ldp business 18.05.11

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rensburgsheppards.co.uk

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LDP

BUSINESS EDITOR:BILL GLEESON0151 472 2319

DEPUTY BUSINESS EDITOR:TONY McDONOUGH0151 330 4918

BUSINESS REPORTER:PETER ELSON0151 472 2502

BUSINESS REPORTER:ALISTAIR HOUGHTON0151 472 2449

BUSINESS REPORTER:ALEX TURNER0151 472 2321

BUSINESS REPORTER:NEIL HODGSON0151 472 2451

LIVERPOOL’S private wealth manage-ment market is facing a shake-up withthe entry of Cheviot Asset Manage-ment, at the same time as DeutscheBank moves some functions to India.

Cheviot is opening its first regionaloffice in the city, strengthening Liv-erpool’s reputation as the biggest UKcentre outside London for the privatewealth management sector.

It has recruited eight people from

Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Man-agement’s (PWM) Liverpool office – itsays the eight were each approachedseparately – and is this week launch-ing its operation in St Paul’s Square.

Deutsche Bank is recruiting for itsPWM operation in Liverpool and else-where, but is also shifting some bankoffice functions from the Royal LiverBuilding to Bangalore, India. It isunderstood this will affect a smallnumber of roles in Liverpool.

Deutsche Bank declined to com-ment, but Cheviot’s chief executiveMichael Kerr-Dineen was not quietabout extolling the virtues about hisfirm’s “back to the future” model.

He believes Cheviot’s independentpartnership structure offers the mostsuitable model for wealth management– in contrast to the trend of consol-idation that has seen many firms moveaway from that model after beingtaken over by global banks.

That includes Investec’s purchase ofRensburg Sheppards, Deutsche Banktaking over Tilney, and Morgan Stan-ley’s acquisition of Quilter.

Mr Kerr-Dineen said: “Everyonepromises high-quality service, but inpractice the corporate model mitigatesagainst that.

“When you are under the corporatestructure, there’s an enormous

amount of overt and covert pressure touse the in-house products.

“The nature of a top-quality privatepractitioner is they live and die fortheir clients’ interests. They will moveto where the pressure doesn’t exist.”

Mr Kerr-Dineen speaks from exper-ience, having launched Cheviot fiveyears ago by leading 92 people out ofUBS.

He said: “Within the wealth man-agement community in Liverpool,there’s not a huge amount of turnover.It’s a very stable ship.

“In part, the reason is because there

NewprivatewealthfirmopensupincityTHE FTSE 100 Index

slipped back for itsfifth day in a row afterheavily weighted min-ing stocks were hit byfresh falls from volat-ile commodity prices.

London’s blue-chipindex lost 1%, or 62.7points, to close at5861 as weak senti-ment was compoun-ded by concerns overthe eurozone crisis.

Meanwhile, on WallStreet, the Dow lost68.79 points, or 0.5 %,to close at 12,479.58,the S&P 500 lost 0.49,or less than 0.1 %, toend at 1,328.98, andthe Nasdaq rose 0.90,also less than 0.1 %,to 2,783.21.

MARKET REPORT:PAGE 15

FTSE-1005861.00

62.69▼

insideBus tripsfor cruisevisitorsA SHUTTLE bus serviceis being launched to helpcruise ship passengersexplore the city.

The hourly free ser-vice will take visitorsfrom their ships to theAlbert Dock, LiverpoolOne and Victoria Street.

The service has beenorganised by the AlbertDock Business TenantsAssociation, LiverpoolOne and the City CentralBusiness ImprovementDistrict.

Tenants Associationchairman JeremyRoberts said: “This buslink helps to ensure abig Liverpool welcome.”

From left, Kevin Roberts, from Liverpool One; Ged Gibbons, of the City Central Business Improvement District;and Guy Lawrenson, of the Albert Dock Tenants Business Association Picture: ADAM KENRICK

[email protected]

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Betfred oncourse to takeover ToteWARRINGTON book-maker Betfred hasmade a dash for thefinish in the race tobuy state-ownedbookmaker the Tote.

PAGE 2

Dolphin savedSOUTH Liverpool-based retailer Dolphinhas been bought outof administration byindustry rival S&TAudio.

PAGE 5

When exceptional people cometogether, great things happen.When Weightmans and Mace & Jones merged to become onefirm on 1 May something special developed.Weightmans and Mace & Jones. Together we are stronger.Find out more at www.weightmans.com

2 Wednesday, May 18, 2011

BidfortheToteintensifiesasraceentersfinalfurlong

Fuel firmexpectsrecordresultsFEEDS and fuel groupNWF is expectinganother record year,after enjoying a strongspring.

The Cheshire groupsaid profits in itsanimal feeds divisionwould be “significantlyahead of expectations”.

The cold winterbenefited NWF’s house-hold fuels division,though some of thatbenefit was offset bythe “unusually warm”April.

Chief executiveRichard Whiting said:“NWF has againdemonstrated therobustness of its busi-ness with anotherrecord result anticip-ated for the full year.

“The continuedstrength of the groupdelivers an effectiveplatform for continueddevelopment, and welook forward with con-fidence.”

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LIVERPOOL’SINVESTMENTSPECIALISTS.co.uk

Betfred’s Fred Done – believes his bid will ‘unlock’ the Tote’s value

[email protected]

WARRINGTON bookmaker Betfredhas made a dash for the finish in therace to buy state-owned bookmakerthe Tote.

The £3.5bn-turnover company yes-terday set out the terms of its bid forthe Tote, saying its offer was worthclose to £200m in cash.

It is believed to be among the finaltwo, up against a consortium led byex-Liverpool FC and British Airwayschairman Sir Martin Broughton.

Betfred, which has more than 830shops, has been one of the favouritesfor the long-running race.

It said it supported the Govern-ment's pledge that 50% of the net pro-ceeds from the sale would be put backinto the racing industry.

Betfred added it would make a con-tribution to the racing industry of£11m in 2012, and would make a con-tribution of at least £9m to theindustry each year after that.

Fred Done, Betfred’s executivechairman, said: “Betfred is the best

possible business partner for racing,as it is best placed to unlock the valueof the Tote.

“We have a 40-year track record ofdelivering growth and creating jobs.We want to buy the Tote because wewant to grow and develop all of itscomponent parts. And, in the longterm, I believe the pool business willbe the most important of those.”

The company said it expected adecision by the Government was“imminent”.

Sir Martin’s investment vehicle,Sports Investment Partners (SIP),which is backed by stockbroker Cen-kos, responded to Betfred’s announce-ment by briefing Reuters that it wouldoffer the horseracing industry a 10%stake in the business and offer“racing-friendly investors” a further20-25% shareholding.

The industry would also be entitledto two seats on the board of the listedcompany, while SIP would commit toan £11m annual contribution to thehorseracing industry.

It also anticipates floating the Toteon the Alternative Investment Marketif it succeeds with its bid.

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3Wednesday, May 18, 2011

profile

RecordrevenuesinthepipelineasonlineplumbingfirmsoarsTonyMcDonoughmeetsROYDENEVANS,managingdirectorofPlumbNation

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PlumbNation managing director Royden Evans – got the plumbing bug as a teenager

Age: 38Highest educational qualification:GCSEsBiggest achievement in business:The success of PlumbNationBiggest regret: Not starting my ownbusiness years beforeBest advice received: It’s nice to beimportant, but even more important tobe niceMain unfulfilled ambition: Tobecome the largest e-commerce sup-plier in the UK

q&a

IT IS Royden Evans’s ambition togrow PlumbNation into the UK’slargest online supplier of plumbingand heating products.

And if its growth so far has any-thing to go by, it’s not an unrealistictarget.

Evans started the Wirral-basedbusiness in April, 2007, and had afirst-year turnover target of £1m.

In the first 12 months, Plumb-Nation actually turned over £2.2m.

Last year it was £8m, and this yearthat figure is projected to grow to£11m.

“In the next three years, I want togrow that to £20m,” said 38-year-oldEvans, who is managing director.

“We are continuing to invest sig-nificantly in our e-commerce plat-form with a new-look website due tolaunch in the next few weeks aimedat further improving the customerexperience.”

Based in Bromborough andemploying 11 people, PlumbNation isan e-commerce company whose web-site offers around 15,000 products.

Most of its customers are domestic– the “end use” as Evans puts it –with a small core of trade clients, too.

It also employs an experienced trioof salespeople who take orders overthe phone and can advise on tech-nical specifications.

Orders are split 50/50 between thewebsite and the telephone.

Evans said: “We want to doublethe number of products we offer.

“When we started in 2007, we verymuch specialised in heating products– boilers, radiators, et cetera – basic-ally everything that could heat yourhouse and all the parts, too.

“We then rolled it out into plumb-ing equipment – everything you

could need for your bathroom.”PlumbNation stores a limited num-ber of small parts which can be cour-iered out, but mostly it uses a num-ber of national distributors withwhom it liaises to get the stock out tothe customers. It also arranges forgoods to be dispatched direct frommanufacturers.

“We work with call centres andonce we have placed an order theywould typically come back to uswithin an hour with a delivery date,”added Evans.

“We are pushing to add moreunique products to our portfolio.

“For example, we currently supplyevery make of boiler there is. Wewant to do that with every category –pad them out to the max – and we arestill some way from that.

“When we started in 2007, we didn’thave many competitors, but sincethen the market has just exploded.

“However, I think what we offer isunique in that we supply the fullbasket – not just a boiler buteverything that goes with it.

“So there are a lot more productswe want to get onto the site. We haveto work hard just to maintain thecurrent portfolio because things canbecome obsolete.

“In the coming months, we areredesigning the website to make thehome page more offer-driven.

“Now we have pushed into bath-rooms, we are looking to addressproducts in different ways – asking‘is this a lifestyle product?’ forexample.

“We are also going to incorporatebetter search filters so that custom-ers can filter things down using dif-ferent categories like price.

Evans was born in Chester andgrowing up he “moved around a lot”,living in different parts of Wirraland Cheshire.

His passion for plumbing productscame via his stepfather, who washimself a plumber.

Evans said: “I loved working withdad and took any chance I could todo so – working weekends and schoolholidays. When I was 16, I startedwork with Plumb Center as a man-agement trainee. Thanks to workingwith dad, I already had a great know-ledge about a lot of the products theywere supplying.

“I knew how things were installedand I wanted to go into the selling ofthe products.”

The traineeship was three years,but Evans ended up staying withPlumb Center for nine years.

He worked in a variety of roles –on the trade counters, a sales rep,sales manager and eventually branchmanager.

“I learned an awful lot while I wasthere,” he said.

Evans eventually went to work forthe Travis Perkins group as a keyaccounts manager, and it was herethe idea for PlumbNation first star-ted to germinate.

He added: “I was looking after the50 biggest accounts they had in theNorth West.

“We would have quarterly salesmeetings and I observed that a num-ber of my colleagues had internetcustomers on their ledgers.

“There were none in the NorthWest so I decided to delve deeper intoit. I looked at products and howmuch they were selling them for.

“I spoke to a few friends and con-tracts I had in the trade, too, and I

realised there was a market there.Starting the business was quitescary at first – it was a 50/50 venturewith a guy who already owned aplumbing business.”

With the support of his wife,Emma, Evans remortgaged his houseto help fund the start-up of the busi-ness.

“We said we would be happy if weturned over £1m in the first year –and we turned over £2.2m,” he said.

