, the more we enjoyed it.

Next out of the box on the following evening was a Charmant Rose Premier Cru from the Forget-Brimont family vineyard in the village of Ludes, situated in Champagne’s more central subregion of Marne. This is a more typical 40/40/20 blend of pinot meunier, pinot noir and chardonnay grapes; it is 24 month aged and boasts multiple awards. The fairly plain, unassuming label and silver foil topper were not quite so fancy as the white, so possibly not a bottle I’d naturally go for if I were buying.

However, after reading several impressive reviews online we knew that we were in for something special when we popped the cork.

Outer appearances did indeed prove to be deceptive; on pouring, we noticed an abundance of small bubbles and a mildly spicy aroma, which was quite intriguing. With a predictable pale pink hue, this is a much lighter wine with a fresh, crisp and delicate quality.

The Champagne’s simple sweet taste with zingy apple flavours, a hint of rhubarb and lingering citrus finish made it my favourite of the two whilst my husband remained keener on the white. This champagne is not to be judged by its plain exterior; it is certainly well worth a try and, priced at just under £30 for a bottle, it’s fantastic value too.

We ended our weekend feeling mightily spoilt by the good people at BQ Magazine and the Champagne Warehouse - we could certainly get used to this ‘Champagne with every meal’ habit. n

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Charmant Rosé Premier Cru Crafted by the sixth generation of the Forget-Brimont family in the Premier Cru village of Ludes, this pink champagne is 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinot Meunier and 20% Chardonnay. It is a classy champagne with good balance and is full of ripe strawberries notes and a hint of spice on the finish. A real treat as an aperitif.

Charmant Rosé Premier Cru recently came third in an Imbibe magazine blind tasting, beating many of the big name brands.

Jean-Paul Morel Carte Noir Produced in the Grand Cru village of Verzenay by the talented winemaker Jean-Paul Morel. This champagne is a blend of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay. It’s rich, well balanced and delivers toasty notes to accompany the rich red fruit flavours. Makes an elegant aperitif, but is rich enough to enjoy with food - chicken or fish and is also an excellent match with a cheeseboard.

The wines provided were Charmant Rosé Premier Cru, priced at £26.99 a bottle and Jean-Paul Morel, priced at £23.99 a bottle.

Both available at Champagne Warehouse.

Customers get 3% off cases of 6 and 5% off cases of 12 on both products. www.champagnewarehouse.com

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MOTORING

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MOTORING

Smitten by an italian beauty German rivals may be strong on reliability but Ian Gilbert, managing partner at Walker Morris LLP, is seduced by the Maserati Gran Turismo >>

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MOTORING

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As I was wandering the streets of Florence with my wife on a recent holiday I had to confess to her that I was beginning to fall in love with Italian women. What is particularly striking about them is how they can dress simply but stylishly and yet inevitably in a manner that accentuates their curves.

They can be demonstrative and animated in conversation but in no sense could you describe them as brash and they have a classical beauty that oozes sexuality. So you can imagine that when I was invited to spend a weekend in the company of an Italian beauty I was not inclined to say no. My understanding wife was unperturbed as the Italian beauty in question was a bright red Maserati Gran Turismo.

The Maserati is undoubtedly a beautiful car to look at, it has stunning curves, which cleverly disguises its size, and a fantastic front end. Although it is a large car, comfortably

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The V8 Ferrari built engine emits a sound that simply puts a smile on your face but it gets better

seating four adults, even six footers can get in the back, it does not in anyway look ungainly. The interior is well finished but not overly luxurious. I was impressed with the front seats, which were comfortable without being too firm. The one irritating aspect was that you either needed to be an orangutan or a contortionist to comfortably reach behind to get hold of the seatbelt which seems to have been positioned as far back in the rear as possible. However the overall finish and fit seems to be good, dispelling

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the preconception that many Italian cars are great on style but lacking in the build quality/ reliability stakes.

This car however displays its true heritage when you start her up. The V8 Ferrari built engine emits a sound that simply puts a smile on your face but it gets better. When you press a Sport button on the dashboard, certain valves are adjusted in the exhausts so that the engine noise turns to an ear splitting growl that is head-turning delicious and rather pleasingly even occurs at low revs.

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With 400 bhp this car is not going to be slow but it is not as fast as I expected it to be. In fairness and in deference to the fact that the car had only travelled 600 miles when I collected it, I did not get the revs up high and I gather that the engine is designed to be high revving. So perhaps there is more performance to be had. The car does feel wide when driving it but when pushed on some of North Yorkshire’s winding roads it handled very well, maintaining its composure without producing a harsh ride. The car was also surprisingly very driveable around town and did not feel at all cumbersome. Whilst it certainly deserves the

Grand Tourer moniker you would have to be prepared to travel light as the boot is on the small side.

Ultimately, in evaluating any car it is a question of one’s requirements and comparisons with other cars in the class. I am sure that many car enthusiasts would argue that, for instance, a Porsche 911 is a better car for a whole host of reasons. While the conservative approach would always be to buy German but who wants to be a clone? So in the final analysis would you rather have a German 100m metre sprinter on your arm or an Italian beauty? I think I know what my answer would be.

