Leicester College student crowned National Entrepreneur of the Year 2022

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Leicester College student, Cerys Andrew has been announced as the 2022 National Entrepreneur of the Year and will receive a £5,000 investment from Peter Jones CBE, star of BBC’s Dragon’s Den. Cerys, who has recently completed the Peter Jones Business Enterprise BTEC National Foundation Diploma level 3 at the College, entered the competition which saw her pitch her business idea to a panel of judges, including Peter Jones himself. Based on her love of Irish dancing, in which she competes internationally, Cerys’ business is an Irish dance school, ‘Little Leprechauns.’ Currently, Cerys runs taster sessions and holiday club classes in primary schools. She has plans to turn the business into a franchise and hire and train staff to run their own schools around the UK. The £5,000 investment will help Cerys to expand her business by reaching more customers, conducting market research, and purchasing merchandise for her competing students. Cerys aims to use dance as a way to tackle obesity and promote healthy lifestyles amongst 6-15-year-olds. Cerys commented: “It’s been a big achievement for me getting to the finals, let alone winning! It still hasn’t sunk in! I wouldn’t have been able to get this far without the support from the College and my teachers, and I can’t wait to see where this takes my business in the future.” Peter Jones CBE, Chairman of Peter Jones Foundation, stated: “Cerys is an exceptional talent who pitched an impressive business plan. She is a great demonstration of someone who is creating a business out of a personal passion.” Beena Ghattoraya, Programme Lead, Leicester College’s Peter Jones Enterprise Academy, added: “We are very proud of Cerys here at the Leicester College Peter Jones Enterprise Academy. Throughout the process, Cerys has demonstrated passion and a drive for her business. We are looking forward to having Cerys back at the College to support our future students and we look forward to seeing Cerys start her business with the investment.” David Humpston, who won the competition in 2014, generously paid forward the £5,000 investment he won to provide the investment fund for this year’s winner. Yvette Sexton, Director of Curriculum at Leicester College, said: “The Peter Jones Enterprise Academy course at Leicester College is now in its 10th year and although several students have reached the national finals before, Cerys is our first winner. “Well done to Cerys, a talented individual who has turned her talent and passion into a successful business supported by the Peter Jones Foundation.”

EY reports record UK revenue and record bonus’s of £800k

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As EY Partners prepared to vote on whether to separate the company into two businesses, they banked an extra £800,000 in average distributed profit; over and above their annual salary (an increase of over £50k on the previous financial year. The accounting giant achieved revenue growth across all of its service lines in the UK. Consulting grew by 33%, followed by Tax, Assurance and Strategy and Transactions which generated growth of 15%, 11%, and 10% respectively. EY has also seen strong demand across all its industry sectors with stand-out performances from Consumer Products (26.4% growth), Private Equity (26.1%), Energy (21.3%) and Financial Services (13.6%). Hywel Ball, EY UK Chair comments:This has been a record year of growth in the UK, driven by the long-term investments we’ve made in our business and strong client demand. The decisions we’ve made in recent years, whether that’s continuing to recruit during the pandemic, expanding the Partnership, or the significant financial investments we’ve made in acquisitions and new technologies, have underpinned the extraordinary growth we’ve seen this financial year. These results also demonstrate the strength and resilience that we will continue to bring to navigating the current turbulent economic environment successfully. “With companies facing a convergence of challenges, from climate change and the pandemic to economic uncertainty and shifting consumer habits, we’re investing in the talent, skills and services needed to help our clients transform, grow and build trust with their stakeholders. “Over the last financial year alone we’ve recruited over 5,500 people across all parts of our business, with 37% of roles based outside of London, and appointed 120 new equity Partners. We’ve expanded our range of services in areas including technology consultancy and sustainability through acquisitions and the launch of EY Carbon. Plus, we’ve invested over $1bn globally in audit quality, supported by a refreshed investment strategy here in the UK. “Our legacy as a single organisation has been exceptional and we’re in a strong period of growth for our business. I’m proud that, against this backdrop, we are taking the opportunity to review the shape of our business in the UK and globally to ensure we’re well positioned to build on this success into the future.”

