Tungsten Properties agrees renewal of £50m revolving credit facility to fund pipeline of logistics opportunities
Cain International, the privately held investment firm, has agreed the renewal of a £50 million revolving credit facility with Leicester-based Tungsten Properties for a further three years. The renewal follows the successful deployment of the initial facility in 2020 of £36 million.
Cain’s partnership with Tungsten began in 2019, with the initial facility having financed four successful schemes with a GDV of approximately £61 million. Coupled with Tungsten’s balance sheet, the first facility supported the development schemes across the UK at Witham, Witney, Oakham and Lutterworth, which totalled more than 440,000 sq ft of industrial and distribution space. The new facility will fund a pipeline of logistics opportunities across the UK.
The credit facility transaction has been agreed as part of Cain’s Fortwell strategy, borne out of Cain’s acquisition of Fortwell Capital in 2020, which extended Cain’s lending platform’s offering to development loans ranging between £10 million – £750 million. The strategy focuses on development loans of £10 – 50 million across residential, commercial, and alternative sectors in the UK.
Nikos Yerolemou-Ennsgraber, director – real estate debt at Cain International, said: “This transaction presented an opportunity to expand our reach across a sector with fundamentals we believe in, while meeting the growing demand for high-quality logistics assets across the UK delivered by reputable developers.
“At its heart, Cain is a partnerships business, and we are delighted to strengthen our relationship with Tungsten through this facility.
“With Fortwell now fully integrated into Cain’s real estate debt business, we believe that our holistic service offering provides exciting opportunities for continued deployment of capital with existing clients and new ones, across the full range of loan sizes and financing structures.”
Jeff Penman, Managing Director, Tungsten Properties, added: “In the last three years, there’s no doubt that our £50m Revolving Credit Facility with Cain has enabled us to be more agile and secure great quality development opportunities. Also, it has allowed our equity to be spread across a greater number of projects.
“This RCF renewal for a further three years gives us greater firepower to respond to and consider opportunities as soon as they present themselves. We look forward to continuing this partnership with Cain and seeking out strategic opportunities to deliver much-needed industrial and distribution space.”
Simple customs declarations top trade priorities for Government as majority of small firms outsource paperwork to intermediaries
A majority of small international traders do not have the dedicated manpower required to handle complex customs paperwork and need to turn to high-cost intermediaries, according to new research by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
FSB’s Customs Clearance report finds that the smaller the businesses, the less likely they are to have in-house resources for customs and trade – only 9% of small firms have a dedicated staff member or team. Of these firms, four in ten (38%) have more than 50 employees.
Seven in ten (71%) small exporters and importers say they use an intermediary for at least some of the process of handling customs declarations, compared to just a quarter (24%) that handle the entire process in-house.
Fast parcel operator (60%) is the most widely used type of intermediary by small international traders, followed by freight forwarder (50%) and customs agents/broker (26%).
As businesses are adjusting to the new UK-EU trade relationship, small international traders say they have been asked to pay fees attributed to post-Brexit paperwork, but in many cases there is a lack of clarity from intermediaries on what exactly these extra costs are for.
A third of respondents cite high intermediary fees as a challenge for overseas trade.
Despite facing higher costs, many small businesses say they will continue to rely on intermediates to export and import. Four in ten (39%) explain this is because they do not have the expertise required to handle customs declarations, while over half (57%) say footing the extra bill would free up their time for other tasks.
FSB sets out a list of recommendations to bring down the costs and barriers of international trade in the report, including:
- Building a small business-friendly Single Trade Window, an online portal delivering a ‘once and done’ approach to Government data collection.
- Targeting business support towards those with high export potential, and those in sectors that say they find a lack of guidance particularly difficult.
- Monitor potential anti-competitive behaviour resulting from supply chain disruption via the Competition and Markets Authority Five Eyes working group.
- Adopting a ‘think small first’ approach to customs policy development, including robust piloting and staggered implementation timelines. Government should also commit to raising the de minimis customs duty threshold to £1,000.
Midland Lead up for national award
Following significant investment in their people practices, Swadlincote-based manufacturer, Midland Lead, has been shortlisted for a national award for HR’s professional body, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. The lead manufacturer has been shortlisted for Best SME People Management Initiative for the way they engage and develop their people.