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MOTORING

So would I buy one? I am afraid not but only because despite it being a genuine four seater I can not see the other “continental” loves in my life, my two Hungarian Wire Haired Vizslas, sitting comfortably in the back!

But that takes me back to Florence - I can still dream. n The car Ian drove was the Maserati Gran Turismo 460 Sport Auto, OTR £97,250.

JCT600 Brooklands Maserati, Ring Road, Lower Wortley, Leeds LS12 6AA Tel: 0113 389 0600

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EQUIPMENT

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EQUIPMENT

the world is watching A global gathering of watchmakers held in the industry’s spiritual home this year outlined nostalgia and colour over complication as trends to look out for in the coming months, writes Josh Sims >>

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EQUIPMENT

Baselworld is the inelegant name for a rather elegant show. It is where the watch industry gathers every year to show off its new wares.

And if the exhibition hall in Basel, Switzerland, is anything to go by, the industry is in rude health: it’s a new complex designed by ‘starchitects’ Herzog & de Meuron, housing some 1,460 exhibitors from 40 countries.

Were every watch to tick as audibly as they used to, the sound would be deafening.

And yet, as the latest show’s updated setting looked forward, its most distinctive watches looked back. This is the season of the re-issue.

Take, for example, the latest high-profile model from Tudor, a company itself undergoing what might be called a re-issue, having been in the shadow of big brother Rolex for recent decades but now striking out with more distinctive designs. Its Chrono Blue comes with a 42mm case and a bi-directional rotating bezel. That in itself is a clue to the philosophy behind this watch, since modern bezels (especially on diving watches) typically rotate only in one direction, to reduce error in measuring elapsed time. Indeed, the watch is almost a part-for-part remake of Tudor’s 1973 Monte Carlo chronograph. It even uses the same movement. Small wonder, in fact,

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that the company should call it the Heritage Chrono Blue, a successor to the Black Bay diving watch re-issue of last year that helped reboot the trend.

Heritage - aka making a song and dance about how old your company is, or digging around in the archives to recreate some golden oldies - has become something of a widespread marketing ploy over recent years, used most notably by styleconscious industries as diverse as automotive, fragrance and fashion. But arguably it was the watch industry that assayed the idea first, when in 1996 Tag Heuer made a re-issue of its 1960s/70s Carrera and Monaco models.

Their ‘retro’ appeal and old-time charm made them immediate hits and chimed with the rise of vintage as a credible style category in its own right, but also made the pieces accessible to those without the money or time to find an original.

Baselworld suggests that those brands with the heritage to tap are now doing so. Among

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the bigger names with their own look into the past are the likes of Longines, which made a splash when it re-issued its Legend Diver in 2009, and has now added three military watches based on models from 1938; Vulcain has the honestly-named Nautical Seventies, a limited-edition version of the diving model it introduced in, as suggested, the 1970s; and, with one of the stand-out pieces of Baselworld, Omega, has its Bullhead version of the Seamaster, first issued in 1969. Expect this one to get a lot of attention and for the originals to suddenly rocket in value.

According to Ulrich Herzog, executive chairman of Oris which has based its jazz-inspired Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane models on watches from the 1960s and 1970s - there are good reasons for the heritage revival, and it’s not lazy watch designers.

One may well be the reassuring nostalgia in suchproducts - the tried and

EQUIPMENT tested that salves the current tough economic climate (providing you can still afford to buy them). These are evocative pieces. But for many brands, also caught in the downturn of course, it is a way of underlining their pedigree. “It’s a way of pointing out that you have the history to explore, which gives credibility,” Herzog says. “If a company like ours has the heritage, we also have the archives that allow for re-issues. And if you don’t have the heritage, that’s not something you can do.”

And even those with it are not always successful in interpreting it. Re-issues, counterintuitively perhaps, are not all that easy to make, often requiring more work than a completely new watch design, in no small part because modern components (which are required to ensure the watch meets today’s production standards) have to be shaped into an old aesthetic - the look and shape of Plexiglass has to be remodelled in crystal glass, for example.

“A re-issue is harder to pull off than it may at

first seem, because its aesthetic may be what really appeals, but the consumer wants it to perform like a modern watch. And as soon as you start applying modern quality standards the watch starts to lose its old look and feel,” Herzog says. Of course, if the re-issue is a dominant theme of this year’s watches, it is not the only one. As the Tudor Chrono Blue might suggest, GMTs are the big complication for 2013, given a sportier makeover. See the likes of Omega’s Seamaster GMT or Rolex’s reworking of its GMT Master II, with lacquered dial and black-and-blue ‘cerachrom’ bezel - that’s the company’s name for its latest, patented super-durable ceramic blend.

