Disappointing shrink for UK economy
The UK’s economy shrunk unexpectedly in October.
According to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), GDP (gross domestic product), a key measure of economy growth, declined by 0.1% month on month – below expectations of 0.1% growth.
This follows a fall of 0.1% in September.
It reflects dwindling and declining output across all three key sectors, with production output falling by 0.6% in October, due to drops in manufacturing, and mining and quarrying output.
Construction output, meanwhile, dipped by 0.4% in October and services output showed no growth.
Ben Jones, Lead Economist, CBI, said: “Following these disappointing figures, businesses will be glad to see the end of 2024. Nevertheless, firms remain hopeful that things will improve in the New Year.
“It may take a few more months for firms to work through the impact of the sharp increase in employment taxes outlined in the Budget and adjust their hiring and investment plans accordingly. But businesses can probably still look forward to a steady, if unspectacular, economic recovery next year as the impact of the inflation shock fades and interest rates come down further.
“The Government can support business confidence by accelerating measures that could restore some headroom for investment. These include delivering flexibility to the Apprenticeship Levy, preparing a faster timetable to reform business rates and working in full partnership with boardrooms to develop a long-term modern industrial strategy that can provide the stability and certainty needed to unlock innovation, investment and grow the economy.”
Grimsby-based card payment solutions provider sold to US company
Card Industry Professionals – the Grimsby-based card payment solutions provider – has been acquired by Shift4, a US-based company that is a global leader in payments and commerce-enabling technology, listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The deal provides an exit for Mercia Ventures, which backed the company in 2022 using funding from the first Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) and the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF). It achieved a 2x return on investment.
Card Industry Professionals provides card terminals, point of sale and online payment solutions to thousands of SMEs such as retailers, hair salons and hospitality venues.
The business was founded in 2017 by award-winning young entrepreneur Ciaran Savage, who was joined by his mother, Lyn Savage, as Operations Director, and John Selby as Sales Director, both of whom have many years of experience in the UK payments industry.
The company now employs a 20-strong team in Grimsby, has a nationwide network of over 150 sales agents and processes over £60m worth of transactions per month.
Ciaran Savage, Founder and Managing Director, said: “We are excited to be joining the Shift4 family. We are committed to upholding the company values and best-in-class service customers have come to expect from us and are confident that this acquisition will allow us to improve upon those service levels, while offering even more value in the form of new benefits, incentives and product offerings.”
Maurice Disasi of Mercia Ventures added: “We’re delighted to have supported CIP on its growth journey. Ciaran and the team have built a business with first-class customer support and Shift4 now has the benefit of adding a strong and well-respected team here in the UK as part of their global operations. We wish the team continued success.”
Cerelo in Leeds provided corporate finance advice to Mercia and Card Industry Professionals, Marshall & Co Chartered Accountants in Hull provided financial due diligence support, with Wilkin Chapman in Grimsby providing all legal support and guidance.
Work begins to build more social housing in Mansfield
The delivery of a third phase of new council homes has reached a significant milestone, with a contractor being appointed and work now starting on site.
Mansfield District Council appointed Mercer Building Solutions following a competitive tender process to undertake the construction of 77 affordable homes off Centenary Road. The contractor is also delivering social housing, on behalf of the council, on the Bellamy estate.
The £18 million project has been conducted in three phases known widely as Poppy Fields. So far, on the site, a total of 84 new homes have been built and are occupied by council tenants.
In 2012, the council received £1.3 million from the government’s Care and Support Specialised Housing fund and 64 homes were developed as part of the first phase. The authority then received a further grant of £420,000 for Poppy Fields phase 2, which saw the delivery of a further 20 mixed-use properties, completed in 2016.
In August, the Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Finance, Cllr Craig Whitby, took the delegated decision to accept a further £2.7m from Homes England to build an additional 77 properties in the area.
Phase three works started on site in late November and are due to be completed in summer 2026.
Councillor Anne Callaghan, Portfolio Holder Housing, said: “We are really pleased that this flagship social housing scheme is now moving at pace.
“All the homes will be built to a higher specification than is currently required, to be in line with expected new housing standards, and to make them flexible living spaces that can adapt to tenants’ changing needs over their lifetime.
“These homes will not only offer an excellent quality of life for the tenants who will live in them; the council’s new procurement policy means the scheme will also provide work and supply chain opportunities for local people and businesses.”