Evans bought out his partner lastyear and is now the sole owner ofPlumbNation.

During 2010, the website attractedmore than 1.4m visitors – comparedto 772,000 the previous year andEvans is determined to maintain therapid growth.

He said: “We moved offices inDecember, 2009, buying a 4,000 sq ftwarehouse.

“It had a very small office and nowwe have expanded that space. We cur-rently employ 11 people and we arelooking to grow that.”

He and Emma have two children –Cerys, eight, and Conor, five – andsays “my family is everything tome”.

He is a Liverpool FC supporterand likes to get in a round of golf, butadmits he puts many hours of histime into the business.

And that commitment certainlyseems to be paying dividends.

PlumbNation has been shortlistedin the Small Business of the Yearcategory in the Wirral InvestmentNetwork awards.

Evans believes creativity is a keypart of success in business, and hehas made sure that philosophy ispart of his management approach.

He said: “I think as a boss I amextremely flexible, honest, open andvery supportive.

“I am a creative person and that isthe rule among everyone here. Mostof the people who were with us in thebeginning are still here.

“We have led the way in terms ofinnovation in our sector.”

LiverpoolCommercialDistrictBIDBallot29thApril–27thMay. VOTEYESFOR

AMOREVIBRANTCOMMERCIALDISTRICT.

Yourdistrict.Yoursay.www.liverpoolcdp.com/BIDVOTE

YES


MerseysidefirmwinsHeathrowroofdeal

Vision welcomes Cheviot move Greengrumble

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THE manufacturers’ organisation, EEF,reacted with disappointment to the Govern-ment’s decision to sign up to significantly moreambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions.

It says that, in the absence of “convincingevidence of any appetite in the rest of Europeto make such a move, this risks damaging man-ufacturing competitiveness”.

EEF North West region director, David Ost,said: “On its own, this is a bad decision formanufacturing, so the Government must movequickly to address the competitiveness con-cerns faced across manufacturing, as well asenergy-intensive industries.”

Logisticsgroupcompletes£120mshareofferSTOBART Group has com-pleted its £120m share offerwhich will fund its restruc-turing and expansionstrategy.

Around one-quarter of the76m shares have been takenup by qualifying sharehold-ers, with the remaindertaken up by investors, itannounced to the stock mar-ket yesterday.

The move requiresapproval at Stobart’s gen-eral meeting today, with theshares expected to begintrading tomorrow.

The logistics group, whichemploys about 1,000 staff inWarrington and Widnes, hasfaced a rare period of dif-ficulty in the last quarter.

Its share price has fallenmore than 20% since earlyFebruary while last week itwas forced to make a robustdenial of national newspa-per reports that it was underinvestigation by the Finan-cial Services Authority.

The allegations centredaround plans to buy back aproperty portfolio from twosenior executives – chiefexecutive Andrew Tinklerand chief operating officerWilliam Stobart – which thepair acquired from the com-pany four years ago.A property deal involving William Stobart and Andrew Tinkler has come under the spotlight

A HAYDOCK factory will makethe cover for the roof of the new£2.2bn Terminal 2 at HeathrowAirport.

The airport’s old Terminal 2building closed in 2009, and theconstruction of its replacementwill create 35,000 jobs.

Owner BAA made theannouncement as Transport Sec-retary Philip Hammond visitedthe site of the development whichwill open to passengers in 2014.

Cover for the terminal’s roof is

from the Merseyside factory ofKalzip, while the steel work isbeing manufactured, as part of a£48m contract, by Watson’s SteelStructures at its factories inThirsk, in North Yorkshire, andBolton, Greater Manchester.

The terminal’s mechanical andelectrical modules are beingdeveloped by CHt Manufacturing,in Wolverhampton.

At times of peak activity, theterminal will have as many as5,000 people working on it.

BAA chief executive Colin Mat-thews said: “At a tough time forthe economy, Heathrow’s modern-isation programme is creating

thousands of jobs throughout theUK.

“As the country’s only hub air-port, Heathrow is vital to the UKeconomy. It supports more than75,000 on-airport jobs and thous-ands more throughout the UKdepend on Heathrow’sconnections to the rest of theworld.”

Kalzip is a subsidiary of steelgiant Corus and is principallyinvolved in the production andsale of aluminium buildingproducts.

In its last published accountsfor the year ending March 31, 2010,Kalzip reported a pre-tax loss of

£17,770 against a profit of £1.13mfor the previous year. Turnoveralso fell from more than £34m in2009 to just under £25.5m.

The company blames thecurrent economic environment forthe downturn, but believes itsfuture is reasonably secure.

In its annual report, it said:“The directors believe thecompany’s position to be satisfact-ory, especially given that thecompany’s current assets exceedits current liabilities by £6.1m.

“The directors expect a loss forthe year to March 31, 2011, giventhe current challenging marketconditions.”

has been a lot of simil-arity among the firms inLiverpool. There’s not areal alternative.”

He added: “Our growthplans for Liverpool arevery ambitious. We arealready experiencing fastorganic growth, which Ibelieve is aided by ourpartnership model, which

frees up staff from anyconflicts of interest. Thismakes it an attractiveproposition for staff andclients alike.”

Max Steinberg, chiefexecutive of economicdevelopment agency Liv-erpool Vision, welcomedCheviot to the city.

He said: “Cheviot’sdecision is recognition ofthe pre-eminent positionLiverpool holds with

regard to wealth manage-ment expertise, and is avote of confidence in thecity’s long-establishedtrack record.

“We are delighted thatLiverpool continues toattract businesses of thiscalibre – it sends out avery positive message toother professional ser-vices organisations seek-ing to relocate or expandinto new markets.”

Advertising Feature LCDP

Vote for thebenefits ofreal change

AS WE approach the final weeks of the balloton Business Improvement District status, mymind turns to another successful worldwideexport from the shores of North America.

Former US president Bill Clinton once said:“The price of doing the same old thing is farhigher than the price ofchange.” Now, Bill may havehad his shortcomings, butit’s difficult to doubt thevalidity of this sentiment.

If commercial sense pre-vails and the BID ballotreturns a positive vote nextFriday, then the implicationsfor the Commercial Districtcould be momentous.

In real terms, the trans-ition from voluntary partnership support toBID status will be a crucial one, and its impactshould be felt almost overnight.

Achieving BID status will generate addit-ional funding of around £3m over the next fiveyears, an incredible sum in the present eco-nomic and political climate, and the kind offigure that can deliver real improvementswhere they are needed most. That money willbe sourced from a small levy charged to land-lords and tenants, who will then have a clearsay in how and where it is spent.

Buttress Fuller Alsop Williams have areputation for creating appropriate and well-designed projects that deliver value for money.We apply this same founding principle to theneeds of the Commercial District, which iswhy we’re fully behind the BID application.

As construction professionals, we tend tofocus more on the built environment issuesthat are within the scope of the BID applic-ation and consider that building owners willbe encouraged to upgrade and better maintaintheir own property if they can see tangibleimprovements to their surroundings. Two ofthe projects we are working on in Liverpool, atthe Cunard Building and Albert Dock, have, aspart of their brief, the desire to improve andmaintain their external appearance notsimply for their own benefit or as a necessity,but as a response to the improvements andchanges that are being undertaken to theirimmediate surroundings.

The alternative, where the partnership’svoluntary benefactors decide enough isenough and are forced to withdraw their sup-port, leaving us to rely on dwindling councilfunds to support environmental, marketingand maintenance initiatives, does not appearon our radar.

We want the Liverpool city region to main-tain its burgeoning reputation as a prime sitefor inward investment and development. Forthis to happen, the city must have a strong,progressive commercial core that delivers realopportunities to enterprise and provides acompass bearing for the rest of the region.

President Clinton was right. We must votefor the benefits of change today or count thewider costs of stagnation tomorrow.

Ken Smith, associate atButtress Fuller AlsopWilliams architects,explains why asuccessful BID ballot ispart of the grand designfor the city’s future

Ken Smith

CONTINUED FROMPAGE 1

byTonyMcDonoughLDPDEPUTYBUSINESSEDITORtony.mcdonough@liverpool.com

■ BID backed: Page 5


Chamberbackingthe BIDFIRMS within Liver-pool’s central businessdistrict are being urgedby Liverpool Chamberof Commerce to say yesto the proposed Busi-ness Improvement Dis-trict (BID).

Liverpool Commer-cial District Partner-ship (LCDP) is ballotingbusinesses in the areaon the proposal, withthe vote closing on May27.

Jack Stopforth, chiefexecutive of LiverpoolChamber, said: “TheChamber’s board isbacking this proposal.

“The additional rev-enue raised by the pro-posal will bring anadditional investmentof £2.7m into the city’scentral business area.”

If successful, the BIDwill replace LCDP,although covering aslightly larger geo-graphical area.

A majority yes vote isrequired to bring a BIDinto force.

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Pre-packdealsavesmusicretailerfromscrapheapMUSIC retailer Dolphin has beenbought out of administration byindustry rival S&T Audio.

Dolphin has an online operation inSpeke, and a shop in Liverpool citycentre.

At its peak, it achieved an annualturnover of £10m, but became a victimof the recession and consequent down-turn in consumer spending.

S&T Audio operates nine PMT (Pro-fessional Music Technology) super-stores nationwide and PMT Online.

In the year to April, 2010, PMT hadannual sales of £16m.

Dolphin was founded in 1999 by Uni-versity of Liverpool students Rob Wil-liams and Jason Tavaria.

The company grew from a bedroom-based student enterprise into one ofthe leading players in its field.

It was hit by tragedy two years agowhen Mr Williams fell to his deathwhile on a snowboarding holiday inSwitzerland.

Charles Macmillan, partner andhead of corporate recovery atManchester-based Beever and Struth-ers, was appointed by Dolphin to act asadministrator and secured the sale ofthe business via a pre-pack adminis-tration.

He said: “I’m obviously delighted tosave a great many valuable jobs byachieving this sale in what are verydifficult times, and wish S&T everysuccess in its future endeavours withDolphin.

“This acquisition is a major boost tothe PMT online offering of S&T Audio,and will increase its already impress-ive market share.”

Simon Gilson, managing director atS&T Audio, said: “We are very excitedby this opportunity. As with our ownbeginnings 20 years ago, this businesswas built from scratch by two friendsfrom nothing into a major force inmusic retail.

“It is our intention to build on thestrengths of Dolphin and capitalise onthe future possibilities of what is nowthe largest musical instrumentretailer in the UK.”

Founder Jason Tavaria, at Dolphin’s warehouse in SpekePicture: ANDREW TEEBAY/ at220307edolphin-1

For more information on these sites pleasecontact us on 01925 273000 or visit ourwebsite www.langtreegroupplc.co.uk

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FirmsaddedtoRegionalBusinessAwardsshortlist

The 2010 Knowledge Business award winners were Tech-X,with associate research scientist Jonathan Smith herereceiving the trophy from LDP Business Editor Bill Gleeson

[email protected]

THE second half of the shortlist for the2011 Regional Business Awards isannounced today, adding seven compan-ies to the list of potential winners.

The winners of nine award categorieswill be unveiled at the awards dinner,which takes place on Thursday, June 23,at Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral.

The KPMG Business of the Year –which has previously been won by out-standing firms including Home Bargainsowner TJ Morris, Cammell Laird andPrinces Foods – will be fought outbetween logistics group Stobart, vouch-ers and gift card firm Park Group, andSkelmersdale-based Hotter ComfortConcept Shoes.

