Monthly Archives: March 2022

Midlands News, Networking, News

Friday Hub takes to the road as success grows

A hugely-successful Shropshire networking club set up during the pandemic is taking to the road as it continues to thrive.

The Friday Hub – a collaboration between the Marches Growth Hub Shropshire and Bridgnorth-based business consultancy Good2Great – will visit different towns across the county every other month as it adopts a new hybrid networking format.

The roadshow events allows members to attend both in person or virtually and follows a successful trial staged in Bridgnorth earlier in the year.

Roadshow events planned for the next few months include:

  • 18th March – Whitchurch
  • 20th May – Church Stretton
  • 15th July – Ludlow
  • 16th Sept – Oswestry
  • 18th Nov – Shrewsbury

The usual virtual event – which has attracted hundreds of people after being launched during lockdown to give the business community a chance to continue to come together – will continue every Friday as normal.

Emma Chapman, Marches Growth Hub Shropshire manager, said the hybrid events help the hub continue to grow as the world of work recovers from the pandemic.

“The Friday Hub has been a real success story over the last two years, regularly attracting more than 50 guests every week and proving a great way for businesses to learn from guest speakers, each other and to continue to network.

“Now that we can all meet in person again it seemed only logical to take the event out to its members and give them a chance to get together. But for those who cannot make it in person, there is still a chance to attend the roadshow events through Zoom.

“We trialled the hybrid structure in February and it went down really well, so we are looking forward to giving even more companies the chance to meet up throughout the rest of the year.”

Johnny Themans of Good2Great added: “It has been wonderful to see how the Friday Hub has evolved over the last two years to provide members with valuable opportunities and a supportive local business network. And it’s a real joy to be able to take it on the road to bring many of those people together in person.

“We look forward to watching more of our hub members thrive and grow over the coming months.”

The next Friday Hub will be on March 18. To register visit https://bit.ly/FridayHubRegistration

Diet & Exercise, News

Food Addiction Coach Dr Bunmi Aboaba joins ukactive as Partner to help fitness professionals help their clients to create a healthy relationship with food

Food Addiction Coach, Dr Bunmi Aboaba has announced a strategic partnership with ukactive, the UK’s leading membership body for the physical activity sector.

By joining the ukactive Strategic Partner Group, Dr Aboaba is demonstrating her commitment, as a food addiction coach, to getting more people more active, more often.  (https://directory.ukactive.com/?directories=the-food-addiction-coach )

The move enables Dr Aboaba to reach a wider audience in her quest to help people combat food related issues, and create a happy, healthy relationship with food.

Dr Bunmi Aboaba is a Food Addiction Coach and leading authority on food addiction, helping clients achieve a healthy relationship with food to meet long-term health goals.  Dr Bunmi’s work covers the full spectrum of disordered eating, including overeating, compulsive eating, emotional eating, and other associated patterns.

Dr Bunmi is creator of the R4 Method, a Food Addiction Certification to support health and fitness professionals, nutritionists, nurses, teachers, dieticians and medical clinicians to help their clients achieve long-lasting results. She is also author of Craving Freedom, a new book for those wanting to build a healthy relationship with food.

As part of the partnership, Dr Bunmi Aboaba will be offering training programmes and retreats to gyms and fitness professionals looking to increase their knowledge expand their skill set. www.thefoodaddictioncoach.co.uk

Dr Aboaba is also Training Provider Partner to CIMSPA (Chartered Institute for the Management of Sports and Physical Activity)

“I am very passionate about helping people to beat their compulsive overeating including food addiction, where they often have a hard time self-regulating and struggle with impulse control and triggers. This can often sabotage fitness and nutrition programmes, so this partnership is perfect. Many people who struggle with food, also struggle with the motivation required to exercise regularly. By approaching food addiction from the perspective of mental health, people can tackle both their food and exercise goals at the same time, and when one area improves, so does the other.” explained Dr Aboaba.

