Specialist business property adviser, Christie & Co, has sold Taylors Dental Practice – a mixed-income, three-surgery practice which sits in a 1923 purpose-built building in the city of Leicester. The business was brought to market to enable its previous owners to retire after a long career. Following a confidential marketing process, it has been sold to husband-and-wife team, Dr Milan and Dr Krishna Chande. The pair have been Associates for over five years and this is their first dental practice purchase. Dr Milan Chande says: “We hope to initially support the practice through the changeover and then renovate and modernise, adding additional capacity in the near future. Expansion of private dentistry and plan based dentistry is a huge opportunity at the practice, and there is also potential to enhance the offering with additional services such as advanced endodontics, facial aesthetics, short-term orthodontics and implants.” Steve O’Connor, senior business agent at Christie & Co, who handled the sale, says: “Taylors Dental Practice has been providing dentistry to the local community for almost a century, and I was delighted to have represented the vendors in the sale and wish them and Milan and Krishna the very best. The practice generated significant interest, with an influx of viewings and an impressive 22 offers. “The dental market across Leicestershire and the wider Midlands area is incredibly sought-after for quality dental practices, with demand far out-weighing supply.” Taylors Dental Practice was sold for an undisclosed price.

It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.  It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years. Here we speak to David Marshall, commercial finance consultant at Sterling Commercial Finance. One of the few things I feel confident in predicting for 2022 is that widespread uncertainty will provide a challenging backdrop for businesses. In November, while there was still much turbulence around, we were just beginning to see a path towards some sort of normality. While there was always the fear of a further mutation of the Coronavirus, the actual announcement of the Omicron variant was the last thing any of us wanted to hear. Working from home, lockdowns, inflation, higher interest rates, shortages (materials and labour) etc. are all potential challenges. I predict that those businesses that plan for the best, but prepare for the worst will be best placed to deal with 2022. As ever, cash continues to be King, and having a base case financial forecast for the year that is regularly updated, and can be stress tested with different scenarios, will assist in decision making. Running a rolling 13-week cash flow forecast will help identify pinch points and can of itself be a call to action. So whatever 2022 may throw at you, I predict financial planning, careful cash management, managing key relationships with staff, suppliers, customers and drawing on the skills of your external professional team as required, will all be time well spent.

It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.  It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years. Here we speak to Mark Johnston, director at Cube Construction Consultants. 2021 has seen significant pressures on the construction market, not only resource availability but also extended lead times and challenging working practices. Let’s take the positives, it is a credit to the industry that all those involved found solutions quickly by adapting standard practices. Many of our clients have implemented procurement initiatives, adopted alternative site set ups and logistics plans and have embraced the need for clear process in detailed bid and project planning. Being adaptable is key, a collective approach by project teams to mitigating risk is vital to successful tendering and project completions. Just this year, we have seen a significant increase in take up of our Project Health Checks which provide an independent strategic review, identifying what could be better, what’s gone well and what the action plan needs to be for assurance of project completion. Proactive management provides the platform to gather performance data over multiple projects. It allows for lessons to be learnt, structured forward planning implementation and staff mentoring and development. Digital transformation is now very real and not only for national contractors. Simple software solutions are having a massive effect on project communications, collaboration, accountability and information accessibility. They are providing real time data that can improve outcomes and, more importantly, information to analyse business risk and opportunity. They will play a huge part in contractors making the most of the significant opportunities now in the market. Our view is simple…keep it simple, focus on the fundamentals of what gives your projects every opportunity to succeed. Clear procurement plan, solid project programme, accurate monitoring and reporting and an open relationship with your supply chain to benefit from collaboration.

Homegrown businesses with a client-base that includes Olly Murs and TV presenter Rylan Clark are flying the flag for an economically strong Derbyshire by teaming up.

MacMartin, a marketing agency in Church Broughton set up by Derbyshire-born sisters Anna Hutton and Claire MacDonald, has announced it is pairing up with ‘AV IT Media, a video and photography company based at the Derwent Business Centre in Clarke Street, which has worked with celebrities such as Olly Murs and TV presenter Rylan Clark, as well as big-name organisations including East Midlands Trains and Derby County Football Club.