But it is more colour than complication that stands out among trends for 2013 - and colour in keeping with the retro theme of the many re-issues. Orange, for instance - not a shade seen on upmarket watches since the 1970s - returns as an accent on Oris’ Prodiver Pointer Moon, for instance, Tag Heuer’s Monaco Calibre 12 ACM (a limited edition but still working that historic seam) or the Tudor

Chrono Blue again. If dials have lent towards conservative classicism in their use of colours over recent years - black, white, cream - then now grey in every tone is explored by the likes of Rado, with its Diamaster Ceramic - a real stylistic move on the company that invented the unscratchable watch - and GirardPerregauz, with its Constant Escapement.

Navy too is a big colour - see, for example, Hublot, with its Big Bang Unico, or Ebel, with its Ebel 100 - bringing the dominant and still sober shade of the male wardrobe to watches while softening the more typically monochromatic options.

Perhaps that is the thinking behind the increased use of rose gold too, especially in conjunction with steel for cases and bracelets. Zenith combines the two for its El Primero Chronomaster Grand Date, but if any guarantee that the upper end of the market sees this unusual combination as having class was needed, then look to Patek Philippe, which uses it for the first time, specifically on its Nautilus 5980. n

It is more colour than complication that stands out among trends for 2013

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FASHION

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the old ways are the best

In pockets of craftsmanship across the globe, one man bands are leading a new wave of interest in jeans made the way they used to be. Josh Sims reports on the rise of elite, artisan denim >>

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FASHION To most people Kurabo, Nisshinbo, Kuroki and Kaihara are exotic-sounding but largely meaningless words. To these same people, a pair of jeans is likely to be a non-descript, commodity product, something to do the gardening in, or to wear down the pub ordinary even in this, the 140th anniversary of the creation of the granddaddy of all jeans, Levi’s 501. But then there are other people those who might recognise the names of the four main mills producing denim in Japan, arguably home to the world’s best denim.

And these mills certainly are busy - as unlikely as the idea would have sounded just 15 years ago, denim is now an artisan fabric, with top-spec jeans hand-made by lone makers at their work-bench. And that is no romantic exaggeration. Among the new wave of elite denim are literal one-man-band makers the likes of those behind American labels Roy and White Horse Trading Co, and British label Tender, using homegrown denim from Cone Mills, the last of the US’s pioneering mills, or, more likely, one of the many varieties of Japanese denim - woven on old-fashioned shuttle looms, repeatedly hand-dyed using laborious loop-dyeing techniques, all to create the subtle irregularities of texture and certain properties of fading in the colour that denim-heads so love. The result? Jeans that will set you back anywhere between £300 and £500 a pair.

That Japan should be the source of the best take on a quintessentially American fabric may seem unlikely. But here comes a strange tale of American occupation after World War Two giving rise not to some desire to embrace a more homegrown style, but that of the occupying forces, which saw a youth cult for all things Americana and, a few decades later, a fledgling Japanese fashion industry seeking to recreate American raw blue jeans better than the Americans.

“And the trouble they go through to make jeans now as then is insane,” says Nick Coe, founder of the Rawrdenim.com webzine. “Of course, there is a romance to denim out of Japan. But it’s really in the manufacture that it’s unparalleled, at least until recently.

Japanese denim might not be re-inventing the wheel, but by bringing back in every detail what the makers thought was perfect in jeans

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Material wealth: White Horse Trading Co

many decades ago, but which hadn’t been available for many years, they created a connoisseur market.”

It was a company called Big John, which had been a textiles and uniform manufacturer, that became the first domestic denim brand in 1965. Edwin has a similarly long history. And they have since been joined by a growing plethora of ever more esoteric makers, the likes of Sugar Cane and Real McCoys, Full Count, 45RPM and Samurai, Iron Heart, Flat Head, Studio D’Artisan, Momotaro, the list

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Photo credit: Cory Piehowicz (Bandit Photographer)

goes on, including many yet to sell outside of Japan (which, of course, adds to their cachet).

Each claims their own specialism, be that the precision with which they re-make Levi’s classic styles of the 1930s to 1950s, or the use of natural indigo dyes, or the emphasis on heavy and super-heavyweight denims - perhaps 21 or 25oz as opposed to a more typical 12 or 14oz, this itself being sturdy stuff against the positively flimsy 8 or 9oz mass-market denim.

“You discover Japanese denim and its whole world sucks you in,” suggests

FASHION

Daniel Cizmek, managing director of the Berlin-based DC4, one of the leading retailers of Japanese denim outside of Japan. “The quality is amazing and not just because of the effects possible by using old looms and tailoring machines - it’s because the makers tend to have this deep fascination with American culture and typically have huge, and hugely valuable, vintage denim collections.

They know their subject and that shows in the product. Believe me, it’s addictive.”

But while the Japanese mills and makers may dominate the artisan denim market, they are not alone. There are the aforementioned American makers - joined by the likes of 3x1, 3Sixteen, Stronghold, Imogene & Willie and others. And then, perhaps more unexpectedly still, there are the Swedes. ”What we do well here is dark, clean denim, because that suits the dark winter climate - it’s less expressive of itself and more about your relationship with a pair of jeans and how they age. It’s fashion, but a slower kind of fashion,” argues Maria Erixon, ex of Lee jeans and co-founder/owner of Nudie Jeans, one of the biggest of the new premium denim brands out of Sweden in the last ten years.