ukactive represents more than 4,000 members across the physical activity sector – from gyms, swimming pools and leisure facilities to other activity providers, sports organisations, major consumer brands, and equipment suppliers. ukactive facilitates high-impact partnerships, lobbies government, conceives and drives breakthrough campaigns, conducts critical research and galvanises stakeholders to develop projects that support and champion the physical activity agenda. https://www.ukactive.com/

ABOUT DR BUNMI ABOABA
Dr Bunmi Aboaba is a Food Addiction Coach and leading authority on food addiction. Her work covers the full spectrum of disordered eating, including overeating, compulsive eating, emotional eating, and other associated patterns. Dr Bunmi is creator of the R4 Method, a Food Addiction Certification to support health and fitness professionals, nutritionists, nurses, teachers, dieticians and medical clinicians to help their clients achieve long-lasting results. Dr Bunmi is author of ‘Craving Freedom’, a new book for those wanting to build a healthy relationship with food.

Web: www.thefoodaddictioncoach.co.uk

News

VOXI supports aspiring comedians with ‘Eyes On’ campaign

Social campaign provides a platform for young comedians to showcase their work with a competition judged by some of the UK’s hottest TikTok creators.

After previously giving a platform to young artists to start their careers, VOXI by Vodafone, is now turning its eyes to budding comedians.

VOXI has today launched ‘Eyes On’ Comedy, a new competition to find up-and-coming comedians and provide them with the exposure they deserve.

In a creative partnership with integrated agency TMW Unlimited, part of agency group Unlimited, entrants have been tasked with producing a creative clip around the theme of ‘awkward social media moments’. This can be anything from a simple story-telling style video to a full comedic sketch, up to 3 minutes long.

Some of the UK’s top names on the UK TikTok have joined the campaign as judges, including Jesse Chuku, Manrika Khaira and Max Balegde.

VOXI want to champion the various types of comedy that have risen on TikTok and allow entrants to win some amazing prizes including cash, comedy tickets and the opportunity to work with VOXI as a regular content creator on its TikTok channel).

Scott Currie, Head of VOXI, said: “After the great success of Eyes On last year in the illustration space, we’re back with Eyes On Comedy, looking for hilarious up-and-coming talent. We know it’s incredibly difficult for aspiring comedians to get a break in the industry and we wanted to help them get the recognition they deserve.

“With Eyes On Comedy, we are aiming to provide a platform for young talent to demonstrate their skills, while being in with the chance of taking home a cash prize and working with us on our TikTok channel.

“With endless access to social and video apps on VOXI, you can always find inspiration, express yourself and share your talents.”

Tom Harman, Creative Director of TMW, says: “Fresh new comedy isn’t just found at open mic nights, it’s been exploding on TikTok the past couple of years. So, through VOXI’s Eyes On the platform, we’re hoping to shine more of a spotlight on the UK’s best young comedy talent.”

The campaign went live on 2nd March and will run until the 18th March across TikTok and Instagram, with additional PR handled by Iris London.

VOXI is also teaming up with LADbible to promote entries and awareness in a drive to showcase the UK’s hottest new comedic talent. For more on the competition and how to enter, visit the website.

Finance and Banking, Leisure, News

South Wales Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Group Secures Finance Package

Family-owned business Leekes Retail & Leisure Group, which celebrates its 125th year in 2022, has agreed a new bank finance package split equally between HSBC UK and Barclays. The funding is earmarked to support growth plans across the fourth-generation family business’ divisions: Leekes Retail, the Vale Resort, Hensol Castle Distillery, and its property arm.

The group continues to invest across all areas of its operations, with short term priorities including the £12m renovation of Leekes Retail’s longest-standing department store in Llantrisant, South Wales which is currently underway.

In addition, £5m of the funding will contribute to the development of new residential homes in the grounds of the Vale Resort. The 650-acre Vale Resort contains the four-star 143-bedroom hotel, 3,000-member leisure club and spa, two championship golf courses, the Hensol Castle, a hotel, wedding, and events venue, and is the home of the Welsh rugby and football national teams, who utilise the elite sporting facilities on the site. A total of 16 luxury houses and mews cottages will be constructed in land adjacent to the listed Hensol Castle which has recently opened its newly renovated bedrooms.