The footwear manufacturer is the onlycompany this year to be shortlisted fortwo awards.

Hotter is up against Real Good FoodCompany for the Liverpool Chamber ofCommerce Exporter of the Year Award.

The pair will be looking to follow inthe footsteps of last year’s winner, AEV,the Birkenhead manufacturer of elec-

trical varnishes and resins. Competingfor the Liverpool John Moores Uni-versity Knowledge Business of the YearAward are three very different tech-nology firms.

AIMES Grid Services is at the fore-front of the city’s attempts to keep pacewith IT services, in particular off-siteserver hosting and disaster recovery.

Human Recognition Systems developssystems that recognise people by scan-ning their hands or their eyes.

They are joined by MerseyBIO firmRedx Pharm, which develops new drugsbased on existing compounds.

Journalist-turned-dancing sensationJohn Sergeant will be hosting the eventon behalf of the Liverpool Daily Post, atitle he used to work for as a youngreporter.

Mr Sergeant has previously worked asa politics reporter for the BBC and ITN,and famously withdrew from the 2008Strictly Come Dancing after a storm ofprotests about his success in the com-petition.■ TO BOOK places at this year’s event,please call 0151 472 2422. Single placescost £95 plus VAT. A table of ten is £950plus VAT.

Advertising Feature Independent financial advice

Should you draw ordefer your pension?RICHARD JONES, of Secur-ity Financial Servicesreports he was discussingretirement with a divorcedlady who, on turning 60,was worried about herincome when she retires.

He explains: “Shedecided to continue work-ing until she is 65, and hasdeferred taking heremployers’ pension toallow it to accumulate.

“We also discusseddeferring taking her stateold age pension, too. Thedecision was made to deferit. The thought processwas – is it worth taking thepension now and savingthe income, or defer takingit in order to benefit froma higher income at age65?”

Richard explains whenyou reach state pensionage you can draw yourpension even if you arestill working, and regard-less of how much you earn.

Or you can choose todefer drawing your pen-sion so that you can

receive a higher pension ora lump-sum payment at alater date.

He says: “The state pen-sion is taxable, so if youare working and paying

tax, your tax code will beadjusted to take intoaccount the amount of pen-sion you receive.

“Once you reach statepension age, you don’t

have to pay NI contribu-tions. Your pension will beincreased by about 10.4%for each year you do notdraw it. For example, ifyou defer your pension forfive years, it will beincreased by just over half.

“Alternatively, instead ofreceiving a higher pension,you can choose to receive alump-sum payment. Thiswill be calculated based onthe amount of pension youhave given up and aninterest rate of at least 2%above the Bank of Englandbase rate.”

Richard says if you deferyour pension, it works outas 1% extra for each fiveweeks you defer. So if youput off drawing your pen-sion for less than a fullyear, you can receive anincreased pension (as longas you put off drawing itfor at least five weeks) oryou can receive your pen-sion backdated to the timewhen you could have firstclaimed it (but without anyinterest payments).

And he stresses that youdo not have to be workingto defer your pension andthe basic, additional andgraduated pensions are allincreased in the same way,but you cannot gainincreases to any additionyou receive for a depend-ant husband or wife.

Richard adds: “There isno time limit to how longyou can defer your pen-sion.

“If you do start drawingyour pension, you canchange your mind anddefer it instead, but youcan only do this once.

“If you are a marriedman and you and your wifeare already drawing pen-sions based on your con-tributions, you may needher consent before defer-ring your pension as shewill have to give hers uptoo.”

■ SECURITY FinancialServices is authorised bythe Financial ServicesAuthority.

Richard Jones – there is no time limit to howlong you can defer your pension

IndependentFinancial Advisersin your area

Anglesey

Security Financial ServicesTy Llwyd, Llanfaelog,Ty Croes, Anglesey LL63 5TY

Contact: Richard JonesEmail [email protected]

Phone: 01407 811268Mobile: 07710 468970

Denbighshire

Vale Financial [email protected]

Studio One,Town Hall, Crown Lane, Denbigh LL16 3TBTel: 01745 814962 Fax: 01745 814446

Contact: Glyn B. [email protected]

Liverpool

Rensburg Sheppards InvestmentManagement

The Plaza, 100 Old Hall Street, Liverpool L3 9AB.Tel: 0151 227 2030. Fax: 0151 227 2444

Email: [email protected]: www.rensburgsheppards.co.uk

Contact: Paul Brokenshar

Why choose an independent financial adviserBecause it pays to take an unbiased view

Those listed above are either an appointed representative of a networkor national which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services

Authority or are directly authorised and regulated


MattJohnson

Ex-headoflawfirmtorunProfessionalLiverpool

Furthervolatilityin housemarketHOUSE prices rose by1.2% during March asthe property marketremained volatile, fig-ures showed.

The increase left theaverage home costing£205,565, slightly lowerthan it started the year,after prices fell by 1.4%in January andremained unchanged inFebruary, according tothe Department forCommunities and LocalGovernment (CLG).

The current patternof house prices risingin some months andfalling in others is typ-ical of a market that istrading sideways, withlow transactionvolumes.

The quarter-on-quarter change, whichis often seen as asmoother indicator ofmarket trends, showedproperty prices fallingby 0.5% during thethree months to the endof March, comparedwith a 0.4% dropduring the threemonths to the end ofDecember.

Annual house pricegrowth remained inpositive territory, withproperty values 0.9%higher than they hadbeen in March, 2010.

Howard Archer, chiefUK and European eco-nomist at IHS GlobalInsight, said: “The CLGdata, showing a markedrebound in houseprices in March, do notmaterially alter ourview that house priceswill lose ground overthe coming months.

“House prices arenotoriously volatilefrom month to monthand from survey to sur-vey. We still believe thathouse prices will trenddown gradually overallthrough the rest of 2011and the early months of2012.”

StakesareraisedasTheApprenticereturns toourTVscreens

PROFESSIONAL Liverpool (PL) hasappointed the former managing part-ner of law firm Bermans as its chiefexecutive.

John Hall will take on the role forthree days a week.

His appointment comes a fewmonths after the departure of formerfull-time PL chief executive MarkChadwick.

In recent weeks, Mr Chadwick haslaunched his own rival organisation –

Liverpool City Region: Business & Pro-fessionals.

PL is also appointing former Liv-erpool Vision chief executive Jim Gillas its chairman.

As managing partner of Bermans,Mr Hall helped grow the firm from aturnover of £100,000 to more than £5m.

It now has offices in Liverpool,Manchester and Glasgow and recentlyadvised Liverpool FC manager KennyDalglish in his contract negotiationswith the club.

Before retiring from Bermans, MrHall was a specialist in commerciallitigation, acting for businesses includ-ing HSBC and Carlsberg Tetley.

Mr Hall will initially be based inProfessional Liverpool’s office in theForesight Centre at the University ofLiverpool.

PL promotes the Liverpool cityregion as a centre of excellence forprofessional services.. The organisat-ion currently boasts a membership ofmore than 70 with an aim to expand tomore than 100 over the next 12 months.

Mr Hall said: “I have a number ofinitial objectives at Professional Liv-erpool which will include increasingmembership to ensure that we con-tinue to deliver what members want.

“To this end, I will strengthen andadd variety to our calendar of events.”

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LORD SUGAR is back with a bang,as millions of viewers flocked to BBCOne for the beginning of the seventhseries of The Apprentice last week.

With an estimated 7.8m viewersfor the first episode – over 1m morethan the primary episode of season 6– it’s safe to say that the nation’sappreciation for the boardroom back-stabbing is as strong as ever.

This year’s contestants are theusual mix of brashly confident 20and thirty-somethings with someimpressive qualifications under theirbelts.

They include one candidate whohas been trained by no less than 12Nobel Peace Prize winners.

Previous series have seen thewinning candidates granted a£100,000 executive position within

one of Lord Sugar’s existing busi-nesses.

However, the stakes are a little dif-ferent for this year’s series.

Taking cues from theDragons’ Den, the success-ful contender of the newseries stands to gain a£250,000 investment into thestart-up business of theirchoice.

Such a generous cashinjection is likely to standthe right person in verygood stead for the future.

Creating a new business requires avery different set of skills than step-

ping into an executive role, and withsuch high stakes for the man himselfit will be interesting to see the dif-ferent characteristics Lord Sugar

will be looking for in afuture business partnerthan he was for a potentialemployee.

So far, we’ve seen teamsLogic and Venture battle itout over fresh produce andmobile applications, withbumbling boys’ projectmanager Edward the firstto go and Alex Britez Cabal

hot on his heels.With an already interesting array

of tasks under their belts just twoepisodes in, it will be fascinating tosee what future challenges the win-ning candidate will need to overcometo claim their prize.

And even more interesting to seewhich of the hopefuls will make it allthe way to: “You’re hired.”

For the record, my money is onSusan Ma or fast-talking Jim East-wood.

But with the current score stand-ing at 2-0 to the girls, and 10 board-room encounters yet to go, it’s stillanyone’s game.

‘Creatingabusinessrequiresadifferentskill-set’

Cafepaircomplete£10,000terraceatWoodsidesiteWIRRAL cafe bar operatorHome has completed a£10,000 terrace at its outletat Woodside ferry terminal.

The company is run byhusband and wife team Benand Polly Harrison, and italso trades from a site inOxton Village.

Mr Harrison says the ter-race offers “spectacular”views of the Liverpoolwaterfront across the Mer-sey.

To celebrate, Home, whichopened the venue in 2008, isdistributing a corporate loy-alty card targeted at thethousands of office workersand professionals in the sur-rounding area.

Mr Harrison said: “A hugeamount of investment hastaken place at WoodsideFerry Terminal and webelieve we now have one ofthe most stylish cafe bars inMerseyside,” he said.

“Certainly, the views weoffer diners here are spec-tacular.

“Birkenhead is crying outfor this kind of venue andwe want to urge local work-ers and families to visit usand see our terrific facilit-ies, including our new ter-race, and sample our won-derful menu.” Ben and Polly Harrison at their Home outlet, at Woodside ferry terminal Picture: JAMES MALONEY/ jm160511home-3


■ MATT JOHNSON is chief executiveof Mando Group

John Hall – aims to strengthencalendar

Picture: JAMES MALONEY/ jm170511jhall-2


Saatchi’s ideaoffreeshares forallisbadforBritain

No longer a job for the boysRecruitmentfirmsarelookingtoaddvaluetotheselectionprocess.AlexTurner reports

GPW Recruitment has set up a Rugby League recruitmentdivision, which works with current players to plan their futurecareers. They arranged for St Helens star Paul Wellens, inset,and below, to spend time in St Helens Council’s press office

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FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE did not oftencomment on the labour market, but hisoft-quoted thought “what does not killme, makes me stronger” could be adoptedas the motto of recruitment agencies.

Those that are still operating anyway.The recession saw off the firms that

were not on a firm footing at the end of2007 – often small, young operationswhich had sought to benefit from thefluid job market of five years ago.

“How did other companies cope? Theydidn’t. There were a lot of construc-tion-related recruitment companieswhich went out of business,” said MarkParish, managing director of St Helensagency GPW Recruitment.

“Recruitment is very much a salesindustry. Four or five years ago, it wasquite easy for someone with commercialacumen to set up as long as they had asales ability. They could find work as longas work was there.

“Two years ago, when the recessionkicked in, it wasn’t as easy to do that.”

