BSP Consulting appointed on hospitals framework
East Midlands-based civil and structural engineering firm BSP Consulting has been appointed to the Circle Health Group Professional Services Framework for the first time.
The company has been selected to provide civil and structural engineering services, along with transport and infrastructure consultancy.
This is the twentieth framework that BSP Consulting is currently on – either on its own or collectively with industry partners.
BSP Consulting director Paul Elphick said: “We are delighted to have secured a place on the Circle Health Group Professional Services Framework. BSP Consulting has extensive experience of working across the health sector.
“We are looking forward to building on our relationship with the Circle Health Group and supporting the group with its future development and investment plans to enhance its health and care facilities.”
One of the largest independent civil and structural engineering firms in the East Midlands, BSP Consulting has its headquarters in Nottingham and offices in Derby, Leicester and Sheffield.
It is currently providing civil and structural engineering services on two projects for Circle Health Group at The Park Hospital, Nottingham and The Beardwood Hospital, Blackburn. The Nottingham scheme involves sub-structure design work for a new glazed entrance and a new modular theatre, which will provide precision cancer surgery, while the Blackburn contract includes sub-structure work for a new modular unit and new areas of car parking.
Circle Health Group is an award-winning healthcare provider operating Britain’s largest network of independent hospitals. The new Professional Services Framework runs for three years.
Paul Elphick added: “BSP Consulting has a very healthy pipeline of work across all sectors from education and health through to housing and commercial. This latest framework appointment, along with the others that BSP has secured, is good news for the company as we move into 2022 and beyond.”
Alumni of the Year Award for Leicestershire business leader
A Leicestershire businessman has won a top university accolade that celebrates the long-term achievements of outstanding alumni.
Dr Nik Kotecha OBE, chairman of Morningside Pharmaceuticals and the Randal Charitable Foundation, has won the Distinguished Alumni Award at Imperial College London’s Alumni Awards 2022.
The annual awards honour outstanding alumni who have demonstrated sustained excellence in their personal and professional achievements, are leaders in their field or have made a substantial impact on society.
Dr Kotecha, who is the founder of Loughborough based Morningside, which manufactures and supplies generic and branded medicines to the UK and globally, said: “I’m thrilled to be honoured by the university in this way.
“As a child growing up in Leicester my family had very little, but I was fortunate to be given opportunities to gain a good education. After finishing my degree in Newcastle; Professor Steve Ley FRS at Imperial College took a chance in accepting me into his eminent group and this really was the opportunity I needed to forge a career.
“Over three decades later, it’s truly humbling to be recognised for my entrepreneurial journey, which was only made possible by the help and support I received to gain a good education along the way.”
Dr Kotecha studied a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Steve Ley at Imperial College, before moving to work at the University of Cambridge.
After leaving academia Dr Kotecha founded Morningside in 1991. Today the business has exported to more than 120 countries since inception and has 240 generic and branded licensed medicines in the UK and EU. In the UK the business distributes its pharmaceutical products twice daily nationwide, so they are available when doctors and their patients need them.
As well as being a successful entrepreneur, Dr Kotecha also has a passion to give back and has been recognised through this award for his work to support communities in the Midlands and nationally. He is currently a Board Member for the LLEP and Midlands Engine Council, Co-Chair of the Loughborough Town Deal Board, Board Member for the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a CBI Regional Councillor and a Department for International Trade Export Champion.
Dr Kotecha’s most recent achievements have centred around the Randal Charitable Foundation, which he founded with his wife in 2017. By providing grant funding, the Foundation has already saved over 145,000 lives with an aspiration to save 1 million people in the UK and globally.
Facebook’s Nottingham store shows high street has future
The recent addition of the interactive Good Ideas Shop in Nottingham city centre has been a boost to the UK high street. That’s according to East Midlands marketing experts, Purpose Media.
Social media giant, Meta – the parent company of Facebook and Instagram – opened four Good Idea Shops across the UK back in September, including one in Nottingham. The pop-up store was opened to showcase local businesses through interactive window displays, powered by QR codes for customers to scan and engage with on their mobile phones.
The Good Ideas Shop also highlighted the importance of using social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to reach new audiences and attract new customers. Whilst these stores remained open to support businesses over the Christmas period and closed in early January their presence no doubt resulted in increased followers, an increase in website traffic as well as the opportunity for data collection and profiling which can be used for other marketing purposes such as email marketing for the businesses that were featured.
