LDP Business - 17th August 2011

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BUSINESS EDITOR:BILL GLEESON0151 472 2319

DEPUTY BUSINESS EDITOR:TONY McDONOUGH0151 330 4918

BUSINESS REPORTER:PETER ELSON0151 472 2502

BUSINESS REPORTER:ALISTAIR HOUGHTON0151 472 2449

BUSINESS REPORTER:NEIL HODGSON0151 472 2451

VIRGIN MONEY last night held outthe possibility it might acquire Bankof America’s UK credit card business.

Bank of America announced onMonday that it wanted to “exit” its UKand Ireland credit card business,which trades as MBNA.

It said the division could be sold orwound down altogether – meaning its4,000 staff in Chester face an anxiousfew months.

Potential bidders could include SirRichard Branson’s Virgin Money –which is also bidding for NorthernRock – and Spanish-owned Santander,

which wants to grow its UK business.Asked whether Virgin Money would

consider buying Bank of America’scredit card business, a spokesmansaid: “We are long-term partners withBank of America. Our credit cards areissued by MBNA. We know the peopleand the business.

“No doubt we will be involved in theprocess as it goes forward.”

A spokesman for Santander in Mad-rid said the company would not com-ment on market speculation that itmight also bid for MBNA.

Bank of America wants to exit theUK to concentrate on its core US busi-ness and to grow its investment bank-ing arm.

MBNA is Chester’s largest private

sector employer and is one of thecornerstones of the city’s financial ser-vices sector.

Business information service Data-monitor says MBNA has a 9% share ofthe UK credit card market.

As well as issuing cards under itsown name, it issues them on behalf oforganisations from online retailerAmazon to the World Wildlife Fundand Liverpool FC.

Jonathan MacDonald, a Lon-don-based analyst at Datamonitor, saidhe believed the business would be soldrather than wound down.

He added: “It’s a fairly healthy busi-ness. It’s ripe for a sale.

“Who picks it up is anybody’s guessright now. But I very much doubt it

will be wound down – it’s quite a bigoperation.

“There’s the usual suspects in themarket right now that will be lookingtowards it.

“Santander are interested in grow-ing their business in the UK. The Vir-gin Money/Northern Rock combomight be keen to look at other com-panies. Capital One could look at it.

“Barclaycard has recently made twoacquisitions, so they might not be sokeen.”

Mr MacDonald said the credit cardmarket had stayed strong despite therecession. He added: “In general, youtend to find consumers flock to easyforms of credit when there are hardtimes.”

VirginMoneymaybidforcreditcardgiantTHE London market

clawed back its earlierlosses yesterday afterbetter-than-expecteddata from the UScalmed fears causedby disappointing Ger-man growth.

The FTSE 100 Indexhad dropped as muchas 85 points in earlytrading, but staged arecovery to close up7.1 points at 5357.6.

Meanwhile, on WallStreet, the Dow Jonesfell 76.97, or 0.7 %, to11,405.93.

The Standard &Poor’s 500 index fell11.73, or 1 %, to1,192.76.

The Nasdaq com-posite fell 31.75, or1.2%, to 2,523.45.

MARKET REPORT:PAGE 13

FTSE-1005357.6

7.1▲

Distiller plansbig push intoUS marketG&J GREENALL ispushing into newoverseas markets,including Spain andthe US, after MBO.

PAGE 3

Purslow dealFORMER Liverpool FCmanaging directorChristian Purslowinvests in ‘social gam-ing’ firm.

PAGE 5

Park lifeA £1.2m conferencecentre is under con-struction at MEPCBirchwood Park.

PAGE 6

Plane sailingAUSTRALIAN airlineQantas plans to buy106 Airbus planes.

PAGE 7

inside Stop meand startup yourbusinessTHIS ice-cream van won’tbe selling frozen treats –instead it will be sellingthe idea of starting inbusiness.

South Sefton Develop-ment Trust (SSDT) isusing the converted vanto seek out budding entre-preneurs and give theminformation on how tostart a business or getback to work.

It will be in Bootle,Netherton and Litherlandfrom tomorrow until Fri-day on the “Get MeInvolved – The Ideas IceCream Van Tour”. On Sat-urday, the van will beparked at The Strandshopping centre in Bootle.

Annemarie Martin,business adviser for SSDT,said: “By bringing sup-port directly into theheart of the community,we hope to meet people inour area who have an ideathat could convert into acommunity business orsocial enterprise.”

South Sefton Development Trust board Member Barbara Hardwick, left, with facilities supervisor Danny Braggand project manager Annemarie Martin inside the trust’s converted ice-cream van Picture: GARETH JONES

EXCLUSIVEbyAlistairHoughtonLDPBUSINESSSTAFFalistair.houghton@liverpool.com

2 Wednesday, August 17, 2011

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CheshiredeveloperLloydhopefulover£500kscam

Schemeto retaingraduatetalentLIVERPOOL Chamberof Commerce is work-ing with the region’suniversities to retainthe cream of this year’sgraduate talent.

The initiative offerswork placements tohelp graduates developfacets that employersseek, like project man-agement, presentationand negotiation skills.

Chamber deputychief executive CaroleCrosby said: “We’vehad a good success ratewith over a quartermoving from the pro-gramme into full timepermanent employ-ment in a sector oftheir choosing.”

Cllr Nick Small, cab-inet member foremployment, enter-prise and skills said:“Developing and retain-ing our talented gradu-ates is massivelyimportant to our futureeconomic growth.

“This programme isa great way of achiev-ing just that, by provid-ing meaningful employ-ment for graduates,while bringing real,tangible benefits forlocal businesses.”■ Further informationis available on 0151-2363222 or [email protected]

LandRoverhelpskeepJLRsalestickingoverforJuly

newsLDPbusiness .co.uk

A BAHAMIAN lawyer has pleadedguilty to stealing almost £1m from cli-ents, including £850,000 from twoCheshire victims.

Jan Ward has been bailed and nowhas two months to repay his formerclients, or face jail.

Cheshire property developer andracehorse owner Rob Lloyd said heremains hopeful of reimbursement,but revealed he is ready to open talkswith the Bahamian government overpossible compensation.

Mr Lloyd’s Tarporley-based Eaton-field Developments went into liquid-ation last month, but he told LDP Busi-ness he hopes to return to the market.

Speaking between meetings withLondon brokers he said: “I hope torekindle the business in the future. Iremain optimistic and hopeful.”

Mr Lloyd and Cheshire builder anddeveloper Pochin’s both lost moneythey had wired to the holiday paradisein 2006.

Mr Lloyd forwarded the funds to MrWard to invest in a holiday resortproperty deal.

Pochin’s sent £350,000 towards theconstruction of low-cost homes on theisland.

After three years of court hearingsMr Ward has now admitted guilt to thetheft of about £964,000 relating to sevencases.

He admitted stealing £500,000 fromMr Lloyd and £350,000 from Pochin’s.

The court released him on bail of£127,000 until October 17 on the under-standing that he repays his victims bythen.

If he fails to reimburse them, a datefor sentencing will be set by theisland’s Supreme Court on October 17.

Justice Vera Watkins told him: “Doeverything in your power to ensure thecomplainants are compensated orrestituted.

“You had told the court that you willget the funds back and that is why

your bail is being extended, to ensurethat you are in a position to makerestitution to the complainants.”

Pochin’s said it is not pursuing thematter, but Mr Lloyd said: “This hasbeen a very long journey and has

caused a lot of stress to both me andmy family. What matters is that I havecontinued to fight to get justice andnow I have to keep fighting to get allmy money back. I still wake up in themornings and think, why has this

happened to me?” He added: “I want tobe guarded as to what I really think asI don’t want to jeopardise anythingthat will lead to me getting my moneyback. However, one should neverunderestimate me.”

TOP FIVE

Cheshire property developer and race horse owner Rob Lloyd who lost £500,000 in a proposed deal

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SALES of Jaguar Land Rovervehicles were flat last month,new figures from parent com-pany Tata Motors showed.

The luxury marquesachieved total global sales of19,119 vehicles during July,which was static compared

with the same month last year.Tata’s latest update revealed

that Jaguar sales for theperiod were 4,372, which was23% lower compared with ayear ago.

However, Land Rover man-aged to increase sales by 8%

after consumers purchased14,747 vehicles.

Cumulative sales of JaguarLand Rover for the fiscal yearso far are ahead by 6% at81,209.

By brand, Jaguar’s cumulat-ive sales are 15,715, represent-

ing a 26% decline, while LandRover cumulative sales so farare 18% higher at 65,494.

Tata Motors owns three Jag-uar Land Rover productionplants in the UK, two in theMidlands and the Halewoodcar plant in Knowsley.

Staffing at Halewood hasdoubled this year to 3,000 inreadiness for the launch of thenew Range Rover Evoquewhich is set to appear inshowrooms next month.

The plant also produces theLand Rover Freelander 2.

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DistillerybossinhighspiritsasheplanstotakeontheworldAlistairHoughtonmeetsCHRISTIANROSE,chiefexecutiveofgindistilleryG&JGreenall

LDPbusiness .co.uk

Christian Rosehas high hopesfor theGreenall’s,Bloom andBerkeleySquare brandsPicture: JASONLOCK

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WALKING into G&J Greenall for thefirst time, Christian Rose foundplenty of spirit amongst the spirits.

Rose had been called into theloss-making distillery by owner DeVere – and soon discovered that the250-year old business had greatpotential and staff who wanted tomake it great again.

He led the company back into theblack and this month, after a year ofnegotiations, he completed a man-agement buyout at the business.

Today, the Warrington plant pro-duces up to 70% of the UK’s gin – andsome 16% of the world’s total.

As well as Greenall’s gin, and sis-ter brands Bloom and BerkeleySquare, it produces most of the UK’ssupermarket own-brand gin.

And the site, which employs 120people, produces other well-knownbrands under contract. Bombay Sap-phire gin, with its distinctive bluebottles, is made only in Warrington.

The company’s UK sales are boom-ing, particularly since its core Green-all’s brand was given a new look. Inthe last quarter, sales of Greenall’sgin were up 60% on last year.

Greenall is now going for globalgrowth. Its gin is growing in pop-ularity in Spain – the world’ssecond-biggest gin market – while itlaunched in the USA last month.

Rose arrived at Greenall in 2008,charged with turning the businessaround after it posted its first-everloss, of £2m.

“De Vere brought me in at theback end of 08 to see what theyshould do with the business,” hesaid. Should they sell it? Asset-stripit? Invest and build it?

“The first thing that struck mewas the spirit, passion and commit-ment of the team at Warrington. Itwas extraordinary.

“This is one of Britain’s greatestbrands. It’s the oldest continuous gindistillery in the world. It’s somethingthat needed mentoring and loving.

“There were challenges but alsomassive opportunities.”

Greenall dates its history back to1761, when Thomas Dakin starteddistilling in Bridge Street, Warring-ton. The distillery eventually passedto the Greenall family, taking theG&J Greenall name it still has today.

In 1923 the distillery was boughtby brewery Greenall Whitley and inthe 1960s it moved from Bridge Streetto a larger distillery nearby.

Disaster struck in October 2005when a major fire, fuelled by the ginand vodka stored in the warehouse,destroyed much of the distillery.

The gin-making stills, however,

were saved and moved to their cur-rent home in Birchwood.

By the 2000s, the distillery’s parenthad sold its breweries and pubs tofocus on hotels, and changed itsname to De Vere.

Hertfordshire-born Rose startedhis career as a management traineeat Marks & Spencer before moving toSafeway and then Somerfield, wherehe ran the Kwik Save business.

He then served as director of anumber of private equity-backedbusinesses, including Alliance Bootsand NAAFI, which provides retail,leisure and catering services to theBritish armed forces worldwide.

“I was based in Germany and wentto Iraq and Kosovo during conflicts –places you wouldn’t normally expectto have to do business,” he said.

Rose was chief executive of Alban-nach Brands, the Scottish bar andrestaurant chain, when in 2008 hewas approached by De Vere to takecharge of Greenall.

The 2008 loss came as a shock toDe Vere and Rose had to act quicklyto get Greenall back on track.

“In 2009 we had to pare back andprune,” he said. “We lost somepeople. We had to cut back on someinvestment. We got the business backto a modest profit in 2009.”

In late 2009, Rose was introducedto Enzo Visone, the former chiefexecutive of spirits group Campari.

“We talked about the spiritsindustry,” said Rose. “I was quitepassionate about Greenall and whatwe’re doing. Enzo said ‘There’ssomething I could do to help’.”

Greenall had, said Rose, becomean “interesting distraction” to itshotel-focused parent – so De Vere waswilling to listen to offers.

Rose and Visone, along withinvestment banker Warren Scott,won an £11m finance package fromthe Burdale Group to bid for Green-all. The deal was approved a yearago, but only completed this month.

Rose smiled: “It was almost 12months of blood, sweat and tears,weeknight and weekend working,midnight working. But in those 12months, we didn’t take our focus offthe business.”

Its core brand, Greenall’s, hasbeen given a new look.

