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DEVELOPER Spencer CommercialProperty faces a “material uncer-tainty” about its ability to continuetrading, after it failed to refinance its£200m bank facilities, LDP Businesscan reveal.

The Knowsley-based group breachedits banking covenants last year asplunging values saw nearly £40mwiped off its property portfolio.

It is now trying to renegotiate its

loan facilities, which expired onDecember 31, 2010.

In the auditor’s report contained inaccounts filed at Companies House lastweek, auditor Anthony Farnworth, ofDeloitte, said: “Should no agreementbe reached with its bankers, the loancould be called in, which would belikely to result in the realisation ofassets below book values.

“These conditions indicate the exist-ence of a material uncertainty whichmay cast significant doubt about thecompany’s ability to continue as agoing concern.”

The accounts, the first for 20

months, showed a pre-tax loss of £3.5mfor the year to March, 2010.

That was caused by a £7.3m chargefrom the cancellation of a £60minterest rate swap which, along withother interest charges, meant 94% ofits £15.7m turnover went on interestpayments.

Net assets stood at £2.9m at the year-end while creditors due within oneyear reached £193.2m, because of theongoing issue of its bank facilities. Itsportfolio was revalued at £180.1m atthe year-end.

Spencer’s portfolio includes prop-erty at Arrowe Commercial Park, in

Wirral; Link, at Huyton BusinessPark; Nexus, at Knowsley BusinessPark; Sefton Business Park; and Ven-ture Point, in Ellesmere Port.

The company remains upbeat aboutits future, with a five-year plan beingdrawn up to make a persuasive casefor refinancing.

It said: “While the bank continues tofund the group at the previous levels,negotiations remain ongoing with thegroup’s bankers, such that the direct-ors anticipate that new facilities willbe finalised during 2011 appropriate to

‘Materialuncertainty’overpropertygroupTHE FTSE 100 Index

regained its nerveyesterday and clawedback some of thelosses suffered after aratings agency down-graded the US’s debtforecast.

A strong perform-ance by mining stockshelped lead the mar-ket up 26.8 points, to5,896.9 .

Meanwhile, on WallStreet, the Dow JonesIndex industrial aver-age rose 65.16 points,or 0.5%, to close at12,266.75, the Stand-ard & Poor’s 500 indexrose 7.48, or 0.6%, to1,312.62, and the Nas-daq rose 9.59, or0.4%, to 2,744.97.

MARKET REPORT:PAGE 15

FTSE-1005896.9

26.8▲

inside

Empire’sEasteropeningALMOST two yearsafter Rapid Hardware’sbathroom businessrelocated from Ren-shaw Street, a newshowroom is preparingto open in the sameunit this weekend.

Bathroom Empire isexpanding from itsMaghull warehouse toa city centre presence.

Co-founder and dir-ector Stephen Edwardssaid: “We try to offersomething a little outof the ordinary.”

Rapid Hardwaremoved from its long-standing home to theformer GH Lee store.

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CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Stephen Edwards atwork preparing the site

Picture: JAMES MALONEY/jm190411ldpbiz-1

Grosvenor isback in blackLIVERPOOL One ownerGrosvenor reportsfirst profit since 2007.

PAGE 2

Sunny outlookGERMAN solar energyfirm opens south Liv-erpool base.

PAGE 4

Barclays dealKENYAN investors buybank’s Wavertreecomplex for £10.45m.

PAGE 6

Mace&Jones

When exceptional people cometogether, great things happen.So when Weightmans and Mace & Jones merge to become onefirm on 1 May you can expect something special to develop.Weightmans and Mace & Jones. Together we are stronger.Find out more at www.weightmans.com

2 Wednesday, April 20, 2011

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Updatesthroughoutthe day

‘Strong’LiverpoolOneaidsGrosvenorrevival

Five-yearstrategyis beingdrawn up

secure the group’s fund-ing requirements forthe medium term.

“The directors con-tinue to work on andfinalise a five-year strat-egic plan to be agreedby the bank that willform the basis for thenew facility, the specificcovenants and the repay-ment profile expected.

“The group’s forecastand projections, takinginto account reason-ably possible changesin trading perform-ances, show that thegroup should be able tooperate within the levelof the proposed facilit-ies.

“On the basis of theseforecasts, the ongoingnegotiations, and aftermaking enquiries, thedirectors have a reason-able expectation thatthe company will haveadequate resources tocontinue in operationalexistence for the fore-seeable future.”

Former chairmanJim Spencer steppeddown from the board inSeptember, after morethan 50 years in charge.It had started as the fam-ily scrap metal businessbefore it focused onproperty in the 1980s.

RBSchiefHester’s£7.7msalarypackageapproved

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LIVERPOOL One owner Grosvenorhas recorded its first profit since 2007,after a swing of more than £600m.

The property group, owned by theformer Liverpool Daily Post’s businessperson of the year, the Duke of West-minster, recorded a pre-tax profit of£394.8m in 2010, after losses of £235.8min 2009 and £593.9m a year earlier.

Grosvenor’s assets under manage-ment are valued at £10.9bn – up from£10.2bn – of which £4.9bn is retail,£3.1bn is commercial and £2.9bn res-idential.

The company remains pleased withLiverpool One’s performance in itssecond full year of trading.

It said: “Liverpool One continues toperform strongly. It is currently 98%let, 51% of tenants are new to Liv-erpool and 20 new retailers opened in2010, including Hugo Boss, Desigual,Habitat, Hollister, Jamie’s Italian andKuoni.

“In 2010, retail turnover was up16.9% compared to 2009, and over24.6m people visited Liverpool One.”

Liverpool One is owned by the Gros-venor Liverpool Fund, which agreed inprinciple a five-year, £385m refinan-cing with four banks last December –well ahead of the existing loan matur-ing in January, 2012.

It replaces the original fundingwhich was put in place six years ago tocover both the development phase andthe initial period of trading.

Grosvenor, which for the first timepublished an environment reviewalongside yesterday’s annual report,said it had seen steady growth ofinterest in sustainability frominvestors and tenants.

It highlighted an award won by Liv-erpool One for a project which con-verts used cooking oil from restaur-ants into fuel to help run the on-sitevehicles.

Grosvenor also owns retail proper-ties in Basnett Street and Renshaw

Street, as well as One Park West. Morewidely, Grosvenor benefited partic-ularly from a good performance fromGrosvenor Britain & Ireland, andimproved returns from GrosvenorAsia Pacific.

Mark Preston, Grosvenor’s group

chief executive, said: “We have ambit-ious plans for the future and during2010 we laid the foundations forgrowth over the coming decade. Aftertwo years of mildly negative returns,2010 saw them move in line with thehistoric long term average.

“We remain committed to expansionin Asia, especially China, and to rein-vesting in our core business in Lon-don. We still see threats to a sustainedrecovery, but Grosvenor’s diversifiedbusiness and financial prudence willstand us in good stead.”

TOP FIVE

Grosvenor’s Liverpool One development attracted 24.6m visitors last year Picture: JAMES MALONEY

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ROYAL Bank of Scotland chiefexecutive Stephen Hester hadhis controversial £7.7m paypackage rubberstamped bythe Government yesterday, asthe bank insisted it had to paystaff “fairly”.

UK Financial Investments,

which manages the taxpayer’s83% stake in RBS, gave itssupport, despite a widespreadbacklash over the deal.

Shareholders were asked tocast their vote on the part-nationalised bank’s pay plansat the group’s annual meeting

in Edinburgh. The board wasgrilled by angry shareholdersat the AGM, who fired ques-tions and criticism overbonuses and the lack ofdividends.

The bank has beenembroiled in controversy

since it emerged last monththat Mr Hester was awardedan additional £4.5m potentialshares windfall on top of his£2m annual bonus and £1.2msalary for 2010, which was notoriginally revealed under theProject Merlin agreement

with the Government to reinin pay.

RBS also admitted it paid323 code staff – those deemedto be in risk-sensitive roles –£375m last year, despiteremaining in the red by£1.1bn.

3Wednesday, April 20, 2011

profile

RestaurateurpromotingAlbertDock’srichmenuofattractions

AlexTurnermeetsJEREMYROBERTS,ofLivingVentures

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Jeremy Roberts, who is chairman of the Albert Dock Tenants’ Business Association, believes its thriving attractions play a key role in the city’s leisure offerPicture: JASON ROBERTS/ jr180411jeremyroberts-1

Age: 48 Lives: Wilmslow, CheshireHighest educational qualification:degree in hotel and catering admin-istration from the University of SurreyBiggest achievement in business:Developing our own company – I takeenormous pride in thatBiggest regret: I don’t do regretsBest advice: If you can’t measure it,you can’t manage itUnfulfilled ambition: To attend thefour tennis grand slams in the sameyear. But I’ll never take enough time off

q&a

EARLY in his career, Jeremy Robertslearnt the importance of eventsbeing a great way to drive revenues.

Running the independent ChalonCourt Hotel in St Helens (which laterbecame Hilton St Helens) in the early1990s, he had “a great restaurant thatnobody went to”.

It was an unpromising situationand one trade newspaper’s assess-ment was particularly gloomy: “StHelens in Merseyside would not bean instant choice for many hoteloperators looking to open a new-build, four-star hotel in the depth ofa recession.

“In fact, judging from the dearth ofnational chain hotels here, itwouldn’t be a choice at any time.”

Roberts’s solution was to open anightclub for over-23s at weekends,primarily targeting the local market,which “transformed” the hotel’s oper-ations in its previously quiet period.

Today, he brings his 30 years’experience in the leisure industry tohis roles as commercial director ofrestaurant group Living Ventures –which he co-founded with Tim Baconand Dave Hinds – and chairman ofthe Albert Dock Tenants’ BusinessAssociation.

Roberts said: “When people visitLiverpool, especially in the summer,it’s one of the first places they headfor. It generates enormous amountsof interest and attracting events hereis really important.

“Through the association andthrough having our own marketingand PR, we are able to present the

dock as a whole.” The organisationwas resurrected last year as aresponse to concerns about the slow-down which traders had begun tofeel in earnest in 2009.

“Post-2008, there was the potentialfor a slump in confidence, with thecredit crunch and the recession,there was a lot of fear and concern,”he said. “A lot of that has beenunfounded, partly because of thecatalyst effect of the Capital of Cul-ture year.

“Our raison d’etre is to promotethe dock, what the tenants have tooffer, and to work alongside the man-aging estate company as well as theother partners in the waterside area,including the Echo Arena and BTConvention Centre and the museum,and really present a unitedapproach.”

Over a warm duck salad at LivingVentures’ Albert Dock restaurant,Gusto, Roberts explained how theprogress made came to the foreearlier this year.

The Liverpool Boat Show, whichwas meant to start next week andbring in 300,000 visitors over 10 days,suddenly collapsed. A salvage oper-

ation was launched, and a smallerevent called Spring on the Water-front will now be held in its place.

He said: “The importance andstrength of the links with the city,the ACC and other stakeholders wasshown with the way things werepulled together after the boat show.

“Spring on the Waterfront is a bitof an unknown quantity. It has thepotential to be a great event – thatcould be a silver lining, we may havecreated something that is a bit moreinclusive than the boat show.

“From our experience [at Gusto],we had been writing budgets basedon it. Because it happened so late,there was potential for a massivehole in a lot of budgets.

“The weather will play its part,but we are giving ourselves theopportunity to repair that hole.”

He is enthusiastic that the range ofattractions at the Albert Dock meansit is well-placed to thrive, with thefootfall and sales figures from theopening months of 2011 offeringencouragement for the rest of theyear.

“The first couple of months havebeen really positive,” said Roberts.“Events are important, that thingsare happening at the dock on a reg-ular basis to create somemomentum. That is coming throughin the visitor numbers, everyoneplays their part in that.

“There’s a great cross-section ofattractions. You have got culture, atthe Tate, popular culture, at theBeatles Story, even the dock itself.There’s the family element, thenight-time economy, some great barsand brands down here, it’s hard notto sound like an advert. Otherwise,it’s just a group of buildings thathave been restored.”

