New figures show ongoing impact of pandemic on NET as financial restructuring starts path to recovery

Tess Egginton
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New figures show ongoing impact of pandemic on NET as financial restructuring starts path to recovery
New figures have revealed the ongoing impact of the pandemic on Nottingham Express Transit (NET), with passenger volumes still 20% less than pre-pandemic levels.
However, following the recent successful financial restructuring project in partnership with the Department for Transport and Nottingham City Council, Tramlink Nottingham Limited, which operates the NET concession, believes the network is in a much more stable and robust position for the coming financial year.
The figures were published in the annual accounts for the year to 31 March 2023 which showed that the company had reported a loss as a result of the impacted passenger numbers and high energy costs.
The year to March 2023 saw passenger journeys recover to 14.4m, compared to 9.1m in the prior year. The company also made a gross profit of £7.65m compared to £4.90m in the previous year, before taking into account COVID relief grants from central government and exceptional fixed asset impairment charges.
Total losses before tax and including interest charges were £57.1m compared to £20.4m for the prior year. This is due to an impairment charge of £26.7m to reduce the carrying value of fixed assets in line with revised expected net present value future cashflows over the remainder of the concession in the post-COVID business environment.
Tim Hesketh, CEO of Tramlink, said: “Like many other public transport operators, there’s no denying that we’re still feeling the effects of the pandemic. It’s promising to see that post-pandemic passenger levels are well on their way to recovery, with figures showing they’re at 80% of what they were before COVID. “However, we remain committed to doing all we can to ensure the network can continue to provide a sustainable and convenient option for the thousands of people who rely on it for travel in and around the city. That’s why we believe the restructure was essential for helping us make some key improvements to our operations.
“It will not only give us a much more secure financial position, but it will also allow us to make a raft of investments into areas such as new technology, updates to our ticket systems and the recruitment of additional revenue protection officers.”
As part of the recent financial restructuring project, which took two years to complete, Tramlink Nottingham Limited has successfully negotiated with its senior and junior lenders to revise the terms of it loans. This will ensure the business remains a going concern and can continue to provide a high level of service to the travelling public of Nottinghamshire.
Tim added: “It’s been a challenging few years and we’d like to thank the City Council and Department of Transport for all their support. Thanks to the restructure, we look forward to a brighter year ahead for the network and the wider city.”
The concession which allows Tramlink to run the NET tram system runs until 2034 and factors in losses in the earlier years due to investments in the system, including expanding the network in 2015 and buying new tram vehicles.
The loss reported during this year’s accounts is in line with financial expectations.

Boohoo considers closure of Leicester factory

Tess Egginton
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Boohoo considers closure of Leicester factory
Boohoo is considering shutting its ‘model’ factory on Leicester’s Thurmaston Lane. According to reports from Drapers, the fashion group has confirmed that it entered a consultation last month, with under 100 employees effected. A spokesperson for Boohoo Group told Drapers: “We opened Thurmaston Lane in January 2022 to support the group in several ways, including manufacturing, printing and training.” They continued: “The role of our sites continues to evolve over time and, following significant investments at our Sheffield distribution centre and the opening of a new distribution centre in the USA, we must now take steps to continue to ensure we are a more efficient, productive and strengthened business.” These factors have led the business to consider relocating some operations at Thurmaston Lane and consider the closure of the site. Boohoo is now in a period of consultation. The company is planning to keep its quality assurance and ethical compliance staff. The factory has been in the spotlight for controversy following a 2023 BBC Panorama investigation which indicated Boohoo’s failures to keep ethical production promises, and that some orders were being made by factories in Morocco and others in Leicester. Boohoo has also been targeted over allegations of forced labour in factories, while previous investigations revealed unsafe conditions, a failure to pay minimum wage, and discount demands on suppliers.

New Food Innovation Centre bakes recipe for business success

Tess Egginton
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New Food Innovation Centre bakes recipe for business success
A wider range of food and drink businesses from the whole supply chain will have access to specialist support and expertise with the new Food Innovation Centre.
The Food Innovation Centre at the University of Nottingham is being re-launched to extend its service across the UK, building on the work it has done with SMEs across the East Midlands over the past six years. The Food Innovation Centre can provide a range of scientific and technical guidance to food and drink businesses, supporting the development of products and processes, from conception to consumption. The new service is being run as a commercial consultancy and offers a range of services. Dr Peter Noy, Food Innovation Centre steering group, said: “Expanding our remit will allow more food and drink manufacturers and producers to access the specialist support we offer. Combining academic expertise and state-of-the-art facilities with commercial knowledge we are able to help businesses to bring new products to market more quickly.” Since its inception six years ago the Food Innovation Centre has supported over 270 local businesses and helped to bring 24 new products to market.
A launch event is taking place for the new Food Innovation Centre on 26 January at the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington Campus.