FHP secure 10 year deal on 47,000ft² in Hucknall

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Acting on behalf of long-term clients, Tim Gilbertson of FHP Property Consultants has  clinched a deal with UK Home shopping on a large site of just under 50,000ft² between Junctions 26 and 27 of the M1 at Hucknall. A spokesperson for UK Home Shopping comments:“With the benefit of the existing planning, we will soon launch ‘TOOLS TO GO’ – the biggest MEGASTORE of Tools and Machinery anywhere in the East Midlands (and possibly even the UK) to both the general public and the trade offering the biggest brands and widest ranges of over 70,000 Hand Tools, Power Tools, Garage and Workshop equipment, Gardening tools and machinery, Power Generators, Pressure Washers and much, much more and all at fiercely competitive prices.” Tim Gilbertson, Director of FHP Property Consultants adds:“I am pleased with the result we gained here, securing a 10 year lease without break for our clients on this good quality building. “A particular feature of this unit was its large yard, which is always a big selling point these days and helped us to secure the length of lease required. “We wish the new tenants well in their expansion into the building.” Set on a large yard and benefiting from an excellent location, it was always anticipated that the building would be well received in the market and this proved to be the case as a long-term lease was secured to UK Home Shopping Ltd for their expansion.”    

Lincoln investment group snapped up for £3.5m

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Global wealth management group Kingswood have acquired Lincoln-based JCH Investment Management Limited , which manages over £105m of client assets over 240 clients.

A deal was secured at £3.5m with part of the consideration being tied to performance targets.  Initially £2.1m will be paid, once regulatory approval has been granted and the balance paid payable over a two-year period, subject to the achievement of pre-agreed performance targets. The Acquisition remains conditional on regulatory approval. In the year ending 31 July 2022, JCH generated revenue of £901k and profit before tax of £406k.

Kingswood Group assets under advice (“AuA”) totals over £10 billion from a combination of both global retail and institutional clients.

David Lawrence, Kingswood Group CEO, commented: “I am delighted to announce the acquisition of JCH. Led by John Hebblethwaite, over many years JCH have built deep and enduring relationships with their clients and John and his team have a strong cultural alignment with Kingswood.

 “This Acquisition also allows us to consolidate our existing footprint in Lincolnshire and in doing so create a scalable hub from which to grow. On completion, the existing Kingswood team will co-locate with the JCH team at their Lincoln premises.

 “Kingswood continues to be an acquisitive business and has a further five purchase transactions under exclusive due diligence that we expect to close in the coming months.”

John Hebblethwaite JCH commented:“We are delighted to be joining the Kingswood Group. This is an exciting development for the business, providing additional expertise, capability, and funding to continue our long-term track record of providing a best-in-class service for our clients. Kingswood shares our vision and beliefs of empowering its employees to provide excellent client service and this move gives the perfect outcome for both our clients and team for their future prosperity.

 “I spent over two years investigating our options for a possible merger or sale, looking to find a ‘partner’ that would enable us to take all aspects of our business forward for the benefit of clients and staff alike. I am confident that Kingswood, as a major leading advice business, have the team and culture to be able to do this. We have been very impressed with the depth of quality in their management team.

 “This is an important and positive step forward for JCH, as Kingswood share our fundamental ethos on providing an exemplary service to clients first and foremost.

 “Their focus on service with great client outcomes, combined with understanding that our team are the heart of the business, giving them the opportunity to thrive and grow, made the decision to join them an easy one.”

Prime land sale secures future of residential development

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Some four acres of prime land earmarked for a residential development in Woodhouse Eaves, Leicestershire, has been acquired by a Derby-based developer. The deal was orchestrated by property consultants at Fisher German, on behalf of a private landowner and will undoubtedly help meet the ongoing demand for new homes. Previously, an initial planning application for fifty dwellings was refused when the appeal was dismissed in 2019; subsequent planning permission for 36 dwellings was granted in October 2021. The landowner has been working with the Fisher German development team on promoting the sale of the land since 2016, during which time they had seen planning for 50 houses declined and a subsequent appeal dismissed. Undeterred, the land finally attained planning permission for 36 new dwellings in 2021. Acting on behalf of the landowner, Fisher German played a key role in facilitating the sale by inviting numerous parties to submit their proposals, before securing an option agreement that enabled JK Land Limited to purchase the land within an agreed time frame, as well as negotiating a sale price upon the granting of planning permission. Commenting on the deal, Luke Brafield, Partner in Fisher German’s Development team, says: “This proposed development has involved a number of planning and technical challenges. As such, it is a project that enabled us to demonstrate our varied expertise in strategic land promotion, ranging from sourcing developer partners and negotiating terms, to advising on planning promotion and negotiating prices for option agreements. “We are delighted to have assisted in facilitating this deal and very much look forward to seeing a scheme being delivered.”

International software company expands into Nottingham’s iconic City Building

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International software company 4G Clinical has expanded its Nottingham operation with a move to larger offices in the city centre.

The fast-growing US-owned clinical trial company has leased a floor at City Buildings, the landmark four-storey Victorian property on the corner of Carrington Street, between Nottingham train station and the Broadmarsh redevelopment.

The move means 4G Clinical, which employs more than 400 people across 12 offices worldwide, can expand to meet demand for its services. Its previous base was near Jubilee Campus, close to University Park.

The firm, which develops software systems that support clinical trials, appointed Innes England to search for the ideal space in the city.

Jon Sendall, of 4G Clinical, said: “The office provides a flexible hub for our UK operations and is ideally located close to city centre amenities and public transport links.  This creates a more appealing location for our staff to work from and offers excellent sustainable travel options.”

MEIF Maven Debt Finance achieves £80m funding milestone

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MEIF Maven Debt Finance has achieved a key milestone, lending £80 million to ambitious businesses across its two debt funds since Maven was appointed as Manager. The Funds, which are part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), have been supporting growth focused SMEs across the East & South East and West Midlands since their launch in 2018. Access to finance has long been a barrier to growth for many smaller companies and the MEIF is helping improve the finance landscape for Midland based businesses in order to realise the region’s potential to achieve economic growth through enterprise. MEIF Maven Debt Finance has now backed over 150 businesses across the two regions providing the essential capital required to support a wide range of funding requirements such as boosting working capital, investing in new products & services, or moving to larger commercial premises. The funding has also directly helped to create more than 700 jobs. Businesses who have benefitted from debt finance through the Funds include Eskuta, an e-bike supplier to established brands such as Dominos and Pizza Hut, which has significantly increased sales since MEIF’s backing nearly 3 years ago. Whilst fleet software services provider, Chevin Fleet, was able to utilise the funding to exploit new commercial opportunities on a global scale. More recently, the Funds have backed a number of pioneering and innovative businesses including Maeving, a manufacturer of fully electric motorcycles and BatFast, a sports technology business which recently won Best Technology for Fitness and Participation at the 2022 Sports Technology Awards. Jonathan Lowe, Investment Director at Maven in the East and South East Midlands said: “We are delighted to have achieved this significant milestone for MEIF loans across the Midlands. Businesses have faced and continue to face major challenges in recent times, and we’re pleased to have played a part in their resilience and growth. With further MEIF funds available to deploy, we remain keen to support SMEs with their finance needs.” Richard Blount, Investment Director at Maven in the West Midlands adds: “The continued success of the funds is evident both from the continued demand for funding from SMEs based across the West Midlands and East and South East Midlands and the growing number of success stories across the Fund’s portfolio. “Furthermore, given the increasing economic challenges being faced by businesses, the continued deployment of finance by the funds to support SMEs across the Midlands, is increasingly important to ensure economic growth, and to protect and increase employment across the region.” Mark Wilcockson, Senior Investment Manager at the British Business Bank concludes: “Maven have played a fundamental role delivering debt finance to businesses across the two regions supported by MEIF. This has enabling over 150 businesses to access finance options to support their growth, enabling the creation of new jobs, funding expansion projects and filling gaps in working capital.”    

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and University of Derby team up to make more room for nature