Culture is also at the heart of thesuccess of Living Ventures, which

today operates 22 sites. Its key brandsare Gusto, which has seven restaur-ants, and Blackhouse, which has six.

It is also in the middle of integ-rating five restaurants it boughtfrom Heathcotes last year, includingthe Olive Press, in Castle Street,while its portfolio also includes TheRed Door, in West Kirby.

It had successfully created andexited other brands, including TheLiving Room, which was sold for£28m in 2007, and Prohibition, whichwas sold for £2.75m in 2005.

Roberts said: “Our specialism is inbuilding brands – people understandbrands. People know what Gustostands for and in the past, with Liv-ing Room in particular, we built thatinto something that was very respec-ted and we were able to move it onand sell it when it was the right timefor us.

“It is very important that you docreate the right culture in an organ-isation, as that comes through even-tually.

“We have been very successful intraining staff, we insist they aretrained so they know what they aredoing. When people know what’sexpected of them, they perform.

“It’s no coincidence we have wonBest Waiter at the Liverpool Ambas-sador Awards for the last two years.”

He added: “I like to think in oper-ations like ours and the ones aroundus, they are nice places to work.They are not as poorly paid as theyused to be and there’s really goodopportunities in this industry.

“If you are good, you will go far.It’s such a people industry that if youare good, you will shine. It gives theopportunity to young people as well,it’s quite an energetic industry.

“Hard work is always rewarded atsome point.” Roberts, who started offwashing dishes in his father’s hotel

before going to university to studyhotel and catering administration, isan advocate of promoting fromwithin, because of the benefits ofmaintaining the right culture anddemonstrating to all staff that theycan have a career with the company.

He said: “If they want to get to thetop, then they can move around andcreate a career path and progression.We actively promote succession plan-ning so they are lined up to move in.

“We bought the Heathcotes busi-ness recently and that gave us anumber of opportunities. Thosekinds of things create energy andgives a boost, people start to look foropportunities, where they can showus what they can do.

“Continuity of management ishighly relevant and very important.Consistency – you see it in football,it’s the best example of it, if a man-ager stays for a while.

“Only time will tell if he’s a KennyDalglish, but he will get them to alevel. We like to think we employ theKenny Daglishes and we give themthe time to get to the top.”

His six board members includeJohn Branagan, who was the formerhead chef at the Chalon Court Hotel,and one-time restaurant supervisorSue Crimes.

“One of the great things that I seeis the development of people,” headded.

“The amount of people we havehad come through from the shopfloor into management, and even theboard. Sue started with us in about1997 as a restaurant supervisor inChester. She now runs Gusto and ison the board.

“She’s done that because sheworks hard, is talented and we havegiven her the opportunity. That’s oneof the best things you see in a busi-ness like this.”


Solarenergyfirmsetsupoperationincityregion

Backingfor zoneextensionproposalTHE chief executive ofLiverpool CommercialDistrict Partnershiphas welcomed calls toinclude the area in thecity’s new EnterpriseZone.

Responding to com-ments from LiverpoolCity Council’s chiefexecutive, Ged Fitzger-ald, Paul Rice agreesthat the new zoneshould be extended be-yond Wirral and Liver-pool Waters to includesites such as Pall Malland Old Hall Street.

Liverpool CDP is cur-rently applying forBusiness ImprovementDistrict status, and MrRice claims such amove would paydividends for the city.

He said: “It has to begood for Liverpool as awhole, meaning it’scrucial that an upturnin one part of the cityshould not be mirroredby deterioration else-where.”

From left: Mark Wilke and Frank Schulmann, of Solen Energy, withTMP’s director of investment, Mark Basnett

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byTonyMcDonoughLDPDEPUTYBUSINESSEDITORtony.mcdonough@liverpool.com

A GERMAN solar energy firm is toopen its second UK base in south Liv-erpool.

Solen Energy UK is regarded as oneof Europe’s leading solar energygroups and will create eight jobs inSpeke.

Solen has been assisted in its moveto the city, and setting up of newpremises close to Liverpool John Len-non Airport, by inward investmentagency, The Mersey Partnership(TMP).

The Liverpool base will offer a full“turn-key solution” for solar energysystems.

Solen develops, builds and operatessolar systems for flat, pitched andarched roof tops.

The Government’s recently-intro-duced feed-in tariff proposals help tomake the good business case for solareven more compelling.

The team will be trained by spec-ialist Merseyside-based training pro-viders.

Frank Schulmann, director of SolenEnergy UK, said: “We are delighted tobe able to announce that our secondUK branch will be in Liverpool.

“We are committed to contributeour knowledge and experience to theMerseyside region to ensure that Liv-erpool can fulfil its challenging targetsfor the low carbon emissions plan.

“We will be working with localpeople and intend to stay in the Mer-seyside region to ensure long-termrelationships with our customers,”he added.

TMP and its partners have ident-ified the low-carbon economy as one offour key sectors with potential todeliver sustainable economic growthacross the city region.

Chief executive Lorraine Rogerssaid: “TMP welcomes Solen EnergyUK to the city region.

“The company has a proven trackrecord for developing business quicklyonce it has become established in anarea.

“By investing in Liverpool, SolenEnergy has recognised the opportun-ities available to low-carbon economybusinesses choosing to locate here.”

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Energyexperttakes PMto taskA BOOTLE environ-mental expert has writ-ten to Prime MinisterDavid Cameron accus-ing him of pursuing an“anti-renewablesagenda” and renegingon a promise made byBusiness SecretaryVince Cable.

David Hunt, a dir-ector of renewableenergy company EcoEnvironments, haswritten of his “graveconcern” over therecently announcedreview of tariffs forsolar energy which cutpreviously announcedsubsidies.

Mr Hunt said: “Theproposals will effect-ively sacrifice the UK’sflourishing solarindustry.

“The Coalition said itwould ‘encourage com-munity-owned renew-able energy schemeswhere local peoplebenefit from the powerproduced’.

“Indeed, Vince Cabletold me personally atan event in Liverpoolthat the Government is‘fully committed toFeed-in Tariffs’.”

He added: “We have,therefore, been shockedby these proposalswhich will once againleave the UK’s solarindustry lagging farbehind other coun-tries.”

Eco Environments isa £1.3m turnover busi-ness with 20 staff infive offices, includingBootle, Darlington,Penrith, Manchesterand Tamworth.

KeyroleforHopeUniversityin£3.2mresearchprojectLIVERPOOL Hope Universityis part of a £3.2m researchproject into developing fuelcells to improve living stand-ards in rural India.

The university’s Centre forInternational and Develop-ment Education will workwith the Universities of Not-tingham, Birmingham,Leicester, Manchester Metro-

politan University and theIndian Institute of Science onthe joint project, titled “RuralHybrid Energy EnterpriseSystems”.

The research is funded bythe Engineering and PhysicalSciences Research Council UKand the Indian Department ofScience and Technology.

Prof Chris Atkin, director

of graduate studies andresearch at Hope, said: “To bepart of a successful multi-mil-lion pound research projectfunded by one of the UK’smajor research councils isjust the best news.

“The award of such a largegrant shows just how confid-ent the research council is inour research team. This is just

a fantastic achievement for allthose involved.”

The partners will carry outresearch into small -scaleenergy generation systems inrural areas that can be adap-ted for local needs in the UKand India to enable communit-ies to tackle energy poverty,increase revenue generationand create new opportunities.

Hope will be involved inworking on communityengagement, includingexamining needs among UKpensioners and Indian com-munities for certain require-ments such as cooking,domestic lighting, transportand heating and energy needsfor agricultural purposes inboth countries.

Drugsgroupinbuoyantmood

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The three Plantec motorcycle mechanics, from left, Elvin Ravenscroft, Jeremy Martin and Steven Warren

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Methelpsmotorbikemechanicsshift intotopgearWIRRAL Met Collegeand Southport accidentclaims companyPlantec have achieved atraining first.

Three Plantec motor-cycle mechanicsreceived Master Tech-nician grading of theAutomotive TechnicianAccreditation (ATA) atthe college’s Motor-cycle TechnologyCentre.

This is the first timean independent organ-isation, rather than amotorbike manufac-turer, has been awar-ded this qualification.

Wirral Met engineer-ing curriculum leaderDawn Pierce said:“Their training at thecollege to bring themto Master Techniciangrade puts them at thetop of their field, andwe are proud to havetaken them to thislevel.”

She said it was import-ant that their skillsand knowledge on therepair of motorcycles,after they had been in-volved in road accid-ents, was “impeccable”.

PHARMACEUTICALS group Novartis hasreported a strong start to the year.

The Swiss-based business, which employsapproximately 700 staff at its Speke plant,provided a trading update covering the firstquarter that revealed improved sales growthof 16% during the three months of around£8.75bn, after conversion from US dollars.

However, it said the 4% growth in operatingincome of £2.5bn was impacted by the absenceof sales of its H1N1 swine flu pandemic fluvaccines last year, which have not been rep-licated this year.

Novartis said sales in its vaccines and diag-nostics division were down by 73% when com-pared with the £687m of H1N1 revenues lastyear, which resulted in the operation turningin “a small loss”.

The report showed that, excluding the H1N1

effect, sales for vaccines and diagnostics wereahead by 43%.

Free cash flow for the Basel-based groupstood at £1bn in the period.

The latest update also revealed that thegroup has received approval to use Aflunov, itsinfluenza vaccine to help prevent avian flu(H5N1), in the European Union.

Novartis chief executive, Joseph Jimenez,said: “Contributions from all businesses led toa good start in 2011, as we achieved 14%growth (on constant currency conversionrates) in the first quarter.”

The Novartis plant, on Speke Boulevard,produces conventional flu vaccines which areinvariably exported to the North Americanmarket.

A swine flu pandemic, declared by the WorldHealth Organisation, in June, 2009, sparked ascramble for a vaccine among the world’smajor drugs companies.

Novartis produced its version at severalEuropean locations, including Speke, provid-ing supplies for several governments.

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KenyaninvestorsacquireBarclayssitefor£10.45m

Propertyfirmsbackingtennis

The Barclaycard call centre, in Wavertree Technology Park

PROPERTY firm King Sturge and residentialdevelopment One Park West have signed apresenting sponsor agreement with NorthernVision for this year’s Liverpool InternationalTennis Tournament.

One Park West owner Grosvenor will usethe sponsorship package as a marketing toolfor the scheme.

King Sturge is the agency marketing the 326apartments close to Liverpool One.

King Sturge partner Martyn Green said:“When we looked at the sponsorship package,we felt it fitted the brand perfectly and being alocal event appealed to our target market.”

Dan Symonds, of Grosvenor, added: “It wasapparent that One Park West and the Liv-erpool International Tennis Tournament hadsimilar clients, and it made sense to joinforces.

“We are impressed by the growth of thetournament and are pleased to be a part of it.”

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ONE of Liverpool’s best-known businessmenhas been appointedchief executive of inter-national managementcompany, Congrex.

David Wade-Smithreplaces current Con-grex CEO Dr LaythBunni.

Along with hisbrother, Robert, MrWade-Smith was afounder of the iconicWade Smith retailempire.

He also foundedsmart card companyLivesmart, where heretains an interest, andwas former chairmanof Liverpool Chamberof Commerce.

He will also continuehis role as businessadvisor to the cabinetat Liverpool City Coun-cil.

Congrex organisesconferences, meetingsand events for compan-ies and organisations.

New rolefor storefounder

AN OFFICE building in Liv-erpool, housing 1,200 bankworkers, has changed handsin a deal worth £10.45m.

The building, in WavertreeTechnology Park, is occupiedby the Barclaycard division ofbanking giant Barclays.

The Mountgrange JeevesFund has sold the site to theKenyan-based Sameer Group.

The 94,000 sq ft office has 12years remaining on its leaseand is home to Barclays per-sonal telephone banking andBarclaycard operations.

The bank has occupied thepremises since 1988 and it isone of the largest call centresin its portfolio.

The purchase by theNairobi-based investorsreflects a net yield of 7.75%.