GPW called on its experience over fourdecades as well as its size – it had aturnover of more than £20m going intothe downturn – to get through the leantimes.

It also had solid relationships withinniche markets, such as Rolls-Royce,Getrag Ford and Goodrich, within man-ufacturing, and Galliford Try and Caril-lion in the construction sector.

Mr Parish said: “Construction was oneof the hardest-hit sectors, as was man-ufacturing, especially automotive.

“It was down to the relationship wehad with our clients. We have strongrelationships with the clients, there’salways one skill-set they can’t get hold of.

“They need a very quick turnaroundwhen they have a job on the site. Theycan’t fill it themselves quickly.

“We deal with both permanent andcontract recruitment. Back of 2008, into2009, the permanent work almost came toa dead end – but other divisions managedto flourish.

“We were very pleased that we con-tinued to be profitable. That was a resultof our market focus.

“For example, the power generationsector will never be hit by recession. Wefocused our attention on those key sec-tors to weather the recession.

“The hardest-hit sector wasthe commercial division. No-onewanted to recruit the supportstaff, the admin staff. It justwent completely dead. It’s juststarted to improve now.”

Ceri Hoult, business managerat Reed, in Liverpool city centre,believes they benefited from thecompany’s stability anddiversity.

She said: “We noticed a lot ofcompetitors fall by the wayside. We are alarge company, a cash-rich company. A lotof other companies really felt the hit.

“We have got five different specialismsin Liverpool and more than 30 across ourbranches.

“A lot of our specialisms are completelyuntouched by other agencies, becausethey don’t have the resources to do that.

“It’s a massive advantage.”The agencies that have survived have

widened their offer – adding areas ofspecialism or adding services, and some-times both.

“The terminology ‘recruitment con-sultant’ is more suitable now,” said HelenCornah, operations manager of Birken-head agency Red Rocks.

“In the past, it was more about findingthe person, now it is more of aconsultative process.

“We can manage the processfor them. As a seamless exten-sion of their HR department, wehave to look at their businessplan.

“Five years ago, recruitmentwas very candidate-led. Therewere a lot of jobs out there. Theclients were a little more flex-ible.

“Now the clients expect the job spec-ification to be matched because the jobmarket is so open.

“Clients want best value for money andthey want added services, like testingcandidates or maybe doing inductions forthem.”

Ms Hoult, from Reed, agrees that therole of a recruitment agency has changedover the last few years.

“It’s a lot more consultative then it has

ever been before,” she said. “The qualityof service is crucial. We try and differ-entiate ourselves on our service.

“People think we are huge, but weoperate on a local level. We all know thearea and the local market. Our services,our consultative services, are different toany other agency.”

She is encouraged by the continueddemand from companies who keep usingthe agency.

“Ultimately, companies see the benefitsof using us,” she added.

“They are being inundated with hun-dreds of CVs, sifting them, checking theireligibility to work.

“It’s not only just about selecting thecandidates and the interview process,eligibility to work is a huge issue forclients as well as verifying accreditation.

“We do offer an in-depth selection pro-cess. We do face-to-face interviews twicebefore we send them to interview.

“It’s quite a lot of work if you don’t usean agency.”

The latest monthly update of unem-ployment figures will be published today,which will show the extent to which theprivate sector has been able to absorb theincreasing numbers of people leavingpublic sector roles.

EXCITEMENT is mountingin anticipation of a pos-sible sale of the Govern-ment’s stakes in RoyalBank of Scotland andLloyds Banking Group.

A couple of think-tanks have put forwardradical ideas (aren’t allthink-tank ideas radical?)for how the Governmentcan best dispose of theshares.

Part of the problem isthat there are an awfullot of nationalised bankshares. Selling them allat the same time wouldhave the effect ofdampening the shareprice, thereby reducingthe return to the Govern-ment.

One suggestion to getround this problemcomes from the right-wing think-tank Centrefor Policy Studies. In astudy chaired by Conser-vative peer Lord Saatchi,the think-tank suggestsgranting the shares to alltaxpayers. This wouldhave the effect of placingbillions of shares in thehands of millions of smallshareholders, who wouldthen release them to themarket when it suitedthem over many years.Some would undoubtedlyhold onto them for dec-ades.

The CPS estimates theshare giveaway would beworth up to £1,000 perperson. Those receivingthe shares would receiveany dividends in the nor-mal way, but, should theydecide to sell theirshares, the Treasurywould recoup from theproceeds the original costof buying the shares inthe bank bail-outs, whichwas 51p a share for RBSand 74p for Lloyds.

Lord Saatchi, a formerConservative Partyco-chairman, said: “Wegave the Government ourmoney to invest in thebanks. If there is a profiton our investment, that isour profit.”

The proposal is similarto one tabled in March byCentre Forum, the Lib-eral Democrat think-tank.

The problem with LordSaatchi’s proposal is thatany gain in the capitalvalue of the shares would

end up in the hands ofthose shareholders, notthe Government, whichcould undoubtedly usethe money to reduce Brit-ain’s trillion pounds ofnational debt, or build afew more schools andhospitals.

One advantage of LordSaatchi’s proposal is thatthe City will miss out onan estimated £1bn in feesthat would otherwiseaccrue from the tradit-ional sale route. The cor-porate finance advisers,bankers, lawyers,accountants, under-writers and brokers pro-moting the deal wouldhave to find some otherway of earning a crust.

INFLATION continues tosoar, according to figuresout yesterday.

I say “soar”, but thosewho remember the 1970smay feel that, at 4.5%, theConsumer Price Indexremains firmly undercontrol.

Nevertheless, itremains stubbornlyabove the Government’supper target limit of 2%and heading in the wrongdirection. It has led Bankof England governorMervyn King to warnagainst premature actionto raise interest rates.Early action could harmthe recovery of the UKeconomy.

What puzzles me iswhy it is that the UKseems so out of kilterwith the other major eco-nomies in Europe. Des-pite being exposed to sim-ilar global sources ofinflationary pressuressuch as oil, commodityand food price rises, theirinflation rates remainmuch lower and they areenjoying significantlybetter economic growthrates.

One obvious differencebetween the UK and therest of Europe is the hikeat the start of the year inour VAT rate from 17.5%to 20%.

The Governor is right.The UK economy is pre-carious and nothingshould be done to jeop-ardise its tentativegrowth path. Britain’sbank rate shouldn’t risefor many months yet.

BillGleeson

‘Wefocusattentionontothekeysectors’


No longer a job for the boys

Taking a fresh look at theright recruitment process

Reed’s Ceri Hoult has seen a significant increase in demandfrom the private sector Picture: JAMES MALONEY/ jm170511ldpbiz-5

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The agencies are seeing more busi-nesses recruiting and progressing plansto recruit in the next few months.

Ms Cornah, from Red Rocks, said:“From a branch point of view, we areseeing a more positive outlook, with com-panies looking to hire.

“My consultants are working withabout 30 companies at a timethat are looking to recruit in thenext three months.

“In the FMCG, constructionand pharmaceutical industries,it’s starting to move now – espec-ially since April with the start ofthe financial year.

GPW’s Mr Parish is seeingsimilar changes – although thereis evidence of companies lookingto take advantage of the candid-ate-rich market – and is getting his com-pany ready for a sustained improvement.

He said: “The commercial side is start-ing to come back, but because the localgovernment have shed so many staffthere’s an influx of candidates. A lot ofcompanies are trying to do it themselvesand looking at the local papers; there aredefinitely more vacancies comingthrough.

“We are looking to expand over the

next 2-3 months. We are looking to recruitfive apprentices from the St HelensChamber scheme and four recruitmentconsultants, in our technical, construc-tion and manufacturing divisions.

“The outlook for the next 12 months isbetter. We are in good shape. We have gota strategic plan and we are looking for

decent growth this year.”Reed is also starting to pos-

ition itself for increased privatesector demand.

Ms Hoult said: “We are prob-ably still slightly below 2006/07,especially 2007. But, at the sametime, we are growing in termsof our client base.

“Public sector has taken ahuge hit but private sector isincreasing massively.

“We have no expectations for our pub-lic sector clients, and we supply to one ofMerseyside’s biggest public sector clients,Merseyside Police.

“But private sector is growing in allareas, especially within IT, scientific andHR.

“By the end of the year, we are hopingto have more clients on our database thanwe have ever had, and we will soon beexpanding the office.”

THE narrow recruitment processhas widened in recent yearswith a number of companiesdeveloping services that addvalue to the selection process.

They include Liverpool-basedassessment and coaching firmIceberg Consulting and talentconsultants Augment, in theWirral.

Iceberg’s managing director,Simon Kerevan, said: “It’s a can-didate-rich environment outthere, so you need to under-stand what you are looking forand putting a process in placeto manage that.

“How can you tell which isthe most appropriate for yourcompany. What are you lookingfor? Do you know what you arelooking for? Can you take thatinto the selection process?

“Agencies will send you whothey have got. You make thedecision.

“I am a real advocate thatyou look at behaviour, cognit-ive ability.

“Treat the interview as a per-formance management review– rather than do I like the guy’stie? Do we support the samefootball team? Has he worked

for someone I know?” KevinChappell, managing director ofAugment, said: “Bright and cap-able organisations look at theprocess in a different way.Many others don’t – so theyshouldn’t be surprised thatthey get the same result as lasttime.”

He added: “Companies aregoing through tried and testedmethods, but they are tried andtested to deliver failure.”

Mr Chappell argues that, asorganisations begin to rebuildand grow, now is the time tolook at how they manage,assess and recruit people.

“Companies focus only onhow much they spend at thepoint of transaction, ratherthan the impact cost of gettingit wrong,” he said.

“They have got a real oppor-tunity to use a thought-out pro-cess, but instead they tend tolimit the process.

“The whole journey needs tobe a well-thought-out process,the whole life cycle.

“The good news is that thestrong agencies that delivervalue want to be a part of thatprocess.”

‘Wearegrowingintermsofclientbase’

privatebusiness

MARKETING road-show firm Event Mar-keting Solutions man-aged to grow its busi-ness in 2010 despite los-ing business throughthe public sector cuts.

Ellesmere Port-basedEMS supplies vehiclesthat organisationsfrom the NHS to IBMand Barclays use topromote their services.

In newly-filedaccounts at CompaniesHouse, EMS said salesin 2010 stood at £5m,up 16% on the previousyear. Pre-tax profitsstood at £560,398 – up167% on 2009.

The directors’ reportsays: “In spite of dif-ficult marketing cond-itions in 2010 and achange in government,EMS sales grew by 16%and delivered growthin operating profit.

“The austerity meas-ures introduced by thenew coalition govern-ment adverselyaffected trading in thepublic sector. However,the business was ableto replace the publicsector spending andstill grow the business.

“The proportion ofturnover attributableto international road-shows increased from15% in 2009 to 26% in2010, reflecting the sig-nificant growth poten-tial of these markets.”

EMS invested£487,882 in its fleet, upfrom £355,872 in 2009.

Those investmentswere funded by hirepurchase debt of£417,336. But, despitethat, total debt fell bymore than £200,00 to£913,240 as the busi-ness made other HPcapital repayments.

The report said:“Cash balancesremained positivethroughout the year.The directors are con-fident the business willcontinue to tradewithout an overdraftfacility, based on con-tracted business and astrong sales pipeline.”

It added: “The direct-ors reduced headcountin 2010, with very littleimpact on delivery as aresult of the reductionin public sector work.However, the businessis currently recruiting,with a view to expand-ing.”

