FLEXIBLEWORKING Your flexible friendINSURANCEThe perfect storm?THE BIG QUESTIONWhat will an interest raterise mean for business?FEBRUARY 2014EAST MIDLANDS LEADING BUSINESS E-MAGwww.blmgroup.co.ukFEBRUARY 2014WWW.EASTMIDLANDSBUSINESSLINK.CO.UKINTELLECTUAL PROPERTYCan you keep a secret?INTELLECTUAL PROPERTYCan you keep a secret?EMBL FEB:Layout 1 7/2/14 14:41 Page 1Your guide to the pharmaceutical world PharmaBUSINESS INTERNA-The completePharma packageGet one step ahead of your competitors withPharma Business International – your completeguide to this fast-moving, innovative andhighly specialised industry!From the publishers ofFood & Drink International,Pharma Business International is basedaround incisive and authoritative information and opinion from the major players in the industry – you'll wonder how you coped without it!Available to subscribers as a printed magazinePublished online at www.pbiforum.net Distributed at numerous industry exhibitionsFind out more! Call +44 (0)1472 310302 or visitwww.pbiforum.netEMBL FEB:Layout 1 7/2/14 14:41 Page 2EDITOR’S NOTESwww.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link 3The retail merry-go-round shows no signs of abating, after this month we learned that Intu is tokick off the (very) long-awaited redevelopment of its much-maligned Broadmarsh shopping centrein Nottingham. Meanwhile, Intu has been sniffing around Derby too - looking to buy Westfield’s mall there afterthe Australian-owned company put the building up for sale.It’ll be interesting to look back on this period in 15 years’ time to see whether this to-ing and fro-ing will actually benefit our cities in the East Midlands. Excuse me for feeling cynical at this stage...Many have said that our cities rely too heavily on their retail offer, and its pleasing to hear fromJanine Bone, the local Intu boss, that the new Broadmarsh development will feature restaurants andperhaps a cinema. However, you can’t help but glance enviously as Birmingham’s wonderful newlibrary. Why can’t the East Midlands be bold and do the same? Or at least something similar.Also in this issue, our round table asks whether or not companies need to be in the city centre inorder to thrive. With Cooper Parry on the way out of Nottingham, Baker Tilly, which is moving toanother city centre location from their Wollaton Street base, says it’s staying put. This is a debate that also brings in the retail question. As Matthew Smith from Jones Lang Lasallerightly pointed out at the round table; without city centre offices and the people they bring, theharder it is to attract high-end retailers to our centres. He has a point.Commercial property-watchers are no doubt licking their lips at what will happen over the nexttwo years. If the Broadmarsh kicks off on time, then it may well cause a domino effect across theentire East Midlands. Exciting times.Sam MetcalfEditorShould they stay orshould they go?EMBL FEB:Layout 1 7/2/14 14:41 Page 3January 2014Latest News 7The latest news from the regionCommercial Property News 10All the latest from the property sectorManufacturing News 12News and views from around the East MidlandsAppointments16Who’s moving where Deals18The latest news from the dealmakers around the regionThe Big Question 20What will an interest rate rise mean for business? Flexible Working22By Danielle Asano, managing director, Cherry ProfessionalRound Table24How important is it to have an office presence in the citycentre?The Bentinck, Nottingham26Sam Metcalf spent a Saturday night at the newest additionto the Nottingham hotel scene.The Big Question27Do you support a raise in the National Minimumn Wage?Interview30Nottingham-based creative agency Michon Creative ispredicting 10 per cent growth on its turnover this year as itcelebrates its 30th anniversary. Stephanie Bartup spoke toits managing director, Jeff Michon ContentsInsurance32As the storms continue, Sam Metcalf asks what makes agood insurance package - and a good broker. From ITbreakdowns to flooding - the way a business insures itselfcan mean the difference between eliminating all possiblerisk, or leaving itself open to threats.Import34New research published by HSBC reveals how imports areincreasing the UK’s productivity and export potential,supporting the country’s economic and business growth.Recruitment35The economy is on the move. Companies are taking onstaff again - some in bigger numbers than before the 2008crash, but did you know that the Midlands is leading theway? Sam Metcalf reports.Round Table37Are businesses doing enough to protect their intellectualproperty (IP)? And are they leveraging their IP to improvetheir bottom line? Our latest round table, sponsored bySpearing Waite, found out.The Big Question40Will the rise in GDP put more money in our pockets?AutoLink42With some 56 vehicle debuts being unveiled at the LosAngeles motor show, the opportunity to grab a briefinsight into what we can expect on these shores, inmonths to come, was just too good an opportunity tomiss, we test the BMW M4 Coupé.Dress Down Friday46A different look at office life12374East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.ukEMBL FEB:Layout 1 7/2/14 14:41 Page 430EditorSam Metcalfs.metcalf@blmgroup.co.ukAdvertisingLisa Muckle l.muckle@blmgroup.co.ukAccounts & SubscriptionsAngela Sharman, Dawn Cookaccounts@blmgroup.co.ukTel: (01472) 310301 Fax: (01472) 310311Design & ProductionGary Jorgensen, Mark Casson,Rachel Greenstudio@blmgroup.co.ukTel: (01472) 310304Fax: (01472) 310314E-Mail:eastmidlands@blmgroup.co.ukPublisherHaychart Ltd, t/a Business Link Magazine Group,Armstrong House, Armstrong Street, Grimsby, N.E. Lincs., DN31 2QE.All rights reserved. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced, transmitted, photocopied,recorded or otherwise without expresspermission of the copyright holder, for whichapplication should be addressed first to thepublisher. While every reasonable care is taken,neither the publisher nor its participating agentsaccept liability for loss or damage to prints,colour transparencies, negatives or othermaterial of whatever nature submitted to thispublication. The views expressed in thispublication are not necessarily the views of thoseheld by the publisher.FLEXIBLEWORKINGYourflexiblefriendINSURANCETheperfectstorm?THEBIGQUESTIONWhatwillaninterestraterisemeanforbusiness?FEBRUARY2014EASTMIDLANDSLEADINGBUSINESSE-MAGwww.blmgroup.co.ukFEBRUARY2014WWW.EASTMIDLANDSBUSINESSLINK.CO.UKINTELLECTUALPROPERTYCanyoukeepasecret?INTELLECTUALPROPERTYCanyoukeepasecret?@BLMEastMidlandsBLMEastMidlandsFront cover photocourtesywww.shutterstock.com/arka38www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link 5EMBL FEB:Layout 1 7/2/14 14:41 Page 5FOR BUSINESSES THAT ARE SERIOUS ABOUT REDUCING THEIR CARBON FOOTPRINTWWW.RENEWABLESANDENVIRONMENT.COMYou can read Renewables &Environment on the go!Available on Smartphones and Tablets. Ideal forthose whospend time away fromtheir officeEMBL FEB:Layout 1 7/2/14 14:52 Page 6Ergo Computing is sold andgets the VIP treatmentErgo Computing UK, the Nottingham company which providesIT hardware and infrastructure support to public sectororganisations, has sold the majority stake of its shares to rival VIPComputer Centre, based in Warrington.VIP Group consists of seven companies based internationally.The Group’s headquarters, manufacturing and distribution centreare based in Warrington. There is also a second distributioncentre in Breda, Holland. The Group has additional offices in theUK, The Netherlands, USA and Spain. VIP Group turnover in2012/2013 was £199m and it employs 250 staff. Ergo will continue to trade as an independent company withinVIP Group. The company's 55 staff will continue to operate fromits current site on Ruddington Fields Business Park, just outsideNottingham; and will be supported with VIP Group’swarehousing facility based in Warrington.Current managing director Neil Bellamy will continue in hisposition with a holding stake within the business and will play apivotal role in developing it going forward. He said: “This is anexciting time for Ergo Computing and being part of a largerGroup will ensure we can build on our success in IT products andservices within the public sector. This new relationship andsupport will drive growth over the years to come.”VIP Group Chairman Jatti Sahni added: “We have been lookingto diversify into this market sector for some time and we seemany synergies and spin-off benefits by working in partnershipwith Ergo. We also believethat VIP Group will producea stronger and morecompetitive Ergo. Thisacquisition represents afurther significantinvestment by VIP Groupand demonstrates our on-going commitment tofuture growth”.Ergo Computing’sshareholders were advisedby Chris Taylor of SmithCooper, Nottingham withlegal advice from PatrickBillyeald and AndrewNeedham of Shakespeares.Mattioli Woods reveals REIT plansMattioli Woods, the Leicester-based wealth management specialist, is set to launch a real estate investment trust(REIT) onto the London Stock Exchange after reporting strong growth in both revenue and profits for the six months to30th November 2013.Revenue at the firm was up 19.4 per cent to £13.4m, whilst profits rose 14.9 per cent to £3.1m.Bob Woods, executive chairman, said: "It is over a year since the Financial Conduct Authority introduced the RetailDistribution Review, heralding a period of unprecedented change in our key markets. We remain committed to thecreation of a new style 21st century financial services business, the essence of which is combining consultancy with theprovision of our own bespoke products and services. "We plan to incorporate a closed-ended property investment company, which is expected to become a real estateinvestment trust to launch an initial public offering on the Main Market of London Stock Exchange in the spring. Theplanned launch of the REIT is an exciting opportunity to drive dynamic growth in our property business. "We are delighted with the performance of our business in what remains a fast-changing market. Current trading is inline with the Board's expectations and we remain confident in our outlook for the remainder of the year."Westerby opens thirdLeicester officeLeicester-based Westerby Group has opened a thirdoffice in Leicester at The Crescent, King Street.Westerby Trustee Services, lead by Ian Jarvis and theWesterby Group’s finance team, headed up by BarbaraDams, will now be based at The Crescent, having relocatedfrom offices in Andover Street.Les McLintic, chairman and group managing director,said: “We had a very strong trading year in 2013, withincreased demand for our traditional SSAS (Small SelfAdministered Schemes and SIPPs.“We recruited several new staff into our WesterbyTrustees team recently so a third office gives us the spacewe need immediately and room for further expansion thisyear."Octavian expands into LondonNottingham-based Octavian Security has expanded after opening offices inCentral and North London.The offices in Farringdon and Waltham Cross have been opened to serviceOctavian's client base in and around London, which includes UPS, iQ StudentAccommodation, Prologis Developments, Goodman Logistics, The NationalTrust, Sunlight Services Group, and Laing O’Rourke.Commercial director Tony Mellor said: “These new offices will allow us tomaintain and improve on our service to existing clients, thanks to theconvenience of being located close to them.”“We are also certain that this step will open up more opportunities foradditional blue chip contracts in the capital moving forward.”(L-R) Directors SteveHarvey (left), LesMcLintic, (centre) andIan Jarvis (right) NEWSwww.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link 7EMBL FEB:Layout 1 7/2/14 14:52 Page 7NEWSEast Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk8TDX goes Stateside for £200mEquifax, the US-based information solutions giant, has bought Nottingham-based TDX Groupfor £200m from Investcorp and TDX's co-founders.Founded in 2004, TDX, based in Bildurn's Pod development on Fletcher Gate in the city,provides businesses with technology, data and advisory solutions to improve debt liquidationand the fair treatment of consumers in financial arrears. "This is a very exciting transaction," said Mark Sanders, CEO of TDX. "Equifax and TDX havevery complementary data assets, as well as a shared customer base of long-standing companyrelationships looking for improved collection services and capabilities. We see significantopportunities to work together to deliver innovative, value-creating solutions to the market andthe integration of the two companies' strengths will help us respond to a significant customer-driven opportunity, to use data, technology and insight to improve performance, compliance,and to deliver improved customer and consumer experiences.""Our customers are looking for end-to-end solutions that streamline their collectionsprocesses, as well as deeper insights and analytics, to optimize their efforts," said Paulino RBarros, president of Equifax International. "The combination of our expertise in cutting-edgetechnology and global resources, the common customer relationships we have with TDX, andthe unparalleled collections expertise TDX brings, will drive significant revenue growth andmove Equifax to the forefront of this growing industry worldwide."Frontline Recruitment postsrecord revenuesFrontlineRecruitment ispredicting an upturn inthe jobs market in 2014after posting recordresults for its yearending 31st October2013.The recruitment firm,which has offices inNottingham, Derby,Leicester andMansfield, sawturnover rise 36 percent to £12.25m for the12 months to 31stOctober, with profit up45 per cent year onyear.Elliot Kidd, directorof FrontlineRecruitment, said: “Ourexcellent set of resultsshow that confidenceis returning to the jobsmarket. Employers are now looking to ‘try before they buy’ withregards to staffing – and they’re turning to Frontline, leading to recordresults for us.“The vast majority of our clients are now expanding their teams afterwhat has been a very tough few years for them. With confidencereturning to the economy we’re finding they’re ready to take advantageof an increase in orders.”Kidd says Frontline has noticed a marked rise in clients from themanufacturing and construction sectors taking on more staff.He adds: “The majority of our new clients – some 44 per cent –come from manufacturing companies, whilst one in ten of Frontline’snew clients are now from the building and construction industry – afigure that is continuing to climb.“We’ve expanded because our clients demanded it. On the back ofour excellent results, we’ll be looking at further expansion throughout2014, with a host of new positions throughout our six offices aroundthe country. I’d like to thank the team for their dedication over the last12 months – we’re already planning to break another record this year.”JLL posts 12 per cent revenue riseCommercialproperty agent JonesLang Lasalle hasreported a 12 per centrise in revenues to£2.42bn for the yearending 31st January.The company,whose East Midlandsheadquarters in basedin Nottingham, says ithas reduced its debtby £62m over thepast 12 months.Matthew Smith,lead director from theNottingham offices of Jones Lang LaSalle said: "Nottingham's performancereflects the upturn seen globally by the company. We saw improvedactivity across all of our teams with a fantastic portfolio of office, industrialand investment deals delivered across an expanding market area. "We have worked hard to capture opportunities within new sectors, withJones Lang LaSalle leading 300,000 sq ft of of transactions in officeconversions into student accommodation, also delivering offices in toinnovative education facilities and targeting the opportunities due toincreased development activity, such as project management, residentialvaluation and consultancy services. "The volume housebuilders also returned with avengence and we sawan uptake in residential land sales with negotiations underway for severalsubstsantial land deals which could turn 2014 into a vintage year."Our continued investment in the region was clearly demonstrated bysecuring new statement offices in City Gate, providing more room for ourplanned growth. "In 2014 we are expecting to see the Private Rented Sector (PRS)emerging as investors see potential in the city and whilst we don’t foreseeany major office prelets this year, our research suggests that already circa170,000 sq foot of office deals could happen early this year, in addition tothe usual churn."We predict office take up could return to and even exceed the five yearaverage, mainly from movement within the indigenous office market. Theindustrial market too, frustrated by a lack of good quality stock, willimprove. There are good enquiries that are likely to translate into sizeablepre-lets as well as potential for a return of speculative development, asrents improve and stock declines."So the potential is there for 2014. It’s now just a case of rolling oursleeves up and getting the deals done."EMBL FEB:Layout 1 7/2/14 14:52 Page 8NEWSwww.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link 9Shakespeares specs appealseals dealCorporate lawyers from Shakespeares in Leicester have actedfor Nottingham-headquarted Vision Express in its deal to acquire65 new stores.The deal will see the High Street chain of Rayner Opticiansoutlets rebranded as Vision Express.Partner Roy Botterill led the Shakespeares legal team inLeicester. He said: "This is a major deal for growth whichunderscores Vision Express as one of the largest optical retailersin Europe and the leading optical brand in the UK."A major fast-moving retailer like Vision Express requires legaladvice that is efficient, non-nonsense, bang up to date - and onthe doorstep. That’s exactly the support Leicester and Midlands’advisers Shakespeares can provide, no matter what the size ofthe transaction."Vision Express now has 367 stores across the UK and Ireland.Pochin goes West with Plumbwares buyEast Midlands independent plumbing and heating merchant Pochin has boughtWest Midlands merchant Plumbwares.The deal forthe Stourbridgebusiness isPochin’s first inthe regionfollowing years ofinvestment in theEast Midlands.Plumbwares,based at DudleyRoad in Lye, willtrade as asubsidiary ofRobert Pochin.Plumbwares willretain its name. Pochinmanagingdirector DavidPochin said:“Plumbwares is avery goodbusiness wherethe standards ofcustomer service and competitive pricing is a perfect fit for Pochin’s own approachto trade.“We welcome our nine new colleagues to the Pochin family and look forward toworking closely with the highly respected and experienced team to enhance theoffer in Stourbridge.”Plumbwares was founded in 2002 by Mike Clarke, a veteran of the plumbing andheating supply industry. Clarke will remain involved in the business, as will hismanager Dave Jasper. Pochin’s trade sales development manager Pete Trickett willhelp oversee the integration of Pumbwares into Pochin.Clarke said: “I’m very pleased to be passing Plumbwares into the very safe handsof Pochin. We share a common approach to serving our customers and lookingafter our employees.” The deal for Plumbwares is Pochin’s first acquisition since the 2005 purchase ofNorman and Underwood in Leicester. Since then Pochin has opened threebranches – in Loughborough, Market Harborough and its head office branch atLeicester’s Murrayfield Road.David Pochin said: “We have never stopped investing in the business, and thetiming is good for us to continue to expand our horizons. Plumbwares is an idealacquisition and enables us to enter a new trading area for the business.”Norbert Dentressangle drivesrevenue riseNorbert Dentressangle, the transport and logistics firm headquarted inNorthampton, is expected to report flat profit growth for 2013, despiteturnover rising 3.9 per cent over the last year.The company has posted annual revenues of 4,032m compared to3,880m in 2012, with the fourth quarter of 2013 showing revenuegrowth of almost 10 per cent compared to Q4 2012. Britain is the second largest country in terms of contribution to Grouprevenues, accounting for 30 per cent of total sales. Hervé Montjotin, chairman of the executive board, said: “The 3.9 percent growth rate recorded for 2013 confirms the strengths of NorbertDentressangle’s model and strategy, for example that of a commerciallybuoyant, flexible and balanced international company which is the marketleader in its core business sectors. Our Group is reaping the benefits ofits significant presence in the recovering British economy and itspositioning in business sectors linked to household consumption, including e-commerce."Based on this performance, reported operating income for 2013 is expected to be close to the levels achieved over the last two years and in line withour expectations”.Rodgers Leask driven by JLRcontract winA Derby civil engineering company is planning to double itsturnover in two years after securing a contract with car giantJaguar Land Rover.Rodgers Leask is working on new buildings or refurbishingothers in the West Midlands to make extra manufacturing plantsfor Jaguar Land Rover, which is taking on 2,000 extra workers tomeet demand for its models.This follows the news that JLR smashed its sales records in2013, increasing them by 19 per cent to 425,000 vehicles. The knock-on effect of JLR's need for extra capacity to meetworldwide demand is worth a six figure sum to Rodgers Leask,based in Canal Street. The work comes as Rodgers Leask has started its own three-year masterplan to increase business and grow the company asthe economy improves. The company plans to double its annualturnover from £4.5m to £9m by the end of 2016.“We are looking to be the consultants that developers go to inall disciplines,” said managing director Andy Leask. "Like otherfirms in the construction industry we have suffered because ofthe recession. Now, we are delighted to say that we think wehave turned the corner and are looking to a bright future as theeconomy recovers”.(L-R) Plumbwares’ Mike Clarke and Pochin managingdirector David Pochin EMBL FEB:Layout 1 7/2/14 14:52 Page 9Next >