The development off Centenary Road (formerly Brownlow Road) is the third and final phase of this major council project to clear an area renowned for poor quality, low demand, empty housing, and anti-social behaviour.
The new 77 homes will be mixed residential, offered at affordable rent, and owned by Mansfield District Council. 47 of the properties have been designated for older people, a mix of apartments and bungalows, and 30 will be for general needs, a mix of apartments and houses.
The council’s in-house architects have designed the new homes to align with government carbon reduction targets and the Future Homes Standard, which is expected to be adopted nationally by 2025. This approach to new social housing has been adopted for other council housing projects, including at Bellamy Estate and Fritchley Court in Oak Tree.
The standard requires new homes to have low-carbon heating and high energy efficiency. An average semi-detached house produces 75% to 80% fewer carbon dioxide emissions than one built to current building regulations.
Mercer Building Solutions is also working on the council’s £7m regeneration scheme on the Bellamy estate, which recently saw work begin on the foundations for 22 new social homes.
Katy Mercer, Director of Mercer Building Solutions, added: “We are delighted to continue to work in partnership with Mansfield District Council. Due to their foresight, we are delivering high specification, energy efficient homes for the future, which far surpass current regulations.
“Similar to our scheme on the Bellamy Estate, we will continue to focus not only on the quality of the build, but also on social value. We will ensure the local community not only benefits from these new homes, but also benefits in terms of local employment, local spend and support of local community projects, during their construction.”
Administrators appointed to fish processing specialist
Fish processing specialist Arctic Fish Products has ceased trading and fallen into administration.
Jamie Miller and Gareth Harris of RSM UK Restructuring Advisory LLP were appointed Joint Administrators of the business on 4 December.
Founded in 2005, Arctic Fish Products Limited operated successfully in Grimsby for many years processing, packing and storing fish for a strong customer base.
Administrators were appointed after the company experienced significant cash flow difficulties due to material bad debts with key customers, along with the related impact on future trading prospects.
This led to the company’s directors consulting RSM UK for advice to address these cash flow difficulties and to protect the company’s assets for the benefit of all creditors.
Unfortunately, the cash flow position was irrecoverable and the company was placed into administration. The company ceased trading and staff were made redundant shortly prior to the administration appointment.
Jamie Miller, RSM UK Restructuring Advisory Partner and Joint Administrator, said: “It’s a very unfortunate time for the business and its employees but the recent sudden loss of turnover left the Company with no option other than to effect an insolvency process.
“We are assisting employees to ensure that they recover their entitlements in respect of any arrears of salary, holiday pay, pay in lieu of notice and redundancy.
“We are also working closely with the directors and other stakeholders in order to realise the Company’s assets for the maximum amount possible.
“This includes the Company’s desirable trading premises and plant and machinery, with interested parties advised to make contact with us as soon as possible. We are hopeful of securing a material return to the Company’s creditors.”
Nottingham City Council awaits decision on £3.4m grant to progress Broad Marsh shopping centre demolition
Nottingham City Council has applied for a £3.4m grant to allow further demolition of the former Broad Marsh shopping centre.
The council has bid for the money from the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA), which is meeting next Monday (16 December) to discuss the award as part of a potential wider allocation of £9.5m to councils and organisations across the region.
It comes from EMCCA’s Investment Fund and the authority has worked with local partners to consider projects that invest in homes, jobs, manufacturing, clean energy creation and greener spaces.
The funding is set to be discussed and a formal decision made during the EMCCA Board meeting in Newark next week.
The city council has bid for up to £3.392m to carry out partial demolition of a section of the frame near to the recently-opened Green Heart. This would then enable works to start on the Broad Marsh masterplan to transform a key part of the city centre.
Councillor Neghat Khan, Leader of Nottingham City Council and Executive Member for Strategic Regeneration, Transport and Communications, said: “This is key funding that the city has bid for to accelerate our ambitious plans for Broad Marsh.
“If we secure the grant at EMCCA’s board meeting next week, this will be a great example of partnership working between the new Regional Mayor and Nottingham City Council, delivering on projects which provide huge benefits to Nottingham and our residents.
“This would help us continue our progress on the Broad Marsh masterplan to transform a key part of the city centre following on from the recent opening of the Green Heart.
“The funding would allow us to bring forward selective enabling-demolition of part of the remaining old shopping centre structure, which is good news for the city and continues our regeneration plans in this part of Nottingham.”