The partnership means that MacMartin and ‘AV IT will together be able to offer their clients a full marketing service featuring photos and videography put together by some of Derbyshire’s hottest creative talents.

MacMartin and ‘AV IT were able to team up thanks to forging a connection through the local business community. Both are bondholders of Marketing Derby.

Anna Hutton, marketing director at MacMartin, said: “I’m so excited to have found such a great synergy between ourselves and ‘AV IT. It means we can offer a full-blown marketing service to our clients of a standard that has not previously been reached.

“By doing this we’ll be able to create the ultimate marketing experience, from people that are at the top of their game. We’ve joined up with ‘AV IT to offer our clients something that’s above and beyond.”

Ash Stanley, who founded ‘AV IT with Mark Averill in 2018, said: “We’re beyond excited to be working with MacMartin. Meeting the MacMartin team is the best thing that could have happened to us and we’re excited to be shooting videos and pictures to help all our clients reach the next level.

“With Derby bidding to become City of Culture in 2025 it’s great to fly the flag for this great city and show the world what happens when home-grown creatives get together.”

MacMartin, which celebrates its fifth birthday in 2022, has recently been enjoying a period of expansion by taking on new office space and staff to meet its growing customer base. The company achieved growth during the Covid period, as businesses increasingly relied on a strong digital presence to stay afloat. MacMartin is also in the running to be named best small rural business in the UK at the Amazon-backed Rural Business Awards, after being crowned a regional finalist in 2021.

‘AV IT media, based at Derwent Business Centre, has worked with a highly varied customer base including Carmex lip balm, Bloor Homes, Land Rover, Alton Towers and Love Island star Olivia Bowen. True to their Derby roots, the team of photographers and videographers have also run campaigns for Derby County Football Club, and the Derby Market Place launch, as well as being asked by Derby City Council, The Cathedral Quarter and St Peters Quarter to produce a Welcome Back to Derby video to showcase all that is best about the city.

Photos show: MacMartin AV IT directors (sitting down), left to right: Anna Hutton, marketing director of MacMartin, Ash Stanley, co-founder of ‘AV IT Media, Jenny Hudson, business office manager at ‘AV IT Media, Claire MacDonald, MacMartin design director, and Mark Averill, co-founder of ‘AV IT Media

Eight in ten (87%) mid-sized businesses in the Midlands experienced fraud in 2021, with more than a third (39%) of companies reporting an increase on the previous year, according to a new survey from accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP. BDO’s Fraud Survey – which monitored fraud trends at 500 mid-sized UK firms throughout 2021 – found that more than a third (37%) of firms suffered security breaches through cyber-attacks over the last 12 months. While nearly a third (32%) of frauds were externally generated, 29% were committed against companies by their own employees, with more than quarter (26%) involving collusion between internal and external individuals. The ongoing impacts of the pandemic and associated lockdowns have exacerbated the risk of being targeted by fraudsters, with many citing the shift to remote working as a driving factor. Of those surveyed, nine in ten (92%) business owners and directors in the region think their company is more exposed to fraud since 2020, while almost a quarter (21%) believe their exposure has “significantly” increased. The overwhelming majority (87%) said fraud risks at their business have increased as a direct result of home working. With millions of employees continuing to work from home – often without access to workplace IT support – the threat posed by scammers remains heightened. However, businesses with employees working on-site also remain vulnerable, with considerably more than half (67%) of the firms impacted by fraud reporting that their employees had predominantly operated from the office or work premises over the last 12 months. Despite the rising number of fraud cases being reported by mid-sized firms, only a third (34%) of the businesses surveyed have implemented fraud awareness training programmes for their employees over the last year, and approximately a quarter (24%) of Midlands businesses don’t have a fraud response plan in place. Looking forward, nearly three quarters (71%) of company owners and directors in the Midlands are concerned about their business being targeted by fraudsters over the next 12 months – with 32% stating they are “very concerned.” However, 87% said resource constraints as a result of COVID-19 disruption will limit their investment in fraud detection and prevention tools over the coming year. Commenting on the findings, Sat Plaha, partner and head of forensic services in the Midlands, said: “There’s no denying that fraud is big business and affects everyone, transcending sectors and regions, and ranging from the opportunistic to the highly organised. Despite costing the UK billions of pounds each year, it remains under reported, under investigated and under prioritised. “There’s little doubt that the pandemic has accelerated trends being seen across the fraud sector, with the prominence of agile working adding a layer of complexity to the process of identifying and defending against cyber-attacks. As a result, this has magnified the risk for businesses. The changing tactics being adopted by fraudsters, and the growing propensity for them to target the digital space, have also outpaced the protections being implemented by many firms. “As organisations re-evaluate their hybrid working models for the year ahead, they should pay particular attention to robust internal controls, including strengthening their fraud risk management programmes to lessen their exposure to economic crime.”