“I’m not all that surprised by the development of Swedish denim now - we’re a very denim-oriented people.”

Indeed, recent years have seen a spate of new Swedish denim companies launch perhaps because of the strength of demand here for denim with a difference: it was Nudie, for example, who might well lay claim to having introduced the skinny fit that cut against the straight fit classic to became a staple fashion denim choice; which last year became the industry’s first fully organic denim brand and this year its first fully transparent one, conducting published audits of its suppliers’ working conditions and environmental standards. Nor is Nudie alone in this spate of new names. There are the likes of Denim Demon, Dr. Denim, Neuw and Pace. But a fact little known outside of the country is that Sweden has a denim culture dating back half a century. It was then, in 1966, that the pioneering brand Gul & Bla was formed by Lars and Maria Knutsson, sparking a jeans explosion for a youth market unable to buy Levi’s or Lee, then still a rarity outside of the US. Their first Stockholm shop not only sometimes sold 1,000 pairs a day - notably of their signature wide-legged ‘v-jeans’ - while the company was at the forefront of development of the techniques to allow aged washes and other treatments. The company is bouncing back too: dormant for some 15 years, this spring/summer saw the relaunch of

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Back to basics: The Nudie Jeans repair shop in Soho

Gul & Bla, complete with jeans production in Sweden.

“Sweden actually has a very early denim culture, relative to other European countries, which most people outside of Sweden don’t know about,” explains Mattias Hallencreutz, who works on design for Gul & Bla. “It comes from the fact that Sweden has always looked to the US for inspiration - in fashion, cars, music - perhaps because we have this long story of emigration to the US, so feel this strong link. And the Vikings discovered the US, after all.”

Indeed, according to Peter Lindt, design director of jeans brand Crocker, the national attachment to denim is a reflection of the Swedish democratic approach too.

“Swedes have never looked down on jeans they were something you could wear anywhere,” says Lindt. “Perhaps that is because jeans have never been considered workers’ clothing here either - jeans have always been a fashion item for us. And with artisan denim undergoing something of a reappraisal now, they look set to be entering a whole new phase of appreciation.” n

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ENTREPRENEUR

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ENTREPRENEUR

A tipoff that led one franchisee to build a multi-million pound firm No matter how solid a brand you buy into, franchise ownership is no guarantee of success. But, with the right acumen and application, it can lead to rich rewards in business, as technology retail champion Zakir Patel tells Andrew Mernin When the itch to fly solo becomes too great to ignore for people in a steady job, starting something from scratch can seem a daunting prospect.

Whether they want to be their own boss or transform their income, even knowing where to tread first is a challenge in itself.

Investing in a franchise is a popular solution.

Snapping up an instant business can reap rewards, although horror stories of overcrowded territories, undercooked markets and extortionate fees exist in abundance.

Last year it was estimated by NatWest that franchises contributed £13.4bn to the national economy and ‘franchise units’ number 40,100 and counting.

Here in Yorkshire, few can boast as much success from the franchise game as Zakir Patel,

whose £20m-turnover mobile phone store network is currently turning industry heads nationally.

The o2 franchisee – the UKs first – won the 2013 Mobile Industry Awards title for Best Franchisee and heads up a business which is gearing up for rapid growth.

Dewsbury-born Patel, 41, clearly comes from entrepreneurial stock. Alongside his brother

and sister, he launched what became a network of a dozen convenience stores and newsagents at just 23, initially in Lancashire and then across Yorkshire.

Over time the retail business gradually evolved into a computer exchange franchise and today employs around 120 people under the guidance of his siblings.

He got into mobile phones in around 2000 >>

For whatever business I’ve ran, I’ve always looked at expansion

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ENTREPRENEUR

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The key to success is to do something, perfect it and make sure that every single part of the business is running as smooth as possible and then replicate it when the convenience business started selling top-up cards and – through a promotion – its first handset.

“It sold straight away and we realised the amount of Mars bars you’d have to sell for that level of profit,” he says.

A stable of independent phone shops quickly followed and spread to a handful of locations including Bradford, Pontefract and Dewsbury.

Then in 2006 Patel received a tipoff from a friend in Germany that o2 was considering rolling out the franchise model it had there, into the UK. Patel contacted o2 and, although his eagerness impressed the telecoms group since it hadn’t announced its franchising intentions, he faced a stringent whittling down among 40 other hopefuls. But ultimately was named o2’s first franchisee. Stores one and two of o2’s newly franchised UK model were in Rotherham and Leeds respectively and headed up by Patel.

Rather than accepting his lot of one store, however, Patel saw a scaleable business model that could mirror previous success in the newsagents business.

“For whatever business I’ve ran I’ve always looked at expansion,” he says. “I’ve always got plans going ahead and if I’ve done something really well I want to replicate that over and over again.

“The key to success is to do something, perfect it and make sure that every single part of the business is running as smooth as possible, and then replicate it. Life’s so easy once you’ve perfected something and replicated it.”

