Burts cooks up £6m investment into Leicester factory
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Frasers Group to acquire German sports retailer
Professional services group snaps up Leicester accountancy practice
Xeinadin Group, the professional services group, has acquired Alacrity Accountancy, a Leicester-based accountancy practice.
Alacrity Accountancy was established 20 years ago and services clients from a range of industries including healthcare, dentistry and property across the UK and internationally. The firm specialises in all aspects of general practice including accounts, taxation and business advisory or support services.
The new acquisition will bring significant resources to help both staff and clients prosper through the challenges and opportunities posed by AI and other emerging technologies.
This is the 15th acquisition announcement made by Xeinadin since Exponent’s investment and marks a key milestone in the group’s expansion. The move continues the growth of Xeinadin’s footprint and brings additional expertise into the group whilst maintaining its focus on becoming the most trusted advisor for founder-owned businesses.
Xeinadin Group CEO Derry Crowley said: “Welcoming Alacrity Accountancy under the Xeinadin Group is another great step forward in establishing our continued growth. With a laser-eyed focus on the needs of SMEs, Alacrity’s quality of services and clientele are an excellent fit for what we expect across the group. We look forward to working with the team.”
Alacrity Accountancy founder and director Viren Kotecha said: “Alacrity is excited to be joining the Xeinadin Group and expanding upon the shared vision of providing exceptional local accountancy services to owner-managed businesses.
“With the support and knowledge that will be available as part of the network of 135 offices, we will be able to improve and increase the level of services offered to our clients to assist them with their goals.”
Does video marketing provide a good return on investment (ROI)?

- Production Costs: This includes expenses for equipment, software, hiring videographers or editors, actors, and other resources required to create high-quality videos.
- Time and Labour: The man-hours spent on conceptualising, scripting, shooting, and editing videos must also be factored into the costs. Note: If you hire a video production company such as Glowfrog, this will save you significant time and effort, and yield much higher quality video content for your brand.
- Distribution Costs: The cost of promoting your videos on various platforms, such as social media advertising, email marketing, and video hosting services.
- Opportunity Cost: The time and resources invested in video marketing could be spent on other marketing strategies, so there’s an opportunity cost to consider.
- Increased Brand Awareness: Video marketing can significantly boost brand recognition and trust, leading to long-term benefits.
- Engagement and Traffic: Engaging videos can drive more traffic to your website or social media channels, potentially leading to higher sales.
- Conversions: Videos can lead to higher conversion rates and sales, depending on the nature of your product or service.
- Educating Customers: Videos can educate customers about your offerings, reducing customer service enquiries.
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): High-quality videos can improve your website’s SEO, helping it rank higher in search results.
- Blendtec, a blender manufacturer, created a viral video series where they blended unusual items, such as iPhones and golf balls. This series led to a 700% increase in sales in a year, primarily due to the videos’ popularity.
- Dollar Shave Club used a humorous video to introduce their subscription-based razor service. Within 48 hours, the video received 12,000 orders, demonstrating the power of video in driving rapid sales.
- HubSpot’s Academy offers educational video content to their audience. This strategy increased their annual revenue by 200%, indicating that video marketing can be a powerful tool for businesses offering educational content.
- Red Bull’s video content, featuring extreme sports and stunts, has helped the brand establish a strong identity and reach a vast, engaged audience. While their ROI might not be easily quantifiable, their brand value has undoubtedly surged.
Universities contribute £6.3bn to East Midlands economy
As universities in the East Midlands prepare to welcome new students, a new report by London Economics has revealed that higher education makes a £6.3bn contribution to the region’s economy.
Commissioned by Universities UK (UUK), the report further reveals that universities support 53,800 full time equivalent jobs across the East Midlands – this includes those employed by local businesses such as restaurants and retailers who benefit from the economic stimulus universities create.
However, as the sector contends with challenges including a £1bn funding hole in domestic student tuition fees and the pressures created by the cost of living crisis, UUK says there is a pressing need to reform how universities are supported in order to sustain their positive economic impact.
Professor Dame Sally Mapstone DBE FRSE, President of Universities UK and Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews, said: “The East Midlands is a thriving region with universities at the beating heart of so many of its local communities.
“As economic hubs in their own right, universities support and create a huge number of jobs across multiple sectors, meaning people up and down the country benefit financially, whether or not they have a degree. They also play a crucial role in creating the graduates, spin outs and start-ups that provide the basis for economic growth in future.
“The country’s continued investment in higher education institutions can and does pay back dividends; not just for the East Midlands, but the entire UK.”
Looking at the UK as a whole, universities support more than three quarter of a million jobs (768,000 full-time equivalent) and contribute £116bn to the UK economy – this rises to £130bn when the spending of international students is included.
The benefit to sectors from university activities in the 2021-22 academic year, across the UK are:
|
Economic Output |
FTE jobs |
Agriculture |
£0.6bn |
6,400 |
Production |
£12.6bn |
39,800 |
Construction |
£2.7bn |
9,200 |
Distribution, transport, hotels, and restaurants |
£15.4bn |
127,000 |
Information and communication |
£3.7bn |
16,000 |
Financial and insurance |
£6bn |
15,300 |
Real estate |
£9.7bn |
12,000 |
Professional and support activities |
£9.2bn |
74,700 |
Government, health & education |
£52.8bn |
444,200 |
Other services |
£2.9bn |
22,500 |
* Note: Totals may not add due to rounding.
Source, London Economics report.
The figures come as Higher Education Statistical Agency figures show a record 17,933 student start-up businesses now operate in the UK, while the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE) forecast universities will help attract more than £2bn in funding for local regeneration projects.
Dr Gavan Conlon, Partner at London Economics, said: “There is no doubt about the contribution of the UK higher education sector to the East Midlands and the rest of the UK’s economy. With approximately 2.9 million students and 385,000 staff across almost 300 higher education providers, the sector is instrumental in driving economic growth in both the short run and longer term.
“Given the financial challenges institutions face, there is a need to provide both adequate resources to support teaching and learning activities, but also certainty in respect of research funding.”
Aside from producing a talent pool with highly sought after skills, universities provide local businesses and small enterprises with product development support, access to new markets, consultation services, incubators and research facilities and work with organisations to provide jobs for local people within their communities.
Three new business grants for Broxtowe
- UKSPF SME Energy Grant
- UKSPF Micro Business Grant
- UKSPF High Street Business Grant