Family-run company Midland Lead produces over 15,000 tonnes of lead annually for UK and overseas clients. It is a significant employer in the area, offering a variety of office and manufacturing jobs and apprenticeships. This year marks the company’s 40th anniversary.
Since 2015 Midland Lead has worked with Loates HR to create a values-led culture, termed “Team Midland Lead” to build a happy, engaged, and healthy workforce.
Manufacturing can be challenging to recruit and retain staff, so they set out to create a flexible, multi-skilled, committed, happy workforce that delivers exceptional customer results.
The people-led initiative included the rollout of values, recruiting new starters based against these, developing a pay progression structure for operators and introducing a suite of benefits such as life insurance and enhanced holiday and sick pay.
Coupled with significant investment in training opportunities, the introduction of one-to-ones and employee focus groups, Midland Lead is also a Real Living Wage employer.
With a focus on wellbeing, staff can access GP appointments, a bike-to-work scheme, Costco membership and access to lunch and learn workshops on nutrition and adopting a healthy lifestyle.
The investment in staff has reaped rewards. At the end of last year when faced with crippling energy costs, the company asked employees to design their shifts to help reduce energy bills but also improve operators’ work-life balance; the resulting changes have reduced the company’s energy consumption by 20% and means employees can now finish early on a Friday.
HR manager Francoise Derksen said: “We are absolutely delighted with the news that we have been shortlisted for this prestigious CIPD award and truly value working together with our team and local businesses to make Midland Lead a great place to work and thrive.
“It’s great to hear that the judges have recognised Midland Lead for our long-term approach to people development, establishing us as an employer of choice, an excellent manufacturer driven by a clear business need to recruit and retain the best to deliver the best for our customers.”
Director Sarah Loates, from Derby-based Loates HR Consultancy, said: “We have worked closely with Midland Lead for seven years and have been immensely impressed with their unwavering commitment to make their workplace a better place for all. We are so proud that our professional body has recognised their dedication.”
The CIPD award for Best SME People Management Initiative recognises businesses with fewer than 250 employees that have transformed how they manage and develop their people to support the workforce and broader business objectives.
The judges specifically looked for evidence of the impact of Team Midland Lead’s approach on business success, including the benefits for employees, customers, suppliers and overall organisation performance.
Tesla named as one of the most popular EVs for salary sacrifice
Tesla is the car brand still dominating the UK market and there appears to be no imminent expectation of that changing, according to the ‘EV Statistics Dashboard’ created by Pink Salary Exchange. The US-based electric vehicle (EV) brand has taken over the EV market in recent years, and according to the monthly figures compiled by the salary sacrifice experts, that stranglehold isn’t showing any signs of being released.
There was a time when the Nissan Leaf was the go-to EV for anyone thinking of making the switch to battery-powered and zero emission driving, but Tesla has completely swept the Japanese brand aside, particularly since the release of the Model 3 executive saloon car in 2017. And at the end of 2021 the UK was taking its first deliveries of the Tesla Model Y, a compact SUV, which has since upstaged the Model 3, and that can be seen in the handy stats dashboard updated each month and freely available on the Pink Salary Exchange website.
The most search-for EVs
The top five most searched-for brands on the Pink Salary Exchange platform has remained unchanged for the last two months. The top two places have been taken up by Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3 respectively, while third place was the Polestar 2, fourth place was the Skoda Enyaq and fifth place was the Audi E-Tron. April and May saw these top five places remain the same, while in March the only change was the Porsche Taycan replacing the Skoda Enyaq.
Indeed, the only other models to make the top five most searched for cars in 2023 have been the MG Motor MG4, the Kia Niro and the BMW I4.
One million EV target in reach
Tesla CEO Elon Musk vowed to concentrate on sales growth rather than profitability in 2023, and hence has made the Model Y and Model 3 much more affordable in the UK, which might explain their dominance in the figures. But the Pink Salary Exchange EV Statistics Dashboard does highlight the fact that virtually every major vehicle brand has an EV on the market now, and it also shows that the EV market is well on the way to hitting its one million sales target by 2024.