 

Mike Fowler, Group Finance Director at Leekes Retail Leisure & Property Group, said: “Leekes Retail business received its first business loan from HSBC UK and banked with them for many years. We’re delighted to resume this relationship with HSBC UK who will provide our finance package alongside Barclays. We were pleased that the Relationship Directors from both banks, Simon Williams at HSBC UK and Sam Cole at Barclays, understood our needs from the start and have collectively developed a proposal to support our long-term growth strategy.”

 

Warren Lewis, Head of Corporate Banking in Wales at HSBC UK, commented: “We’re pleased to be working on the continued expansion of such an important and iconic family business. After recent success with acquisitions in both the leisure and retail sectors, we’re confident that the Leekes Retail & Leisure Group will continue to flourish in 2022 and beyond.”

 

Sam Cole, Barclays Relationship Director, added: “We’re delighted to continue our long-standing relationship with the Leekes Retail & Leisure Group. By really understanding the sectors in which they operate as well as their specific businesses, Barclays has been able to provide a range of innovative financial packages to support the business with its growth and diversification strategies.”

 

Last year, Leekes Retail & Leisure Group acquired full ownership of the Hensol Castle Distillery, launching its visitor attraction in October 2021, which includes gin making experiences and distillery tours. Hensol Castle has recently opened 17 luxury bedrooms with a further 6 due to open later this year, providing additional accommodation to support the increase in demand experienced across many sectors including weddings and functions. Whilst following the success of their first new small format furniture store trading under their Park Furnishers brand in Eastgate Retail Park, Bristol last year, the group opened a new Leekes furniture store in Cardiff in December 2021 which has made a promising start to trading.

News

Path of renewable transition should not be breached in the name of war

Written by Kunal Sawnhey, Kalkine Media

The escalation of the war between Ukraine and Russia has made energy security a major topic of discussion for many countries. Europe, which is highly dependent on gas imports from Russia is going to float a proposal to pace up the clean energy transition and reduce its dependence on natural gas imports forever.

Britain, at the same time, has announced that the nation need not worry about the lower supplies with Russian shipments getting slashed. Business Secretary Kwarteng’s statement that Britain does not have to worry about the decline in supplies, but the prices are true. The UK is fortunate to have its majority of gas supplies coming from the North Sea, with reliance on Norway for import. However, the benchmark for UK gas prices is the prevailing price in the continent, so the impact will soon be visible on the household energy bills.

Green transition to take a hit

Britain boasting the North Sea as the single largest source of its gas is going to have a severe impact on its net-zero target. There are plans to expand oil and gas drilling in the North Sea. It was reported that Chancellor Rishi Sunak had urged the Business Secretary to speed up the licenses for six new oil and gas fields in the region. The government may be of the view that stopping domestic production in such an uncertain world can raise the gloom as far as energy security is concerned but transition away from fossil fuels is going to take a big hit.

In the long run, Britain’s present emphasis on fossil fuels may present a higher risk as gas is more expensive than renewables, and sustainable energy security can come from renewables only. Barely a few months back, during COP26 climate conference, where there was a global agreement to accelerate action on climate change, UK’s action can raise doubt about its intentions to renewables transition.

Dependence on gas can be reduced by renewables

There has been a continuous increase in oil and gas prices, and with fears that Russia may try to restrict supplies of natural gas in response to additional rounds of sanctions, there could be a further rise in prices. Gas contributes a good over 20 per cent of Europe’s electricity generation 35 per cent of total Russian gas imports. EU’s vow to transition to renewables is undoubtedly going to help, as historically it has been seen that renewables have helped in replacing gas more than coal.

