BQ YORKSHIRE issue 16

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ISSUE SIXTEEN: SPRING 2013

never too old Secret millionaire on keeping business dreams alive solid foundations The nimble housing group that’s fighting back keep on pushing Around the world with pram maker Silver Cross cocktail for success Taking on the drinks industry giants and winning

serial star ISSUE SIXTEEN: SPRING 2013: YORKSHIRE EDITION

The prolific Yorkshire entrepreneur behind a seemingly constant stream of start-up ideas

BUSINESS NEWS: COMMERCE: FASHION: INTERVIEWS: MOTORS: EVENTS

YORKSHIRE EDITION

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BUSINESS QUARTER: SPRING 13: issue sixteen If our interviewees are representative of Yorkshire business, and I hope they are, then I am glad to see international connections making such a big impact in these parts, particularly at the moment.

Pram maker Silver Cross, for example has been making great headway in exporting what chairman Alan Halsall insists is a very British brand all around the world in recent years.

And if the reception the company’s latest product launch got in a shopping centre in Hong Kong is anything to go by, it seems that he is on to a good thing.

Cleaning products manufacturer Astonish meanwhile, might only have made it onto the shelves of what might be described as mainstream retailers this year, but, as we discover in our interview with current boss Howard Moss this issue, its products are now on sale in over 40 countries around the world.

Even the nomads in Mongolia are familiar with them. What’s particularly impressive in both these cases is that this international expansion has happened without any large investment coming from outside.

It is proof, if it were needed, that successful Yorkshire businesses do not always need to worry about whether banks are lending at the moment.

Southdale Homes is another Yorkshire business that is thriving both because of and in spite of being self funded. Managing director Paul Moore tells us this issue that that is one of the reasons why the company has survived and grown while so many other housebuilders have gone to the wall. Not having outside funders means you can react quickly to a sudden change in market conditions.

Continuing the international theme, John Pearce, chief executive of new headhunting agency the Chief Officers Group, also has his sights set on China as a place to do business.

Trade between China and the UK, he points out, is not all one way: there are plenty of Chinese organisations out there now looking to invest in UK PLC, and he wants to be there to help them.

We also have a talk with someone bringing an international, or at least European, flavour to

Leeds. Thierry Dumouchel hales from Normandy, but for the past 15 years has been running a bakery in Garforth.

He is one of the faces on a new advertising campaign encouraging more people to visit Leeds, and, as he tells us in this issue, he is more than happy to be an ambassador for the city and Yorkshire.

That campaign has been organised by Leeds and Partners, the recently enlarged promotional and inward investment agency for the city region.

This issue its chief executive Lurene Joseph tells us her plans for how the organisation can work, and why she thinks we can only succeed by more cooperation.

Finally, don’t miss our interview with Vicky Novis, a young entrepreneur who has given up a promising career at KPMG to launch her own business, and already has the backing of one of the men behind smoothie empire Innocent. Success indeed.

CONTACTS room501 ltd Christopher March Managing Director e: chris@room501.co.uk Bryan Hoare Director e: bryan@room501.co.uk EditorIAL Peter Baber Editor e: peterb@bq-magazine.co.uk Andrew Mernin e: andrewm@room501.co.uk Design & production room501 e: studio@room501.co.uk Photography KG Photography e: info@kgphotography.co.uk advertising For advertising call 0191 537 5720 or email sales@bq-magazine.co.uk

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BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

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CONTE BUSINESS QUARTER: SPRING 13

built on solid foundations

Features 24 and another thing Entrepreneur Andy Lenney on his seemingly non-stop stream of new business launches

30 solid foundations The nimble housing group that continues to defy tough conditions

40 small but focused The executive search company that believes small is beautiful

BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

46 keep on pushing How British pram brand Silver Cross continues to woo the world

50 second home Meet the French baker and chocolattier who has Leeds to thank for his success

30 smaller but focused

70 astonishing stuff A smallish manufacturer in Bradford is winning them over even in Mongolia

74 cocktail for success How young Vicky Novis is taking on the drinks trade giants and winning

06

40

TENTS YORKSHIRE EDITION

36 commercial property

Deals and developments in Yorkshire

keep on pushing

54 business lunch Why we need more collaboration in business according to Lurene Joseph

Regulars

58 wine Falling into the red with Pharos Legal managing director Natalie Saunders

60 motors Brewin Dolphin’s divisional director Paul Martin plays Bond for the day

08 on the record New openings, fund launches and expansion plans in focus

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

22 as i see it You’re never too old to go it alone in business, says one secret millionaire

62 equipment

46 cocktail for success

Behind the handlebars of the retro riding revolution

66 fashion The Italian menswear master who’s pushing the boundaries of fashion

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

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74 BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

ON THE RECORD

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Hi-tech Trinity opens, £500m fund unveiled at MIPIM, department store giant goes back to its roots, deal sees Findel subsidiary break out, and surveys advise caution >> Grand Depart wins £10m after all Culture Secretary Maria Miller’s announcement that the Government will back the Yorkshire Grand Depart for the 2014 Tour de France with £10m in funding has been welcomed by Welcome to Yorkshire – and must have come as a relief from embarrassment after central Government had initially backed the Scottish bid to start the famous race.

Welcome to Yorkshire says the money will be used to make sure the whole country benefits from the event.

Speaking at the unveiling of Yorkshire’s winning bid, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said Leeds, where the race is due to start on 5 July 2014, would be the most northerly starting point the Tour de France has ever had, and would be coming immediately after its most southerly start in Corsica this year. He added that although he personally knew Yorkshire, he “hadn’t realised it was so glorious until I spent some days here last spring”.

The first day of the race will go from Leeds up around the Yorkshire Dales and back to Harrogate. The second day will see a race from York to Sheffield, including a climb over Holme Moss. The race will then move south for a final UK stage from Cambridge to London.

Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity said: “The Olympics showed that 2 million people came out onto Yorkshire’s roads to see the torch. We think 3 million will come out for the Tour de France.”

However he added that he also wanted to see the Grand Depart leaving a legacy. “We want it still to be having an effect 10 years afterwards,” he said.

Kirsten England, chief executive of City of York Council, said that as part of this her council and others involved in the event were already talking to companies about sponsorship and looking at how cycling, particularly in a cyclefriendly city such as York, could be improved.

Reaction from the leisure industry itself to the

BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

news, however, was mixed.

Yvonne White, manager of the Lawrance serviced apartments in York and Harrogate, said she was already taking in booking for July 2014. “This is a great advert for the region and just the boost our tourism industry needs,” she said.

But Stephen Turner, general manager of the Doubletree by Hilton hotel in Leeds, was more cautious. “The Tour de France is going to be a busy week, but I don’t think it we should assume it will make the same impression as the Olympics,” he said.

London for D&D Restaurants, the owners of the Butlers Wharf Chop House and Bluebird, and an Everyman Cinema.

Overall, Land Securities claims the centre should create around 2,600 new jobs.

But it will also be noted for its technical wizardry. Interactive LCD and LED advertising screens will link to retailer websites and promotions, while centre staff will be equipped with iPads to help customers more effectively. Land Securities’ chief executive Robert Noel said: “Trinity is good for the people of Leeds, good for retailers and is already a big success for Land Securities. Despite economic uncertainty, major shifts in retailing habits and a challenging city centre site, Land Securities has built Trinity Leeds on time, on budget and nearly fully let at opening.”

>> £500m fund unveiled at MIPIM

>> Hi-tech Trinity opens for business Trinity Leeds, the long awaited new shopping centre in the centre of the city, opened with a grand ceremony at the end of March and is already 90% let, with a further 5% in solicitors’ hands. The £378m, 1m sq ft centre includes 46 brands that are new to Leeds, such as Mango and Hollister.

Owners Land Securities hope it will stimulate Leeds’ night-time economy too, as alongside the 100 shops there are 20 restaurants, including Angelica and Crafthouse, the first venture outside

08

A £500m economic investment fund backed by four Yorkshire councils was unveiled by the Leeds City Region’s delegation at the MIPIM property conference in Cannes in the South of France in March.

The fund, which is backed by Bradford, Leeds, Wakefield and York councils, will launch initially with a £50m mezzanine fund, with £400m becoming available later in the year. The councils say leveraging in further institutional funds will eventually take the fund’s value up to £500m. Although it will be public money, the fund will have its own independent fund manager running it.

Bradford Council chief executive Tony Reeves said the fund had become necessary because of a lack of funding from the banking sector and a perceived need to provide mezzanine finance. He said there was also a role for the public sector to play in stimulating new classes of investment. He said: “We want our fund to link to the other funds that will attract economic investment and unlock risk.” Alongside the councils, professional >>

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ON THE RECORD services firms including Addleshaw Goddard, Shulmans and Turner & Townsend supported the delegation to the MIPIM conference, which attracted 19,000 delegates and 4,100 investors from 83 countries. They were also joined by guest speakers including Greg Clark, an international speaker on corporate and city investment who is professor of economics at the University of California, Davis. He said: “There is increased confidence that Leeds city region is a great place to invest. It has a record of success, offers demonstrable value for money and tremendous opportunities for businesses looking for somewhere to locate in the UK.” The delegation also had celebrity endorsement in the form of Olympic medal winning cyclist Lizzie Armitstead, who arrived at the head of a Cycle to Cannes charity ride.

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Armitstead, who comes from Leeds, said: “I really believe that Leeds and the wider city region is part of the reason for my success. I am always proud of where I am from as I do passionately believe it is the best place to live, work and do business.”

>> Deal sees Findel subsidiary break out NRS Healthcare, a subsidiary of struggling Yorkshire-based multi-channel retailer Findel, has been through a £24m MBO backed

by LDC with funding from Yorkshire Bank.

The Leicester-based company, which employs 500 people, specialises in providing equipment for people with mobility issues so that they can remain in their own homes.

The newly separated company now plans to

M&S archive

>> M&S back to its roots Marks & Spencer is re-establishing a presence in Leeds’ Kirkgate Market – the place where it was founded 129 years ago.

The retailer, which has also marked the opening of Trinity Leeds with a new redesigned store there, has opened a heritage and coffee shop in the covered market.

It has also worked in partnership with Leeds City Council to open a heritage trail, starting from the Kirkgate Market stall and taking in places of historic interest for the company around the city before ending at the M&S Company Archive, which celebrated its first birthday in March.

Phil Edwards, deputy store manager of M&S Leeds Briggate and manager of the new stall, said: “We have had a lot of support from people locally in Leeds about the launch of the new stall and we are very excited to be bringing M&S back to its birthplace.”

BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

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expand its product portfolio and go on the acquisition trail.

John Garner, head of LDC for Yorkshire and the North East, who led the deal, said: “The increase in residential and domiciliary care provision, which has been driven by an ageing population, the transfer of care from the public to the private sector and rapid technological advancement has supported strong growth in the community healthcare equipment industry.”

Pinsent Masons, Catalyst and Rothschild all advised on the deal.

>> Surveys advise caution The Yorkshire economy is staging a fragile recovery, and is by no means out of the woods yet, two surveys released this quarter suggest.

The latest ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business Confidence Monitor showed a positive balance of +7.1% for the first quarter of this year, the fourth quarter in a row to be positive.

The survey suggested there were expectations of further modestly improving growth among respondents in turnover, gross profits and domestic sales.

ICAEW regional director Chris Manners said many businesses he has been speaking to have been reporting good prospects.

But he added: “Most of them are also reporting looming threats – with access to finance, say, or from the consequences of a re-grading by their credit rating agency.

Recovery is there, but it’s still fragile.”

At the same time, the Lloyds TSB Yorkshire & Humber Business Activity Index suggested that private sector output grew for the fourth consecutive month in February, although the growth was the weakest since November.

The index fell from 53.1 in January to 51.3 in February (anything over 50 is positive), with evidence that strong growth in the service sector had been offset by a stagnant manufacturing sector. The survey also suggested the first reduction in employment since September – although this was largely confined to manufacturing. Martyn Kendrick, area director for Lloyds TSB Commercial Banking in Yorkshire, said: “Yorkshire and the Humber was one of only two English regions to record overall job losses in February.”

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SPRING 13

Black Sheep backs chancellor, school providers link up, gloomy report paints bleak tourism picture, Harvard lights up new markets, Yorkshire firms share eureka moment, and council helps firm expand >> Mann gets partner promotion Paul Mann has been promoted to partner at Squire Sanders’ Leeds office, as part of a global round of 13 promotions to partner level.

Mann completed his training at the firm in 2005 and currently works on all aspects of general M&A transactional work with a focus on private equity transactions.

Leeds office managing partner Jonathan Jones said: “Paul is a great example of the home grown talent which exists within our firm and which represents the future of legal services in the Yorkshire market.”

>> Black Sheep backs chancellor The chancellor’s decision to cut 1p in beer duty in this year’s budget has won support from at least one Yorkshire brewer.

Rob Theakston, managing director of the Black Sheep Brewery in Masham, said George Osborne’s move was “the first time in years that we have had a chancellor who has listened to us”. He added: “We are delighted that we finally have a chancellor who recognises that the pub is the hub of the community and that beer is our country’s national drink. Moreover, as cask beer can only be served in pubs, it is one of the most responsible forms of alcohol and finally the chancellor has recognised that fact.”

>> Interiors business in £50,000 refurbishment Harrogate-based interior design and furnishings business Richard Grafton Interiors has invested £50,000 to completely redesign and refurbish room sets at its threestorey showrooms just a year after launching.

The retail and commercial interior design business which opened its doors in March 2012, has completely remodelled its 3,000 sq ft retail and showroom premises on The Ginnel. Featuring entire rooms to showcase its design and installation capability and products, the showrooms have been updated with brand new living rooms, a dining room, bathrooms and a show apartment to reflect the latest trends in interior design.

>> School providers link up West Yorkshire based education and early years specialist, Formative Data Solutions, has forged a partnership with school data system developer Double First, to distribute its online data tracking system to fee paying nursery, pre-prep and prep schools globally.

The brainchild of former deputy head teacher and data management specialist Scott Parkin, the Early Essence and Primary Essence system delivers online, live data tracking systems that allow nursery providers, primary schools, parents and pupils to follow the progress, development and attainment of children up to 11 years. Developed to support Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the systems have been piloted in selected Yorkshire schools.

>> McArthurGlen extends with Claritas Designer outlet retailer McArthurGlen has extended its CRM IT contract with West Yorkshirebased Claritas Solutions, taking its total investment in IT services beyond £300,000 per annum. Overall, Bramham-based Claritas manages communication, security and mail archiving IT systems for McArthurGlen, which has seven centres in the UK and a further 14 across Europe.

The annual contract also covers both its existing CRM application and now the upgraded consultancy services.

Claritas Solutions’ sales director Kevin Edwards said the contract extension was “a real reward for our team who have continually met the required service levels”.

BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

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Greg Parkinson, Lee Bhandal

>> South Yorkshire recruiter moves into Leeds South Yorkshire based recruitment firm Elevation Recruitment has set up a second office to cover West Yorkshire after a year which has seen the company almost double both its turnover and workforce.

Located in Leeds city centre, the office will be headed by joint managing director Lee Bhandal, who brings over 16 years’ specialist recruitment experience. He is joined by Harjit Dlay as lead director for the Leeds operation. Joint managing director Greg Parkinson said: “Since the opening of our head office in South Yorkshire, we as a business have also grown exponentially, having firmly established the Elevation name within the region with a turnover of over £1.8m in 2012.”

>> Gloomy report paints bleak tourism picture The Yorkshire tourism industry risks a ‘lost decade’, according to a report by Deloitte that says it could take five more years to return to pre-2008 levels.

Some 38% of businesses questioned think it will be 2017 at the earliest before the Yorkshire hotel market returns to its previous peak.

A further 43% think it will be at least another three years before the market recovers.

Five years since the credit crunch, almost half of the businesses and investors surveyed for the Deloitte UK Hotel Performance and Investment report in conjunction with TNS

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are still finding it tough to secure financing for any type of project in the region, either new developments or acquisitions.

The report also found that while the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games provided a boost to hotel performance in London, many felt that the performance benefits were limited to the capital with no impact being felt in the regions.

>> Rescue for Castleford building firm Eight jobs have been saved after Castleford-based building services maintenance engineers, R Levitt, was bought out of administration by John Cullerton & Sons based in Durham. Established in 1956, the company, which trades as Levitts, had been offering a ‘one-stop shop’ for building services to clients including the Royal Armouries,

North Yorkshire County Council and Carillion.

But following cashflow difficulties caused by the loss of some major contracts, Levitts was placed in the hands of joint administrators David Wilson and Julian Pitts of Begbies Traynor in Leeds in January.

>> Harratts gets its man Andrew Venn, a former franchise director at car dealership Pendragon, has been appointed head of operations at Harratts, the Wakefield-based familyowned motor group. He brings over 25 years’ industry experience working with brands such as Honda, Volvo, Vauxhall, BMW and Porsche. The Wakefield-based company, which has 13 dealerships, employs 300 people across Yorkshire.

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NEWS

>> New care home standards A Knaresborough entrepreneur whose company developed the world’s first radio controlled baby monitor and was once the world’s largest supplier of child safety gates has teamed up with his son to open a 70-bed care home in Harrogate for people living with dementia.

Vida Hall is the brainchild of father and son Chris and James Rycroft, who have invested £5m in the home which offers full day and residential care and employs 70 people.

Determined to push the boat out on care, the pair have already received backing from the Workforce Development Innovation Fund from Skills for Care to develop bespoke training with a professor in the field of cognitive stimulation therapy, a pioneering new treatment for people with mild to moderate dementia.

BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

NEWS

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young people entering the workplace wherever possible.” Head of HR, Martin Wright, added; “Arena has seen a direct link between the quality of its service delivery and the number of apprentices, and former apprentices, working in customer-facing roles.

We recruit for attitude and train for skills and we enjoy seeing staff progress and get involved in different facets of the business.”

>> Winning in the apprenticeships arena Fast growing technology business, Arena Group, has been recognised as one of Yorkshire’s top employers.

The company scooped the Employer of the Year title at the Leeds Apprenticeship Awards.

The judges were impressed with Arena’s embedded training culture and dynamic delivery model.

Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week at the awards ceremony organised by Leeds City Council, Arena said it was honored to receive the award which it said recognised its commitment to supporting and developing staff throughout their careers.

The Leeds Apprenticeship Awards judges noted: “Arena Group’s commitment to recruiting for attitude and investing in training provides long term career prospects for its employees whilst retaining a highly skilled workforce. It is clear from their nomination that they have ambitious development plans for each individual joining the organisation.

“They have recognised the potential for apprentices to have a bigger impact on their business and are looking to expand their number of apprentices.”

In 2012 Arena employed nine apprentices across different areas of the business, through its Apprentice Academy, established in 1994.

Since the scheme launched, 38 apprentices have successfully completed a program with several progressing into management roles within the business.

Apprentices frequently occupy Arena’s top positions in monthly league tables which present progress against key performance indicators. Managing director Adrian Fitzpatrick said: “It’s not easy developing a career these days and we want to support

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>> Stepping up a level A Yorkshire living space and design expert has moved up a notch to start designing for the commercial sector after he was called in by a Lancashire-based food supplier to help in the design of its brand new purpose built facility in Lancashire. Michael Wright, owner of Harrogate-based Michael Wright Kitchens and Interiors, was approached by Clitheroebased Total Foodservice to create a commercial kitchen that would be suitable to prepare food and show product demonstrations, while creating a relaxed informal environment for clients.

He said: “I usually focus on creating living spaces and kitchens for homeowners, but the opportunity to design something for the commercial market place was a great chance for me to diversify.”

>> Harvard lights up new markets Leeds-based Harvard Engineering is celebrating another successful year of growth after opening international offices across Europe and the USA. The street light manufacturer opened facilities in Italy, Germany and the USA during 2012 as part of a five-year growth strategy to increase exports from 25% of turnover at the end of 2011 to 50% by the end of 2015. The US accounting for 20% of the US$75bn global lighting market and provides Harvard with a significant opportunity.

>> Yorkshire firms share eureka moment Three Yorkshire-based construction companies have been working together on a new £2.9m health and body-themed gallery, All About Me, which Is due to open at Eureka!, The National Children’s Museum in Halifax at the end of March.

Bradford-based construction consultants Rex Procter & Partners managed the project from initial gallery costings and the appointment of exhibition designers through to the appointment of the contractors. Halifax-based Limehouse Heritage provided audio visual content for the gallery, while York-based Paragon Creative produced interactive displays and themed spaces. All About Me aims to provide a supportive and stimulating environment in which children and their families are encouraged to explore their bodies. Eureka! chief executive Leigh-Anne Stradeski, said the gallery would “help hundreds of thousands of children across the UK build the knowledge, confidence and ability to make healthy choices”.

>> Council helps firm expand A Keighley-based e-learning company hopes to take on 60 new staff at its head office by this September after Bradford Council’s business and investment team helped it buy new equipment and IT through providing support and grant-funded programmes.