Today Patel oversees 14 o2 stores and even has a call centre to service his database of customers which currently has eight staff but is expected to grow its workforce to 20 in the coming months.

Further growth beckons and he admits it is the ever-changing nature of the sector that keeps him hungry for more – cue another Mars bar

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analogy: “The industry is forever changing. I always compare it to the convenience sector.

A Mars bar will always be a Mars bar but a mobile phone is always changing. There’s a new product out in technology every month or so and customers also have an expectation to always be moving up and up.

“The greatest thing about the telecoms industry is that everyone needs a mobile phone and we’re not working on a specific market that we need to target, it’s for everyone. That’s the advantage we have.

“It’s also a very cutthroat business, which makes it even more exciting. We have our competitors with deals on that we can’t compete against and vice versa. Everybody’s fighting for the customer which is brilliant for them.”

One of Patel’s tactics in winning this fierce battle for trade, has been the addition of a free business centre at his Merrion Centre store in Leeds, with a big corporate like Barclays to students union groups taking advantage of its facilities.

Patel was this year officially named the UK’s most successful mobile industry franchisee – his 14 stores are in the o2’s top 30 in terms of sales conversions.

And he puts a large part of his success down to his strategy of working on the shop floor instead of the back office.

“You have to work extremely hard and you lead by example. Your team is going to look up to you and that is the foundation of a successful business.”

To others looking to enter the franchising game, Patel believes a strong brand is essential.

“Franchising has given me real success,” he says. “In this current economic climate you need a brand just so that you’ve got those extra steps ahead rather than starting off something new. It’s tough out there for borrowing but if you’re associated with a brand I think it’s a lot easier.”

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Beyond locating a suitable brand, he advises: “You obviously need to do your homework in terms of the profitability and you need to be asking a lot of questions to the franchisor.

How big is the brand and does it have enough clout?”

Having overcome the initial hurdles of life as a fledgling franchise player, Patel is now gearing up for bigger goals.

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“If o2 would give us the opportunity I would absolutely love to go national. It would be a really, really good challenge to us to operate stores that are not within the Yorkshire perimeter and I think it will happen.”

And where might the industry have raced onto by the time his national rollout is taking shape?

“The pace of growth in the industry is

ENTREPRENEUR

frightening. What are we going to be doing next with these mobile phones? Very soon I think they’ll be controlling the whole of our lives. We’ll be paying our bills with it, switching on the electricity, starting the car up with...everything...and that’s the way the industry is going.

“Texting is pretty much nonexistent now. I can remember three or four years ago several

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billion text messages were being sent per year. But now nobody uses text messages.

They use Twitter and all that stuff. I’m sure the operators are prepared for what’s going on. Meanwhile 4G is taking the industry to the next level. It’s going to revolutionize the market because it’s just so fast at what it does – and what’s going to be next? Where does it stop?” n

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SUCCESS STORY

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something’s brewing in harrogate Yorkshire Tea has come a long way and now plans to go even further as Kevin Sinfield explains to Victoria Gibson Apparently making a cup of tea is a very personal ritual. Do you put the tea bag in first or the milk? Add sugar or cream? Well, according to Yorkshire Tea, Britain’s fastest growing tea brand in the market, there’s over 100 different ways to make it.

“Everyone is different, but always use freshly drawn water because it contains more oxygen.

It’s the one tip I’d give,” advises Marketing Manager at Yorkshire Tea, Kevin Sinfield.

Branding and communications is taking a walk on the wild side and although Sinfield says he can’t reveal very much about future campaigns there’s a lot happening now.

“Even through the last few years where lots of businesses have struggled we’ve still managed to deliver double-digit growth across both our tea and coffee brands. It’s a really thriving business where at the moment we’ve got huge momentum and our plans make it a really exciting place to be.”

The brand value is now over £70 million a year and drunk in about five million households across the UK. “It’s still behind PG and Tetley but making strong gains, whereas before

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we’ve been small-to mid market. There’s three key brands in the market now,” Sinfield says.

Indeed. At present there are not many companies hiring new staff however, that’s exactly what they’ve done in order to keep up with demand for production, taking the total number of employees at the Harrogate base to 375, ranging from production workers to office staff.

“From my time here, we’ve grown from being a few people hand-packing boxes of Yorkshire Tea to now having fully automated production lines where we’re producing on a huge scale.

Our first ever night working shift is testament to that,” he says.

Sinfield has worked with the company for over 20 years now, starting straight out of school as a marketing junior for Bettys and then making his way to Taylors of Harrogate before focusing on the company’s brand Yorkshire Tea. “It was a very conscious decision around four or five years ago that there was a big opportunity that hadn’t been unlocked yet and in order to do so we needed to step

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up our investments. But it was done in a measured, sustainable way so that we knew we could afford to do it. We stepped up our promotional activity in-store to try and bring more people into the brand, and we also made a significant step change in the amount we spend on advertising. When we’re up against PG Tips or Tetley we still don’t spend to their levels, but we’re certainly very competitive.