Long Eaton-based Kitchen Prep UK specialises in chef-cooked ready meals for people who want to eat healthily but are time poor or need the convenience of pre-prepared frozen options that take just minutes to cook in the microwave. The inspiration for the lockdown enterprise came after founders Emily Willis and Luke Skidmore decided they wanted to support key workers like doctors, nurses and police officers and make it easier for them to source and eat healthy ready meals. The new business has been supported by experts at the Food Innovation Centre at the University of Nottingham, who have given free advice on labelling, food hygiene training and other aspects of the enterprise. Emily, from Mansfield Woodhouse, who, until recently, was a key worker herself working as the deputy manager of a care home, said: “We all saw images during the pandemic of health workers who would come off shift and couldn’t find any fresh fruit or vegetables to buy. I have friends who are police officers and at night they are having chips and kebabs from fast food outlets because they can’t find anywhere open at that time that is selling healthy meals. I was also coming home after a busy day as a key worker and struggling to find time to cook healthy nutritional meals.” Luke had been working in concierge before the pandemic hit, organising travel and hospitality packages to places like Monaco and Marbella. After exploring various career-change options he decided to move into the food service sector. Between them, Luke and Emily hit on the idea of creating nutritionally balanced frozen pre-prepared meals and Kitchen Prep UK was born. The meals, which have been developed by nutritionist Nicole Mann, of NM Nutrition, are cooked by a chef at the couple’s unit in New Tythe Street, Long Eaton. They include meat, fish and plant-based options. Kitchen Prep UK currently sells dishes online and at P.E.C.S. Fitness in Long Eaton, run by Stephen Edwards and Tracy Kidsley. Stephen, who is Luke’s father, uses the nutritionally balanced meals, along with exercise, to help control his diabetes. Luke and Emily hope that in the future, the ready meals will be available via display units in key locations such as hospitals, police stations, gyms and other places – so staff and customers can enjoy their gourmet healthy pre-prepared meals on site or for take away. Luke, who lives in Long Eaton, said: “We use local produce and local premises. We get the meat and veg delivered in the morning, our professional chef batch cooks the dishes, which are then blast-chilled and frozen all on the same day – retaining their nutrients. All our customers need to do is heat their meals in a microwave straight from frozen. There’s no piercing the lid or stirring half way through. It’s really simple. “It was the needs of key workers that originally inspired us, but we can see that there are many people who would benefit from our Kitchen Prep UK nutritionally balanced meals, such as new mums, elderly people living on their own, busy professionals, gym goers…basically anyone who is trying to look after themselves. “The help and advice we have had from the Food Innovation Centre has been brilliant – it’s really given us a great start.” The Food Innovation Centre, based at the Bioenergy and Brewing Science building at the University of Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington campus, offers free support to eligible small and medium-sized food and drink manufacturers in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire under the Driving Research and Innovation project – a three-year project that runs until the end of December 2022. Part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) via the D2N2 LEP, the project is run by the Food Innovation Centre at the University of Nottingham School of Biosciences, in conjunction with the Chemistry Innovation Laboratory in the School of Chemistry and Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and in association with the Midlands Engine. It is a unique collaboration project that provides free specialist innovation support to small and medium-sized businesses. For more information about the Food Innovation Centre or to get in touch, visit https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/biosciences/facilities/food-innovation-centre.aspx