Webanywhere provides schools and businesses with websites and learning management systems. It employs around 140 staff with operations in Poland, the US and New Zealand.

The council team worked with the company to undertake a business review, helping it to gain an insight into its operations, and supported the recruitment of staff. Managing director Sean Gilligan said: “We very much appreciate the support and assistance provided

by Bradford Council, which has allowed us to develop a more proactive business strategy.”

ONLINE: For the latest breaking business news from Yorkshire and the wider UK visit BQ’s website www.bq-magazine.co.uk

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>> WH Smith joins forces with Harrogate prize

Hugh Bayley, Gillian Cruddas, Julian Sturdy

>> York event attracts 60 buyers A showcase event aimed at promoting York as a business tourism destination succeeded in attracting over 60 international and London-based events and conference buyers to the House of Commons in March, as well as 21 representatives from York venues.

Hosted by York MPs Hugh Bayley and Julian Sturdy, VisitYork4Meetings the ‘York Minster to Westminster’ event attracted major buyers including American Express and British Telecom as well as prestigious associations and institutions including the British Dental Association, Nuffield Health Hospitals, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Institute of Physicists, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and The Physiological Society.

Visit York chief executive Gillian Cruddas said: “Strong leads have already been generated as a result of the event including three enquiries worth an estimated £150,000 to York.

“Visit York will be coordinating follow up with buyers on behalf of venues in order to ensure cohesive, measurable results for the city in terms of long term investment.”

Brian French, conference and events manager for The Royal College of Nursing, said: “The opportunity to meet face to face with venue representatives from York has proved invaluable for me.

“The variety of venues available in York has been a surprise – particularly some of the more unusual ones like the National Centre for Early Music.”

BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

WH Smith has signed a three year partnership deal with Harrogate International Festivals to promote the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, which is now in its ninth year.

The award was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to British and Irish authors whose novels are published in paperback from 1 May 2012 – 30 April 2013.

Karl O’Leary, head of advertising and events at WH Smith, said: “Crime is the biggest selling genre and this award represents the best novels within that.” The 18 long-listed titles will be announced on 6 May, followed by a nationwide campaign until June across 600 WH Smith stores and in 80 library services, representing a total of 1,645 library branches across the UK. A shortlist of six will be announced on 1 July, from which the overall winner will be decided by the results of a public vote and the deliberation of an expert judging panel. The 2013 award ceremony hosted by radio broadcaster and festival regular Mark Lawson takes place on 18 July.

>> JCT600 takes over Sheffield group Family owned car retailer JCT600 has acquired Sheffield-based Gilder Group including nine of its car and commercial vehicle dealerships, two parts depots and a body shop. The deal, backed by HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group and worth an undisclosed eight-figure sum, will see

Bradford-headquartered JCT600 acquire the £200m turnover business from outgoing chief executive Garry Scotting, who still retains some shares in the group. The acquisition strengthens JCT600’s presence in South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and takes the business to a total of 50 dealerships. It also increases JCT600’s workforce from 1,350 to over 1,800, with all jobs being retained, and boost JCT600’s annual turnover to over £850m. JCT600 chief executive John Tordoff said: “This acquisition is another leap forward for us as a group, strengthening our coverage geographically and adding some more strong dealerships to the group.”

>> Oxley takes on GT Will Oxley, who currently leads Grant Thornton’s transaction advisory services team across the north of England, is to be the new practice leader for its Leeds office.

Oxley’s appointment follows the recent announcement that current practice leader Jonathan Riley will take on the role of head of tax for Grant Thornton from April this year.

Oxley joined Grant Thornton as a partner in 2007 after spending 12 years with other accountancy firms, principally working in the North of England, but also undertaking secondments to London and Melbourne.

He will continue to lead the transaction advisory services team.

>> Bradford school looks for eastern promise Bradford University School of Management has won a £700,000 EU-funded project to help two former communist countries, Ukraine and Belarus, create innovative cultures and accelerate economic growth. The business school is working with three universities, a business incubator unit and the Ministry for Education in Ukraine, two universities in Belarus, and a university in each of Estonia and Greece. The project will focus on helping students to understand and apply innovation in a business context and academics to build relationships with businesses to encourage more innovation. Christos Kalantaridis, professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at Bradford University School of Management, said: “Belarus and Ukraine are dominated by heavy industries which have relied on their internal markets for sales. Their business models are based around cheap labour and traditional products. These countries are waking up to the need for better quality products but, despite having strong academic universities, there is no culture of working with universities to innovate.”

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SPRING 13

Simon Shemwood, constructional design studio manager at PPS, with Bacardi packaging

>> PPS wins in Russia Esholt-based Professional Packaging Services (PPS) has extended its packaging work for Bacardi into Russia, having worked with the global brand across Europe for the last six years. PPS has already designed packaging for a range of Bacardi brands including Bombay Sapphire, Southern Comfort, Martini and Grey Goose, working within the UK and with Bacardi’s offices in Geneva.

From the successes achieved for the European brands, PPS was approached by Bacardi’s Moscow office and asked to tender for the design and supply of luxury presentation packaging for the domestic Russian market – a tender it subsequently won. Despite demanding delivery deadlines, PPS delivered all the packaging on time and on budget, using its European partners to manufacture the folding cartons and its Asian partners to produce the rigid ones. Olesya Belkina, head of purchasing at Bacardi Russia, said: “We were particularly impressed with the design and technical expertise of the PPS team, which interpreted the brief perfectly.”

>> Bradford enforcers go national A Bradford-based firm of high court enforcement officers has been bought by the largest privately-owned enforcement company in England and Wales. CN Gaunt & Son is now part of High Court Enforcement (HCE) Group. The company, which operates nationally, had been owned since 2008 by partners Gary Bovan and James Metcalfe, although it was actually founded in 1874.

HCE Group has other offices in Cardiff, Colwyn Bay, London, Liverpool and Swansea.

It employs more than 200 staff, including

BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

over 20 authorised High Court enforcement officers, and also engages over matters such as employment tribunal awards, commercial writs of possession and traveller evictions.

Duncan Firman from law firm Gordons, who advised on the deal, said: “The sale makes sense, as both parties will benefit significantly from it. HCE Group has established a presence in a key area of the country where it wasn’t fully represented previously. James and Gary will remain working within the group, with James as enforcement director for the north of England, and Gary as director of new business and client care.”

>> Leeds goes on sleeping The Leeds Hotel and Venues Association (LHVA) is forming plans for what it claims will be the UK’s biggest ever hotelier familiarisation trip.

The event, due to take place from 13 to 16 June this year, will see the city host the first ever Leeds Big Sleepover, a showcase of all that Leeds has to offer for business and leisure tourism. Conference buyers, agencies, media and bloggers from all over the UK will be invited to take part in a weekend of celebration across more than 30 of the city’s hotels and venues.

The itinerary will not only include key networking opportunities at Leeds Arena and Trinity Leeds, but also the chance to experience Leeds hospitality at its best.

>> Cedar Court has new head Sean Battles has been appointed the new general manager of the Cedar Court Hotel Leeds/Bradford. Battles comes to the post having gained previous experience as general manager at The Best Western York Pavilion Hotel and The Craiglands Hotel in Ilkley, where he secured large growth in sales, as well as growing the hotels’ wedding business and increasing the AA star rating.

He has also worked at Studley Castle, Warwickshire and Heythrop Park, Oxfordshire. He said: “I’m very proud to be joining Yorkshire’s largest independent hotel collection in this key role, and it’s particularly exciting to come on board in the year that Cedar Court Hotel Leeds/ Bradford turns 18.

>> New man at Bizspace Flexible business accommodation provider Bizspace has appointed a new regional sales manager for the North, covering its 20 sites across Yorkshire. Steve Moody, who has a background in the telecommunications and digital industries, will be responsible for managing a team of 10 throughout the region, based at Bizspace’s Brooklands Court business centre in South Leeds.

In the Yorkshire area Bizspace has properties providing flexible term office space, workshops, industrial space, storage and meeting rooms throughout Leeds, Bradford, Hull, Sheffield, Barnsley, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Wakefield and Wath-Upon-Dearne.

>> New insurance firm takes flight A new insurance company set up in Bradford employing 17 people has been with initial backing from the City Centre Growth Zone.

Pegasus Motor Insurance’s success in applying to the zone, part of a £35m initiative funded by Bradford Council and the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, means it will receive a rebate against its business rates for the next three years. Bradford Council’s business, investment and enterprise team is working with new and existing companies to help them with their business expansion plans and the officers have helped guide Pegasus’s operations director, Naeem Sheikh, through the process of applying for the business rates rebate and ensuring the correct systems are in place to help move the Cheapside-based business forward.

Sheikh said: “Pegasus Motor Insurance is creating new jobs in a niche market and the support we have received has been very reassuring.”

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SPRING 13

COMPANY PROFILE

The business benefits of knowledge transfer For even the most forward-thinking businesses, growing the capacity for innovation can be a real challenge. It’s not just about money: finding the time and resources to identify opportunities, introduce new technologies, or perhaps improve operating efficiency, can be all but impossible.

Yet working on the business – as opposed to working in the business – is a vital ingredient for growth. It’s one of the reasons why businesses and universities are urged to work together, to bring new thinking to business challenges and develop new approaches that deliver real benefit to the bottom line.

There’s a name for the joint process by which business and academic know-how come together and create new ways of doing things – it’s called knowledge transfer. It’s a partnership between the business, the university and a talented graduate brought into the company to deliver the work.

For companies of any size, but particularly for SMEs, the knowledge transfer model is an excellent way of getting that deep understanding of a business and applying specialist expertise to come up with innovative solutions, products and processes and even new business models.

At Teesside University, building these partnerships with business is a very high priority. We know you have business challenges and opportunities; we know you have the ideas; and we know that time and resources are in short supply.

Through a knowledge transfer project, we can bring in new knowledge and skills to help improve your performance, productivity and competitiveness – and remember, innovation doesn’t have to be about technology.

The benefits of knowledge transfer include increased annual profits before tax, new

Teesside University knowledge and skills in the organisation, and a solid, long-term relationship between a business and the university. Projects can last between six months and three years, depending on your needs, and what’s more, they bring with them significant financial support. And 75% of our Knowledge Transfer Partnerships are classed Grade A (Outstanding) by the Technology Strategy Board, against the national average of 8%.

Knowledge transfer is an ideal way of turning innovation into business.

We have many other ways to help improve business performance, from tailored training, organisational change and research and development activity, to technical innovations

The benefits of knowledge transfer include increased annual profits before tax, new knowledge and skills in the organisation, and a solid, long-term relationship between a business and the university.

Projects can last between six months and three years.

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and structured support for new businesses.

Special funding means we’re able to offer a 50% course fee reduction on selected postgraduate programmes in science, computing, engineering and technology which is a great opportunity for businesses to upgrade employee skills for competitive advantage. And we have a full team of Business Development Managers, here to help your business.

If your business is growing, and you want to know more, get in touch at business@tees.ac.uk.

BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

COMPANY PROFILE

SPRING 13

Retailer boosts jobs growth plan at North East port Furniture retailer Barker and Stonehouse is showing its support of a local jobs growth strategy by returning its shipping to a North East port.

The company - which opened its first Middlesbrough store in 1946 - has announced the appointment of local supply chain business PD Ports to manage the handling and distribution of its international furniture products, which will arrive weekly on Teesside.

A selection of cabinet, bedroom and upholstery ranges will now come into Teesport, Middlesbrough, instead of Southampton, before being distributed to the company’s eight stores from Nottingham to Newcastle.

Managing director James Barker said the change in shipping strategy represents the company’s commitment to supporting North East businesses and boosting the regional economy.

He added: “Our loyal regional customer base is the reason we’ve been able to trade for over 65 years. We like to champion local industry whenever possible and by partnering with PD Ports we’re supporting jobs within the community.”

PD Ports business development director, Geoff Lippitt, said: “We are delighted that Barker and Stonehouse has recognised the benefits of using Teesport to import their northern bound goods.

“This strategy, known as portcentric logistics, is changing the face of UK logistics. As a result it places growing emphasis towards Teesport as a key logistics and distribution hub for goods destined north of Birmingham.”

This partnership between Barker and Stonehouse and PD Ports supports the wider portcentric

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The benefits of portcentric logistics attract Barker and Stonehouse to Teesport

logistics activity at Teesport, following the recent £17m infrastructure investment in upgrading the container handling facilities to support growing volumes.

In the last seven years around 3,500 direct and indirect jobs are estimated to have been created as a result of PD Ports’ portcentric activity at Teesport and this is expected to grow by a further 1,000 over the next five years.

Barker and Stonehouse’s decision to switch its shipping to Teesport also fits perfectly with the company’s long term sustainability plan, which aims to reduce road miles and carbon emissions and put the company at the forefront of energy efficiency.

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In the last seven years around 3,500 direct and indirect jobs are estimated to have been created as a result of PD Ports’ portcentric activity at Teesport and this is expected to grow by a further 1,000 over the next five years

AS I SEE IT

SPRING 13

Never toO old to go it alone Carl Hopkins, a former ‘Secret Millionaire’ on Channel 4, explains why he is backing a venture aimed at encouraging older people to start new businesses

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A few people expressed surprise when they read the announcement that I had accepted an invitation to become an ambassador for The Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise (The Prince’s Initiative or PRIME).

This organisation was set up in 1999 by the Prince of Wales in his 50th year, in response to letters he was receiving from people who wanted to work but were unable to find anyone to employ them, simply because of their age. Why did I say yes? The simple answer may be that I’m just two years away from my own 50th, so perhaps I’m investing in my own future.

But actually it was after being invited to present awards at a PRIME event in the North that I started to look at the latest statistics from the Office for National Statistics. These show that the number of people in work has increased to 29.73 million - 584,000 more people compared to the previous year. The unemployment rate has also gone down to 7.8% - 156,000 less compared to the previous year. While this is good news, we need to ask whether these changes are having an impact on people over the age of 50. If we take a look at the number of people over the age of 50 claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) in the long-term, a different picture emerges.

While there are more than 416,000 people aged between 18 and 24 claiming JSA in total, which is around 162,000 (64%) more than the over-50s, the number of long-term over-50s claimants has increased while the number of young long-term claimants has decreased.

On top of that, opportunities for the mature worker are stark. There are more than 3.5 million people between the age of 50 and 64 who are workless in the UK and for many people in this age group, redundancy and unemployment is a significant problem.

However, the number of self-employed workers in the UK has increased at just over 4.2m and this is good news for the over-50s worker as it demonstrates that it is possible for anyone to start up their own business and

AS I SEE IT

The Prince’s Initiative firmly believes that mature workers do not have to remain on benefits or be denied equal opportunities in the employment market gain sustainable employment The 35 to 49 age group makes the biggest contribution to the number of self-employed workers, with close to 1.6 million people.

Interestingly, the second highest contributor to the self-employment numbers was the 50 to 64 age group and there are also 345,000 workers who are 65 and older who consider themselves as self-employed.

The Prince’s Initiative is now an established charity and since 1999 has gone onto help more than 25,000 over-50s who are unemployed or facing redundancy, to explore the possibility of self-employment.

At present, The Prince’s Initiative offers support through several key initiatives. First of all, members of the public can access a plethora of online resources through the charity’s website, such as how to write a business plan and how to navigate around tax and accountancy issues.

The Prince’s Initiative also helps run business training courses located across the country.

These are delivered over six to eight weeks, including three classroom days, taking people through the challenging process of preparing to run their own business, covering areas such as researching a business idea, planning finances and how to market and sell a product or service. Then there are regular networking events across the UK, open to all over-50 entrepreneurs to come and share their stories. These events are always well attended, with presentations from successful entrepreneurs, as well as being an excellent opportunity for over-50s to meet other new entrepreneurs, local business owners and

ONLINE: Read more news and views from Yorkshire business leaders. www.bq-magazine.co.uk

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mentors. Networking can often be a little daunting but is an essential aspect of setting up any new business. Members of the public who eventually get through the course are also offered the opportunity to be matched up with a mentor, who can provide guidance and advice on how to grow a successful business.

The Prince’s Initiative use resources provided by the national ‘Get Mentoring’ programme and mentors are matched with clients of The Prince’s Initiative, who are looking to set up their businesses in fields which match their accumulated experience and expertise.

Carole Tattersfield is a good example of how The Prince’s Initiative is helping over-50s explore self-employment. Having attended the course in Bradford in the summer of 2012, following a decision to take voluntary redundancy, Carole, from Heckmondwike, went on to set-up her own HR consultancy business, HR Challenge Associates.

The Prince’s initiative firmly believes that mature workers do not have to remain on benefits or be denied equal opportunities in the employment market.

They are actively helping to mobilise a significant number of people to have the confidence to venture out on their own and use their accumulated wisdom and expertise.

These are the same people who often find themselves in challenging situations simply because of their age.

It is a great initiative and it gains support and momentum as awareness builds. We have to make every effort as a society, community and as business owners, to tap into and use the accumulated skills and experience this growing group have to offer.

I hope more groups and businesses step forward to help The Princes initiative. After all, if you are not yet over 50 I’m sure you are planning to be in the future, so start helping others and start helping yourself. n

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ENTREPRENEUR

SPRING 13

in association with

If a serial entrepreneur is someone who is always coming up with new business ideas and is then in a hurry to take them to market, then Andy Lenney is a serial entrepreneur par excellence. This former marketing director of vehicle tracking software supplier Minorplanet left the company to set up bigwardrobe.com, a website designed to help women swap clothes with each other in 2007. It was actually an online version of a series of events he had already been running, using skills he had built up on Minorplanet roadshows, but that, he says, is the exciting thing about the internet.

“You can take your concept to a much bigger audience in a much quicker time,” he says. “I had started the events when the recession was just taking hold.

I realised women still wanted to look cool even though they might not have a lot of money to spend on fashion. These parties evolved into an online community which covers over 150 countries now. The events still went on until a couple of years ago, but became more of a guerrilla marketing technique.”

The website currently has 150,000 regular users, and is ticking over nicely. But that experience, he says, has inspired him to launch at least another six online businesses, often at

the same time, and using just a staff of around a dozen who are currently occupying part of PR and marketing company Brass’s offices in Headingley.

He admits that multi-tasking like that can be difficult. “A lot of people have great ideas,” he says. “But if I am involved with something I can’t quite say no, and will see it all the way through. I enjoy taking something from an idea to a reality. Some ideas succeed, some will fail. But I’d kick myself if I didn’t try them all out.”

It sounds a very worthwhile attitude, although those in a more traditional industry might point out that launching a business is easy if all you need is a monitor and a mouse. Lenney, however, says he has become “fascinated” by the way the internet can help solve “everyday real life problems that we all experience”, particularly environmental problems.

Bigwardrobe.com was an example of that.

“Nearly a million tonnes of clothing every year ends up in landfill,” he says. “The BBC did a survey a while ago and worked out that the average value of items hanging unused in a woman’s wardrobe is £285.

So apart from anything else there is a lot of currency there that can be used.”

In fact, he has become such a convert to all things online that he is even prepared to put his head above the parapet and defend the importance of social media, something some in the business community are beginning to regard as little better than snake oil.

The new business he started late last year, and which he says currently is his main day job, is a social media agency called Gogosocial. While he admits that the business world may have been put off by self-professed “gurus”, social media’s importance, he says, cannot be overestimated.

“Social media is definitely better than something like Google Adwords,” he says, “because eventually you will build your own audience that you can talk to as many times as you want about anything you want. You have your own media channel, and that is very powerful. There are also significant benefits in the way Google will update your business. The algorithms it uses prefer brands that have a lot of buzz around them. So if you are generating more of that activity than your competitors, over time you will appear higher up in the rankings. It’s incredibly viral as well. Many of the recipes that you taste when you go into Starbucks, for example, come from over >>

One thing leads to another Andy Lenney seems to be launching a new business every month.

Peter Baber asks whether he can he keep it up?

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ENTREPRENEUR XXXXXXXX SPRING 13

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ENTREPRENEUR 50,000 ideas that have been generated through the Starbucks Facebook page.

“Social media may not be relevant to every business, but even less “sexy” businesses can use it as a sales check. LinkedIn is a great way to do that.”

He says there are three common issues his company comes across when talking to prospective clients. “They all know about social media and feel they should be using it or are trying to use it but either it has not quite worked out, or generally they don’t have an audience. It is, I admit, very hard to build an audience you can benefit from as a business, and most of the people we speak to are talking to nobody. Thirdly they don’t have the time or expertise to develop their social media in the way they need to. You need to talk to your audience seven days a week, maybe four or five or more times a day.”

It is these kinds of issues, he says, which Gogosocial is trying to step ahead of. “We don’t try to sell you anything until we have first proved it can make a difference,” he says.