“People thought the old livery wasgood but a bit like a supermarketown label, and a bit dated,” musedRose. “We wanted to become contem-porary but keep that British element.

“There’s still a subtle hint of theUnion Jack,” he added, looking atthe green stripes on the label. “Theresponse has been phenomenal.

“We’re actively promoting it.We’re going to have billboards. We’llbe having extra displays in thesupermarkets.

“Greenall’s is going great guns.”Under Joanne Moore – only the

seventh Master Distiller in the250-year history of the distillery –Greenall has developed two premiumbrands in which Rose has highhopes.

Bloom, launched 18 months ago,boasts hints of honeysuckle andmelon atop the traditional junipertaste of gin.

“A lot of people get put off by juni-per,” said Rose. “We wantedsomething which was more subtleand delicate, and where people say ‘Idon’t like gin, but this is lovely.”

Bloom is available at selected barsand restaurants, including the Mal-maison in Liverpool, and in retailersincluding Harvey Nichols.

“We don’t want this to go to themass market straight away,” saidRose. “It’s about brand-building.

“We are very selective about theretailers we want to work with. Wehave had requests from multiples,and we have said no. It’s not easy, butwe feel we’ve got to be very protect-ive to create an enduring brand.

“Something like 80% of new spiritsbrands fail. We won’t let this fail.”

The other new brand is BerkeleySquare, which is flavoured with

basil, kaffir lime and lavender andcomes in a square bottle mimickingthe shape of Victorian poison bottles.

Berkeley Square has only had lim-ited distribution as Greenall hasfocused on its other brands, but Rosesays the takeover will give the com-pany the funds to push it further.

Three weeks ago, Greenall’s ginwas relaunched in five US states,including Texas and Florida.

“It’s early days,” said Rose, “butearly impressions suggest that ourheritage has gone down really well.”

Bloom, meanwhile, was launchedin San Francisco at the same time.

Rose smiled: “Already, after threeweeks, Bloom is in 45 bars in centralSan Francisco – which is way aheadof what it was expected to be.”

Greenall sells in 17 countries, fromEurope to Australasia.

Its ready-to-serve products, such asgin and tonic in a can, have provedparticularly popular overseas.

Back home, Rose says gin sales arerising as it becomes more popularwith young people.

“A lot of people don’t like to beseen drinking what their parents aredrinking,” he said.

“Going back six or seven yearstheir parents used to drink gin andtonic. Vodka was the alternative.

“What we’ve found is that a lot ofyoung adults now coming throughsee their parents drinking vodka, so

they want something different.“Real gin-making is a craft, an art.“You’re dealing with naturally

variable products. It depends on thestrength of the oils, the angelica, theroot or the juniper berries.

“People are becoming more soph-isticated and discerning, and they’relooking for that point of difference.”

But as well as organic growth,Rose is looking to win new contractsto make gin and other spirits – andmay go on the acquisition trail.

“We are looking for other brandsto acquire,” he said.

“We have a reputation as a majorplayer in the UK. We’ve got distri-bution networks worldwide. We canbolt on other brands.”

Rose lives near Heathrow with hiswife of 25 years and two teenagedaughters, and splits his timebetween Warrington, the company’ssmall London office and overseas.

Outside work he enjoys cookingand running – he once broke thefour-hour barrier in a marathon –but is proud that he never leaveswork altogether behind.

“One great thing about my job isspending a lot of time in bars andrestaurants,” he said.

“When I’m out shopping, I’m look-ing at shelves. When I’m in a bar I’mlooking at shelves at what the com-petition is doing and how people areconsuming.”

Age: 46Highest educational qualification:The strategic business finance pro-gramme at HEC Business School, ParisBest advice: Seek first to understandbefore making a decisionProudest achievement: When I was atSomerfield, I ran a charity event back in

2000 that raised over £1m for a localchildren’s charityBiggest regret: I don’t regret anything.I just learn from itStill to achieve: To make sure Greenall’sachieves its full potential for all itsbrands and for the people who workhere, while giving shareholders a return


Scaffolderequaltonewworkplacechallenges

Helplineprovidesfood forthoughtTHE Regulatory teamat Stephensons Solicit-ors has launched a ded-icated legal helpline forbusinesses in thehealth food industry.

The firm, which hasa St Helens office, hasidentified a gap in themarket for the adviceline after seeing asurge in demand frombusinesses confused byred tape, or alreadyfacing prosecution.

The 24/7 all-yearround link providesdirect access to Steph-ensons’ team of regu-latory solicitors whichcan advise on how toavoid costly regulatoryoffences in relation tothe packaging andadvertising of theirproducts.

Regulatory partnerSean Joyce said: “Therehave been manyexamples of main-stream brands facingthe Advertising Stand-ards Agency watchdogover claims they havemade on packaging orin advertising theirbrands.

“Two of the key waysin which a productmust conform to Gov-ernment standards arein packaging andadvertising and unfor-tunately this is wherewe also see the mostoccasions of businessesfalling foul of the reg-ulations.”

He added: “Even theslightest errors canhave costly con-sequences. The cost ofadvertising strategiescan be very significantfor businesses, espe-cially for smaller com-panies seeking to out-manoeuvre their largerrivals.”

The helpline can beaccessed on 0844 2435425.

NSG’s scaffolding at the Pier Head to allow work on a new landing stage

All-aboardStartUpbustourtoencouragenewentrepreneurs

Seminar looksatwellbeing

LIVERPOOL will host anational tour to encourageentrepreneurs later this month.

StartUp Britain is an initi-ative for entrepreneurs anddelivered by entrepreneurswhich will undertake a bustour of some of the UK’s entre-preneurial hotspots.

It will visit the waterfront’sCrowne Plaza Hotel from9am-12 noon on August 24 aspart of a tour of 14 towns andcities in August and September.

The StartUp Britain cam-paign team includes experts,mentors, entrepreneurs andsmall business authors whowill encourage budding entre-preneurs around the country toset up their own businesses.

A range of companies arebacking the scheme, includingAXA, Barclays, Dell, Intel,Microsoft, MITIE and PayPalwho will be giving specialistbusiness advice and discountsto entrepreneurs.

Cameron Mclean vice presid-ent of PayPal UK, MerchantServices, said: “PayPal UK sup-ports payment processing forbusinesses of all sizes, fromstart-ups to major nationalbrands.

“Small businesses are vital tothe British economy and we atPayPal want to assist busi-nesses to flourish and grow.”

Emma Jones, co-founder andinterim chief executive of Start-Up Britain, added: “Thanks to

help and support from our localStartUp champions, this tourallows us to take StartUp Bri-tain across Britain.

“The bus will travel fromNorth to South and East toWest loaded with businessexperts, start-up advice andvaluable offers.

“We will be meeting with stu-dents and helping them turnideas into ventures and we’ll bevisiting employees movingfrom employment intoself-employment.

“I look forward to welcominghundreds of start-ups and smallbusinesses on board.”

For more details visit http://www.startupbritain.org/ sum-merbustour/

A SCAFFOLDING company has com-pleted two unique projects in Liver-pool and Morecambe Bay.

Deeside firm NSG UK developed acomplex contract to replace a helidecksurface on an offshore oil rig, and scaf-folding work at Liverpool’s Pier Headas part of a project to build a newlanding stage.

A team of specialists spent 14 daysworking on the unmanned Centricainstallation in Morecambe Bay.

This was the first project of its typeundertaken by NSG since winning along-term maintenance and interven-tion works contract with the energygiant.

Bill Morton, NSG’s Barrow-basedcommercial manager, said the job wasto replace and repaint the surface tomeet new Helideck CertificationAgency specifications.

He said: “Helidecks have certainmarkings which help the helicoptercrew determine the optimum place toland – therefore the surface and paintwork has to be spot on.

“The surface of the helideck hasbeen coated by building up the thick-ness gradually, with a non-skid coatingas the final coat. This anti-slip deckcoating is essential for personnel whowill be walking to and from the heli-copters.”

Mr Morton added: “Not every coat-ing company has the expertise inhouse to complete this sort of work.

“This is due to issues of not havingthe necessary equipment and accesssolutions to replace the surface in therequired time scale, while still needingto land helicopters on the deck duringthe operation. The implications of get-ting it wrong are immense.”

The job at the Pier Head was to erectsupport scaffolding to hold a 22-tonnedrilling kit.

The project is the first of its kind for

NSG as engineers had to make surethe structure could withstand the hightides of the River Mersey.

The scaffolding enabled contractorsBalfour Beatty to correct cracks in thewaterfront wall which could havehampered plans to build a new landingstage. The old stage was destroyed in2006 by freak weather conditions.

NSG has also won contracts for alarge tower block project in Leeds withLiverpool-based Downing, and repairwork to the exterior of the LiverpoolPhilharmonic Hall.

General manager Tim Walker saidthe value of the four contracts wasworth more than £450,000: “We havehad a very strong first half and the

variety of these projects demonstratesour flexibility and ability to workacross a range of sectors,” he said.

“The Pier Head and off-shore pro-jects were particularly complex, butour design engineers provided robustsolutions which our scaffolding andpainting teams were able carry outeffectively and on time.”


A FREE half-day seminar on the value of ahealth and wellbeing strategy in the workplacehas been organised by The Intelligence Net-work.

Speakers already confirmed to address theevent at Liverpool Hope University’s EdenBuilding, in Taggart Avenue, on Thursday,September 29, include Plus Dane Group man-aging director Jayne Phillips and John Barry,head of human resources at the ECHO Arenaand BT Convention Centre.

The event has been organised in conjunctionwith Liverpool Primary Care Trust and theDecade of Health & Wellbeing.

A complementary lunch will also beprovided for participants following the morn-ing seminar.

Places are limited but can be reserved inadvance by emailing [email protected] including your name, job title,organisation and contact details.

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agreed last October. Mr Purslow thenstepped down as managing director,finally leaving the board in February.

Mr Purslow said: “Having over thelast year watched the management ofWe R Interactive meet all their busi-ness objectives stated at launch,deliver on everything they promisedand sharing their vision of where theywant to take the company, We R Inter-active ticked all the right boxes for meinitially as an investment and then asan opportunity to be involved in abusiness where I can help its futuredevelopment.

“We R Interactive is taking socialgaming to another level with a freshand truly innovative user experience.

“Its first game, I AM PLAYR, allow-ing you to experience the life of a foot-baller, through the eyes of a footballer,is proving to be a massive successalready and I’m thrilled to be gettinginvolved with We R Interactive as thisnow proven model is rolled out to newproduct genres.”

London-based We R Interactive isalso backed by other key players

in the world of entertainmentand finance, including EricFellner, co-founder of Work-ing Title Films.

David Rose, chief executiveof We R Interactive, said:“Christian is a hugely respec-

ted figure in both theprivate equity andsport industries.We’re delighted heshares our vision.”

THE former managing director of Liv-erpool FC, Christian Purslow, hasinvested in the firm behind an onlinefootball game

Mr Purslow has also become a dir-ector of We R Interactive, whichlaunched I AM PLAYR in May. It is hisfirst investment since leaving Liver-pool FC’s board in February.

I AM PLAYR, played through Face-book and its own website, aims toallow people to experience footballthrough the eyes of a professional foot-baller, on and off the pitch.

The game has already secured spon-sorship from companies includingNike, Red Bull and Alfa Romeo, whileformer England and Arsenal full-backLee Dixon has contributed script andstory ideas. Theo Walcott is amongplayers featured in the game.

Financier Mr Purslow, who spentmuch of his career in the privateequity industry, joined Liverpool FCin June 2009.

In 2010, he voted in favour ofselling the club to New EnglandSports Ventures – angering thenowners Tom Hicks and George Gil-lett, who tried to remove him fromthe board.

But after a High Courtbattle, the sale was

Carmelrises upranks atAmionREGENERATION advis-ory firm Amion Con-sulting has promotedCarmel Booth to part-ner.

Ms Booth, achartered accountantby training, joined Liv-erpool-based Amion asa director in 2009, hav-ing previously workedfor KPMG and Deloitte.

She has worked onprojects including theestablishment of theHomes and Communit-ies Agency and therecently-openedMuseum of Liverpool.

Ms Booth has adviseda range of organisa-tions including majorprivate sectordevelopers, localauthorities, govern-ment departments andsocial enterprises.

She said: “I’mdelighted to become apartner at such a chal-lenging and interestingtime for many of ourclients, especially ourpublic sector clientsand private developerslooking to deliver largeinfrastructure projects.

“Our work is perhapseven more importanttoday as organisationsare looking to do morewith less money andconsider new ways ofoperating.”

Amion partner, TimJohnston, said: “I haveworked with Carmelfor some time andknow that she will be agreat addition to ourpartnership team.

“She has played animportant role in thedevelopment of a num-ber of high profile pro-jects across the countryand is well respected inour sector. She bringsconsiderable financialand commercial expert-ise which will benefitmany of our clients.”

ExtendingWorkTrialswouldboost jobs,claimsFSBA SMALL business lobbygroup has called on the Gov-ernment to extend Work Tri-als for jobless which it claimscould create 46,000 jobs.

