28 LEICESTER MERCURY THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2012 LDM-E01-S2 LM03w w w.thisisleicestershire.co.uk

BUSINESS DA I LY

Firm recruits staffafter sales boost

E X PA N S I O N : BOSSES TARGETING A THIRD SITE

by HELEN KITCHENERBUSINESS REPORTER

Trio gain roles with CBI regional councilTHREE Leicestershire business-men are among 22 newly-electedCBI regional council members.

Ian Borley, senior partner at KP-MG in Leicester, Brad Miller, man-aging director of East MidlandsAirport and Richard Grice, man-aging director of Pera Training Ltdand Pera Consulting (UK), ofMelton, will represent the leadingbusiness group in the region.

David Frankish, chairman of CBIEast Midlands, said: “The member-ship of the regional council goesfrom strength to strength, and re-flects the full range of both busi-ness sectors and company sizeswithin our region.

“The strong and capable member-ship of this council further rein-forces the CBI as the voice of busi-ness for the East Midlands.”

Lucy Haynes, director of CBI EastMidlands said: “The regional coun-cil plays a vital role in ensuring theCBI’s campaigns reflect the viewsof businesses in the East Midlands,as well as guiding our lobbyingactivity on regional issues. Placeson the regional council are highlysought after and I am delighted theCBI is in an even stronger positionnow in the East Midlands.”

PICTURE: MIKE SEWELL / LEMS20120807B-003_C

NEW FACES: Among those joining Guidance Navigation are, front, head of sales James Wheeler

N E W SI N B R I E F

Products shown toglobal fuel giantsAN ENGINEERING firm has show-cased its products to global busi-ness leaders at an event in Lon-don.

Nylacast, of Leicester, whichmakes plastic components for theoffshore oil and gas and construc-tion equipment markets, was oneof a handful of companies selectedto display their goods at the Glob-al Business Summit on Energy atLancaster House.

The event, which was attendedby David Cameron and BP chiefexecutive Bob Dudley, was organ-ised by Government exportagency UK Trade and Investment(UKTI).

Mussa Mahomed, Nylacast chiefexecutive, said: “We were de-lighted by the opportunity toshowcase our leading polymericmaterials technology to the seniorexecutives of global organisationssuch BP, Statoil and British Gas.

“We are grateful to the UKTIteam and the Prime Minister fortheir attendance and staunch sup-port for the event.”

Nylacast exports 70 per cent of itsoutput. It employs 350 people attwo factories in Hastings Roadand others in ThurmastonBoulevard and St Barnabas Road,all in Leicester.

Diversity honour

AN MP has been given a tour of ahousing scheme in her constitu-e n cy.

Nicky Morgan looked aroundThomas Cook Place, in Loughbor-ough.

The development was created byWilliam Davis in partnership withNottingham Community HousingA s s o c i at i o n .

The 91 houses and apartmentswere built on a previously derelictplot not far from the railway sta-tion.

MP tours homesA hi-tech engineering firm iscreating nearly 30 jobs andlooking for an additional siteafter seeing sales of its productss o a r.

Guidance Navigation is recruit-ing 29 people, mostly in skilled en-gineering, sales and IT positions,from now until November.

The company, based in MeridianBusiness Park, Braunstone,designs sensor systems for hugeships at sea and robots used in in-dustry, enabling them to man-oeuvre safely and accurately.

Human resources managerGisele Laywood said the new jobswere in response to a “hug e” in -crease in the number of ordersfrom the marine industry and cus-tomers which use driverlessve h i cl e s.

She said sales had grown by 69.5

per cent in the last 12 months andthe company was expecting a £14million turnover this year – well upon the £10 million bosses had fore-cast.

Ms Laywood said: “These jobs arenot replacement roles, they arebrand new.

“We are lucky in that we have alow turnover of staff.”

The firm is looking to expand bytaking over another site close to itspremises, which will be its third inL e i c e s t e r.

It also has a site in Hitchin, Hert-fo rd s h i re.

Ms Laywood said: “The rise insales has been so big we have had toexpand and we are looking for ourthird building in Leicester becausewe just don’t have the space for thedevelopment work we have beendoing.

“We have identified a site on Me-ridian Business Park and are in theprocess of making an offer.”

The firm supplies its productsworldwide and, in 2006, won theQ u e e n’s Award for Export.

In April 2011, the company soldone of its division, which madesensors for tags worn by offenders,to security firm G4S.

“Selling it did reduce our num-bers so it’s nice to be able to get thenumbers back up again,” said MsL ay wo o d .

She said the firm anticipated tak-ing on an extra 11 employees nextye a r.

“We recruit a lot of skilled andspecialist staff – they can be hard tofind so we are already planning fort h at . ”

There are three apprentices work-ing at the firm.

“Apprenticeships are somethingwe are committed to,” said Ms Lay-wo o d .

A BUSINESS owner has been short-listed for a diversity award.

Mark Esho, managing director ofEasy Internet Services, Whetstone,is a finalist in the race category ofthe Entrepreneurial of ExcellenceAward, part of the National Di-versity Awards. The firm is spon-soring the positive role model ofthe year: lesbian, gay, bisexual ortransgender at the event onSeptember 21 in Manchester.

Insurer does dealLEICESTERSHIRE Asian BusinessAssociation (Laba) has an-nounced a partnership with JSWInsurance Services.

Laba will recommend the ser-vices of JSW, of Melton, to its 900m e m b e r s.

JSW relocated from Stafford-shire two years ago.

Interest ratesset to remainat record lowHOUSEHOLDS and businesses looked set forthree more years of record low interest ratesafter the Bank of England cut its growth fore-casts for this year and next.

In its quarterly inflation report, the Bank’smost likely scenario for this year was for flat out-put, compared with 0.8 per cent in its last estim-ate in May, as the threat of the eurozone and tightlending conditions drag on the economy.

The assumptions are based on market expecta-tions of interest rates falling next year and notrising beyond current levels of 0.5 per cent untilthe middle of 2015 – keeping the pressure off bor-rowers but prolonging misery for savers.

Most economists agreed the report paved theway for further emergency support measures, al-though Governor Mervyn King played down sug-gestions that a rate cut was likely.

Commenting on the report, Howard Archer,chief UK and European economist at IHS GlobalInsight, said: “We certainly would not rule out afuture trimming of interest rates from 0.5 percent to 0.25 per cent.

“But we believe it is more likely that they willstay at 0.5 per cent through until at least late-2014.’’

Garden team’s joyA GARDEN centre has been named best retailerin the Midlands by a leading trade body.

Woodlands Nursery & Garden Centre, ofStapleton, near Hinckley, was presented with theBest Gardening Retailer & Garden IndustryManuf acturers’ Association (GIMA) award atthe Garden Centre Association’s (GCA) Mid-lands area ceremony in Worcester.

Manager Ruth Parker said: “We are absolutelydelighted to have been acknowledged by GCA.

“It is a great recognition of the team’s hard workduring the past year.”

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