“Then we set you up so we do your pages and design them for you. Then over 28 days we try to build an audience for you that is relevant to your company, and we talk everyday to that audience for you. At the end of 28 days we produce reports and forecasts based on actual data collected for your company, not just some generic formula. We come back to you and hopefully you decide it’s a service you want to continue to pay for. We will build your audience and engagement levels and when the time is right we will recommend new social networks to plug in to. You might start on Twitter, and in the third month we might recommend LinkedIn.” He says the take-up rate for companies converting from the free trial to the £199 a month fee is currently just under half – a figure he blames on too many people wanting freebies, and some still being swayed by Google Adwords which can appear to generate payback more quickly. But still, at a little under three months from launch Gogosocial was already conducting well over 200 live trials. And happy customers include York-based estate agency Hunters (featured in the last issue of BQ), which has just sold its first house through Facebook, and the camping

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They want to see growth like a hockey stick graph and that’s the bit I have to be able to demonstrate equipment firm Vango.

Lenney’s other projects roughly split into community based sites modelled loosely around the original bigwardrobe.com site, and more business friendly packages.

An example of the former would be fashionoko.com, a sort of second generation bigwardrobe.com. Its predecessor was created before the advent of Facebook. Lenney says running the new venture through the social network reaps huge benefits.

“It’s very much about personalised content.

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When you join if you tell us that you are into this type of fashion, you are size 12 and you like black, then when something that matches those criteria is listed, it populates your account within Fashionoko, but also pushes a message into your Facebook newsfeed. But only if its relevant, not it its spam. Facebook can seem quite voyeuristic, but people do like to see what their friends are doing.

“Our target demographic share this information by the bucketload. If you want an opinion on whether something looks nice, this is the place to come.”

It has to be said, the “people” in this arrangement are entirely female. Lenney did try to do bigwardrobe.com for men when it started, but failed. “Us blokes have a staple collection of jeans and T-shirts,” he says. “My wife, in contrast regularly buys a dress, wears it once, and never wears it again. That is the kind of person we are after.”

He has impressed one other important female as well. Xin He, the former head of fashion at mighty eBay, has agreed to join the company – as both a director and an investor. When we spoke, she was over in China on research.

Boys, however, might be more interested in another community site he has set up.

Oborrow.com allows you to lend and borrow items you might not use too much. “Lots of everyday items just sit there,” he says. “We have a throwaway culture, breeding a lot of stuff we don’t really need. So why jump in your car and waste time going to Homebase to spend £100 on a drill when in fact there is a network out there via social media that you can tap into?”

Such ideas have been tried in the past – not always successfully. But again what makes the site different, says Lenney, is the fact that it is connected to your Facebook account. “With other companies you are borrowing stuff from strangers, so it can be very inconvenient,” he says. “Oborrow works through Facebook and is just your mates and people you know.”

Then there is groupsauce.com, another social marketplace Lenney seems particularly interested in. It’s like a more personalised version of Groupon. “Groupon just send you generic email,” he says. “Some might want the fish pedicure they are offering, some might not. But if you are in the market for a fish >>

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ENTREPRENEUR

pedicure and we send it to you, it is more likely that a transaction will happen. That’s how Groupsauce works. People sign up to join groups for things they are interested in buying.

They are called groupies. The more groupies there are, the more attractive that group will be to a potential merchant. Sellers can make unlimited offers to the members of that group.

The offers are vetted by us, and they have to be better than groupies can source individually.

If they are the offer is distributed to members by email, through Facebook newsfeeds, and in their account. There is an inbuilt incentive for groupies to make the groups larger, so we let them share the groups using social networks.

He says he gets around the problem of timewasters spoiling it for the sellers by reminding groupies every week that they must leave groups that they are no longer interested in, “because if they don’t their Facebook pages will end up being spammed.”

On the more business-related side – something that might chime in easily with Gogosocial – is Hatriq, another IT business Lenney has just launched. This aims to make use of an area he thinks business people do not pay enough attention to – the space beneath their email signature. “More often than not businesses don’t seem to take that very seriously, and there can be an inconsistent approach,” he says. “If you think about it, a company of five employees that sends on average 15 emails a day will between them send 25,000 emails

BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

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over a year. Those 25,000 emails are 25,000 opportunities to say something.

“You might promote your social media channels, or a product or service. And you don’t need design or IT skills. Once you are signed up, every time an email passes through your outgoing server, that employee’s signature will pick up the relevant information that has been allocated to them and deliver the email. If you can use advertising space that you already own you should.”

One final business Lenney has launched, possibly in a category of its own, is Mr Android App. He says this app is designed to help you overcome the “graveyard” that is Google Play by keeping an eye on what you download and, more importantly, use, and then suggesting to you other apps that people who use the app and have a similar usage pattern have also been using.

This is a much more effective way of working out what apps are actually worth your time, he says, than download figures, which can be easily manipulated. “I read that 26% of apps that are downloaded are only opened and used once,” he says. “We have to do better than that.”

It does sound very commendable to have so many ideas on the go, but what, I wonder does he intend to make of all this? After all, he is making money. Lenney is most certainly not one of those people who think that hey, the web should be free, man. Bigwardrobe.com and fashionoko.com both cost money to use, as does Hatriq, and, eventually, Gogosocial.

But at Groupsauce, he is currently letting interested merchants access the groups for free. He says this is only temporary, to give the site, which only launched in November, some “traction”. But isn’t he making the classic mistake that many publishers, for example, have done in the past, of assuming that everyone will be happy to start paying for something they have come to assume was free? Lenney insists he is not. “If you are generating lots of successful hook-ups, clearly it is working for the buyer and the seller, so I think you can say that we have proved it works, so we are going to charge you,” he says.

“My plan for Groupsauce is to speak to investors in the next two to three months.

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They want to see left to right growth like a hockey stick graph, and that is the bit I have to be able to demonstrate.

In fact, while many of these businesses are still developing, he says he would be “desperately disappointed” if any of them failed. “I would love to do Gogosocial in the USA,” he says. “I also sincerely hope that Groupsauce gives eBay a bit of a run for its money. I hope they all succeed, because I do care passionately about what I am doing.” n

People, processes and practice Universities need to work closely with business. It’s a fundamental part of what universities are for: developing leading talent, ideas, knowledge and expertise for the benefit of the economy and society. Teesside University has established a wide range of business practices, from a comprehensive client relationship management system recording all business interactions and to a universitywide business development manager team working at the interface between business and academia. Key accounts are actively managed by senior staff, and all business activity is delivered to an externally accredited customer service standard (Putting the Customer First). It has been a highly ambitious approach, but one which has paid off handsomely in terms of new employer relationships, new commercial business, and a strong reputation for being business friendly.

Stay ahead in business, contact Teesside University - call 01642 384068, email business@tees.ac.uk or visit tees.ac.uk/spark.

SPRING 13

ADVERTORIAL

Funding your business ambitions For ambitious businesses, which want to make the most of growth opportunities, funding can be crucial in taking the next step. But in these turbulent economic times, is accessing finance as straightforward as it should be?

SMEs are the backbone of the UK economy, accounting for 99% of all UK organisations and employing over 13 million people. Yet, in the current climate, it isn’t always easy to run a business, and it can be even harder to develop and grow – whether you are looking to take on more staff, move to larger premises, or begin to export overseas.

Despite these challenges, a recent Business Barometer Report (Jan 13) from office solutions company Business Environment shows an encouraging boost in the confidence of UK SMEs, with 70% believing their sector will continue to grow in the coming quarter, and 37% expecting their business to grow.

In order to make the most of these growth opportunities, however, most SMEs will require funding. There has been a considerable amount of media noise around the lack of available bank funding to businesses, with reports that lending to SMEs in particular is falling – forcing them to look elsewhere for much-needed capital.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO? More often than not, financial support offered to businesses is concentrated around start-ups, with a surprising gap in the help available to those which have reached a certain level of success and are looking to take the next step.

Despite this uncertainty, many UK SMEs continue to show an impressive level of resilience and ambition. A focus on exceptional customer service is of increasing importance, with smaller

Neil Williams, Regional Director for Yorkshire businesses perfectly placed to keep one step ahead of trends by diversifying product offerings, while making the most of the marketing opportunities offered by social media. If finance is the only option, consider your sales process. A big order will reassure financiers that your business is a growing concern and can open up options like asset finance and supply chain management.

Invoice Finance can also be of significant benefit to cash flow, releasing money tied up in unpaid invoices and giving you the confidence to make decisions, while improving supplier relationships.

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We are also excited about what our involvement in the Government’s Funding for Lending scheme will mean for our business customers, allowing us to build on the real difference we can make to their future success. We care about each business we work with and take the time to get to know our customers, making sure we understand individual needs so we are able to find the right financing solutions. Ultimately, our goal is the same as yours – to fulfil your business aspirations.

HERE FOR YOU At Santander UK, we believe lending is simply part of being there for our customers.

Just one example of this is funding for a new partnership to provide enough clean, green energy to power 2,000 homes across North Yorkshire.

The Walled Garden Partnership was set up by Tony and Gill Eyers to look at investing in machinery and technology to make the most of energy produced by a landfill site.

Tony Eyers said, “This new venture has been a real opportunity to use innovative technology to help both the environment and the local community.

It’s been great to work with a bank that really took the time to understand our vision and see the potential in our ambitions.”

TAKE FIVE Consider these tips before making a funding application: 1. Honesty is the best policy: Don’t hide anything from your bank when approaching them for finance 2. Keep an open mind: You might have big plans, but don’t be too tied to one specific growth strategy 3. Be prepared: Due diligence in your accounts and paperwork, and a realistic business plan, will allow your bank to make an accurate assessment of your business 4. Take it slow: Don’t try to run before you can walk. Organic growth is usually more sustainable 5. Tell us more: Keep your bank informed about any changes, good or bad – the more they know, the better

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If you would like to find out how we could help you achieve your own business ambitions, please call your local relationship team on 0113 285 6229 You can also see how we work with our customers at www.youtube.com/santanderukcb, we look forward to working with you.

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SUCCESS STORY

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Solid foundations

Southdale Homes has reached its 25th anniversary in tough conditions mainly because of how nimble it can be, its managing director tells Peter Baber Most people say the one exceptional thing about Gibbet Street, a drab road which cuts through central Halifax, is that there is indeed a restored gibbet at one end of it. For the rest of its course of just over a mile, it runs gently uphill through just the sort of unprepossessing mostly industrial landscape you see near the centre of many West Yorkshire towns.

Yet about half way up, there is perhaps one other striking feature – a reservoir with an unusual turreted wall running around it.

And sitting quietly right next to this landmark is the headquarters of a housebuilder that appears to be weathering the current downturn well.

In fact, Southdale Homes (whose entrance is actually just off Gibbet Street, but we won’t quibble about that) is bearing up remarkably well when you consider the absolute turmoil the housebuilding sector has been through since the start of the recession – and continues to weather today.

Consort Homes (whose adverts used to feature prominently only a few streets away from Southdale in Pellon) was one of the first to go in 2008. But just before Christmas last year we had the collapse of Britannia, a once proud housebuilder that had been sparking off developments all over West Yorkshire.

In between there have been the more nationally noted collapses of Rok, whose chief executive was still urging his staff to “keep on Rok-ing” as the men in grey suits were on their way and thousands of them were soon to be handed their P45s, and Connaught.

And even Keepmoat, one of the best known names in the sector in Yorkshire, has been through the wars.

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In March last year it went through a merger with social house builder Apollo that led to an immediate 200 redundancies. Then later in the year its new boss Ian Sutcliffe left after just nine months in the job, one of 10 directors to leave in 2012. The days when its MBO backed by what was then HBOS was feted as one of the best and biggest deals in Yorkshire are a distant memory.

Southdale managing director Paul Moore admits that the fallout from all this has not

been particularly pleasant for anyone in the sector. “A lot of established organisations have gone to the wall, and that hasn’t done our industry any favours,” he says. “The demise of Connaught and Rok has shaken the industry and made people more cautious, and it has put more red tape in the way of doing business. Lenders have started saying: ‘Let’s take some further precautionary measures.’

Everyone has become quite nervous about anything to do with construction.”

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Yet Southdale is still ploughing ahead.

Currently operating not just from Halifax but also from two satellite offices in Warrington and Darlington, the company looks set to turn over £80m in the next year, build 900 affordable houses, and take its staff number up from 130 to 150.

In a joint venture with Strata, another housebuilder based in Doncaster, it has put in a bid in to be accepted onto the Homes and Communities Agency’s second Delivery Partner Panel (DPP2), which could potentially make it eligible to bid for considerably larger projects than the sites of 50 units that are its sweet spot now.

And unlike Keepmoat, senior staff have not been deserting in droves either.

In fact, in 2010, the company even managed to go through an MBO which saw four more senior managers take a stake in the company and join the board. All of the members of the current board have worked for the company since at least the year 2000.

So why is it doing relatively well when others are foundering?

Moore, who joined the company 19 years ago when it had just six staff, puts success down to the fact that throughout those 19 years and beyond the company has remained exclusively in private hands. “Whatever the macro economics have thrown at us, the one thing about us is that we are relatively nimble on our feet,” he says. “You have to change if the macro economics have >>

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SUCCESS STORY

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SUCCESS STORY

significant changes.” Southdale was formed 25 years ago by Chris Harris, a former senior manager at Marks & Spencer who had left to set up a chain of Benetton shops across Yorkshire, and John O’Hara, who, bizarrely, was the landlord of Harris’ local.

“John’s day job was as a builder,” says Moore.

“He and Chris hit if off, and it wasn’t long before John was going to fit out Chris’ shops.

Then one day Chris said: ‘How do you fancy coming in with me and building half a dozen houses?’ They both packed their respective businesses up to start the company, initially building private spec housing in Calderdale.”

The name Southdale was the name of Harris’ house at the time, and according to Moore, although the company moved into its current quarters, a former engineering works, a few years ago, the end terrace house in Boothtown which was the company’s head office when he first started working there still bears the company name etched in glass on the front window. Because the birth of the company coincided with the last big recession the UK has been through, Moore says the first five years were all about survival. “When I joined in 1994 we were just starting to break into affordable housing,” he says.

“We needed another income stream. By the turn of the century, by which time we were probably doing 150 units a year, we had a business model where 30 to 40% was private spec, and the rest affordable housing. That made sense because the contracting business is cash generative, but low margin. That supported private spec which is very cash intensive, but high margin.”

A key project the company delivered around

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this time, and one that brought it well into the limelight, was the redevelopment of a significant part of the Deighton estate in Huddersfield. “That really has been the backbone to our success,” says Moore, “Particularly after it won a What House? gold award.” In 2003 Moore, who is currently 41, took a stake in the business along with development director Declan McHugh, so that what had previously been a straightforward 50/50 split in ownership between Harris and O’Hara became a 40/40/10/10 split, with the two new men each gaining 10%.

Not long after this the company had got to such a size that it had a business plan to have two £50m turnover businesses by 2010 – one in affordable housing, and one in private spec.

“But to get there we decided that we needed two almost separate companies, with separate boards,” he says.

“I was very keen on that idea. I always say that building private spec and affordable housing is a bit like football and rugby. They are games with two teams and a ball – but that’s all they really have in common. Affordable housing tends to be all about how quick we can start and finish, whereas private spec is all controlled by the market.”

The company was well on the way to achieving such an ambition when the downturn happened. It is at this point, Moore says, where its virtues as a small but lithe operator really came to the fore. “We decided to throw a blanket over the private spec side of our business because we thought we didn’t need to play this arena,” he says. “We were in a reasonably strong position because we weren’t over-committed landwise. We had

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four pieces of land, so we decided anything that had foundations in we would build and sell, and anything that didn’t we would throw a blanket over. We have now got only one piece of land – the rest we have either sold or developed for registered provider clients.”

As the economic climate worsened, once again the company was able to go through a number of restructures relatively rapidly. This did not entail letting go of a huge number of people – Moore says the company has always operated more as a “construction management company” than as a traditional construction firm. “We don’t employ joiners,” he says. “The only people we really have on site employed directly by us are site managers, drivers and site operatives.”

But even still, the restructures have proved effective. “One thing that really paid off is that we went regional,” says Moore, “and started running regions almost as separate business units with their own profit and cost centres.

Previously the board had been very vertical, with a technical director, commercial director, and so on. It was much more efficient and gave us more control to have regional directors responsible for all disciplines.”

As a result, although the private spec side of the business may have fallen by the wayside, Southdale was at least able to smash its 2010 turnover target for its affordable housing business. Its North West region, operated out of Warrington, is doing particularly well.

“The market there is bigger than Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East put together,” says Moore. “We opened the Warrington office in 2010, and we are already about to move to our third set of offices >>

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SUCCESS STORY

Affordable housing is about how quick we can start and finish whereas private spec is all controlled by the market

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SUCCESS STORY there in as many years.”

While it is just one affordable housing market the company now operates in, Moore says that term can still mask a widely differing range of ownership structures. “There is social affordable rent, market rent, shared ownership, and intermediate market rent where customers can come in, rent the property for a period, and then have an option to buy. And even though we have put a blanket over private spec, we still employ a private spec sales and marketing manager, because we need to provide such a service to our clients. Even with shared ownership, some clients still do an outright sale. Getting the right mix in the right area and at the right price is what affordable housing is all about.”

He also says it would be a mistake to assume that the affordable housing market itself hasn’t been through some radical changes.

It has.

Although the majority of Southdale’s clients are registered social providers, Moore says the way the market is structured means that essentially the company’s ultimate paymaster is central Government through housing grant.

“Up to a few years ago the average grant was about £45,000-£50,000 per unit, although it varied regionally. But when the new affordable housing programme was announced back in 2010 that grant was cut to around £20,000 to £22,000 per unit.

So the amount of change our industry has had to go through is enormous. The type of property we were doing three to four years ago is significantly different from what we are doing now. We have had to do things more efficiently.” Such a reduction clearly means that many players have left the market, although Moore insists that has not led to an easing in competition. “If anything competition has been stiffer,” he says, “because for what work there is people have gone in hard.”

But it has led to more operators looking at the possibility of building affordable housing without the need for any grant. That is certainly the model that Southdale is operating with Ignite, its joint venture with Strata. “That delivers private sale and affordable housing sat alongside each other in a large critical mass,” says Moore. “Strata was one of our partners at

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Deighton. Back in 2008 we had mothballed private sale, and in 2009 they had sold their construction arm.

So we saw it was a marriage made in heaven.

The model allows us as Southdale to do 30% of any development as affordable housing, with Strata doing the remaining 70% as private spec.

“We work alongside each other, and it tends to be on local authority-owned land, where we can pay in tranches or plot by plot. Strata is willing to take a slightly lower margin, because it is not having to pay all its up front costs, and that drop in margin we can put back into helping to build more affordable housing.”

So what, then, of the future? The DPP2 bid Ignite has mounted, and which they are due to hear the result of in April, is for the North and the Midlands, so does Moore see a possibility in moving Southdale’s operations further south? He is not so sure.

“We have got a job on in Leek, and we are happy to go down to Chesterfield,” he says.

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“We did set up a satellite office a couple of years ago for the Midlands, but it wasn’t hugely successful. We have now decided we will travel an hour and a half from either Warrington or Halifax southwards, but probably no further.”

He doesn’t necessarily rule out a re-entry into private housing again, “but not in a way we would compete with Strata”.

“It would probably be more localised in and around Calderdale and West Yorkshire,” he says. The company is also toying with the idea of offering services under the Green Deal as well, although it is waiting to see how the launch of such a scheme pans out before getting too involved. But the biggest future client base Moore can see sounds much more conventional. “We will be working with local authorities because there is no doubt about it – local authorities are going to start developing again, and on their own land,” he says.

When they do, one Halifax company will certainly be ready to help them. n

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COMPANY PROFILE

Combined Chambers team proves there is strength in numbers New Park Court Barristers Chambers is a large and well-established set of Chambers comprising 94 barristers in Leeds and Newcastle, including 9 QCs. 13 of their barristers sit in a part-time capacity as Deputy High Court Judges, Recorders or Tribunal Chairmen.

At the start of 2012 Park Court Chambers, one of Leeds’ largest and longest-established sets, started a merger with Newcastle’s New Court Chambers to create a regional powerhouse.The move combined the experience of the North-East’s pre-eminent barristers’ chambers and also provided individual and corporate clients with access to 94 barristers able to offer expanded expertise in civil, commercial, family and other matters.

At the time Michael Meeson, Chief Executive, of what has been dubbed the new combined ‘super set’, explained how the increase in size and reach would not come at the expense of the quality, integrity and reliability for which both had been traditionally renowned, and predicted growth for both sets under the new umbrella.

The move has since been well received by clients in both Leeds and Newcastle and there has been a real sense of excitement and momentum.