Staveley Miners Welfare Football Club academy takes steps forward

Tess Egginton
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Staveley Miners Welfare Football Club academy takes steps forward
A new academy being developed by Staveley Miners Welfare Football Club is being redesigned. The completed academy will support young people to gain qualifications in sport. The project, which is funded through the Staveley Town Deal, had been progressing well over the last two years but due to inflation in construction costs the project is being redesigned whilst still aiming to deliver the same outcomes for young people in Staveley. The original design would have seen a second storey extension to the clubhouse with new classroom facilities upstairs. Instead, two older buildings will be refurbished and a new unit in the club’s colours will be erected. Terry Damms, chairman of the club, said: “This is an inspiring project that will create a new facility for 16 to 18-year-olds to gain qualifications and take the first step towards a career in the sports industry. “Unfortunately, ongoing inflation has meant that we can no longer expand our existing clubhouse, but we will instead be refurbishing existing buildings and creating a new freestanding unit. “This will not impact the quality of education we can provide or the numbers of people who can be enrolled. We’re continuing to finalise these updated designs, but we are aiming to welcome the first learners on site in September 2024.” Students at the new academy will be able to work towards a Level 3 National Extended Diploma in Sports Coaching and Development. The classroom space will also be used to provide community-based qualifications such as refereeing. Ivan Fomin, chair of the Staveley Town Deal Board and Destination Chesterfield Board member, said: “This is a fantastic project, that will help transform young people’s futures. The Town Deal Board aims to ensure that Staveley is a place to start, to stay and grow and we can help realise this by investing in training facilities where young people can get the qualifications they need to succeed.”

Up to £40k capital grants available to support small businesses in rural Rushcliffe

Tess Egginton
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Up to £40k capital grants available to support small businesses in rural Rushcliffe
Micro and small businesses in rural areas of Rushcliffe can apply for up to £40k funding from the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF), supported by the UK Government to help them grow and support the local economy. Grants of between £5k and £40k are available to fund capital projects meeting one of the following criteria:
  • Small scale investment in micro and small enterprises in rural areas including funding for net zero infrastructure for rural businesses and diversification of farm businesses outside of agriculture
  • Funding for growing the local social economy and supporting innovation
  • Funding for the development and promotion, both trade and consumer, of the visitor economy, such as: local attractions, trails, tourism products more generally.
Projects can cover a broad range of initiatives supporting businesses to grow and examples include:
  • Creating and expanding leisure and tourism businesses such as event venues, accommodation or leisure facilities
  • Purchasing equipment for food processing for non-farmer-owned businesses
  • Diversification of farm businesses
  • Creation of business hubs, co-working spaces and business infrastructure such as broadband and electric vehicle (EV) charging points
  • Resilience infrastructure and nature-based solutions that protect local businesses and community areas from natural hazards including flooding
  • Equipment to support the showcasing of local food and drink products such as regional information display boards
  • Development of local visitor trails and infrastructure to support this, such as information boards and visitor centres.
Businesses need to apply for the support by 5pm on Friday January 19, 2024 and projects must be delivered in Rushcliffe and organisations must be able to spend their funding allocation between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025.

Microlise Group acquires road safety business

Tess Egginton
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Microlise Group acquires road safety business
Microlise Group, the provider of SaaS based transport technology solutions to fleet operators, has acquired the assets of K-Safe Limited, parent company to the road safety products Flare and Flare Aware. Nottingham-headquartered Microlise has acquired all assets and the IP from K-Safe, which includes their two products Flare and Flare Aware for a total consideration of £140,000.

Flare is a multi-award-winning platform with over 3.5 million regular users, helping leading brands such as Deliveroo, Just Eat as well as 2 wheeled vehicles, to better understand and react to mobility risk and safety issues. The mobile app delivers users incident detection, incident avoidance, SOS and hazards functionality, to ensure they are safe whilst travelling on public roads.

Flare Aware is a dynamic driver hazard warning system, jointly developed with Microlise, which utilises the data captured from the Flare mobile app user network, to provide awareness and alerts to the drivers of vehicles approaching fixed hazards such as low bridges, weight restrictions etc. and dynamic hazards such as cyclists and motorcyclists.