“It’s very much about maintaining that momentum and to keep on trying to disrupt the category, act differently and stand out from the crowd so that we can continue to be talked about.”

And talked about they are. In a new three-year deal Yorkshire Tea is now the Official Brew of England Cricket.

“The fit between tea and cricket is brilliant – there’s no other game that stops for tea.

They’re such a good fit for us. We’ve had cricket on our packs since the early 80s. What we wanted to have was a partnership that would make people think differently about Yorkshire Tea,” Sinfield says enthusiastically. >>

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SUCCESS STORY During the summer the partnership allowed the company to give out over 100,000 sample packs to people watching cricket and around 80,000 cups of tea at the ground for people to taste the product.

It’s worked, Yorkshire Tea’s share in the market has grown from 14% to 16% in the last 12 months, and as well as five million homes now buying Yorkshire Tea they’ve managed to introduce it to 700,000 new homes this year alone. So how did the partnership come about?

“We had been approached by someone to ask if we wanted to advertise at the cricket and I felt there was an opportunity to do something bigger within cricket because of the fit with the game and the history that we have with it as a brand. We got one of the communications agencies that we work with to get involved with the ECB and it’s been really easy. The ECB have been really open to our ideas, especially with the appeal of the sport this summer with the Ashes being the key focus. We did the Great Cricket Tea Challenge where we did a search for the club with the best cricket tea in the UK and helped to stretch the link with cricket to a broader audience because it had a great British Bake Off feel to it. It was a lot of fun to do.”

They even managed to get former England cricket captain Michael Vaughn involved, “Michael Vaughn is down to earth, he’s warm and friendly and he doesn’t take himself too seriously. He’s open to having a bit of fun and the videos show that. That’s where he’s a good fit for us.”

There is also the big TV advert featuring a huge inflatable teapot, a very large cup and lots of people dancing around making one very big cup of tea. “It’s a big celebration of how great a cuppa is. During a tea break of a village cricket match we built a 35 ft tea cup and it was just meant to be an over the top celebration of tea. We’re all about delivering a great brew, it’s a great drink and we wanted to celebrate that fact and it’s gone down really well. We were a bit more brave and bold to get noticed and get people talking about the brand.”

Taylors of Harrogate goes way back to 1886 when Charles Edward Taylor and his brother Llewellyn set up the tea and coffee importing

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

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We’re all about delivering a great brew, it’s a great drink and we wanted to celebrate that fact and it’s gone down really well business CE Taylor & Co. Charles eventually hit on the idea of opening up ‘kiosk’ tea and coffee tasting rooms in the fashionable spa towns of Harrogate and Ilkley which became very successful.

It all changed when the manager of rival café Bettys found out the business was up for sale and immediately told Victor Wild, Bettys’ chairman, who bought the business to complement the bakery. In a bid to sell tea through retailers Yorkshire Tea was launched around 1977.

“Ever since, Yorkshire Tea slowly secured new listings with time spent at grass-roots level trying to get out with the consumers and putting the product into people’s hands, we’ve always had huge confidence in the blend and we’ve always tried to match that consistency of blend over the years to make sure we maintain the quality at all times.

“Gradually chipping in at getting more distribution, that took up until the turn of the

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century to really secure national distribution with all retailers. It was probably mid to early nineties when we started going on TV and advertising our products more heavily.”

As a whole Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate is still very much a family-run business with one member being the chairman with a group of non-executive board members. Within Taylors there is a trading team consisting of the managing director with seven or eight directors of functions.

“When we look at the tea market it can seem quite low energy and we’re up against some of Britain’s biggest and best known brands, not only from a brand point of view but also they’re icons of advertising if you look at PG Tips with the chimps and Tetley with the tea folk. People have been buying these brands for generations so really making a change that is going to be maintained in consumer behaviour is the challenge that we face. Yorkshire Tea is about thinking creatively but at the same time

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staying down to earth and that seems to be appealing to people at the moment.”

Luckily, the tea market hasn’t really been affected by the recession, more the fact that there is now so much choice in the shops, as Sinfield explains, “Tea as a market has been in long-term volume and value decline for years where consumers are drinking a broader repertoire of drinks, not just teas but soft drinks, alcohol, water. The consumption occasion for tea is diminishing. Gone are the days when people would drink six to eight cups of tea all day, all week, so we’re not seeing penetration fall, consumption is falling.

“It’s not as if the recession has had a huge impact on the market because in terms of the recession people are spending more time in the home and that then often equates to still drinking tea so it’s not in the context of things it’s not a hugely expensive product when you’re paying £2.50 for 80 tea bags so you’re making 80 drinks, it’s three pence a cup. So it’s not an expensive product and generally it’s quite recession proof.”

Export is a steady revenue stream for Yorkshire Tea, one in which there is enormous potential as well as the out-of-home market such as hotels, cafes, bars, which the brand will be focusing on more in the future.

“We’ve always believed in long-standing relationships so wherever possible we try to deal direct with growers and we’ve been working with some of our suppliers for over twenty years. As tea is an agricultural crop that is being affected by global warming those partnerships also help protect us when there are availability issues in the supply chain. We are also able to work together to improve environmental and social issues at origin as well as working with third parties to improve standards and all products in the Yorkshire Tea range will be 100% Rainforest Alliance certified by the end of 2014.”

This could well have played a part in The Taylors of Harrogate tea and coffee packs proudly showing the Royal Coat of Arms after The Prince of Wales granted the company the Royal Warrant of Appointment for being committed to looking after the environment and developing sustainability, not to mention supplying Clarence House for over five years.

All the hard work is paying off and Yorkshire

SUCCESS STORY

Tea was recently rewarded with a Great Taste Award 2013 for Yorkshire Gold (and its decaffeinated tea) the company’s premium product within the range which will celebrate it’s 30th anniversary next year.

“Growing consumer trends where people are becoming much more aware with what they’re eating and concerned with where they’re coming from. We don’t take shortcuts and it’s helped us appeal to a broader audience,” Sinfield adds.

“The new ad campaign and being the Official

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Brew of Cricket is a case of keeping that momentum going and disrupting the market a bit more to get noticed. Yorkshire stands for more than just being a place in England.

We’re bringing out more of that personality and character and quirky nature which we feel the Yorkshire values sit really well with - a sense of properness, the way in which we make our products, everything we do is done properly.” n www.yorkshiretea.co.uk

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BIT OF A CHAT

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It’s not normal. This level of applications is really not normal...There seems to be a realisation that organisations can no longer rely on grants with Frank Tock >> X marks the spot TV talent show X Factor has a lot to answer for - like nurturing unrealistic dreams among musically-challenged young folk and filling the charts with rehashes of old songs.

But Yorkshire entrepreneur Ajaz Ahmed, who founded what was once the UK’s largest internet service provider, Freeserve, sees the show in an entirely more positive light.

In fact, he reckons the business world has much to learn from Simon Cowell and chums in the way they deal with talent – or rather the lack of it.

Overheard at a recent BQ event: “In business you see people get all the way to the stage of pitching for funding, having already spent £40,000 on a patent, only to discover their idea is rubbish.

“On the X Factor, if people can’t sing they tell them straight away. We need something like that in business.”

You are amazed at the different attitudes of the younger generation today compares to 30 years ago

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

>> Social investment - a sunrise industry?

When retailers suffer a drop in sales, they often blame the weather. Perhaps it’s too hot for sausage rolls, too cold for barbeques or too wet for convertibles. It works for sales growth too, with simple economics linking climate fluctuations with surges in demand. So could the fine weather enjoyed in the summer across Yorkshire be the reason for strange goings on at the Sheffield branch of Key Fund, the social enterprise investor? Might the warm weather have instilled a sunny disposition in individuals, and in turn encouraged them to think ethically for the greater good? The branch normally receives on average 12 to 16 applications, equating to £400,000 of requested funds, to help new social enterprises start-up, or existing enterprises expand. Out of those applications, not all are awarded. However in the month from mid July to mid August, the number of applications more than trebled, with 42 applications requesting a record £950,000 of funds. Just two applications were turned down, resulting in a bumper £851,000 worth of funds committed in one month. This made it the biggest month in Key Fund records – prompting senior client Garry Brown to exclaim: “It’s not normal - this level of applications is really not normal! We’ve had to extend our usual four week assessment period to six weeks to cope with the influx. We’ve seen a spike in applications for our Creative Industry Finance scheme, and a surge from Leeds and Bradford, but the applications came from all over the North, and from a wide-range of sectors. One thing that was clear was the big increase in different investment types and the significant number of innovative ideas. There seems to be a realisation that organisations no longer rely on grants, so they have to be more creative and entrepreneurial. There were a lot of good, exciting ideas.”

>> Up with the lark Early one morning next spring you may see a bleary eyed executive or two hot-footing it across Leeds city centre in full dinner party garb. But don’t throw them an accusatory glance for their all-night exploits, for they are most likely heading to the Institute of Directors awards ceremony which regional director Suzy BrainEngland has moved from an evening to a breakfast event for those with busy diaries. Interested parties should call 0113 243 0152.

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>> When I were a lad...

They just don’t make young workers like they used to, bemoaned Lightwater Valley boss Mark Bainbridge in his interview with BQ for this issue. Not that he doesn’t talk glowingly about his staff, it’s just that he remembers an era when the younger generation were a more capable bunch.

Reminiscing on a time when popcorn smelled sweeter and theme park rides spun a little slower, he said: “The staff in those days were far more hands on and practical in terms of doing things. The children of today struggle to make a cup of tea. You are amazed at the different attitudes of the younger generation today compared to 30 years ago.”