ALISTAIR HOUGHTON

Drivingaheaddespitethe cuts


Al Fayed toabandonstudio bidFORMER Harrods ownerMohamed Al Fayedhas walked awayfrom bidding for filmstudio owner Pine-wood Shepperton. MrAl Fayed’s conditionaloffer was worth 250pper share but PeelHoldings, which ownsa 29.8% stake in thestudio group and haslaunched its own bidat 200p a share,turned it down.

Avis rentalincome risesBERKSHIRE-BASEDAvis Europe has repor-ted a 5.2% rise in rent-al income for the fourmonths to April. Mar-ket share improved inthe UK, while therewas strong growth inGermany and Spain.

briefing VATandpetrolpricespushupUKinflationto4.5%

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King – has warned of furthervolatility in energy prices Picture: CHRIS RATCLIFFE

Rises in air fares, as well as petrol, have helped push UK inflation up to 4.5%

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DUTY rises in the Budget, soaring airfares and a surge in petrol pumpprices have driven inflation to itshighest level in 2½ years.

The consumer prices index (CPI)rate of inflation increased to ahigher-than-expected 4.5% in April,from 4% in March, the Office forNational Statistics (ONS) said.

In a letter to Chancellor GeorgeOsborne, Bank of England governorMervyn King blamed the spike ininflation on January’s VAT increase to20% and higher energy and importprices – but said without these factorsinflation would have been “substan-tially lower” and below the Govern-ment’s 2% target.

The increase in the cost of living hassignalled a further squeeze on con-sumer spending power. Figuresreleased today are expected to showaverage weekly earnings grew by 2.3%to 2.4% in the three months to March.

The ONS said core inflation, whichstrips out more volatile sectors such asfood, energy, alcohol and tobacco, hit3.7% – a record high since recordsbegan in January, 1997.

Transport prices rose by 2.8%between March and April, driven by a29% increase in air travel and a 22.3%surge in sea fares.

However, the impact of air and seafares on transport costs is likely todrop off this month, the ONS said,applying downward pressure on theoverall rate of inflation.

Fuel also lifted transport costs aspetrol pump prices rose by 1.6% toreach record levels of £1.34 per litre forpetrol and £1.41 per litre for diesel.

The rise in alcohol and tobaccocosts, introduced in the last Budget inMarch, was a record increase betweenany two months. Economists said thehike in inflation was likely to step uppressure on the Bank’s MonetaryPolicy Committee (MPC) to lift interestrates from their historic low.

But any calls for a rate hike to curbsoaring inflation are likely to beignored, as Mr King and his fellowMPC members have already said theyexpect inflation to peak at 5% laterthis year before falling back to the tar-get throughout 2012 and into 2013.

Andrew Goodwin, senior economicadviser to the Ernst & Young ITEMClub, said the Bank was still likely toput off a rate hike until November.

He said: “Though the MPC willderive no pleasure from seeing inflat-ion being so high, there is nothing inthese figures to suggest that their cent-ral forecast – of inflation easing backto target towards the end of next year –will not play out, so there is no reasonto expect them to move any earlier.”

The Bank governor was required towrite a letter to the Chancellor asinflation has been 1% higher than theGovernment target for the last threemonths. It was the sixth successivequarter in which Mr King has had towrite such a letter.

The Bank has consistently blamedtemporary price shocks, such as theboost to crude oil prices in recentmonths, for high inflation.

But, in his letter, Mr King warned:“Continuing volatility in energy and

commodity prices makes it difficult tobe sure when inflation will return tothe target.”

Other measures of inflationdropped, with the Retail Prices Index(RPI) rate falling to 5.2% in April from5.3% in March.

The fall came as a drop in counciltax, car insurance and house priceswas included in the RPI figure, butdoes not feature in the CPI calculation.

But union leaders said yesterday’sfigures meant “misery for hardwork-ing families” and called for a change ofstrategy from the Government.

Dave Prentis, Unison general secret-ary, said: “The fractional fall in retailprice inflation will not relieve the painof family budgets.”

[email protected]

Savers struggling to earn a return on their cash

THE battle savers face tostop the value of theirmoney eroding intensifiedyesterday with figuresshowing inflation had hita 30-month high.

The increase in the Con-sumer Prices Index, from4% to 4.5%, means a basicrate taxpayer now needs

to earn interest of 5.63%in order to make a realreturn on their money,once inflation and tax aretaken into account.

Higher rate taxpayersare in an even worse pos-ition, needing returns of7.5% to stop the value oftheir deposits being

eroded by inflation. Thereare just two accountsavailable that enablepeople to make a realreturn, both of which arefive-year fixed rate ISAs,meaning savers have tolock away their money fora five-year term, whilethey can only invest a

maximum of £5,340 inthis tax year.

There are currently nosavings accounts availablethat enable people tobeat inflation as meas-ured by the Retail PricesIndex, despite this fallingfrom 5.3% to 5.2% inApril.

■ BILL GLEESON: Page 8;■ MARKET Comment: Page 15

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Vodafonehailssoaringprofits

Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao – says the firm’s network is key

SunshineboostsEnterprise

Avivasecures£1bninUKsales

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A SURGE in demand for smartphones, andbetter-than-expected growth in the UK, helpedboost Vodafone’s annual profits to £9.5bn.

The Newbury-based firm also saw a strongperformance in emerging markets such asSouth Africa and India as profits rose 9% inthe year to March 31.

However, the mobile phone giant expects alower outcome next year due to tough tradingin Spain and Italy, and also the absence of itsFrench associate SFR, which it sold in April.Guidance for profits at an underlying level in2012 has been trimmed to a range of £11bn to£11.8bn.

That is below yesterday’s operating profitfigure, which rose 3.1% to £11.8bn, at the topend of the firm’s forecasts allowing for the costof US partner Verizon Wireless’s iPhonelaunch.

That helped boost US revenues and withgood performances in Africa, the Middle Eastand Asia Pacific, revenues overall rose by 3.2%to £45.9bn.

Data revenues jumped by over a quarter to£5.1bn, representing 12% of group service rev-enues as use of smartphones increased rapidly.

Vodafone expects tablets, such as the iPad,

to give the market a further boost and becomemass market devices eventually.

UK revenues, in particular, grew strongly onthe back of this trend and were also helped bycustomers switching from “all-you-can-eat”packages to pricing plans that reflect datausage. But the end of call termination charges,to be phased in gradually from next year, willhave a “significant negative impact” on UKrevenues growth in 2012.

Data also grew strongly in southern Europe,but was outstripped by falling prices in trad-itional mobile phone revenues.

Revenues in Spain and Italy fell by 10.6%and 6% respectively.

Vodafone took impairment charges of over£6.15bn last year for its businesses in theso-called PIIGS countries of Spain, Italy, Ire-land, Greece and Portugal.

Chief executive Vittorio Colao added thatVodafone was holding market share in all ofits markets and gaining ground in some.

The strength of its key emerging markets ofIndia and South Africa offset the weakness insouthern Europe, he added, while, as databecomes more important, he expects the firm’ssuperior network will become more importantthan price. He said: “Continuing networkinvestment is an important differentiator forVodafone, improving the customer experienceand giving us leadership in smartphone pen-etration and in customer take-up.”

ENTERPRISE Inns, the UK’slargest pub landlord, saidthe hot weather and exten-ded Bank Holidays hadpepped up trading after atough winter.

The boost to sales comesafter adverse weather overChristmas knocked revenues7% lower to £346m in the sixmonths to March 31. Withthe sale and lease-back ofsome of Enterprise’s high-value London pubs causing arise in rental costs, profits

were down by a third at£61m in the half year.

Chief executive Ted Tup-pen said: “The second half ofthe year has started well,with fine weather overEaster and the Bank Holidayweekend providing our pub-licans with a welcome boostto trade.”

He added that tradingimproved as the half-yearwore on, with income perpub steady though therewere marked regional differ-

ences. The southern part ofits 6,500-strong pub estatesaw average net income riseby 2%.

Income held steady in theMidlands, but fell by 2% inthe North.

Tackling its legacy of hugedebts still remains the pri-ority, Mr Tuppen said,although net borrowings didfall to £3.1bn from £3.5bn ayear ago.

It will continue to offloadunder-performing pubs.

INSURER Aviva hailed theperformance of its motor andhousehold arm today, afterthe division secured £1bn ofUK sales in the last quarter.

The 20% rise, to £1.09bn forthe three months to March 31,represents the fifth successivequarterly increase and fol-lows upward pressure on carpremium rates and a surge inthe firm’s own customer num-bers.

It now has 2m motorists on

its books, after adding 580,000UK customers since the startof 2010, including 180,000 as aresult of the roll-out of directpricing to brokers.

Aviva has also been buoyedby the success of an advert-ising campaign featuringactor Paul Whitehouse.

It expects to see a contin-uation of recent industrytrends on premiums after itsown rates for motor coverrose by 24% over the past

year and homeowner insur-ance lifted 6%.

A highly competitiveindustry in recent years sawmany players slash rates tomaintain market share,which the market claims ledto unsustainable low ratesthat are now rising to morenormal levels.

Rising costs have also beenblamed on a “compensationculture” encouraged by“ambulance chasers”.


304 CLEVELAND STREET BIRKENHEADMain Road location. A small, secureindustrial estate with good on site parking.1 x 700 sq ft new unit. Ideal Self-Store or lightindustrial £100 pw1 x 1,100 sq ft unit. Ideal Trade Counter. OwnCar Parking area for 4 vehicles. £135 pw1 x 1,100 sq ft light industrial unit. Newlyrefurbished with on site parking. £125 pw

LIVINGSTONE ST/CORPORATION RDBIRKENHEADNewly developed industrial estate.1 x 600 sq ft new unit. Suit storage, lightindustrial use. £78 pw + VAT1 x 3,900 sq ft unit. £220 pw + VAT1 x 2,900 sq ft unit. £210 pw + VAT1 x 1,000 sq ft unit. £105 pw + VAT

KELVIN ROADWALLASEYWallasey Dock Road. Excellent Location..1 x 1,100 with upper floor storage/office space.Ideal Trade Counter. £125 pw

258 BROOK STREET BIRKENHEAD(Former Wirral Engineering building)16,500 sq ft factory complex with offices,car park, canteen etc. 3 x overhead cranes,compressed air system. Previously used forengineering fabrication. £ poa

LORN STREET BIRKENHEAD7,022 SQ FT factory unit £ poa

CLEVELAND STREET BIRKENHEADGated, fenced, secure Land.Main Road Location, Good access, fenced andvery secure. All Utilities connected. £ poa

CORPORATION RD BIRKENHEADVery Secure, gated, hard-standing StorageLand £ poa

LISCARD VILLAGEWALLASEYUpper floor office suite.Self contained office suite £175 pw

A NEW EXCITING RETAIL OPPORTUNITYIN CAPITOL BUILDINGS LISCARD4 shops 3 remaining all adjacent to new minisupermarket – can be developed as required

£ poaTel: 0151 666 1555

Email: [email protected]

OUR COREMARKET IS INDUSTRIAL UNITS/COMMERCIAL PROPERTY. IF WHAT YOU

WANT IS NOT LISTED, PLEASECONTACT US.

ZONEFIRST lets its OWN land, industrial and commercial property. Everysite can be let on flexible terms to suit your needs. Looking to down-size,

move premises or startup, we have the solution to your requirements.Tel: 0151 666 1555 Email: [email protected] www.zonefirst.co.uk

Tel: 0151 666 1555 www.zonefirst.co.uk Email: [email protected] deposit, no hidden service charges, no agent fees. Simple, straight forward solutions

so you can get on with your business. We constantly compare the commercial andindustrial rental market-we cannot be beaten on price, quality and flexibility.


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location


Go-aheadfoursomeinmovetoDaresbury

DowninghandsoverNewcastlesite

FOUR advanced technology busi-nesses have moved to DaresburyScience and Innovation Campus(DSIC).

Proveca, Immersive Forensics,iSoSec and Enhanced Hydrocar-bon Technology have all estab-lished their operations at theinternationally-recognised site inCheshire.

DSIC aims to provide a plat-form for innovation and collabor-ation between hi-tech businesses,universities and research organ-isations.

Immersive Forensics is a pro-vider of forensic image data man-agement services.

Proveca is a specialist pharma-ceutical company which focuseson developing innovative, technic-ally complex, demand-drivenpharmaceuticals, and iSoSecdevelops high-performance andsecure authentication products tothe identity and access manage-ment (IAM) sector.

Enhanced Hydrocarbon Tech-nology has developed technologyto improve the efficiency ofinternal combustion engines, par-ticularly diesels, to deliver fuelsavings and emission reductions.

John Leake, business develop-ment manager at DSIC, said: “Thevery cornerstone of the campus isto attract innovative, thought-leading enterprises and providethem with a platform to evolveand prosper.

“The arrival of four suchgroundbreaking businesses, fromsuch diverse sectors as pharma-ceuticals and forensic science,reflects our continued ability todeliver on our pledge.

“We have major ambitions forthe growth of the campus, sup-ported by the anticipated launchof Vanguard House, and we hopeto see more new arrivals in thecoming months.”

DSIC is a public-private jointventure between the Science andTechnology Facilities Council,Langtree, North West Develop-ment Agency and Halton BoroughCouncil.

Simon Bryson, from Proveca, left, with Nigel Elson, of iSoSec

LIVERPOOL property firmDowning has handed overthe first phase of New-castle’s largest city centreregeneration scheme to itsnew tenants, Newcastle Uni-versity Business School.

Downing has completedwork on 100,000 sq ft of itsflagship project, DowningPlaza, which is transform-ing the former Scottish andNewcastle brewery site.

In 2010, the businessschool pre-let the office andteaching space at DowningPlaza in a record deal forNewcastle’s commercialproperty market.

A new student accom-modation complex, alsodeveloped by Downing, isadjacent to the site and wel-coming intake from Septem-ber.

Downing is nearing com-

pletion of Phase Two of thescheme, which comprises a520-bedroom student villageand 8,000 sq ft of retailspace.

Work on phase three’sstudent accommodationfacility, which will house afurther 351 student bed-rooms, is due to start thisyear. Planning permissionis also in place for a 285-bed-room hotel.

The £100m scheme isbeing built in phases byDowning’s in-house con-struction arm, GeorgeDowning Construction.

Paul Houghton, develop-ment director at Downing,said: “The demand forfirst-rate student accom-modation has never beenhigher, as universities areworking hard to attract thebest students.”

ADVERTORIAL

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Last year, we approved eight out often requests for business loans andoverdrafts and we are happy to workclosely with you to explore the typesof funding that are right for yourbusiness needs.

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Securing funding is now moreimportant than ever as increases inraw material costs and decreases inpublic spending put pressure on yourcashflow. The increased focus thisdemands on the day-to-day runningof your company only adds furtherpressures on trying to maintain yourcurrent turnover or expand in thiscompetitive environment.

To ease this pressure, we offerinvoice finance solutions to releasethe value of your invoices when theyare issued to customers rather thanwhen they are paid. We also offer thisservice on a six month trial basis, soif the service isn’t right for you we’llprovide a full refund of the servicefees paid.

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Our local relationship managerscan introduce you to how varioustypes of finance can help you releasecash and take advantage of growthopportunities, or to keep yourcurrent business plans on track.

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All lending is subject to asatisfactory credit assessment.

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By Leigh TaylorAREA DIREcTOR fOR LLOyDS TSBcOmmERcIAL In ThE nORTh WEST

networking can be a great source of new business leads


LondonStockMarketatClose

Last night, the pound was worth: $1.6200 (down 0.0038 )..........1.1459 euros (up 0.0039) ......... 133.1500 yen (up 1.73)..........Its trade weighted index was 79.80 (up 0.20)Metals in $ per troy ounce: Gold 1478.50 (down 22.25)................... Silver 34.28 (down 0.07) .................. Platinum 1760 (unchanged) .................. UK base lending rate 0.5%

Keep track of all the major share moves of the day with our live FTSE ticker at www.ldpbusiness.co.ukLDPbusiness .co.ukLDPbusiness .co.uk

96 39 Adv Medical 8214 xd -34

1912 334 AEA Technology 414 -14

28712 241 Albany Inv Tst 282 -1 -1

1251 764 AMEC 1151 -20 -35

92 2012 Anglesey Mining 5334 -434 -1112

35714 22934 Balfour Beatty 32334 xd -438 -10

3912 29 Beale 3612 +12 +6

594 501 Compass Gp 579 -8 -1212

1258 478 Coral Prod 11 +14 +14

119212 89712 Dee Valley 119212

479 32214 easyJet 35234 -178 -414

9112 5934 IS Pharma 8612 -12 -1

96412 683 JD Sports Fashion 850 xd -2712 -4212

20212 1112 JJB Sports 2834 -1 -34

3512 1534 Johnson Serv 3358 xd -38 -34

53034 361 Nichols 53034 +734 +6

12112 8312 NWF 11312 +512 +212

44 1934 Park Gp 4034 -14 -214

1257 76212 Rathbone 1200 xd +42 +30

139 9712 Redrow 12138 -458 -618

14312 11434 RSA Insurance 13512 xd -114 -338

3278 1914 Speedy Hire 3234 +114 +212

48 3534 Sportech 4414 -134 -34

42 2514 Telme Gp 4078 -1

5514 3234 UK Coal 3814 -34 -134

2 78 Ultima 112 -18 -18

2000 1688 Unilever 1963 xd -9 -37

63112 520 Utd Utils 617 -512 -412

UNIT TRUSTS

DAILY POST REGIONAL INDEX 1215.33 down 4.34 ▼ 0.36%

In order to give a greater range of Unit Trustinformation, covering a larger number of trusts, thelist of funds changes each day as follows:UNIT TRUST MANAGERS DAYS PUBLISHEDA to Com ................................................... TuesdayF to Inv....................................................WednesdayJP to Pru...................................................ThursdayRoy to T.........................................................Friday

FUNDS

Consols

£90932 £761132 Cons 4%.................£7734

£582732 £50 Cons 212% ..............£5112 -5

Conversions

£8134 £69 Cnv 312%.................£7212

£10912 £101932 Cnv 9% 11 .......... £101932 -132

Treasury

£61 £50 Tr 212%................. £553132

£1171516 £10858 Tr 9% 12................£10858

£10738 £10312 Tr 5% 12................£10312

£121516 £1152532 Tr 8% 13................£11614

£114332 £109532 Tr 5% 14............. £1102332 +132

£1112932 £105732 Tr 734% 12-15........£10614

£326732 £30414 Tr 212% IL 16 ....... £326732 +34

£142316 £1322132 Tr 834% 17........... £136116 +116

£147132 £1332732 Tr 8% 21............. £1391932 +316

War

£8334 £6712 War Ln 312%......... £731316 +14

High Low Price Var 5Day High Low Price Var 5Day High Low Price Var 5Day Country Currency Tourist Buy Sell

FTSE 100 INDEX

SPOTLIGHT

KEYs............ dealing suspendedxd.............price ex-dividendxs......... price ex-scrip issuexr ........ price ex-rights issuexc ..... ex-capital distributionxa................................ ex-all£......price value in £ sterling

Those securities which haveincreased in value since the previ-ous close are shown in bold type.

To assist in the analysis of themarket two figures are given foreach sector. Firstly an index (setat 100 on January 1 1992) togive a comparison in the perfor-mance of various market sectors.Secondly an indication of the per-centage change in the price of allthe securities within a sector sincethe previous close.Nov 17, 2010 May 17, 2011

VODAFONE GROUP

Share price (pence)

150

160

170

180

190FTSE-Rebased

£ ABROAD

Australia dollars 1.45 1.537 1.542

Canada dollars 1.51 1.584 1.586

Denmark krone 8.12 8.540 8.550

European Union euro 1.09 1.145 1.146

Japan yen 125.75 131.770 131.870

New Zealand dollars 1.93 2.080 2.086

Norway krone 8.63 9.113 9.114

Poland zlotys 3.96 4.502 4.510

Sweden krona 9.83 10.313 10.323

Switzerland francs 1.37 1.434 1.435

Turkey new lira 2.43 2.578 2.587

United States dollars 1.55 1.620 1.620

Cancel Bid Offer Yield

Fund Terms Price Price Gross

FIDELITY INVESTMENT SERVS

Amer Spec Sits - 610.20 -

American - 1815.00 0.32

Gwth & Inc - 324.70 1.68

Income Plus - 204.30 4.26

Japan - 221.80 0.52

Jpan Spec Sits - 127.30 0.10

Spec Sits - 1987.00 0.01

Sth East Asia - 752.80 0.01

GARTMORE FUND MANAGERS

Euro Sel Opps - 908.09 1.12

Income - 215.13 3.57

Pratical Inv -160.06 171.28 4.32

GUARDIAN

Index-Linked Acc -505.01 531.59 -

International Acc -1024.32 1078.23 -

Pacific Acc -254.35 267.74 -

Property Bonds -1999.30 2082.60 -

HSBC INVESTMENT FUNDS (UK)

Balanced - 106.40 1.00

British -267.80 267.80 3.07

Gilt & FI - 63.41 3.50

Gilt & Fixed -222.50 222.50 3.11

Monthly Inc - 132.30 3.64

HENDERSON HORIZON FUND

European Smllr Cos A - 1046.90 -

Sterling Bd Unit Tst - 54.20 56.63 4.40

UK Equity Inc A - 451.70 2.83

HILL SAMUEL UNIT TST MGRS

Capital -315.18 327.80 1.10

European - 821.90 0.70

Far East - 560.10 1.80

Inc & Gwth - 207.10 3.30

International - 425.60 0.40

North Amer Acc - 470.10 0.10

INVESCO FUND MANAGERS

Sing ASEAN - 215.33 0.39

High Low Funds Price Var

Closing Indices

FT-SE 100 INDEX 5861.00down 62.69 ▼ 1.06%

20 DAY MOVINGAVERAGE 5999.06down 1.79 ▼ 0.03%

FT ALL-SHARE 3055.52down 31.92 ▼ 1.03%

Aerospace & Defence

Index 3416.07 ▼ 37.46

28812 100 Avon Rbbr 28812 +212

36978 29434 BAE Systems 33718xd -178

73612 51958 Chemring 650 -12

24758 19214 Cobham 23058xd -138

38078 26134 Meggitt 36238 -112

665 535 Rolls-Royce 63412xd-1312

15912 10634 Senior 15258xd -234

Automobiles & Parts

Index 4886.56 ▼ 16.36

23718 10914 GKN 209 xd -34

Banks

Index 4537.12 ▼ 41.12

344 25538 Barclays 27014xd -312

87512 610 Bco Santander 70112 -514

73078 59614 HSBC 63834 -378

11912 1914 Ireland 1878 -1

7758 5012 LloydsBanking 5334 -78

5218 3758 Ryl Scotland 4218 -18

1959 1525 Stan Chart 155612 -19

Beverages

Index 9801.89 ▼ 169.15

1394 90912 Barr (AG) 1360xd

518 36412 Britvic 42958 -8

1301 1025 Diageo 1275 -26

2306 1827 SABMiller 222012 -3012

Chemicals

Index 7289.06 ▼ 74.89

1919 901 Croda 1837xd -31

16934 5834 Elementis 15314xd -34

2100 1460 Johnsn Mat 1978 -24

Construction & Materials

Index 3996.72 ▼ 51.37

35714 22934 Balfour Beatty 32334xd -438

265 18512 Costain 22712xd -712

1708 102178 CRH 137434 -814

1418 88612 Kier Group 1335 -21

6312 2834 Low Bonar 5934 -114

12412 7834 Marshalls 12112 +14

Electricity

Index 8195.67 ▼ 38.44

46934 32614 Drax Gp 44412xd -734

44858 28412 Intl Power 327 -258

1368 1010 Scot&Sthrn 1330 -4

Electronic & Electrical

Index 3197.84 ▼ 39.36

705 38312 Domino Ptg 680 +11

179 9834 Laird 141 xd

333 16712 Morgn Cru 31714 -334

774 256 Oxford Inst 733 -4

377 12712 Volex Gp 312 -6

Equity Inv Instruments

Index 6016.47 ▼ 57.88

385 29312 Alliance 37458 -414

14012 105 Br Assets 13312 -112

777 577 Candover Inv 581 -11

228 17118 Dunedin IncGth 216 xd -5

142 10034 Dunedin Sml 14138 +14

478 369 Edin Invst 468 xd -612

66012 53012 Edin US Trkr Tst 63914xd -1034

31712 25138 Forgn & C 31112 -338

32334 206 Hend Smllr Cos 31134 +34

367 27314 Law Debenture 361 -414

252 18614 Scot Am 24534 -214

528 40978 Witan 50912 -5

Fixed Line TelecomsIndex 2382.56 ▼ 0.32

20178 11934 BT Gp 19434 +34

6278 4438 Cble&W Comm 4714 -158

92 4658 Cble&W Wwide 5034 -78

6512 41 KCOM 62 -1

Food & Drug RetailersIndex 4852.40 ▼ 43.01

30714 25758 Morrison W 30012xd -134

395 31358 Sainsbury 35434 -158

44058 37712 Tesco 41314xd -412

112 6812 Thorntons 6812 -2

Food ProducersIndex 5280.52 ▼ 30.01

1182 92012 AB Foods 1047 -11

72312 47712 Carrs Mill 720 xd

90712 735 Cranswick 79212 +9

42478 33934 Dairy Crest 40278 -518

3518 16 Premier Foods 3418 +18

62812 40918 Tate Lyle 621 -712

2000 1688 Unilever 1963xd -9

Forestry & PaperIndex 6387.42 ▼ 75.39

61412 36758 Mondi 593 -7

General FinancialIndex 5913.68 ▼ 9.85

340 25418 3i 29418 +734

88812 664 Close Bros 77112 -612

57012 35912 ICAP 49012 -112

933 544 London Stk Ex 879 -5

1033 72812 Provident 960 xd -6

1257 76212 Rathbone 1200xd +42

1922 1154 Schroders 1660 -10

General IndustrialsIndex 3190.74 ▼ 47.89

72412 36738 Cooksn Gp 682 -1912

1258 478 Coral Prod 11 +14

638 338 Cosalt 312 -14

398 29038 Rexam 38314xd -438

226 108 Smith DS 20112 -318

1429 1008 Smiths Gp 1201 -16

General RetailersIndex 1776.14 ▼ 19.36

2514 1214 Ashley L 1934 -134

31114 221 Brown (N) Gp 28818 +14

7738 53 Debenhams 7114 -34

2812 1134 Dixons Retail 1812 +18

550 34814 Halfords 398 +278

25414 18812 Home Retail 223 -134

414 23718 Inchcape 38238 +114

96412 683 JD Sports 850 xd -2712

28214 19812 Kingfisher 27414xd -314

42712 32638 M & S 39114 -638

62712 382 Mothercare 42514 -812

2326 1868 Next 2244 -34

2885 1724 Signet Jwlrs 2627 -26

523 39814 WH Smith 49678 -2

Health Care Equip & Serv

Index 3794.30 ▼ 61.63

742 53712 Smith Nph 67512xd-1112

Household Goods

Index 6520.70 ▼ 111.22

138 74 Aga Rngmstr 11312xd -12

119 70 Barratt Dev 11458 -234

75312 511 Bellway 738 -15

196 114 McBride 140 xd -3

3648 3015 Reckitt Benck 3350xd -50

139 9712 Redrow 12138 -458

4314 2214 Taylor Wimpey 38 -112

Industrial Engineering

Index 7154.67 ▼ 175.88

39734 18212 Bodycote 37614 -738

85312 567 Charter 753 -11

38734 18314 Fenner 38714 +214

1112 578 IMI 1008xd -64

108 4312 Molins 9312xd +14

230 115 MS Intl 21612 +112

45 23 Renold 3612 +12

2063 1344 Spirax Srco 2011xd -9

1948 846 Weir Gp 1844xd -34

Industrial Transportation

Index 2593.83 ▼ 13.45

24034 175 BBA Aviation 22138xd -34

Life Insurance

Index 4397.21 ▼ 47.68

47778 29414 Aviva 43558xd +158

12334 7214 Lgl & Gen 11312xd -134

777 48914 Prudential 71712xd-1212

31134 21114 Resolution 29634xd -34

24434 173 Standard Life 21138xd -312

Media

Index 4271.71 ▼ 37.14

849 53612 BSkyB 83712 -212

59412 433 D Mail Tst 503 +2

9312 4814 ITV 6634 -114

1171 864 Pearson 1144 -11

59012 46058 Reed Elsevier 55712xd -12

168 66 STV Group 14212 -912

12414 4534 Trinity Mirror 50 +14

725 48018 Utd Business 602 xd -412

151 106 UTV 130 -212

84612 608 WPP 75412 -1212

Mining

Index 24784.08 ▼ 426.57

3437 2254 Anglo Amer 291312 -65

1634 761 Antofagasta 1174xd -11

263112 168412 BHP Billiton 2344 -48

1682 81112 Fresnillo 1308xd -43

1671 965 Kazakhmys 1217xd -25

1983 1355 Lonmin 1484 -34

6655 4425 Randgold Res 4620xd -105

4712 2812 Rio Tinto 410012 -7012

5514 3234 UK Coal 3814 -34

Mobile Telecoms

Index 3877.70 ▲ 30.75

821 575 Inmarsat 611 xd -7

18234 12912 Vodafone Gp 16934 +112

Nonlife Insurance

Index 1645.45 ▼ 13.09

1754 1238 Admiral Grp 1737 -17

189958 126912 Marsh McL 1867xd +914

14312 11434 RSA Insurance 13512xd -114

Oil & Gas Producers

Index 8073.37 ▼ 82.95

156412984 BG 1332xd -8

52834 30278 BP 43434xd -358

49314 366 Cairn Energy 42014 -10

2140 1085 Premier 1834 -27

2336 1554 Ryl D Shell B 2121xd -22

1493 99112 Tullow Oil 1306xd -22

Oil Equipment & Services

Index 24910.92 ▼ 213.03

1251 764 AMEC 1151 -20

Personal Goods

Index 21488.21 ▼ 300.77

1365 61212 Burberry Gp 1338 -19

409 27914 PZ Cussons 32738 -12

Pharma & Biotechnology

Index 9516.56 ▼ 181.92

3385 280112 AstraZeneca 316112 -32

134812 1095 GlaxoSmthKln 1314xd -34

50 31 Vernalis 3812

Real Estate

Index 1958.11

35314 28438 Big Yellow Gp 335 -134

604 41814 Brit Land 578 xd -412

2919 2157 Daejan Hldgs 2725 -84

42734 28012 Gt Portland 40578 -134

79112 545 Land Secs 74712 -612

33114 25014 SEGRO 31414 -114

Software & Comp Servs

Index 739.41 ▼ 15.92

1975 1271 Autonomy 1735 -45

6112 3012 Emblaze 53 -1

36414 23014 Invensys 31012 -878

12612 85 Kewill 100 -414

14714 10134 Logica 141 -258

302 22234 Sage 28734xd -518

Support Services

Index 4574.22 ▼ 42.62

1912 334 AEA Tech 414

1811 1173 Aggreko 1731xd -19

20778 77 Ashtead Gp 182 -714

51912 36014 Berendsen 48614 -134

783 658 Bunzl 734 xd -412

810 63512 Capita 718 xd -2

984 54912 De La Rue 835 +1112

29034 20534 Electrocmps 28912 -12

819 578 Experian 797 -13

28234 23734 G4S 27878xd -178

452 24134 Hyder Cons 36412 -1234

299 18312 Interserve 29312xd +14

545 33734 Menzies J 538

34634 15214 Northgate 32818 -178

30834 20838 Prem Farnell 29334 -318

12134 8414 Rentokil 9758 -78

12012 79 Smiths News 9612xd +114

3278 1914 Speedy Hire 3234 +114

1127 709 Travis & P 1021xd -16

2261 1223 Wolseley 2010xd -59

Tech Hardware & Equip

Index 732.47 ▼ 27.73

651 22838 ARM Hldgs 55512xd-2612

28 1934 BATM 2534 -12

10234 7134 Psion 9312xd +112

16014 10234 Spirent Comms 14634 -138

Tobacco

Index 31109.74 ▼ 227.43

271812 1959 Br Am Tob 267012 -18

2231 1753 Imperial Tob 2190 -19

Travel & Leisure

Index 4770.96 ▼ 51.86

3153 2037 Carnival 2561 -42

594 501 Compass Gp 579 -8

479 32214 easyJet 35234 -178

12234 8438 Enterprise Inns 8514 -314

41258 31114 FirstGroup 35438 -134

1504 1042 Go-Ahead Gp 1493 -3

50212 37614 Greene King 48818 -412

360 240 Holidaybreak 256 -214

1435 982 Intercontl Htls 1252xd -25

285 21278 Intl Cons Airlns 24234 -312

15214 12234 Ladbrokes 14712xd -114

11718 8978 Marston’s 110 -58

361 274 Mitchells&Btlrs 334 -114

9038 58 Punch Taverns 7538 +38

15234 9434 Rank Gp 14914 -118

335 20814 Restaurant Gp 30734 -314

24678 16034 Stagecoach 24178 -1

208 15514 Thomas Cook 15514 -234

27178 190 TUI Travel 24334 -438

1887 1266 Whitbread 1647xd +1

Utilities

Index 4671.38 ▼ 1.78

34618 26412 Centrica 31538xd +114

119212 89712 Dee Valley 119212

62912 48414 National Grid 61512 -12

67412 48278 Pennon Gp 67112 +212

1513 1126 Severn 1495

63112 520 Utd Utils 617 -512

AIM

Index 873.36 ▼ 7.52

26 758 API Gp 2358

1414 412 Armour Gp 518

564 19012 Cape 48734xd-1314

134 1 Crimson Tide 112

214 112 Dawson Intl 2

838 414 Eckoh 818

20212 1112 JJB Sports 2834 -1

3512 1534 Johnson Serv 3358xd -38

86 3034 Man Brnze 46 -178

12 4 Metalrax 1138 +18

550 355 Portmeirion P 490 xd +612

17312 55 Redhall Gp 67 +1

5112 1112 Scapa Gp 4714 +34

142 115 Swallowfield 11612xd

7938 67 Uniq 77 -238

670 510 Young A 60712 -214

Apr 25 - Apr 29 May 2 - May 6 May 9 - May 13 M T W T F5710

5805

5900

5995

6090

FTSE-100

20-Day Moving Average


businessdiary

For twice-daily FTSE updates from Rensburg Sheppards, log on to www.ldpbusiness.co.uk

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Wednesday, May 18St Helens Chamber ishosting a seminarcalled “The benefits ofeffective health andsafety management”. Itwill discuss how com-panies can create a pos-itive safety culture.Fordetails, see www.sthelenschamber.com

Thursday, May 19Speke-based ChoiceOnline has teamed upwith Clearer Thoughtsto run a second freesocial media marketingworkshop. The event isat Clearer Thoughts, inBridle Way, Netherton.For details, see www.choiceonline.co.uk

Friday, May 20David Murray, of theMurray Consultancy,will be looking at thevalue of market researchfor businesses.