Microlise has employed K-Safe’s two staff members into its business, with all customer contracts being novated. The acquisition for the Liverpool based company is a part of a pre-packaged deal following the appointment of Begbies Traynor Group Limited. Nadeem Raza, CEO of Microlise, said: “We are excited to have acquired the assets of K-Safe, giving us exclusive access to the Flare and Flare Aware products. The Flare product also expands our market offerings to the fast-growing last mile solution space, and the 2-wheel vehicle space globally.”

Mansfield to get £20m of Government’s Levelling Up cash

Stuart Pearcey
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Mansfield to get £20m of Government’s Levelling Up cash
Mansfield is to receive £20m in levelling up funding to improve the town centre and its connectivity, support residents in the most deprived areas and to support businesses to grow all regions of our economy. The investment is made up of:
  • £7.4m to remodel the Bellamy and Oak Tree estates and improve housing quality and access to services
  • £5m to Mansfield Connect as an exemplar low carbon construction project and for hands-on skills training for retrofit and modern methods of construction in partnership with Vision West Nottinghamshire College and Nottingham Trent University
  • £3.2m for a youth centre on the Bellamy estate to help divert young people from crime and anti-social behaviour.
  • £2m for streetscaping and public realm improvements in the centre of Mansfield to make the town centre more appealing.
  • £2m for improvements to Sainsbury’s junction, a local traffic pinch-point affecting connectivity into the town centre
  • £300,000 for the refurbishment of South Mansfield Family Hubs to make them more appropriate for family and youth support
  • £250,000 for a school readiness pilot run by Nottingham Trent University in some of Mansfield’s most deprived neighbourhoods
  • £250,000 of capacity funding for Mansfield District Council to identity its unique economic and cultural opportunities in preparation for the establishment of the new devolution deal in the East Midlands.
Andrew Abrahams, Executive Mayor of Mansfield District Council, said: “Mansfield is set to receive investment that will make a huge difference to communities and help to deliver some of our place-shaping aspirations for the district.  Through Levelling Up we are investing in people and places to make a brighter future for the residents of Mansfield. These projects will bring life-changing opportunities that will make a real difference in some of our most deprived areas. “We’re pleased to be able to finally announce the full funding package for Mansfield, coupled with the Town’s Fund and Long-Term deal for Towns, the district is set to benefit from substantial amounts of much-needed funding to help build thriving communities, grow a more vibrant economy and a place where people are supported to be happy and healthy.”

Games Workshop delivers record group revenue and profit in half-yearly results

Tess Egginton
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Games Workshop delivers record group revenue and profit in half-yearly results
Games Workshop, the Nottingham-based manufacturer of miniature wargames, is continuing to “perform well during challenging economic times,” with revenue and pre-tax profit on the rise. According to half-yearly results for the 26 week period to 26 November 2023, revenue grew to £247.7m from £226.6m in the same period of the year prior. Meanwhile profit before tax reached £95.2m, increasing from £83.6m.

Kevin Rountree, CEO of Games Workshop, said: “Games Workshop and the Warhammer hobby are in great shape. We continue to perform well during challenging economic times, delivering record group revenue, profit and dividends in the period. Morale is good at Games Workshop and our hobbyists are having fun too.”

Derby office sold for £2m

Tess Egginton
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Derby office sold for £2m
Leicester-based Custodian Property Income REIT has sold a 16,869 sq ft office in Derby. The £2.05m sale is 36% ahead of the 30 September 2023 valuation. Richard Shepherd-Cross, Managing Director of Custodian Capital Limited (the company’s external fund manager), said: “This office was acquired as part of the company’s IPO portfolio in 2014 and has provided the company with a healthy level of income over nine years of ownership. “Given limited opportunities for further rental growth and in line with our strategy, we felt that now is the right time to sell. “We expect to use the sale proceeds to repay variable rate debt and fund accretive improvements in the remaining portfolio, both of which we believe will better support the strategy of providing our shareholders with strong income returns.”

Shoe Zone sees “a very positive year”

Tess Egginton
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Shoe Zone sees “a very positive year”
Shoe Zone’s Chief Executive has hailed “a very positive year,” with Anthony Smith highlighting “strong and consistent results throughout the key trading periods, particularly in the second half, with strong peak summer and Back to School trading.” According to audited results for the 52 weeks to 30 September 2023, the Leicester-based retailer saw revenue of £165.7m, growing from £156.2m in the year prior. This included store revenue of £134.8m (up from £129.8m), and digital revenue of £30.9m (up from £26.4m). Pre-tax profits meanwhile reached £16.2m, increasing from £13.6m, primarily due to strong second half trading, including Shoe Zone’s key back to school period, strong peak summer sales and the benefit of lower container prices that started to be realised mid-year.  The year also saw 72 closures and 35 openings, leading to 37 fewer stores.
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