Sameer was advised on thedeal by the North West CapitalMarkets team at CB RichardEllis.

Robin Jones, senior sur-veyor in the team, said:“Although the UK is feelingthe effects of the recession andGovernment cutbacks, thisdeal highlights that the UK,and the North West in partic-ular, are still attractive targetsfor international investors.”

In February, Barclaysannounced that the jobs ofaround 200 workers at theWavertree site would be trans-ferred overseas.

Barclaycard said it wouldattempt to redeploy as manypeople as possible within theWavertree site or at its base inKirkby.

The company said it pro-posed to move customer ser-vice work from the sites in anefficiency drive.

From left, Martyn Green, Dan Symonds andAnders Borg, of Northern Vision

Iris ZhangUniversity of LiverpoolStudent

Nairobi from £391 rtn

Miami from £418 rtn

Seoul from £450 rtn


MattJohnson

NewrangeofhomeshelpsRedrowincreasemargins

PointersfromBarclaysexpertLIVERPOOL saversshould see some relief,as interest rates finallystart to head north.

Henk Potts, equitystrategist for BarclaysWealth, provided anoverview of the chal-lenges and opportunit-ies in markets over thecoming year to approx-imately 100 clients atthe city’s Walker ArtGallery last night.

Although the globaleconomy will continueto recover, he expectsthe US to lead Europeand the UK due to the“severe fiscal tighten-ing” taking place here.

And while he fore-casts just 2% growthfor the UK next year, hepredicts the Bank ofEngland will raiseinterest rates by aquarter per cent nextmonth, with two morehikes later this year.

“There is a slightlybetter picture emergingfor savers, as ratesstart to go a little bithigher, but in historicalstandards they willremain relatively low.”

He sees equities asthe best bet for invest-ment, aided by a“strong bounce back incorporate profits.”

But he added: “Weare also positive aboutsterling and expect it toreach $1.82 and 1.25euros over the next 12months.”

Face-to-facenetworkingcanstill trumponlinecommunication

HOUSEBUILDER Redrow is predicting“significant progress” this year, des-pite announcing its intention in a trad-ing update to pull out of its operationscovering Scotland.

The Ewloe business, headed by Liv-erpool entrepreneur Steve Morgan,has reported improved sales activityfor the period from January 1 to April17.

It revealed that net private reser-vations for the year so far haveincreased by 2%, at 1,819 properties,

compared with 1,778 in 2010. Mean-while, the order book showed a 6%improvement at £139m and, althoughthe business endured a slow first half,it anticipates legal completions to bemarginally ahead of their level in theprevious year.

And while house prices have beenstable, Redrow has reported anincrease in its average selling price,driven by the Steve Morgan-inspiredshift to its New Heritage Collection ofhouses which is aimed at young fam-ilies.

This will help the group in its aim toimprove margins, coupled by its recentstrategy of focusing on the lucrative

London and South East regions.However, this has contributed to a

rise in net debt, from £52m last year to£80m, as the group increased invest-ments in land for development.

It has also involved a review ofgroup strategy which has concludedthat the returns on its Scottish oper-ations are insufficient to warrant con-tinuation, so the business will beoffered for sale.

The statement concluded: “Althoughthe economic outlook remains uncer-tain, we have been encouraged by theperformance of the group’s New Her-itage Collection.

“Sales per outlet are at the top end

of industry comparables and reserva-tions since the beginning of Januaryare encouragingly ahead of last year.

“We expect this year’s results toshow further significant progress.”

Liverpool stockbroker PanmureGordon welcomed the “fairly positive”update and maintained its ‘hold’ callon its stock.

Analysts Mark Hughes and RachaelWaring said: “Sales rates are aheadyear-on-year, while cancellation ratesand underlying prices are stable.

“We are encouraged that the recov-ery story continues, but believe theshares are fairly valued at currentlevels.”

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CRUISE ships dominate the sprawl-ing waterfront of the most famouscity in America’s sunshine state.With good reason, Miami is firmly

established as the cruise capital ofthe world.

Ships arriving and departing therebarely turn heads. In some cities, itis trains and buses that arrive likebananas (in bunches). Off SouthBeach, it’s multi-million dollarliners. Recently, though, one cruisedeparture did stir more than passinginterest ashore. On board were two ofBritain’s most successful entrepren-eurs.

And theirs was no millionaires’cruise to a hideaway retreat.

Quite the opposite, as Sir RichardBranson and Sir Ronald Cohenjoined forces to provide the headlinedouble act at a major conference for

entrepreneurs. While front-of-houseprofile and awareness-raising hasbeen at the heart of the Virgintycoon’s success, Sir Ronald’s suc-cessful development of theprivate equity firm, Apax,has taken a less limelight-lit route.

Despite their differentstyles, the pair providedsufficient incentive for del-egates to clamour for theinvitation-only $3,000 aticket places on board.

The event was the latestfrom the Summit Series, an organ-isation set up by four friends in theUS who say they have identified the

value to be derived from bringingpeople together in an era increas-ingly dominated by online com-munication.

In a sound bite thatwould not be out of place ina spin doctor’s little blackbook, one of the organisersopined: “The idea is thatthere is a voice for youngthought leaders, entrepren-eurs and people who movethe needle.”

Strip away the layers ofspin, and a meaningful and

useful purpose emerges.Weigh up the fact that your aud-

ience of needle movers is effectively

captive on board a bobbing shipheading for the Caribbean, and youbegin to get some idea of the poten-tial for those who made it up thegangway to both learn and teach.

What’s especially fascinating is thepromoters’ assertion that good,old-fashioned look ’em in the eyecommunication can still trump allmanner of web-based efforts tospread ideas and intellect.

It’s a good example of old and newideas being brought together. Asmart move by those involved, andrich pickings for those on board.

‘Oldandnewideasarebeingbroughttogether’

Supermarketgiantgives£500toMerseysidehospiceSAINSBURY’S in Liverpool’scentral business district isgiving £500 to MerseysideChildren’s hospice, ClaireHouse.

The cash, donated by theOld Hall Street store, will gotowards the cost of a charityfundraising event.

The store’s charity co-ord-inator, Geo Harris, said:“I’m very happy Sainsbury’shas offered this grant – itwill help Claire Houseaccommodate its childrenwith new and improvedfacilities and equipment.

“It sounds clichéd, but Ireally do want to make a dif-ference and this grant willdo just that.

“Being a part of Sains-bury’s, I’m able to create apositive outlook on charityand awareness to the com-munity. When we heardabout Claire House Chil-dren's Hospice, we werereally pleased to be able tohelp out.”

Ms Harris and staff at thestore raised thousands ofpounds for the charity lastyear. They organised a seriesof events, including one tocoincide with last summer’sWorld Cup, and Ms Harrisalso took part in a charityabseil. From left, Geo Harris, from Sainsbury’s Local, with Claire Bear and Tony Langan, a volunteer at Claire House

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■ MATT JOHNSON is chairman ofMando Group

Henk Potts


Britainmustdomoretoattractforeign investors

LFC deal boost to Boston linksCouldLiverpoolFC’stakeoverbyaBostongroupboostthecity’stradewithNewEngland?AlistairHoughton reports

Boston, the capital ofMassachusetts, hopes to attractmore investment fromLiverpool

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FENWAY Sports Group (FSG) may be themost high-profile Boston business toinvest in Liverpool, but it looks as thoughit won’t be the last.

Liverpool has a long history of tradewith the US, and has long celebrated itslinks to New York.

But the city now boasts a new transat-lantic connection thanks to Boston RedSox owner Fenway, which bought Liver-pool FC in October.

That connection inspired the UK’s con-sulate in Boston, Massachusetts, toorganise a trade mission to Liverpool lastweek – a mission which will be recip-rocated later this year.

With Liverpool’s profile in Boston onthe up, UK Trade and Investment believesthe time is right for businesses in NewEngland and Merseyside to reach out toeach other. Last week’s small trade mis-sion was, it hopes, just the start.

The six-strong delegation includedMike Cavaretta, a video games industrylawyer, Rick McKenna, president andchief executive of Boston marketingagency WCM Partners, Panos Panay,founder of music industry website Son-icBids, and two academics from Boston’sNortheastern University.

Their visit included trips to LiverpoolScience Park, the University of Liverpool,Liverpool John Moores University, a net-working event at Liverpool Chamber ofCommerce and a creative industries sem-inar at law firm DWF.

The Boston delegates also saw how Liv-erpool can play as well as work. As soonas they arrived in the city, they werewhisked to the Grand National at Ain-tree. They were also given a tour of thecity and went to Anfield to watch Liv-erpool FC take on Manchester City.

Sports fan Mr Cavaretta agreed thatthe timing of the trade mission wasimpeccable.

He said: “With FSG’s investment inLiverpool FC, we’re going to see a lotmore Bostonians coming to Liverpool andLiverpudlians coming to Boston justbecause of that.

“FSG has a TV network in Boston – theNew England Sports Network. They’vestarted showing Liverpool FC gamesthere.

“My prediction is that we’regoing to have a lot more Liv-erpool FC fans in the Bostonarea in the next few years.That’s going to create opportun-ities.

“Tourism is very big here.You’re going to get a bunch ofBostonians coming here to seeLiverpool games. As a naturalconsequence of that, more busi-ness will be transacted between the twocities.”

Mr Cavaretta, game developer attorneyat law firm Morse Barnes-BrownPendleton, founded video games tradebody New England Games SpecialInterest Group.

He said the visit opened his eyes topotential opportunities for his clients andfriends in the New England video gamingsector.

“It was exciting, incredibly useful and

eye-opening,” he said. “I have met a lot ofcontacts that I think will be very useful tosome of my clients back home.

“I have made some relationships thatwould be useful in perhaps bringing someLiverpool-based people to Boston.

“I work with lots of early-stage tech-nology companies, especially in interact-ive entertainment and gaming.

“I can see a lot of opportunities forgames companies here to work withgames companies over there.”

Mr Cavaretta believes that Liverpooland Boston, both proud port cit-ies, are “closely aligned” cultur-ally.

He said: “There’s a strongheritage here based on the city’sworking-class roots, whichpeople here are very proud ofand which put them in a reallygood position for future success.We have the same feeling inBoston as well.

“At the same time, like Boston, there’sa very strong history here of inter-national trade and finance.

“There’s a lot of cultural similaritiesbetween the two.

“I can see there being a lot of cross-pol-lination between the two cities in thefuture.”

Mr Cavaretta said he was impressed byLiverpool Science Park, and said thebuilding could be an ideal home for NewEngland investors.

“It’s very exciting seeing the thingsthey’re doing there,” he said.

“They had some incentives there forinternational companies to come andestablish a presence there.

“I have a couple of clients particularlywho I know will be interested in that –gaming clients. They’re expanding inareas that would be of particular interestto English and Continental Europeanfolks.

“It would really make sense for them toestablish a presence here, to take advant-age of the proximity and the local talentto help them properly address these mar-kets. I plan to tell them about the oppor-tunities there.

“It’s similar to what we have in Bostonat the Cambridge Innovation Centre – it’sin the same building as UKTI. That couldbe a good resource for Liverpool-basedcompanies looking to establish a presencein Boston.”

Jane Ollerhead, of the British consul-ate in Boston, said the visit had been“action-packed”.

The Liverpool trade mission wasorganised, she said, following Massachus-etts governor Deval Patrick’s visit to theUK in March.

“We were inspired by the announce-ment of the Fenway Sports investment inLiverpool FC,” she said.

“Also, Boston and Liverpool have sucha lot in common.

“We were really encouraged by the

BRITAIN has for manyyears prided itself onhow it has consistentlysucceeded in winningmuch more than its fairshare of foreign directinvestment, compared tomost other countries inthe world.

The only place that hastraditionally attractedmore investment dollarsis the US.

But the recession, com-bined with changes to thetax regime in the latteryears of Gordon Brown’stenures as Prime Minis-ter and Chancellor,appears to have changedthat.

China now attractsmore inward investmentthan Britain, and manyother nations are seen bysome in business to bemore attractive.