If the right policy framework is put in place, its impact can be seen in just 4-5 years though not immediately. The International Energy Agency (IEA) in its latest release, has come up with a ten-point plan, suggesting ways to reduce reliance on Russian gas by a third in just one year. It may be too early to comment, but one of its plans of the deployment of new wind and solar projects can be focused on. It has worked for both types of countries, with high solar potential and with low solar potential equally, supported by clear government policies.

The UK needs to reduce its dependence on North Sea

The country may increase its dependence on the North Sea with six new licences soon, but the consumers may continue facing the brunt of high energy prices as the privatisation of UK supplies in the North Sea has linked the prices to the international rates. This could result in higher prices for British consumers when the gas is not getting imported from Russia. Its reduction of demand for gas can actually work for the UK in the long run while remaining on the renewable path.

Carbon Reduction, Finance and Banking, Midlands News, News

Grants can help businesses hit low carbon goals

Businesses across Shropshire were today urged to take advantage of a special fund which offers grants of up to £50,000 to help them go green.

The Low Carbon Opportunities Programme (LOCOP) can help businesses meet up to 40 per cent of the cost of revenue or capital projects to boost the use of environmentally-friendly  technology.

It is open to the vast majority of SMEs in Shropshire and can be used to cover a wide range of projects or specific services including developing and implementing low carbon ideas and bringing new products, processes or services to market.

Tim Yair, regional senior energy projects officer for the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership, said the programme offered a huge opportunity for businesses within the Shropshire local authority area.

“This is a fantastic chance to get grant funding for up to 40 per cent of the cost of a low carbon project.

“The funding aims to support innovation towards low carbon projects and can be used to cover a considerable range of projects or specific services, so there’s a good chance that many companies across the county can benefit.”

Types of projects which could be funded include:

• Low carbon product, process or service development

• Commercialisation or implementation costs

• Market research and assessment

• IPR protection and accreditation

• Prototyping, demonstration or testing of new products

• Manufacturing scale up or market rollout

• Plant, equipment and machinery

The programme is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and is being delivered by Clean Growth Worcestershire with the support of the Marches LEP and its business support service, the Marches Growth Hub.

Marches LEP small business champion Dave Courteen added: “The Marches Growth Hub is here to help all businesses access funding and finance and play their part in helping us meet the net zero targets which will help fight climate change.

“I would strongly recommend any business in Shropshire to investigate how this programme can help them.”

To qualify, business must be situated in and trading from Shropshire, employ fewer than 250 employees and have a turnover of less than 50 million Euros per annum or a balance sheet of less than 43 million Euros.

Some industries, such as primary agriculture and retail, are not eligible along with social welfare and education facilities, banking and insurance.

For more information about the programme and details of the application process visit https://www.marchesgrowthhub.co.uk/support/low-carbon-opportunities-programme-locop/

Business Advice, News

Top tips to drive financial inclusion and better cash management for SMEs

From the basics, to tops tips on how you can improve, here is everything you need to know about cash flow management for your small business.

Written by Ralph Rogge, CEO of Crezco

Cash is king! Cash is more valuable than profit, revenue, stock or receivables, and remains critical for any businesses. It’s an unavoidable necessity to pay for staff and suppliers and provides you with the necessary confidence to invest further in your businesses. Unfortunately, it is also one of the biggest challenges companies face. A recent survey by Capify found that a majority (52%) of UK small business owners are worried about their company’s cash flow over the next 12 months.

 

Three columns to cash

There are three key columns affecting cash flow: cash coming in (accounts receivable), cash going out (accounts payable), and access to cash (equity or debt raise). If your business is spending more than it makes, and does not have access to further liquidity, then things are going to dry up quickly.

Seemingly it should be straightforward to avoid cash flow issues. Like trying to lose weight, just assure you burn more calories than you intake: spend less than you make. Nonetheless, it isn’t that simple and so many great businesses with happy customers, especially smaller enterprises, suffer unnecessarily.  

 

Five cash flow management tips

There are easy steps that businesses can take to combat cash flow issues. Here are the five we consider important.