Chambers has been operating fully from its two bases in Leeds and Newcastle, and is today among the leaders in the fields of regulatory, family, civil, employment, personal injury, chancery and commercial work. New Park Court Chambers are proud of their strong reputation for conducting substantial cases. Major regulatory, civil and family cases together with complex medical negligence and Health and Safety prosecutions are all undertaken, in addition to inquests, judicial review and cases involving human rights issues. Numerous cases are conducted in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court and members of the specialist teams have appeared in the European Courts.

Building on this momentum, New Park Court Chambers formed an alliance with a leading set from Birmingham. Birmingham’s Citadel chambers agreed to join forces in a move that saw a further

Michael Meeson, Chief Executive of New Park Court Chambers

The Bar is constantly changing and will look like a very different place in five years’ time but with change comes great opportunity for those willing to embrace new ways of working.

50 barristers from its nationally renowned crime team – including head of chambers Andrew Fisher QC – become available to New Park Court Chambers’ client base and vice versa.

There was a strategic advantage to the joining of these two sets in a business relationship. First and foremost it enlarges the presence of both on the national stage and opens up potential new avenues of work. Secondly it indicates to the existing clients of both sets the type of forward-thinking, innovative and modern chambers they are working with. The Bar is constantly changing and will look like a very different place in five years’ time but with change comes great opportunity for those

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willing to embrace new ways of working. New Park Court Chambers is in a great position to take advantage of those opportunities going forward.

Focusing on the present, New Park Court Chambers has already seen benefits to its merger as new clients have been won and early financial results have improved. Service levels across both the Leeds and Newcastle bases are consistent by virtue of the very latest in IT systems and video conferencing facilities, with members able to work seamlessly wherever they are in the region.

New Park Court Chambers are committed to growth while at the same time determined to continue providing the same high quality of service that they are renowned for. Despite their latest alliance, they are not closing the door to further enlargement and are keen to look at recruitment throughout their areas of specialism.

Michael Meeson concluded “Service to clients is the priority. This together with clear commercial advice is the only way forward. We look forward to the future with enthusiasm.”

LEEDS 16 Park Place, Leeds, LS1 2SJ T: 0113 243 3277 E: clerks@npc-l.co.uk NEWCASTLE 3 Broad Chare, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3DQ T: 0191 232 1980 E: clerks@npc-n.co.uk www.newparkcourt.co.uk

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

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Pure Gym muscles in on Harrogate, Turkish delight for town, tower sees lettings soar skywards, former Bradford pub snapped up and building changes hands after 113 years >> Rugby ball building is new HQ JF Finnegan has been appointed to construct a multi-million pound headquarters building in Penistone for James Durrans and Sons to commemorate the global supplier’s 150th year of trading.

Work has already started on the 11,200 sq ft, four-storey building, designed by Leedsbased HTC Architects, which should be completed by this September. It will include a glass and stone design with a sloped oval roof to achieve the overall shape of a rugby ball.

It is being developed on the same site where the firm was founded in 1863 and will overlook the River Don, with a fully glazed south-facing elevation with balconies. Some 40 staff are due to relocate from three existing buildings on the site and discussions are underway to transform some of the old accommodation into brand new apartments for visiting guests and colleagues, while other buildings will be demolished to improve access to the new headquarters.

James Durrans and Sons managing director Chris Durrans said: “In recognition of the long-term success of the company, we wanted to make a statement with our new headquarters and create an iconic building on the site where it all began. I would often return from visits to our overseas operations and wish that our headquarters was reflective of our company success, so that was a driving factor.

“Additionally, we needed a fit-forpurpose building that would bring all our hardworking staff under one roof and create a modern, enjoyable working environment. As we are in a conservation area we thought hard about creating a design that will stand the test of time and really add to the area.”

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>> Town’s Turkish delight

>> Pure Gym muscles in on Harrogate Budget fitness chain Pure Gym has agreed terms to open a new 17,000 sq ft facility within a new development on Tower Street in Harrogate town centre.

Site developer Gregory Projects has secured the deal just weeks after it successfully secured planning and conservation approvals to redevelop the dilapidated site that was formerly a bowling alley.

North Yorkshire-based Pure Gym is currently the fastest growing gym chain in the UK. Gregory Projects has already secured a deal with Travelodge to operate a 70 bedroom hotel and restaurant, which means that the scheme is now fully let, with redevelopment works due to start this June.

Richard Tovey of Gregory Projects said: “The fact that we have attracted two prime operators in such a short space of time clearly demonstrates the need for such facilities in Harrogate town centre. There is no other low cost gym operating in the area and Travelodge is expanding its bed space based on demand.

Our scheme is a successful example of how a disused and redundant site can be transformed to deliver much needed facilities to the local public.”

Pure Gym property director Angela Crawshaw said: “This is a great opportunity to prove to people that access to a high quality gym with 24/7 access doesn’t have to cost a fortune.”

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Harrogate is to get its first Turkish restaurant after CBRE, acting on behalf a private landlord, agreed a new letting at the former Sage Bistro on Mount Parade.

A professional couple, with business expertise and a passion for authentic Turkish food, are said to be managing the restaurant, known as Konak Meze.

The stone property, which is located just a short distance from Harrogate’s Conference Centre and Theatre, will undergo a comprehensive refurbishment programme and will re-open for business in April.

CBRE director Sam Frankland said: “We have found experienced business people to create and open this new venture. We are confident that it will be a success.”

>> RBS helps Rushbound Royal Bank of Scotland has helped Leeds-based property investor Rushbond refinance its Crispin Lofts development for an undisclosed sum through its Funding for Lending scheme. Crispin Lofts is a Grade II listed building built in around 1915 on New York Road in Leeds. It offers 81 apartments for let and a ground floor retail unit.

Rushbond finance director Hilary Cooper said the company had already achieved almost 100% lettings. “We recognised the future potential of this stunning building and bought the site, which has today been transformed into Crispin Lofts, offering contemporary New York style apartments specifically for the rental market,” she said.

Mandy Sanaghan, relationship director, for real estate finance at RBS added: “The building was empty for a number of years but Rushbond have transformed it superbly and have shown their success with the high level of lettings achieved in a short time. This is testament to their understanding and experience of identifying the right investment opportunities.”

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

>> Tower sees lettings soar skywards

>> Semiconductor business now at Lawnswood Acting on behalf of Goodman, CBRE has let 3,000 sq ft of office accommodation at Lawnswood Business Park in Leeds to Diamond Microwave Devices.

Currently based at Leeds Innovation Centre on Clarendon Road, the company, which specialises in developing semiconductor materials and devices, has signed a five-year lease at £15.75 per sq ft.

Jonathan Shires, director of office agency at CBRE Leeds, said: “Prominently situated on the Leeds Outer Ring Road, Lawnswood Business Park is an established, prestigious location set in attractive landscaped surroundings offering the tenant good transport links to Leeds and beyond along with modern and flexible office accommodation.

“The location also allows Diamond Microwave Devices to remain close to the expertise and technology of Leeds University and other innovative companies in the city,” he added.

CBRE is joint agent on Lawnswood Business Park with BNP Paribas.

>> Hodgson joins Knight Frank Knight Frank has appointed Sarah Hodgson, previously an associate with DTZ, as a partner in its Leeds office.

Henrie Westlake, head of Knight Frank in Leeds, said: “Sarah’s expertise, experience and contacts will prove invaluable and will help to drive forward the expansion of the property management department in Yorkshire.”

Hodgson has also worked for King Sturge and St Quintin/CBRE.

The Tower Works development in Holbeck is now 80% let, less than a year after reopening as contemporary office space, having attracted a cluster of digital and creative tenants. The development, which officially opened in July last year, is now home to 17 start-up and SME companies which have moved on flexible terms into a range of spaces designed specifically for growing businesses with up to 20 people.

New tenants include BAFTA-nominated computer game software developer and publisher, Double Eleven, which was founded in Middlesbrough by Lee Hutchinson and Matt Shepcar in 2010. They have chosen Tower Works as the location for the company’s second office.

Tower Works is also now home to digital design agency Kaeto, which launched in January last year; Sum, a consultancy company which offers project delivery, cost management and dispute resolution services to clients across a variety of sectors; and Sodium, a film-making and photography company. Other new tenants include Octari, an IT services company, Brilliant Social Media, a social media consultancy, and graphic design company The Archipelago.

Paul Taylor, from Creative Space Management, which manages and lets the property on behalf of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), said: “This cluster of new lettings and the success of the scheme in just seven months is testament to the fact that the proposition we’ve created here is working. The flexible leases we offer are ideal for start-up companies and SMEs, operating in changeable market conditions.”

The property currently has three offices remaining, ranging between 200 and 1,500 sq ft.

Tower Works is funded by the HCA with additional funding support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) which has invested £1.9m into the project.

>> Raceway to expand York Harness Raceway in Nun Monkton has won planning permission to expand its existing facilities.

Camden Stud on the site provides winter quarters and summer grazing for a range of racehorses. The planning permission allows for a temporary dwelling to be built, enabling further development of the business.

The raceway provides a base for harness racing. Its new owners, Mick and Lindsey Welling, have refurbished the facility and invested in the site. They aim to start exporting top quality Standardbred horses to the USA having developed quality breeding stock from renowned mares in the racing world.

David Boulton, planning partner at Carter Jonas in Harrogate, negotiated the deal.

>> Price drops on Whitby hotel Colliers International has reduced the asking price for the Ellerby Hotel near Whitby from £1.2m to £850,000.

The hotel, just off the A174 coast road and close to Runswick Bay, Staithes and Saltburnby-the-Sea, is currently on the market for the

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first time in over 25 years.

The current owners, the Alderson family, have extended the property considerably since they bought it in 1985. The property includes parking, a garden, a bar and dining areas and 10 en-suite bedrooms.

>> Former Bradford pub snapped up Enterprise Inns has sold the Hare and Hounds public house in Bradford to a private individual for £200,000 in a deal negotiated by CBRE. It is understood that the purchaser intends to convert the former pub into a single large residential property.

The site, on Idle Road, was only on the market for less than four weeks.

CBRE director Sam Frankland said; “There was strong interest for this property from a number of parties who were registered looking for property in this area. We received five offers for the property and ultimately the price was right, a key factor in this market.”

BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY >> Helmsley aims to make flats with a view A property on the corner of Kings Square and Church St in York has been bought for over £1.5m by York property investment company the Helmsley Group, acting on behalf of Kings Square Venture. It comprises four retail units and three empty upper floors which will be converted into quality residential apartments with views of the Minster. Helmsley Group chair John Reeves said: “It’s terrific to be able to buy well for clients as well as to be able to bring back into use space above retail that can be converted into much needed living accommodation. It’s a win-win situation – creating new homes for sale whilst enhancing clients’ returns in the process.’’ The initial yield is 8.5% to Helmsley Group members, with this figure expected to climb to above 12% once the apartments are completed and sold.

>> Tesco buys pub The former Old Star Public House in Collingham in Wetherby has been sold to Tesco for the creation of a new Tesco Express store in a deal negotiated by CBRE. The pub had been derelict for some 18 months. Tesco claims the 4,000 sq ft store, due to open this summer, will create around 20 new jobs.

CBRE director Sam Frankland, said: “There is now the opportunity for another business to locate adjacent to Tesco within the remaining space in the large, stone building.”

>> First concrete building has new life The Algernon Firth building on St George’s Road by Leeds General Infirmary is to have a new lease of life. The Grade II listed building is being converted into student apartments by Esh Build on behalf of new owners Rushbond in a contract worth £3.2m. The project is expected to be completed by August this year. Rushbond bought the building from the University of Leeds earlier in 2013 and has undertaken wide-ranging planning consultations on the conversion design in order to protect the historic facade. The conversion

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is designed to create accommodation for 110 people. Rushbond managing director Jonathan Maud said: “This is a really important property in Leeds both in terms of its history and its location. We’ve seen a trend in students choosing to live more centrally in recent years.

So we believe that great design, combined with close proximity to specialist dental and medical schools and other university faculties will make the apartments particularly appealing.” Rushbond’s design has included a sustainable travel plan which will promote walking, cycling and use of public transport.

Residents’ parking on site is predominantly for bicycles with minimal vehicle parking for servicing and access. The building, which has lain vacant since 2009, is believed to be one of the first buildings in the UK to be constructed of reinforced concrete. It is named after wellknown Yorkshire industrialist and benefactor, Sir Algernon Firth, and was designed by Yorkshire architect, John Clifford Proctor who, in turn, was inspired by the Dutch modernist, Willem Marinus Dudok, architect of Hilversum City Hall in the Netherlands. Seven Architecture has carried out the design work, and structural engineering and quantity surveying services are being provided by Adept and Richard Boothroyd Associates.

>> GMI improves White Rose’s efficiency A new LED lighting system installed

by GMI Energy at Munroe K’s White Rose Office Park has reduced the energy consumption of one car park alone by 70%. The park’s owner David Aspin has also unveiled plans to build a completely carbon neutral crèche.

He said: “Just by changing something as simple as the lighting system has a massive impact on the environment and this small modification makes a CO2 saving of 95 tonnes a year.”

Other plans the two companies are working on include installing solar photovoltaics and wind power, enabling the park to generate a significant proportion of its energy usage from on-site renewable systems.

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>> CBRE moves to Toronto CBRE has signed a 10 year lease for itself at Toronto Square in the heart of Leeds’ traditional business district.

Over 60 staff will be relocating from Bank House in April into a 7,027 sq ft sixth floor Grade A office, which will be fitted out to CBRE’s contemporary corporate specifications and will include a ‘C Bar’ coffee bar and break-out areas.

Richard Sunderland, managing director of CBRE’s Yorkshire offices, said: “We selected Toronto Square as it fits the CBRE brand well. The new office will encourage a more fluid way of working and staff will be hotdesking to facilitate smooth communication between departments.”

Following CBRE’s move the building is now 61% let.

>> Alliance in Gildersome Non-food products supplier Alliance Disposables has taken out a lease on a 15,000 sq ft warehouse at Gildersome Spur Industrial Estate in Leeds in a deal negotiated by DTZ, acting on behalf of Orchard St Investment Management.

Signing a five year lease, Alliance Disposables has relocated to larger premises from its existing site in Birstall to service the Yorkshire region.

The estate, next to junction 27 of the M62, is owned by Orchard Street’s client St. James’s Place and is the largest single owned industrial estate in Leeds comprising 470,000 sq ft in total.

DTZ associate director Paul Mack said: “Alliance Disposables needed a modern and high specification facility in a location that offers direct access on to the national motorway network. A programme of extensive refurbishment and proactive marketing has again borne fruit.”

>> Former furniture site on the market GVA and DTZ have been instructed by Towngate to market the former Carleton Furniture site in the heart of Pontefract town centre. Located off Mill Dam Lane,

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the property is located on a site totalling more than six acres and comprises a mixture of industrial warehouse and office space ranging from around 2,000 sq ft up to 114,000 sq ft, in addition to a secure trailer yard of more than an acre. The premises are fully vacant and available as a whole or in separate parts on flexible lease terms.

Iain McPhail, associate at GVA, said: “The property offers the market something a little different. As such we can provide end users with flexible, affordable storage, manufacturing and office space in close proximity to local amenities and within two miles of Junction 32 of the M62, providing excellent transport links.”

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

>> Knight Frank promotions Knight Frank has made three promotions at its Leeds office, including promoting Paul Hallam to partner.

The other two promotions are Ed Harrowsmith and Dan Hyde, who become associates.

Hallam, who is head of Knight Frank’s valuation team in Leeds, joined the company in 2006 from SHM Smith Hodgkinson, while Ed Harrowsmith, an office agency specialist, is a product of the Knight Frank’s own graduate scheme. Dan Hyde is a former professional rugby union player.

Henrie Westlake, the partner in charge of the Leeds office, said: “These three promotions were well deserved and reflect the strength and direction of our business. The future for Knight Frank in Leeds is very bright indeed.”

>> Three hit Sunny Bank

>> Building changes hands for first time in 113 years Hepworth House in Leeds’ city centre – one of the original buildings for Hepworth’s which became Next - has been bought by Aviva Investors for £15m.

It is the first time the building has been transacted in its 113-year history. The deal, negotiated by Colliers International, represents a yield of 7.53%. The 100,000 sq ft call centre building, located directly opposite the new Leeds Arena and adjoining the new Premier Inn hotel, is occupied by a FTSE100 company Capita, where a 14-year lease agreement remains in place. Colliers International’s Richard Walsh said: “Capita is an undoubted covenant and we have the business in place for a further 14 years as tenant.

This building is some 22 stories lower than its neighbouring hotel and student residential properties, thus making for an interesting development angle into the future.”

Cushman and Wakefield acted for Next.

Three new lettings have been secured at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley, near Leeds.

Pudsey & District Civic Society, Capital Design Build and Dave Spink Photography have all moved into the site that was once the home of Yorkshire Television’s Emmerdale and Heartbeat. Pudsey Civic Society and Dave Spink Photography will be based in Red Lane Mill, where they have taken combined office space of 1,560 sq ft, while Capital Design Build has moved into an 813 sq ft office in Sandsgate. Both Red Lane Mill and Sandsgate have recently been extensively refurbished. Owners and directors John and William Gaunt have invested £2.5m into Sunny Bank Mills during the past four years to regenerate the site and to reclaim its status as the major employer in Farsley. Kay Land of Capital Design Build said: “We believe the ethos of this superb development and the company is delighted to be contributing to the commercial life of Farsley, especially as within months of moving in we are already expanding our workforce.”

>> St Andrew’s House given new look Knight Frank has been appointed as agent for St Andrew’s House, a 15,000 sq ft office building on the corner of Park Row and The Headrow in Leeds whose reception and first floor have just undergone a refurbishment.

The building was originally redeveloped in the 1970s and was a façade retention scheme, with the Park Row elevation carrying listed building status. Existing tenants of the building, owned by Luri 5 Pension Fund, include business recovery specialists Geoffrey Martin, the Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society, and Caffe Nero. There is currently 3,970 sq ft of quality office space to rent at £13.95 per sq ft, with office suites available from 1,500 sq ft. Knight Frank partner Elizabeth Ridler said: “The revitalised St Andrew’s House follows a line of recently refurbished building stock in the city and the rent should command serious interest following the re-launch.”

>> Popular York guest house price lowered Colliers International, which is selling the St Denys Guest House on St Denys Road in York on behalf of receivers, has reduced the asking price for the property from £750,000 to £625,000. Peter Bean, hotels director at Colliers International said: “The St Denys has a superb central location, 13 en suite letting bedrooms, attractive guest lounge and dining areas and a private car park and it’s no surprise that during the receivership period the business has been trading well with over £14,000 per month sales. Situated inside the city walls opposite the church on St Denys Road, this popular business trades purely on a bed and breakfast basis and is perfect for those looking for a strong, very well located and easily run guest house.”

ONLINE: More commercial property stories are available on BQ’s website www.bq-magazine.co.uk

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Smaller, but more focused

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ENTREPRENEUR

John Pearce believes small is beautiful when it comes to executive search – and his Chief Officers Group is going to prove it, he tells Peter Baber Private equity firms may have had a mixed press, but there is one field in which, in recent years, many of them have certainly been innovative, and that is recruitment.

During the boom times in particular, many of them shunned the traditional model of hiring a headhunter, preferably with the right old school tie, who would trawl through a database of contacts before coming up with a list of suitable chaps (and they generally were chaps) some months later.

They were not like that. To be in with private equity people you had to be dynamic, to think outside the box, most of all someone who could move fast.

Nowhere was this more apparent than at the MBI Friday events set up many years ago by Directorbank, a Leeds-based recruitment firm specialising in non-executive appointments to private equity-led businesses. At these events (held just as often in London as in Leeds) potential candidates and those who might just happen to be available would mingle with private equity professionals, often wearing no ties at all but with the nattiest of smartphones, and contacts were made on the night that could very well lead to job offers being posted out the following morning.

Of course, the world of private equity has

become a more sullen place since then.

Veteran recruiter John Pearce admits this.

“Private equity has certainly had its troubles,” he says. “There have probably been too many firms out there chasing the same number of deals, so there has been a degree of consolidation. Some firms have gone into run-off, which means they are not making any more investments. Duke Street, for example, has done that. They were everybody’s darling, and made some great investments in their time, but they have since struggled.”

Nevertheless, he is hoping that whatever may have happened to the houses themselves, their methods of recruitment may still have attracted a keen following, and not just from within the private investment community.

Pearce is familiar with the intricacies of such events as MBI Fridays because for six years

he worked for Directorbank.

Pearce, who is based in Leeds, now plans to adopt a similar approach – if a very different execution – to his new venture, the Chief Officers Group.