At least that’s the gistof a report published bythe Confederation of Brit-ish Industry yesterday,which called on the Gov-ernment to bolster theUK’s attractiveness toinvestors. The businessleaders’ organisationwarned that, withoutaction, Britain would loseinvestment and jobs.

Do we really believethis? At one level, thefacts would seem to speakfor themselves. Foreigninvestment in the UK fellsignificantly during theglobal recession from$186.4bn in 2007 to$45.7bn in 2009.

As well as high taxes,the CBI identifies themain obstacles to foreigninvestment as red tape,poor infrastructure and alack of skills in science,technology, engineeringand mathematics.

On the other hand,though, there are plentyof factors that work inBritain’s favour. The Eng-lish language being top ofthe list. As well as that,the current governmentset its own direction atthe time of the lastBudget: the Budget forgrowth, as it was called.As well as cutting corpor-ation taxes, there hasbeen a clear commitmentto cutting the top 50p rateof tax.

While foreign directinvestment makes a dif-ference to UK prosperity

and jobs, the fact is thebulk of future growthwill come from enterpris-ing people starting theirown businesses. It is tosupport these people thatwe need to make thechanges the CBI are call-ing for.

WHEN the Liberal Demo-crats won control of Liv-erpool City Council fromFrank Prendergast’sLabour-led local adminis-tration in 1998, therewas considerable celeb-ration among local busi-ness leaders.

That was 13 years ago,and despite the fact thatTony Blair’s New Labourproject was in full swingnationally, the feeling inthis city was the localLabour Party remainedan obstacle to inwardinvestment and businessconfidence.

For years after the 1998elections, the city’s busi-ness community andcommentators opinedhow the switch in controlto a business-friendlyadministration was a bigfactor in encouragingregeneration.

So it is surprising tosee the degree to whichthe Lib-Dems in Liver-pool have imploded.Apparently, their ranksare so thin that the partyis unable to find suf-ficient real candidates tostand at the forthcominglocal elections, resultingin the use of a paper can-didate in the form of War-ren Bradley’s son.

What does it all meanfor the city’s economy?Does it matter that theparty once lauded as bestfor Liverpool businesshas little or no chance ofwinning a majority nextmonth?

Council leader JoeAnderson has made somegestures to improveLabour’s standing withbusiness, includingappointing DavidWade-Smith as anadvisor to his cabinet.

Arguably, as long as weavoid any outright con-flict with central govern-ment, it may not matterwhich party runs thecouncil, as long as thecity is seen to be well-governed.

BillGleeson

‘Itwasexciting,usefulandeye-opening’


LFC deal boost to Boston links

Trade mission building onUK’s Massachusetts links

Members of the Boston delegation, including Mike Cavaretta,far right, inspect Fenway Sports Group’s Anfield investment

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announcement that Liverpool hadbecome one of 21 Enterprise Zones namedby the Government.

“We were really keen to find oppor-tunities for Boston businesses to invest inLiverpool.

“The pillars that drive Liverpool aresimilar to Boston. Technology, health-care, the creative industries – it’s thesame as Massachusetts.

“The governor came here last month –we’re hot on the heels of that.

“It’s been a first, exploratory mission.The good news is that our del-egates had some great conver-sations, and met some reallygood business partners.

“The people of Liverpoolexceeded our expectations. Itwas a really vibrant place toshow our delegation.”

Liverpool Chamber is nowworking with the British consul-ate in Boston, as well as with theGreater Boston Chamber of Commerce, toplan a return visit to Boston later thisyear.

Jenny Stewart, the chamber’s head ofclient services, said the mission hadopened the Bostonians’ eyes to the oppor-tunities available in the North West.

She said: “A number of them had acertain view about Liverpool, that it wasa tired city. They got the shock of theirlives when they got here and found it wasalive and buzzing.

“The city looked wonderful. It was apleasure to meet people who wanted to dobusiness. They left with the impressionthat they could do business here.

“One of the most important contactswe made was WCM Partners, a marketingagency from the States that wants to opena Liverpool office.

“They don’t necessarily want to be afull-service agency in Liverpool, but theywant to think about how they can helpbusinesses work in the States.”

Mike Taylor, deputy chief executive ofregeneration agency LiverpoolVision, said Liverpool had beenworking with Boston since 2005,when a Mersey delegation vis-ited Massachusetts. But theFSG deal, he said, could onlyhelp to further cement linksbetween the cities.

He said: “Our guests fromBoston left with a very positiveimpression of Liverpool, both of

its look and feel and its business land-scape.

“There was a strong interest from themin our creative, digital and music sectors,key growth areas in Liverpool.

“We were also able to impress uponthem where trading and investmentopportunities lie, and where we can learnfrom each other, and this trip was just thelatest for a relationship that will continueto grow and flourish, especially with thearrival of FSG in Liverpool.”

LIVERPOOL may be growing itslinks with Boston, Massachu-setts, but the business linksbetween the UK and the NewEngland state are alreadystrong.

According to the US Bureauof Economic Analysis, morethan 40,000 Massachusetts res-idents go to work each day fora British company.

The same research showsthat US citizens working for UKfirms earn, on average, “over40% higher compensation thanthe average US householdincome”.

There are more than 210 sub-sidiaries of British firms in Mas-sachusetts, particularly concen-trated in banking, hi-tech, lifesciences, and manufacturing.

Meanwhile, 253 Massachu-setts-based companies haveoperations in the UK.

The UK is the largest marketfor Massachusetts exports.Some 17% of Massachusetts’sexports are sold to the UK,primarily metals, chemicals,computers/electronics, andmachinery.

Governor Deval Patrick, ofMassachusetts, visited Londonand Cambridge last month aspart of the state’s ongoing bidto attract more hi-tech invest-ment.

He said: “Massachusetts is anunparalleled leader in theglobal economy and a trail-blazer for the nation.

“To continue to compete onan international level andcreate new jobs here at home,we must look outward to newmarkets, and position Mas-sachusetts as the North Amer-ican destination for businessgrowth,.”

‘GuestsleftwithapositiveviewofLiverpool’

privatebusiness

ICE-CREAM makerFredericks Dairiesmaintained its strongperformance as it con-tinued to shrug off thedampening effect ofanother relatively wetBritish summer.

The Skelmersdalefirm manufacturesprivate label ice cream,has exclusive rights tomanufacture and sup-ply Cadbury, Del Monteand Tate & Lyleice-cream, and alsoproduces the Freder-icks, Antonio’s andAntonio Federicibrands.

Pre-tax profits wereflat, at £2.66m, whilesales rose 1.6% to£39.2m in the year toAugust, 2010.

Although employeenumbers dropped byabout 10 to 190, staffcosts rose 10% to£7.32m. The two direct-ors – brothers FrankFrederick and PhilipFrederick, the grand-sons of founder Ant-onio Frederici – onceagain split £960,000,with the highest paidreceiving £580,000,while no dividend waspaid.

In accounts filed atCompanies House, thedirectors said: “Thebusiness has success-fully negotiated fourconsecutive and nowtypically wet Britishsummers with improv-ing performance yearon year.

“Through improvedprocedures and tightstock management, thefiresales that were typ-ical of previous yearshaven’t been required.

“Moreover, moreaccurate planning hasallowed a better match-ing of production tosales, thus minimisingstock holding costs.”

Despite the stableperformance overall,the company sawmarked variationwithin its ranges.

“Specifically, newproduct development inchild lollies hasincreased market shareto 10% with growth of133%,” it added.

“However, due to thehuge trading of theMagnum brand by Uni-lever, Cadbury stickssuffered a 20% declineyear on year during thesummer.”

ALEX TURNER

Ice creamfirm’s mixremainsconsistent


Fashion chainto restructuredivisionsCLOTHING retailer Gaphas announced it iscombining itsinternational divisionsinto one leadershipstructure, being runout of the UK.

The division will beled by current presid-ent of internationalStephen Sunnucks.Gap also revealedplans to take its OldNavy brand internat-ional in 2012, startingwith Japan.

Beer companyin volume riseTHE maker of beersincluding Peroni andGrolsch reported a 3%rise in beer volumesin the first threemonths of 2011.

London-basedbrewer SAB Millersaid underlying beervolumes for its fullyear through Marchwere up 2%, whileprice rises pushed itsannual revenues 5%higher.

Profits surgeTOYS and gamesdesigner CharacterGroup reported a 78%surge in pre-taxprofits to £6.6m in thesix months to the endof February.

The New Malden,Surrey-based com-pany, which includesDoctor Who figurinesamong its products,saw revenues rise35% to £58.1m in thesame period.

Sharp fallWHITEBOARD makerPromethean Worldreported a sharp fallin revenues to £41.9min the three monthsto the end of Marchfrom £53.9m.

The group saidfirst-quarter interact-ive display systemrevenues were £36.6mand learner responsesystem revenueswere £5.3m.

briefing Caterers looktomanagethesoaringcostoffood

Thomas Brown with one of the fish and chips vansPicture: COLIN LANE/ tmcl 190411willowcatering-3

We’re reluctant to pass on rising costs to our clients – top chefs and Pickled Walnut founders JamieAnderson, left, and Mark Kershaw

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SPRING and summer is traditionally abumper time for the catering sector. Itis the time when many people chooseto get married, and also when a wholehost of outdoor events are held.

However, the sector is facing a toughchallenge as wholesale food prices con-tinue to rise, the VAT hike starts tobite and firms cut back on entertain-ing, amid grim economic conditions.

In what is a hugely competitive mar-ket, caterers are reluctant to pass onextra costs to customers.

Wirral-based Pickled Walnutacknowledges the dilemma theindustry faces.

The company is run by two chefs –Jamie Anderson and Mark Kershaw.Jamie was trained by Michelin Starredchefs and worked at a variety of hotelsand restaurants across Europe –including circus troupe Cirque deSoleil.

The business has achieved a numberof successes, since launching in 2005 –including being awarded Small Busi-ness of the Year in 2007 and YoungBusiness Entrepreneur in 2009. Theyhave also had the privilege of cateringfor the likes of Gordon Brown, PrinceCharles and tennis champions MartinaHingis and Goran Ivanisevic.

It has catered for events includingthe Liverpool International TennisTournament, Manchester Masters andNottingham Masters.

It has worked in Liverpool’sbest-known venues, including StGeorge’s Hall and the Sefton ParkPalm House.

Jamie said: “Increased costs havedefinitely impacted on the business,but we are reluctant to pass them on toour clients.

“Also, a lot of our events are planned12 months in advance, so we are oftenalready working to an agreed price.

“The ratio between private and cor-porate clients is around 50/50, and wewould like to keep it that way – we donot want to put all our eggs into onebasket. We can cater for a buffet lunchfor six right up to a dinner for 2,000people.

“What we are finding is that becauseof the public sector cuts, the number ofcivic functions is falling and corporateclients are pushing us harder on price.

“We are also seeing people invitefewer guests to their wedding – wherethey might have invited 150, now theymay cut that to 100.”

However, despite the tough climate,the business is continuing to do well –so well, that Jamie and Mark canafford to turn work down if the price isnot right.

“We were asked to cater at the Liv-erpool International Tennis Tourna-ment again this year, but we turned itdown because the margin was notthere for us,” added Jamie.

“June is a premium time for us, sowe’d have no trouble filling the dateanyway. We don’t want to risk thebrand by coming too far down onprice.”

Pickled Walnut employs 15 full-timestaff and may take on up to 200 morefor large events.

Jamie says the firm has ambitionsto get into the contract catering mar-

ket for big football clubs, but insistsquality will always be at the forefront.

He added: “The rules in this busi-ness are very tight and they are get-ting tighter all the time.

“There are quite a few cowboy oper-ators out there – they are often notinsured and don’t provide the qualityor safety that we do.

“We are two chefs and that is ourselling point.”

Liverpool city centre-based BeanCoffee is also working hard to avoidpassing on its rising wholesale costs toits customers.

The business – owned by Jon Whyteand Vip Bhatt – operates two coffeeshops – at Brunswick Business Parkand Princes Dock.

It also runs a successful cateringoperation, but Jon admits managingrising costs is a challenge.

He said: “We are seeing increases inthe costs of things like bread and milkbut we are trying not to pass thosecosts on.

“The corporate market is tough atthe moment. The public sector is notspending as much as it used to.

“We still cater for meetings, but wefind clients are becoming a little bitmore frugal – ordering less per personthan they might have done previously.

“We want to make sure we offervalue, but at the same time we do notwant to compromise on quality.

“Some products – pine nuts at themoment, for example – have become

too expensive. We are always review-ing that kid of thing.”

However, despite the economicenvironment, Jon insists the cateringside of the business is growing, record-ing year-on-year growth.

“We have only been trading for twoyears so we are at an early stage ofdevelopment,” he said.

“We have traded through a recessionso we have only ever really known anegative trading environment.”

Liverpool’s Willow Catering hasbeen run by founder Phil Brown for 28years. Its speciality is mobile catering– vans selling food at major eventsincluding football matches, race meet-ings and concerts.

Willow operates all over the country.The company has also set up

fishandchipweddings.com, a servicefor people who want something a bitdifferent for their wedding guests. Wil-low will turn up at the reception witha van selling fish and chips or burgers,or even ice creams.

Phil’s son, Thomas Brown, says theconcept is growing in popularity.

“People love it and we have done anumber of weddings – including for afew footballers. We will do whateverpeople ask for.”

Thomas says, thanks to Willow’shard-won reputation, business is goingwell, but he admits rising costs are achallenge.

“Food and oil have gone up,” headded. “We haven’t raised our pricesyet, but we may have to look at it.”


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FRAMELINECOMPOSITE DOORSTRADE, UPVC WINDOWS

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NewTescoCEOvowstoimproveonresults

Tesco’s profits rose 2.3%, to £3.8bn, in the year to FebruaryPicture: ALI WAGGIE

Bankswereletoff lightlyonlending,sayMPs

UKCoalrecords£100mloss Firmintalks

THE Government did notdo enough to punish tax-payer-backed banks whenthey failed to hit targetsfor lending to small busi-nesses, MPs said today.

The Treasury lackedeffective sanctions againstRoyal Bank of Scotlandand Lloyds when businesslending fell short by £30bn,a report from the Public

Accounts Committee(PAC) revealed.

The Treasury looked atvarious sanctions butdecided each had a down-side which outweighed thebenefits, the report said.The PAC said this was“not satisfactory” and thedepartment should con-sider appropriate sanc-tions.

The PAC report waslooking at the Treasury’sAsset Protection Scheme,launched in January, 2009,to protect RBS and Lloyds,which are 84% and 43%taxpayer-owned followingmassive state bail-outs inthe financial crisis.

Margaret Hodge MP,chair of the PAC, said thescheme helped “restore

confidence and maintainfinancial stability” andTreasury staff should becommended.

But she added therewere areas for concern.

Ms Hodge said: “TheTreasury appears to lackstrong determination touse its influence toincrease lending to smallbusinesses.

“We expect it to findeffective mechanisms toensure the banks meettheir lending commit-ments.”

RBS had a target of£16bn of business lendingbetween March 1, 2009,and February 28, 2010, butit received repayments of£6.2bn, missing its targetby £22bn.

THE UK’s biggest coal pro-ducer has admitted to“deep-rooted problems”after it recorded losses ofmore than £100m for thesecond year in a row.

Doncaster-based UKCoal, which has three deep

mines in the Midlands andYorkshire and employsnearly 3,000 people, hasalready taken some“immediate and difficult”steps to improve perform-ance, while it works on afull strategic plan that it

hopes will identify a viablebusiness model.

In a stark assessment ofthe business, new chair-man Jonson Cox said pro-duction levels were consist-ently short of expectations,while costs have grown.

THE owner of the UK’s biggest natur-ist holiday operator today confirmedit was in takeover talks followingrumours of a bid approach valuingthe firm at £40m.

Travelzest owns nudist firm PengTravel, as well as luxury brands suchas Best of Morocco.

SUPERMARKET giant Tescoadmitted yesterday that it must“do better” in the UK, after miss-ing growth targets and seeingsales fall on a year ago.

The retail giant promised newproducts and services after reveal-ing a 0.7% drop in fourth-quarterUK like-for-like sales, excludingVAT and fuel.

Its fast-growing Asian businesshelped offset a tough domesticmarket, with Tesco reportinganother year of record underlyingprofits – up 12.3% to £3.8bn in theyear to February 26.

But new boss Philip Clarke saidthe UK performance was not goodenough as it failed to keep up withrivals in areas such as clothingand electricals.

“We didn’t achieve our plannedgrowth in the year, and this wasonly partly attributable to thedeterioration in the consumerenvironment during the secondhalf,” the group said.

“We can do better and we aretaking action in key areas – forexample, to drive a faster rate ofproduct innovation and toimprove the sharpness of ourcommunication to customers.”

The sales results mark a toughdebut for the new chief executive,who took over from Sir Terry

Leahy last month. Thefourth-quarter sales fall marksthe first such dip into negativeterritory for nearly two years.

It last saw sales excluding VATin the red during the secondquarter of the 2009/2010 financialyear, when the UK was in themiddle of recession.

Mr Clarke vowed to up Tesco’sgame as part of a six-point planfor the year ahead.

He said the group would have totap into a trend for far more cau-tious consumer spending.

He said: “Customers are look-ing for value, they’re looking toadjust to higher levels of inflation,to higher levels of tax, to the fuelprices – so they’re looking forvalue, eating out less, using cars abit less, acclimatising to the eco-nomic situation.

“What we’ve got to make surewe do is set the business up totrade in those circumstances.”

The group also hinted at newand improved food lines toimprove UK trading and pointedto recent launches, such as itsmove into the second-hand carmarket through Tesco Cars, as anexample of recent product innov-ation.

While Mr Clarke stopped shortof waging a price war, expertswarned the non-food drive couldspell further hardship for highstreet retailers.

Matthew McEachran, at SingerCapital Markets, said: “With over

£5bn of sales and space potentiallyincreasing by around 10% a year,intensification of their offer willresult in more pressure for a num-ber of general retailers, includingthose already having to competeharder.”

Tesco's UK general merchand-ise sales dropped 3.3% in thesecond half, as it under-performedin clothing and electricals.

But the group is not the onlymajor chain suffering as UK

consumers move to tighten theirbelts.

Sainsbury’s recently shockedthe market with its fourth-quarterfigures, which showed like-for-likegrowth of 1%, implying an under-lying fall of up to 1% when VAT isstripped out.

Tesco gave little hope that retailconditions would improve thisyear. It said trading would remainchallenging, particularly onnon-essential items.

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Advertising Feature LCDP

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One of theadvantages ofgauging a widerange of opin-ions is that wecan come upwith innovativeways of work-ing, ensuring wemeet the needs of those living and working in aspecific area.

For Liverpool’s commercial district, it isimpossible to overstate the importance of howthe area appears to visitors and potentialinvestors. As the main hub for Liverpool’sbusinesses, it must be immediately recognis-able as a world-class, vibrant place to visitand invest in.

Working in collaboration with the LiverpoolCommercial District Partnership, we havealready implemented a unique street conciergeservice. This team of urban environmentalrangers has addressed the concerns flagged upby businesses in the area and respondedquickly to clean up any unsavoury hotspots.

Our services are tailored to the commercialdistrict’s requests, so we can perform essentialmaintenance that is usually outside the remitof traditional council services.

The Liverpool Commercial District Partner-ship has provided a collective voice for theprivate sector over the past five years, but inorder to continue and expand, the BID willneed to be approved.

This will provide the resources to enable usto work with businesses to maintain andenhance the physical environment, therebyadding real value as a return on their invest-ment in the BID.

More than 800 landlords and tenants will beballoted on the proposal next month, whichwill ask them to accept a levy equivalent to 1%of business rates.

The numerous benefits that will undoubtedlycome from achieving BID status will ensurethat Liverpool’s commercial district will con-tinue to thrive.

Erika Rushton,Enterprise Director atNeighbourhood investor,part of the Plus DaneGroup, considers theenvironmental benefitsof achieving BID status

Erika Rushton


by Kate Creer, planning directorat DLA Piper, in Liverpool

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Competingagendasthreateningturmoil inUKplanningsystem

PLANNING policy in the UK has hada turbulent time under the coali-tion’s reign, and last month’s Budget,which announced a streamlined sys-

tem, offered little reassurance thatthings will improve.

A presumption in favour of sus-tainable development is the neworder of the day and, on the surface,there seemed much for the develop-ment community to celebrate.

The relaxation of planning rulesand new incentives for developmentin certain areas are positive steps,and so it’s unfortunate that thesepro-growth measures might bedestined for a head-on collision withthe Government’s other big idea forplanning – localism.

Designed to empower local com-munities with more involvement in

planning decisions, the Localism Billhas been behind the thrust of all ofthe coalition’s planning decisionssince coming to power.

This included the contro-versial scrapping ofregional housing targetslast year.

The new tactic foraddressing housing short-ages – allowing landlordsand developers to changethe use of commercialschemes without planningpermission – is unlikely tosolve the problem.

By their nature, commercial

schemes are often located in areasunsuitable for residential develop-ment, particularly for family hous-

ing. Scrapping the need forplanning permission wouldalso deprive local authorit-ies of valuable Section 106contributions – paymentswhich often go towardsfunding the kind of infra-structure needed to create asustainable community.

It is also directly inopposition to the localismagenda’s stated aim of giv-

ing more powers to local communit-ies. This is also true of the reintro-

duction of enterprise zones. In thecontext of localism, relaxing plan-ning rules in designated areas seemscontradictory.

A pro-growth agenda is not to besniffed at, but it must be a concernthat it could have the rug pulled fromunder it by the Government’s owndrive to empower local communities.

It’s certainly another headache forplanning authorities.

Having already been labelled a“chronic obstacle to economicgrowth” by the Chancellor, planningofficers are now faced with the unen-viable task of balancing two seem-ingly incompatible agendas.

Values areon the upCOMMERCIAL prop-erty values in the UKedged higher in March,gaining 0.3% against a0.2% rise in February,continuing their run-upfor a 20th consecutivemonth, data showed onMonday.

Investment PropertyDatabank (IPD) saidproperty values hadgained a total of 17%since late 2009, afterhaving fallen about45% during the globalfinancial crisis.

All-property totalreturns – comprisingboth income and cap-ital growth – hit 0.9%for March, from a 0.7%gain booked in bothFebruary and January.

Retail commercialproperty produced thelargest return, at 1%.

Tenantswelcomefootfallriseatcity’sAlbertDock

FormerWirralchurchsoldatauctionfor£185,000A FORMER WallaseyChurch was bought for£185,000 at an Eddisonsproperty auction inManchester.

The Grade II-listed StJohn’s Church and hall inLiscard Road occupies a 1.45acre site and was offered onthe instructions of the jointLPA receivers.

In total, 79 (87%) of the 91lots which came under thehammer attracted buyers,generating proceeds of morethan £5.3m.

Andrew Brown, of Eddis-ons, said: “This is a verystrong performance and iswell above the national aver-age.

“Such was the unpreced-ented level of interest thatwe had customers queuingto get into the auction roomand had to delay the start ofthe sale.

“Investors are clearlyattracted to propertieswhich have sensible reserveprices and offer good valuefor money.

“They want to see theirhard-earned cash generatestrong rental returns ordeliver longer-term capitalgrowth.”

Eddisons’ next auction ison May 10.The Grade II-listed St John’s Church and hall, in Liscard Road, Wallasey, has a new owner

‘Localismisanotherheadachefor theplanners’

LIVERPOOL’S Albert Dock is thisweek reporting a rise in footfall dur-ing the first quarter of this year.

The city’s most visited free touristdestination saw footfall figures in Feb-ruary and March rise 30% and 12%respectively year-on-year, with the Feb-ruary half-term being one of thebusiest weeks in the month.