  1. Make getting paid easy: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that the propensity to be paid is inextricably linked to the convenience of payment. Inconvenient payment methods, such as cash and bank transfers, are subject to human inertia and human error. Few businesses hurry to pay their suppliers, but if you introduce friction to the payment process you will easily lose their attention as they look to address something less painful.

  2. Get real-time: You need to be accepting real-time payments. Everything in life has become instant, we’re impatient and we wait for nothing or nobody. I’m not sure about the moral or psychological implications here across sectors and products, but I remain confident that it is an unnecessary inefficiency for cooked meals and online shopping to arrive sooner to our doorsteps than payments do in our bank accounts. Some customers may still need to pay via card, say for retail point-of-sale businesses, which have slow settlement times, but otherwise you need to be implementing instant payments to have funds settle in real-time.

  3. Reconcile, reconcile, reconcile: A stitch in time saves nine. Stay on top of your outstanding invoices. This is easiest done when paid invoices reconcile automatically within your accounting software, companies like Xero and QuickBooks, as achieved by Crezco. This is the quickest and most efficient way to gauge your cash flow and potential problems. Without this you’re flying in the dark and suddenly things become a lot less clear. Furthermore, if paid invoices reconcile automatically, you’ll save a lot of time manually handling this process and life will be a lot more pleasant.

  4. Credit control: You can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all the time. Some people are going to be slow to pay and you’re going to benefit from implementing a collection process. Either employ a credit controller, a collection agency or online credit control software, like Chaser, which will send out automatic payment reminders and help with the collection process.

  5. Cut costs: Eliminate all unnecessary costs and fees. It seems self-explanatory but undoubtedly there is room left to run things more efficiently. Find a company that can help you save around 2-3%, on all card-payments. For a company with low profit margins, say 5%, that’s a 40%/60% increase in profitability. Look after the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves.

More than anything else in their businesses, smart small-business owners recognise that staying on top of their cash flow is critical for the long-term health of their company. Do these things successfully, and your company will be able to survive and thrive even in times of financial instability. 

For more information, visit www.crezco.com

Commercial Property, News

The Office is back: Research reveals the ultimate working week formula, as 95% of employees say they’re ready to be back in the workplace

As ‘work from home’ advice ends and workers are encouraged to head back to the office, a study by the north-west’s largest out of town business park, Warrington-based Birchwood Park, has revealed the majority (82%) of us are happy to be heading back into the office at least 2 days a week – but employees have extra demands to improve satisfaction at work.

With 95% of people shunning working from home every day, Birchwood Park’s research revealed the reasons behind this shift in attitude towards homeworking lay in the impact on work-life balance and convenience.

Amongst the biggest factors having a negative impact on our lives whilst working from home are increased screen time and longer hours (45%), feeling disconnected from our colleagues (44%), and increased difficulty in switching off at the end of the day (32%).

Additionally, the office has a key role to play beyond work with 73% of workers valuing the ability to socialise with colleagues above all other benefits.

However, it’s clear employers need to do more to support staff in transitioning back into office-based working, with less than 50% of those surveyed expressing that the company they work for is doing enough to support workplace wellbeing.

Coming out as the top areas in which employees would like to see the most improvement from their employers is the introduction of flexi-time, greater flexibility to work from home as required, and adaptations to the workplace such as break out areas, quiet working facilities and desk adaptations for greater comfort.

Commenting on the findings, Martin O’Rourke, Commercial Director at Birchwood Park, said: ““After almost two years of home-working for some, the results are very clear – people want to return to the office, and we’re seeing an increase in interest in office space here on the park as a result.

“However, it is troubling to learn that many do not feel that their wellbeing is thoroughly supported by their employer. That’s why we’ve launched our Workplace Wellbeing hub – to help employers understand that the office plays a much bigger role than simply being a place to work, and offer advice on how to better support their staff at work.”

As part of Birchwood Park’s ongoing commitment to facilitating wellbeing in the workplace, the business park’s content hub is its latest initiative to help make improving staff wellbeing easier for a business, and will feature a handbook developed in collaboration with workplace wellbeing expert and founder of award-winning Rener Wellbeing, Khalil Rener, alongside a charter calling for all businesses on the park to commit to best practise advice.