Work Trials are available topeople who have been on JobSeekers’ Allowance (JSA) forat least six months.

But a recent FSB surveyshowed that 23% of small

firms believe with unemploy-ment currently standing at2.45 million it makes sense tooffer the scheme from the firstday someone claims JSA.

Work Trials are voluntaryprogrammes that allowemployers and employees totry a role before taking on apermanent position withinthe business and FSB mem-

bers believe they would act asan incentive to taking on staff.

Research shows that nearlyhalf of all jobs beginning witha Work Trial have led to a per-manent job in that business.

The FSB says althoughsmall firms want to employ,they lack the resources to takeon a member of staff.

Neil Dutton, FSB develop-

ment manager, said: “Acrossthis region it is vital that weexplore all avenues that maylead to employment and makeit easier for small businessesto take that step and becomean employer.

“Small businesses are morelikely to hire people that havebeen in long-term unemploy-ment, and Work Trials are a

good way to get people backinto work and learning skills.

“Extending Work Trialscould help to create an extra46,000 much-needed jobs andhelp people get back into workat such a difficult time, so theFSB is urging the Governmentto extend this very straightfor-ward scheme from the firstday someone signs on.”

Npoweristhelatestenergyfirmtoraiseitsprices

FormerMDatLiverpoolFCbacksvideogamesfirm


Charlie Painter, who begins her apprenticeship next month

Charliesettingthepace

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THE aptly-namedCharlie Painter, 16,from Haydock, hasclinched a job with apainting contractorafter a pioneeringworkplace “taster”project.

School leaverCharlie took part inthe “Experience Con-

struction” schemewhich is run by theindustry’s trainingorganisation CITB-ConstructionSkills.

The initiativeoffers short-termworkplace experi-ence in a variety ofdifferent roles.

She has now been

offered a full-timepost, beginning herapprenticeship place-ment in September,with Wigan-based KParr Painting Con-tractors, which wasthe first company inthe North West tosign up to the initi-ative.


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SOME 3.3m Npower custom-ers are facing higher energybills after the companybecame the latest utility pro-vider to hike its prices.

Average tariffs for gas willincrease by 15.7% and electri-city by 7.2% from October 1,

Npower said, meaning theaverage monthly direct debitdual-fuel customer will seebills increase by 12.2% – anadditional £134 a year.

The fourth largest providerin the UK blamed risingwholesale prices on the global

market and a commitment toinvest in future energy sup-plies.

The price hike comes at atime when household budgetsare being stretched by thehigh cost of living and mutedwage growth.

Figures yesterday con-firmed inflation in Julyincreased to 4.4% from 4.2%the previous month.

Npower is the fifth of the“big six” providers toannounce a price hike, follow-ing Scottish and Southern

Energy, Scottish Power, Brit-ish Gas and E.ON. EDF is yetto announce changes to itstariffs.

The price hike is likely toprovoke further outrage as itfollows a stellar set ofhalf-year results.

byAlistairHoughtonLDPBUSINESSSTAFFalistair.houghton@liverpool.com

Christian Purslow




BirchwoodParkbuilding£1.2mconferencevenue

InvestecboostsLiverpoolteam

Newservicemakeshandshakedealsathingofthepast–FPB

MEPC Birchwood Park’scurrent conference venueis to be replaced by a‘state-of-the-art’ facility

ONE of the North West’s biggest busi-ness parks is building a £1.2m con-ference centre.

MEPC Birchwood Park in Warring-ton is aiming to have the facility –known as The Centre – completed inSeptember.

It will serve the national andregional conference market as well asthe 150 businesses based on the123-acre park.

Birchwood Park managing directorJonathan Walsh told LDP Businesssaid The Centre will replace the exist-ing facility which he says is no longerof an adequate standard to attractmajor corporate events.

He said: “Our conference venue isalready well-established but I wouldonly describe it as acceptable.

“We have decided to raise ourgame.”

When the conference centre is com-pleted it will have a new tree-linedentrance and reception area offFaraday Street, the park’s mainartery, with free car parking for del-egates on site.

Overlooking its own lake, the facil-ity will cater for meetings of all sizesfrom two people up to 168 with achoice of seven meeting rooms allwith LCD projection, break-out spaceand a 168 seater lecture theatre withthe latest audio visual equipment .

A city centre-style café with Star-bucks coffee will offer a variety ofready-made and bespoke snacks.

For those who want a more discreetmeeting place, The Hub will provide abusiness lounge with waitress serviceand acoustic booths.

All customers and delegates willhave access to free high-speed Wi-Fi.

The Garden restaurant will offer arange of self-service meals, includinghealthy options, and provides a selec-tion of hot and cold dishes with foodservice throughout the working day.

Where possible, food will be locallysourced. It will be cooked on thepremises daily, and all diets catered

for. Mr Walsh added: “Birchwood isthe powerhouse for business in War-rington and Cheshire and thereforeour facilities attract park occupiersand a wide range of businesses fromBirchwood itself.

A NEW service could savesmall firms legal costs overdisputed contracts.

Lobby group the Forum ofPrivate Business (FPB) andLEGAL365.com have set up a24/7 resource offering accessto a range of binding con-tracts and other documentswhich are updated in linewith legislative changes.

The service (www.fpb.org/LEGAL365), says the FPB,will benefit entrepreneurswho have been tempted totrust in handshakes ratherthan pay lawyers to draw upbusiness contracts.

FPB chief executive PhilOrford said: “It’s all too com-

mon for small business own-ers to agree deals withoutany sort of written contract.

“While steep lawyers’ feescan be a costly headache,entrepreneurs should not cutcorners when it comes to put-ting in place professionalbusiness contracts.

“Failing to do so can beeven more damaging in thelong-run.”

He added: “The forthcom-ing deregulation of legal ser-vices means there will be sig-nificantly more affordablealternative to using legalfirms to gain the peace ofmind that comes with draw-ing up proper contracts.

“By joining forces, the FPBand LEGAL365.com areproviding small-businessowners with easily-accessible,cost-effective legal protectionand expertise whenever theyneed it.”

LEGAL365.com was set upby established law firm LastCawthra Feather which offerslegal advice to businesses andprivate individuals.

Spokesman Ajaz Ahmedsaid: “These contracts are notsimply templates, they arelive, working documents cre-ated to meet business owners’specific needs and areupdated to reflect changes tothe law.”

PETER Allen has joined the Liverpool office ofInvestec Wealth & Investment in the role of a newfinancial planner at the Old Hall Street site.

Mr Allen, 32, joins the firm after eight yearsworking for Barnett Waddingham, an independentfirm of actuaries and consultants, and two years atglobal outsourcing and investment firm Mercer.

He provides independent financial planningadvice to a wide range of private clients, coveringareas such as estate, retirement and personal taxplanning.

Mr Allen is a Chartered Financial Planner and aFellow of the Personal Finance Society.

Chris Aitken, head of Investec Wealth & invest-ment’s UK financial planning team said: “Finan-cial planning is a growth area for the business andthe UK team has a particular focus on using itsspecialist knowledge of the ‘at retirement’ market– a critical and growing demographic.”

[email protected]

“Our research with our own occu-piers pointed the way with this pro-ject. They wanted state of the art facil-ities for conferences and meetingsfrom two delegates upwards and astandard for food and beverages that

you would expect from a city centrevenue.

“At the same time, we will be act-ively marketing the attractions andcompetitiveness of the centre to amuch wider business audience.”

SIMON Walker is toreplace Miles Temple-man when his seven-year term as directorgeneral of the Instituteof Directors (IoD) endsnext month.

Mr Walker is aformer chief executiveof the British PrivateEquity and VentureCapital Association.

He also held seniorroles at Reuters, Brit-ish Airways and servedin Buckingham Palaceas communications sec-retary to The Queenand at No 10 DowningStreet as a specialadviser to Prime Min-ister John Major.

Mr Walker will takeup his new position onOctober 3, and said: “Irelish the prospect ofrepresenting the busi-ness community at atime of great economicchallenge and oppor-tunity.

“Britain has lost itscompetitive edge andradical reform is theonly route to sustain-able growth, stabilityand long-term job andwealth creation.”

Mr Templeman said:“I wish Simon everysuccess in this role, andI’m pleased to be hand-ing the reins tosomeone of his calibreto champion theinterests of business.

“It has been a greatprivilege for me toserve the IoD over thelast seven years.

“I’m pleased, despitethe economic pres-sures, that most of theGovernment policiesare in the right direc-tion, though they stillhave to fully implementthem. ”

New IoDleader’sradicalstance

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LDP

www.ldpcreative.

co.uk

CREATIVE


Airbussecures106A320jetsorderfromQantas

Jobs atrisk afterbaseclosesUP TO 160 workers atan energy marketingand trading centre inDeeside will be forcedto relocate or lose theirjobs when it closes.

International Power,operator of the FirstHydro hydroelectricplants at Dinorwig andFfestiniog in Snowdo-nia, plans to shut itsBalaHouse headquar-ters in Deeside withintwo years.

Mark Tami MPdescribed the move as a“worrying develop-ment” for the area.

The company sup-plies power to the UKnetwork and stores itwhen demand is low.

A consultation pro-cess is already under-way with staff, some ofwhich were told theymust relocate to Lon-don or other bases inWales.

International Powerdeclined to comment,but a source close tothe workers revealedseveral traders hadalready moved to Eng-land or were consider-ing their options.

“The employees areall aware of the situ-ation, and that thecentre will not bearound for muchlonger,” she said.

“Since the mergerthere is less call forcentres in the UK,much more of theemphasis is on overseasmarkets.

“Some have gone andothers will follow,which is bad news forlocal employment fig-ures as First Hydro isone of the biggeremployers in the area.”

The source added:“What is equallyimportant is how thiswill affect electricityprices if we have nomarketing presence inNorth Wales.”

Just100workingdaysuntilChristmas–timetogetenergised

QANTAS yesterday revealed multi-bil-lion pound plans to expand its Airbusfleet.

The Australian airline committed tobuying 106 planes, including 78 A320neos.

For the first time, Qantas selectedAirbus A320 aircraft to launch its newpremium airline to service routes toand from Australia and Asia.

In addition, Jetstar has selected theAirbus A320 to continue its growth inthe same regions.

The commitment to order a min-imum of 106 A320 Family aircraftincludes 78 A320neo jets, makingQantas the latest airline to select theworld’s best selling single-aisle air-craft.

The wings for all the planes will beproduced at Airbus’s huge plant inDeeside.

The decision to go with Airbus forits short to medium-haul operationsunderpins the Qantas long-termstrategy to build up a fleet of theworld’s most fuel efficient and reliableaircraft, according to chief executiveAlan Joyce.

He said: “We are delighted to be

investing in Airbus’s fuel efficientA320 Family, including the newA320neo as part of Qantas’s interna-tional transformation plan and Jet-star’s pan-Asian expansion.

“The A320 Family’s outstandingoperational efficiency and comfort,paired with its environmental creden-tials, make it the right choice forQantas.”

Airbus chief John Leahy added:“Qantas is an exceptionally forwardlooking and pioneering airline and weare delighted to play such a significantrole in the company’s future strategy.

“In a fiercely competitive marketthis is a great endorsement for our

eco-efficient A320neo and A320 aircraftwith their unique passenger appealthanks to their wider cabin.”

The A320neo is a new engine optionfor the A320 Family to enter service in2015. It incorporates latest generationengines and large sharklet wing tipdevices, which together will deliver15% in fuel and CO2 emission savings.

In parallel with this new order,Qantas has decided to adapt deliveriesof the last six of its 20 A380s to theairline’s new business plan.

This affects deliveries after 2013.At present, Qantas’s A380 fleet

stands at 10, making the carrier thethird largest A380 operator.



AT THE start of this week, a small,planning milestone passed by – thereare now fewer than 100 working daysuntil Christmas.

While still mired in the malaisethat is brought on by the endless

frustrations of trying to get thingsdone in August, it isn’t that appeal-ing to consider how soon the routineoperations of the business will bedisturbed again.

But 100 days is a useful timeperiod to make significant progress.

Whether it’s exploring your com-pany’s suitability to begin exporting,getting a grip on a social mediastrategy, training your accounts teamon standardised spreadsheet model-ling, or whatever it is you wouldreally like to achieve, there is plentyof time to set things on the rightpath.

The bunker-down mentality that

has been a common strategy, oftennecessary or at least useful over thelast four years, is one that manyfirms will continue to require in themonths ahead.

But that is what makesthe next 100 days so enti-cing.

The years of downturn,recession and fragilegrowth have resulted inbusinesses cutting the fatand operating as efficientlyas possible.

For many, there aren’tany significant savings left to find.

But rather than exasperating staff

by trying to eke out a further savingwith a David Brent-style paper cliprationing, there is the opportunity todo something that can make things

better.It may be the start of

work on a long-held plan orsimply a bit of theatredesigned to create a boostin morale.