In May 2023 there were 786,000 EVs on UK roads, but experts do think the cost of living crisis in 2023 may have put a temporary halt on EV sales. In May 2023 EV sales accounted for 17% of the overall UK vehicle market, while back in December 2022, the dashboard shows us that this was as high as 33%. Either way, the EV is an unstoppable force. Keep up to date with the latest EV statistics via the Pink Salary Exchange EV Statistics Dashboard.
OMEETO marks third anniversary with move to larger offices and first degree apprentice
Commercial property agency OMEETO has marked its third anniversary with the appointment of its first degree apprentice and the move to new larger offices.
Director Chris Wright, who set up the company in 2020 with more than 23 years industry experience in senior roles and national and regional companies, has been joined by Ruby Scott Mullen.
Ruby, a former pupil at Ecclesbourne School in Duffield, plans to study part time for a degree in chartered surveying with real estate at Nottingham Trent University alongside gaining practical work experience with OMEETO.
The company has also moved into larger offices at The Quadrant in Beeston town centre – providing the growing team with easy access to its growing portfolio of commercial property across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
Mr Wright explained: “We have grown steadily over the past three years and I am delighted to be in a position to invest in future professional talent by offering Ruby a degree apprenticeship with the company.
“Our success so far has been rooted in our fresh approach to commercial property sales and lettings by utilising the latest digital marketing tools and the flexibility of offer for our clients. Ruby’s skills and enthusiasm are already contributing greatly to our services.
“The move to The Quadrant also gives us the capacity to grow the team further as we move forward and gives us even easier access to the Nottingham and Derby areas where we are making our mark.”
Ruby concluded: “Having researched the profession and undertaken internships at several regional firms, I am very grateful for this opportunity at OMEETO to essentially earn while I learn and gain my qualifications alongside working directly with clients and supporting all the back-office functions.”
Boots to shut 300 stores
Nottingham-headquartered Boots is planning to close 300 shops as it looks to evolve its store estate.
Over the next year Boots will continue to consolidate a number of stores in close proximity to each other, saying this will allow the company “to concentrate its team members where they are needed and focus investment more acutely in individual stores with the ambition of consistently delivering an excellent and reliable service in a fresh and up to date environment.”
No jobs are expected to be lost, with employees offered roles at nearby shops.
The news comes as Boots announced its third quarter retail sales were up 13.4% year on year.
More customers are shopping at Boots more often, with the number of transactions up both in store and online, with footfall growth ahead of the wider retail market. City centre flagship and travel stores saw the biggest increase, while digital sales also continued to grow, up 25.2% year on year.
Seb James, Managing Director, Boots UK and ROI, said: “Our focus on offering our customers the best in healthcare and beauty, together with a continued commitment to great value, has been well received, and it is lovely to see more people choosing to shop with Boots. It is particularly pleasing to see our owned brands proving popular, including an exceptional No7 performance. I would like to thank all of our team members for their hard work in delivering these results.”
Serious concerns identified for Nottingham City Council’s financial activities
A new report has identified concerns “of a very serious nature” in how Nottingham City Council controls its finances.
The report conducted by EY (Ernst & Young) comes after it was uncovered that the council had, over a number of years, breached the ring-fencing requirement for its Housing Revenue Account, which was unlawful. The wrongful spending of funds is estimated to cost up to £51m.
As a consequence of the council’s failure to maintain this ring-fence, in 2022 the Corporate Director of Finance & Resources commissioned an external review due to continued concerns surrounding the council’s compliance with accounting controls around ring-fencing.
EY were engaged to undertake this review, in respect of six ring-fenced areas, that would identify policies, procedures, financial records and data and carry out testing on a sample of historical transactions with a view to commenting on the operation of the controls in place and the overall control environment.
Whilst there is no suggestion of any fraudulent transactions, the EY report has now highlighted, for the period 2019 to 2022, a number of very serious concerns, with a weak control environment, ineffective systems, associated management information and a culture which is not focused upon compliance.
Issues include an inability to find documents, no purchase order or goods received note – prior to invoice, document retention, eligibility for charging employees to ringfenced accounts, no evidence of approvals, approvers being able to authorise above their set limits, and a culture where policy adherence and knowledge is weak.
A council audit committee document says: “As much as the findings quite rightly focus on the system and process failings, the cultural and organisational limitations should not be lost as it is a significant contributing factor in the matters raised. Rectification of the issues is much more than simply putting in new procedures.”