Certainly he seems to have attracted a lot of attention. He has already won financial backing from a number of what he calls high net worth individuals, two of whom are also playing an active role in managing the organisation. Tim Harrison comes from a background with 3i, the grande dame of private equity houses, where he finished up as director for pan-European buyouts, while Chris Ward was a partner at Deloitte for nearly three decades, specialising in corporate finance and finishing off in Dubai, where he ran the accountancy practice’s financial advisory services. >>

There have probably been too many firms out there chasing the same number of deals, so there has been a degree of consolidation

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ENTREPRENEUR In the few months the Chief Officers Group has been in operation, it has also attracted a number of top assignments. Just some of the work the six-strong team is involved in includes helping with the fundraising and the creation of a top management team for the global roll out of an ultra high end luxury brand that is going to be endorsed by a wellknown supermodel; finding a chief executive for a global software business based in the UK that wants to break further into the US market; and placing a chairman on the board of a special effects business that works with all the top Hollywood studios.

Pearce is particularly keen on the work he has been doing with Richard Pennycook, who is shortly due to stand down as group finance director of Morrisons after eight years in the role, although he will continue in a number of other roles including chairman of the Hut Group and chairman of the audit committee at Persimmon. Pearce has been helping Pennycook both with his own future commitments, but also in finding a replacement for his role at Morrisons. That has finally borne fruit with the appointment of Trevor Strain, who previously worked for Tesco.

Such a process has been going on for four years, which is unusual for Pearce because what he says potential clients like about his new practice, as initially they did for Directorbank, is its relative speed at turning jobs around – with little up-front cost.

This, he says, is proving particularly attractive to the UK’s big banks, who are still working out what to do with many of the troubled companies they have found themselves in charge of who have become too saddled with debt as a result of the leveraged deals they have done in the past.

“The banks are certainly taking more control,” he says, “and there are plenty of debt for equity swaps around. But they are also having to think more carefully about how those businesses are managed. We are talking to banks and they love what we do because they need to get access to people with great track records. We get to know a group of high calibre individuals who happen to be on the market because they have been successful.

Usually they will want to take a 2 to 3% stake in the company as well, just to show their

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commitment. They are proven candidates who have probably already made decent money.

They have got the T-shirt, you might say. We also like to deal with people who have been through the private equity cycle before. Some have already had five or six chairmanships. Or they are people who have come out of the big corporate world.”

This contrasts sharply, he says, with the experience such banks may already have had with traditional headhunters. “We can get access to the right people quickly,” he says, “but many banks haven’t got experience of

Headhunters talk about their job as if it were some kind of science and say they don’t have any database - more fool you if you believe that

this. Some have individual relationships with headhunters, but such relationships are usually very fragmented. In any case, traditional headhunters cannot work quickly enough, and they usually need a retainer each time. That usually means a third of the money now, and then the rest when they produce the shortlist.

And I would bet anything that that shortlist they show you is the same list of names you might have seen six months ago.”

Such antics are a sleight of hand, he says, and are not something he wants the Chief Officers Group to indulge in. “Headhunters talk about their job as if it were some kind of science,” he says. “They say: ‘We don’t have any database, we just use our natural intuition.’

But the more fool you if you believe that.

We all know headhunters certainly do have

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databases, and use them regularly to search for candidates.”

In fact, he says, the database has become such a tool in the search industry, partly because the industry likes to think that there are so many potential candidates out there, that the whole executive search service is in danger of becoming commoditised. This was one of the things he saw happening at Directorbank, he says, which persuaded him to move on. With over 3,000 people on your books, he says, it becomes very hard to keep relationships personal. “You can’t have 3,000 amazing people, and keeping in touch with such a large number is very difficult.”

He says at the Chief Officers Group instead they probably have a pool of people that is around a tenth of that number – only he knows they will have been properly vetted, and will usually only have made it into the pool on the recommendation of someone else already in there. “We have worked out who the good people are,” he says. “We don’t start from scratch, we go to them.”

It is this approach, he says, which has made the likes of Pennycook have faith in what Pearce advises. “Richard paid me the biggest compliment by saying that I almost never come up with duff candidates. He said: ‘You send suggestions through on spec, which I normally hate, because people do it all the time, but when I get one from you I know I need to take notice.’”

The other thing Pearce says his organisation is not is an interim management agency. “We don’t deal with career interim managers,” he says. “Our candidates are first and foremost businessmen. Career interim managers are people who have typically decided that they want to be an interim only, and charge a nice fat day rate. Our people are not really interested in a day rate. Some will do that as a stop gap, particularly if it gives them new experience. But they want a permanent role.”

The one exception to this might be finance directors, which are something of a speciality for Pearce – at Directorbank he says he once placed 32 in one year. “They are slightly more of a commodity, and they are aware of it,” he says. “But even then most of them are not interested in three months’ work. It would be more like five years.” >>

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ENTREPRENEUR But he does want to give his new agency more of an international focus. The importance of this was something that first struck him when at Directorbank he was asked to go out and set up an office in Frankfurt. “It made me realise what a big world it is,” he says, “and at the time I thought Directorbank was perhaps being too UK-centric. UK PLC certainly wasn’t the place to invest a lot of time in 2008 and 2009. I thought that was the wrong direction.

“I think the model we have now of connecting private equity should be rolled out internationally. I had a lot of success in Frankfurt. We did deals all around Europe, generally fewer but bigger deals, and that I think will be perfect for the Chief Officers Group. We are dealing with a high calibre group who are international businessmen.

So we have also started dealing with firms investing in Eastern Europe. They wanted access to Western experts, with knowledge to pass on. I remember being in Brussels Airport, realising that really Leeds is just a pimple on the map. So is London in many respects.”

And that is why, almost inevitably, his travels for his new agency have already taken him out to the Far East. “There is clearly a lot of money in China,” he says, “but there are also businesses wanting to do business in the West – to make British acquisitions. So we have been out to Hong Kong to meet the private equity professionals there. They know we are not going to replicate the model in the same way. Private equity tends only to take minority stakes there. And culture and trust is important. Putting a non-Chinese chairman on a board out there to them is almost like a loss of face. So what we want to do is give businesses in China access to Western experts so that they can do deals and bolt-on acquisitions. One firm we encountered is really a bunch of Canadians who moved out there, and want to find businesses in the West and improve them.”

Such activity was no doubt much discussed at the official opening the Chief Officers Group had in London in March – yes, despite the work already done, the agency hadn’t actually had one. To show they meant business Pearce pulled out all the stops to have the event at Claridges – a top-notch venue, says Pearce,

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where he could rest assured that guests would not be distracted by other events going on at the same time.

He also brought along Steve Tappin, a business coaching guru with a wide experience of doing business in the Far East (as laid out further on his website www.xinfu.com) to give a welcome address.

“It’s been quite an investment,” says Pearce,

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“But it’s part of what we do. It’s for exactly the same reason that I don’t really like calling our candidates candidates. I much prefer to call them members.

“We should be introducing our candidates to other ‘candidates,’ so eventually I hope they might pay to be part of something, if we do it well.” It’s certainly a new way of looking at recruiting. n

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COMPANY PROFILE

Entrepreneurs ready to take on emerging markets but need help getting there With the UK economy in the doldrums, Yorkshire’s entrepreneurs increasingly have their sights set on new opportunities overseas, writes Stephen Hall, entrepreneurial business tax partner at Deloitte.

Over half the firms surveyed in the annual Entrepreneurship UK report by Deloitte already export or are making plans to do so.

While many of the companies taking part in survey are proud of their Yorkshire roots, there’s a clear understanding among that region’s entrepreneurs that given the current state of the UK economy, increasing revenues from international markets will be a critical element in securing strong, sustainable growth.

Emerging markets are the forefront of most business-owners’ minds with 30% of firms questioned already exporting to these growth markets and a further 29% planning to follow in their footsteps.

And despite the situation in the Eurozone and ongoing concerns of the deficit in the US, exports to traditional markets remain high on the agenda with 45% of companies responding to Deloitte’s survey operating in these markets, and an additional 20% considering this as an option.

The manufacturing sector remains a key driver of export sales for Yorkshire firms but there is a broad, world-class service B2B sector from media and advertising, architecture and construction and professional, legal and risk services, with niche players increasingly able to exploit global opportunities.

Alongside this is perhaps the single biggest opportunity for Yorkshire firms - growing consumer demand from emerging markets.

While China and India have been on the radar of manufacturing firms for some time, consumer firms are increasingly waking up to the opportunities provided by the growing middle class in emerging markets, which now total over one billion individuals.

Challenges do remain, despite the introduction

Stephen Hall, entrepreneurial business tax partner, Deloitte in Yorkshire

Business owners say they are stockpiling assets or retaining cash. This is partly to act as a buffer against economic uncertainty but respondents also talk about ‘short term stockpiling to fund future revenue expansion’ and ‘building a war chest for investment’ of funding for lending, and one of the biggest obstacles for entrepreneurs is finding the development capital required to take on these new markets.

Only 12% of entrepreneurs see banks as the most likely source of finance to grow their business, down from 20% when surveyed last year.

Business owners say they are stockpiling assets or retaining cash. This is partly to act as a buffer

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against economic uncertainty but respondents also talk about ‘short term stockpiling to fund future revenue expansion’ and ‘building a war chest for investment’.

Increasingly entrepreneurs are generating their own finance to support expansion, with a record number of entrepreneurial businesses (57%) relying on cash they generate themselves.

This compares with just 36% who were doing so in 2009, in the immediate aftermath of the credit crunch. So while discussions over what can be done to increase bank lending to businesses are ongoing, the evidence of the Deloitte survey appears to suggest firms are increasingly going it alone when it comes to raising finance.

The challenge of building supply chain, finance, distribution and sales networks in new markets has been identified as one of the biggest obstacles for entrepreneurs embarking on an export strategy, with almost one in four entrepreneurs identifying this as the biggest barrier in emerging markets. A lack of knowledge of overseas markets, the ability to accurately price products or services, and logistics are also cited as challenges.

While Yorkshire’s entrepreneurs have been affected by the recession, the indications are that they are eager to export and actively exploring opportunities for growth. Despite the restrictions on bank lending, they are increasingly finding new ways of financing their plans for expansion.

For more information, please visit www.deloitte.co.uk 0113 243 9021

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Taking Britain round the world

Silver Cross remains a British brand, the company’s current owner says, no matter where it is manufactured – and, he tells Peter Baber, the world loves it When does a brand truly deserve to be a called a British brand? Alan Halsall thinks Silver Cross, the pram maker he has been owner and chairman of since 2002, certainly deserves to be called a great British brand.

Its history would certainly provide ample justification. The company was founded in Leeds in 1877 by William Wilson, a budding Victorian inventor whose patenting of the “cee spring” pram design offered a vastly more comfortable ride to the babies of parents who were for the first time being encouraged to take their children out for walks in the fresh air. The company quickly grew, and in fact became so conscious of its British roots that it changed its company logo around the time of the First World War because the silver cross emblem Wilson had used until then looked rather too much like the German military cross.

Apart from William himself, the other great leader of the company was his grandson Lawrence, chairman from 1952 to 1975, a man who while modernising the factory was also so keen on making sure it lived up to the company’s top-notch image that he allegedly permanently employed a pair of decorators to paint the factory. When they got to the end of one coat, they just started again. He also believed in planting trees on company land decades before anyone had heard of carbon capture, and, a keen pilot, he bought a company plane as early as the mid-1960s to make sure senior managers could fly to important meetings in places like Munich in a matter of hours.

Most of all, however, the company has always been aware of the need for celebrity, even royal, endorsement. Although it was Princess

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Grace of Monaco (aka Grace Kelly) who first allowed herself to be photographed with a Silver Cross pram, the brand’s associations with the British royal family certainly helped cement the idea that it was a leading British brand.

Today, however, there are some who would argue that you cannot be so sure. Because today the vast majority of Silver Cross’s output is actually made in China. There is no manufacturing base at all in the UK, apart from a small factory in Keighley that is responsible for the very high-end handmade prams that only account for around 5% of the company’s £21m turnover.

It has been that way since shortly after Halsall, whose family toymaking business had a licence to produce Silver Cross toy prams, bought the intellectual property and some of the machines and tools belonging to Silver Cross (but not the Guiseley factory) from the receivers in 2002.

At the time the company had gone under for the second time in three years. The Wilson family had lost control the first time, and new owners had subsequently tried to revive the business and failed.

However Halsall, who first went out to explore the possibility of trading with China as early as 1979, will have no truck with people who claim that overseas manufacturing means

Silver Cross is no longer a British brand. The design and marketing has stayed in the UK, he says – in a converted barn outside Skipton - and that is the really important thing.

“I do not say that we manufacture in China with any false shame,” he says. “I am proud of the fact that we do. If we are going to be a worldwide brand, we have to use the best sources of manufacturing in the world. The previous owners got into trouble because they had been trying to manufacture in the UK when low cost manufacturing had moved out to the Far East.

He says he “totally and utterly see us as a British brand”.

“I see Paul Smith as a British brand, I see Mini as a British brand,” he says. “I don’t think the place where a bit of machinery is knocked together is crucial to being a British brand.

We are British owned, British designed and British marketed, and some of our product is still made in Britain. But some is made in Vietnam, some in Italy, some in Poland, and some in China”.

He thinks the whole issue of brands being British is in any case something that has been cooked up by the media. “I don’t think the consumer thinks about that at all,” he says.

Nor does he have much time for the >>

I don’t think the place where a bit of machinery is knocked together is crucial to being a British brand

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industrial Cassandras who warn people thinking of manufacturing in China that it will only be a matter of time before the Chinese copy your ideas and sell them back to you. On the contrary, he says, he is proud of how “we have helped our suppliers to up their game”.

“Do I believe they have copied our product?

Absolutely. Is there much I can do about it?

No. Does it really worry me? No. They are not so stupid as to totally copy one of our brands. I have seen some things where we have added value that they have used in their prams. But I have got to be realistic. Where else can we go?

And do you really expect them not to copy?

Blatant knock off is one thing, but that has never happened to me. We have our own people in the factory to keep up their game.

We have our own office with our own team, run by an expat, and the factory are delighted we have it. We are shipping from there all over the world, and that product has Silver Cross branding on it. I will not let a product go from there unless it’s been checked. We will do our best to make sure our quality is right.”

In fact, on the subject of copying, he talks in particular about a market you can visit in Shanghai where vast quantities of copies of famous international brands are sold off at knock down prices. “If I ever went in there and saw a copy of a Silver Cross pram,” he says, “I would think I had made it. Nothing would please me more. Because I would know then that we have a brand worth copying.”

Unfortunately, he says, that particular market is

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only interested in copying fashion brands like Rolex and Gucci. But there is no denying that under Halsall’s ownership the international profile of Silver Cross has enormously expanded. In that time the company has twice featured in the Fast Track list of the UK’s fastest growing companies, featured in the Sunday Times. Halsall says that is hardly surprising given that “when I took over there were nil sales”. In any case he is particularly wary about doing anything that would imply the success of the company is only down to him. He says he only agreed to take part in Fast Track because of the adulation it would give to the whole company, in particular chief executive Nick Paxton, who had been working for the company’s previous owners and whom Halsall persuaded to come and work for him.

“Nick is a brilliant marketer,” he says. “Our head of design is also absolutely brilliant. I don’t know anything about design.”

But as it happens, China, the country where most of the Silver Cross product is manufactured, is now also one of its key markets. “There is certainly a growing middle class there,” he says. “The factories we are working with are now getting better prices from China than they are from the West. But that is not surprising when you look at the debt they have made available to us. Who has the cojones now?”

In March this year, the latest Silver Cross model was unveiled at the Silver Cross shop in Ocean Terminal, a famously posh shopping centre

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that juts out into Hong Kong harbour. The South China Morning Post, the local English newspaper in the former British colony, breathlessly reported the whole event, with a headline that ran “A quantum of cool for babies in the fast lane”.

The report went on to talk about how the event saw “Taiwanese actress and mum-to-be Cherrie Ying Choi-yi gliding down the catwalk accompanied by four roguishly handsome models, each dressed to kill and pushing a Silver Cross pram.

“We reckon hubby actor Jordan Chan Siu-chun, who Ying said is happy to be having a baby boy, will be extremely proud to push his new son in a Silver Cross pram,” the report concluded. The Hong Kong operation is actually run by one of Halsall’s two sons (the other one also works for the company in London), and Halsall says China has become such a crucial market that for the first time he is in negotiations to set up a subsidiary company there.

Previoiusly in each country he has relied on distributors who need policing. “Policing a brand is difficult,” he says, “and is something we are trying to control by putting brand guidelines down. It is especially difficult, for example, in South Korea, where we have a fantastic but very livewire distributor. By God – he is not always on brand.”

But interest in Silver Cross, says Halsall, is not only limited to the Far East. The company is already exporting to Australia, Russia, Indonesia, just beginning in South America, and he has great hopes for the Milddle East, despite Britain’s role in two wars there. “They are hugely loyal to brands there,” he says.

In fact, there is really one territory that he is not at all enthusiastic about – and its identity may come as a surprise. If any American mother-to-be currently wants a Silver Cross pram, he says, they have to order it online or through Harrods.

Silver Cross used to distribute in the USA, but Halsall says he was badly stung by a legal dispute with a famous celebrity which he is legally obliged not to discuss. But in any case, he says, he had already rapidly lost interest in a society that he says has become “the most litigious society in the world” – and this is coming from someone who studied law at

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university. “Mclaren recently had an issue with safety there, and got into trouble,” he says.

“We are setting up all over the world, so why bother about the USA? In any case, if you look at the retailers who have done well there, it is all about price and driving it down.

“Whereas in the Middle East and Far East there is a real move to quality. Perhaps I am being unfair. There are quality retailers in the USA, but my worry is the litigious society they have there. We are a little company and we don’t need it.”

It is in fact to maintain the upmarket image of the brand that Halsall has also been very selective about where Silver Cross is currently available in the UK. “We have increased output because people have demanded product,” he says. “But we are not going to be all things to all people.”

He does not, for example, sell to what he

SUCCESS STORY

describes as “discount sheds”, or to supermarkets, or to any internet-only retailers.

“I try to keep it specialist,” he says. “If a brand becomes all over the place it loses its gloss.

Other brands may be appearing in Argos, or Amazon, for example. But is that where you as an upmarket brand want to be?”

He says he also always needs to keep in perspective in such considerations the fact that the business remains entirely owned by him, and either self-funded or funded from the sum he raised by selling the old family toy business in 2006. So it will always continue to be. “I don’t like outside shareholders,” he says.

Nevertheless, he is particularly pleased at a recent tie up the company has had with Aston Martin. The new model being unveiled in Hong Kong was actually the Silver Cross Surf Aston Martin limited edition, a tie-up with the famous car brand that includes air ride

suspension, a magnesium alloy chassis and puncture free wheels.

I say this kind of tie-up sounds surprisingly male-centred for a brand that you would imagine would appeal to females first. “You would be surprised how often males do get involved in the purchase,” he says. (I later find out that the company’s advertising reflects this trend. Whereas the 1950s advertising featured pencil drawings of ladies pushing prams in New Look skirts, more recent imagery for the Surf model itself shows a much more trendy couple – a mother in jeans and a flip-flop and cargo pants-clad father. The father is pushing the pram.)

But once agin, what Halsall really likes about the Aston Martin link is the British connection.

“It is a hell of a brand,” he says, “It is a UK brand, and it fits in very well with Silver Cross.”

Britannia, it seems, still rules the waves. n

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ENTREPRENEUR

Leeds, the other Normandy

Baker and chocolatier Thierry Dumouchel is more than happy to promote the Leeds region as one of the reasons for his success, Peter Baber discovers Thierry Dumouchel is an ambassador for Leeds.

His story, about his life as a Leeds-based wholesale and retail baker and chocolatier and how much he loves the city, is one of three that (for the moment) are underpinning tourism body Visit Leeds’ latest campaign to attract new visitors to the city – and in so doing boost the tourism economy and create over 300 jobs.

The others in the series include Pippa Moore, a dancer with Northern Ballet, and Caitlin, a local schoolgirl with a penchant for Tropical World. Other personalities are promised in the future campaign, which has been made possible thanks to £500,000 in match funding Leeds & Partners has won from the Regional Growth Fund.

The campaign aims to underpin research that Visit Leeds has done on the kind of visitors the city tends to attract. This suggests that, whereas the package and coach tours might be more inclined to head for York or Scarborough, Leeds tends to be patronised by visitors favouring “independent discovery” – people who like to find their own favourite restaurants and favourite boutiques they can tell their friends about back home.

Independent discoverers wanting to find out more about Dumouchel would discover two things quickly. The first is that his eponymous bakery is, strictly speaking, not in Leeds at all, but in Garforth. The campaign is all about the Leeds city region, however, so this can perhaps be excused.

But the most obvious thing about Dumouchel, as anyone would guess from his name, is that he is not a Yorkshireman. He is originally from Normandy. And despite having run his bakery

in Garforth for 15 years, and having been in England for some years before that, he still has a very, very strong French accent. It takes me a while to discover, for example, exactly what he means when he describes some of the bread produced by more mass market operations in the UK as “sheetee”. Is this some strange French culinary term? Oh no, on second thoughts, it’s not…

That said, you can hardly find anyone who is more supportive of his adopted region and city than Dumouchel, who only moved here because, as he puts it, he fell in love with “a lovely lady in Yorkshire”. When he had first come to England – mainly to improve his English and thus make it easier for him to work outside France – he ended up in Devon.