EVENTS

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BQ’s business events diary gives you lots of time to forward plan. If you wish to add your event to the list send it to editor@bq-yorkshire.co.uk and please put ‘BQ events page’ in the subject heading

SEPTEMBER

7 Pure Networking, Leeds Utd Football Club (7.30am) Contact 0113 247 0000 or clare.jones@yourchamber.org.uk

23 Leeds Business Week, register online at leedsbizweek.com.

7 Grape & Graze, Harrogate (5.30pm). Contact lorraine@themetclub.co.uk

24 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce Ask the Digital & Media Expert, White Rose House near 28 York Pl, Leeds (9am).

Email events@yourchamber.org.uk or call 0113 247 0000.

12 Ladies Evening at Fenwicks, York (6pm). Pre-register 13 Restaurant Bar & Grill, Leeds (5.30pm) Contact lorraine@themetclub.co.uk

26 Gerald Ratner Dinner, Hilton Hotel, Leeds City Centre (7pm) Call 01423 525 622 or email lorraine@themetclub.co.uk.

19 Networking Lunch, Grand St Leger, Doncaster (12pm). Contact lorraine@ themetclub.co.uk 20 Construction Lunch, Village Hotel, Leeds (12pm). Contact 0113 247 0000.

OCTOBER

21 Networking Lunch, Hotel du Vin, York (12pm). Contact lorraine@themetclub.co.uk

3 Pure Networking in Leeds, Leeds Utd Football Club (7.30am) Contact 0113 247 0000 or clare.jones@yourchamber.org.uk

27 Met Connect, The New Ellington, Leeds (8.30am). Contact lorraine@themetclub.co.uk

4 Chamber Annual Lunch Leeds, The Queen’s Hotel, City Square (12pm).

Pre-register.

28 Business Lunch in Scarborough, Beiderbecke’s Hotel & Restaurant (12pm).

Pre-register.

4 Marketing on a Shoestring, White Rose House, Leeds (1pm). Contact 0113 247 0000 or email events@yourchamber.org.uk.

7 Networking Skills - Hints and Tips, White Rose House, Leeds (1pm). Contact 0113 247 0000 or email events@yourchamber.org.uk.

7 Huddersfield Huddle, The Head of Steam, Huddersfield (6pm). Pre-register.

8 Ask the Marketing & Sales Expert, White Rose House, Leeds (9am). Contact 0113 247 0000 or email events@yourchamber.org.uk.

9 PR for Beginners, White Rose House, Leeds (10am). Contact 0113 247 0000 or email events@yourchamber.org.uk.

10 Met Connect - Get Connected – Harrogate, Hotel du Vin (8.30am). Contact lorraine@themetclub.co.uk 10 Construction Lunch in York, Sandburn Hall, Flaxton, York (12pm). Pre-register.

16 Pure Networking in York, York College (7.30am). Pre-register.

17 Exporting For Growth – Unlocking The Potential, Lloyds Banking Group, Leeds (8.30). Contact katy.raife@yourchamber.org.uk or call 0113 247 0000.

18 Netwalking - The inspiration way to grow your business, locations throughout Yorkshire (9am). Contact www.netwalkinguk.com

DECEMBER 3 Training Course - Advanced Marketing, The Ron Cooke Hub, York (9.30am).

Contact cpd@york.ac.uk 4 Networking Lunch, Aston Hall Hotel, Sheffield (12pm). Contact lorraine@themetclub.co.uk 5 The Met Club, Hotel du Vin, Harrogate (5.30pm). Contact lorraine@themetclub.co.uk 5 Pure Networking, Leeds Utd Football Club (7.30am). Contact 0113 2470000 or clare.jones@yourchamber.org.uk 6 PR for Beginners, White Rose House, Leeds (10am). Contact 0113 247 00000 or email events@yourchamber.org.uk.

10 York Property Forum, The Royal York Hotel (5pm). Pre-register.

12 The Met Club, Cedar Court Grand Hotel, York (5.30pm). Contact l orraine@themetclub.co.uk 13 Netwalking, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire. Pre-register.

22 Ask the Accountancy & Finance Expert, White Rose House, Leeds (9am).

Contact 0113 247 0000 or email events@yourchamber.org.uk.

23 How to Increase Your Sales, White Rose House, Leeds (10am). Contact 0113 247 0000 or email events@yourchamber.org.uk.

24 Training Courses - Negotiation Skills, The Ron Cooke Hub, University of York (9.30). Call 01904 43 5213 or email cpd@york.ac.uk.

25 High Cost Lending Conference, Leeds Civic Hall (10am).

Contact angela.rai@leeds.gov.uk 29 Wakefield Networking Lunch, Malagor Fine Thai Cuisine (12pm). Contact lorraine@themetclub.co.uk

NOVEMBER 5 Bidding for Public Sector Contracts, Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster (9am) Contact 0800 052 8156 or email info@ee-yorkshire.com.

6 Business Lunch in York, National Railway Museum, York (12pm). Pre-register.

6 Networking Lunch, Restaurant Bar & Grill, Harrogate (12pm). Contact lorraine@themetclub.co.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 13

The diary is updated daily online at www.bq-magazine.co.uk Please check with contacts beforehand that arrangements have not changed. Events organisers are also asked to notify us at the above email address of any changes or cancellations as soon as they are known.

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