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has agreed a series of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) with the University of Derby to combine the skills and know-how needed to support the Trust’s ambitions to be at the forefront of ecosystem services provision.
The partnership will provide the academic expertise that the Trust needs to grow by developing an innovative and holistic business model that can leverage its conservation expertise and enable it to operate commercially, while remaining true to its charitable status. For 60 years, owning land for nature conservation has been the main function of Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and continues to be at the heart of its strategy. Through KTP funding, this collaboration will help the Trust build capability to generate income through managing land by providing a range of services in relation to biodiversity net gain (BNG), wellbeing improvement, carbon sequestration, nitrate and phosphate mitigation. Under the terms of the partnership, the University will recruit three graduate associates to work on the project for two years. During their time working with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, the KTP recruits will embed new methods into the organisation, training the existing staff team. The graduate associates, supported by the staff team at the Trust and academics from the University of Derby’s School of Built and Natural Environment and Derby Business School, will develop a bespoke simulation framework to assess biodiversity outcomes for target sites, and novel tools for baseline biodiversity assessment and long-term site monitoring. This will be complemented by a Management KTP to develop a holistic business model that offers the Trust a mechanism to continue its nature recovery work, whilst generating income and fulfilling other social and environmental objectives, such as flood risk management and water quality improvement. Matt Buckler, Head of Wilder Landscapes at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust said: “Following the Government’s announcement to make BNG a mandatory requirement for planning permission, coupled with the recent COP26 and upcoming COP15 conferences, there has been a shift in thinking towards nature-based solutions to meet environmental and climate emergencies. “We recognised this catalyst for change early on and knew that with support from the University to transform our business capabilities and working practices, we could protect land for nature, as we always have done, whilst providing the ecosystem services needed by society, landowners and organisations such as developers and utility companies. “We are very much looking forward to working with the University of Derby and embedding our new associates into the organisation to help us maximise this significant opportunity and establish ourselves as the leading provider of ecosystem services in the county and beyond.” Dr Anne Danby, Course Director for the School of Built and Natural Environment at the University of Derby, added: “The KTPs are an exciting opportunity for academics and students at the University. The BNG work is cutting-edge, in a highly technical area and will draw on the skills of our academic team in remote sensing, biodiversity analysis and ecological modelling to support Derbyshire Wildlife Trust in this innovative endeavour. It also offers a great learning opportunity for hundreds of our undergraduate and postgraduate students, from across business management, operations and supply chain, environmental management and sustainability courses. They will all learn a lot from the case studies, projects and guest lectures generated by this project.”

Sterling dips and pundits warn of long recession as BoE announces biggest rate hike in decades

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The Bank of England has announced a rise in interest rates from 0.75% to 3% – the biggest interest rate increase since 1989. The rise follows economic turmoil caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and various faux pas by Liz Truss’s cabinet. Economists are now forecasting that, as a result, the UK will be plunged into one of the longest recessions on record. Seven members of the MPC (Andrew Bailey, Ben Broadbent, Jon Cunliffe, Jonathan Haskel, Catherine L Mann, Huw Pill and Dave Ramsden) voted in favour of the rise. Two members voted against the proposition. Swati Dhingra preferred to increase Bank Rate by 0.5 percentage points, to 2.75%, and Silvana Tenreyro preferred to increase Bank Rate by 0.25 percentage points, to 2.5%. The Bank of England’s governor Andrew Bailey insisted: “If we don’t take action to bring inflation down, it gets worse,”

He added: “The UK’s standing has been damaged by the government’s mini-budget”

The MPC have also stated that, if the outlook suggests more persistent inflationary pressures, it will respond forcefully, as necessary.
 

Government needs to ‘get the basics right’ to help businesses through high interest rates environment, says East Midlands Chamber

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Commenting on the Bank of England’s decision to raise interest rates from 2.25% to 3%, East Midlands Chamber (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire) chief executive Scott Knowles said: “The largest single increase in interest rates is a clear signal yet by the Bank of England that businesses should expect a high interest rate environment for the foreseeable future. “This will inevitably hamper investment intentions, which are already lagging significantly due to the low confidence affecting many firms right now amid a cost-of-doing-business crisis not helped by a lack of certainty. “Many businesses at this time of year are entering their business planning cycle for the next financial year and the lack of clarity on energy costs from 1 April 2023, among other inflationary pressures such as rising interest rates, will protract or even cancel planned investment in some cases. “Our latest Quarterly Economic Survey showed confidence over profitability and turnover has fallen by 21% and 17% between the second and third quarters of this year, with investment intentions dropping by 6% for both people and plant and machinery. “We understand the need to address rampant inflation, but equally the constant cycle of rates rises means these trends are unlikely to improve anytime soon unless the Government gets serious about supporting business with mountain concerns. “Later this month, we will launch a Business Manifesto for Growth in the East Midlands and Beyond in Parliament that urges decision-makers to ‘get the basics right’. This means developing a long-term approach to business taxation and regulation, improving digital and physical connectivity, and backing firms to invest in people. “By addressing the underlying structural issues that are holding many firms back, they can eventually get on with doing with what they do best – which is creating growth, job opportunities and wealth in their local areas, and driving the national economy forward.”