This further underlines the importance for bricks and mortar businesses to embrace the benefits of digital marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy to increase footfall, retail sales and customer engagement.
According to Facebook’s Global State of Small Businesses Report, 99% of UK businesses are SME’s, and they employ 50% of the workforce. Reporting in September 2021, nearly 40% of UK small businesses said they increased their rate of sale – nearly twice the global average. This shows that the high street certainly has a future – if they have an integrated approach to their marketing.
The East Midlands has seen a recent resurgence in high street brands recovering from the pandemic by taking on a new online presence. Chesterfield’s Digital High Street project has offered over 100 local businesses the opportunity to get free support to move their business online to support their bricks and mortar store’s trading efforts and the impact of this initiative has prevented many local retailers from throwing in the towel.
Matt Wheatcroft, Managing Director at Purpose Media, had his say on Facebook’s presence in the East Midlands and the future of the high street: “Even though it’s vital that businesses have an online presence to grow their customer base and sales, shoppers still want to see and engage with the goods they are purchasing.
“Facebook has championed local businesses by standing alongside them on the high street, and this should be a boost to businesses both in the East Midlands and across the UK.”
Purpose Media was chosen by Chesterfield Borough Council and the East Midlands Chamber to develop websites and digital marketing consultancy for all businesses seeking business advice and grant support as part of the Digital High Street scheme.
Shoe Zone returns to profit
Shoe Zone, the Leicester-based retailer, has returned to profit following a “very successful year.”
According to final results for the 52 week period to 2 October 2021, the company posted a pre-tax profit of £9.5m, leaping from a loss before tax of £14.6m in the year prior.
Revenue meanwhile dipped to £119.1m from £122.6m, with store revenue down to £88.6m (2020: £103.3m), where digital revenue grew to £30.5m (2020: £19.3m).
A statement from the Chief Executive said: “Shoe Zone had a very successful year due to the incredible hard work of our teams, by reducing costs, reducing non-essential capital expenditure, continuing to accelerate investment in our digital business alongside improving and streamlining operations.”
Manufacturers more positive as they enter 2022
Britain’s manufacturers are more positive about the growth outlook as they enter 2022, with greater confidence in the prospects for their own companies than either the global or UK economies, according to a major survey published by Make UK and PwC.
The 2022 Make UK/PwC Senior Executive survey shows the scale of uncertainty facing business in the current turbulent global environment, with more than half of companies saying the biggest challenges facing them had changed in the last twelve months. Their optimism is also tempered by escalating inflationary pressures and access to, as well as retaining, talent and key skills which are by far the biggest issues companies are having to address.
In the face of these challenges, however, the majority of manufacturers have weathered the storm of the last couple of years with almost three quarters of companies (73%) now believing conditions for the sector will improve in 2022, with a similar number (73%) believing the opportunities for their business outweigh the risks. To date, the sector appears to have seen little or no disruption from the latest Omicron variant to alter this confidence.
Furthermore, almost two thirds (63%) of companies felt the UK to be a competitive location for manufacturing with just 13% believing it to be an uncompetitive place to do business.
To take advantage of these opportunities manufacturers are prioritising improving productivity, investment in their people as well as new product development, while the recent COP 26 summit appears to have accelerated investments in the drive to ‘net zero’.
However, one year on from leaving the EU, two thirds of companies said that leaving had moderately or significantly hampered their business, with over a half of companies (56%) fearing a further impact this year from customs delays due to import checks and changes in product labelling.
Make UK Chief Executive, Stephen Phipson, said: “It’s testament to the strength of manufacturers that they have emerged from the turbulence of the last couple of years in such a relatively strong position. While clouds remain on the horizon in the form of rapidly escalating costs and access to key skills, the outlook is more positive for those that remain adaptable, agile and innovative.
“To build on this we now need to see a Government fully committed to supporting the sector at home and overseas. This requires more than a Plan for Growth but a broader industrial strategy that sets out a long term vision for the economy and how we are going to achieve consistent economic growth across the whole country.”
Cara Haffey, PwC’s UK industrial manufacturing and automotive leader, said: “Despite facing an unprecedented combination of continued Covid pressures, cost inflation and supply chain issues, our manufacturers are responding with an impressive amount of agility and resilience, which will stand them in good stead for the year ahead.
“They have learned valuable lessons about their supply chain vulnerabilities and the resilience needed to respond to unforeseen international or domestic risks, and are strengthening their businesses digitally as well as continuing to focus on talent and skills.
“We are particularly pleased by the breadth of net zero ambitions reflected in the report. Across the UK we’re seeing an increasing number of businesses underpin their environmental, social and governance strategies with practical applications to decarbonise their operations and ambitions to build out their green skill base through the recruitment of ‘green’ jobs, a move that has already been flagged as outperforming the UK sector average in our recent Green Jobs Barometer.”
The more positive outlook for growth is reflected across all major markets with 40% of companies forecasting growth in exports to the United States, closely followed by the EU. Around a quarter (26%) are looking for growth in Asia and around one in five to the Middle East (21%). However, the EU market is set to see the biggest decrease in exports by 10% of companies.
The survey also provides encouraging indicators on the strategies manufacturers are adopting to build resilience and agility into their business by looking at their supply chain, investing in people, innovation and green technologies.
Up-skilling or retaining existing staff was the biggest priority for around two thirds of companies (67%) followed by new product development (60%) and capital equipment (54%), while almost four in five companies (78%) envisage a significant or moderate increase in their productivity this year.
Skills and talent also dominated the risk factors companies were facing with access to Labour seen as the biggest risk by almost two thirds of companies (58%), while almost nine in ten companies were not just worried about losing skills from their business but, the sector entirely. Encouragingly, despite the current financial challenges almost half (45%) of companies said they still planned to invest in Apprenticeships in 2022.
The need to build resilience into business models has been highlighted by supply chain shortages and the survey shows around a third of companies (35%) are planning to counter this by using British rather than international suppliers, while almost a third (31%) said they were planning to re-locate some or, more of, their production back to the UK.
The survey also shows the increasing drive towards ‘net zero’ for manufacturers. Half of companies (49%) said they plan to invest in green technologies or energy efficiency measures in 2022, with a third saying this investment has increased. A third also said the process to transition to ‘net zero’ had been accelerated by the recent COP 26 Conference.
Make UK has forecast that manufacturing grew +6.9% in 2021 and is predicting growth in 2022 of +3.3%.
The survey of 228 companies was conducted between 27th October and 22nd November 2021.
Mansfield label producer expands footprint with acquisition
The Reflex Group Ltd (Reflex), the Mansfield-based label producer, has acquired Macfarlane Labels Ltd of Kilmarnock, and its subsidiary companies, Macfarlane Group Ireland Limited and Macfarlane Group Sweden AB from Macfarlane Group plc (Macfarlane).
Peter Atkinson, Chief Executive of Macfarlane, said: “Macfarlane Labels has been a long-standing part of the Group. We believe that its sale to Reflex, with their well-established position and scale in the labels market, creates the best opportunity for Macfarlane Labels to develop.
“The sale will allow the Group to focus resources on growing our protective packaging businesses both in the UK and Europe.”
Label printing is very much a core activity for Reflex, which also produces packaging film, provides graphic services and supplies and services printing machinery. The acquired businesses will bring sales of around £22m to add to Reflex’s current “run rate” of £135m.
All of the 109 people who presently work at Macfarlane Labels will join Reflex’s current staff of around 800.
Macfarlane Labels Limited was originally founded in 1948 as N.S Macfarlane. In 1988 it acquired Ayrshire Labels and Adhesive Labels. In 2000 it acquired Abbott Labels in Ireland and Resealit in Sweden. The business has customers throughout the globe.
Ian Kendall, Chief Executive of The Reflex Group, said: “We are delighted to have made this acquisition and we welcome our new colleagues and customers. We are aware of the heritage and importance of the business to all its stakeholders. As always Reflex will focus on sustainability, both environmental and financial, the aim being to create financial strength combined with the lowest level of environmental impact.
“With this move we expand our operational footprint into Scotland, Ireland and Sweden.”
Rolls-Royce appoints Rob Watson to Executive Team as President – Electrical
Rolls-Royce has appointed Rob Watson to the Executive Team as President – Electrical.
Rob has led Rolls-Royce Electrical since October 2017, having previously held a number of senior corporate and business roles across the group during his ten year career with the company.
This follows Rolls-Royce’s announcement, at its half year results, that from the beginning of this year it will report Rolls-Royce Electrical as a separate line item in its financial statements, alongside its three established business units and Rolls-Royce SMR.
Rolls-Royce Electrical offers aviation customers a complete electric propulsion system for their platform, whether that is an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) or commuter aircraft. In 2021, Rolls-Royce Electrical announced partnerships with Vertical Aerospace, Eve and Tecnam and also staked the claim for the world’s fastest all-electric aircraft with the Spirit of Innovation.
Warren East, CEO, Rolls-Royce, said: “Rob has played a fundamental role in building our Rolls-Royce Electrical business, which is leading us into exciting new advanced air mobility markets as we look to create significant commercial opportunities from the transition to net zero. I would like to welcome him to the Executive Team.”
2022 Business Predictions: Luke Draper, Managing Director of IDT Limited
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 Luke Draper, Managing Director of Ilkeston-based managed IT specialist IDT Limited.
I predict the death of the desktop in 2022. We all have had to change our business models in order to survive over the last two years, and now that flexible working is here to stay, the devices we use need to come with us.
The pandemic has affected our industry massively, proving that companies who invest in their IT and communications have not only survived, many now are reaping the benefits – and not just from a monetary point of view, but also the staff satisfaction giving people more flexibility to do their work from wherever.
We plan to continue our good work from 2021, and have ambitious growth and targets we want to hit so we are excited for the year to come. We have had a great year and have again made a substantial investment in our staff and helped businesses when others have just tried to make a quick buck.
Revenues rise while profits fall at Games Workshop
Revenue continues to rise at “confident” Games Workshop, though pre-tax profits have slipped.
According to half-yearly results for the six months to 28 November 2021, revenue grew to £191.5m, up from £186.8m in the same period of 2020.
Profit before tax at the Nottingham-headquartered business however dipped to £88.2m, from £91.6m.
Kevin Rountree, CEO of Games Workshop, said: “We are on the front foot and confident in our ability to continue to deliver our strategy. Our commitment to focus on real cash returns and return on capital continues to deliver honest and consistent returns to our owners. We will continue to try our best. In the period reported, we have delivered just that.
“We have proven once again that the Warhammer hobby creates exciting experiences and allows people around the world to come together and have some fun. We continue to focus on making the best miniatures in the world and to document and deliver an exciting operational plan.
“I’m once again immensely proud of the global teams’ performance, the ongoing support of our customers and those unsung heroes that keep us safe and well, thank you.”
80 acres of land sold at prime logistics development site in Derbyshire
Bolsover Land Limited (BLL), a joint venture between ALMCOR (formally known as iSec) and St. Francis Group, has sold over 80 acres at its 1.4 million sq ft Horizon 29 warehouse and logistics development to BentallGreenOak (BGO) and their development partner, Equation Properties for £39.9 million.
BGO and Equation will develop up to 1.2 million sq ft at Horizon 29 across the 140-acre strategic brownfield site located adjacent to Junction 29A of the M1 and Markham Vale.
Horizon 29, formerly the Coalite works, was acquired by BLL in 2012. The site has been remediated and core infrastructure constructed to allow for development to further consolidate Horizon 29 as one of the East Midlands’ premier industrial and logistics locations.
BLL retains over 33 acres for further development which will be brought forward alongside the BGO development.
Rupert Wood, head of strategic land at ALMCOR, said: “This is an excellent deal for the JV having bought the site in 2012. It will drive forward the delivery of Horizon 29 while allowing ALMCOR to release capital to recycle it into other substantial projects that we are bringing forward, such as Thames Enterprise Park in Thurrock.
“Working with our JV partner, St Francis Group, we have delivered a warehousing and logistics site into an increasingly constrained market at the right time demonstrating our credentials as strategic land specialists.”
Gareth Williams, development director at St Francis Group, said: “This sale highlights the expertise within the Group and the wider Joint Venture to unlock technically challenging brownfield sites, and to complete significant highway and service infrastructure to create a development ready site capable of immediate development.
“Having jointly invested significant funds to achieve this in time to capitalise on rising demand for serviced land, we are delighted to have completed this sale to BGO and to have secured a programme of speculative development at Horizon29.”
Gareth Purcell, Managing Director at BentallGreenOak, said: “We are delighted to have closed on the acquisition. The first phases of the site already benefit from Reserved Matters planning consent and we will be commencing speculative development works on site during Q2 with the first units completing by year-end.
“This deal, which completed on Christmas Eve, closes out a very busy year for BGO’s UK logistics platform, with us having acquired land to deliver c. 5m sq ft of new logistics space with our partners at Equation Properties in addition to a further 3.7m sq ft of standing assets across a total of 12 separate transactions.”
BLL was advised by JLL and Clyde & Co and BGO and Equation were advised by Burbage Realty and Taylor Wessing.