It is the latest in Liv-erpool Chamber of Com-merce’s series of 60Really Useful Minutesseminars.

It is free to mem-bers and £5 fornon-members and isfrom 9am-10am. To

book, visit www.liver-poolchamber.org.uk

Monday, May 23Three free workshopshave been arranged byLCVS United Way tohelp people looking toset up new social enter-prises or communityorganisations. The firstwill take place at itsoffices in Dale Street,on May 23, with otherson June 22 and July 21.To book places, call

Jane Peet on 0151 2275177 or [email protected]

Monday, May 23A speed networkingevent is being held atStaybridge Suites, KeelWharf, Liverpool, from5.30pm. The two-hourevent, organised byLiverpool Chamber ofCommerce, costs £10for members and £15for non-members. Tobook, call 0151 227 1234.

Wednesday, May 25PKF is holding a sem-inar to provide guid-ance on the BriberyAct 2010, which willcome into force on July1, 2011. It will providethe know-how onadequate anti-briberyprocedures to avoidcommitting the offence.It is at Haydock Parkand starts at 8am. Tobook, emaillorraine.byrne@

uk.pkf.com or call 0161819 3362.

Wednesday, May 25The five golden steps tosuccessful bidding isthe subject of a Know-sley Chamber seminarby Tender Manage-ment.

It is from 9am-11.30am at the VillageHotel, Whiston. Formore details, seewww.knowsleycham-ber.org/events.php

Bankmustretainitsfocusoncontrollinginflation

Economic growth estimates for theUK economy have been downgradedfrom 2.8% to 2.4% for 2011, 3.1% to

2.5% for 2012, and 3.1% to2.75% for 2013 and beyond.And these forecasts are stillprobably too high. It seemsunlikely that, over the longterm, the UK economy will beable to grow at the level itachieved prior to the financialcrisis, given the lower level ofcredit available from banksand workers choosing to per-manently leave the labourmarket.

Despite the lower growthfigures, inflation is predictedto be higher than previouslyexpected. Inflation may now

peak at 5% in the fourth quarter of2011, and the Bank of England does notexpect inflation to return to its 2%target until the summer of 2013.

Crucially, the inflation forecast isbased on interest rate rises expectedby the market. At the time of thereport, the market was predicting onequarter point rise before the end of theyear (probably in August or Novem-

LAST week’s Quarterly InflationReport, published by the Bank of Eng-land, produced grim reading on theoutlook for the UK economy, with twomain themes emerging, of lowergrowth and higher inflation than waspreviously forecast.

According to some commentators,the UK is unlikely to see an interestrate rise for many months.

The argument put forward is thathigh inflation in the UK is mainlycaused by sharply rising energy(especially oil), food and commodityprices. Rising UK interest rates wouldhave no effect on these glob-ally-determined prices.

In fact, higher interest rateswould have a negative impacton the domestic UK economy,dampening growth as activityattempts to recover from thefinancial crisis and sub-sequent recession of 2008-09.

In addition, the cuts in gov-ernment spending have yet tobe implemented in earnestand consumers are apprehens-ive about spending at a timewhen their real incomes arebeing squeezed.

Large-scale unemployment,at 7.8% of the labour force,should ensure that wage growth is con-tained. As a result, it is inevitable thatthe Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)will look through the strong inflationdata and leave interest ratesunchanged until the long-term outlookfor inflation is more assured.

However, last week’s InflationReport doesn’t appear to agree withthe above conclusion.

Whatdoyouthink?Email us withyour views [email protected],or write to usPO Box 48, OldHall Street,LiverpoolL69 3EB

ber), followed by further 0.25%increases every quarter in 2012.

This would raise the UK base ratefrom 0.5% currently to 1.75% at theend of 2012. This analysis points to oneinterest rate increase before the end ofthis year.

For many in the UK and particularlythose with mortgages, the prospect ofhigher interest rates is daunting.However, it is important for the integ-rity of the UK’s financial system thatthe Bank of England retains its focuson targeting an inflation level of 2%.

If confidence in the Bank’s ability to

control inflation is lost by consumersand investment markets, not onlycould the cost of borrowing for thegovernment increase markedly butworkers’ demands for higher wagescould grow.

Higher wage costs are one of thegreatest fears of central bankers, andif these pressures were to materialisethey could eventually lead to muchhigher interest rates over the mediumterm.

Darren Ruane,Senior Bond Strategist,

Rensburg Sheppards

The current high rate of unemployment may ensure that growth inUK wages will continue to be constrained Picture: CHRIS ISON

LondonmarketTHE FTSE 100 Indexslipped backwards for itsfifth day in a row afterheavily weighted miningstocks were hit by freshfalls from volatile com-modity prices.

London’s blue-chipindex lost 1%, or 62.7points, to close at 5861, asweak sentiment was com-pounded by ongoing con-cerns over the eurozonedebt crisis.

Markets across theworld were draggeddownwards as progressmade at a meeting ofEuropean financial lead-ers was overshadowed bythe arrest of IMF chiefDominique Strauss-Kahn.

The pound was upagainst the dollar and theeuro after the UK’s CPImeasure of inflation roseto 4.5% in April from 4%the previous month,increasing the chances ofan interest rate hike.Sterling rose to 1.15against the single cur-rency and at 1.62 againstthe greenback.

In corporate news,mobile phone giant Voda-fone posted a 9% rise infull-year profits to £9.5bn,and surprised analystswith its bullish outlookon the back of hopes thatthe widespread adoptionof smartphones will boostdata usage.

Oil giant BP wasamong the fallers afterthe company’s failure tocomplete a share swapand Arctic explorationdeal with Russia’s Ros-neft. Analysts said thatits deal with the Russianstate-owned oil companycould still be resurrected.

The biggest Footsierisers were EssarEnergy, up 12.4p at424.5p, 3i ahead 7.7p at294.1p, Vodafone, up 1.5pat 169.7p, and BT, ahead0.8p, at 194.8p. The biggestFootsie fallers were IMI,down 64p to 1008p, ArmHoldings, off 26.5p at555.5p, Fresnillo, down43p at 1308p, and Euras-ian Natural Resources,off 25p, at 806.5p.


Cityhairpioneerwho’sfuelledbysmoothies

Voudou managing director Rob Webb – wants to celebrate the city’s hairdressing talent

■ LIVERPOOL hadGeorgia on its mind

this week as the state’sgovernor, Nathan Deal,rode into town.

Governor Deal, below,was making his firstoverseas trip since takingoffice in January.

And he was happy tochat about what Georgiaand Liverpool have incommon – includingambitious plans for portredevelopments.

The Governor had allthe wonderful turns ofphrase you’d expect froma politician from the USSouth, calling heavily-wooded Georgia the “SaudiArabia of pine trees”, andproudly pointing out thathis hometown is the“poultry capital of theworld”. And he said theSouth was now the hot-spot of the US economy.

“There’s a definiteshift in our population inthe US to our warmer

climes,” he smiled. “Al-though the Liverpool del-egates that came (toGeorgia) in Januarywouldn’t attest to that.”

Because, he smiled, thesnow in Atlanta was sobad that month that thegubernatorial inaugur-ation ceremony had to bemoved indoors for onlythe second time in thestate’s history. His galadinner was finally heldearlier this month.

It’s been a drizzly fewdays in Liverpool. Butthat’s clearly not going toput him off one bit.

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workingday

6am: Wake up at my home in thedocks and walk over to our two BoldStreet salons.

We’ve been in the city since 1976,and opening salons in the city centrewas one of the best decisions I’ve evermade. Even though our clientele isextremely varied, the majority of ourcustomers are very fashion-conscious.

8.30am: Time for a smoothie and acatch up with Christine, our financialcontroller and my official right-handwoman. We’ve worked together for along time now, and I find her supportextremely important.

9am: Meet with the team for a morn-ing briefing. We currently have 100members of staff and I try my best tospeak to as many of these as possibleon a weekly basis.

During today’s catch-up, I ask thestylists for feedback on our “Getting toKnow You” scheme that we have star-ted to roll out. It’s been working well,which is great news.

11am: I take a telephone call from oneof our suppliers, Tigi, who we have arather large account with. They haveasked us to fly out to Orlando nextmonth to attend a hair conference, aswe are one of their biggest UK clients.They want a 100-word summary aboutVoodou to go in the event brochure.

12.00pm: Meeting at the Contempor-ary Urban Centre, in Jamaica Street,with the rest of the Voodou Trainingteam.

We decided it would be great for thecity, the business community and alsofor the local hairdressing communityif we invited stylists of all levels, froma variety of different salons, to takepart in one big event on June 20. Ourhope is to create a celebration of whatthere is to offer within our sector andrecognise the talent that is currentlyaround us.

2.30pm: Lunch time. We’re a little

spoilt for choice by where we are loc-ated, so today I decide to go healthyand have a salad.

3.30pm: Time to make my waythrough the mountain of paperworkthat’s landed on my desk and checkthrough my emails – I think anotherlarge smoothie is in order.

5pm: I meet with the new trainees thatwe have onboard. One of the things Ilike most about my job is seeing people

learn and grow, and that’s exactly whywe set up Voodou Training. It is aboutproviding the most relevant and mod-ern training in the city, and ensuringLiverpool’s growing status as a leaderin the style stakes.

6.30pm: I leave the office and headback home. During my spare time, Ilove to read, especially about psych-ology, as I love to know what makespeople tick.

I also like to find some time in the

day to flick through the latest hairmagazines. Although I don’t actuallywork on the floor any more, it’s vital Iam kept informed of future trends.

7.30pm: Bite to eat while watchingsome TV. Nothing really on the boxtonight, so decide to watch a good film– The King’s Speech, I think.

11pm: Lots going on in my mind, butit’s time for bed. Can’t wait to seewhat’s in store tomorrow . . .

RobWebb,53, ismanagingdirectorofLiverpool-basedindependenthair salonchainVoodou.Thebusinesshas100membersofstaff, sixoutlets, andmorethan9,000fansonitsFacebookpage.Thiswashisday:

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