Speaking about the project, Khalil Rener commented: “It’s refreshing to be working with a business destination so committed to supporting the wellbeing of employees across multiple industries and sectors, and our hope is that Birchwood Park’s Workplace Wellbeing Handbook will act as a catalyst for change for businesses.

“With government advice shifting away from a ‘work from home order’, it yet again means change for businesses and employees alike which is tough. Yes, the novelty has worn off when it comes to working from home so it’s not surprising that 95% of people do not wish to work from home full-time, but it’s vital that employers don’t assume it’ll all be plain sailing as soon as we’re back in the office. Our aim is to provide clear guidance on the journey back to office-working, ensuring it is a smooth transition for employers and their team.”

For more information on Birchwood Park’s campaign to improve workplace wellbeing and support in the transition back into the workplace, visit https://bit.ly/3sFCVqN

News

Survey exposes shocking conflicts of interest and unhealthy relationships between the corporate finance and private equity communities

Unhealthy relationships between multi-disciplinary corporate finance firms and the private equity community have been revealed by research undertaken by Bluebox Corporate Finance. The survey shows 58 per cent of corporate lawyers believe UK entrepreneurs are not always treated fairly where their corporate finance adviser enjoys a previous relationship with the private equity sponsor in a transaction[1].

The study exposes conflicts of interest that exist between corporate finance advisers and certain private equity sponsors in the UK mid-market; an issue that is preventing UK entrepreneurs from getting fair, impartial advice.

95 per cent of lawyers surveyed agree it would be in the best interests of UK entrepreneurs to know about existing relationships between their chosen corporate finance advisers and relevant members of the private equity community. 94.5 per cent say it is not in a client’s best interests for a corporate finance adviser to work on both sides of a transaction.

A requirement for obligatory disclosure of previous significant relationships between corporate finance advisers and the private equity would be supported by 96 per cent of lawyers, the survey confirmed.

In a move to stimulate more transparency in the UK mid-market, Bluebox is leading a call for a Register of Interests to be introduced for corporate finance firms to allow better decision making from UK entrepreneurs when selecting their adviser.

Paul Herman, CEO and founder of Bluebox said: “Our research confirms that the current system of ‘ethical walls / firewalls’ is not fit for purpose and is open to abuse. We believe UK business owners deserve better. Bluebox is demanding an immediate end to these unfair practices through a transparent system where corporate advisors must disclose existing and previous relationships with equity firms. The relationships between multi-disciplinary accountants and swathes of the private equity community are far too close, and this has a direct and adverse impact in the impartiality of the advice that many UK entrepreneurs are receiving.

“We believe honesty and trust should be the core values upon which business sale advice is given, but this simply cannot be the case where financial consultants have a vested interest in the other side of a deal.”

Bluebox Corporate Finance is an award-winning corporate finance firm based in London with an enviable track record in selling businesses and raising finance. Founded in 2012 by Paul Herman and James Caan, the team is skilled at selling companies valued between £5m and £150m to a range of financial and strategic buyers.

The team has worked with over 500 clients and sold more than 100 businesses, including the investment in CPMS, one of the UK’s largest railway businesses; the sale of Artisan du Chocolat, one of the UK’s leading luxury chocolatiers, to Mohamed Elsarky, former President and CEO of Godiva; and most recently advised on the sale of Devonshire Healthcare Services to Uniphar plc.

[1] Survey of 55 legal professionals via Survey Monkey, February 2022

Charity & CSR, Finance and Banking, News

Principality donates £100,000 to its two charity partners

Principality Building Society has donated £100,000 to welcome its two-year charity partnerships with Tŷ Hafan and Hope House Tŷ Gobaith children’s hospices.

Colleagues at the largest building society in Wales voted overwhelmingly to support the two charities, who provide paediatric palliative care for hundreds of children across Wales and the borders each year.

Tