post business - 20th june 2013

postbusiness

Taxing timesIs Peel paying its fair share to the Chancellor?

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thisweek

‘Alackoffaith’holdsbackSMEs

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2 Thursday, June 20, 2013post business news

Small businesses need moreconfidence, says RBS leader

The ACC, where the Accelerate 2013 festival is being held, and (inset) Peter Ibbetson from RBS

Chairman defends commercial district BIDTHE chairman of the Liver-pool BID company has issueda robust response to com-ments made today by PostBusiness columnist AlexTurner.

Writing in his column onpage 13 of this week’s edition,Alex questions whether theLiverpool Commercial Dis-trict Business ImprovementDistrict (BID) is offering its

members value for money.All business in the commer-

cial district pay a levy on topof their business rates to fundthe BID.

The organisation still hashundreds of thousands ofpounds unspent and Alex askswhat that is going to be spenton and ponders whether itwould be better back in thepockets of its members.

But BID company chairmanEd Oliver defended the organ-isation, adding it would not belegally possible to returnmoney. Mr Oliver told PostBusiness: “There was alwaysgoing to be an initial under-spend because we need tohave discussions with bodieslike the city council and Liv-erpool Vision about whatkinds of projects we can get

involved in and help fund.“These projects take time to

put together.“We have now put together

a new action plan and are nowstarting work to spend themoney – any BID member iswelcome to see that plan.

“Over the coming monthspeople will see how we areassisting in projects toimprove the public realm.”

EMS delivers latest student finance driveEVENT Marketing Solu-tions (EMS), fromEllesmere Port, islaunching the thirdGovernment StudentFinance campaign afterattracting a record num-ber of students and par-

ents to the last tour.Almost 227,000 people

attended over fivemonths, marking a 41%participation increaseon the previous year.

The Student FinanceTour will visit schools

and colleges throughoutEngland, on behalf ofthe Department forBusiness, Innovationand Skills (BIS).

The tour will educatepupils and parentsabout the financial sup-

port available for goingto university.

Between June andNovember this year, 40presenters working withEMS will manage 280parent and 2,050 studentevents.

Yorks successYORKSHIRE Building Society hasbeen named Most Trusted FinancialServices provider and Most TrustedSavings Provider in the 2013 Money-wise Awards.

Yorkshire, which has three Liver-pool branches, was also highly com-mended in three categories.

Clarke inbiogasdeal in UKand KenyaLIVERPOOL-basedClarke Energy hashelped deliver renew-able fuel projects inOxford and as far awayas Kenya.

The firm workedwith Agrivert to pro-duce renewable energyfrom Oxfordshire coun-cil’s waste.

Their anaerobicdigester processes foodwaste to produce bio-gas which is used in acombined heat andpower (CHP) plant,installed by Clarke,achieving fuel effi-ciency in excess of 84%and creating enoughrenewable electricity topower 6,000 average UKhomes.

Clarke Energy dir-ector Alan Fletchersaid: “We are delightedto be expanding ourrelationship withAgrivert, one of theUK’s leading anaerobicdigestion companies.”

Meanwhile, TropicalPower, a developer ofbiogas and solar plantsin Africa, has signed adeal with ClarkeEnergy to supply thefirst two Jenbacher bio-gas engines in sub-Saharan Africa.

The units will be sup-plied to an agriculturalbiogas plant located ata farm near LakeNaivasha, in Kenya.

The anaerobic diges-tion facility will pro-duce biogas, originat-ing from the digestionof food processingwastes coming from thesurrounding farms.

Clarke will supply,engineer and install theCHP generators.

THE Accelerate 2013 festival beingheld in Liverpool later this month iskey to improving small business con-fidence, RBS’ Chairman for SmallBusinesses has told Post Business.

Speaking ahead of the event, takingplace on June 27, Peter Ibbetson said alack of faith in the economy was hold-ing small businesses back from invest-ing.

He said: “Research last monthshowed three quarters of businesseshave got no confidence.

“It’s important to rebuild confidenceand that’s what Accelerate is allabout.”

RBS is one of the sponsors of Accel-erate, a festival dedicated to the coun-try’s high-growth firms, and will alsohave a senior representative deliveringa speech on the day.

Mr Ibbetson said: “I think confid-ence is the main problem facing smallbusinesses at the moment.

“They’re questioning if now is theright time for them to invest to growtheir business or if it’s the right timeto start a new business.

“At Accelerate they can get evidencefrom people who have done just that ,they can have help from role models.”

Accelerate 2013, described as a‘step-up’ event to the InternationalBusiness Festival being held in Liv-erpool next year, will feature a rangeof well-known speakers includingJimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipe-dia and Martha Lane Fox, co-founderof Lastminute.com.

“The whole event is built aroundsupport for businesses,” said Mr Ibbet-son.

“I think now is quite a good time tostart a business but you need the con-fidence to do so.”

At the heart of the festival will bethe inaugural meeting of the Accel-erate 250, a community of businessleaders chosen as the UK’s ‘vital sixper cent’ of businesses which have thegreatest growth potential.

The event will also feature inform-ation on schemes such as Funding for

Lending, competitions and discus-sions.

The RBS Chairman for Small Busi-nesses said networking was one of thelargest benefits Accelerate had to offer.

He said: “ It’s about how you getpeople talking to each other aboutwhat the issues are for businesses.“There’s a whole raft of issues facingbusinesses and things they need tounderstand such as VAT.”

He added that as well as small busi-

ness needing more confidence in theeconomy, there also needed to beimproved trust between small busi-nesses and banks.

“I think the message we’re trying toget through is banks are absolutelyopen for business,” he said.

“We have given a lot of attention toconfidence building to get people’strust in banks back again.”

RBS is organising three free fringeevents as part of Accelerate.

A Starting Your Own Business sem-inar will be held at Liverpool Marinaon June 24 between 8am and 12pm.

The same day an Access to Financebreakfast seminar will take place atThe Racquet Club between 8am and9.45am and on June 25, a Women inHealthcare event will be held at Liv-erpool Novotel Hotel, starting at 5pm.

[email protected]

Chamberhails MBETHE chairman andboard of St HelensChamber of Commercehave offered their con-gratulations to chiefexecutive Kath Boullenfor her MBE in theQueen’s Birthday Hon-ours List.

Ms Boullen has beenchief executive of StHelens Chamber since1998 and has worked atthe chamber for 22years.

Chamber chair, SteveGange, said: “It is withgreat pleasure that Iannounce that KathBoullen has received anMBE in the Queen’sBirthday Honours Listfor her services to busi-ness in the North West.

“This is a huge hon-our for her and StHelens Chamber andwell deserved.”

Ed Oliver

■ Accelerate prizes up for grabs – seeNetworker, page 21

3Thursday, June 20, 2013

[email protected]

ISP delivers 1,000 lifejacketsto Royal Netherlands Navy

MERSEYSIDE marine firm Interna-tional Safety Products (ISP) is set todispatch 1,000 specially-designed life-jackets to the Royal Netherlands Navy.

Bootle-based ISP is a marine safetyequipment specialist.

It has already delivered 900 of thecustom-made life preservers to theDutch force and is now due to issue1,000 more as part of a three-year, 3,000lifejacket contract.

The jackets are inflatable collar-stylelife preservers.

ISP sales director Geoff Billingtonsaid the contract required a bespokedesign as there were a number ofdetailed requirements requested.

He added: “We delivered atailor-made design to ensure the jack-ets met the needs of the Royal Neth-erlands Navy.

“This involved detailed work toallow the jackets to function whenworn with military kit.

“The jackets also had to meet all thenecessary safety standards and passrigorous testing so it demanded thatour technical team come up with someclever designs to bring everythingtogether.

“The finished article is a bespokeproduct that meets all the require-ments of the Dutch Navy and which isnow being used widely within theforce.”

ISP secured the Navy deal in cooper-ation with Dutch lifesaving equipmentmanufacturer Besto.

Besto has more than 85 years’ know-ledge and experience in the field ofpersonal life-saving equipment forwatersports and shipping.

Besto managing director JosMartens said: We are delighted withthe co-partnership on this develop-ment.

“Besto and ISP have managed todevelop a special garment which fullymeets the customers’ demands.”

He added that the jackets have beentested and approved according to rig-orous safety standards.

The lifejackets attach to existingmilitary vests.

Alternatively they can be wornalone due to a removable waist belt.Each jacket is fitted with two hydro-static operating heads which automat-ically inflate the twin-chamber jacketwhen the wearer hits the water.

Other features include a spray hood,which protects the wearer from drown-ing by protecting their face from seawater as they breathe and a twist lockvalve on the oral tube. ISP sales director Geoff Billington sealed the international deal

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Firm launches social media debateSOUTHPORT medical negli-gence and serious injury lawfirm, Fletchers Solicitors, hasunveiled a new social mediacampaign which debateswhether it is ethical to sue theNHS and private health ser-vices.

The campaign is asking thegeneral public for theirthoughts on taking legalaction against the health ser-vice through a poll conductedon the solicitors’ Facebookpage.

Results from the survey will

then be published via the lawfirm’s social media channels.

Chief executive Ed Fletchersaid: “It breaks my heart tosee first-hand the kind oflapses and failings in care thatwe’ve seen highlighted in thenews recently.”

Sickness summitTHE Government has been urged to call a sum-mit of employers and the medical profession totackle sickness absence after claims thatemployers have lost faith in the “fit note” pro-gramme.

A survey by the EEF manufacturers organ-isation revealed that improvements in sicknessabsence levels in recent years had levelled out.

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4 Thursday, June 20, 2013

GleesonBill

The best examplesof regenerationrenew people, tooAM I imagining it, or arepeople generally becom-ing more tactile?

I ask only because Iwas hugged half a dozentimes by some veryunlikely sorts during TheLiverpool Post’s RegionalBusiness Awards lastweek.

The ceremony was byand large a triumph.There were many goodwinners, John Syvret andEdward Billington & Sonamong others.

Ariadne Capital’s JulieMeyer gave an inspiringspeech about how youshould become an entre-preneur to make a differ-ence to the world, ratherthan merely chasingmoney.

Yes, I agree, Julie, butthen why don’t I do it?Nor am I the only one.What holds some of usback?

I think I worked outwhy Ms Meyer chose thelife of enterprise. She hadno choice. Like me, shestudied English as herfirst degree and foundthat it wasn’t much usewhen it came to getting ajob. If she was going tomake a living, she had tofind a way of doing it byherself. So she startedher own small businessteaching English as a for-eign language.

Another way the worldmight be changing mightbe discerned from thesheer number of young,middle-aged and olderpeople to be found at thenewly refurbished Liver-pool Central Library lastweekend.

The place was a mar-vellous blend of the tra-ditional and new. It waslight and airy with thewelcome addition of acoffee shop.

The Picton Roomhowever has acquired astrange echo. Don’t sayanything private in there.Don’t even whisper aswhatever you say willinstantly resound roundthe place for all to hear.

The library is magni-ficent. It reminded me ofmy student days when Iwould use it during theuniversity holidays. Thecollection of literary cri-ticism books was, andstill is, every bit as goodas the university’s lib-rary. I spent an hourthere with my wife andwe walked out of thebuilding with a dozenbooks about literatureand philosophy tuckedunder our arms. I feltyoung again. The redevel-

opment of the library isthe best example ofregeneration and renewalin action. It’s not just thebuilding that gets a newlease of life, its the peoplewho use it, too. I mayhave a few grey hairs, butmy mind is still young.

EASYJET is to buy 135new aircraft from Airbus.

This is a good sign.The airline’s order rep-

resents an about-turn.Easyjet has previouslybowed to pressure fromits founder and largestshareholder SteliosHaji-Ioannnou to holdback from expanding thefleet.

Now, however, the timeis right. At least that’swhat the board appearsto think.

Not only will the ordermean even more work forthe already very busypeople at Airbus’s wingfactory at Broughton, butit could mean moreflights from LiverpoolJohn Lennon Airport,one of Easyjet’s principalhubs.

It comes on top of a bigorder for new planesplaced earlier this yearby EasyJet’s arch rival,Irish airline Ryanair. Itwould seem the two air-lines share the view thatnormal service is aboutto be resumed with anupturn in the economyand leisure travel.

SHALE gas has been cred-ited for powering Amer-ica’s recovery and cuttingthe country’s gas pricesin half.

Could we be on thebrink of a similar boomin Britain, indeed in thisregion?

According to Cuadrillaand IGas, both of whichhave shale gas licenses inthis part of the world,there is enough of thestuff under our feet tokeep Britain going fordecades to come.

The Government isreported to be thinking ofincentivising local resid-ents to drop any objec-tions to shale gas oper-ations. Many fear frack-ing might cause earth-quakes and, therefore,damage to houses. TheGovernment is likely topromise that some of thetax revenues will findtheir way to the com-munities affected bydrilling.

If I were living in anarea directly affected, Iwould want to see thatsigned in triplicate beforeI would believe it.

THE issue of fair tax has beendriven to the top of thenational and internationalpolitical agenda in recentmonths. It has been seized

upon by campaigners during thesetimes of austerity and weak economicgrowth at home and abroad.

Fair tax, particularly corporation tax,was close to the top of the agenda whenthe heads of the world’s eight biggest eco-nomies met in Northern Ireland thisweek. It has also been top of concerns forpoliticians at home.

Last week saw Margaret Hodge, chairof the House of Commons PublicAccounts Committee, criticise one of theNorth West’s biggest companies, claimingit did not pay its fair share of tax.

She used a select committee hearing toassert that Peel paid the equivalent of10% corporation tax on its profits. Peelstrenuously denies that it does not paythe tax it owes.

The MP’s attack on Peel, which ownsthe Port of Liverpool, was just the latestsalvo in the growing public campaign topressurise business to pay more tax.Google, Starbucks and Amazon have alsobeen in the firing line of Ms Hodge andother British parliamentarians in recentmonths.

She was speaking during a select com-mittee hearing into the BBC’s move toPeel’s MediaCity development in Salford.

Questioning BBC executives, Ms Hodgeasserted that the broadcaster should havebeen more careful about its choice of alandlord, saying that Peel companies paidat most an average of just 10% corpor-ation tax.

Peel is one of the North West’s biggestbusinesses. As well as MediaCity, it ownsthe Manchester Ship Canal and the Portof Liverpool. It has huge plans to developderelict docks on the Liverpool and Wir-ral side of the Mersey. It was thedeveloper behind Liverpool John LennonAirport and built the Trafford Centreshopping mall.

Peel owns the Media City developmentat Salford through its subsidiary PeelMedia Holdings.

Peel Media Holdings accounts for theyear to March 2012 show it had turnoverof £17.1m, which was mostly rentalincome from its 780,000 sq ft of shops,offices and television and radio studiosfor the BBC and ITV.

However, the development hasn’t beenprofitable. Over the past two years PeelMedia Holdings has written down thevalue of the development by£37m. The write downs andinterest payments have com-bined to cause the company toaccrue losses on ordinary activ-ities before tax of £29.8m and£35.4m in 2012 and 2011 respect-ively.

Far from paying tax, theselosses mean Peel Media Hold-ings has received tax credits of£3.6m and £5.6m in the past twoyears, cutting the venture’s loss for thelast two financial years by a cumulative£9.1m.

Peel has been keeping its head down inthe face of the recent political flak.

The firm did issue a statement saying:“Following comments made at the PublicAccounts Committee meeting on Monday,The Peel Group would like to make itclear that it rejects any assertion that itis not paying its fair share of corporation

tax. All Peel operating businesses, includ-ing Peel Media (the developers and own-ers of MediaCityUK), are UK domiciledfor taxation purposes and pay the appro-priate level of UK tax.

“Peel was not invited to provide anyinformation to the PAC prior to Monday’shearing and would be more than happy to

do so on request.”In its defence, the MediaCity

development is new and wasalways likely to incur losses inits early years.

Nor is it any surprise thatcompany directors seek to min-imise the tax their businessespay. Indeed, they have obliga-tion to shareholders to do sowithin the law.

It’s a view echoed by DesVeney, a tax partner at accountancy firmHaines Watts.

Mr Veney said: “The Government weremaking it a moral issue, but a lot of thesecompanies do have other head offices inmore tax-efficient countries.

“People obviously are unhappy theydon’t pay a lot of corporation tax, butthey do pay hundreds of millions of PAYEand national insurance. They employ alot of people, so its not as if they are not

contributing to the pot. They are.“It’s really up to the Government to

change the rules.“I saw an article about how an account-

ant was successfully sued for £1.4m fornot advising a client to avoid tax.

“And judges in court cases have cri-ticised the Revenue for being too harshon people. They (HMRC) should stay inthe letter of the law.

“You (tax accountants) have a duty tominimise clients’ tax as much as you pos-sibly can, and if you don’t and get itwrong you can be sued.

“So if somebody comes to me for advicewe have to tell them all of the options.”

Responding to the fact that corporationtax has risen to the top of the politicalagenda, Britain’s prime minister DavidCameron pledged to negotiate fresh inter-national deals to limit the ability of cor-porations to avoid tax in the UK by chan-nelling their profits offshore.

The Republic of Ireland has long oper-ated a benign corporation tax regime toattract inward investment, but its neigh-bours fear it has cost jobs in their coun-tries.

The row exploded this week whenNorthern Ireland’s Finance MinisterSammy Wilson accused the Irish Govern-

One of the NorthWest’s largest firmshas been draggedinto the row over tax.Bill Gleeson reports

“We haveto tellthem allof theoptions”

Company taxpost business big feature


ment of “stealing” UK tax revenue.The Democratic Unionist said he was

concerned that companies were using theRepublic of Ireland to pay tax which healleged should be paid in the UK.

The Irish government has defended itstax laws.

Mr Wilson said: “My view is that theBritish government does havesome leverage on the Irish gov-ernment there, because theyhave a £7.5bn loan, that is a lotof leverage,” he said.

“They should be saying to thegovernment in the Republic, youcannot steal tax revenue from usin this way and that is in factwhat has been happening.”

David Cameron has put taxand transparency at the heart ofthis week’s G8 agenda and wanted themeeting to include country-by-countryreporting of where companies pay theirtax.

Irish junior finance minister BrianHayes rejected claims Ireland was a taxhaven.

“It is wrong and it is put out there bycountries I suspect who are looking to thesuccess we are making of this country interms of inward investment,” he said.

“It is not Irish tax law that is at stakehere, it is other jurisdictions with theirtax law.”

Ms Hodge has also this week claimedinternet giant Google operated contrivedtax arrangements to avoid UK corpora-tion tax.

Google’s claim that its Irish operation,(where lower rates apply) isresponsible for hundreds of mil-lions of pounds in advertisingsales in the United Kingdom are“deeply unconvincing”, aninfluential House of Commonscommittee found.

Following complaints aboutthe tax paid by multinationalsoperating in Britain, Google,which has enjoyed UK revenuesof £12bn since 2006, claimed its

British-based staff were not responsiblefor selling.

The House of Commons PublicAccounts Committee this month said thecompany’s defence has been underminedby whistleblowers and reporters.

Separately, Ireland has rejected claimsby two US senators that the country wasa tax haven and had handed technologygiant Apple a special deal, as two USsenators have claimed.

British and EU territories responsible for themajority of money held in offshore havens

TAX havens are depriving theworld of more than £100bn inlost revenue.

According to a study byinternational developmentcharity Oxfam, the sum isenough to end extremepoverty twice over.

The charity says a high pro-portion of this tax avoidance istaking place in British territ-ories.

Of the £12trillion thatOxfam estimates is being heldby individuals in tax havensaround the globe, more than athird is sitting in accounts inBritish Overseas Territories andCrown Dependencies.

The international agencysaid it is a moral outrage and ascandal that this is taking des-perately needed cash frompoor countries as well as fromcitizens who are being hit byausterity measures closer tohome.

Emma Seery, Oxfam's headof development finance andpublic services, said: "Thesefigures put the UK at thecentre of a global tax systemthat is a colossal betrayal ofpeople here and in the poorest

countries who are strugglingto get by, and put the Gov-ernment on the side of theprivileged few.

“If they want to get on theright side of this debate, nowis the time to take action.

"Britain's credibility is onthe line; talking tough on tax,whilst continuing to usher athird of the world's wealthinto UK tax havens, risks mak-ing a mockery of DavidCameron's leadership at theG8 Summit."

Oxfam argues that theEuropean Union also needs totake serious action becausetwo thirds of offshore wealth(more than £8 trillion) – is sit-ting untaxed inEuropean-linked tax havens(including those linked to theUK). Oxfam is calling for ablacklist of tax havens, andagreement that EU memberstates will impose counter-measures and sanctionsagainst tax havens and thoseusing them. Ms Seery said:"David Cameron and GeorgeOsborne continue to tour theworld making promises toclamp down on tax havens,

but so far they've done abso-lutely nothing to make taxdeals work for poor countries.

"The UK and Europe cannotstand by and watch morepeople fall victim to the biteof austerity whilst billions islost from the public purse ontheir watch.

“Unless the EU agrees a taxhavens black list and clearsanctions, we'll get little morethan hot air from leaders."

The £102bn of lost tax rev-enue estimated by Oxfam isjust a fraction of total tax loss,as it only reflects the amountof tax individuals are neglect-ing to pay and doesn't includethe tax dodged by companiesthat costs poor countries morethan £105bn a year.

Oxfam is part of the EnoughFood for Everyone IF cam-paign, which is calling on theG8 to make all tax havens joina multilateral agreement toshare tax information, so thatevery country – especially thepoorest – can tax companiesand individuals fairly, and foran end to secrecy that hidesthe ultimate owner of assetsheld offshore.

Peel owner John Whittakerand Chancellor GeorgeOsborne at the Port ofLiverpool earlier this month

Margaret Hodge, chair of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee

“You cannot stealtaxrevenuefrom us”

tops political agendapost businessbig feature


notes

byMikeTaylorLIVERPOOLOFFICEOFCHARLESSTANLEY

marketanalysis

IN ASSOCIATIONWITH

■ A SCHEME thatwill allow bank

and building societycustomers to switchtheir current accountswithin seven days hasmoved a step closerafter a customer guar-antee was published.

The pledge, togetherwith a kitemarkwhich will be used byall participants whenthe £750m scheme islaunched in Septem-ber, was made publicby the PaymentsCouncil.

All major providershave signed up to theCurrent AccountSwitch Guarantee andTrustmark, designedto improve on the cur-rent account switch-ing process which atpresent can takebetween 18 and 30days.

The PaymentsCouncil, which isresponsible for ensur-ing that payment ser-vices work for allthose that use them inthe UK, will monitorthe service.

It said the new sys-tem aimed to increasecompetition in bank-ing by making it sim-pler and hassle-freefor customers toswitch their currentaccounts.

■ HARD-HIT savershave been dealt

another blow withTreasury-backedNational Savings &Investments announ-cing cuts to interestrates on threeproducts.

The rate on NS&I’spopular tax-free directISA savings account,which had more than300,000 customers inMarch last year, willreduce by 0.5% to1.75% in September,having been cut from2.5% in November lastyear.

There will also be ahalf a percentagepoint cut in the rateon NS&I incomebonds to 1.25% and a0.4% reduction in itsdirect saver rate to1.1%.

Safety prioritised amid fewlow-risk investment options

The Cypriot financial crisis was a wake-up call for investors. Inset, Mike Taylor of Charles Stanley

First-time buyers running out of options Savers turn to P2P lendingMORE savers are turning toonline firms such as RateSetterand Zopa in the search for betterreturns on their cash, a consumergroup has found.

A survey of 4,500 Which? sub-scribers in April found that 9%had used a peer-to-peer (P2P) lend-ing website such as these in thelast two years, rocketing from 2%when similar research was car-ried out a year ago.

The majority of savers (81%)who had used a website put theirmain reason down to the poor

returnsP on offer generally.P2P lenders act as “middle

men” who match savers who havesome cash they are willing to lendwith borrowers, including indi-vidual consumers and small busi-nesses.

The interest savers receivecomes from the rate paid by a bor-rower, with the online middle mantaking a cut. The fledglingindustry is hoping to grow as astronger alternative to high streetbanks from next spring, when itcomes under tougher regulation.

THE choice of mortgages for strug-gling first-time buyers has shrunk inthe last year despite Governmentefforts to unblock the housing mar-ket, a financial information websitehas found.

One year ago, there were 62 dealsavailable for people with a 5%deposit, many of whom would befirst-time buyers, making up 2.7% ofthe market, Moneyfacts said.

But one year on that number hasdropped to 54 products, equating to1.9% of all the mortgages on offer.

However, the average interest ratecharged on such deals has edged

down, from 5.48% in July 2012 to5.32% this month.

Across all loans-to-value (LTVs),the number of mortgages on themarket has increased by almost onequarter year-on-year, with 2,872deals now available.

But even when the choice of mort-gages for people with a 5% deposit iscombined with the selection of mort-gages for those with a 10% deposit,these still make up just 14% of themarket, which is unchanged from ayear ago, Moneyfacts said.

Mortgages for people with a“medium-sized” deposit of 15% or

20% now make up 37% of the mar-ket, which is up on a year ago.Someone with a 20% deposit willnow be typically offered a cheaperrate of 3.73%, compared with 4.36%last July.

Mortgages on offer for people withbigger deposits of around 25% to40% now make up 48% of the mar-ket, which is slightly down on a yearago in terms of market share.

Mortgage availability hasincreased sharply and lenders havebeen slashing their rates since theGovernment launched a schemecalled Funding for Lending.

post business wealth management

LET’S get one thing straight, outsidecash there are no low-risk investmentoptions right now.

Even government bonds look shakyin respect to some heavily indebtedEuropean countries and the bonds ofnations with sounder finances offerscant returns, often significantlybelow the rate of inflation.

Since the start of the global finan-cial crisis six years ago, investors’ per-ception of risk has changed.

They have prioritised safety overgrowth – hence the high price and lowyields of ‘safe-haven’ governmentbonds.

The Cypriot crisis has been a fur-ther wake-up call: even cash held insome banks is no longer sacrosanct.

Yet there are a variety of invest-ments that are still capable of longterm returns ahead of inflation – thegoal of most investors which highlightwhy we believe that a balanced port-folio remains the key for diversity andrisk reduction.

Running around the various assetclasses we remain convinced thatequities remain the sensible, albeitmore volatile, investment choice forthose looking to maximise returnsover the long term.

They are not the bargains they werea couple of years ago, but with gen-erous dividend yields of up to 5% thereis still good reason to suppose equitieswill perform well against a backdropof moderate inflation and ultra-lowinterest rates as many direct holdingscan offer a healthy starting level ofincome that haves the potential to risesignificantly over time.

This theme of inflation protectionhas seen a growth in infrastructurecompanies whose investment providesthe backbone of many countries:roads, airports, mobile phone masts,electricity networks and water distri-bution.

High-profile investments by sover-eign wealth funds have highlighted theattraction of infrastructure, and whilst

the wind farms in Morecambe Bay andoff the North Wales Coast are notexactly pretty they do provide infla-tion proofed cash flow from essentialassets.

Index Linked Bonds should be theobvious answer for inflation proofing aportfolio, after all their value is linkedto the RPI but even here there is verylittle real value with any profits andincome being eaten way by varioustaxes and whilst inflation proof theyprovide little in the way of growth.

Historically, the other recessionproof product has been property, yetwe saw several years ago how therising tide of ever higher propertyprices collapsed as the wheels fell offthe bus, partially because of the bank-ing crisis and the sudden deterioration

in the asset price in general.But money has even started to flow

back into prime residential and com-mercial London real estate in recentyears, bucking the general propertydownturn.

Commodities have fared little betterwith gold experiencing its worst selloff for 30 years leaving many investorsscratching their heads as it seems atodds with its perceived image of a safehaven asset an environment of lowinterest rates and quantitative easing.

In theory, gold, whose supply isfinite, should appreciate as more papercurrency is printed but the price diphas served to highlight the complexityof the gold market.

Gold though is not the only com-modity and whilst other hard commod-

ities, especially base metals seemintrinsically linked to Chinese growth,which as their growth has slowed, theyhave taken a tumble, showing extremelevels of volatility in some cases.

Soft commodities (wheat, corn,sugar and so on) move to a differentbeat, and as the world’s population hasgone through 7bn demand continues toincrease.

However, each has its own uniquesupply and demand dynamics includ-ing fickle factors such as the weather.

Interestingly, it is entirely possiblein the near future that water willbecome a tradable commodity, like oilis today, as it becomes scarcer, thoughgiven the rain we have had hererecently maybe this is one productthat we will not have to worry about.


Software firm secures fundsto bring product to market

A SPECIALIST software firm can nowbring a new product to market aftersecuring backing from MerseysideSpecial Investment Fund (MSIF).

Data Performance Consultancy(DPC) produces software that helpspublic bodies better manage their net-work of suppliers and can even helpthem choose those suppliers.

It has developed what it calls a “col-laborative management system”centred around a new British Stand-ard, BS 11000, which provides a vari-ety of functions including a legalframework that has been designed inconjunction with Liverpool law firmDWF.

It also includes asset management,performance management, financialmanagement and a variety of otheroperational management functions.

Managing director Brian Bishophas spent the last three yearsresearching and developing theproduct called WAHSP (Workflow Ana-lysis and Health and Safety Protec-tion) which is now ready to bring tomarket.

The company, which is based at Liv-erpool Science Park and employs threepeople, is currently in talks with sev-eral local authorities and primarycare trusts about trialling the software

and is about to embark on a PHDstudy with LJMU to evaluate potentialcost savings.

DPC has developed a platformaimed at the energy sector – theEnergy Portal Software System –which is currently being trialled byNPower.

The firm has secured a £50,000 loanfrom MSIF to help with the set-upcosts and manage the first phase of theoperation.

Mr Bishop said: “Organisationssuch as PCTs and local authoritiesmay have numerous contractors work-ing for them at any one time.

“This system has been developed tosimplify the processes needed to over-see suppliers, which in turn will cutcosts. It also helps the user to make aninformed decision on choosing theright firm for the job and control thequality of the work delivered.

“The system has also been designedto promote local contractors.

“We struggled for over two years toraise finance from a bank. It was awelcome relief to find in MSIF a fund-ing body that understands the needs ofsmall businesses”

MSIF investment director ChrisWalters added: “DPC’s managing dir-ector has an impressive track recordin developing software and he hasinvested a lot of time and money inresearching and developing his latestproduct.”Brian Bishop, founder of DPC, with Chris Walters of MSIF

Heightsafewins newcontractsWORKING at heightsafety specialistHeightsafe Systems hasannounced a raft ofnew client wins.

The Wirral-basedcompany – which waslast Thursday named asthe Judges’ ChoiceAward winner at theLiverpool Post RegionalBusiness Awards – haswon contracts withManchester United, Sel-fridges, BritishAerospace and Down-ing Construction,together with a numberof Ministry of Defencecontracts.

They involve a rangeof services, from thesupply and installationof Guardrail and FallProtection systems toannual compliance test-ing, and bespoke metal-work solutions.

Managing directorKen Diable said: “Thesenew contracts areanother great step for-ward for the companyand demonstrate ourcapability to work withsome of the biggestbrands and businessesin the UK.

“We are continuingto build up our portfo-lio of both public andprivate sector clients.”

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Advertising Feature KKA Architecture

Local practice designs stadiumA

LTERNATIVEplans have beenunveiled toredevelop thespiritual home of

Bristol City FC, AshtonGate, in order to create a£40m multi-purpose 26,000-seat stadium hostingfootball and rugby matches.The new stadium is to beshared with Bristol RugbyClub.

Liverpool practice KKAArchitecture has been appoin-ted to design the scheme byBristol Sport, a company setup to oversee the financialand business management ofthe football and rugby clubs.

A consultation exercise hasbeen launched, with a fullplanning application expectedto be submitted in July. Ifplanning permission is gran-ted, then the new groundcould be finished in time forthe 2016/17 season.

The club’s historic homewould be redeveloped instages to incorporate newstands where the existingWedlock and Williams standsare currently sited, togetherwith major renovation worksto the Dolman Stand.

Plans also include space fora club shop and museum, aswell as a large sports barincorporated into the site. Theexisting pitch is to be widenedto accommodate rugby

matches and relayed with anew ‘Desso’ reinforced grassplaying surface, capable ofwithstanding the wear result-ing from the additional fix-tures through the playingseason.

Bristol’s mayor George Fer-guson has welcomed the newplan for Ashton Gate, saying ithas the potential to “bring thecommunity and the fanstogether.”

Mr Ferguson, former Pres-ident of the RIBA, also said hewas very impressed with thedesign of the new stadium andreassured the club that thecity council would be as help-ful as it could be in makingthe plans a reality.

A priority for KKA hasbeen to retain the identity andculture of the individualstands in terms of the currentfootball fan base.

Bristol Sport’s ambition todevelop a state-of-the-artmedia and technology-drivenvenue with the emphasis onflexibility and accessibilityhas been instrumental in for-mulating design opportunit-ies.

The proposals seek to bringtogether a complex and chal-lenging set of requirementsinto a contemporary building,which draws strongly on otherequivalent stadia and eventvenues.

The resultant design creates

a strong identity that deliversa new ‘signature’ buildingwhich is not overtly brash andoverwhelming, but captures aspirit, context and atmospherewhich will be cherished bysupporters.

KKA is an award-winningpractice based in purpose-designed offices at Highpoint

in Liverpool city centre. KKAundertakes projects nation-wide and across a wide spec-trum of sectors on projectswhich range in size and com-plexity.

The practice has recentlycompleted successfulsports/leisure projects atHeywood, Rochdale and

Rossendale.However, the Ashton Gate

project provides a major boostto the practice’s reputationand experience in this expand-ing sector.

Tony Swindells is one ofKKA’s directors and is keen toexpand the company’s suc-cess. He said: “The feedback

we have already received hasbeen very positive.

“We very much hope thatthe Ashton Gate projectprovides an exemplaryexample of how a football cluband now rugby club cancement its place in its tradi-tional home in the heart of thecommunity.”

Liverpool practice KKA Architecture has created designs for a new stadium in Bristol


Out of town retailer Matalanreports 10% surge in profits

Matalan founder JohnHargreaves and, inset, a Matalanstore

Easyjet places huge Airbus neo order to fuel future growth

SKELMERSDALE-based discountretailer Matalan published auditedresults for the year to February lastweek.

The out-of-town fashion and home-ware club retailer, announces itsfull-year audited results for the 52weeks ended February 23 said under-lying profits excluding interest, tax,depreciation and amortisation were£100.4m, up 10% on the £91.1m repor-ted last year.

Liverpool born John Hargreaves’firm enjoyed total revenue of £1.1bn,which was almost unchanged on thefigure for the previous year.

The company said it had a strongclosing cash position of £120.7m, up onthe £96.2m balance at the end of its2012 year. However, the firm warnedthe outlook remained cautious

Filing the figures on the regulatorynews service, the privately-ownedbusiness said its focus on improvingmargins and quality of earnings hashelped deliver the improved perform-ance..

It said successes during the periodincluded a 45% revenue growth withinthe online channel and theenhancement of multi-channelcapability through the roll out ofclick and collect service.

Management focus will remainon continuing to grow the cus-tomer base, further exploitingmulti-channel opportunities andenhancing the quality of earn-ings.

In its statement, Matalan saidthe start of the new financialyear has been challenging in thefirst quarter, however this isbroadly in line with expectations.

Commenting on the year’s per-formance Matalan chief execut-ive Darren Blackhurst said: "In adifficult retail climate we grewour earnings by 10%.

“Our customer base continuesto grow, as does our multichannelcapability, leaving us well posi-tioned for the coming 12 months.

“Our focus remains the deliv-ery of outstanding value to ourcustomers through the develop-ment of our offer and a tight control ofcosts and cash given the prevailingeconomic backdrop.”

Just this week, Mr Hargreaves con-firmed that he was diversifying hisretail interests away from his tradi-tional reliance on the discount end ofthe market into designer labels.

He has taken a stake in fashion labelDamsel in a Dress.

Mr Hargreaves, one of Britain’srichest men, earned his fortune after

founding Matalan and before that Jay-max.

Damsel in a Dress is a fast-growingwomenswear label loved by celebritiessuch as Nigella Lawson, It specialisesin the over-30s market.

It was set up three years ago byMarshall Doctors and designersAmanda Seaborne and Alison Mansell.

Most of its clothes are sold on lineand in concessions at stores such asJohn Lewis, but it is planning to open

its first shop next year.The son of a Liverpool docker, Mr

Hargreaves left school at 14 and star-ted his retail career selling Marks &Spencer seconds from a Great HomerStreet market stall before opening hisfirst Matalan store in 1985.

He had spotted the potential foredge-of-town discount stores during avisit to the US.

Matalan was floated on the stockmarket in 1998, but it was challenged

by rivals including Asda’s Georgeclothing range, Peacocks and Primark.

Mr Hargreaves took Matalan privatein 2006 and then less than a year laterresigned as chairman.

In March this year he acquired Brit-ish womenswear retailer Fenn WrightManson for an undisclosed sum.

Matalan is planning to move itsheadquarters from Skelmersdale toKnowsley as it gears up for growth.

The company has submitted a plan-ning application to move from its basein Gillibrands Road, Skelmersdale, to anew site in Knowsley Industrial Park.

The company says the move is “inline with growth plans over the nextfew years and our ongoing strategy”.

The company’s 1,200 staff inSkelmersdale have been informed anddiscussions are now underway on howthe move could affect them. The com-pany hopes all staff will be able tomove to Knowsley. If planning permis-sion is granted, any move would nottake place before late 2014.

BUDGET airline Easyjet is to upgradeand expand its aircraft fleet under adeal to buy 135 Airbus planes over thenext nine years.

The no-frills carrier said the new180-seater A320 planes will allow it toboost the number of passengers it cancarry from 60m a year to around 90m.

Its new aircraft will also be morefuel-efficient, which means they costless to run and are more environment-ally friendly.

The move will allow Easyjet toreplace around 85 of its current211-strong fleet of 156-seater planes, aswell as giving it the room to expandand add routes.

It also has the option to buy a fur-ther 100 Airbus planes as part of thedeal.

But the scale of the fleet acquisitionmeans Easyjet must get shareholderapproval, with the backing of 50% ofinvestors required, and is likely to

reignite the long-running row withfounder and largest shareholder SirStelios Haji-Iaonnou.

Sir Stelios, who with his family con-trols a near-37% stake in Easyjet, hasbeen a vocal opponent of the group’splans to increase its fleet.

He said earlier this year that hebelieves the new planes are not neces-sary and will be acquired at the det-riment of shareholders.

Easyjet has recently reported robust

results after benefiting from rivals cut-ting capacity.

It carried 26.6m people in the sixmonths to the end of March, a rise of5.3% on a year earlier as revenuessurged 9.3% to £1.6bn and losses nar-rowed 46% to £61m.

The group expects more growth inits second half because this when theairline traditionally makes the bulk ofits profits from Mediterranean holi-daymakers.

notes■ DRUG group

AstraZeneca saidplans for a newresearch base in Cam-bridge will boost thechances of Britain dis-covering the next gen-eration of medicines.

The group revealedtoday it will build anew £330m researchand development(R&D) site on Cam-bridge BiomedicalCampus in the southof the city by 2016,employing about 2,000staff.

The group willmerge its smallmolecule and biolo-gics R&D at the siteunder plans aimed tomake AstraZeneca a“global leader in bio-pharmacueticalinnovation”. The druggroup will also moveits corporateheadquarters to thesite from London.

The new 11-acre sitewill becomeAstraZeneca’s biggestcentre for cancerresearch, as well ashosting scientistsfocusing on cardiovas-cular, metabolic, res-piratory, inflamma-tion and autoimmunediseases.

The company hasalso announced plansto cease R&D at Alder-ley Park in Cheshire,with about 1,600 rolesmoving from the siteover the next threeyears.

■ CONTRACTprinting firm

Communisis saidcheque production atits Trafford Wharf sitein Manchester willcease by the end of theyear, subject to con-sultation.

The work will betransferred to Leeds,where a substantialamount of direct-mailprinting will also beoutsourced as part ofthe £4m cost savingsplan. More specialist,higher margin directmail and other pro-duction will remain inLeeds.

■ CARILLION hasbeen awarded a

£130m contract by theOman Tourism &Development Com-pany to constructexhibition halls, anenergy centre and athree-storey car park.The contract formspart of a project withan estimated con-struction value in theregion of £1bn.

■ CATERING andhospitality com-

pany Westbury StreetHoldings, which oper-ates restaurants andfront of house servicesfor the BBC, GoldmanSachs and The BritishMuseum, has reporteda 14% rise in turnoverto £465m for 2012. ItsBenugo brand had arecord year, increas-ing its turnover 35%.

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post business the bottom line


smallbusiness

weekofthe

John finally indulgeshis passion for crisps

J OHN TAGUE has alreadyclimbed the mountain ofmaking a business a success –now he’s doing it all over againto leave as a legacy for his

Calderstones family.Mr Tague, 48, is former managing

director of Seabrook Crisps, a brandhe took from £11m turnover to more£30m.

Before that he was sales and mar-keting Director (UK) for the Walt Dis-ney Company.

But he has now created his ownsnack food brand, TAGS Tasty Crisps –derived from his childhood nickname– which he claims can claim a 10%share of the £2.5bn crisp marketwithin 10 years.

It’s a real family affair, with wifeClare and their four children, Patrick,25, Joe, 24, Dominic, 16, and Cecilia, 14,all involved in the company run fromthe family home.

Mrs Tague helps with most things,Patrick works on the business fin-ances, Joseph is in marketing,Dominic made the business’s first sale– 84 packets to raise money for hisschool – and Cecilia looks after socialmedia.

The launch range features premiumhand-cooked potato chips in three fla-vours – malt vinegar and sea salt,sweet chilli and mature cheddar andred onion – and potato crisps whichcome in multipacks of six and threeflavours – salt and vinegar, cheese andonion and ready salted.

Mr Tague’s vision is for a businessthat will emulate his own family’sexperience and help change the livesof young people by giving them busi-ness and entrepreneurial skills.

He said: “We have created a uniquenew brand to challenge the moreestablished brands in the market. Ourbranding is deliberately aimed at cap-turing both today’s and tomorrow’sconsumers.

“Our crisps are produced using thefinest ingredients to ensure youalways experience products that arebursting with great flavour and taste.

“The products we have launched sofar are only the start of our journey asa family business.

“Over the coming months we intendto introduce further flavours and alsoextend into other snack products.”

He explained: “We do premiumcrisps, and everyday crisps and nextyear we want to move into children’ssnacks, and then into the healthy sideof snacking, using cassava-basedproducts.”

Listings have already been securedwith Poundland and Speke-based B&Mstores and Mr Tague is currently talk-ing with a number of the multiplesabout further listings for his range ofcrisps, which are made in Ireland,where, fittingly, he was encouraged byhis wife during a family holiday tofollow his dream and run his owncrisp brand. He said: “Crisps are thegreat passion in my working life and Ican’t eat a sandwich without a bag ofcrisps as well.”

Mr Tague, who was born in OldSwan, believes there is room for a newoperator: “The crisp market is dom-inated by two major manufacturers,Walkers and United Biscuits, so we’vebeen warmly welcomed by retailerswanting an alternative. They wantanother mainstream brand so the bigplayers are not so dominant.”

He said progress is ahead of thebusiness plan: “We are well on sched-

ule. We’re quoting to two potential bigretailers and have another big super-market interested for next year, so ifthat comes in we will be well ahead ofthe plan.”

He has budgeted for £1m turnover inthe first year, £4m-6m by year three,and £10m by the fifth year.

Although it is a family business hesaid they will employ more people ifthey hit £5m sales by year three.

The venture is entirely self-fundedand Mr Tague said: “I haven’t had arequirement to go near a bank,although they have been very helpful.

“I have had an offer of outsideinvestment, but the whole idea of thebusiness is as a family business, so Ihope I won’t have to take any outsideinvestment.

“I want to leave it as a legacy.”

John Tague hopes to grab a 10% share of the £2.5bn crisp market within 10 years

notes

■ MORE than 1.4memployer PAYE

schemes are now report-ing to HM Revenue andCustoms (HMRC) in realtime since the launch ofnew tax reportingrequirements in April.

This means that morethan 83% of small- tomedium-sized firms andmore than 1m (77%)micro employers havealready started to reportPAYE in real time, andthat information about44.5m payments made toemployees between April6, and May 5, was suc-cessfully reported onlineto HMRC.

After listening tostakeholders, HMRC hasalso announced that itwill be seeking to extendthe temporary relaxa-tion of the new reportingrules for businesses withfewer than 50 employeesfrom October 2013 untilApril 2014, and that thisrelaxation will come toan end at this point.

The extension meansthat businesses will notbe required to changetheir approach halfwaythrough the tax year.

The relaxation hasmeant that these busi-nesses are still requiredto report through thenew system, but are ableto do so once a month,rather than each timethey pay their employ-ees.

This gives small busi-nesses that pay weekly,or more frequently, butwho only run theirpayroll at the end of themonth, some extra timeto adjust to the newrequirements.

From April 2014, allemployers need to planto be reporting in realtime.

■ BIRKENHEAD-based affordable

housing developer andregeneration specialistLovell has received aGold Medal fromnational charity RoSPA –the Royal Society for thePrevention of Accidents– for its safety perform-ance.

The accolade for thecompany, based in JohnStreet, recognises itscontinuing commitmentto health and safety atits construction sitesand offices across theNorth West and NorthWales.

The RoSPA GoldMedal is for the com-pany’s achievement ofconsecutive Gold RoSPAOccupational Health andSafety awards over thepast five years for itsaccident record andoverall health and safetymanagement systems.

Current Lovellschemes in the NorthWest include, a £2.44maffordable housing devel-opment of 26 homes foraffordable rent forKnowsley Housing Trustin Huyton, and a £1.98mnew-build housingscheme in Barlow Street,Liverpool.Mr Tague with wife Clare and children Joseph, Dominic and Cecilia

post businesssmall business

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IN ASSOCIATIONWITH

IT specialistopens doorsto new teamWEB specialist Ixis has reportedrecord turnover and recruited fourmembers of staff after it won a seriesof contracts and secured vital Govern-ment approval.

Ixis, based in the former Greenall’sBrewery complex in Warrington,reported sales of £1.2m in the financialyear 2012/2013 – the highest in itsnine-year history.

The company, which specialises inopen-source software Drupal, hassecured several new clients includinginternational development charityVSO, watchdog The Care Quality Com-mission and Bristol City Council.

The company was also recentlyappointed to the Government’sG-Cloud III procurement framework,putting it on a pre-approved list ofvendors from which public sector bod-ies can pick.

Mike Carter, co-founder of Ixis, said:“This is an incredibly exciting time forthe business to see continued growthand expansion and we’re delighted towelcome our new members of staffwho will play an integral part in thecompany’s future.

“We will also be joined by two addi-tional Linux system administrators in

the summer who will strengthen thehosting and support services.

“Becoming part of the G Cloud IIIprocurement framework has openedthe door to new public sector workwhich has given us the opportunity togrow rapidly. The total value of con-tracts we have won via the G Cloudnow exceeds £500,000.”

Barry Standen has been recruited asoperations director to develop pro-cesses and oversee quality assuranceas the business continues to expand.

Mr Standen, from Chester, has beena technical director and developer forMando Group and not-for-profit organ-isation Girlguiding.

He has previously worked with bothIxis co-founder, Chris Haslam, andIxis’s sales and newly-promoted mar-keting director Stephanie Hosny.

Adam Thomason has been recruitedas Drupal website technician to takeresponsibility for maintenance andsecurity updates. Mr Thomason, wholives in Warrington, previously workedas a web developer for a Manchesterbased technology company and is agraduate of the University of Salford’scomputer science programme.

Matthew Proffitt, of Bury, joins Ixisfrom Resulting IT in a Drupal supportrole.

Both Mr Proffitt and Mr Thomasondiscovered Ixis at the Drupal Camp

North West 2012 conference organisedby the North West Drupal User Group,in which Ixis staff play key roles.

Nicola Ellis, of Sale, has also joinedIxis as business administrator and willbe responsible for general office andclient support.

Drupal software is maintained anddeveloped by a community of almost1m users and developers worldwide.Under the terms of the GNU GeneralPublic License, anyone is free to down-load it and share it with others.

Third tourfor mobilemarketersMOBILE marketing spe-cialist Event MarketingSolutions (EMS) is run-ning its third StudentFinance Tour afterattracting a record num-ber of students and par-ents to the last campaign.

Ellesmere Port-basedEMS, which operates thetour on behalf of theDepartment for Business,Innovation and Skills,says 226,919 people atten-ded tour events over fivemonths last year – 41%up on the previous year.

The tour sees financespecialists visit schoolsand colleges throughoutEngland to talk to pupilsand parents about finan-cial support available foruniversity students.

Between June andNovember, 40 presenterswill manage 280 parentevents and 2,050 studentevents.

EMS client servicesdirector, Justin Isles,said: “Parent, studentand teacher surveys, aswell as insight from thefield in the first tour,shaped our strategy for2012.

“The results speak forthemselves – we haveexceeded targets and aredelighted with the out-come.

“Insight from this cam-paign will now be used tobetter engage audiencesin the third tour.”

Ixis’s new recruits: Back row ,Nicola Ellis and AdamThomason. Front, BarryStanden and Matthew Proffitt

Branding agency works with Philips to makehospital visits less intimidating for children

byAlistairHoughtonPOSTBUSINESSSTAFFalistair.houghton@liverpool.com

post business creative & digital

Ixis co-founder, Mike Carter

A CT scanner for childrenat Alder Hey hospital hasbeen given a colourfulnew look thanks to a part-nership between manu-facturer Philips Health-care and Liverpool brand-ing agency USP Creative.

The scanner, the first ofits kind to be issued byPhilips, has been coveredin graphics designed byUSP to help to distractchildren while the scan-ner is in use.

The images include a“Where’s Oli” game usingthe Oli mascot previouslycreated by USP for AlderHey. Children enteringthe scanning room aregiven a checklist andasked to find Oli and hisfriends taking part in dif-ferent activities acrossthe graphic.

Gillian Hughes, super-intendent radiographer atAlder Hey, said; “We havehad lots of complimentsabout the CT Scanner thatPhilips and USP Creativeinstalled.

“The ‘Where’s Oli?’graphics have taken awaythe clinical feel of theroom, making it muchmore child-friendly and

less intimidating to ourpatients. It gives the childsomething interesting tofocus on and distractsthem from the procedurestaking place.”

Jan Peters, managingdirector of USP Creative,said: “We are strongbelievers in the positivebenefits of environmentalgraphics and this projectdemonstrates the versatil-

ity of the medium.“The graphics have

brightened what is often asterile and intimidatingenvironment and can beapplied across a variety ofmedical equipment.”

Derek Tarrant, CT busi-ness manager for PhilipsHealthcare, added: “Indeveloping this child-friendly Philips IngenuityCT scanner, we aim to cre-

ate a less stressful envir-onment, making it easierto get a good scan aspatients who are calmdon’t move around asmuch.

“If they aren’t afraidthey may not require asmuch sedation and as aresult exams proceedfaster, retakes are minim-ised and productivity isincreased.”

Liverpool’s USP Creative worked with Philips on this colourful CT scanner

A free 2-day workshop designed to help you to prepare forsuccess when developing business ideas and starting a new

enterprise.When: Thu 4th & Fri 5th JulyWhere: Blackburne House, Blackburne Place, Liverpool, Merseyside L8 7PE

Facilitators: Emma Bispham & Craig RyderGuest speakers: Jon-Paul Hevey & Ian ‘H’ Watkins

Main themes include:•What do you want?• How to craft your message and present yourself• Entrepreneurs as ‘Opportunists’• Networking and confidence building• ‘Dragons Den’ style pitching competition with prizes

This event is fully catered.

This activity is part of the NW HE Enterprise Champions ERDF projectTo attend this event you must meet all of the following criteria:

• resident in greater Merseyside• student/graduate of Higher Education• nationality of a country within the EU (or with visa permissions to set up in business in the UK)• Interested in setting up a business in greater Merseyside…which isn’t already trading.

Register:To register for your place at this event or for a more detailed agenda just [email protected]

You can also contact us this way with queries regarding the event, your eligibility, or with specialrequirements.


HattonBen

■ INTERNET entrepren-eur Ben Hatton isfounder and managingdirector of digital agencyRippleffect. FollowRippleffect on Twitter@rippleffected

Experimentwith socialmedia useSOCIAL MEDIA isever-evolving. New plat-forms, programmes andapps are developed andreleased every week. Andin this wave of new andinteresting ways to com-municate, some willprove more popular thanothers.

Snapchat, the real-timephoto-sharing app, hasrocketed in popularityover the past year –allegedly 150m Snapchatsare sent each day – aheadof Flickr and Instagramto become the third mostpopular site for uploads.

The app is receiving alot of hype at present – inpart down to “inappropri-ate” pictures being sentby the app’s users. Butthis is commonplace withall social media plat-forms and brands shouldnot be put off using themas marketing tools.

The idea that an imagecan be accessible to auser for one to 10 secondsprovides the notion ofscarcity and this inducesexcitement about the sub-ject matter. An app thatoffers people sneak peeksof new products or lim-ited offers of vouchercodes should be exploredand embraced by com-panies.

Whilst most brandsembrace social media inone form or another,many stick to what theyconsider the “safe” plat-forms. The most estab-lished which offer thewidest audience share –for instance Facebookand Twitter.

But brands shouldn’tbe so timid when itcomes to embracingsocial media. Being cau-tious and careful aboutthe content they post issensible. But too muchrigidity can mean thatnew opportunities toreach target markets areoften overlooked.

Brands must be pre-pared to go with the flow.This does not necessarilymean jumping on a bandwagon, but recognisingchanging trends in socialmedia and using them asmarketing tools.

Scenery specialist helps artistwith Venice Biennale vision

Part of Bedwyr Williams’piece, The Starry Messenger,at the Venice Biennale

A TEAM of designers from an unas-suming brick warehouse in Bootlehave helped a Welsh artist bring hisastronomy-themed visions to life at aworld-famous contemporary arts fest-ival.

Scenic Workshops worked withWelsh artist Bedwyr Williams to createhis installation The Starry Messenger,which is on show at the Venice Bien-nale until November.

And Scenic, which specialises inbuildings sets, stage, props and back-drops for theatre companies, even hadto ensure the installation could beflat-packed so it could be shippedthrough the “side-canals” of Venice bybarge.

Williams’ Venice work is an homageto Galileo and Britain’s modern-dayamateur astronomers. Visitors wanderin the dark, while listening to birdsongand ambient noise evoking the soundsof a suburban garden.

The view of the observatory itself isobscured by curtains depicting ter-razzo, a composite material often usedfor kitchen floors that itself originatedin Venice. Beyond, there is a koi carppond with polyurethane terrazzo float-ing on top.

And in the next room is a giantcoffee table which visitors walkbeneath. Looking up they can see 101household objects, from vases tovacium cleaners, representing theirown solar system.

Scenic’s technical production man-ager, Bob Kirkpatrick said: “Herecruited us because his remit wastheatrical and he wanted our theat-rical input and experience.”

Managing director Gary Batesadded: “Some of the work could havebeen made with fibreglass, but hewanted it made with wood, as it wouldbe in the theatre. He wanted that the-atrical feel to it.”

The pavilion’s seating areas havealso been carefully designed.

Mr Kirkpatrick added: “At the end ofthe exhibition where he has his film,he wanted to build bleachers the audi-ence could sit on. He designed that aswell so it became part of the exhib-ition.

“Whether the audience knowsthey’re sitting on something designedby the artist is hard to tell.

“Similarly, there’s a bench near theentrance that was fake marbled. It wasquite interesting that his take wasdoing fake marble and sending it toItaly among all that real marble. It’stheatricality against the reality.”

Mr Bates, who also runs MMBBuilding Services, bought the dec-ade-old business last year.

Scenic is at heart a joinery business,but it brings in skilled workers whenneeded in fields from metalwork to car-pet-making.

Mr Bates said: “We work withtheatres, exhibitions and artists –basically anything quirky that anyonewants us to do. We’ve done some weirdand wonderful stuff.”

Its recent productions have includedOpera North’s double-bill of Dido andAeneas and La Voix Humaine, starringLesley Garrett. That production, withits Bootle-built set, is now touringEurope.

It may be unusual for Scenic sets tobe transported by barge, as in Venice,

but the company is used to buildingflat-pack sets.

Mr Bates said: “The stuff we make istemporary, but it has to be taken downand put up again and again. We’re cre-ating a façade – it might be a brickwall, but it’s built of wood.

“It’s looking at it all from a differentperspective. It looks like a solid heavywall but it has to be moved. It’s a bitdifferent from ordinary joinery.”

The company has also worked oncorporate awards ceremonies and onother art installations.

Scenic’s specialists work closelywith artists and theatre designers tohelp them bring their visions to life.

Mr Kirkpatrick said: “Designersbring in their concepts and ask us toexecute them. Some designers have avery clear idea of how they want it towork. Some are very vague. But wehelp them in the right direction.”

Mr Bates said the company wouldlike to form partnerships with localtheatres to ensure it has a more steadystream of work.


post businesscreative & digital

Gary Bates, left, and Bob Kirkpatrick, of Scenic Workshops in Bootle


q&a

Regeneration leaderwho can talk fluentprivate and public

WHEN you look at theNorth Westeconomic picture itis tempting to seeLiverpool and

Manchester as the dominantdrivers – however, Warringtonmay have something to say aboutthat perception.

With a population of 200,000people, the town is the largest urbancentre in the Cheshire & Warringtonsub-region.

In the UK it is in the top five forbusiness investment, top 10 for busi-ness and enterprise and has the sev-enth-highest employment rate.

Impressive statistics and StevePark is one of the key people taskedwith raising the bar even higher.

The 42-year-old is chief executiveof Warrington & Co, an arm of theborough council charged with driv-ing forward the town’s economicdevelopment.

Park is certainly a big-hitter, hav-ing worked in the UK and around theworld for blue-chip firms as well ascentral and local government.

The married father-of-two, whotook on the role in November lastyear, said: “My role is to provide stra-tegic leadership and delivery focus.The council has some very ambitiousplans when it comes to regeneration.

“It has a policy document – War-rington Means Business – and thatsets out the plans in detail.

“It covers a broad agenda of eco-nomic regeneration through urbanregeneration projects, business sup-port, the skills agenda – matchingthe skills to business needs.

“We have recognised that privatesector businesses want to do busi-ness with other private sector busi-nesses and in that respect we havebeen quite successful in projecting aprivate sector image and persona.

“Independent analysis in 2012ranked Warrington as thesecond-best place in the UK to invest.

“We lost out only to MiltonKeynes, and it was a very close call.

“That is quite a statement whenyou are sandwiched between two bigcities such as Liverpool andManchester to be recognised as suchan asset to invest in.

“We have a public sector to privatesector ratio that is incredibly healthy,we have the lowest ratio in the Northand the second-lowest in the UK.

“That means Warrington doesn’tsuffer anywhere near as much whenit comes to Government austeritymeasures as other places.”

One of Warrington’s key strategicadvantages is its close proximity tothe motorway network.

Benefiting from this is the £1bnOmega project on the former Bur-tonwood air base which has nowstarted to become a reality aftermore than a decade of planning.

Over the next few years, around2m sq ft of mixed-use commercialspace will be created.

Initial emphasis is on large logist-ics facilities with several dealssigned over the past few months withone alone seeing the construction ofa 600,000 sq ft warehouse.

Warrington & Co is one of the part-ners involved in the project and Parkbelieves Omega can be a major eco-nomic driver for the sub-region overthe coming decades.

He said: “This is by far the biggestinvestment site in Western Europe atthis time.

“Already this year we have alreadyannounced over £400m worth invest-ment.

“Many places would be proud of

having that statistic.“Omega aligns with Liverpool’s

growth agenda and in particular Liv-erpool2 (the new deep-berth facilityat the Port of Liverpool).

“There is a perception by building400,000 sq ft sheds that all you aredoing is attracting low-end jobs – butthat is not the case.

“These days around 50% of jobs inwarehousing are IT-based. It is really

good news that Warrington is able tobuild out such a strategic site.”

As mentioned earlier, Warringtonis sandwich between two of the UK’sbiggest cities and Chester is also asignificant economic entity.

Park insists that the differentsub-regions needn’t be in competi-tion with each other and can enjoymutual benefits that come fromco-operation.

Much of that co-operation is nowbeing co-ordinated through the LocalEnterprise Partnerships (LEPs) whohave replaced the North West Devel-opment Agency that was scrapped bythe coalition Government.

“Warrington has a very stableengineering base and it has specialistclusters around energy and nuclearso in that respect it is never going tocompete with Liverpool orManchester,” added Park.

“There is a knowledge economy, Ithink, where we complement eachother.

“The universities of both cities,and of Chester, have synergies withour knowledge economy.

“I don’t think there is a sense ofbeing in competition – I think it isabout working in partnership wherethere is a mutual benefit.

“As we see the growth of the LEPsit is very much about workingtogether as a region to attract inwardinvestment.

“Warrington is a key cog in the

Atlantic Gateway engine and thatbrings together Liverpool,Manchester and Cheshire & Warring-ton LEPs so we are not just alignedto one particular LEP.

“The success of Warrington lies inthat knowledge corridor and we needto make sure we have good relation-ships with Liverpool andManchester.”

PARK was born and bred inSt Helens and from an earlyage was keen to work in a

business environment.After discussions with his family

he decided that chartered account-ancy would be a suitable choice ofcareer and at the tender age of 16 hewasted no time in pushing forwardlooking for opportunities..

He explained: “I walked aroundthe town knocking on doors and ask-ing for a job.

“I came across an accountancyfirm called Martindale Beaumontand asked for a job for the summer

Tony McDonoughmeets STEVE PARK,chief executive ofWarrington & Co

Steve Park, inset, is certain to play a key role in the ongoingdevelopment of Warrington’s £1bn Omega regeneration project

Age: 42Highest educational qualifica-tion: BA(Hons) AccountancyBiggest achievement in busi-ness: Having to quickly learn twovery diverse business cultures inHong Kong and Japan, in leadingthe successful delivery of majorprojects in that region of Asia

Biggest regret: Not starting up myown business change consultancyBest advice received: While youmay be inspired by others, emulatetheir success and not their person-ality – be yourself.Still to achieve: To complete myYacht Master qualifications and gosailing in the Caribbean.

post business big feature


TurnerAlex

■ Alex Turner is the generalmanager of financial trainingfirm Ambitious Minds

and they took me on. They sponsoredme through university at Hudders-field.

“I did most of the charteredaccountancy training and then real-ised I didn’t want to be a charteredaccountant any more.”

So Park left Martindale Beaumontand went to work as an audior for thethen up-and-coming discount retailerMatalan, founded by Liverpool-bornentrepreneur, John Hargreaves,

“I worked closely with John,” hesaid, “and he was an absolute pleas-ure to work for – a real gentleman.He was the best buyer that you willever find in the world.”

At 27, Park went to work for Kel-log, overseeing its Europe-wide mil-lennium bug programme.

By this point he was developing aspeciality in future-proofing – pre-paring organisations for majorchange.

He worked for Toronto-DominionBank and was the first person to do astock trade by mobile phone in the

UK. He then worked for the HomeOffice helping to set up the CriminalRecords Bureau in Liverpool.

He then went to work for Master-card out of Hong Kong and Tokyoand later joined Barclays Bank on aproject to roll out chip and pinmachines at cash desks.

From there he joined ManchesterCity Council and became head oftransformation and eventually on toWarrington where he transformed itscustomer services before taking onhis current role.

ONE of the big issues thatPark is tackling inWarrington is the

provision of skills.In common with other sub-regions,

Warrington has realised that if itwants to achieve its economic growthtargets then it has to have a read-ily-available and skilled workforce.

Last year, the council set up askills review.

It discovered that training agen-

cies in the area were not deliveringthe right skills.

Council leader Terry O’Neillclaimed they were producing “toomany nail technicians”.

Park said: “Warrington producesresults that outrank the North Westaverages.

“Having said that, the skills fromthe 14-19 age group is not quite assuccessful.

“There is a connectivity issuebetween skills providers and busi-nesses that we needed to fix.

“The council recognised this.“It initiated a skills review and

came up with six recommendationsthat looked to establish a more sus-tainable skills strategy for the town.

“We need to make sure there is adialogue between businesses and pro-viders and that the skills provisionmeets the requirements – that dia-logue just wasn’t there.

“Nuclear engineering courses areincredibly expensive but that is whatwe have a need for.

“One of my roles is to oversee thedelivery of the recommendations andwe set off on that journey about amonth ago.”

Park sees himself as someone whocan bridge the traditional gap thatexists between the public and privatesectors.

He added: “The public and theprivate sector both want success –the trouble is they talk a differentlanguage.

“That is the heart of it. If therewas a common language then theycould have a much better under-standing of each other.

“I see my role to straddle both sec-tors. I can talk both languages – I ama commercial linguist.

“We recently pushed through aplanning application for a 400,000 sqft logistics unit in four-and-a-halfweeks without breaking any rules.

“It was an example of how werecognised what the private sectorneeds.

“That now exemplifies what War-rington is all about.”

Steve Park is taskedwith helping to deliverWarrington’s ambitiousgrowth targets

What is theBID givingin return?IT’S THAT time of year where theCommercial District BID teamdemonstrate they know whereto find you by sending one oftwo annual communications.

Unfortunately we’ve alreadyhad the invitation to the AGM, sothis time it was the demand formoney. Also, unfortunately, theaccompanying information isinfuriating and makes thedemand for money a realimposition.

The highlights are ascattergun selection of what ismostly “supporting” otherpeople’s events, includingMerseytravel, Liverpool CityCouncil, Liverpool Vision andDowntown Liverpool in Business– all organisations which don’trequire any assistance in gettingto the businesses which live inthe Old Hall Street/Dale Streetbubble.

It’s all inward looking andsmall, and does not even hint atbeing part of work that hasencouraged businesses from

outside of thecity or region torelocate – theclearest way inwhich the areawill “improve”.

If that isn’thappening, thenwe’re justpaying lots ofmoney to pat

ourselves on the back and sayhow nice everywhere is looking.

But my real misgivings comefrom the details provided in theaccounts summary.

The BID levy generated£717,000, which was added to by£194,000 of unspent BID levy fromthe first year of operation.

Of that just £327,000 was spent,with £250,000 carried forward forcapital projects and £335,000carried forward for “futureexpenditure”. This really isunacceptable – if the money isnot being spent it should bereturned to the companies.

There may be differing viewsas to the efficacy of the BID as aconcept, but we can all agree thatmoney kept in a bank account isnot going to benefit anyone.

The forecasts for the yearahead are also derisory, and arejust a straight lift from thebusiness plan which wasproduced in 2011 and bears norelation to reality.

It is based on levy income of£550,000 (is a 23% fall expected?)and makes no reference to the£585,000 carried forward, whilethe forecast expenditure is alsopie-in-the-sky. It has £70,000 in formarketing yet £122,000 was spentlast year, and £92,000 the yearbefore, which suggests they don’texpect anyone to invigilate theirplans.

It isn’t good enough. The BIDcompany must start theirimprovements with themselves.

‘Forecastsfor theyearaheadarederisory’

post businessbig feature


Business awards honoursJaguarLand RoverCorporateSocialResponsi-bilityAwardwinnerwas ShopDirect.From left,RichardElse, JLR,and JamesEvans,ShopDirect

post business regional business awards

UnitedUtilitiesGreenBusiness ofthe YearwinnerwasTyphoo.From left,NeilColeman,UnitedUtilities,KeithPacker,Typhoo

LiverpoolChamberof Comm-erce ExportBusiness ofthe Yearwinnerwas JaguarLandRover.From left,JohnSutcliffe,LiverpoolChamberandRichardElse,JaguarLand Rover

Universityof Live-rpoolKnowledgeBusiness ofthe YearAwardwinnerwas RedxPharma.From left,JohnFlamson,UniversityofLiverpoo,land Dr NeilMurray,Redx

LiverpoolPostJudges’ChoiceAwardwinnerwasHeightsafeSystems.From left,BillGleeson,LiverpoolPost, andKen Diable,Heightsafe

SHIPYARD entrepreneur JohnSyvret was last week namedDLA Piper Businessperson ofthe Year at The LiverpoolPost’s Regional BusinessAwards.

Mr Syvret won the award inrecognition of his work togrow the Birkenheadshipyard’s shipbuilding andshiprepair activities and itssuccessful diversification intowind power and nuclearengineering.

A total of 11 awards werehanded out at the ceremonyheld at St George’s Hall.Attended by 500 guests, theblack-tie event was hosted byformer BBC broadcaster PeterSissons. The keynote speechwas given by internet entre-preneur Julie Meyer.

Presenting Mr Syvret withhis award, DLA Piper’s officemanaging partner in Liver-pool, Philip Rooney, said:“Shiprepair activit-ies have gone fromstrength to strengthand it was a matterof great pride forour winner whenshipbuildingreturned to theshipyard in 2012.

“With annualturnover of over£100m, compared to£9m in 2002, the fin-ancial performanceof the business isstrong, providing asolid foundation forthe future.

“But that is not an end of

the matter, our winner hasensured that the business hasdiversified, taking advantageof the expanding areas of off-

shore wind andnuclear to comple-ment its more tra-ditional activities.”

Other award win-ners includedEdward Billington& Son. The firmwon the KPMGBusiness of theYear (Over 250Employees) cat-egory.

Developer Cap-ital & Centric wasthe winner of theLiverpool Vision

Investment of the Year Award.Pictures: GAVIN TRAFFORD

John Syvret addresses theaudience after picking up theBusiness Person of the YearAward while host PeterSissons looks on


saviour of Cammell Laird

Internetentrep-reneurJulie Meyerdeliversthekeynotespeech

BarclaysBusiness ofthe Year(51-250emplo-yees)winnerwasSecuredMail. Fromleft,MichaelOwen,SecuredMail, andJohnPitchford,Barclays

KPMGBusiness ofthe Year(over 250emplo-yees)winnerwasEdwardBillingtonand Son.From left,Chris Fry,KPMG,DavidMarshalland LloydWhiteley,EdwardBillington

O2 Busin-ess of theyear (up to50 emplo-yees)winnerwas BootleContainers.From left,SteveFairhurst,O2, LesRichardsand PaulThompson,BootleContainers

IngeusEmployerof the YearAwardwinnerwasInterna-tionalTravelConnections (ITC).From left,BarryFletcher,Ingeus,and KarlLloyd, ITC

post businessregional business awards

Neil Kirkham0151 471 [email protected]

Michael Gorman0113 236 [email protected] www.allsop.co.uk

Freehold Development/Investment OpportunityOn the instruction of J Gershinson FRICS and A Packman MRICS of Allsop LLP as Joint Fixed Charged Receivers

Anthony Hart0113 243 [email protected]

For further information please contact either Sample bedroom

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Commercial

■ 41,329 sq.ft of commercial spaceover ground, first and second floors,of which 27,432 sq.ft is vacant

■ Current income of£126,421 per annum

■ Estimated rental value£313,973 per annum

■ Opportunity to convert the officespace into alternate use, such asresidential apartments (C3) or hotel(C1) (subject to necessary consents)

Residential

■ 9 unsold residential apartmentstotalling 8,918 sq.ft

■ 8 vacant and 1 let

■ Rent passing £12,240 per annum

■ Estimated rental value£90,240 per annum

■ Excellent break up or investmentopportunity

Freehold

■ 64 apartments sold offon long leases

■ 5 car parking spaces

■ Total ground rent income£10,225 per annum

Freehold grade II* listed mixed use investment/development comprising 41,329 sq.ftof commercial space and 73 apartments with basement car parking

Asking price £3,000,000 subject to contract



St Hugh’s doubles occupancyafter securing two lettings

Auction house raises morethan £6m at Liverpool sale

IndustryoptimisticaboutrecoveryPROPERTY experts inthe UK believe thereare signs of an upturnin the commercial mar-ket as the countryslowly emerges fromrecession.

Speakers at the Brit-ish Property Federa-tion’s (BPF) annualconference said thatthe improvement wasnot just happening inLondon, but also in theregions.

The financial crisishas been characterisedby large-scale interestin property in the cap-ital – particularly fromoverseas investors –while the regionssuffered credit droughtas lending organisa-tions shied away fromproperty outside Lon-don.

But now there is agrowing sense of optim-ism.

Chris Grigg, chiefexecutive of BritishLand and president ofthe BPF, said: “A weekmay not seem a longtime in property, but inthis market, a fewmonths certainly does.

“We have seen a realthawing in market con-ditions of late, and notjust in London.

“The UK economyhas done better thanthe pessimists pre-dicted, and there isundoubtedly morebank finance out therenow. On the other hand,we are by no means outof the woods yet.”

post businesslocation

A REFURBISHED office building inBootle has secured two lettings andhas now doubled its occupancy in thepast year.

Bruntwood, owner of St Hugh’sHouse, has struck deals with nationalsecurity and monitoring specialistSecuritas and Willow Solutions NW.

Securitas will take 2,500 sq ft ofspace after relocating from BrunswickBusiness Park.

Willow, which provides outsourcedcontact centre services, has also takenmore than 1,700 sq ft at the StanleyRoad site, which has undergone amajor £3.6m redevelopment sincebeing purchased by Bruntwood.

The pair join other recent arrivalsincluding Bootle Labour MP JoeBenton, Donoghue Solicitors andnationwide care provider, HamiltonMann at the building.

St Hugh’s comprises more than45,000 sq ft and was formerly the homeof the Health and Safety Executive.

Matt Lee, sales surveyor at Brunt-wood, said: “The past 12 months at StHugh’s have been incredibly success-ful despite fairly challenging condi-tions elsewhere.

“Customers have responded verypositively to our flexible terms andinnovative small suite scheme, whicheffectively allows them to choose theexact amount of space they require,rather than making their needs fit to apre-designated space.

“Bootle is gaining a reputation as adynamic and up-and-coming place todo business and St Hugh’s rightlystands out as one of the most attractiveproperties in the area.

“We have several other excitingdeals in the pipeline and we are look-ing forward to another strong year aswe head towards full occupancy.”

Since being purchased by Brunt-wood in 2006, St Hugh’s has beentransformed with new external pav-ing, street furniture and planted trees,as well as a revamped reception area.

Bruntwood is a family-owned and

run property company and is one ofMerseyside’s biggest operators ofoffice space.

It has a number of properties in Liv-erpool city centre including The Plazaand the Cotton Exchange complex in

Old Hall Street in the hear of the com-mercial district.

It owns more than 110 propertiesacross four cities and provides officespace, serviced and virtual offices,meeting rooms and retail premises.

St Hugh’s in Bootle was formerly home to theHealth & Safety Executive and now has severaltenants including local MP, Joe Benton, inset

SUTTON KERSH sold 90% of the119 properties offered at its Liv-erpool June auction.

Kersh sold 107 properties andgenerated total proceeds of morethan £6.65m at the sale whichtook place at the Liverpool HiltonHotel.

Director James Kersh saidhigh pre-auction activity resultedin 25 lots being sold prior to theevent. A further 70 lots then soldin the room and the remainder ofthe deals have completed after-wards.

Many of the lots offered real-ised more than expected, includ-ing two vacant residential prop-erties which sold for more thandouble their guide prices – Lot 80and Lot 108.

Lot 80, a Grade II-listed build-ing comprising five self-con-tained apartments and one studioapartment in in Fairfield, wasguided at £100,000+ and sold inthe room for £212,000.

Lot 108 was a five-bedroomthree-storey building in Green-bank Road in Mossley Hill whichwas guided at £90,000+ and soldin the room for £193,000.

Also included in the cataloguewas a substantial vacant com-mercial building in Fleet Streetin Liverpool city centre.

The premises, which have atotal floor area of approximately4,162 sq ft were guided at£200,000-£225,000 and sold prior tothe auction for an undisclosedamount.

James Kersh

[email protected]

BUSINESS to BUSINESS

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For further information contact Robert Deacon

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jobsfocus

on

Trust centre helping tackle

THE old Rapid Hardwarestore in Renshaw Street,Liverpool, used to helppeople transform theirhomes. Now, it is helping

young people transform theirlives.

The Prince’s Trust last week offi-cially opened its centre in RenshawStreet, which acts as the hub for itsFairbridge programme to help dis-advantaged 13-to-25-year-olds findtheir way into employment.

Where once shoppers weaved theirway through the mazy corridors ofRapid, today young people passinspirational slogans on their way tomeet the mentors and advisers whowill help them turn their livesaround.

Fairbridge launched in the city in1982 in the wake of the Toxteth riots.It helps young people to rebuild theirconfidence, and offers them thechance to train aboard its ownschooner, the Spirit of Fairbridge.

The new centre, which won thebacking of more than 25 organisa-tions in the city region from Gros-venor to construction giant Wates,will allow the trust to help twice asmany young people.

The charity’s work is of hugeimportance to the region, which hasseen youth unemployment risesharply as the recession bites.

The number of 18 to 24-year-oldsclaiming jobseeker’s allowance (JSA)in the city region has fallen from itspeak of 18,675 in February last year,but still stands at more than 14,000.

And long-term youth unemploy-ment remains worryingly high. Thenumber of under-24s claiming JSAfor more than a year peaked at 3,245last September, and last month stoodat 2,850.

The trust itself says: “Around onein five young people in the UK arenot in work, education or training.

“Youth unemployment costs theUK economy £10m a day in lost pro-ductivity, while youth crime costs£1bn every year.”

The trust aims to help thoselong-term unemployed into work,education or training, and then helpthem to find jobs or even found theirown businesses.

Its work does therefore help solvesocial problems, and helps effectgrassroots change in some of theUK’s most deprived communities.

But Sir Michael Bibby, managingdirector of Bibby Line Group, saysit’s not those “lofty ideals” that getpeople involved with the trust.

“Most people get involved from asense of community,” he said. “It’sreally incredible to work with theseyoung people.

“If you can make a difference toone young person’s life, that’s worth-while.

“I agree with all those lofty ambi-tions. But that’s not what’s going toattract most people. It’s about mak-ing a difference to your community.”

One such young person helped bythe trust was Dominic Byrne, 23,from Liverpool, who fell into a life ofcrime as a teenager and spent timein prison and in hostels.

He was eventually referred to thePrince’s Trust and trained on itsschooner, the Spirit of Fairbridge –where he gained the training he needto take his current job on a fishingboat in the Isle of Man.

“The trust gave me the first stepqualification-wise,” he said. “Iwouldn’t have been able to afford itotherwise.”

THE transformationof a chunk of theformer Rapid store

into a modern Prince’sTrust hub was onlypossible thanks to thesupport of firms andgrant-making trusts.

Liverpool One developerGrosvenor, which owns thebuilding, was an enthusi-astic supporter, as was LiverpoolOne’s estates director Chris Bliss.Other supporters included Liver-pool’s K2 Architects, Land Aid, TheClothworkers’ Foundation and BibbyLine Group.

Sir Michael Bibby, who is also

chairman of The Prince’s Trust inMerseyside, said the project couldnot have happened without thosebodies’ enthusiastic backing.

He added: “To raise the moneywithout having an official fundrais-ing drive is really phenomenal.

“I find the trust’s work remark-able.

“I come from a well-off back-ground in this area.Through Fairbridge andthe Prince’s Trust I’vemet a lot of young peoplewho have had no rolemodels, no support intheir lives, and havebeen in incredibly hardenvironments. To seewhat these young peopleare doing to turn theirlives around, with the

support of Fairbridge and thePrince’s Trust, is fantastic. I’m notsure I could have done it.

“I have tremendous respect forthose individuals.”

Jonathan Townsend, North of Eng-land director for the Prince’s Trust,

said: “We have a number of locationswhere our work makes most impact.Liverpool is one of those.

“This centre is right in the centreof Liverpool. It’s a great location,very accessible. Anything thatincreases the number of youngpeople we can work with is great.

“It puts the Prince’s Trust muchmore at the centre of this area.

“We are not political. We are abouthelping young people.

“But there are 1m young peopleunemployed, and it’s a significantissue in Liverpool.

“We can help create positive out-comes, getting people into education,training or employment for theirbenefit and for the benefit of society.”

The centre was opened by Liver-pool FC legend Phil Thompson infront of an audience of local leaders,including Lord Mayor Gary Millar.

Mr Thompson was introduced tothe trust by entrepreneur SteveSealey and has since become anambassador for its work in Mersey-side.

“The things the Trust does here

are astonishing,” he said.“It’s getting young people through

the door that’s the biggest challenge.“I said to Chris, the mentor who

showed me around, ‘I bet if you put acamera outside you’d see a lot ofyoung people at the door saying‘should I go in?’ That’s part of thebattle, getting them to take the firststep and come through the door.

“I come from Kirkby. It’s a tougharea, but it’s my town. I know howhard it is to break the mould.

“Peer pressure used to come fromadults. Now it’s coming from kids –14 to 16-year-olds putting each otherunder pressure to go a different way,with drugs, drink and crime.

“It’s a tough life. That’s why thisprogramme is an absolute godsendfor them.”

Mr Thompson was particularlyimpressed with the way the trusthelps young people to get involved insports and outdoor pursuits – and heurged local organisations to showtheir support for its work by lettingits young people use their sportsfacilities for free.

Phil Thompson, centre, opens the Prince’s Trust centre in Renshaw Street with trust graduates Maggie Taylor, left, and Jez Goffey

‘It’s aboutmaking adifferenceto yourcommunity’

post business economic development



diaryentrepreneur

ofanunemployment

Sir Michael Bibby at the helm of the Prince’s Trust’s ship, the Spirit of Fairbridge

Dominic Byrne turned his life around after signing up to the Prince’s Trust

Trust marks 37 years of helping UK’s young people

THE Prince’s Trust wasfounded by the Prince ofWales in 1976 to“improve the lives of dis-advantaged youngpeople in the UK”.

Since then it hashelped more than700,000 young people,with three quarters ofthose it works withmove into work, educa-tion or training.

Its work includes theEnterprise Programme,which provides grants

and support to helpyoung people start busi-nesses, and the XL Clubsto help 13-19 year oldswho are at risk of tru-anting and exclusion.

In 2011 the trustmerged with fellow char-ity Fairbridge. Its pro-grammes include afive-day access course atan outdoor residentialcentre, designed to sup-port young people whomay have struggled inconventional education.

MY WIFE Emma and I set up ourcompany, Andy Bounds Ltd in2003. Earlier this year we celeb-rated our 10th anniversary –something we’re very proud of.

We’re based in Liverpool, butwork across the globe (31 coun-tries and counting…).

We help companies communic-ate better, both with their employ-ees and their customers. We haveworked with hundreds of top-levelexecutives at prestigious busi-nesses and organisations such asRBS and Barclays banks,Microsoft, Virgin and Baker TillyInternational.

An important part of my job iswriting. I’ve recently launched mysecond book The Snowball Effect.It provides lots of easy-to-applycommunication tips and tech-niques. It was a best-seller withinjust a couple of weeks of going onsale.

In fact, it was Amazon’sbest-selling book on our launchday – very exciting stuff.

So it has already beaten my firstbook, The Jelly Effect, whichreached number two – it was onlybeaten by the last Harry Potterbook and I’ve got the screenshot,which I enjoy showing to people.

I originally started out as achartered accountant, working inthe Liverpool offices of global com-pany Grant Thornton. After that, Iworked for a company that spe-cialised in training accountantshow to pass their professionalexams.

I’m really proud that my stu-dents had a phenomenally highsuccess rate, with three of themwinning national prizes.

Although I love having my ownbusiness, being a business owner

was never a key driver for me. Ijust wanted to help people com-municate better.

I enjoy analysing businessesand helping them to recognisetheir communication problems –and identify where they may notbe working to full capability. I thenshow them how to put this right,increasing their productivity, staffmorale and turnover

There’s a huge demand for whatwe do. After all, people often say“Communication is crucial. But inmy organisation, it isn’t verygood.”

Fortunately, there are certainsteps that can be put in place tocorrect this, not just immediatelybut also in the long-term.

My parents have been majorinfluences throughout my life. Mydad had a successful career inbusiness and was chief executiveof Liverpool City Council foralmost 10 years. My mum lost hersight at the age of eight but didn’tlet it stand her way – she was thesecond British blind woman tobecome a qualified lawyer.

In fact, I still sit and watch filmswith mum and give audio descrip-tions when she needs them. I canrelate this back to business com-munications – people cannotalways see the easy way of doingthings; I help point this out andthen let them implement thechange.

Thankfully I’ve got a great teamalongside me to look after all thecritical behind-the-scenes work.They do a wonderful job, whichmeans can go out and do what I dobest.■ Andy Bounds is a consultant,speaker and author who is dir-ector of Andy Bounds Ltd

post businesseconomic development

The Prince of Wales launched his trust in 1976Andy Bounds set up in business a decade ago


Northern executives warnedas shareholder spring returns

Jonathan Hurst, northern chairman at KPMG, has spoken of the levels of shareholder dissent in firms

onthemove■ BUILT environment

recruitment andtraining consultancy Bro-mak, which has recruit-ment offices and trainingfacilities in Liverpool,Bolton, Sheffield,Durham and Lichfield,has promoted three of itskey staff to director levelto help oversee the com-pany’s growth plans.

The promotions comeas the companyannounced increasedturnover for the past 12

months, passing the £10mmilestone for the firsttime.

Hannah Lever, 31, hasbeen promoted to the pos-ition of business develop-ment director, whileCameron Berry, 30, andMathew Bewley, 32, willtake on the roles of oper-ations director and train-ing director, respectively.

■ PACKAGING sup-plier Weir & Carmi-

chael has announced

three new appointments.Julia Pemberton is pro-

moted to commercial dir-ector and Barrie Willi-ams to production dir-ector. Martin Ellioth willmove alongside BarrieWilliams snr to becomejoint managing director.

Weir & Carmichaelwas founded in 1955 andthe original business soldhessian sacks to localbusinesses in Liverpool.

Now operatingthroughout the UK with

more than 1,200 custom-ers, the product portfolioincludes industrial pack-aging, recycling solutionsand re-usable protectivepackaging.

Ms Pemberton hasworked for Weir & Car-michael for 21 years andwill be the first femaledirector in the business.Mr Williams has workedfor Weir & Carmichaelfor 25 years and is thethird generation of theWilliams family.

Mathew Bewley –new Bromak director

Julia Pemberton –first female director

Martin Ellioth – jointmanaging director

THE so-called “shareholder spring”has returned to more than one in eightcompanies headquartered in the northof England, according to analysis.

Investigation by accountancy firmKPMG has found there are significantlevels of shareholder dissent at 13% ofthe North’s public limited companies(PLCs). This is higher than thenational average of 11%.

The shareholder spring began lastyear when investors began expressingunease at levels of executive pay. Anumber of high-profile chief execut-ives stepped down or were ousted aftershareholders voted against their remu-neration packages.

Speaking half way through thisyear’s annual general meeting (AGM)season, Jonathan Hurst, northernchairman at KPMG, said: “With overhalf of the voting season done, it seemsfair to say that we’ve seen somethingof a resurgence of the shareholderspring amongst the North’s listed busi-nesses.

“Where we have seen shareholdersobjecting, it’s been similar to last yearin that the dissent relates to specificcircumstances and issues. These areusually not solely pay related, butinstead driven by a combination of dis-satisfaction around corporate perform-ance and the leadership of the busi-ness.”

KPMG says that a company isencountering significant shareholderdissent if more than a fifth of itsinvestors vote against the business’sremuneration report, which outlinesproposed levels of executive pay. Thishas been found to be the case at 13% ofnorthern-based companies so far thisAMG season.

Shareholder votes on remunerationreports are currently only advisory socan be ignored by executives, althoughthey will become legally binding fol-lowing a change in the law that comesinto effect next year. Many companiesare attempting to improve communic-ations between boardrooms andrank-and-file investors ahead of this.

Mr Hurst said: “Perhaps there is anelement of catching up to be done bysome northern PLCs with the verylargest blue chip companies, whichtend to spend more time and resourceson shareholder communications.

“So it is reassuring to find that ahigher than average proportion of lis-ted businesses in the North (23%) areaddressing this by preparing for adop-tion of the main elements of new reg-ulations next year.”

Law firm’sspecialistteam winstwo dealsWEIGHTMANS’ publicsector group hassecured two nationaltenders.

The Liverpool lawfirm’s healthcare teamhas been appointed toall three lots of theNHS Litigation Author-ity’s (NHS LA) newpanel following anextensive review andprocurement process.

The firm has beenundertaking NHS LAclinical negligencework since 1998 andhas been on the previ-ous panels since 2001.

The new panel willprovide legal advice to15 Department ofHealth agencies overthe next four years aswell as to the NHS LA.

Vicky Morris, clientliaison partner for theNHS LA, said: “Theauthority is a valuedand key client for thefirm.

“Our clinical negli-gence and widerhealthcare practicesrepresent some of thefirm’s strongest areas,and we are pleased tohave secured a place onall three lots.

“We are looking for-ward to working on thenew panels, and toproviding a compre-hensive range of legalservices to the NHS LAand other NHS bodiesas well as contributingto the authority’s riskmanagement and learn-ing programmes.”

The success of thehealthcare team fol-lows that of Weight-mans’ education team.

It has secured winsin all six lots in theNorth and North Walesarea on the APUC(Advanced Procure-ment for Universitiesand Colleges) legal ser-vices tender.

The firm has alsobeen appointed to alllots in the Central,Eastern and Southernareas, an achievementthat has only beenmatched by one otherfirm.

post business professionals

[email protected]


Lord Bilimoria, founderand chairman of CobraBeer, will attendAccelerate 2013

Mentoring from experts onoffer at enterprise festival

LIVERPOOL’S upcomingAccelerate 2013 festival tocelebrate the nation’sfastest growing and mostsuccessful companies will

undoubtedly feature a great dealthat will inspire and educate theentrepreneurs of tomorrow.

Organisers, however, have gone onestep further than most seminars to cul-tivate future talent.

Two lucky attendees will have thechance to win personal mentoringfrom two of Britain’s top businessmen.

Lord Bilimoria, founder and chair-man of Cobra Beer, will offer advice toone lucky start-up company over apint. Meanwhile Charles Morgan,chairman of the Morgan Motor Com-pany, will take one lucky winner for aspin around Liverpool in one of hiscompany’s iconic luxury cars.

Lord Bilimoria said: “I’m delightedto be coming to Liverpool for Accel-erate 2013, a festival by entrepreneursfor entrepreneurs, which will bringtogether the best in British business toshow how good business can becomegreat. Accelerate will be a hub forinnovative, fast-growth businesses andI look forward to meeting the com-petition winner over a bottle of Cobraand doing what I love best – talkingbusiness with a fellow entrepreneur.”

Mr Morgan added: “Accelerate 2013is a festival that will put hundreds ofBritain’s most exciting businesses inthe fast lane to growth.

“I’m greatly looking forward tomeeting one of the festival’s delegatesfor a spin around the great city ofLiverpool in a Morgan car.”

Max Steinberg, chief executive ofLiverpool Vision, the city’s regenera-tion company that has been involvedin organising Accelerate 2013, said:“The prizes are an outstanding oppor-tunity for an intense tutorial in grow-ing your business from some of theUK’s leading experts.”

Other business leaders due to attendthe festival include Wikipedia founderJimmy Wales.

The winners of the two prizes willchosen at random. Entries can bemade by tweeting @Accelerate2013 andusing either #motormentoring or#beerwithbilimoria. Alternatively,those wishing to enter the competitionbefore the June 26 deadline can [email protected].

Joshua Taylortakes a look at someof the prizes up forgrabs at Accelerate2013 next week

pastbusiness–nostalgia

Inspiring message from the trainee who rose to the top at WoolworthIT’S not often that you see abesuited late middle-aged man usedas an example to “teenagers want-ing to go places” – but that was thewonder of Woolworths.

In December 1979, the ECHO pub-lished an advertising supplementannouncing “A great WoolworthChristmas on Merseyside”.

As you’d expect it’s packed withadverts for products from Bontempiorgans to Denivit toothcream and“bristle-look dartboards”. And mostarticles promote Woolies goods,including “toys from programmeslike Charlie’s Angels, Starsky andHutch and Kojak” and music centresin “attractive cabinets”.

But this supplement also had aneducational bent, including articlesabout the history of F&W Woolworth– whose first UK store opened 70years earlier in Liverpool.

And then there was a page called“Men at the top”, in which Wool-worth supremo Geoffrey Rodgerswas hailed as a great example forlocal youth. It said: “Authenticinstances of starting right at the bot-tom of a major organisation andworking one’s way to the top aren’t

quite as thick and fast on theground as business folklore andcareers officers would have usbelieve.

“But there are a number ofwell-documented examples and thatof the chairman of Woolworth – MrGeoffrey Rodgers – represents a clas-sic case”.

Rodgers joined Woolworth as amanagement trainee in 1940 and,after wartime service in the RAF,returned to the chain to risethrough the ranks. Along the way,he trained at the group’s Liverpoolstore and later served as assistantregional manager at the chain’snorthern office in Lord Street.

The piece added: “He has nomagic formula for success. Askedwhat you need to make it to the top,he will tell you: ‘Hard work, abilityand a bit of luck’.”

One wonders if Tesco, whose chiefexecutive Philip Clarke and his pre-decessor Sir Terry Leahy both star-ted their working lives stackingshelves, will produce similarlyinspirational marketing materialthis festive season.

ALISTAIR HOUGHTON

Accelerateline-up

■ ACCELERATE 2013,due to be held at Liv-

erpool’s Arena and Con-vention Centre on June 27,will see the inauguralmeeting of the Accelerate250 – a group of thenation’s fastest growingcompanies handpicked fortheir impressive rates ofexpansion and job cre-ation.

The following Mersey-side-based companies havebeen chosen as membersof the Accelerate 250 byLord Young, the PrimeMinister’s enterpriseadvisor, and Sir TerryLeahy, the former chiefexecutive of Tesco:

AimesApposingBibby Line GroupHuman Recognition Sys-temsLILALucid GamesMando GroupPPL GroupRippleffectRipstoneSentric MusicService SourceSound CityUniformLeaf Cafe

■ MORE than 1,000 del-egates are expected to

attend Accelerate 2013.Headline guests will

include General Sir MikeJackson, former chief ofthe General Staff, who willshare the secret of build-ing successful teams torun businesses; LordYoung, who will discusswhat the Government isdoing to encourage enter-prise; and Ajaz Ahmed,founder of internationaladvertising agency AKQA,who will examine theimpact of the digital ageon British business.

The Woolworth store in Church Street, Liverpool, in 1982. Inset, the inspiring tale of Geoff Rodgers

post businessstyle

Morgan chair Charles Morgan Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales

22 Thursday, June 20, 2013post business end piece

tradinggossip

mydayoff

Darren has perfectedthe art of relaxation

Darren Farrell is aclerk at Liverpool’sAtlantic Chambersand in his sparetime, a pop artistwho has clients asdiverse asChambers itself andthe Scissor Sisters

Darren Farrell with one of his pop art creations

■ WE ARE a bit con-cerned that some of

our colleagues in theworld of PR are being alittle overworked at timesafter seeing the secondpress release blooper inthe past couple of weeks. John Hargreaves

Atlantic Chambers is oneof the most dynamic setsof barristers in theNorth of England. Fromground breaking

employment tribunals to highprofile criminal cases, theexpertise of our barristers is calledupon nationwide.

Based in the heart of Liverpool citycentre we have a well-won reputationfor top class quality advice andadvocacy in all main practice areas.

I am a clerk specialising in familylaw, one of the largest disciplines inchambers.

It’s a fast moving job and at times areal challenge, chasing briefs andassigning cases.

Away from the office I like to relaxwith my pallet of paints. I’ve turnedthe spare room in my house into astudio, where I can lose myself forhours.

It is a complete contrast from myday job and allows me to tear up therule book after a day poring overlegal papers.

From an early age I was alwaysinterested in art.

While other children were playingoutside, I’d be inside drawing on anyscrap of paper I could find round thehouse.

It was at school where my interestreally flourished. I had an inspira-tional art teacher who persuaded meto experiment, so I put down my paintbrush and used a plastic spatulainstead and I began to create imagesthat were striking and different.

My first commissioned pieces cameafter university when a friend askedme to paint two large scale picturesfor a restaurant he was opening,

which gave me the encouragement totry and sell my work.

Being a singer myself, I decided tohave a go at the pop art market andreally I’ve never looked back, sellingregularly on eBay and by word ofmouth.

I travel every year to the US to seefamily and on one visit Imet Jake Shears from theScissor Sisters and we dis-covered we had a mutualfriend in San Franciscowho I had painted in thepast.

It wasn’t long beforeJake had a portrait of him-self which now hangs inhis home. Over the years Ihave perfected my stylewhich now includes mix-ing in a fine art style. I like boldimages that come together when youtake a step back – eye-catchers thatmake a statement.

I love painting the great icons ofour time, from Dalglish to Dylan,Beatles to Bowie as well as movies

and their stars, like Star Wars andStreisand – striking images, largerthan life personalities.

As word has spread, though, I amoften asked for pictures of pets orpeople’s loved ones and I have sold mywork across Europe and as far awayas Australia.

In 2012, I had my twobiggest commissions todate, allowing me to painton a much larger scale.

The first was four con-troversial figures from his-tory and my second wascloser to home.

When our office recep-tion was given a lick ofpaint I was commissionedto add the finishing touch– a six foot-long semi-real-

ist painting of the new Liverpool sky-line. It was one the most challengingpieces I’ve painted, because it wascrucial that the barristers liked it andmy job is to keep them happy.

I get a buzz every day when I comeinto work and see it.

‘It wascrucialthat thebarristersliked it’

The wonder-fully-named Bright LightPR sent us a press releasethis week revealing thatScouse tycoon John Har-greaves, founder of theMatalan chain, hadbought a 50% stake in awomenswear brand calledDamsel in a Dress.

It plans to work withHargreaves, who startedhis business empire witha stall on Great HomerStreet Market, to grow its

brand internationally.The three directors of

Damsel in a Dress areAlison Mansell, AmandaSeaborne and MarshallDoctors.

However, the originalrelease called AmandaSeaborne Amanda Mar-shall and a corrected ver-sion was hastily dis-patched. Clearly threenames were too many tohandle. Not such BrightLights, perhaps.

LIVERPOOL POSTBUSINESS LUNCH

DIRECTORY

To promote your locationplease email :

[email protected]

Extra Extra! Find out what Sundays arereally about with the delicious 4 courseSunday Brunch menu at Malmaison.Including our renowned hors d’oeuvrebuffet, eggs and pancake station, theincredible Mal Roast and a deliciousselection of desserts from £19.95 or

£7.95 for children under 12.

William Jessop WayPrinces Dock, Liverpool, L3 0BG

Call the brasserie0151 299 5000

to book and quote‘The Daily Post’.

The award-winning Viva Brazil restaurantis situated in the heart of the businessdistrict in Liverpool’s Castle Street. Itis a firm favourite for business lunchesproviding fast and efficient service. Witha menu to suit all tastes, including morethan 15 cuts of meat and 20 salads, you

are guaranteed not to go hungry.

Liverpool Restaurant: 36 Castle Street,Liverpool. L2 0NR Tel: 0151 236 8080

www.vivabrazilrestaurants.com

£10 full rodizio lunchbetween 12 noon and 4pm,Monday to Friday. Termsand Conditions apply.

Radisson Blu Hotel Liverpool launchesbrand new Lightning

Lunch menu. Indulge in a main courseand a drink for just £6.95.

Best of all is the guarantee: if the mealhas not been served within

15 minutes, it is completely free!

Radisson Blu Hotel LiverpoolTel, 0151 966 1500

Email: [email protected] Old Hall Street, Liverpool, L3 9BD

Lightning Lunch Offer£6.95 per person

CROWN PLAZA BRASSERIEOur Chef and his team have a passion

for food and offer a wide varietyof dishes that draw on modern

international flavours and ingredients.The Hotel Restaurant is very stylishand recently refurbished. Bar Loungeserving a mouth-watering range offood, speciality coffees and teas anda huge variety of cocktails, wines andbeers, the lounge provides a stylish,

comfortable environment in which to dobusiness or simply to relax

CROWNE PLAZAPrinces DockPier Head

T: +44 (0) 151 243 [email protected]

Thistle Liverpool City CentreThe Vista Bar & Restaurant is the ideal

location for any gathering.Displaying spectacular views over theRiver Mersey and Liver Building,

the restaurant offers a widechoice of dishes to suit all palates.Your experience here will be an

unforgettable one

Enquiries/Reservations,please call:

0871 376 9025

Marco in Minutes - Express Lunch MenuTime may be of the essence butthat shouldn’t mean you have to

compromise on quality. With the newExpress Lunch Menu, you can feast onthe finest cuisine using the freshest ofingredients, and still have time to meetall those deadlines! With two coursesfor £10 or a main meal and a drink for£10 It’s a menu with little fuss - just

good, honest, simple food for those whohave very little time to stop.

Hotel Indigo

Radisson Blu

Viva Brasil

please callTel: 0151 559 0111

Malmaison

The award-winning Viva Brazil restaurantis situated in the heart of the businessdistrict in Liverpool’s Castle Street. Itis a firm favourite for business lunchesproviding fast and efficient service. Witha menu to suit all tastes, including morethan 15 cuts of meat and 20 salads, you

are guaranteed not to go hungry.

Liverpool Restaurant: 36 Castle Street,Liverpool. L2 0NR Tel: 0151 236 8080www.vivabrazilrestaurants.com

Viva Brazil

£10 full rodizio lunchbetween 12 noon and 4pm,Monday to Friday. Termsand Conditions apply.

Blakes RestaurantBlakes Restaurant is open to residentsand non-residents alike and creates

the perfect setting for a romantic dinnerfor 2 or parties of up to 22 guests right

in the centre of Liverpool.Following our entry into the Good Food

Guide 2010 as Liverpool’s top City Centrerestaurant, advance reservations are advisableto avoid disappointment and can be made [email protected]

Hotel IndigoMarco in Minutes - Express Lunch Menu

Time may be of the essence butthat shouldn’t mean you have to

compromise on quality. With the newExpress Lunch Menu, you can feast onthe finest cuisine using the freshest ofingredients, and still have time to meetall those deadlines! With two coursesfor £10 or a main meal and a drink for£10 It’s a menu with little fuss - just

good, honest, simple food for those whohave very little time to stop.

marco pierre whitesteakhouse call

Tel: 0151 559 0111

Calling+44 (0) 151 243 2121.


businessdiaryTHURSDAY, JUNE 20LIVERPOOL Chamber of

Commerce is introducing anew meetings format thismonth, with LiverpoolMayor Joe Anderson. Thenew-look members’ meet-ing takes place at NorthJohn Street’s Hard DaysNight Hotel and includes atwo-course lunch and anopportunity to displaymerchandise on a market-ing table. Chamber chiefoperating officer JennyStewart said: “This yearhas been really excitingfor ourselves, and lots ofour members, and we arelooking forward to wel-coming Mayor Anderson

to the Hard Days NightHotel. This will be the firstof a new series of mem-bers meetings to add toour portfolio.” Furtherdetails at www.liverpoolchamber.org.uk/ events or0151-227 1234.

FRIDAY, JUNE 21‘NETWORKING in the City’,

specialists in the property,finance and constructionsectors, is holding its nextCurry Club business lunchin Chester. George Ablett,principal sustainabledevelopment officer atCheshire West and ChesterCouncil, and Stuart Mooreof MannPower Consulting

will discuss the plans forChester's proposed hydroplant at the Old DeeBridge, Lower BridgeStreet. Chester Curry Clubis the third Friday in themonth at the Siam Thaiand Teppan-Yaki Restaur-ant, 32 City Road, Chesterat 12.30pm. The lunchcosts £25 and places canbe booked online at www.networkinginthecity.co.uk

MONDAY, JUNE 24PROFESSIONAL Liverpool is

hosting a dinner withguest speaker AlistairMcGeorge, executivechairman, New Look, onthe theme of ‘Are the fun-damentals of retailingreally changing?’. Theevent is at the Victoria

Gallery and Museum, onAshton Street in Liverpool,starting at 6.30pm for7.15pm. Details are avail-able from Marjorie Barrowon 0151-224 1855 or www.professionaliverpool.com

MONDAY, JUNE 24THE Employability and Skills

Group of companies isholding a series of opendays at its Liverpool oper-ation in Bold Street. Itinvites schools and pupils,parents, teachers, heads ofdepartments and careersadvisors, training pro-viders, job centres, com-munity agencies, andemployers to its informalevents, from 10am to 4pm,on the second floor of Link19 in Bold Street’s Central

Village. Refreshments areincluded. It says the opendays provide a chance tofind out how ESG staff canhelp individuals to obtainfull time jobs via theapprenticeship pro-gramme. For furtherdetails contact Jules West-brook or Pauline O’Brienon 0151-702 6111.

TUESDAY, JUNE 25A WORKSHOP aimed at help-

ing firms do business inRussia is taking place at theOld Hall Street offices ofLiverpool Chamber of Com-merce, from 9.15am to1pm, including breakfast.Russia’s accession to theWorld Trade Organisationlast year will open marketsfurther – tariffs are already

being lowered for impor-ted goods. This event willgive an overview of thepractical considerations tostart exporting, or increasecurrent exports to Russia. Itcosts £10 for chambermembers and £15 fornon-members. Visitwww.mychamber.co.uk/liverpool/event/view/id/3252#book to book.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26NORTH Liverpool Business

Forum is staging a meetingat Anfield, the home of Liv-erpool FC looking at ‘WhyNorth Liverpool?’ The busi-ness breakfast event takesplace between 7.30am and9.30am and is being heldduring the week of Accel-erate 2013 when more

than 1,000 delegates willdescend on Liverpool for atwo-day festival dedicatedto business growth. Thekeynote speakers for thisevent will include ElaineBowker, Liverpool Com-munity College chief exec-utive, business leadersfrom the area and repres-entatives from LiverpoolVision who will talk aboutthe major developmentstaking place in the Northof the city. A number oflocal business will join thepanel of speakers for aninteractive Q&A session.Visit http://whynorthliverpool-es2.eventbrite.co.uk/# to book.

■ Send your diaryevents to [email protected]

Viva charity effortLIVERPOOL’S VivaBrazil restaurant held acharity night in aid ofthe Marina Dalglishappeal.

Viva Brazil director,Andy Aldrich, said: “Wefelt we wanted to sup-

port this.”Pictured, above,

Jonathan Jacobson,Paula Santos, Andy Ald-rich and Angela Greerand, left, Andy Aldrich,Dianne Gillespie andGary Gillespie.

A view to a thrillLAW firm Hill Dickinsonwas licensed to thrill at aspecial performance by theRoyal Liverpool Philhar-monic Orchestra.

In an event sponsored bythe firm, the musicians per-formed well-known tunes

from the James Bondmovies including Gold-finger, Dr No, From Russiawith Love, Casino Royaleand Quantum of Solace.

Right, Colin Lavelle, soli-citor at Hill Dickinson withwife, Maria at the event.

Out on the streetsBROUHAHA InternationalFestival, in collaborationwith drumming troupes LaBomba and Batala, have beenout and about on the streetsof Liverpool to publiciseforthcoming events.

Brouhaha is behind theLiverpool International Car-nival on July 27.

Pictured, left, from LaBomba, are Alison Cain,Anna McKenzie and AndreaFigeuroa.

Dougal Paver, director ofcity PR firm, Paver SmithQ What is your facourite

lunch venue?A Eureka in Myrtle Parade,

behind the University of Liv-erpool

Q Why is this your favouritevenue?

A Consistently cheerful staffand consistently deliciousgrub, with a nice buzz fromthe gathered academics andstudents. I stick out a bitamidst all the Hush Puppiesand leather elbow pads, butno one bats an eye.

Q What is your favouritedish and why?

A The lamb’s liver, as a starter.It’s easily overcooked byindelicate hands, but theseboys know how to make itshine.

Q What is the best bit ofbusiness you have doneover lunch?

A That’s easy – getting myhands on four tickets for acertain match in Istanbul backin the day. I was one of ahandful of Blues I know inthe stadium that night whowere delighted for Liverpool.After all, we weren’t in thecompetition and they run onto the field with the name of

my home town on theirshirts.

Q Who would you most liketo have lunch with?

A Margaret Thatcher – feisty,opinionated and beenaround the block a bit. Sadlyit’s not to be, though I didchat to her once when sheopened Mersey Ferries’ newPier Head terminal.

Q Where else do you like togo for lunch?

A Lunya, to fuel my inner Span-iard.

my favourite lunch

networking

end piece post business

Eureka in Myrtle Street, Liverpool

Dougal Paver

n Corporate Benefits Solutions

n Pensions

n Group Risk Solutions

n Healthcare

n Flexible Benefits

n Executive Planning

n Personal Financial Planning

n Wealth Management

OuRSERviCESMADEFOR YOu

Please remember the value ofinvestments may fall as well as riseand your capital is not guaranteed.

Please contact Paul McGuckin onthe details below.

0151 255 263120 Chapel Street, Liverpool L3 9AG

www.csfs.co.uk

Charles Stanley Financial Solutions Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Charles Stanley Group PLC and is registered in England - No. 2131269. Registered Office: 25 Luke Street, London EC2A 4AR.Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

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post business - 20th june 2013

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