The chances are you’vealready got at least a coupleof ideas in your mind now(and if you haven’t, perhapsthe 100-day plan is to find a

way to delegate or discard some ofyour work to lift some of the weight

off your shoulders). I set my goal atthe weekend, and already I feelfresher and more focused.

Having the medium-term goal inplace and a firm deadline by whichto achieve to it, I’m feeling energisedabout my own target.

Imagine how good the mince pieswill taste on Christmas day if you arerelaxing, happy in the knowledgethat you have succeeded in achievingsomething that is important to youand your business.

’I amalreadyfeelingfreshandfocused’

GrowingtastefororganicfarebackscareerswitchA GROWING taste fororganic produce has sent aformer aviation worker’sprospects soaring.

Alan McInnes spent 20years in the aviationindustry but two years agodecided to set up a CheshireRiverford Organic franchise.

In his first week hedelivered just 48 vegboxes.

But as awareness growshe now makes around 380deliveries a week across Liv-erpool, Warrington andWidnes and has just passedthe 25,000th vegbox deliverymilestone.

Turnover has hit £300,000and Mr McInnes said: “I’mconfident that I can continueto grow the business byexpanding my customer baseand increasing averagespend from my existing cli-ents.”

He admitted that estab-lishing the business was areal challenge. He said: “Thefirst year was particularlyhard. I was setting up a busi-ness in the middle of a reces-sion.

“Trying to increase aware-ness of the brand in such abig area was pretty challen-ging, I spent a lot of time onthe road and attendingevents at weekends.” Cheshire Riverford Organic franchisee Alan McInnes has seen sales soar in the past two years since setting up

[email protected]

■ Alex Turner is the general man-ager of financial training firmAmbitious Minds.

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AlexTurner


Howrationaldecisionmakingmightseemfickle

Can the North pull its weight?LackofgrowthinthenorthofEnglandishinderingtheUKrecovery,BillGleeson reports

Professor Tom Cannon believes thecruise liner terminal could prove keyto Liverpool’s economic future

LDPbusiness .co.ukLDPbusiness .co.uk

THE North-South divide is nothing new,but addressing the productivity gapbetween different parts of the country isbecoming ever more urgent.

That’s because the UK can no longerrely on the City of London for economicgrowth, at least not to the extent it did inthe past, if a recent report is to bebelieved.

The Organisation for EconomicCooperation and Development (OECD)has warned that failure to trigger growthacross the north of England and otherparts of the UK could hamper the wholecountry’s recovery.

The OECD research shows that Britainis suffering from “lagging regions”.

It argues that supporting poorerregions should not be seen as socialpolicy but as a way to boosting theeconomy.

The OECD argues that reliance on theCity of London for economic growth is athing of the past.

Lifting growth rates in the north wouldhave a significant impact on the nationalpicture and “a recovery will not behealthy if large chunks of the British eco-nomy are mired in the doldrums”.

The OECD’s judgement was backed byfindings of a survey published this weekjointly by the Chartered Institute for Per-sonnel and Development and account-ancy firm KPMG. The survey showed thatmore northern firms were preparing toshed staff while in the south firms arepreparing to recruit more.

A widening of the north-south dividewas now inevitable, the survey concludes.

Also, recent research by the Centre forCities concluded that for every one netjob created in the north between 1998 and2008, 10 were created in the south.

The government has already taken anumber of measures to support businessgrowth in the regions, include cuttingcorporation tax, exempting small busi-nesses from red tape and cutting employ-ers’ National Insurance contributions. Ithas also established new economic devel-opment agencies in the form of LocalEnterprise Partnerships and a £1bnRegional Growth Fund.

Economist Peter Stoney, a director ofthe Liverpool lResearch Group in Mac-roeconomics, doesn’t accept the view thatfinancial services in London won’tbounce back and be restored totheir former health. He said:“I’m not sure I would go alongwith that

“The service sector is one ofthe strengths of the UK eco-nomy, so I wouldn’t go hard onthe theory that it’s not going tobe a prominent part of UK eco-nomic growth.

“In the short term that mightbe the case, but if you look fur-ther ahead, the government’s policies aresensible. We stand out from Europe andthe US as having put our house in order.

“We should be optimistic in respect ofthe longer term, as long as politiciansstick by their recovery plans

“The north-south divide is alwaysgoing to be an issue.

“We should put local socio-economicneeds ahead of heritage and birds etc. Weneed to sweep away public sector restric-

tions and let the private sector go fullspeed ahead. If that is allowed to happen,we might make some headway.”

Jack Stopforth, chief executive of Liv-erpool Chamber of Commerce, points outthat the government has been talkingabout rebalancing the economy awayfrom its over-reliance on financial ser-

vices in the south east towardsmanufacturing since it was elec-ted to power in 2010.

“It has made a consciouseffort to restrengthen the north,given the south is decline. If wedon’t see a return to the halcyondays for the City, you have tolook elsewhere for your growthand that means the north ofEngland,” he said.

“We don’t have proper infra-structure. We need more transport invest-ment in the north.

“It is absurd that it takes three hoursto drive to Newcastle.

“The OECD’s analysis is essentiallytrue. London and the South East is one ofthe most prosperous regions in the world.But the fine grain in this is important.Every city has its pockets of deprivation.

“But the same is true of parts of Lon-don and Southampton etc – the gener-

alisation prosperous south and poornorth is rubbish. Some parts of Kent suf-fer very serious unemployment.

“And we must continue to tackle poorhealth and deprivation. There is 11-yeargap in life expectancy within the Wirraland Liverpool. But the same is true of thedifference between Hampstead and Hack-ney.

“There needs to be a northern lobbythat says we must do all we can to closethe gap.

“In absolute terms, Liverpool has comeon leaps and bounds, though in relativeterms, the gap is still very pronounced.

“We are improving and making animproving contribution to the North Westand the whole of the UK.

“There are real areas of excellence,such as Daresbury and Trafford Park.

“This is a damn sight better place as abusiness community centre than it was10 years ago, regardless of whatever anacademic comes along and says.”

The problem is made worse becausethe north of England is far more depend-ant on public sector jobs for employmentthan the south. So, as well as slow gen-eral growth, the north suffers from theadditional problem of public sectorspending cuts.

WHEN MBNA moved toChester it was hailed aprize inward investmentcoup for the region andthe country.

So much so that, asPrime Minister, TonyBlair visited the site toclaim some of the glory.

It grew rapidly, recruit-ing thousands of addi-tional staff and expand-ing into four buildings atChester Business Park. Italso planned for thefuture, buying adjacentland to accommodateeven more growth.

At one point itemployed about 5,000staff, though the creditcrunch trimmed that fig-ure back to about 4,000today. This muchadmired business oftenfound itself praised in themedia for its employmentconditions and its com-munity involvement. Itwas a paragon of busi-ness virtue.

When it first set up inthe UK back in the mid1990s, its modusoperandi, affinity market-ing, was seen asground-breaking stuffthat would knock the tra-ditional UK credit cardbusinesses out of thepark.

While it retains about9% of the UK credit cardmarket, MBNA’sencroachment appears tohave been halted, for thetime being at least.

The UK market is notthe easiest to get afoothold in. While thenation has indulged itselfin hundreds of billions ofpounds of credit over theyears, this is a very com-petitive market place.Savvy British consumersdemand the cheapestrates. Anybody who hasever compared creditcard rates can tell youjust how many offersthere are out there. Egg,American Express, Cap-ital One, Tesco and manyothers are all bidding forbusiness. The 0% balancetransfer offer has been astaple part of the finan-cial planning of manyBritish consumers for atleast a decade. HenceMBNA’s need to use affin-ity marketing, whichinvolves issuing creditcards on behalf of part-

ners such as professionalassociations, societies,charities and otherbanks. The World Wild-life Fund and LiverpoolFC are among MBNAcustomers. Without theseaffinity partnerships, theUS bank would havefailed to break into themarket here.

So why the suddenchange of mind? Why issomething once deemedgood business, nowthought of as bad?

The global bankingcrisis has undoubtedlyconcentrated minds inBank of America’s board-room. There is a muchmore rigorous require-ment for banks to be prof-itable. These days, if abank has access to fund-ing lines, its going todeploy that money in themost profitable way pos-sible.

Unfortunately for the4,000 people who work forMBNA in Chester, creditcards aren’t the mostprofitable use of capital.

Once a credit card pro-vider takes account of thewholesale cost of moneyand writes off the inev-itable bad debts, thereisn’t much of a marginleft. Investment bankingand other activities aremore lucrative.

That’s not to say thatthere won’t be plenty ofinterest in the businessfrom established playersin the field. We reporttoday that Santander andVirgin Money could beinterested in buyingMBNA.

But will they keep theChester base? Sadly, theomens aren’t good. WhenBarclaycard acquired Eggearlier this year, it veryquickly closed Egg’sDerby call centre withthe loss of 659 jobs.Barclaycard was onlyinterested in Egg’s cus-tomers, not its staff.

If something similarwere to happen toMBNA’s Chester staff,they would be forgivenfor thinking that theforces of capitalism canbe fickle. In fact, what weare probably witnessingis clinical-minded, unsen-timental, rational, busi-ness decision making ona global scale.

BillGleeson

‘Westandoutashavingputourhouseinorder’


Can the North pull its weight?

UK is not dependent onjust two industrial sectors

Peter Stoney puts forward the view that the UK is ahead ofmany other countries in putting its house in order

the big feature

Professor Tom Cannon, head of stra-tegic development at the University ofLiverpool’s management school, said:“There are two nodes of growth in thenorth. The first starts west of Leeds andgoes over to Hebden Bridge and goes alittle bit down the motorway and comesto an end well before Sheffield.

“The second starts in Stock-port and moves through Traf-ford and Warrington and alsoincludes Manchester Airportand Chester.

“We have four or five elementsthat we can use. The first is newfirm formation. We have to havean entrepreneurial revolution inthe north of England.

“In historic terms its not longsince northern Britain was themost exciting part of the world.

“The second element is around whatwe would call the knowledge economy.One of the strengths in the north areuniversities and the links into the healthservice. We have very good research hos-pitals, including the Christie inManchester and the Royal in Liverpool.

“There has to be a major commitmentto transfer technology out of universities.

“The entrepreneurial revolution has to

be linked to universities and we need toretain our young people. Every northerncity has a net loss of graduates. They allend up in London.

“We have to be much quicker at gettinginto the big infrastructure contracts. Wehave done abysmally on the Olympics.

“Part of that is going to be a revival ofmanufacturing. When theChinese were here earlier thisyear, we did £1bn of business.They went to Germany and did£10bn.

“We have great links here toAsia and China and Shanghai.It’s not just Liverpool, it’sManchester, Leeds and Glasgowas well. We have to be moreinternational.

“That’s one of the reasons thesouth is doing well and our failure toexploit our links is a big problem.

“The fourth element is the service sec-tor, things like tourism. The cruise linerterminal is so important to Liverpool –tourism is still the fastest growingindustry in the world.

“We have lots of assets, for example,The Beatles, liners, golf and football.

“We also need a massive uplift in skillsand education attainment.”

THE work foundation has put alot of effort into studying whatcan be done about thenorth-south divide and rebalan-cing the UK economy.

Neil Lee, senior economist atWork Foundation, said: “Itsmore complicated than is oftenmade out. Places like Chesterdo well compared to parts ofthe south like Hastings.”

Nor is it just a question ofrefining geographical terms. Itis also wrong to focus too muchon manufacturing.

Mr Lee said: “There’s been alot of hope put on replacing theCity with a manufacturing ledrecovery, but that’s a bitromantic. The latest Germaneconomic figures suggest weshouldn’t be too rosy in ouroutlook for manufacturing.”

While Germany has manyhigh-tech manufacturers, suchas BMW, it also has a big reli-ance on the Mittelstadt, smallerfamily-run firms that are morevulnerable to difficult condi-tions. Its not necessarily a greatmodel to follow.

Mr Lee points out that the UKhas strengths in more than twosectors. As well as financial ser-

vices and manufacturing, thecountry is also strong in the cre-ative industries such as advert-ising and software design. Bri-tain’s universities, including Liv-erpool, are good at attractingoverseas students, therebyhelping the balance of trade.

Mr Lee said: “We need to bea bit cautious about the ideathat the government can rebal-ance the economy to manufac-turing and whether that isreally a good thing.

“There isn’t the money tomake the rebalancing happen.The government is cutting, andthere is less money going intoeconomic development.

“The most important factor isthe skills of the workforce. Thatstarts with education and weneed to retain graduates.”

One prospective source ofgrowth is the “manu-servicing”model. Manu-servicing firmsmake something, but they willmake most of their moneyfrom servicing the product overits lifetime. An example is RollsRoyce aero-engines. Mr Leeadded: “They tend to be moresuccessful than companies thatjust make stuff.”

‘Failuretoexploitour linksisabigproblem’

privatebusiness

SECURE print, cardand payments special-ist, Tall Group, says itstakeover of credit cardmanufacturer ID DateCards leaves itwell-placed for growth.

Accounts filed atCompanies House showthe Runcorn groupreported turnover for2010 of £13.6m – up61% on 2009.