But he likes Leeds first and foremost, he says, because it is very similar to Normandy, and to Betteville, the town between Rouen and Le Havre where he originally comes from. “Leeds people are just like the Normans,” he says.

“They are very honest and straightforward. If they don’t like something they will tell you.”

Such similarities could also be why he feels he has built up a strong sense of camaraderie (a word surely mutually understood by both French and English) with many of his suppliers

and customers. “I say to my customers: ‘If you close me down I have to get rid of someone.

And then if you come back and want to use me again I’ll say I can’t. If you cut down everything, when you want me again I won’t be there.’ It is very interesting when you can do that as a small supplier. But we all understand each other and they are all people I know.”

He has a similar attitude with his staff. Clearly anyone coming to work for the first time, either as an apprentice or as someone having a career change – a fairly regular occurrence at the moment, thanks in part to the Great British Bake Off – is in for a bit of a shock. Dumouchel says that initially he even tries to discourage them. “When they first arrive they think is it easy,” he says, “but we point out that baking is a skill. A guy we had who came to us after leaving the army saw me kneading a dough ball and thought it was easy, but soon learned.

They don’t understand the skill at first – they think it is just mixing water.”

But Dumouchel is keen to teach them once they pass that first hurdle. He has a policy that everyone who comes to work for him shakes hands with him in the morning and again at the end of the day – just so he knows they >>

Leeds people are just like the Normans - they are very honest and straightforward. If they don’t like something they will tell you

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ENTREPRENEUR

are doing all right. “They have to come and say hello,” he says, “so at least they have the chance to say if things are not okay.

Communication is very important here.”

He is very keen to look after his staff. “I didn’t fire anybody during the recession,” he says, “because I realised that without them I couldn’t do what I have been doing. Team work is very important here.”

He likes his staff to see the full operation too, not just the particular part of it they are involved in.

“I take them to see the shop, to see the colours, and to see the products and where they come from,” he says. “They don’t just work in a bloody bakery. They need an idea about what is going on next door.”

Such training has clearly paid off. Of the 25 or so people he has trained up from scratch at the bakery, two are currently in Canada, one is in Budapest, and no less than four are plying their wares back in France.

Dumouchel is, as you would expect for a

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Frenchman, passionate about food. But then, as you might not expect, he says that’s a very good reason for being in Yorkshire. He even sticks his neck out and claims that the cream the farmers make in Yorkshire is every bit as good as it is in his home region of Normandy – something I suspect that would make many of his fellow Normans back home reach for the Calvados in shock.

That is one of the reasons why he makes such disparaging remarks about the more commercial baking process that so much of the industry in the UK has adopted, in particular the process known as Chorleywood, that has been in use by virtually every large baking firm in the UK since the 1960s. This speeds up the process of making the bread, but at what cost?

Dumouchel claims that in France the number of people claiming to suffer from gluten intolerance is much lower, mainly because yeast in French bakeries is still left to ferment for longer. The yeast in bread that is made in a

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more commercial manner, he claims, carries on fermenting instead inside people’s stomachs, and that is why people have problems.

The bread that is made in Dumouchel’s bakery is left to rise for as long as 18 hours, and sometimes as long as 36 hours. No preservatives or any kind of accelerators are used in the dough.

He also uses a special kind of flour known as Camp Remy, which has what is known in the trade as a very low yield (in other words, not as much flour per ear of wheat) and hence has a creamier texture.

This flour was commonplace in both Britain and France before the Second World War, but rationing in Britain encouraged farmers there to experiment with higher yield flours and they never went back, unlike French farmers, who were subsidised after the war to return to their traditional methods.

As a result, Camp Remy is no longer available in the UK. Dumouchel, however, says that through experimenting with a mill he knows well in Driffield, they have managed to come up with a flour that is fairly close.

That, he says, is another advantage of working as he does in Yorkshire. “All the ingredients are fantastic here,” he says. “I like the covered market in Leeds, and I like contact with local producers. When I work with butter, with cream, or with rapeseed oil, I know the people who make it, and that makes a difference. All this knowledge is important.”

He has even developed a liking for pork pies.

They are on sale in the shop.

Summing up his job, he is reminded of a line in a song by a singer called Renaud, hugely popular over in France but barely known outside his homeland. “He sings that he would like to find a job where he would enjoy going to work, but he doesn’t think it exists. Well it does exist. It exists here.”

That, however, is the word from the boss.

Those who work around him say that it isn’t just a re-enactment of the entente cordiale that has kept the Dumouchel operation going for so long.

“Thierry has got the best head for figures of anyone I have ever known,” says bakery manager Rebecca Brayson. And that is saying something: before she joined the company 13 years ago, Brayson had a career in banking.

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(She was only tempted to cross over, she says, because she loves all things French, loves food, and thought the two were a perfect match when the bakery, which is based near where she lives, opened up. “One day I came in for a pain au chocolat and came out with a job offer,” she says.)

She adds: “I have also never known anyone like Thierry who can thrive on so little sleep, but still know the price of an ingredient he bought five years ago and which supplier he bought it from.”

That lack of sleep is understandable when you

ENTREPRENEUR

realise that, owing to the long baking times, the bakery is effectively open from midnight until 5pm. Brayson says the very French bakery’s opening in 1998 was a wonderful surprise in a dormitory town like Garforth.

“There wasn’t atraditional bakery, there, English or otherwise,” she says. “The closest to us now is [a business] in the centre of Leeds.

But it’s a franchise, it’s very factory based, and it is nothing like what we do in terms of quality.

But it does at least get the names of cakes we make known. It has bizarrely benefited us.”

She says Thierry’s last minute decision to

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include a shop on site also proved to be a boon, mainly because the site includes ample parking, something that is lacking on the main street in Garforth where all the nearest sandwich shops are based.

“I know the French style really blew me away,” she says. “I wasn’t sure it would catch on initially, but the quality is so good, and that is what Yorkshire folk look for.

“It’s very French in style, but Yorkshire in the way we produce things.” The bakery, which Brayson says has been growing by 20% a year, now employs 14 people full time, has already built up a strong customer base of everyone from Swinton Park in Masham to the Layne’s coffee shop in Leeds.

But more recently she and Dumouchel have been focusing in particular on the retail side.

She herself has become a recent convert to social media, after hearing a presentation at a bakers’ conference that she says was the “best 20 minutes I have listened to in a long time”.

She now uses Twitter to advertise that days’ bake. “The little we have started with has been extremely successful,” she says.

“If you had told me 12 months ago that we would be promoting this business on Facebook and Twitter I would have laughed at you. But it works.”

And they have also been working up the bakery’s online presence. They have been piloting a scheme to deliver bread boxes overnight right across the country.

“The only place we can’t deliver are the Shetlands,” says Brayson. “Over the next 12 months we really want to push the online bread ordering side, to be complemented by chocolate. We very much want that second outlet, but feel it should be online before we go for physical reality.”

How pertinent then, that after several years of being on the shortlist, last year the Dumouchel bakery should have won the coveted craft industry award title at the Baking Industry Awards. Still, it wouldn’t be the first time that the world has beaten a path to Garforth.

Thierry Dumouchel is also an ambassador in this country for Cointreau. And that means anyone in the UK who wants to market a food product as being flavoured by the orange liqueur first has to send a sample for Thierry to approve. The country, it seems, is listening. n

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BUSINESS LUNCH

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Collaboration is the key The chief executive of Leeds and Partners, Lurene Joseph, wants people to come together, she tells Peter Baber “No, no, you’ve got that idea quite wrong,” Lurene Joseph says, and then lets out a characteristic bellyful of a laugh. “The private sector is not like that at all.”

We are having lunch at the City Café at the Leeds DoubleTree by Hilton hotel and I have just suggested to the chief executive of Leeds and Partners that, having started her career in the private sector working for Shell, an organisation with just one board that has the final say, she must find it hard having to juggle the many differing interests that now take up Leeds and Partners’ time – not just marketing interest, but also financial, inward investment, and much more.

“You really think the private sector is just one voice?” she says, and fixes me with one beady eye. She then goes on to explain how when she was at Shell she was chiefly involved in marketing and developing a new type of “cleaner” petrol mainly aimed at developing countries – a petrol which still exists today.

“But Shell is not an organisation with just one boss,” she says. “It’s the most complex organisation, and in fact it was at Shell that I learned about the importance of stakeholder relations. Because when you are working in an international firm, you have country managers, section heads and leads, business heads and leads, then global representatives, and finally of course the board. I reported to all of those.

And believe you me, the country managers have a big weight of authority – just as much as the board.”

If that is indeed the case then she should be well equipped to take on the different voices that make up the Leeds city region. Because many commentators will tell you that the one

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thing that may have held the region back in the past few decades is the infighting that has gone on about what the most important city in the region really is. Leeds people says it’s Leeds, but Bradfordians say they are just as important, and York and Wakefield want to do their own thing. When you compare such debate with the focus that the Manchester city region has given to Manchester it can seem quite

depressing. Seven and a half months into her job, and having come to Leeds from Shell by way of the London Development Agency (LDA) first, Joseph says she thinks these antagonisms have been overplayed.

“I haven’t seen much in-fighting,” she says.

“In any case we are not saying that Leeds is the centre of everything in the region, but saying instead that the city region needs to work much more closely together. I think most of our stakeholders have now accepted that

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where there is benefit and there are critical mass points of distinction, that is where we should focus.”

Providing such focus is what she sees as one of the major roles of her organisation. She says she was not at all surprised by the wealth of economic talent that Leeds as a city has to offer. “I did my homework before I came,” she says, with another laugh.

What has surprised her, she says, is how relatively unconnected these different spheres of excellence sometimes are. If they worked together more effectively, she says, the city region would really be steaming.

“I have found there was a lot of good will, but limited sense of direction before,” she says.

“The city is, after all, very compact. We need to get it much more focused.”

Such work should become easier now that Leeds and Partners has taken on a much wider role. Joseph is at pains to point out that the new organisation is not just a successor to Marketing Leeds, the city marketing organisation set up with much fanfare and not a little amount of criticism in 2005. The new organisation now includes other capabilities as well, such as tourism, the work of Invest in Leeds, Conference Leeds and, if a current proposal is approved, the inward investment operations of the whole Leeds city region.

The change of name, she says, has been prompted by demands from businesses within Leeds, but in any case it is not a city brand.

“Leeds and Partners” will not be appearing on any banners around the city any time soon, and she certainly does not look at it as a replacement for the “Live It Love It” tagline that has been festooned in a striking purple

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BUSINESS LUNCH font across many buildings in the city centre in the last decade. She clearly has little enthusiasm for such ventures, saying they have become jaded in recent years.

“New York did that branding thing very well with ‘I heart NY’,” she says, “but that was back in the 1970s when they had other issues to move forward on – issues that I am glad to say Leeds has never had to contend with – and were looking for everybody to be on that page. But advertising alone is not going to do anything for you. Putting a logo at the top of your letterhead is not going to get you inward investment. We are not about a colour or a tagline. We are about having one voice and one ambition in terms of how we position the city. We will be working around our key sectors, and working back with the council in terms of making it the best city in the UK by 2030.”

She says her track record in achieving this can be seen in the work she did at the LDA, where she was chief executive, in developing the Enterprise Zone in the East End that builds out from the Olympics site. “The LDA was the grass roots foundation for the London ambassadors at the Olympics,” she says. “That project came from us.”

As it happens, she got to know a lot about what Leeds is like as a city from the large number of Leeds people who she says made up her finance team at the LDA. Having migrated down to London, she says, a lot of them are now back in Leeds, although working for another organisation.

The key collaborative work that her organisation will be working on focuses around key sectors “where we have a clear point of differentiation”.

Perhaps the most important one of these is the city’s health innovation sector. Partly as a result of having one of the largest teaching hospitals in Europe, with an annual budget of £1bn and 15,000 staff, as well as two universities with over 12,000 students and 1,900 staff involved in health-related teaching, and the second largest adult social care service in England, the city and wider region have indeed built up a formidable profile in the healthcare industry.

In business terms this includes companies as diverse as Surgical Innovations, which specialises in supplying disposable surgical >>

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BUSINESS LUNCH devices, and Tissue Regenix, a York-based company specialising in tissue cell restoration, to more IT-based companies such as EMIS and TPP, whose software is used by GP practices up and down the country.

Leeds and Partners is currently helping to develop a Leeds Innovation Health Hub. A report produced by Ernst & Young in December looking at this as an idea suggested that, yes, there were many “centres of excellence” in the city region, but “these are often too disconnected and fragmented to realise the full benefit for the city.” A familiar story, but one Leeds and Partners is aiming to ensure is relegated to the past.

The report suggests that all interested parties – not just businesses and the private sector but also local communities who might provide a “living lab” for research – should come together to work. It envisages the creation of a virtual network initially, but in the end the development of a Leeds Advanced Health Park, providing a place where innovative businesses can come together and collaborate. The model is based on similar programmes that are going on in Cambridge and in Cork in Ireland, and a more established hub that has been running since 1960 in North Carolina in the USA. “Our biggest role is to help shape that strategy where there wasn’t a collective one before,” says Joseph. “We see ourselves as being the facilitator for this type of work, working back with clinicians and academia, and also being the face to sell these messages.”

Financial and professional services is also a key sector. Joseph is keen to point out that Leeds is now recognised as the second biggest financial centre in the UK, and because of that there are opportunities to be had. “We know that London is overheating in that sector,” she says.

“We are not looking at taking jobs away from London, but saying that if they are looking to expand we don’t want jobs to go overseas but

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to come to Leeds. We have the right talent to deliver those jobs.”

In discussions with TheCityUK, a promotional body for the UK financial services industry, she has also been keen to stress that these jobs should not just be back office jobs. “What we are looking for is decision makers. KPMG, for example already has its key tax partner here, and we expect to see more of that. We will take back offices jobs, because we have a skill

We are not looking at taking jobs away from London, but saying that if they are looking to expand we don’t want jobs to go overseas but to come to Leeds

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in that, but also decision makers.”

Another focus is on digital industries. Just about every regeneration strategy in the UK regions involves some nod to the digital sector, but Joseph insists that in Leeds’ case it is an important sector. “It’s a key anchor because of the infrastructure we have here, and the types of companies we have here,” she says. “We also have critical mass with DLA Piper having its global IT operations stationed here. Then there’s AQL and Freeserve, plus smaller companies who are niche.”

That’s not forgetting tourism either. Leeds and Partners has just unveiled an advertising programme aimed at encouraging more “independent” visitors to discover the city. (You can find out more about this with our interview with Thierry Dumouchel, who features in the campaign, on page 50 in this issue.)

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Joseph also has high hopes for Leeds in 2013 with the opening of the new Leeds Arena – “positioning itself to be number five in the world”, she says – and the new Trinity Leeds shopping centre. “I like the way [the centre’s owner] Land Securities has been developing that shopping centre in a very different way,” she says. “They have reached out to the entire city. They are not just saying: ‘Let’s make Trinity good’, but looking at the whole of the shopping experience. They have also engaged with young bands, young artists, and street food merchants, and are working with small organisations and entrepreneurs to get them in.”

But while the remit of Joseph’s organisation has increased, it is surprising to discover that the money behind it has not. “Our budget has not increased, although we have had an injection of new people to make the organisation fit for purpose,” she says.

On top of that, she has also disbanded the old Marketing Leeds “champions” programme, essentially a form of getting local sponsors.

She says the businesses who had become champions did not see any value in what they were doing, and claims that as a result the total amount of money left in the champions’ kitty when she arrived was just £11,000.

But there has still been great progress on getting private money, she says. This year’s delegation to MIPIM, a key property trade show in Cannes, has been significantly privately funded. “In the last three months, the money we have raised from just going to MIPIM alone is a huge increase on what was there at the beginning of this year before I took the job.”

She is also hoping to raise more money by working with partners to develop “collateral that we can commercialise”, such as a Leeds city app.

But she says the focus on money can sometimes be distracting. The work of an organisation like Leeds and Partners needs to be much more than that. “There is now a lot of mood music in how one positions cities,” she says.

“It is no longer only around putting money on the table. Investors only want to come if there is a clear proposition and talent and skills. We have a very good story there.” n

BUSINESS LUNCH

The City Café Stephen Turner, general manager of the DoubleTree by Hilton, has high hopes for the City Café at his hotel. He thinks hotel restaurants in general in the north have not made enough of a song and dance about how good they are.

“Unfortunately guests view a lot of hotel restaurants in the north as somewhere to have breakfast, but people go outside for dinner,” says Turner, who has worked in hotels right across the UK. “Hotels down south use celebrity chefs in their restaurants as a way of evolving the business. This goes all the way back to Marco Pierre White at Le Meridien. I have seen this having an effect in Manchester hotels too. The chef gives something of an identity to the hotel.”

He is hoping, therefore, that the appointment of Daniel Benefer to replace Leah Jenson as head chef will bring the punters flocking in the same way that they have already discovered the hotel’s amazing Sky Lounge, which boasts views right across the city and beyond. Benefer is moving from the Hilton Deansgate in Manchester, and this is his first head chef role.

Lurene Joseph and I were too early to experience Benefer’s work, but the standard here should already be enough to entice you. We had two classics for starters – a City Café prawn cocktail and a glazed duck egg and smoked haddock omelette that Arnold Bennett would have appreciated. For mains Lurene opted for a sweet potato, chickpea and spinach curry, while I went for another classic in the form of City Café fish and chips that were exactly as they should be – crisp batter that still tears away, succulent fish underneath and chips that just melt in your mouth. The restaurant staff were also very accommodating in coming up with non-alcoholic drinks that were not on the menu. Just what you need for a weekday business lunch.

All in all, the restaurant is a great commendation for a hotel that has been through three name changes in as many years. It started off as the City Inn, one of six around the country. And the chain’s owners had only just decided that that name didn’t reflect the group’s quality, and changed the name to the Mint, when new investor Blackstone insisted that they should all be renamed as part of the wider Hilton group that it also has a stake in.

Turner admits that leading the hotel through such a change has been a challenge, but he says staff have been very quick to respond. “The only things that take a long time to change are the brown signs around the city, which still say The Mint,” he says. “We wanted staff to be aware of the benefits of joining the Hilton group, such as the Hilton University, which is an online learning resource complete with webinars. Hilton has spent many thousands on that. It is far more substantial than what we could ever offer at the Mint.”

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SAUNDERS ON WINE

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falling into the red A clear favourite emerged when Pharos Legal MD Natalie Saunders broke her wine reviewing duck

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I greeted the call inviting me to review some wine with a hefty dose of suspicion. I feared it might be an early April fools joke – who would possibly want me, self-confessedly uneducated when it comes to wine, to do a review?

Having satisfied myself that in fact it was a genuine offer, I was all too pleased to agree – particularly as I was given assurances that my lack of expertise should be seen in no way as a hindrance to my ability to give an opinion.

So, disclaimer firmly in place (well, I am a lawyer) - on to the review!

The first wine which I had the pleasure of trying came with a screw top. The days when this might sound alarm bells seem (thankfully) far behind us – after all, a screw top means you can get into your bottle of wine at the end of a hard day much more quickly!

The label wasn’t much to look at which probably means that I would never have picked this bottle off the shelf. Typically I choose wine that I have heard of or which has a pretty label.

So whilst this Casa Silva Pinot Noir Reserva from the Colchagua Valley in Chile (a 2011 vintage from an award-winning, family-run estate) didn’t do much for me in terms of the aesthetics of the bottle, it was a nice surprise when it came round to drinking it.

The wine had a beautiful ripe cherry colour and having left it to breathe for a little while, it did not have an aggressively acidic nose. Whilst I would like to say something along the lines of it having smelt of red berry fruits (or even tar and socks à la Jilly Goolden) my olfactory senses aren’t that well developed.

It tasted delicious. Its fruity notes were nicely offset by a not overpowering amount of spice which made this a very refined red and one I

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would be happy to recommend to anyone looking for something very civilised and pleasant to drink; a reasonable accompaniment to most food but is equally drinkable on its own.

The white wine I sampled was Spanish - a Pazos de Lusco Zios Albarino (2011) - from Galicia. It wasn’t as appealing to me as the red - I like New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and maybe that’s the issue; I prefer wine from sunnier climes than northwestern Spain.

It had an inoffensive bouquet – with strongly apple overtones – but didn’t seem to develop much on the palate and I found it a little acidic. I suspect it would go well with seafood; sadly I didn’t have any delicious prawns to go with it. I attribute a great deal of my wine enjoyment to environment too; drinking wine on a murky night in Leeds in March isn’t nearly as enjoyable an experience as sipping it whilst watching the sun go down on holiday after a day on the beach.

So if the kind people at Lewis & Cooper would like to send another bottle, I shall insist on imbibing it against the proper backdrop. Any excuse to escape the British winter! n

The wines provided were Pazos de Lusco Zios Albarino, priced at £13.99 per bottle and Casa Silva Reserva Pinot Noir, priced at £10.99 per bottle. Both available at Lewis & Cooper, which has stores in Northallerton, Harrogate and Yarm. www.lewisandcooper.co.uk

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SAUNDERS ON WINE Pazos de Lusco Zios, Albarino The four hectares of vineyards dedicated to the production of this wine are located near Galicia throughout the As Neves area of Rias Baixas in northwestern Spain. Planted using the Pergola training system, the vines achieve a density of 2,500 vines/hectare in soil that is deep and fairly acidic.

Components of decomposed granite allow for excellent drainage, a vital benefit for this area of excessive rainfall. Although not certified organic, Pazos de Lusco does all it can to respect the environment in its viticultural practices. Intense, yet clean fragrances of tropical white fruit make up the bouquet. On the palate, it is refreshing and crisp with grassy notes. A wellbalanced wine with a rounded mouthfeel and lingering finish. This wine makes a perfect aperitif, but also is a great accompaniment to sushi and raw shellfish.

Casa Silva Reserva Pinot Noir

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Emilio Bouchon arrived from Bordeaux to Chile in 1892, a pioneer of Colchagua Valley and responsible for the planting of high quality vineyards. Some of the vines which still remain in production date back to 1912. At the beginning of 1997, Mario Pablo Silva made a proposal to his father. It was that he transform his bulk business into a prestige bottling company for export, bearing the family’s own brand. Mario Silva accepted his son’s challenge and the transformation was underway, Casa Silva was created. Presently Mario Pablo’s brothers, Francisco and Gonzalo, joined the project. The beginnings of a wonderful family team were forged. Viña Casa Silva has become widely recognised as one of the most significant producers of premium wine from Chile. Over the last few years it has been amongst the most highly awarded Chilean wineries.

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MOTORING

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shaken, and stirred Paul Martin, divisional director of Brewin Dolphin in Leeds, jumped at the chance to play Bond for the day and test drive an Aston Martin DB9 When the email arrived from BQ Magazine asking me if I would like to test drive an Aston Martin DB9 I was obliged to go through a mentally challenging thought process before responding. Did I really want to spend a couple of days in the company of what many have suggested is the coolest car in the entire world? Did I really want to drive a true supercar that was going to be the focus of attention wherever it went?

Did I really want to fulfil a childhood ambition of emulating James Bond, even if I couldn’t have machine guns coming out of the front bumper and an ejection seat?

In short the answer was ‘yes please ‘.

I collected the car from the very friendly team at JCT600 in Leeds and spent some time just admiring the view – the low profile, long hood and big rear fenders that resembled well defined muscles were a true portrait of elegance and strength.

The interior simply oozed quality and style.

Bathed in leather and almost intoxicated by the smell of it, I pored over the various controls and switches which were all clearly laid out and easy to follow.

The tiny rear seats might be best thought of as parcel shelves but for this individual nothing could detract from the cabin (or fast jet cockpit as it was more akin to) and I felt like I was sat relaxing in my favourite armchair at home.

My addiction to the smell of the finest leather was temporarily forgotten via the growl and grumble of the engine starting and I couldn’t resist increasing the revs before feeling slightly embarrassed from the looks of passing drivers.

Being stared at was something I was going to

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have to get used to.

The DB9 is a seriously impressive car to drive.

On the roads and in traffic around Leeds the Aston drove just like my own BMW X6, nice and sensible but with no hint of the potential to propel me above 180mph.

I could quite easily use this car everyday purely from a driving perspective, I would though have to overcome the strange feeling of looking at my speedometer and where I was used to seeing the needle sitting at 30mph the Aston instead was nudging 80. That’s quite disorientating but of course it comes with the territory and I had nothing but a permanent grin on my face.

On the motorway the ride was smooth and you are almost guaranteed first class access to any lane should your right foot desire.

Acceleration in the mid-range was effortless and almost graceful and the gentlest of nudges was all it needed.

Out in the country on the roads of North Yorkshire was where the most fun was had.

The DB9 really came into its own on tight and twisty stretches, the rear tyres struggling for grip in the cold, damp conditions but never once giving any cause for concern. It really was grand touring at its finest, hearing the glorious shriek of the V12 at high revs and the crackle and pop on deceleration into corners. Wow! In summary, the DB9 is one fine motor and it was with great reluctance that I shut down the engine for the last time.

I lost track of how long I just sat there and when I closed my eyes it was as if I had dreamed the whole thing - had I really just had the pleasure of the private company of one of the world’s best supercars? n

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Being stared at was something I was going to have to get used to

The car Paul drove was a DB9 Coupe with a list price of £131,995 plus options.

It was supplied by: JCT600 Brooklands Aston Martin, Ring Road, Lower Wortley, Leeds, LS12 6AA

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MOTORING

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rolling back the years Retro riding is on the rise thanks to a heady mix of classic mechanics, timeless fashion and rebellious poster boys like Steve McQueen.

Josh Sims charts the new wave of old biking

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EQUIPMENT It costs well into six figures in any currency.

And perhaps that is to be expected. The Brough Superior, after all, is not only a hand-built motorbike, but one with history: the company behind it was established in 1919, made its last motorbike at the outbreak of World War Two and, notoriously, this was the bike on which Lawrence of Arabia was killed in 1935 (swerving to avoid a pedestrian, an accident so celebrated it led to the introduction of the first motorcycle helmets).

The difference is that this Brough is bespokemade now, an exact replica of the 1927 spec original, built at a rate of just five bikes a year by the original, recently re-launched company.

Nor is Brough alone in being part of a growing retro bike scene. British bike brand Triumph, for example, has seen a resurgence thanks to the launch of its ‘modern classic’ line of 60s-style bikes, notably the Thruxton and Bonneville. Royal Enfield has launched an updated Bullet 500. Norton has also been revived. These are throw-backs to the post-war eras of classic biking, when, in the UK, so-called Ton-Up Boys raced up the A1 to eat egg sandwiches at the Ace Cafe, and in the US, Marlon Brando ensured bikers were forever associated with rebellion thanks to his role as Johnny in 1953’s ‘The Wild One’. They have also prompted a new wave of highprofile urban bikers, the likes of Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Ewan McGregor, for whom the style is a large part of the appeal.

“The retro bike scene is a growing sub-culture that is part of the same non-conformist interest in vintage clothing,” reckons Brough’s new owner, Mark Upham. “It’s an appreciation not only for the very high >>

Those were the days when socalled Ton-Up Boys raced up the A1 to eat egg sandwiches at the Ace Cafe BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

EQUIPMENT standards of products made in the past, but for its original design, of lasting influence.”

It is, of course, also an appreciation of cool one the brands understand.

In 2009, Triumph, ahead of the curve, became one of the first classic bike brands to launch not a technical biking clothing range, but a t-shirt line. In part to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Bonneville, the shirts featured old ads for the motorcycle, as well as, inevitably, images of Triumph fan Steve McQueen. Triumph has collaborated with designer Paul Smith on a small collection too.

That motorcycles with the styling of yesteryear but the tech of today might well find a ready market - akin to car industry’s embracing the past over recent years too, Ford with its relaunched Mustang, VW with the Beetle, BMW with the Mini, and so on - is an idea catching on beyond classic British makers too.

David Angel is owner of the UK’s F2 Motorcycles, Europe’s biggest dealer of Ural motorcycles, a name unfamiliar next to brand giants the likes of Harley-Davidson, Ducati and Kawasaki, but arguably more characterful all the same.

For one, the Ural comes not from the great biking nations of the US, Italy or even Japan, but from Russia and, as Angel points out, “there are still some people who would equate any bike out of Russia with poor quality, though that’s certainly not the case now”. For two, Ural motorbikes are the

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EQUIPMENT

essence of pared-down, uncomplicated, elemental mechanics - its original manufacture was launched in 1942 in order to mobilise Soviet troops against German invasion, so a hardy machine capable of dealing with rough roads (which turned out to be a reverse engineered and beefed-up BMW) was essential.

“And that has always been part of the Ural’s appeal, because it has always offered huge potential for tinkering and personal improvements,” Angel adds. And last, but certainly not least, the classic Ural bike - at around GBP12,000 - comes, wait for it, with a side-car.

Angel, naturally, can sing the praises of the side-car: enough space for luggage, or camping equipment, or, if you must, a friend, but without sacrificing the flexibility and freedoms of the motorcycle to explore the back routes and backwoods. “It’s not about speed. It’s about having a great time getting there,” as he puts it. Indeed, it seems a loss that the side-car has largely disappeared from

the roads over the past half-century - a product, Angel explains, of the advent of the small, economical and affordable car during the early 1960s, which meant that, “unless you were passionate about side-cars, there

Not that riding a motorbike with side-car should be dismissed as beginner’s stuff. Rather, Angel assures that riding three wheels requires training and practice to counteract the asymmetric balance of weight. “You have to

Ural has always offered huge potential for tinkering and personal improvements...It’s not about speed. It’s about having a great time getting there wasn’t any reason to own one,” he says. “In fact, there still isn’t any reason to own one.”

Apart, of course, from its history - Ural takes its name, for example, from the Russian mountain range near to which production was moved later during WW2 to avoid Luftwaffe bombing - its sheer retro charm - which ensures a dedicated owners’ club - and its stylishness among identikit macho super-bikes.

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read the road ahead all the time,” he says, noting how the thrill of riding an old-style motorbike might well be most strongly felt less in the style stakes as the fact that these machines will not, unlike their more modern counterparts, ride themselves. “That’s what makes riding a Ural so exciting against other motorbikes. It’s a much more involving ride.

You need to be in control.” n

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FASHION

“Put most menswear on a table and it all somehow looks the same now,” says the flamboyant Angelo Galasso. “You have to open the jacket to see the label to know what you’re looking at. What I want to offer are clothes of distinction.” Blurring into the great morass of grey conservatism is one thing Galasso has never done. His may not be a name to rival fellow Italians Armani or Versace, but he has had his influence on menswear: Galasso is the car salesman turned investment banker, turned shirtmaker, who launched the Interno 8 brand in 1990, bringing with it not just the Gianni Agnelli-inspired watchcuff - a section cut out of the cuff to better accommodate a statement, and typically extra large watch - but a trend for towering collars, open necks and loud prints that defined the style of the premier league and, in many instances, still does that of TV presenters.

In short, he rescued the humble shirt from wardrobe obscurity, creating a 100 shop international business in the process.

“But,” Galasso adds of his decision to sell up, “I like to work with passion and just didn’t feel it anymore.

“We’d built a new reputation for the shirt but I spent a lot of time on the shop-floor and could see that the the market was going towards something more haute couture.”

And he isn’t kidding. Haute couture may sound like an exaggeration, but Galasso’s >>

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a step above the norm Driven by a passion for mens fashion with distinction, Angelo Galasso continues to challenge consumers to dare to be different, as Josh Sims reports

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FASHION latest incarnation - as the front man of an eponymous brand, via launching Billionaire Couture with Flavio Briatore, with whom he has been through a protracted and “stressful” legal battle - comes close. It is not for the wallflower: lavish print and colour, crossed with a high Italian luxe creates the kind of menswear one does not forget, for good or ill. Everything, from fat ties to pointy shoes, is available in a more bespoke version should you wish to turn the volume right up. Shoes, in fact, are a good example, available as they are in crocodile and ostrich, but also stingray, python, goat, mink... Even jeans may weigh in at £5,000 a pair, thanks to gold rivets.

“It’s about selling the right fashion for the right customer,” says Galasso, now 53, who admits his determination to stand out probably comes from his growing up in a big family - even as a teenager he was using local factories to alter his clothes, having brightly-coloured piping put on, for example, or jackets made of blanket material.

“And there is a customer who wants something different, something bolder. Too many brands just use womenswear to sell menswear - they just put out a few suits as an afterthought. There isn’t really anything special out there for men.”

Indeed, for those more comfortable with muted sobriety, Angelo Galasso’s clothes may prove a leap too far. After all, as he notes, most shoppers - and for that matter, most shop buyers - are “scared of buying anything too different because they’re used to buying the same thing over and over”. But for those bored of the same old, same old, his style is a breath of Neapolitan or Florentine air. For those who can look beyond the extravagant detailing - a jacket lined with tie silk, for example - it is, Galasso argues, actually all rather traditional: Savile Row on a psychedelic high. “Savile Row,” says Galasso, “because that’s where the most elegant men are. There, and in Naples.”

Galasso concedes that, despite the rapid launch of womenswear and even childrenswear spin-offs, his new brand is niche - more a case of ‘build it and they will come’ than answering a clear need. But he hopes to,

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FASHION as he puts it, “catch the right moment” in a changing male sartorial psyche.

“Whenever we open a new shop it’s a risk of course. But so far they have always shown that there’s a customer for what we make,” he argues. “I think so many men out there feel that designers rarely think about what they want, or understand that now the male personality is different, and that men want to look different, to dress more expressively - perhaps a little more flashily, but certainly differently, and to get complimented for doing so. You can’t overdo the flashiness, of course - you do it with one piece, not head to toe.

Some people will still think it’s too much, and that’s fine.”

Fine perhaps because Galasso - who thinks he could build his young business up into another 100 store chain - has something of a track record of going his own way and finding enough men to follow him. It was while he was working in finance and unable to find clothes he liked for himself that, despite a lack of training, he started to make his own. Soon colleagues were placing orders, enough that he decided to make it full time - with the novelty of having 14 women on motorbikes bombing around Rome taking client measurements at work. Soon after that, the unlikely combo of Jay-Z, Tony Blair and the King of Jordan started buying too. Similarly, his own label has attracted the custom of Paul McCartney, David Beckham, Michael Caine...

“When Coca-Cola was launched its growth was all about word-of-mouth,” says Galasso, by way of analogy. “People just asked for it, until an agent turned up, started pushing it, and then suddenly everyone wanted it.”

Similarly, now, he reckons, we style-conscious men are all undergoing what might be called - turning to another foodstuff - the mozzarella transformation. Think back, Galasso asks, just a decade, to a time when mozzarella could be bought almost anywhere in the UK. Now think of the kind of burrata mozzarella that can be bought today and which comes, coincidentally, from the southern Italian region where Galasso was born. It’s in another class.

It’s the kind of difference men are seeing in their clothing choices. Just don’t drip the olive oil on any of it. n

So many men out there feel that designers rarely think about what they want, or understand that now the male personality is different

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SUCCESS STORY

The power to Astonish A smallish manufacturer in Bradford is winning them over even in Mongolia, says Peter Baber

In these days of globalisation with all manufacturing seeming to gallop off to China the idea that there could still be a medium sized manufacturer based entirely in West Yorkshire that is taking on the big boys and sometimes winning might seem far fetched.

Yet such a David and Goliath story would not be too inaccurate a description of cleaning products firm Astonish, now based in Bradford but originally based in Leeds.

The company may only have a turnover of £15m – pretty slim pickings when compared with the likes of Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser. But it still manages to export, mostly through a distributor network, to over 40 different countries overseas. And not just the most obvious candidates either.

Astonish’s biggest export market, partly thanks to a highly active distributor, is South Korea, and given that it exports to Mongolia too, it is perfectly possible that even the descendants of Genghis Khan out herding their flock on the great Steppes may be familiar with the Astonish name, and particularly its Union Jack logo. Partly on the back of its export success, the company invested £5.5m in moving to its new home – its first purpose built facility, on the outskirts of Bradford – three years ago. “We are currently running with an additional 50% capacity to fulfil,” says current managing director Howard Moss, “so we have more than

enough to grow into, which was always the aim.” The successful 12% annual growth rate means the company is also bucking the trend in taking on new staff. “We see this calendar year as being one of our biggest leaps,” says Moss. “We have taken on three senior people and six more operators, which means we are up to about 62 people.”

And as part of this big year, the company has just launched a new sub brand – Astonish Pro – which will go on sale in Waitrose, and, later this year, in Tesco.

It is also about to celebrate its 40th birthday.

Given its age, you might think the company has taken a while to get into retail. But this may be partly down to the unusual way – at least when you look back today – that the company developed under the leadership of Alan Moss, Howard’s father. And in particular the story book way it started.

The oven cleaning paste with which the company initially made its name was originally made by the Leeds Soap Company. Alan, who in the early 1970s was a toy salesman looking around for a more stable product to market, had been recommended it by a man who promised him that if he bought a consignment and took it up to a trade show that was about to take place in Glasgow, the man would be happy to demonstrate the product

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to a crowd of what he assured Alan would be willing buyers. Alan duly bought the consignment, and caught the train, but when he arrived at the exhibition halls in Glasgow his new acquaintance was nowhere to be seen – in fact, Alan never heard from him again.

At this point, most people would probably have given up and gone back home. But Alan pressed on, and found he soon got the hang of demonstrating, even if it was an entirely new product sector for him. What the mystery man said about there being willing buyers wasn’t entirely untrue. And so Astonish Products was born. The company became a manufacturer of the product too. The Leeds Soap Company soon stopped producing it, and although Alan subsequently found a manufacturer who could make it in the Midlands, Howard says that relationship didn’t last long either. “He was starting to require more of the product through the demonstrations he and his team were doing,” he says.

“The Midlands operation was only a very small outlet.

“He got to the stage where he thought: ‘How hard can it be to make this?’”

So in-house production began, first at a small shed in Meanwood, and then in a larger facility in Pudsey. The company still owns both premises, even if it has moved out now to Bradford. Alan showed his determination in wanting to expand the sales process too – while still sticking to live demonstrations. >>

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SUCCESS STORY

“When my father was demonstrating in the UK,” says Howard, “while it was building him a satisfactory income, there were big periods when there were no shows. So he thought: ‘If I can demonstrate the product in the UK, I wonder why I can’t take this product to America?” Despite what you might think about consumerist America, Howard says the country at the time was still unused to watching live demonstrations. Americans were familiar with them on TV, but not in the flesh. Or so Alan thought. “My father went out to America,” says Howard, “shipped products to a warehouse, mapped out a series of locations where he could go.” Unfortunately initially he “caught a cold”, Howard, says, although that might have been down to the region of the USA he chose to sell in: the Deep South. “At the places he went to it was almost like he had been chased out of town,” says Howard. “He had to come home and explain to my mum that not only did he not earn any money, but all the stock he had shipped out there he had to ship back. As you can imagine she wasn’t best pleased.

“But due to the type of individual that he is, 12 months later he decided to go back out to the USA, much to my mum’s annoyance, and decided this time to cover the West Coast.”

That proved to be a huge success. “Over the next 10 years he did an incredible amount of business there by demonstrations.”

The product range was slowly expanded too – within kitchen cleaning, and then into laundry cleaning and car cleaning. Howard says the company’s big break came when Astonish was accepted into the Kleeneze catalogue, where it is still available today. But still, for the first 25 years, there was no retail presence. Howard

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says the rationale for this isn’t as old-fashioned as it might seem. “Don’t forget that specialist areas like mail order can give you a much higher selling price, although in terms of growing your business you are restricted to how widely available you are,” he says. Matters have changed quite considerably, however, since Howard himself came into the company, first working on the factory floor, and then in warehousing before moving into sales. He says it was his idea to make more of a virtue of the product range’s environmental qualities. Unlike many other market leading household cleaners, the Astonish range does not feature any ingredients that would force the company to put the familiar yellow square warnings on the back – either with a black cross to indicate that the product is harmful, or with a burning hand to indicate that it is corrosive. “Our competitors tend to use corrosive products,” says Howard.

“They will produce oven cleaners with the black cross and what that means is that their product is virtually neat caustic soda. Yes, it will remove a stubborn stain, but we have proven that you don’t need to use products of that nature. Our oven paste is something that requires elbow grease, but you can rest assured that there are no powerful ingredients or toxic fumes in there. It just uses a mild abrasive, and the brilliance of the product is in the fact that aside from it not being harmful, it will literally remove any type of burned on stain.”

Howard also decided to bring to the fore the fact that the company was not involved in animal testing, and also does not use any animal products such as lanolin in its ingredients. “We were a bit before our time in that we joined the British Union Against Vivisection (BUAV) 12 years ago,” he says. “We

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are the only cleaning brand that is not a private label which is part of the BUAV and which has banned both animal testing and the use of ingredients that have been tested on animals.

We are also members of the Vegetarian Society.

Not only does this give us a niche in the market, but also our products, being vegetarian approved, are endorsed with Kosher certification. That’s good for exports.”

Nevertheless, in the past few years when his father has handed much of the control and the ownership of the business over to Howard, the company has moved much more into retail – with, Howard says, Alan’s full blessing. Both men decided the time was right to make the move to build on an already well established brand, and to expand the manufacturing side in a commercially sustainable way. The initial channels were discount stores likes Wilkinson and Home Bargains, who have taken on the more mainstream, everyday products within the Astonish range, which now covers 80 products. “These stores want a point of differentiation from what supermarkets stock, and as a result Astonish has a loyal following,” says Alan. Increasing numbers of people using discount stores as a result of the recession has helped. Nevertheless, the launch of the Astonish Pro brand earlier this year marks a new move into mainstream retail as well – albeit with a completely separate range of more specialist products that will not jeopardise what’s on offer at the discount stores. “We realise that going to the likes of Sainsbury’s with a glass cleaner or a kitchen cleaner is a bit of a non-starter,” he says. “We know our product will work better and offer better value for money than any other, but the supermarket will stock the brand leader because they have

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SUCCESS STORY

Unlike big organisations we do not have a lot of red tape and the City to answer to. We can make decisions within minutes

to, and then they will do their own label. The category is not big enough for someone to go in between that.”

Instead the company has seen a gap for specialist cleaners – granite cleaners, for example, or ceramic hob cleaners. “The brand leaders don’t play there because it is not big enough for them. They are not huge volume areas like washing up liquid, but it does allow the Astonish brand to be distributed and really stands for what we are all about, which is point of difference, solving a difficult solution, and offering value for money.

“I realise I am unable to go into Tesco and sit with the laundry buyer and say that Astonish is doing a TV campaign for £15m like the big companies do,” he says. “I am wise enough to understand that if we want to get in a boxing match with P&G there is only going to be one winner. Yet at the same time they will be fully aware of what Astonish is and admire what we are doing from a base that they wouldn’t necessarily target.” And unlike the big names, he sees Astonish, which is self-financed, has other advantages. “Unlike big organisations we do not have a lot of red tape and the City to answer to. We can make decisions within minutes. There are only two shareholders within the business.” So the old ways of selling might have gone – there are no more demonstrations, and mail order only takes up a fraction of turnover – but Astonish still has plenty to play for. “We are doing a good job at giving people what they want and targeting a small percentage rather than trying to mass market something,” says Howard. “We want to build brand reputation, and invest in brand awareness more, but we are not trying to take over the cleaning world.” Not yet, anyway. n

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ENTREPRENEUR

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Cocktail for succeSs Still in her twenties and with several start-ups behind her, Peter Baber finds Vicky Novis is determined to make a success of her latest venture into the hugely competitive drinks trade

Vicky Novis claims that, still in her twenties, she already has a track record in being able to spot the next big thing just when it is on the cusp. In other words, the entrepreneur in her can sense when it makes sense to jump in and milk the market for what it is worth before the more established players arrive to monopolise the scene.

She may have a point. While studying accountancy and finance at Newcastle University she set up an importing business selling portable DVD players, just as they first started emerging on the scene. She then did the same for wireless mouse and keyboard sets and PSPs too. “I set up an electronics company, although it was just on eBay,” she says. “I figured out that whatever I imported had to be lightweight but high enough value to get over shipping costs. The business was good, but I didn’t pursue it.

No doubt she is hoping that her latest venture, a cocktails business called Euphoria Cocktails, is also addressing an emerging trend. She has had many other ideas in the intervening years since university, she says. “But I tried brainstorming them with friends and nothing had impressed,” she says. “People would always pick holes.”

But now she must be particularly keen on this

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venture. Because she has given up a promising career at KPMG to pursue it.

The idea for the company, as with many of her ideas, is the result of much research. She says she spoke to bartenders and others involved in the drinks trade to get their opinion of the idea. Again you do get a sense of someone with drive. How many people, say, faced with an unexpected pause in conversation towards the end of an inebriated evening, have struck up a conversation with the barman about how Britain’s drinking culture could be improved?

And how many barmen, faced with such a customer, have just gone through the motions to be polite?

Novis insists, with a quick frown, that her research was not like that. “It’s all about timing,” she says, “and knowing when the bar will not be busy. That’s when I would approach the bar staff, and they were quite happy to talk about my ideas.

“They would enjoy being asked.”

She says she found that cocktails were in increasing demand, but many bar staff and bar owners were at a bit of a loss as to how to respond to the growing trend, particularly given their relatively limited resources.

She says: “I saw that there were many establishments wanting to start doing

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cocktails, but struggled to get it going. The message I was getting was that yes, they were interested, but there are also lots of costs involved. Costs in staff training, which can be significant when you think of the high staff turnover there is generally in the bar industry.

And to do cocktails properly you need space as well, which many establishments do not have.

A cocktail takes time to serve - even something simple like a Mojito. And there are consistency issues too. One person’s Cosmo, after all, is different from another’s.”

The solution, she says, is Euphoria’s first range, known as Nuba. This currently consists of three ready made cocktails – a Cosmo, a Mai Tai and a Mojito – packaged in specially distinctive 200ml bottles. The idea is not that bars that cannot afford to go the whole way with preparing cocktails should simply offer their punters the cocktail straight out of the bottle. Part of the attraction of cocktails is the theatre, she says, and the bars can, if they want, still perform some of that. Euphoria can provide them with all the other paraphernalia they need to make it look as if they have a full cocktail making operation including glassware, cocktail shakers and cocktail menus. One thing that she has been able to achieve in pre-making the cocktails is bringing the >>

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ENTREPRENEUR

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ENTREPRENEUR price down considerably. Nuba cocktails, she says, typically retail for about £3.95 a bottle. “I know that £7.00 is the approximate average price for a fresh cocktail,” she says, “but in London you can pay up to £20.”

Given such prices, it perhaps will come as no surprise to learn that the name Nuba is an adaptation of the French term ‘faire la nouba,’ which roughly translates as ‘to party hard’.

Many establishments seem to have been convinced. In just two years, Novis has already sold over 100,000 cocktails, which are stocked in over 200 outlets across the UK. She says cocktails are proving particularly attractive to a younger generation of drinkers who want to be weaned off alcopops but don’t particularly want to emulate what the adults they know drink.

“As a girl who doesn’t drink beer, and had grown out of alcopops of yesteryear, I could see that I was left with an uninspiring choice of a spirit and mixer or wine,” she says.

“And you don’t always want either of those.

Yes alcopops may still appeal to the student generation, but a slightly more sophisticated market might not want them.

“And up until now, cocktails have been prohibitively expensive.”

She also insists that cocktails are increasingly of interest not just to partying young ladies, but men as well – particularly with the growing interest of Mojitos, which are traditionally served not in cocktail glasses but in highballs.

She was also encouraged by the relative lack of competition. Just after she had the initial idea, Diageo launched a range of ready-made cocktails, but as they were only available in much larger bottles, she says, they would not work in a bar environment. “Many of the bar staff I spoke to thought it wasn’t good enough for them,” she says.

There are also other companies offering the trade cocktail purees. “But these are also not the same,” says Novis, “and you still have the faff of measuring and mixing. I can see they are trying to make things easier, but once you have the bother of that, you might as well go all the way and make it from scratch. It is also hard to achieve and preserve a Mojito mint flavour, and also very expensive.”

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She should know. The process of developing just the three initial cocktails in the Nuba range has evidently proved quite laborious, and has involved the participation of many sophisticated taste buds. “I like cocktails as much as the next person,” she says, “but I am no expert. I recognised the need to consult with experts in the field and I soon discovered that when a majority said something was good, I knew I was right. You can’t agree with everybody. I learned that early on.”

As added encouragement, one drinks technician she spoke to told her that now was most definitely the time to get such a venture started. “He said he had been waiting for someone to do it with him,” she says.

Last year the Nuba Mojito and Cosmo each won a platinum award in the pre-mixed

“My parents and family friends said it was best for me to get qualifications first so I would have something to fall back on,” she says, “I also noticed that a large percentage of chief executives in FTSE 500 companies have accountancy backgrounds. I quite enjoyed the course, especially the tax module, so I felt happy joining KPMG straight afterwards. I went down for training in Canary Wharf. It was a really good time.”

But she realised after the trade show that she couldn’t carry on doing both jobs. In fact, she thinks anyone who thinks they can long term isn’t really interested in putting their all into being an entrepreneur.

“My colleagues were massively surprised,” she says, “but by that time I was needing to work full time on Nuba, and I had my own meetings

I am no expert and recognised the need to consult with experts in the field. I soon discovered when a majority said something was good, I knew it was right cocktails category – yes, there is already one – of the international SIP Awards, an industry standard. The Nuba Mojito won the overall best in category and Nuba also picked up a gold for their Mai Tai and a bronze for their packaging. That was also enough to convince her, finally, that it was time to wave goodbye to her job at KPMG. For in all the time she had been developing the cocktails idea, she had also been holding down a day job as a tax consultant at the organisation she had gone to join straight from university.

KPMG had even welcomed her back after she and her boyfriend went travelling for a year, so she must have been good at her job.

It might seem odd that someone who says she first caught the entrepreneurial bug while entering and winning a young enterprise competition as a student at Leeds Girls High School should have headed for such a safe occupation at the first opportunity. She says it was partly parental pressure, although their advice made perfect sense.

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to attend. My priorities had changed. I felt okay with myself, because I had waited until we got past the 31 January tax return deadline before I handed my notice in.”

In fact, her connections at KPMG proved more than useful. One partner introduced her to Jules Hydleman, the former chairman of Innocent Drinks, and he has now agreed to be Euphoria’s chairman.

“He admitted he does get approached,” she says, “and he rarely sees something that excites him. But he wanted to get involved, and with the experience he has I was honoured.” Hydleman may not be the name you immediately associate with Innocent, one of the biggest UK entrepreneurial success stories of the past few years, but Novis says that as their chairman, he played a part in the smoothie company’s development.

“He was placed at Innocent by the initial investor,” she says.

“And he helped me get to the stage where we were ready to raise our own finance. To attract investors, and get the price I wanted, I was >>

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ENTPRENEUR

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As a girl who doesn’t drink beer and had grown out of alcopops of yesteryear, I could see that I was left with an uninspiring choice keen to demonstrate there was a market for Nuba. If I had gone straight to them and said: ‘I have this product but I have never tried to sell it,’ it would have had much less value.”

Part of that proof came from a contract won on the back of another award Nuba received at an airline retail conference for best inflight food and beverage product of the year. She was approached by representatives from easyJet, who said they wanted to stock Nuba cocktails on all their planes.

The only problem was that in order to do so the bottles would need to be made of PET plastic, not glass. Finding a solution for that, says Novis, was almost like starting the business all over again. “The people who handle glass don’t handle PET,” she says. “We had to start from scratch with new packaging and new suppliers. But the main thing was that easyJet had said; ‘do that and we’ll take it,’ so we had to.”

As a result, Nuba cocktails were served on board all easyJet planes last summer, although they have been taken off over the winter because most passengers then are skiers who usually tend to drive when they land at their destination.

It has all been worth it, however, because in December last year Euphoria won £125,000 in equity-linked funding from Finance Yorkshire in addition to a further sum from private investors.

One of those investors, Paul Martin, a financial services professional, says he believes the product is right but he was most impressed by Vicky’s enthusiasm.

“I have been offered many opportunities in

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the past but this is the first one I have committed to,” he says.

Her story, in fact, sounds not unlike the kind of task contestants on The Apprentice have to go through. As it turns out, one of the people Novis has worked with on the project is former Apprentice contestant Alex Epstein, who also had been challenged to develop an alcoholic drink on his time on the programme.

But she says the difference in their experience was stark. “They got so much help,” she says.

“They were given all the suppliers who showed them what to do. In real life you have got to do every aspect yourself. But the Apprentice is a game at the end of the day. I

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have invested my own money in this project, although my family have also been supportive and helpful.”

For the time being, she wants to continue growing brand awareness of Nuba within the on-trade and among wholesalers. Taking it into retail is a more distant prospect. “I have got to be realistic, and learn to be patient,” she says. “But my dream would be for consumers to go to a bar and ask for a Nuba Mojito.” And if it all goes wrong, does she think she could return to KPMG for a third time? She pauses. “I possibly would go back,” she says. “But I try not to think too much about that.” n

team relay

28

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BIT OF A CHAT

SPRING 13

>> History silvered over

>> Around we go

with Frank Tock >> Students today know what’s what Good to know that, while by-elections such as the recent one in Rotherham might show dismally poor turnout figures, there is one area where the votes are still flooding in, and that is the vital, all important world of student politics.

Students at Leeds University Students Union recently broke the national student voting record when no less than 11,383 people voted in the 2013 leadership race to elect seven student executive members.

Okay, given that the union as a whole is supposed to cater for 32,000 students, this still only makes a turnout of 35.6%, but it is well up on last year’s figure of 9,753.

It also compares very favourably with my old alma mater, where union general meetings back in the 1980s hardly ever managed to get above the required minimum attendance of 250 people.

Even when, as a result of this, some revolutionary communists managed to get a motion passed requiring the union to give money to the families of IRA bombers, they only just got over 250 people through the door at the subsequent meeting to vote the resolution down.

So, a big congratulations must go to Antony Haddley, Leeds University Union’s union affairs officer.

He said: “It is fantastic to see so many students are participating and are passionate about who leads them.”

I can only hope the standard of wannabe politicians is as high as the turnout.

BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

A circular bicycle sounds almost like a contradiction in terms, but that is what the good folk at cloud computing consultancy VirtualDCS will be getting on at the end of April in a four-day, 175-mile journey across the north of England to raise money for Disability Action Yorkshire, Heart Research UK and the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

The team at the Leeds company have apparently already mastered the art of riding the contraption, which can seat seven. As they all face each other there should be plenty of opportunities to chat about… say, how sore their bums are getting or the prospect of yet another uphill climb. We wish them well. The whole event has been put together by Involve, an organisation set up by veteran trekker Geoff Major, which aims to help people go on a personal adventure to raise money for charity. For more information go to www.morethanjustgiving.com.

>> The gloves are on for Squire Sanders Congratulations goes to law firm Squire Sanders, which in 2012 managed to raise a record-breaking £57,000 for its adopted charity, St George’s Crypt. The stunts that were apparently run to raise this amount included 12 partners sleeping rough on the streets for a night, and, of all things, a white collar boxing event. Still, given how some of these lawyers behave, I can imagine that slugging it out in the physical world is only a short remove from the way they behave in the corporate world to make sure they get the job over the competition.

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It was fascinating to read up the company history of Silver Cross for our article this issue, all contained in a book on the company written by local writer Colin Ward. Apparently Lawrence Wilson, who ran the company in the 1950s, was so determined to roll his sleeves up and get on with the job in hand that on one occasion he ordered his chauffeur to despatch one order by putting a pram in the boot of his Rolls Royce and taking it around to a local address himself. When the lady of the house answered the door and asked the chauffeur to take his “van” around to the back, he pointed out that Silver Cross prams did not get transported in “vans”. She didn’t believe him until she saw what was parked at the end of her drive.

>> Lawyers brave the coals Six fearless trainees from law firm Clarion were recently asked to walk across hot coals to test their mettle. But no, this was not the latest ruse to see who would make it past their articles to get a place in the firm. The six in question – Sarah Harrison, Florence Hiskey, David Grey, Nicola Collins, Jennifer Leithgoe and Sean Linley, all of whom walked across coals burning at 1,237°F - were doing it for charity. As a result of their effort, they raised £700 for St Gemma’s Hospice. But from what it seems to me it wasn’t just the six trainees who were putting themselves at risk, but the practice itself as well. Not so long ago insurance company Eagle Star had a major PR disaster when some of its employees ended up with serious burns in hospital as a result of such a stunt. Perhaps hot coals have become less intimidating since then.

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ISSUE TWENTY: WINTER 2013

FUN ON THE RUN

Picking up the pace with Steve Cram

LAUNCH PAD AT LAST Emerging industries gain vital traction

BRAVE NEW WORLD

The shifting sands of the legal landscape

LOOKING ANGELIC

PR guru prepares to offer helping hand

ISSUE SIXTEEN: SPRING 2013

NEVER TOO OLD

Secret millionaire on keeping business dreams alive

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EVENTS

SPRING 13

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

APRIL

9 The Met Club networking lunch. Hotel du Vin, York, 12.00-1.30pm.

For more details ring 01423 525622

3 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber York business lunch. Hilton, York, 12.00-2.00pm. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk 4 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber York pure networking. Leeds United Football Ground, 7.30-9.30am. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk 4 The Met Club – Yorkshire’s own networking club. Hotel du Vin, Harrogate, 5.30-7.30pm. For more details ring 01423 525622 8 Harrogate Chamber meeting. Cairn Hotel, Harrogate. For more information visit www.harrogatechamber.org 10 The Met Club – Yorkshire’s own networking club. Restaurant Bar & Grill, 5.30-7.30pm. For more details ring 01423 525622 12 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber pure networking. Grange Hotel, York, 7.30-9.30am. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk 18 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber construction lunch. Tulip Inn, York, 12.00-2.00pm. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk

14 The Met Club PR & marketing breakfast. The Leeds Club, 8.30-10.30am.

For more details ring 01423 525622 15 The Met Club social media beginners/intermediates event. Hotel du Vin, York, 8.30-10.30am. For more details ring 01423 525622 22 The Met Club networking lunch. The Blackhorse Grill on the Square, Leeds, 12.00-2.30pm. For more details ring 01423 525622 23 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber Scarborough business lunch.

Crown Spa Hotel, Scarborough, 12.00-2.00pm. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk 24 The Met Club Ladies lunch, Hotel du Vin, Harrogate, 12.00-2.30pm.

For more details ring 01423 525622

JUNE 5 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber York business lunch. Maxi’s Restaurant, York, 12.00-2.00pm. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk

19 The Met Club Ladies Lunch. The Blackhorse Grill on the Square, Leeds, 12.00-2.30pm. For more details ring 01423 525622 24 The Met Club Met Connect company presentations. The Leeds Club, 8.30-10.30am. For more details ring 01423 525622 24 Assuring the Integrity of the Food Chain – national conference to examine food security. Food and Environment Research Agency, York. For more information ring 01423 567111

6 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber York pure networking. Leeds United Football Ground, 7.30-9.30am. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk 6 The Met Club – Yorkshire’s own networking club. Hotel du Vin, Harrogate, 5.30-7.30pm. For more details ring 01423 525622

25 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber Leeds business lunch. Woodlands Hotel, Leeds, 12.00-2.00pm. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk

11 The Met Club social media beginners/intermediates event. The Leeds Club, 8.30-10.30am. For more details ring 01423 525622

25 The Met Club – Yorkshire’s own networking club. Cedar Court Grand, York, 5.30-7.30pm. For more details ring 01423 525622

12 The Met Club – Yorkshire’s own networking club. DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, Leeds, 5.30-7.30pm. For more details ring 01423 525622

26 Bradford Chamber cereal networking. Manningham Mills Community Centre, Bradford, 8.00-9.30am. For more details ring 01274 772777

13 Bradford Chamber construction lunch. Cedar Court Hotel, Bradford, 12.00-2.00pm. For more details ring 01274 772777

26 Media Marketplace 2– a conference for everyone involves in digital and media industries. Leeds United Football Ground. For more information visit www.mediamarketplace2.org

13 The Met Club – Yorkshire’s own networking club. Cedar Court Grand, York, 5.30-7.30pm. For more details ring 01423 525622

26 The Met Club Metwalking walk. Grassington, Yorkshire Dales. For more details ring 01423 525622 29 Harrogate Chamber Yorkshire Business Market. Pavilions of Harrogate, Great Yorkshire Showground. For more details visit www.yorkshirebusinessmarket.org

MAY 2 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber York pure networking. Leeds United Football Ground, 7.30-9.30am. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk 2 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber York golf day. York Golf Club, 11.30am-9.00pm. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk 2 The Met Club – Yorkshire’s own networking club. Restaurant Bar & Grill, Harrogate, 5.30-7.30pm. For more details ring 01423 525622 8 The Met Club – Yorkshire’s own networking club. The New Ellington, Leeds, 5.30-7.30pm. For more details ring 01423 525622

BUSINESS QUARTER | SPRING 13

20 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber York pure networking. Fulford Golf Club, 7.30-9.00am. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk 20 The Met Club social media master class. The Leeds Club, 8.30-10.30am.

For more details ring 01423 525622 21 The Met Club Metwalking walk. Millington, Yorkshire Wolds. For more details ring 01423 525622

1 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber York business lunch. National Centre for Early Music, York, 12.00-2.00pm. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk

4 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber York pure networking. Kings Manor Exhibition Square, York, 7.30-9.00am. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk

18 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber York property forum. Royal York Hotel, 5.00-7.00pm. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk

27 Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber Malton business lunch.

Talbot Hotel, Malton, 12.00-2.00pm. For more details visit www.yourchamber.org.uk 27 The Met Club Harrogate lunch. Hotel du Vin, Harrogate, 12.00-2.30pm.

For more details ring 01423 525622

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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