“We’re delighted to be able to continue to offer this free support to help even more people follow their dreams and make their business ideas a reality. There are no costs to take part. The only eligibility criteria are that people have a Derby or Derbyshire postcode and want to start a business.” Register for the next Winter Boot Camp

Boris Johnson may be urging a return to the office, but it seems both bosses and workers are expecting working from home to remain part of our regular working routine. Economists at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) are carrying out regular surveys of workers across the Midlands to build up a picture of how people’s relationship with work is changing. The poll asks hundreds of people questions such as whether their work pattern is changing and if so, how – and how they feel about it. The first survey was done in October, and the second is being carried out next month (February). Key findings include:

• The average worker currently spends 60% of their time working from home
• Workers expect to spend 40-50% of their time working from home post pandemic compared to 10-20% before the pandemic
• The push to work from home appears to be driven more by employers than employees, possibly because of cost savings
• People love the lack of commuting time, but miss socialising most

Professor Edward Cartwright, of DMU’s Institute of Applied Economics and Social Value, said: “There’s a lot of uncertainty over whether we will revert back to how things were before, or whether there really has been a step change. “Everything we are seeing suggested it’s a big step change. The main headline result was that people expect to be working from home on some level forever. And what’s surprising is that this is largely being driven by the businesses, not the staff, as they see how they can cut costs.” Prior to the pandemic, the average time spent working from home was a day a week. During the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions that became four days. In October that had shifted to 60% of the time working from home and 40% in the workplace. Professor Cartwright added: “Our initial survey found that people expect it to level out at around 45%, and that will be permanent. However, people are not always the best at predicting the future so we want to track whether these assumptions are correct. “These findings are all in line with other surveys that have been carried out on smaller scale in the East Midlands and nationally. However, what’s surprising is that these changes to working from home is being driven by the business rather than staff. “Working from home is polarising – some people love it and others hate it. The most consistent negative is the lack of social interaction. Not many people have said the lack of good wifi for example, they miss their work friendships and seeing people in person.” There are some signs of companies shifting into smaller workspaces, and reducing expensive offices as staff would not all be in the office at the same time. “Clearly this also has implications for the city centre as businesses move to smaller premises, fewer people working in the city centre means lack of footfall which has knock on effects for retail,” added Professor Cartwright.

Small businesses in Northamptonshire can kickstart their business development plans with a new raft of support from the University of Northampton. The Knowledge Exchange for Better Business Projects will see up to 100 businesses from across the county receive thousands of pounds worth of bespoke support to boost their bottom line. The projects are open to businesses with fewer than 50 employees, which will offer them the opportunity to tap into the unique support package, which includes expert academic and business advice from the University of Northampton, training, peer networking, virtual assistants, fully funded internships, mentoring, coaching, and more, all designed to improve a business’s competitiveness and innovation capabilities. Wray Irwin, Director of Enterprise and Employability at the University of Northampton, said: “You could be looking to stabilise your business and scale up your operations, enhance a professional function within your family-owned business, such as finance or digital marketing, or perhaps evaluate and set the direction to enhance the way your business embraces environmental and sustainable business practices. “This programme brings students, businesses, and academics together to exchange expertise and resources to help make Northamptonshire a great place to start, build and grow a business. “We have a huge breadth of expertise here at the University, through this proactive knowledge exchange and support we can contribute economic, social, cultural, and environmental benefits to the people of Northamptonshire.” The Knowledge Exchange for Better Business projects are funded by the UK Government Community Renewal Fund through North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire Councils. Project partners include The Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce, The Mallows Company, Alchemy Virtual Assistance and the Federation of Small Businesses.