The bars and restaurants at theAlbert Dock benefited from an averageincrease of 17% in visitor numbers in

March, with an average spendingincrease of 10%.

The dock attractions, which includethe Beatles Story, the Yellow BoatCruise and the Yellow Duckmarine,also reported an increase of 16% forboth visitor numbers and visitorspending.

The dock has been developing anumber of strategies to increase vis-itor numbers including a full eventsprogramme and the creations of agroups and tours offer, which was off-icially launched in early March at theGreat Days Out Fair.

There has also been a 32% increase

of traffic to the website and a dramaticincrease in e-newsletter sign ups andenquiries.

The Dock will be hosting a numberof events from an Easter Egg Hunt andParade at the weekend, to large-scaleentertainment over summer.

The developments are part of anongoing strategic campaign to furtherincrease the number of day-time vis-itors to the dock and capitalise on Liv-erpool’s tourist economy.

Jeremy Roberts, chairman of theAlbert Dock Business Tenants Asso-ciation, said: “We are pleased to reportthese early results – the year ahead is

going to be action-packed, with somevery exciting events.

“The dock is one of the crown jewelsof Liverpool’s tourist economy and allof the dock tenants continuously workvery hard to ensure every visitor hasan experience which makes them wantto return time and again.”

In recent years, the dock has refo-cused its strategy away from being aretail destination, instead aimingmore at the visitor market.

There are now two hotels on siteand the dock has benefited from thesuccess of the nearby Echo Arena andBT Convention Centre.

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Hope indeal onhall leaseLIVERPOOL Hope Uni-versity has this weekcompleted the assign-ment of the currentlease of Gerard ManleyHopkins Hall from Cos-mopolitan StudentHomes for the remain-ing 28 years of its lease-hold interest, for anundisclosed sum.

The four-storey prop-erty comprises a stu-dent hall of residencewith 188 en-suite roomsin four to six bedroomapartments located atthe heart of LiverpoolHope’s Creative Cam-pus.

The hall had beenoperated by Cosmopol-itan Student Homes forseven years, followingthe sale by the uni-versity in 2003.

Dr Ian Vandewalle,Pro Vice-Chancellor ofthe University, said:“This acquisitiondemonstrates LiverpoolHope University’s on-going commitment toinvest in the CreativeCampus.”

LIP£4minvestment‘boost’forknowledgeeconomy

A NEW £4m reception andnetworking area at LiverpoolInnovation Park (LIP) is ahuge boost for the cityregion’s knowledge economy,it has been claimed.

The scheme, officiallyopened last week, provides abusiness gateway to the prom-inent Edge Lane site and a5,000 sq ft wifi-enabled net-working facility.

LIP operator Space NorthWest contributed £2.5m to theproject, with the EuropeanRegional Development Fundchipping in with £1.42m.

LIP, which includes Waver-tree Technology Park, is oper-ated by Space North West, ajoint venture betweenAshtenne Industrial Fund andthe NWDA.

At the launch, Sarah Lind-say, regional director of

Ashtenne, said: “By providingthe vibrant business environ-ment, accommodation andamenities modern businessoccupiers seek, we can retainhome-grown talent and eco-nomic growth, and this grow-ing cluster in turn becomesincreasingly attractive toother knowledge industriesoutside of the region consid-ering relocation or expansion.”

Two ground-floor officesuites, comprised of 5,500 sq ftand 9,500 sq ft, have beencreated adjacent to the recep-tion, and are now available forrent.

Also at the launch was MaxSteinberg, chief executive ofLiverpool Vision.

He said: “Liverpool Visionis tasked with keeping themomentum going, lookingincreasingly overseas to forgestronger relationships inexisting and emerging mar-kets, and I am determinedthat Liverpool will becomeeven better known as an inter-national knowledge centre.” From left: Prof Dennis Kehoe, Cllr Paul Brant, Sarah Lindsay, and Max Steinberg

Advertising Feature Independent financial advice

Take charge of your cashnow to secure the futureGLYN JONES, of Vale Finan-cial Services, wonders if youpaid into your ISA last taxyear.

And he said: “If you did itin March, 2011, why not pay inthis year’s now, and avoidbeing last-minute next year.”

He added: “You could alsobenefit from an extra year’stax-free growth, or income, inthe meantime.”

Glyn says, as confusing assome of the recent and pro-posed changes may be, thereare some things which shouldbe automatic for the finan-cially astute.

One is to use your ISAallowance, which is £10,680 inthe current tax year to April 5,2012, of which half could be incash.

He continued: “Perversely,the interest rates offered oncash ISAs are often lower thanthose on ordinary deposits, soyou need to check the rateyou’re getting to make themost of any tax advantage.

“At least, when in an ISA,any withdrawals are not sub-ject to tax. Another method isto invest for your post-worklife, or, to be blunt, your pen-sion and retirement!

“Within new limits, any-thing you save into your planis topped up with tax relieffrom the Government.”

Glyn says the rules aroundpensions are changing as youread this, and it will no longerbe compulsory to buy anannuity at 75, although againthere are further rulesdesigned to ensure that youhave sufficient other guaran-teed income.

He reports that annuityrates have been fairly constantfor some time, and nobodyknows if or when they willincrease.

He said: “There is down-ward pressure on them fromextended life expectancy, but Iguess most people, given thechoice, would prefer to livelonger on a slightly lower pen-sion than the alternative.

“It is vital, therefore, thatyou obtain the best rate avail-able. Remember you canchoose your annuity provider,and that any medical con-ditions should be declared, asthese can often result inhigher benefits beingobtained.”

Glyn says another topicattracting the regulator’s

attention is assessing people’s“attitude to risk” and, in addit-ion, a client’s “capacity forloss”.

He went on: “In otherwords, you might well feel pre-pared to take a particularlevel of risk with your money,but realistically how muchcould you afford to lose andride out some losses?”

Glyn says there are variousquestionnaires which can beused to help reach an answerto these questions, but a trueunderstanding of your att-itude can best be obtained faceto face.

This way, your IFA can bet-ter judge your responses tothe alternatives, and also youcan expand on the answersand raise any queries.

He added: “It will be rarethat the same solution suitsany two people.

“This makes our role bothinteresting and challenging,but it is impartial anddesigned for the individual.”

■ VALE Financial Servicesis a member of pi FinancialServices, which is author-ised by the Financial Ser-vices Authority.

Glyn Jones – nobody knows if or whenannuity rates will increase

IndependentFinancial Advisersin your area

Anglesey

Security Financial ServicesTy Llwyd, Llanfaelog,Ty Croes, Anglesey LL63 5TY

Contact: Richard JonesEmail [email protected]

Phone: 01407 811268Mobile: 07710 468970

Denbighshire

Vale Financial [email protected]

Studio One,Town Hall, Crown Lane, Denbigh LL16 3TBTel: 01745 814962 Fax: 01745 814446

Contact: Glyn B. [email protected]

Liverpool

Rensburg Sheppards InvestmentManagement

The Plaza, 100 Old Hall Street, Liverpool L3 9AB.Tel: 0151 227 2030. Fax: 0151 227 2444

Email: [email protected]: www.rensburgsheppards.co.uk

Contact: Paul Brokenshar

Why choose an independent financial adviserBecause it pays to take an unbiased view

Those listed above are either an appointed representative of a networkor national which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services

Authority or are directly authorised and regulated


LondonStockMarketatClose

Last night, the pound was worth: $1.6313 (up 0.0085).........1.1393 euros (down 0.0024) ........ 134.51 yen (up 0.65) ........ Its trade weighted index was unchanged at 79.70Metals in $ per troy ounce: Gold 1495.20 (down 1.80).................... Silver 43.95 (up 0.71).................... Platinum 1768.00 (down 9.00).................... 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 39 Adv Medical 8714 -34

2314 334 AEA Technology 334 -18 -14

28712 241 Albany Inv Tst 284 -12 +3

1251 764 AMEC 1140 +2 -29

92 2012 Anglesey Mining 6812 -2 -10

35714 22934 Balfour Beatty 32514 +112 -78

41 29 Beale 3012

594 49258 Compass Gp 563 +212 +812

1258 478 Coral Prod 1012

110712 89712 Dee Valley 110212

49612 32214 easyJet 33114 +518 -434

9112 5934 IS Pharma 8912 -12 -112

96412 683 JD Sports Fashion 91512 +4612 +14

250 1112 JJB Sports 2412 -1 -2

3512 1534 Johnson Serv 3318 +38 +14

49518 355 Nichols 485 xd -8 -378

12112 8312 NWF 110 xd -212 -312

4014 1934 Park Gp 3912 +212

1257 76212 Rathbone 1190 +14 +20

15178 9712 Redrow 12134 +318 +178

14312 11434 RSA Insurance 13114 xd +158 -158

3614 1914 Speedy Hire 2714 +14 -1

5112 3534 Sportech 4234 +34

39 2514 Telme Gp 36 +14

5812 3234 UK Coal 3412 -414 -412

2 78 Ultima 134

1995 1688 Unilever 1954 +32 +39

62812 507 Utd Utils 607 +212 +6

UNIT TRUSTS

DAILY POST REGIONAL INDEX 1199.41 up 11.25 ▲ 0.95%

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 £741516 Cons 4%.................£7734

£582732 £4934 Cons 212% ..............£5112

Conversions

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

£1093132£1011516 Cnv 9% 11 ......... £1011516 -132

Treasury

£61 £50 Tr 212%................. £522132

£1171516 £109 Tr 9% 12................£10934

£10738 £1032132 Tr 5% 12............. £1032532 -132

£121516 £1152532 Tr 8% 13............. £1161132 -116

£114332 £109532 Tr 5% 14................£11014 -132

£112 £105732 Tr 734% 12-15........£10614

£3211132£3031132 Tr 212% IL 16 ....... £321116 -932

£142316 £1322132 Tr 834% 17........... £135332 -18

£147132 £13358 Tr 8% 21................£13738 -116

War

£8334 £6712 War Ln 312%......... £711316 -5332

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.

Mar 28 - Apr 1 Apr 4 - Apr 8 Apr 11 - Apr 15 M T W T F5710

5805

5900

5995

6090

FTSE-100

20-Day Moving Average

Oct 19, 2010 Apr 19, 2011

TESCO Share price (pence)355

390

425

460

495FTSE-Rebased

£ ABROAD

Australia dollars 1.47 1.551 1.556

Canada dollars 1.49 1.561 1.563

Denmark krone 8.09 8.492 8.502

European Union euro 1.09 1.139 1.140

Japan yen 127.59 134.410 134.510

New Zealand dollars 1.93 2.071 2.075

Norway krone 8.48 8.859 8.860

Poland zlotys 3.99 4.520 4.529

Sweden krona 9.75 10.164 10.174

Switzerland francs 1.39 1.466 1.467

Turkey new lira 2.33 2.494 2.504

United States dollars 1.55 1.631 1.632

Cancel Bid Offer Yield

Fund Terms Price Price Gross

FIDELITY INVESTMENT SERVS

Amer Spec Sits - 603.90 -

American - 1826.00 0.32

Gwth & Inc - 324.50 1.18

Income Plus - 197.90 4.26

Japan - 219.40 0.36

Jpan Spec Sits - 124.30 0.72

Spec Sits - 1955.00 0.61

Sth East Asia - 764.00 0.15

GARTMORE FUND MANAGERS

Euro Sel Opps - 882.07 1.16

Income - 208.37 3.68

Pratical Inv -156.41 167.92 4.41

GUARDIAN

Index-Linked Acc -497.78 523.97 -

International Acc -1006.32 1059.28 -

Pacific Acc -246.10 259.05 -

Property Bonds -1988.90 2071.77 -

HSBC INVESTMENT FUNDS (UK)

Balanced - 104.60 1.01

British -264.50 264.50 3.11

Gilt & FI - 62.94 3.50

Gilt & Fixed -212.10 212.10 3.26

Monthly Inc - 130.90 3.68

HENDERSON HORIZON FUND

European Smllr Cos A - 1019.40 -

Sterling Bd Unit Tst - 53.57 55.97 4.40

UK Equity Inc A - 437.00 2.95

HILL SAMUEL UNIT TST MGRS

UK Advantage Inc - 273.10 1.10

Capital -310.09 322.50 1.10

European - 795.70 0.70

Far East - 563.30 1.80

Inc & Gwth - 204.40 3.30

International - 415.30 0.40

North Amer Acc - 457.90 0.10

INVESCO FUND MANAGERS

Sing ASEAN - 219.52 0.38

High Low Funds Price Var

Closing Indices

FT-SE 100 INDEX 5896.87up 26.79 ▲ 0.46%

20 DAY MOVINGAVERAGE 5958.23up 6.71 ▲ 0.11%

FT ALL-SHARE 3062.29up 14.69 ▲ 0.48%

Aerospace & Defence

Index 3331.14 ▲ 1.08

258 8512 Avon Rbbr 24612 -1

36978 29434 BAE Systems 32638 -258

73612 51958 Chemring 669 xd +12

26738 19214 Cobham 22638 -34

38078 26134 Meggitt 34518xd +518

665 535 Rolls-Royce 628 +2

15912 10438 Senior 150 +238

Automobiles & Parts

Index 4582.61 ▲ 11.69

23718 10914 GKN 196 +12

Banks

Index 4662.56 ▼ 20.03

37078 25538 Barclays 29012 -18

889 610 Bco Santander 71078 +2378

73078 59614 HSBC 64058xd -314

16678 1914 Ireland 2212 -38

7758 5012 Lloyds Bnking 5838 -12

58 3758 Ryl Scotland 4114 -12

1959 1525 Stan Chart 1613xd -3

Beverages

Index 9475.82 ▲ 146.35

1342 900 Barr (AG) 1342 +5

518 36412 Britvic 38918 +638

1258 1025 Diageo 1200 +21

2306 1827 SABMiller 2220 +2912

Chemicals

Index 6903.86 ▲ 97.93

1749 901 Croda 1712 +12

163 5834 Elementis 160 +638

2100 1460 Johnsn Mat 1850 +18

Construction & Materials

Index 4075.34 ▲ 25.64

35714 22934 Balfour Beatty 32514 +112

265 18512 Costain 228 xd -212

1917 102734CRH 136558xd+618

1383 88612 Kier Group 1315xd +1

6312 2834 Low Bonar 5634xd

12012 7834 Marshalls 11814 -134

Electricity

Index 8022.81 ▼ 28.97

44214 32614 Drax Gp 44018 +414

44858 28412 Intl Power 32018 +138

1325 1010 Scot&Sthrn 1300 -7

Electronic & Electrical

Index 2912.85 ▲ 50.25

705 38312 Domino Ptg 61512 +612

179 9834 Laird 13018 +214

316 16712 Morgn Cru 28738 +578

774 256 Oxford Inst 742 -3

377 126 Volex Gp 29514 -512

Equity Inv Instruments

Index 6009.31 ▲ 32.60

37778 29312 Alliance 36934xd -114

14012 105 Br Assets 13358 +114

870 577 Candover Inv 612 +412

228 17118 DunedinIncGth 22538 +118

142 10034 Dunedin Sml 136 -1

46714 366 Edin Invst 45614 +78

66012 53012 Edin US TrkTst 63812 +4

31634 25138 Forgn & C 30478xd +214

32334 206 Hend SmllrCos301 +212

36278 27314 Law Dbnture 34378xd +312

251 18614 Scot Am 24734 -38

525 40978 Witan 50412 +3

Fixed Line Telecoms

Index 2321.98 ▼ 12.82

192 10978 BT Gp 18834 -34

6334 4438 Cble&WCom 4578 -14

92 4958 Cble&WWwd 4958 -1

6512 41 KCOM 6014 -1

Food & Drug Retailers

Index 4639.11 ▼ 43.77

30614 25758 Morrison W 28514 +34

395 31278 Sainsbury 33914 +14

45438 37712 Tesco 39312 -612

11234 74 Thorntons 7834xd -12

Food Producers

Index 5218.41 ▲ 76.62

1182 918 AB Foods 1037 +15

71712 47712 Carrs Mill 71712

90712 749 Cranswick 755 -5

42478 33934 Dairy Crest 37618 +334

7534 4134 Nth Foods 7234

3118 16 Premier Foods 30

607 40918 Tate Lyle 598 +512

1995 1688 Unilever 1954 +32

Forestry & Paper

Index 6215.07 ▲ 161.57

61012 36758 Mondi 577 xd +15

General Financial

Index 5871.77 ▲ 29.54

340 25178 3i 26338 +112

88812 664 Close Bros 787 xd +612

57012 34158 ICAP 503 +478

933 544 London StkEx 86512 +712

1033 72812 Provident 97212 -9

1257 76212 Rathbone 1190 +14

1922 1154 Schroders 1791xd +9

General Industrials

Index 3244.24 ▲ 20.87

720 36738 Cooksn Gp 645 +11

1258 478 Coral Prod 1012

778 338 Cosalt 418

37778 29038 Rexam 37612 +234

226 108 Smith DS 19712 +218

1429 1008 Smiths Gp 1299xd +6

General Retailers

Index 1686.51 ▲ 8.45

2514 1214 Ashley L 1912 -14

31114 221 Brown (N) Gp 28712 +338

7738 53 Debenhams 6612 +1

35 1134 Dixons Retail 1314 -12

550 34814 Halfords 37078 -18

29518 18812 Home Retail 20914 -678

414 23718 Inchcape 35334 +834

96412 683 JD Sports 91512 +4612

250 1112 JJB Sports 2412 -1

27114 19812 Kingfisher 26718 +3

42712 32638 M & S 37612 +534

62712 382 Mothercare 41734 +514

2344 1868 Next 2169 -11

2885 1724 Signet Jwlrs 2610 -15

523 39814 WH Smith 470 -34

Health Care Equip & Serv

Index 3792.30 ▲ 7.13

742 53712 Smith Nph 67612 +1

Household Goods

Index 6172.48 ▼ 8.80

138 74 Aga Rngmstr 11814 -312

13734 70 Barratt Dev 10278 +238

809 511 Bellway 68512 +10

21538 114 McBride 13714 -214

3655 3015 Reckitt Benck 3177xd -23

15178 9712 Redrow 12134 +318

44 2214 Taylor Wimpey 3638 +38

Industrial Engineering

Index 6870.19 ▲ 168.71

34618 18212 Bodycote 32134xd +11

85312 567 Charter 74512xd +412

38634 18314 Fenner 35038 +1034

1059 578 IMI 1003xd+4212

108 4312 Molins 95 -112

215 115 MS Intl 215 +10

45 23 Renold 3334 -14

2025 1344 Spirax Srco 1923xd +32

1861 846 Weir Gp 1757 +46

Industrial Transportation

Index 2556.77 ▲ 14.46

24034 175 BBA Aviation 20414xd +218

Life Insurance

Index 4386.50 ▲ 25.33

47778 29414 Aviva 41734xd +318

12234 7214 Lgl & Gen 11634 +18

749 48914 Prudential 72212xd +7

31134 21114 Resolution 29238 -214

24434 173 Standard Life 20618xd +34

Media

Index 4186.14 ▲ 36.15

83812 53612 BSkyB 831 xd

59412 433 D Mail Tst 47918 +1058

9312 4814 ITV 7438 +78

1149 864 Pearson 1106xd +15

59012 46058 Reed Elsevier 53712 +2

154 66 STV Group 13812 +3

17018 4534 Trinity Mirror 47 +12

725 48018 Utd Business 59012xd +18

151 106 UTV 140 +378

84612 608 WPP 72712 +512

Mining

Index 26108.21 ▲ 294.48

3437 2254 Anglo Amer 3053xd +70

1634 761 Antofagasta 1317 +13

263112168412BHP Billiton 2471 +1612

1682 76312 Fresnillo 1559 +45

1671 965 Kazakhmys 1313 +5

2015 1355 Lonmin 1604 +29

6655 4425 Randgold Res 5215 +5

4712 2812 Rio Tinto 423012 +29

5812 3234 UK Coal 3412 -414

Mobile Telecoms

Index 3984.09 ▼ 1.95

821 575 Inmarsat 600 -10

18234 12912 Vodafone Gp 17458

Nonlife Insurance

Index 1588.16 ▲ 9.99

1753 1238 Admiral Grp 1611 +3

188612126034Marsh McL 177058xd-934

14312 11434 RSA Insurance 13114xd +158

Oil & Gas Producers

Index 8452.90 ▲ 38.46

156412984 BG 148112xd+1112

64814 30278 BP 45212 +78

49314 366 Cairn Energy 43838 +534

2140 1085 Premier 1944 -1

2290121554 Ryl D Shell B 216212 +1212

1493 99112 Tullow Oil 1379xd +7

Oil Equipment & Services

Index 25437.55 ▲ 273.84

1251 764 AMEC 1140 +2

Personal Goods

Index 20216.51 ▲ 951.09

1215 61212 Burberry Gp 1215 +69

409 26512 PZ Cussons 33214 +34

Pharma & Biotechnology

Index 8990.65 ▲ 25.67

3385 2772 AstraZeneca 2971 +1812

1318121095 GlaxoSmthKln 124012 -12

5214 31 Vernalis 4014 +14

Real Estate

Index 1958.11

35314 28438 Big Yellow Gp 31734 +212

58512 41814 Brit Land 565 xd +12

2919 2157 Daejan Hldgs 2700 +31

40118 28012 Gt Portland 39212 +212

773 545 Land Secs 74112xd -112

33114 25014 SEGRO 30614xd -114

Software & Comp Servs

Index 694.27 ▼ 0.80

1975 1271 Autonomy 1497 -47

6114 3012 Emblaze 5858 +1

36414 23014 Invensys 31712 +378

12612 85 Kewill 10378 +114

14778 10134 Logica 12758xd +18

302 22234 Sage 27634 +218

Support Services

Index 4459.73 ▲ 27.24

2314 334 AEA Tech 334 -18

1696 1157 Aggreko 1590xd -3

20778 77 Ashtead Gp 19914 +334

492 36014 Berendsen 480 xd +4

783 658 Bunzl 71412 +112

826 63512 Capita 714 xd -8

984 54912 De La Rue 758 -1

27912 20214 Electrocmps 26478 +58

819 572 Experian 781 +712

28234 23734 G4S 27418 +134

452 24134 Hyder Cons 364 -8

29634 18312 Interserve 255 xd -12

545 33734 Menzies J 53912 +412

34634 15214 Northgate 33012 +412

30834 20838 Prem Farnell 27258 +158

13812 8414 Rentokil 9018 +38

126 79 Smiths News 9612 +314

3614 1914 Speedy Hire 2714 +14

1127 709 Travis & P 1013 +2

2261 1223 Wolseley 2077xd +35

Tech Hardware & Equip

Index 750.07 ▲ 0.96

651 22838 ARM Hldgs 57512

43 1934 BATM 2234 +18

10234 7134 Psion 101 xd +2

16014 10234 Spirent Coms 13538xd +114

Tobacco

Index 29515.33 ▲ 345.98

2567 1959 Br Am Tob 256012xd+3612

2069 1753 Imperial Tob 2025 +11

Travel & Leisure

Index 4615.82 ▲ 29.44

3153 2037 Carnival 2403

594 49258 Compass Gp 563 +212

49612 32214 easyJet 33114 +518

13914 8438 Enterprise Inns 8914 -114

41258 31114 FirstGroup 31258 +114

1485 1042 Go-Ahead Gp 1388 +3

49138 37614 Greene King 46378 +158

360 240 Holidaybreak 28614xd -634

1435 982 Intercontl Htls 1263xd +13

285 21278 Intl Cons Airlns 22134 +434

16234 12234 Ladbrokes 14318xd -118

11718 8978 Marston’s 10114 +112

361 274 Mitchells&Btlrs 30818 +314

101 58 Punch Taverns 7638 +14

15234 9434 Rank Gp 14978xd +4

313 20814 Restaurant Gp 31218 +14

22934 16034 Stagecoach 22714 +114

26358 16114 Thomas Cook 16214 +1

291 190 TUI Travel 22614 +114

1887 1266 Whitbread 1660 +11

Utilities

Index 4600.58 ▲ 45.00

34618 26412 Centrica 32638 +614

11071289712 Dee Valley 110212

657 48414 National Grid 59212 +312

650 48278 Pennon Gp 626 +2

1513 1086 Severn 1435 +7

62812 507 Utd Utils 607 +212

AIM

Index 905.62 ▲ 6.32

26 712 API Gp 2514

1514 412 Armour Gp 512

520 19012 Cape 520 +5

812 2 CDU 2

134 1 Crimson Tide 112

238 112 Dawson Intl 2

814 414 Eckoh 814

3512 1534 Johnson Serv 3318 +38

86 3034 Man Brnze 4712 -12

12 4 Metalrax 1158 +14

550 355 Portmeirion P 50212

17312 55 Redhall Gp 72

4314 1112 Scapa Gp 43

148 115 Swallowfield 120

74 67 Uniq 74

670 510 Young A 581 -12


businessdiary

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Wednesday, April 27Influencing Be-haviours: An Account-ant’s Guide to Nudgewill be the theme ofAndrew Berkley’sentertaining present-ation. Andrew, a dir-ector of AmbitiousMinds, will look at howNudge could help

accountants and how itmay challenge thebasic building blocksthat accountants use.The free event is atRadissonBlu Hotel, OldHall Street, from6pm-8.15pm. To book,tinyurl.com/nudgeacca

Wednesday, May 4The Hilton Hotel, in

Liverpool One, willhost this month’s Fish!Networking event. It isfree and is from5.30pm-8pm. RSVP [email protected] text Ubiquity PR07710 436125 for guestlist.

Friday, May 6The monthly Dares-bury Science andInnovation CampusBusiness breakfast net-work event brings

together around 100people working forhi-tech companies. Thebreakfast is at Dares-bury InnovationCentre, starting from8am. For more details,see www.daresburysic.co.uk/events

Tuesday, May 10The Liberty BusinessBuilder seminar is forSMEs which are look-ing for some freshthinking on how to

build their business.Prices are from £95 perperson. It is at SuitesHotel, Knowsley, from8.30am-1pm. For moreinformation, seehttp://libertycoachingsolutions.co.uk/?p=39

Tuesday, May 10Employment solicitorMark McKeating willgive an overview of therecent changes inemployment law andlook at what businesses

should expect for thecoming year at thelatest Liverpool Cham-ber of CommerceQuarterly HR Forum.The meeting will takeplace at Hill Dickinson,Old Hall Street, from8.30am-10.30am. It isfree for LiverpoolChamber members and£15 for non-members.To book, call 0151 2271234.

Thursday, May 12

UKTI Northwest isencouraging NorthWest businesses toattend a free event tofind out about thelatest Incoterms 2010rules and how they canassist in internationaltrade success.It is at UKTI NW, Traf-ford Park, Manchester,M17 1LB. For moreinformation, [email protected]

ChinalikelytoexportinflationratherthandeflationCHINA’S influence on the global eco-nomy is being felt in numerous ways,and this appears likely to continue forthe foreseeable future.

One particularly positive effect overthe past 20 years was the deflationaryimpact of imports from China – and,indeed, from other emerging markets –on the developed world.

Chinese goods remained competit-ively priced thanks to productivitygains offsetting wage growth, and alsoas a result of commodity pricesremaining low.

This, in turn, meant that major ele-ments of Western consumer priceinflation baskets – forexample, clothing – saw pricesfall in real and sometimesabsolute terms.

This benign situation forthe developed world changedin the middle of the last dec-ade owing to heavy Chineseinvestment in infrastructure,along with the rapid develop-ment of a buoyant urban con-sumer society, which led toincreased demand for com-modities and rising globalcommodity prices.

Following the brief hiatusof the financial crisis, theimpact of China’s rapid economicgrowth on global commodity priceshas resumed, and was a major con-tributor to the 30%increase in foodprices and 40%increase in the oil priceover the past year.

Wage inflation has also been grow-ing rapidly (21-22% over the past sixmonths) as workers’ influence growsand as the shift from rural areas to

cities has started to slow. Inflation isnow a major concern in China, and theextent of the problem is clouded by the

apparent attempt by theauthorities to manipulate thereported data.

In January, the ChineseNational Bureau of Statisticschanged the composition of itsconsumer price inflation bas-ket, reducing the weighting offood (to around 30%) andincreasing the weighting ofhousing.

While a revision in the foodweighting is partially justifiedby the fact that rising incomesmean that a lower proportionof consumption is taken up bynecessities such as food, the

precise timing of this revision is sig-nificant, as it had the effect of reduc-ing reported inflation.

The increased weighting of housingcould also make reported inflationappear lower, if the Chinese author-ities are successful in their attempts toget rampant house price inflationdown.

Despite four interest rate rises since

October, Chinese inflation remainselevated, and the annual rate of con-sumer price inflation, according toofficial figures, rose to 5.4% in March.

We are of the opinion that theChinese authorities will do whatever ittakes to get inflation under controlover the long term, as not to do sowould lead to significant popular dis-content that could threaten the gov-ernment’s stability.

However, in the near term, thereremains scope for upside inflation sur-prises, which would feed through toglobal inflation levels and encourage

interest rate tightening in developedcountries.

Were China to allow the yuan toappreciate against the American dol-lar, this would help to alleviatedomestic Chinese inflationary pres-sure.

In any eventuality, it seems clearthat China is more likely to be asource of inflationary, rather thendeflationary, pressure on the West inthe future.

Sanjiv Tumkur,Research Analyst,

Rensburg Sheppards

The rapid development of a buoyant urban consumer society inChina has led to rising global commodity prices

LondonmarketTHE FTSE 100 Indexregained its nerve yester-day, and clawed backsome of the lossessuffered after a ratingsagency downgraded theUS’s debt forecast.

Investors spotted a buy-ing opportunity after itlost more than 2% of itsvalue on Monday, follow-ing Standard and Poor’sshock downgrade of itsoutlook for the world’sbiggest economy to neg-ative from stable.

A strong performanceby mining stocks helpedlead the market up 26.8points, to 5896.9, despiteS&P’s concerns that theUS Government will notbe able to agree a plan toreduce the growingnational deficit.

The pound was down to1.14 against the euro,which was boosted afterstronger than expectedeconomic data from Ger-many. But it was upagainst the dollar at 1.63.

The blue-chip indexwas also encouraged bybetter-than-expectedearnings from Johnson &Johnson and GoldmanSachs. Miners and energycompanies helped buoythe London market, withFresnillo up 45p at 1559pand Anglo Americanahead 70p at 3053p.

As well as the fall-outfrom the S&P downgrade,investors were watchingsupermarket Tesco aftera disappointing UK salesperformance offset a 12%rise in underlying full-year profits to £3.8bn.

Shares in Britain’sbiggest retailer weredown more than 1%, or6.5p, to 393.6p.

The biggest Footsierisers were Burberry, up69p at 1215p, IMI, ahead42.5p at 1003p, Fresnillo,up 45p at 1559p, and WeirGroup, ahead 46p, at1757p. The biggest Footsiefallers were Autonomy,down 47p at 1497p,Inmarsat, off 10p at 600p,Tesco, down 6.5p at 393.6p,and Royal Bank of Scot-land, off 0.6p, at 41.3p.

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


■ BIRKENHEAD mar-ket will be ringing

to bingo lingo like “eyesdown” and “two littleducks”, as bosses bid tobring a smile back toshoppers’ faces.

Market managerDanny Doyle, below,yearns for the good olddays when the place wasbrimming with charac-ters.

“Shopping has becomeso soulless nowadays,” hecomplained.

“You can visit a store,purchase your goods andpay for them, withouteven speaking to ahuman.

“Now, some people maywant that, but I believethat shopping for dailyneeds is essential forcommunal life.”

So he has installed aretro bingo arena andcounters bought from aseaside pier near Brid-lington so punters can

get their dobbers out andget stuck into markingtheir bingo cards in a bidto win tokens that can beredeemed at some of the250 stalls around the mar-ket.

At 20p a game, he canhardly be accused ofencouraging hardenedgamblers, and therewards can be claimedagainst anything fromfruit and veg, to meat, ahairdo, or furniture.

■ THE Liverpool Bar,in James Street, is

offering a service theyclaim is the first of itskind in the city – a “hus-band creche”.

The pub, located nextdoor to James Street stat-ion, has a sign outsideaimed at wives and girl-friends who dread theprospect of draggingtheir bored other halfaround the shops.

It reads: “While you doyour shopping, buy him adrink, leave him here andwe will look after him.”

In contrast, the nearbySakura restaurant founditself a bit off the pacelast week. A large sand-wich board placed inExchange Flags urgedpeople to “book yourplaces for the races”.

This was seen last Fri-day – six days after theGrand National. Do theymean next year?

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workingday

Trainingschemesputoncourseforsuccess

DonnaDaintonisheadofemployerskillsatWirral-basedtrainingproviderScientiam.Donnaismarriedandlives inAinsdale,Southport.This isherworkingday

6.30am: Alarm goes off and I get outof bed, have a shower and get dressedand have my breakfast – this is alwaystea and cereal – and I sit down andthink about the day ahead.

The main focus of the day is the newGreen Energy Training Centre(GETC). The £280,000 centre is a part-nership between Scientiam, renewableenergy products manufacturer StiebelEltron and the Skills Funding Agency.

7.30am: I have an early morning meet-ing at the GETC with Stiebel Eltron’smanaging director Mark McManus.

We are currently offering formaltraining on heat pumps and solarphotovoltaic.

Our courses are BPEC accreditedand are open to tradesmen such asengineers, electrical contractors,plumbing contractors and heating andventilation specialists wanting toimprove their skills in green energyand will plug a growing skills gapwithin the industry.

Since launching our first trainingcourse in January, we have exper-ienced a huge demand for the coursesand today we meet to discuss thetimetable of courses and the financialincentives which we can offer tocourse attendees.

10am: Back at Scientiam headquar-ters in Birkenhead. I have an oppor-tunity to check my emails and meetwith our financial director, KevinMoore, to discuss budgets for our trademedia and civic open days at thecentre.

12pm: Lunch at my desk provides anopportunity to catch up with emailsand some work.

1pm: A further meeting follows withMike Regan, the business developmentadvisor for the GETC, the project man-ager and our trainers.

Our PR agency is also on hand todiscuss the PR campaign and how wecan use social media to market ourcourse.

I am delighted to hear we have soldtwo courses via our Twitter activity.

2.30pm: A further meeting at

Academy One, in Liverpool. Scientiamhas successfully partnered with Liv-erpool One to undertake the retailtraining for Academy One and Liver-pool city region. Our key strength inthis area is that we can create bespoketraining courses to fit the needs ofindividual businesses.

Today, I meet with Sara Carthy, whois human resources director of Liv-erpool One, to finalise arrangementsfor the forthcoming Liverpool OneRetail Forum networking breakfast.

4pm: The final meeting of the day iswith Mike Poole, of Liverpool Vision,at the Bluecoat Chambers, to discussthe Mary Portas Programme and theskills development programmes wewill be running across the Liverpoolcity region. Academy One will be host-ing the Mary Portas Guide to Success-ful Retailing in areas such as OldSwan and Mossley Hill.

The course contains seven separatemasterclasses for Merseyside busi-nesses.

It includes sessions on retail financeand business planning, selling and ser-vice skills, visual merchandising, mar-keting and team building. We meet todiscuss course attendance and venueissues .

5.30pm: I head home. This evening ismy eldest daughter’s birthday, and myhusband and I are going to her homein Chester for supper.

We get back at 10.30 and I get readyfor the next day before going to bed.

Scientiam’s Donna Dainton – has been involved in developing the Green Energy Training Centre

ldp business 20.04.11

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