Claire Ward, Mayor of the East Midlands, said: “Broad Marsh is one of the region’s biggest development opportunities and this funding will help towards delivering the masterplan for the site.
“It will go towards the demolition of part of the frame near to the Green Heart and will be an important step in helping to bring forward work on the site.
“The Broad Marsh project has the potential to be a major boost for both the local and region economy – it will create 1,600 new homes, just over 2,000 news jobs, plus visitor attractions and business space. So, it’s an important project for this funding to go to.”
New CPD courses in Cyber Security showcased to businesses
New courses to help businesses equip their staff to face the growing threats of cyber attacks have been launched at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU).
DMU is one of just eight universities in England to be rated Gold for its cyber security teaching and outreach work by the National Cyber Security Centre. Businesses and industry teams were invited to find out more about the new courses at an event, held in the university’s newly-refurbished computer labs at DMU’s Gateway House.
Professor Eerke Boiten, Head of the School of Computer Science and Informatics, said: “Cyber security is a main area of strength in our teaching, and as a gold standard Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education (ACE-CSE), we are delighted to be able to offer these continuing professional development courses to industry professionals, shaping and supporting cyber security education as a lifelong learning university.”
The event included a tour of DMU’s Security Operations Centre, a talk on ways to protect your business from cyber threats and how CyberSprint: Fast Track to the Future, a new project, will revolutionise cyber skills in the East Midlands.
DMU’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Media (CEM) has been developing new continuing professional development (CPD) programmes for industry.
The academic team showcased DMU’s Red v Blue Team Training demo, an immersive training exercise designed to provide a cyber warfare training environment, and the interactive Serious Critical Protection Scenarios gamified training with simulated attack scenarios to improve awareness and understanding of cyber security investment in your organisation.
The team also presented the new flexible learning opportunities to access DMU’s Cyber Security MSc level programme as manageable one-week courses for professionals looking to upskill and specialise in a particular subject area. Course topics include Cyber Threat Intelligence, Network Security, Malware Analysis, Digital Forensics, Penetration Testing and Incident Response.
Latest Government reports show that half of all UK businesses have experienced some form of cybersecurity breach or attack in the past 12 months. Some 70% of medium sized businesses and 74% of large businesses reported they had been targeted.
One attendee said: “The week long sections of the masters degrees should be an excellent way of businesses sending staff on useful training, without too much time out of the business.”
Another added: “I liked the mix of the courses on offer. From individual modules, technical team scenario’s (Red v Blue), and SCIPS can demonstrate the importance of every person’s role towards cyber security within an organisation.”
Interested in finding out more about DMU’s exciting new cyber security training exercises and CPD opportunities? Email Business Services at DMU – businessservices@dmu.ac.uk
Van Elle anticipates decline in first half revenue amidst challenging market conditions
Van Elle, the ground engineering contractor, is anticipating a decline in first half revenue amidst challenging market conditions.
According to a trading update for the six months ended 31 October 2024, the firm expects to report revenue for the period of approximately £65m, representing a decrease of 5% on the prior year.
Market conditions have continued to be challenging across all sectors, Van Elle noted, with workload subdued in Rail, as the sector transitions from CP6 into CP7, and Highways continues to experience project delays.
The business added that the impact of the Building Safety Act has caused delays to start dates of taller residential schemes, however encouragingly the new build housing sector has continued to recover, with a strong pipeline of work planned for delivery throughout the second half of the financial year.
Van Elle said it has also made further progress in developing a strong position in the water and energy sectors, and the recent acquisition of Albion Drilling provides additional momentum in Scotland.
Growth is also continuing in Canada, with the award of a new three-year framework agreement in November for the delivery of Metrolinx renewals projects worth approximately CAD$9m to the Group.
Van Elle’s order book at 31 October 2024 increased to £41.6m (30 April 2024: £35.1m).
2025 Business Predictions: Parm Bhangal, Managing Director, Bhangals Construction Consultants
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 Parm Bhangal, Managing Director at Bhangals Construction Consultants.
The construction industry has suffered in the past 12 months. While we anticipated a quieter year, nobody was prepared for the widespread dip across all areas.
2025 has to be a year for recovery and growth in our sector. The new Government has pledged to build 1.5 million new homes over the next five years, which should help construction companies to find greater opportunities for more building contracts.
However, we continue to face a massive labour and skills shortage, and it has been widely reported that we will need an extra 250,000 workers in the UK in order to meet demand. Therefore, there is no doubt that businesses will continue to struggle to find the right people with the right skills and right attitude in order to succeed. That skills gap for consultants and trade needs to be filled urgently and we need more apprenticeship programmes and better routes to market to achieve this.
During 2025, the industry will continue its focus on sustainability and aiming to reduce carbon emissions in each individual build through solar panels and other specialist environmental measures.
Businesses will also need to embrace technology as it advances in order to make jobs more efficient and use time most wisely.
Council plans new affordable homes for disused block of flats
A disused block of flats that has stood empty for over seven years is to be demolished to make way for new affordable housing.
The Leys building, in Beaumont Leys, was bought by Leicester City Council in 2019 with the intention of refurbishing it to bring back into use.
The building is currently in a state of disrepair and with the opportunity to acquire adjoining privately-owned land at John Calvert Court, the council is now planning to demolish the building and develop a new council housing scheme. The proposed scheme would deliver up to 52 new affordable homes and include a toddler playground for use by the wider community.
The city council originally purchased The Leys building for £1.2 milllion. The anticipated costs of the proposed new affordable housing scheme – including demolition costs of about £800,000 – is £15.5 million. This would be funded using receipts from the sale of council properties under the Government’s Right to Buy scheme.
Deputy city mayor Cllr Elly Cutkelvin, who leads on housing, said: “Leicester continues to face a housing crisis and it is essential we do everything we can to address the growing demand for high-quality affordable housing in the city.
“By acquiring more land and preparing this site for new homes, we can increase our stock of council housing and build high quality, affordable homes that meet the needs of local people as well as providing a boost to the local area.
“There is no doubt that the Right to Buy scheme has hit the supply of council housing hard. It is essential that we invest whatever proceeds we can back into ambitious schemes like this that will help address the urgent need for more affordable homes in our city.”
If given the go-ahead, demolition of The Leys is expected to take place in 2025.
A competitive tendering process will then get underway to find a development partner to design and build the new affordable homes, subject to planning permission.
Work starts on new research and development facility for food and farming sector
Work has started on creating a new research and development facility at the University of Lincoln’s Riseholme Park Campus, enabling new industry collaboration and research opportunities for the UK’s food and farming sector.
The glasshouse will facilitate regional industry specialisms, support innovation in food and farming, deliver collaborative, impactful and high value research with industry, and further establish the University’s Riseholme Park Campus and Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology (LIAT) as specialist centres.
The Glasshouse Research & Development (R&D) Facility will use geothermal ground source heating technology to provide heating from renewable energy. The building will therefore operate with a considerably lower carbon footprint than traditional facilities of its kind and will demonstrate plausible pathways towards a Net Zero transition for this segment of the agriculture and horticulture industries.
When completed, the glasshouse will offer access to specialist research infrastructure and innovation support services. This will allow SMEs and other businesses in the UK’s food sector to adapt or improve their products or services.
The glasshouse will have capacity for multiple R&D projects to take place simultaneously in independently controlled compartments. Eligible businesses will also have access to academic experts from the University of Lincoln, as well as many research and knowledge transfer opportunities. This ongoing support will enable adoption of new technology, new processes, acquisition of skills and the development of new products.
Prof. Neal Juster, Vice Chancellor of the University of Lincoln, said: “We are very excited at the prospect of our new Glasshouse Facility being constructed at the University’s Riseholme Park Campus, and it will be working with Net Zero technologies that are in line with our ongoing commitment to sustainability and a carbon free future.
“Lincolnshire is the UK’s Food Valley, from its seafood industry in Grimsby, through agri-tech in Lincoln, to its fresh produce sector in southern Lincolnshire. We are facilitating growth with an industry-led investment agenda. Our enabling strategy, working in conjunction with industry can deliver success by attracting and supporting investors.
“By working together, locally and with the government, we can deliver much more investment, innovation, job creation and food security. It is incredibly important that we invest in applied research and development opportunities such as this and encourage the growth of our University as a commercial entity.”
The Glasshouse R&D Facility will form part of Greater Lincolnshire LEP’s proposed Agricultural Growth Zone (Ag Zone), designed to support Greater Lincolnshire agriculture and the delivery of the UK Food Valley.
The research and development infrastructure will also be used for the new AgriTech Incubator established by the University of Lincoln in partnership with Barclays Eagle Labs.
The total cost of the project will be £2.2 million with the majority of the capital being provided by a local growth fund from the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership. Construction of the facility is expected to be completed by Summer 2025.