Conclusions drawn from the observations and output of the assessment include that the current state of controls in operation require urgent intervention to avoid the risk of inappropriate financial activity.
The document added: “Whilst urgent action is required to establish grip on NCC’s financial activities, it also needs to be recognised that the scale of change required to establish an effective control environment is a transformative process and will take a number of years to fully implement.”
The findings of the financial controls assessment underpin a conclusion that the council is operating with a considerably weakened control environment which is “not fit for purpose in allowing a Local Authority to enact effective financial stewardship.”
In response to the seriousness of the findings, the control weaknesses have been mapped to the council’s existing finance improvement plan and an assessment of capacity to deliver at pace completed.
A remediation project has been scoped and commissioned to deliver a 12-week focused controls remediation response.
The council has not yet published the report in full, which comes as an Improvement and Assurance Board remains in place, monitoring improvements at the council.
Loughborough Building Society joins Legal and General
Loughborough Building Society is to become part of the Legal and General Mortgage Club in a move designed to give advisers access to a wider range of specialist mortgage products, ultimately leading to help for a wider range of borrowers.
Loughborough Building Society offers buy-to-let products up to a maximum loan size of £500,000 and residential products up to a maximum of £750,000.
Clare Beardmore, Director, Legal & General Mortgage Club said: “Giving advisers access to more product choice and more specialised solutions is absolutely essential to ensure borrowers get an outcome that is right for them. It’s also a vital component of the new Consumer Duty’s fair value requirements, which we know are an important priority for advisers.
“Offering Loughborough Building Society’s specialist residential and buy-to-let products to the broker network at Legal & General Mortgage Club will support more borrowers, and also the advisers who serve them.”
Ashley Pearson, National Business Development Manager at Loughborough Building Society, added: “Working with Legal & General’s team and joining the Mortgage Club panel is a welcome opportunity for us to address specialist requirements in the residential and buy-to-let sectors. This collaboration will allow us to help more borrowers who otherwise might have been overlooked.”
Derbyshire social project helping people after homelessness officially blooming after eight tonne topsoil donation
A Derbyshire social project which helps people who have been through homelessness is blooming with the help of a whopping eight-tonne topsoil donation so they can grow their own veg.
The donation to Derventio Housing Trust’s Growing Lives project in Ilkeston has been made by Alfreton-based Leedale Ltd, which provides a range of services to the construction industry, such as waste management. The topsoil was sourced from local construction projects, and was screened and tested at Leedale Ltd’s recycling yard in Alfreton.
Growing Lives is an activities project run by the housing trust which provides people in its properties, and referred there via other services, with communal activities such as woodworking, craft, walks and gardening, with the aim of creating a supportive, caring environment and helping them get back on their feet again.
People are helped by Derventio Housing Trust which provides them with accommodation if they have recently been homeless.
Leedale Ltd dropped off eight tonnes of topsoil which was transported to the garden by Derventio Housing Trust staff and residents using wheelbarrows.
Penny Wiltshire, funding and development manager at Derventio Housing Trust, who was introduced to Leedale through their work with Derby and Sandiacre Canal Trust, said: “It just goes to show that through creating valuable networks we can work together to provide projects like Growing Lives with resources that they really need. There is so much goodwill in the world, not to mention resourcefulness, which is how this topsoil donation has come about!
“I’d like to thank Oliver Walkup from Leedale along with all the organisations who helped make this happen including Long Eaton Rotary, Erewash Borough Council and Marketing Derby.”
Wayne Rodgers, who has been helped by Derventio Housing Trust and is a regular at Growing Lives – which provided him with his first ever holiday in 2022 when he was 54 – said: “Growing Lives is a place where you can relax and forget about your problems. You’re kept so busy here you haven’t got time to think about what’s going on in your life. This place is in my blood, I feel part of the furniture!”
Rachael Tomlin, a tutor at Growing Lives, said: “The garden soil is mainly sub soil and we have been working very hard to grow a lot of things here. We have struggled and it was mentioned that we could really do with some topsoil.
“Thanks to this donation we can now grow all the lovely produce that we have planned for this site! We’re hoping to grow courgettes, carrots, we have got lettuces, radishes, tomatoes, potatoes and beans. Everything we grow, we’ll be putting in meals we’re cooking.”
Another Derventio Housing Trust resident, Garry Welsh, said he enjoyed being in the garden having spent time outdoors with his family at a younger age.
He said: “Coming to Growing Lives gives me something to wake up in the morning for. I’ve not really grown anything since I was younger. It makes me feel brilliant here.”
The team at Leedale Ltd removes construction and demolition waste from building sites to bring back to its recycling yard where it is then filtered, treated and screened to create quality aggregates, including topsoil, which can then be used again.
Ben Hammond, head of business development at Leedale Ltd, said: “At Leedale we are proud to support charities and organisations as and where we can and when Derventio explained this cause to us, it was the least we could do.
“Hearing the story behind what the donation was going to support, it was a no brainer for us to get involved in such a great cause. The whole team at Derventio is great to deal with and it’s a pleasure to be able to support them.”
Multi-million-pound aerospace programme helps hundreds of SMEs take off
The University of Nottingham’s Aerospace Unlocking Potential (UP) programme has come to an end, after supporting more than 270 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the Midlands over the past three years.
Designed to help smaller companies develop new technologies and solutions to make aviation greener, the £20 million programme was delivered by the University of Nottingham’s Institute for Aerospace Technology (IAT) and the Midlands Aerospace Alliance (MAA) between 2020 and 2023, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and Midlands Engine.
The programme not only provided funding for projects but also offered companies unique access to industry experts, academic support, and university facilities that might otherwise have been unattainable.
Professor Pat Wheeler, Global Director of the University of Nottingham’s IAT and Head of Power Electronics in the Faculty of Engineering, said: “The past three years have seen us support more than 270 SMEs across the Midlands, with more than £11 million of private and public investment combined supplied to a plethora of projects. But this programme goes further than facts and figures, it’s afforded businesses the opportunity to create and improve a wide variety of new technologies that will take the aerospace industry to new heights.”
Among the companies that have benefited from Aerospace UP is Skyfarer Ltd, which used its funding to develop a prototype system for drone operations that has created the capability to deliver medical supplies to a radius that extends 40km beyond the pilot’s line of sight.
The system is linked to an app that allows the customer to see everything about their deliveries, including position, temperature, and any shocks the payload has experienced. As part of the project, drones were successfully flown beyond the line of sight in remote areas of Wales, marking a UK first for drone operations over land.
Georgia Hanrahan, Chief Operating Officer at Skyfarer Ltd., said: “Being supported by Aerospace UP has allowed us to turn our vision into a reality and create some milestone achievements in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) regulations in the UK. A big thank you must go to the team for believing in us from the start and putting air under our wings, quite literally, so that we can start benefiting the healthcare industry with this technology.”
The programme’s successes have been celebrated this month, first at a showcase event hosted at the university’s Jubilee Campus, where SMEs that Aerospace UP has supported presented more than 50 new technologies to the 150 people in attendance. Followed by the Paris Airshow, where a wall display next to the University of Nottingham’s stand with the MAA promoted projects and technologies developed by companies made possible through Aerospace UP.
The University of Nottingham’s IAT team also discussed ongoing opportunities available for companies and supported the MAA Paris Airshow networking reception, which promoted and celebrated the strength and depth of the aerospace supply chain in the Midlands.
Dr Andrew Mair, Chief Executive of the Midlands Aerospace Alliance, said: “Aerospace UP has been a flagship programme that is showing the global aerospace industry just how innovative our small companies can be. It’s brilliant that we have been able to work alongside the University of Nottingham to support these companies to develop the new technologies the aviation sector needs for the future.”
Although the programme has come to an end, the IAT plans to continue to strengthen the links it has created with companies across the region and the MAA to create new opportunities for collaboration in the future.
Professor Wheeler added: “What we’ve been able to do with Aerospace UP is establish a flourishing innovation ecosystem that brings together industry, the university, and the MAA and, moving forwards, we can use this as a launchpad for further work in the future. For example, we’re using this as a template for the work we’re doing with the University of Nottingham Italy by collaborating with the aerospace cluster in the Campania region.
“Closer to home, we’re continuing to provide technical services for the Midlands community, as well as access to our world-leading facilities. So, while Aerospace UP may have finished, the relationships and collaborations we’ve forged are continuing to flourish, and this is something I hope will continue in the years to come.”