Like-for-like sales atTall fell slightly, from£8.5m to £8.1m, but the£270,000 acquisition ofID Data Cards inDecember 2009 added£5.5m in sales.

Pre-tax profit for thegroup stood at £66,000– down from £451,000in 2009.

Tall Group special-ises in printing securepaper documents fromcheques and creditnotes to certificatesand ballot papers.

This year it printed7.5m ballot papers forthe South Sudan inde-pendence referendum.

ID produces plasticcards from credit anddebit cards to store loy-alty cards.

Company secretaryWSD Lamb said: “Thegroup has substan-tially expanded itspresence in the securepayments marketplace,both in the UK andoverseas, following theacquisition of ID DataCards.

“Now offering a fullline of paper, electronicand card-based solu-tions, the group istransitioning manylong-standing custom-ers to new generationpayments solutions.

“Entering the grow-ing loyalty, gift, iden-tity and prepaid cardmarkets, the group willoffer innovative andintegrated productsand services to newand existing markets.”

Tall Group employs219 people across itssites in Runcorn andHampshire.

Mr Lamb said: “Thedirectors consider theperformance of thegroup to be satisfact-ory in the prevailingeconomic climate andrecognise the potentialfor growth in newproducts and servicesand in new marketsboth in the UK andoverseas.”

Growthbid is notall orderfor group

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Maintenancefirm posts arise in profitsSOCIAL housingrepairs and mainten-ance service providerMears has posted a7% rise in pre-taxprofits to £14.1m forthe half year to June30. Its prospects havebeen boosted by thecollapse of rival firmsConnaught and Rok,leading to a bidpipeline worth £3bnin social housingwork.

Sage pondersacquisitionBUSINESS softwarefirm Sage has con-firmed it is consider-ing the potentialacquisition of Aus-tralian firm MYOB,reportedly worth£639m. The New-castle-based company,which is listed in theFTSE 100 Index, saidthere was no certaintya deal will proceed.

Dividend upJOHN MENZIES, thenewspaper distribu-tion and airline ser-vices company, hassignalled confidencein its prospects byraising its interimdividend 40% to 7p ashare. The company,which posted a slightrise in pre-tax profits,has benefited fromnew contracts in itsaviation business,which provides bag-gage handling andaircraft towing ser-vices.

Flat profitsFAMILY-OWNED gen-eral retailer Wilkinsonposted flat profits of£60.8m in the year toJanuary on sales of£1.56bn. Chief execut-ive Stuart Mitchelldescribed the resultsas “a strong perform-ance given the tradingconditions”. Theretailer, which hasmore than 335 stores,re-branded 80.

briefing ‘Babyboomers’bearthebruntofsoaringinflation

Sir Mervyn King has written another letter to the Chancellor

People who have recently retired are suffering most from the effects of the rising cost of living



THE soaring cost of living is placingfurther pressure on overstretchedhousehold budgets, with “babyboomers” among those feeling thepinch most.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI)increased to 4.4% in July, outstrippingmeasly average wage increases andeating further into savings returns.

And it is 50 to 64-year-olds that arebearing the brunt, experts say, withreal incomes in the age group down2% on last year.

Rising unemployment and laggingwage increases among the baby boomgeneration has seen many 50 and60-somethings having to fall back onsavings.

But the latest bump in CPI meansfewer people of any age will see realgains on their deposits.

Figures from comparison websiteMoneyfacts.co.uk show that to beatinflation, a basic rate taxpayer needsto find a savings account that paysinterest of 5.50% or more.

There are currently eight suchproducts on the market – all fixed rateISAs.

Those paying tax at the higher rateof 40% need returns of 7.33% to seereal-term gains.

The impact of CPI inflation meansthat £10,000 invested into a savingsaccount paying an average return fiveyears ago would have the spendingpower of £9,374 today, assumingincome tax of 20% was paid on theinterest.

Michelle Slade, spokeswoman forMoneyfacts.co.uk, said: “The latestrise in CPI will continue to antagonisesavers, leaving them very few optionsto negate the effects of tax and infla-tion.”

She added: “Savers who rely on theinterest from their savings to supple-ment their income, many of which arepensioners, will be hit the hardest.”

Older people suffer disproportion-ately from increases in prices, due to agreater proportion of their outlaygoing on food and energy bills.

The Government’s own measure ofinflation for retirees, the Office forNationaL Statistic’s Pensioner RetailPrices Index, puts the rising cost ofliving at 6.2%.

This is above statutory pensionincreases, meaning that older peoplewill feel the pinch along with the restof the country.

Saga, the services provider for theover-50s, has noted a sharp fall in thestandard of living for the older gen-erations.

It warned that rising prices ineverything from food and clothes toenergy costs had resulted in a furtherdip in pensioners’ quality of life.

But it those edging towards the endof employment age that are sufferingmost, experts warned.

Annual wage increases have beenhovering around 2% – far below infla-tion.

In addition, baby boomers arethought less likely to benefit frombelow inflation increases in the pricesof products and services marketedtowards younger people.

The price of electronic devices such

as iPads has increased at a lower rateor even come down.

Meanwhile the ONS noted in itslatest CPI report a drop in prices inthe recreation and culture division – asector geared towards the youngermarket.

Dr Ros Altmann, director general ofSaga, said: “The 50 to 64 age group issuffering more from the squeeze thanothers.

“Part of this is because their incomehasn’t kept up with inflation. Alsounemployment in the over-50s hassoared.

“Overall the income positions ofthose aged between 50 and 64 is dire –it is the baby boomers who are feelingthe pinch the most.”

A joint report by Saga and theCentre for Economics and BusinessResearch (cebr) released this weekhighlighted the plight of the over-50s.

Unemployment continued to risesteadily for the age group in the threemonths to May, it noted, bucking theoverall national trend.

In addition 43% of those out of workhave been jobless for more than a year,up 30% from just two years ago.

“Rising prices, low interest ratesand an ageist jobs market could leave ageneration of 50-somethings on thescrapheap,” Dr Altmann said.

■ INFLATION would be below theGovernment’s 2% target if it was notfor the increase in VAT earlier this

year and rising energy and importprices, Bank of England Governor SirMervyn King said yesterday.

In a letter to Chancellor GeorgeOsborne, Sir Mervyn claimed thefactors were forcing up CPI inflation –which reached 4.4% in July – and reit-erated the Bank’s belief that the ratewill hit 5% later this year beforepulling back.

The Governor is required to write tothe Chancellor if CPI inflation is morethan 1% higher than its 2% targetthree months after his last correspond-ence.

In his seventh successive letter ofexplanation, and 12th in total, SirMervyn said high inflation reflected“the increase in VAT to 20% and pastincreases in global energy prices andimport prices”.

He added: “Although it is impossibleto identify the effects of those factorswith precision, it is likely that infla-tion would be below target in theirabsence.”

The Governor said inflation will bedriven up by increases in utility bills –following price hike announcementsby four of the “big six” suppliers – andthe continued effect of VAT and com-modity prices.

Sir Mervyn said the biggest risksfacing the UK economy came fromoverseas.

But with the UK facing a period ofcontinued sluggish growth, the Bankexpects inflation to fall below the 2%target to 1.8% in two years’ time.

[email protected]

INASSOCIATION

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Building Trade

FRAMELINECOMPOSITE DOORSTRADE, UPVC WINDOWS

DOORS, CONSERVATORIES.

5 Day Turnaround

Tel: 0151 546 5577Fax: 0151 546 5588Accredited with BS7412 & BS7950

BUSINESSto BUSINESS


ShortageofengineersasDysonlookstoexpand

Sir James Dyson with one of his big-selling hand dryers

OFTtoprobeUK’s£3.4bnbuildingmaterialssector

ThomasCookinmergergo-ahead BBCsellsRTLISTINGS magazine Radio Times hasbeen sold to a private equity firmafter the BBC’s commercial armstruck two deals worth £121m.

Exponent has bought the88-year-old TV listings guide and 10other non-BBC branded titles.

It will be the first time that RadioTimes, which started in 1923, has leftthe BBC’s control since the corpor-ation took editorial charge of it twoyears later.

The deal will see BBC Worldwideretain ownership of other titles suchas Top Gear, Good Food and LonelyPlanet, which Exponent will publishunder contract. Other BBC-brandedtitles, such as Gardeners’ World, willalso be published under licence.

LDPbusiness .co.ukLDPbusiness .co.uk

Sir Ken isfined£210,000by FSA

[email protected]

SIR KEN MORRISON,former head of Morris-ons supermarkets, hasbeen fined £210,000 forfailing to reveal that hesold most of his sharesin the chain.

The 79-year-old busi-nessman, who spentmore than 50 yearsturning the businessinto the UK’s fourthlargest supermarketchain, reduced hisstake in the companyfrom 6.38% to 0.9%after he stepped downas chairman in 2008.

But he was yesterdayfined by the FinancialServices Authority(FSA) after he failed toinform the supermar-ket chain that he hadreduced his holding inthe company in a seriesof transactions worthhundreds of millions ofpounds.

Under stock marketrules, shareholderswith more than a 3%stake have two days tonotify the companyevery time their hold-ing in a company dropsthrough a percentagepoint level.

It was not untilMarch 2011 – justunder three years later– that Sir Ken’s reducedstake was made clear tothe markets.

Morrisonsannounced that over2009 and 2010, Sir Kenhad cut his holdingfrom 6.07%, whichwould have been worthsome £450m at thetime.

The company put outincorrect informationabout Sir Ken’s share-holding in its annualreport on 31 January2010.

The fine brings to anend a four-monthinvestigation about theshare dealing.

INASSOCIATION

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news


LDP

Text LDPto 67800

MOBILE

THE building materials sectorhas been referred to the com-petition watchdog amid con-cern that taxpayers are payingtoo high a cost for publicschemes.

An initial investigation intothe £3.4bn-a-year industry sug-gested that a flurry of dealsmay have over-consolidatedand distorted the market.

As a result, the Government

may have been paying toomuch for aggregates, cementand ready-mix concrete usedin the building of schools, hos-pitals and roads, the Office ofFair Trading (OFT) said.

It found that just five majorfirms controlled more than90% of the cement market,75% of aggregate sales and68% of ready-mix concreteproduction.

Earlier this year, Tarmacowner Anglo American andFrance’s Lafarge announcedplans to combine their UKventures, further consolidat-ing the market.

Both companies are amongthe firms being looked at inthe OFT’s market study along-side Hanson UK, Cemex andAggregate Industries.

The Competition Commis-

sion will conduct a moredetailed probe into the marketonce the OFT has consultedwith major firms in the sector.

The commission may forcelarger companies to divest orbreak up their UK interests ifanti-competitive practices arefound.

The issue is of particularconcern to taxpayers as cent-ral government is the

industry’s biggest customerand 40% of all constructionexpenditure is on public build-ings and infrastructure.

John Fingleton, chief exec-utive of the OFT, said: “Morethan ever, well-functioningmarkets are crucial to eco-nomic growth.

“We are concerned thatcompetition is not workingwell in these sectors.”

EMBATTLED travelfirm Thomas Cookreceived a boost yester-day when its plannedhigh street merger withthe Co-op got the com-petition green light.

The three-way tie up,which also involves theMidlands Co-op, willcreate the UK’s largesthigh street travel agentand second largest for-eign exchange groupwith over 1,200 shops.

Confirming its provi-sional findings from lastmonth, the Competition

Commission ruled thateven with the firm’sstrong position custom-ers were unlikely to paymore or have less choiceas a result of the merger.

Thomas Cook needssome good news afterthree profits warningsin the past year forcedthe resignation of chiefexecutive Manny Fon-tenla-Novoa a fortnightago.

The company willown 70% of the newgroup and has promisedsavings of around £35m

a year from the merger,which is part of a planto boost the competitive-ness of the UK business.

Out of a total of 1,240shops, it has 780, while360 are currently run bythe Co-op with the Mid-lands Co-op owning afurther 100.

The merger, which isexpected to be com-pleted by the end ofSeptember, is likely tolead to job losses andstore closures.

Problems in the UKhave been one of the

reasons behind Cook’sdisastrous last 12months, a year that hasseen its share priceslump by 70%.

A strategic review ofits UK business isunderway as it looks atthe mix of holidays itoffers and the utilisa-tion of its airline fleet.

Its latest profits warn-ing in July warnedprofits would be some£60m below expecta-tions, which it alsoblamed on turmoil inthe Middle East.

DYSON, the bagless vacuum cleanermaker, posted record profits last yearas new products such as bladeless fansand eco-friendly hand dryers proved ahit.

The Wiltshire-based group liftedoperating profits by 9% to £206m in2010 on revenues of £887m, up 15%,which chairman and founder SirJames Dyson also attributed to thecompany’s heavy spending on newresearch.

The group upped its developmentspending to £45m last year and wantsto double the number of engineers atits Malmesbury research centre to 700,but Sir James warned that unless theUK starts to produce more engineers itcould be forced to look abroad andeven possibly move.

“There are not enough engineerscoming out of universities,” he said,adding that both Iran and the Phil-ippines produce twice as many engin-eering graduates.

His concerns will be a worry for the

Government as it sees exports as a keyplank of its recovery strategy for theeconomy.

The Conservatives appointed SirJames as their technology tsar in 2009.

Profits last year were buoyed bystrong demand for the new Air Mul-tiplier fans, while the latest version ofits cordless vacuum cleaner, the DC35Digital Slim, completely sold out.

The new hand dryer also had itsbest year, Dyson said, but will be boos-ted further by a deal with Initialwhich will see it installed in wash-rooms across Europe.

Dyson, which designs its productsin the UK but makes them in Malaysiafollowing a switch in 2003, employsmore than 2,700 people globally andsaid it is looking to recruit abroad aswell as in the UK. Sir James added:“We haven’t been afraid to take a risk– doubling our engineering team dur-ing a recession. “The swelling ranksare working in new technology that isfive or 10 years away as we plough ourprofits back into out lifeblood – R&D.”

Dyson sells 80% of its machines out-side the UK, with customers in 52countries.


by David Lewis, head of theLiverpool office at Weightmans

LDPbusiness .co.uklocation

viewpoint

byTonyMcDonoughLDPDEPUTYBUSINESSEDITORtony.mcdonough@liverpool.com

INASSOCIATION

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LAST week Weightmans completedits deal with Bruntwood to take94,000 sq ft of space across theground, first and second floors of The

Plaza in Old Hall Street.This is the latest – but not the last

– stage in a project to relocate ournational headquarters to a buildingthat reflects our changing require-ments following organic and M&Aactivity in recent years.

A break clause in our contractwith India Buildings was scheduledfor autumn 2012 so we began to con-sider our options back in 2009.

We appointed David Colvin at Mat-thews & Goodman to scour the mar-ket for premises that could bettersuit our internal culture and our cli-ents.

Our criteria included space to give

us room for growth (especiallyimportant given our merger withMace & Jones earlier this year), anoffice layout which encour-aged teamwork and integ-ration between depart-ments, a great workingenvironment for our peopleand exceptional client facil-ities.

Weightmans’ culture isone of the benchmarks ofthe firm so it was reallyimportant that the newpremises nurtured theteam spirit that the firm fosters sowell.

The Plaza fitted our designs for anopen plan space across two floorswhich was preferable to dotting

fee-earners across separateoffices spread over a largerspace.

After whittling ourchoices down to a shortlistof five, we invited consult-ants Claremont and TSK tocarry out feasibility exer-cises, advising on whichfacilities fitted our criteriabest and uncovering anypotential glitches.

By September 2010, a shortlist ofIndia Buildings, The Plaza and

Walker House had been presented tothe partnership which voted unan-imously for The Plaza.

Now the details of the deal havebeen worked through with Brunt-wood, we are working towards amove in date of July 2012.

There is plenty to do beforehandincluding the design and fit of theground floor as a reception and cli-ent suite, providing top class facil-ities to our clients.

We are confident The Plaza willoffer the premises and facilities fromwhich we can continue putting ourclients – and our people – at theheart of our business.

PurdonjoiningCBRECB RICHARD ELLIS(CBRE) hasstrengthened its NorthWest development andinvestment consultingteam with the appoint-ment of AndrewPurdon.

Mr Purdon’s experi-ence spans both thepublic and private sec-tors, with former cli-ents includingManchester City Coun-cil, the NWDA, Net-work Rail and Brunt-wood.

Nick Mullins, seniordirector of valuationadvisory and invest-ment consulting atCBRE North West, said:“Andrew is well knownand respected withinthe region’s propertymarket.”

Mr Purdon added: “Iam extremely excitedto be joining CBRE.

“It is such a dynamic,forward-thinkingteam.”

QuarterlygrowthforNorthWestauctions

SuttonKershsetsupcitycentrecommercialteamPROPERTY firm SuttonKersh is to expand its com-mercial team into Liverpoolcity centre.

The department will nowshare the firm’s ExchangeStreet East branch with theresidential staff in additionto its Cotton Street base.

Sutton Kersh has com-pleted a number of citycentre deals over the pastcouple of years.

Recent transactionsinclude the sale of 82-84Duke Street for £650,000, therental of retail unit 2 at110-112 Bold Street for anaverage of £50,000 per yearand unit 3 for £37,500, bothfor a term of five years.

The firm also completedthe sale of a mixed invest-ment opportunity at 181-185London Road, and the rentalof a restaurant unit at 79Bold Street.

Sutton Kersh director ,Jonathan Owen, who headsup the department, said:“The last few years havethrown up some of thetoughest market conditions Ihave ever witnessed.

“We feel that having ahigh street presence in theheart of the business districtwill be of great benefit to thedepartment.”The team, from left, Tim Woods, Jonathan Owen, Bob Hodgkiss, Debbie Doyle, Shirley Obi and Dan Walsh

‘Begantoconsideroptionsbackin2009’


LDP

Text LDPto 67800

MOBILE

BOTH the national and NorthWest property auction marketsare showing a sharpyear-on-year increase in bothlots offered and sold.

Latest figures from the Essen-tial Information Group (EIG),the UK’s leading source of auc-tion data, show increases inboth commercial and residentialsales.

In the North West in the three

months to the end of July, thetotal number of lots offered was1,682 – a 30.9% increase on thesame period last year.

There were 1,119 lots sold,against 821 last year – a rise of36.3%. The percentage of lotssold also rose from 63.9% to66.5% with receipts totallingmore than £74.1m – a rise of38.2%.

Residential lots and sales sawthe biggest rises years-on-year.There was a 33.6% rise in thenumber of lots to 1,320 with a42.1% increase those sold to 885.

Commercial sales produced amore mixed but still mainly pos-itive picture.

Lots offered rose 21.9% to 362with lots sold also up 18.2% to234. However, the percentagesold dipped 3.1% and receiptsfell 2.7% to just under £33.1m.

Merseyside has one of thestrongest property auction mar-kets in the UK with the threebiggest players being SuttonKersh, Venmore and Smith andSons.

EIG managing director DavidSandeman said: “The overall

signs are positive, as has beenthe case throughout the firsthalf of 2011, with the majority ofmetrics seeing percentageincreases when compared withpreceding periods.

“The big gains came in theresidential sector, with increasesvisible in every single metric,and these are certainly encour-aging and promising signs toenter the summer break with.

“For one of the busiestmonths in the auction calendarit is pleasing to see a strong setof results.”

HowWeightmanswentabout lookingforanewLiverpoolhome

COMMERCIAL PROPERTYToLet long or short term lease.Suit variey of uses. Close toLiverpool City Centre. Approx6,000 sq ft, £1,200pcm 0151944 1184

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UNITS /OFFICES

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BUSINESSto BUSINESS




byTonyMcDonoughLDPDEPUTYBUSINESSEDITORtony.mcdonough@liverpool.com

INASSOCIATION

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Go-aheadfor newlibraryPLANNING permissionhas been granted for anew library and coun-cil services “onestop-shop” in thecentre of Runcorndesigned by North Westarchitectural practice,Cassidy and Ashton.

The £550,000 schemeto transform Runcorn’sformer indoor markethall into a spaciousopen plan library willstart in October, withcompletion scheduledfor March 2012.

The building will behome both to HaltonLibrary Services andHalton Direct Link,providing public accessto the library’s lendingand reference collec-tions, computer facilit-ies and a gateway forcouncil services.

Toby Southgate,associate director fromCassidy and Ashton,said: “The old indoormarket is a landmarkbuilding in Runcornand it is very appropri-ate that it should bereinvented.”

Trioofofficebuildingsgoonthemarketfor£2.5m

Two of the buildings at Mandarin Court being marketed by Knight Frank

AGENTS at Knight Frank havebeen appointed to dispose ofthree office buildings at Man-darin Court in Warrington onbehalf of Henderson GlobalInvestors.

The properties come with aprice tag of £2.5m but theowner may be prepared tolisten to offers for each oneindividually.

Located within WarringtonCentre Park, buildings two,four, and five at MandarinCourt are being marketed asan investment package.

They collectively produce atotal annual rental of £305,455per year.

The 6,066 sq ft building twois held by THQ Digital StudiosUK for a rental term of fiveyears which began in February2010.

Building four, which meas-ures 7,972 sq ft, is occupied byLatitude Digital Marketing on

a 10-year lease which began inJune 2010 and Cogent SSCoccupies the 6,037 sq ft build-ing five on a five-year leasewhich began in May 2011.

Each building is a detachedtwo-storey office structurewith car parking facilities.

Warrington Centre Park islocated on the southern edge ofWarrington town centre, closeto the M56, M6 and M62 motor-ways.

Existing occupiers at War-rington Business Park includeBank of Scotland, New Bal-ance, Torex, Group 4 Security,Countryside Homes andRotary.

Steve Carrick, a partner atKnight Frank, said: “We areinstructed to seek offers inexcess of £2.5m which reflectsan attractive net initial yield of11.54%, after purchaser costsof 5.8%.

“These three buildings arebeing marketed as a packagehowever our client may alsoconsider offers for the build-ings on an individual basis.”

For more information contactLillian Maines at KnowsleyDevelopment Trust on 0151-549 1388

Move to anaward-winninglocation• Modern open-plan office suites to

let from 2,500 to 5,000 sq ft• Situated in the prestigious Earl

of Derby complex at Knowsley'saward-winning North MerseyBusiness Centre

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SATISFYYOUR OFFICEREQUIREMENT


LondonStockMarketatClose

Last night the pound was worth: $1.6422 (up 0.0038)............. 1.1392 euros (up 0.0051)..............119.41 yen (up 0.36)..............Its trade weighted index was 79.80 (up 0.30)Metals in $ per troy ounce: Gold 1782.50 (up 43.50)......................... Silver 39.36 (up 0.18) ......................... Platinum 1811 (up 21) ......................... UK base lending rate 0.5%

Keep track of all the major share moves of the day with our live FTSE ticker at www.ldpbusiness.co.ukLDPbusiness .co.ukLDPbusiness .co.uk

96 52 Adv Medical 70 -1 +2

1812 212 AEA Technology 3 +38

28712 244 Albany Inv Tst 251 -12 +7

1251 834 AMEC 96312 +1412 +7912

92 2334 Anglesey Mining 51 -512 +412

35714 23458 Balfour Beatty 26278 -114 +614

3912 2914 Beale 3312 +214

612 50412 Compass Gp 53612 -6 -812

1258 534 Coral Prod 11

1265 99712 Dee Valley 1255 +8712

479 301 easyJet 35214 +514 +2278

1030 726 JD Sports Fashion 85112 -2312 -63

12712 1112 JJB Sports 2212 +14 +4

36 1534 Johnson Serv 32 -14 +112

579 410 Nichols 535 xd -612 +212

14912 95 NWF 13012 -12

50 2414 Park Gp 4214 +14 +214

1257 815 Rathbone 1023 -12 +8

139 9712 Redrow 11838 -238 +558

14312 10912 RSA Insurance 11814 xd +58 +234

34 1914 Speedy Hire 2714 xd +14 +34

4634 3412 Sportech 3814 +118

4634 2514 Telme Gp 4434 xd -12 +6

5514 3234 UK Coal 3912 +14 +314

2 1 Ultima 114 +18

2065 1688 Unilever 2035 xd +3 +104

63112 54312 Utd Utils 59212 -612 +2712

UNIT TRUSTS

DAILY POST REGIONAL INDEX 1163.67 down 5.12 ▼ 0.44%

In order to give a greater range of Unit Trustinformation, covering a larger number of trusts, thelist of funds changes each day as follows:UNIT TRUST MANAGERS DAYS PUBLISHEDA to Com ................................................... TuesdayF to Inv....................................................WednesdayJP to Pru...................................................ThursdayRoy to T.........................................................Friday

FUNDS

Consols

£90932 £761132 Cons 4%.................£7734

£582732 £50 Cons 212% ..............£5734 +916

Conversions

£8134 £69 Cnv 312%.................£7212

Treasury

£61 £50 Tr 212%....................£5714 -14

£11512 £10734 Tr 9% 12................£10734

£1062332 £102716 Tr 5% 12.............. £102716 -116

£121516 £115932 Tr 8% 13.............. £115932

£114332 £109532 Tr 5% 14.............. £112516 -18

£111332 £105732 Tr 734% 12-15........£10614

£340116 £310532 Tr 212% IL 16 .........£33914 +1932

£142316 £1322132 Tr 834% 17........... £140332 -1116

£1481116£1332732 Tr 8% 21............. £1471932 -932

War

£84316 £6712 War Ln 312%............£7712 -314

High Low Price Var 5Day High Low Price Var 5Day High Low Price Var 5Day Country Currency Tourist Buy Sell

FTSE 100 INDEX

SPOTLIGHT

KEYs............ dealing suspendedxd.............price ex-dividendxs......... price ex-scrip issuexr ........ price ex-rights issuexc ..... ex-capital distributionxa................................ ex-all£......price value in £ sterling

Those securities which haveincreased in value since the previ-ous close are shown in bold type.

To assist in the analysis of themarket two figures are given foreach sector. Firstly an index (setat 100 on January 1 1992) togive a comparison in the perfor-mance of various market sectors.Secondly an indication of the per-centage change in the price of allthe securities within a sector sincethe previous close.

Feb 16, 2011 Aug 16, 2011

THOMAS COOK

Share price (pence)

30

75

120

165

210

FTSE-Rebased

£ ABROAD

Australia dollars 1.48 1.563 1.568

Canada dollars 1.53 1.611 1.613

Denmark krone 8.04 8.482 8.492

European Union euro 1.08 1.139 1.140

Japan yen 119.41 125.990 126.090

New Zealand dollars 1.83 1.959 1.964

Norway krone 8.49 8.909 8.910

Poland zlotys 4.13 4.715 4.724

Sweden krona 10.00 10.489 10.499

Switzerland francs 1.21 1.301 1.302

Turkey new lira 2.72 2.908 2.918

United States dollars 1.56 1.642 1.643

Cancel Bid Offer Yield

Fund Terms Price Price Gross

FIDELITY INVESTMENT SERVS

Amer Spec Sits - 531.30 -

American - 1605.00 0.32

Gwth & Inc - 311.60 1.75

Income Plus - 191.70 4.54

Japan - 211.70 0.55

Jpan Spec Sits - 131.80 0.10

Spec Sits - 1692.00 0.01

Sth East Asia - 676.00 0.01

GARTMORE FUND MANAGERS

Euro Sel Opps - 773.01 1.24

Pratical Inv -154.45 165.34 4.48

GUARDIAN

Index-Linked Acc -530.43 558.35 -

International Acc -890.32 937.18 -

Pacific Acc -238.94 251.51 -

Property Bonds -2019.70 2103.86 -

HSBC INVESTMENT FUNDS (UK)

Balanced - 95.65 1.22

British -236.40 236.40 2.91

Gilt & FI - 65.86 3.10

Gilt & Fixed -232.60 232.60 6.11

Monthly Inc - 122.00 4.28

HENDERSON HORIZON FUND

European Smllr Cos A - 868.50 0.14

Sterling Bd Unit Tst - 53.95 56.36 4.46

UK Equity Inc A - 404.80 3.26

HILL SAMUEL UNIT TST MGRS

Capital -278.75 289.91 1.10

European - 716.40 0.70

Far East - 532.10 1.80

Inc & Gwth - 177.90 3.40

International - 378.80 0.40

North Amer Acc - 423.70 0.10

INVESCO FUND MANAGERS

Sing ASEAN - 191.56 0.71

High Low Funds Price Var

Closing Indices

FT-SE 100 INDEX 5357.63up 7.05 ▲ 0.13%

20 DAY MOVINGAVERAGE 5561.91down 21.62 ▼ 0.39%

FT ALL-SHARE 2780.31down 1.04 ▼ 0.04%

Aerospace & Defence

Index 2969.87 ▼ 10.23

324 11514 Avon Rbbr 287 xd -3

36978 24818 BAE Systems 26158 -238

73612 48634 Chemring 49878 -1558

24558 17414 Cobham 18258 +14

39758 26134 Meggitt 34512xd -314

665 553 Rolls-Royce 60612 +412

19058 11114 Senior 16078 -418

Automobiles & Parts

Index 4638.72 ▼ 88.85

245 13812 GKN 19838xd -334

Banks

Index 3673.11 ▲ 14.50

33312 16334 Barclays 18158xd -134

859 51034 Bco Santander 583 +12

73078 51614 HSBC 55258 +538

7012 712 Ireland 838

7758 3078 Lloyds Banking3314

5018 2414 Ryl Scotland 2534 -12

1959 137112Stan Chart 1421xd

Beverages

Index 9216.73 ▲ 44.53

1395 1031 Barr (AG) 1156 -19

50312 30834 Britvic 32578 -18

1307 1050 Diageo 1194 +5

2340 1841 SABMiller 2118xd +13

Chemicals

Index 6669.99 ▼ 106.71

2081 1230 Croda 1744 -32

18738 86 Elementis 15112 -3

2119 1550 Johnsn Mat 1773 -36

Construction & Materials

Index 3263.67 ▼ 21.14

35714 23458 Balfour Beatty 26278 -114

265 188 Costain 208 +334

149158101034CRH 107478 +838

1418 970 Kier Group 1189 -21

7634 3512 Low Bonar 72 -1

12412 8712 Marshalls 10212 +234

Electricity

Index 7920.88 ▼ 27.87

535 35358 Drax Gp 48134 -538

44858 27938 Intl Power 29734 -238

1423 1108 Scot&Sthrn 1265xd -3

Electronic & Electrical

Index 2903.77 ▼ 46.94

705 440 Domino Ptg 580 xd -7

207 12118 Laird 160 +58

35718 18918 Morgn Cru 27834 -1058

1010 335 Oxford Inst 840 -1912

377 23212 Volex 259 xd +112

Equity Inv Instruments

Index 5615.94 ▼ 59.67

39234 30758 Alliance 34258 -234

14012 113 Br Assets 122 -1

777 495 Candover Inv 529 +134

228 18634 Dunedin IncGth 21014 -34

15734 11212 Dunedin Sml 14934 +34

49214 39238 Edin Invst 44712 -334

66034 538 Edin US Trkr Tst 57434 -314

32778 26334 Forgn & C 28518xd -78

32334 236 Hend Smllr Cos 27538 -258

385 29518 Law Debenture347 xd -6

252 20112 Scot Am 22514 -114

533 42618 Witan 46214 -234

Fixed Line TelecomsIndex 2114.20 ▼ 21.94

20418 13058 BT Gp 177 xd -112

6118 3114 Cble&W Comm 3234 xd -78

7838 35 Cble&W Wwide 3734 -34

84 45 KCOM 7434 +234

Food & Drug RetailersIndex 4465.01 ▲ 44.08

30814 26234 Morrison W 28958 +534

395 28038 Sainsbury 30212 +234

44058 360 Tesco 383 +314

112 4714 Thorntons 48 -14

Food ProducersIndex 5288.60 ▲ 9.30

1182 940 AB Foods 1022

875 56212 Carrs Mill 82212

896 606 Cranswick 63812xd +112

42478 33418 Dairy Crest 35314 +114

3518 13 Premier Foods 1434 +14

656 40918 Tate Lyle 58912 +612

2065 1688 Unilever 2035xd +3

Forestry & PaperIndex 5622.65 ▼ 183.11

664 447 Mondi 522 -17

General FinancialIndex 5178.45 ▲ 2.14

340 21258 3i 22712 -258

88812 65612 Close Bros 710 +412

57012 39114 ICAP 44412xd +14

1076 640 London Stk Ex 87012xd +512

1116 72812 Provident 1038 -2

1257 815 Rathbone 1023 -12

1922 1330 Schroders 1520xd -3

General IndustrialsIndex 2785.12 ▲ 0.37

72412 41214 Cooksn Gp 53412 -1312

1258 534 Coral Prod 11

6 218 Cosalt 218 -14

400 293 Rexam 36614 +4

26614 12534 Smith DS 19912xd -34

1429 94512 Smiths Gp 976 +212

General RetailersIndex 1545.60 ▼ 1.43

2514 1212 Ashley L 1734 -12

31114 221 Brown (N) Gp 26678 -18

7738 56 Debenhams 6014 -34

2812 1134 Dixons Retail 13 -14

50412 28918 Halfords 29934 -112

235 11818 Home Retail 13634 -14

42538 25314 Inchcape 33414xd-1334

1030 726 JD Sports 85112 -2312

28718 19812 Kingfisher 23612 +514

42712 32538 M & S 33912 -38

62712 36758 Mothercare 379 -158

2426 1868 Next 2257 -17

2986 1724 Signet Jwlrs 2119 +34

523 39814 WH Smith 45638 -658

Health Care Equip & Serv

Index 3227.08 ▲ 32.88

742 521 Smith Nph 563 +412

Household Goods

Index 6242.02 ▼ 7.71

138 74 Aga Rngmstr 91 -534

119 70 Barratt Dev 7714 -314

75312 511 Bellway 589 -7

192 120 McBride 12612 +112

3648 3015 Reckitt Benck 3309xd +12

139 9712 Redrow 11838 -238

4314 2214 Taylor Wimpey 3178 -118

Industrial Engineering

Index 6706.95 ▼ 82.14

39734 21412 Bodycote 31458 -714

85312 53812 Charter 691 xd -14

42212 198 Fenner 346 xd -978

1119 65712 IMI 86512 -1312

116 4312 Molins 8914 -134

31212 12112 MS Intl 26612 +4

45 2512 Renold 3312

2063 1532 Spirax Srco 1752 -21

2218 1130 Weir Gp 1908 -17

Industrial Transportation

Index 2237.77 ▼ 36.83

24034 170 BBA Aviation 175 -234

Life Insurance

Index 3896.62 ▲ 29.69

47778 32838 Aviva 35414 -158

12334 8938 Lgl & Gen 10258 -14

777 547 Prudential 63612 +7

31618 21114 Resolution 26778 +18

24434 172 Standard Life 21238 +614

Media

Index 3708.45 ▼ 34.22

850 65112 BSkyB 675 -812

59412 36314 D Mail Tst 38018 -818

9312 5238 ITV 5978 -1

1207 926 Pearson 1099 +1

59012 46614 Reed Elsevier 48412xd -534

168 8312 STV Group 11178 -12

124 3712 Trinity Mirror 4414 -14

725 44178 Utd Business 46534 -814

151 10212 UTV 11158 -78

84612 598 WPP 631 -912

MiningIndex 21694.09 ▼ 21.85

3437 2254 Anglo Amer 246012 +1212

1634 97712 Antofagasta 1228 -36

2631121767 BHP Billiton 201412 -25

1907 990 Fresnillo 1861 +65

53118 363 Glencore Intl 396 -1118

1671 918 Kazakhmys 1029 -21

1983 1103 Lonmin 1194 -6

6655 4425 Randgold Res 6435 +255

4712 3105 Rio Tinto 3729xd +35

5514 3234 UK Coal 3912 +14

Mobile TelecomsIndex 3805.87 ▲ 2.50

725 38934 Inmarsat 44434 -418

18234 14938 Vodafone Gp 168 +18

Nonlife InsuranceIndex 1469.29 ▼ 0.94

1754 1397 Admiral Grp 1531 +11

192014140878Marsh McL 1723xd -918

14312 10912 RSA Insurance 11814xd +58

Oil & Gas ProducersIndex 7618.50 ▼ 6.60

1564121030 BG 131812xd +25

509 37518 BP 41612xd -18

47934 28438 Cairn Energy 315 -5

535 32714 Premier Oil 36438 -6

2336 1642 Ryl D Shell B 201212xd-1512

1493 95112 Tullow Oil 1075 -6

Oil Equipment & ServicesIndex 21521.08 ▲ 20.02

1251 834 AMEC 96312 +1412

Personal GoodsIndex 21822.07 ▼ 361.50

1600 82012 Burberry Gp 1358 -28

409 32012 PZ Cussons 35458 +234

Pharma & Biotechnology

Index 9043.26 ▲ 19.89

3385 254312AstraZeneca 283212xd +6

1385 112712GlaxoSmthKln 1280xd +3

50 3112 Vernalis 3712

Real Estate

Index 1958.11

35314 23738 Big Yellow Gp 250 -6

62912 44712 Brit Land 544 xd -20

2954 2282 Daejan Hldgs 2510 +35

445 31034 Gt Portland 38412 -812

885 598 Land Secs 80012 -812

33114 24338 SEGRO 25158 -478

Software & Comp Servs

Index 621.70 ▼ 11.19

1857 1271 Autonomy 1572 -8

6312 3812 Emblaze 55 -14

36414 23014 Invensys 25018 -612

108 85 Kewill 87 xd -512

14714 8334 Logica 8638 -312

302 23634 Sage 24914 -234

Support Services

Index 4054.69 ▼ 19.93

1812 212 AEA Tech 3

2034 1346 Aggreko 1893 -1

20778 77 Ashtead Gp 11818 -514

568 36318 Berendsen 46234 +814

801 67612 Bunzl 73112 +212

79412 63512 Capita 718 +10

85312 54912 De La Rue 808 -2112

29478 19012 Electrocmps 20614 -314

83312 606 Experian 71812 -712

291 23734 G4S 25578 -12

452 32112 Hyder Cons 370 +3

34114 18312 Interserve 325 -3

550 414 Menzies J 50512 +5012

34634 18034 Northgate 293 -3

30834 16838 Prem Farnell 181 -212

10718 7412 Rentokil 7938 +58

12012 79 Smiths News 8512

34 1914 Speedy Hire 2714xd +14

1127 72712 Travis & P 80812 -212

2261 1223 Wolseley 1572 -23

Tech Hardware & Equip

Index 665.93 ▲ 3.56

651 31414 ARM Hldgs 52512 +5

2712 19 BATM 2014 -34

10234 6318 Psion 6318 -178

16014 11934 Spirent Comms 13012xd -234

Tobacco

Index 31464.97 ▲ 502.34

2871 2166 Br Am Tob 2784 +54

2231 1784 Imperial Tob 2052xd +14

Travel & Leisure

Index 4066.97 ▼ 34.94

3153 1792 Carnival 1900

612 50412 Compass Gp 53612 -6

479 301 easyJet 35214 +514

12234 38 Enterprise Inns 4378 +258

41258 31114 FirstGroup 34734xd -438

1598 1073 Go-Ahead Gp 1427 -24

518 398 Greene King 43712xd

430 240 Holidaybreak 427 -14

1435 963 Intercontl Htls 1057 -3

285 17714 Intl Cons Airlns 18778 -238

15514 12234 Ladbrokes 12612xd -258

11718 9018 Marston’s 9258 -218

361 22918 Mitchells&Btlrs 247 -312

9038 1114 Punch Taverns 1114

15334 10314 Rank Gp 120 xd -2

335 22914 Restaurant Gp 27234 -78

26812 16978 Stagecoach 23814 -638

20434 4512 Thomas Cook 5214 -458

27178 155 TUI Travel 16034 -4

1887 1368 Whitbread 1485 -13

Utilities

Index 4544.87 ▼ 40.52

34618 28714 Centrica 30412 -534

1265 99712 Dee Valley 1255

63212 52912 National Grid 600 xd +1

73712 560 Pennon Gp 655 xd -13

1517 1288 Severn 1461 -33

63112 54312 Utd Utils 59212 -612

AIM

Index 771.85 ▼ 4.67

4958 1014 API Gp 4138 -158

1234 178 Armour Gp 238

158 1 Crimson Tide 138

214 112 Dawson Intl 2

838 478 Eckoh 738

12712 1112 JJB Sports 2212 +14

36 1534 Johnson Serv 32 -14

86 3034 Man Brnze 4138 +238

12 4 Metalrax 858 -18

550 380 Portmeirion P 44212

17312 55 Redhall Gp 74 -112

6214 17 Scapa Gp 5014 -14

142 99 Swallowfield 118

9434 67 Uniq 9434 +14

712 525 Young A 650 -5

Jul 25 - Jul 29 Aug 1 - Aug 5 Aug 8 - Aug 12 M T W T F4940

5230

5520

5810

6100

FTSE-100

20-Day Moving Average


businessdiary

LDPbusiness .co.ukmarket comment

LDPbusiness .co.uk

For all the latest local and national business news online, log on to www.ldpbusiness.co.uk

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Wednesday, August 17The Business NetworkLiverpool is holding itsnext event at theAtlantic Tower Hotel,in Chapel Street, from12 noon until 2pm.

It includes a freepre-lunch seminar –Microphones Don’tBite, presented by

Alistair Macdonald –and starts at 10.30am.

Thursday, August 18St Helens Chamber ishosting a Meet TheBuyer Day to helpInterserve look forlocal companies towork on its BuildingSchools for the Futureprojects. Interserve is

working on Liverpool’sDe La Salle HighSchool and RainfordTechnology Collegeand has sub-contract-ing opportunities avail-able in areas includinglift maintenance, secur-ity services and skiphire.

The event starts at9am. For details, call01744 742080.

Wednesday, August 31Downtown Liverpool in

Business is holding adebate called The Beau-tiful Game – the Busi-ness of Football onwhether or not footballis now too money-dom-inated. On the panelwill be Liverpool FCmanaging director, IanAyre, and Everton FCchief executive, RobertElstone.

The venue for thedebate is the HiltonHotel, in Liverpool city

centre, from 8.30am to10.30am.

Thursday, September 1Freelancers and home-workers who want towork in a differentenvironment are wel-come to attend thelatest Jelly Liverpoolevent. The co-workingevent aims to provide afriendly, wi-fi enabledspace where people canescape their usualworking environment.

This month’s eventwill be held at LeafCafe, in Bold Street,from 9am-5pm.For details, visit open-labs.org.uk/jelly/

Wednesday, September 7The BioIndustry Assoc-iation (BiA) is holdinga BIO breakfast meet-ing at the MerseyBIOIncubator, in Liverpool.

The event is free toattend and open tomembers of the BiA,

along with non-mem-bers from start-up com-panies.

Wednesday, September 7Liverpool Chamber ofCommerce is holding aworkshop on Market-ing Research forExporters. For detailson the event, whichtakes place at theChamber’s Old HallStreet base, visit www.liverpoolchamber.org. uk

FearsforUKexportsaseurozonesuffersaslowdownTHE UK’s recovery prospects weredealt a blow yesterday as figuresrevealed the country’s largest exportmarket – the eurozone – saw a dra-matic slowdown in economic growth.

The 17 countries that use the euroregistered a lacklustre 0.2% growth ingross domestic product (GDP) betweenApril and June, down from 0.8% in theprevious quarter, as the previouslyrobust German economy nearlyground to a halt.

The German economy, which isEurope’s largest and makes up 27% ofeurozone output, expanded only 0.1%in the quarter, against 1.3% in the firstthree months of the year.

Economists warned contin-ued weak eurozone growthwould lead to a disappointingperformance in the UK in thethird quarter, which isalready affected by weakdomestic demand.

Britain’s economy slowed to0.2% in the second quarter,from 0.5% in the previousthree months.

Chris Williamson, chief eco-nomist at Markit, said theweak eurozone data helpsexplain the disappointing UKperformance in the secondquarter, in particular the drop in man-ufacturing output and goods exports inJune.

He went on: “With austerity meas-ures likely to have an increasinglynegative effect on domestic demand inthe second half of this year, the lack ofgrowth in key export markets suggeststhat the UK economic recovery willremain insipid at best until global

business and consumer confidencerevives.”

Germany’s economy has helped sup-port the eurozone through the govern-ment debt crisis.

Its companies have tappedexport markets around theworld, particularly infaster-growing emerging coun-tries.

However, its growth in thesecond-quarter was hit by fal-tering construction invest-ment and a sharp drop inenergy production after thegovernment shut down eightnuclear plants after theFukushima reactor disaster inJapan.

Fears about excessive levelsof government debt in the USand Europe and a possibleglobal slowdown have been

weighing on markets.The US GDP figure of 1.3% on an

annualised basis in the second quarterwas a disappointment, and was fol-lowed by the additional shock of adowngrade to the US’s credit rating.

The French economy flatlined in thesecond quarter at 0%, compared to0.9% the previous three months, whileItaly’s GDP grew to 0.3% from 0.1%.

Whatdoyouthink?Email us withyour views [email protected],or write to usPO Box 48, OldHall Street,LiverpoolL69 3EB

The wider 27-member EuropeanUnion also reported 0.2% growth, withSweden and Finland posting strongquarterly growth of 1% and 1.2%respectively.

Debt-laden economies across theeurozone have seen the cost of bor-rowing for countries soar in recentmonths - most notably in Italy andSpain and the bailout out countries ofGreece, Ireland and Portugal.

Lloyd Barton, senior economic

adviser to the Ernst & Young EurozoneForecast, said: “The outlook forgrowth in the eurozone remains sub-dued, with the region caught up in anew wave of sovereign debt fears.

“The longer the sovereign debt mar-ket remains stressed, the greater willbe the damage to the wider economy.

“A further deterioration in financialconditions could severely damage theoutlook for the whole of theEurozone.”

The eurozone has experienced a dramatic slowdown in growth

LondonmarketTHE London marketclawed back its earlierlosses yesterday after bet-ter than expected datafrom the US calmed fearscaused by disappointingGerman growth.

The FTSE 100 Indexhad dropped as much as85 points, or 1.5%, inearly trading after figuresshowed the German eco-nomy grew by just 0.1%in the second quarter of2011 – far below expect-ations of 0.5%.

But the blue chip indexstaged a recovery to closeup 7.1 points at 5357.6after traders’ nerves weresoothed by encouragingUS economic figures.

US production jumped0.9% in July, which wasabove expectations of0.5% and up from June’s0.2%, after it was boostedby a stronger car sector.

There was more goodnews for the world’sbiggest economy after rat-ings agency Fitch reaf-firmed its triple “A” rat-ing, just days after adowngrade from Stand-ard & Poor’s sparked amarkets downturn.

But despite the USdata, fears remainedabout strength of theglobal recovery.

The slowdown in Ger-many was revealed a dayafter figures showed theFrench economy groundto a halt in the quarter.

The pound was upagainst the euro, at 1.14,after the single currencywas deflated by the newsabout its biggest economy.Sterling was also up at1.64 against the dollar.

The biggest Footsierisers were RandgoldResources up 255p at6435p, Fresnillo ahead65p at 1861p, Icap up 14pat 444.5p, Standard Lifeahead 6.2p at 212.4p.

The biggest Footsiefallers were BritishLand down 20p at 544p,Hargreaves Lansdownoff 14.1p at 458p, VedantaResources down 42p at1383p, Antofagasta off36p at 1228p.


GreattounwindwithsomeTVcrimebusting

Looking forward to a magical Christmas wedding, 2020 Liverpool staff member Sophie Nixon

■ SCURRYING aboun-ded on the run up to

the opening night for thenew EastZEast Indianrestaurant on King’sDock last week.

Guests can’t havefailed to have beenimpressed by the plushdecor, exotically-uni-formed staff and dancersand the sumptuous fareon offer – not least thecross between Scouse andcurry, Scurry.

The Manchester eat-erie was keen to impressits new client base, sochefs took to the streetsto quiz locals on theirperfect curry ingredients.

Not surprisingly theconsensus was hot andspicy, so they added thelikes of fresh garlic,ginger, masala and a spe-

cial Punjabi basar mix tothe usual potatoes andcarrots. Judging by theempty serving bowls andplates, they got it justright on the night.

■ WARRINGTON’SGolden Square shop-

ping centre is buzzing –literally.

The centre has putthree beehives on its roofto help encourage thesurvival of the region’shoneybees, above.

Each colony will pro-duce more than 40lbs ofhoney each year.

Golden Square kindlysent us a small jar of itshoney however wenoticed that on the smallprint of the label it says“Biars – France”.

Did the bees carrythose jars all the wayfrom France, we wonder?

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tradinggossip

workingday

6.20am: I get up early and have aquick shower before travelling intowork with my boyfriend, Neil, whoalso works in the city centre.

7.45am: The first thing I do when I getto the office is make a cup of tea andcheck my emails.

I’ve worked at 2020 Liverpool formore than six years now and I enjoythe opportunity of viewing some of thecity’s best buildings, and having accessto areas the public don’t generally getto see.

We recently completed the refur-bishment of the Epstein Theatre (Nep-tune) on behalf of Liverpool City Coun-cil.

This enabled me to work closelywith local specialist craftsmen and it’sa building nearly everyone has a fondmemory of.

9.30am: I leave the office, with a col-league, to go to the Croxteth ParkEstate where we are carrying out con-dition surveys.

10am: We arrive and check in with thesecurity staff. It’s been a privilege toget to survey a building like CroxtethHall which is a real asset to the city ofLiverpool.

However, the estate includes a widerange of buildings, from the Hall itselfright down to the potting sheds.

Today, I’m surveying a number ofbrick-built storage sheds and a mush-room house, all of which form part ofthe walled garden complex which canbe seen by visitors to the hall.

The mushroom house is, exactly asthe name suggests, a building whichwas used for growing mushrooms.

It’s dark, damp and quite enclosed,with raised beds for the mushrooms.

In carrying out the survey I takemeasurements and photographs, anduse a meter to test for damp.

I make notes which I will refer tolater, when I write my report.

12.30pm: We head back to the officefor lunch. I like to read a magazine,such as “Homes & Garden” while eat-ing my sandwich.

I also take a look at some websitessuch as English Heritage or Building

Conservation to keep up to date onconservation issues.

1.30pm: I receive a phone call fromthe contractor working on the StJames Church wall, asking me to cometo the site.

This time it’s about the stone cap-ping, which has split whilst being dis-mantled.

I find that the stone can’t berepaired, so we will have to replace itwith new stone to match the existingone.

2.45pm: Returning to the office, Idownload my photographs and writeup my report from this morning’s sur-vey.

I record the condition of each build-ing and make recommendations forany repairs that are needed.

In each case I assign a “conditioncode” which is entered on a spreadsheet to enable the client to identifyany urgent works required.

4.30pm: I finish work for the day andhead for home.

I enjoy gardening, and spend anhour in the garden before tea.

8pm: After tea, Neil and I watch TV –we enjoy crime dramas such as“Luther” and “CSI” – I’ll also spendsome time browsing the internet, toplan our wedding.

We’re getting married at Christmas,and are planning a country house wed-ding with close family and friends.

I’m really looking forward to it, andI love Christmas anyway, so it will beextra special to get married then.

SophieNixonisanarchitecturalconservationistat2020Liverpool.She isproject-managingaconditionsurveyofbuildingsontheCroxtethParkEstateaswellasotherprojects.Thiswasherday.

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LDP Business - 17th August 2011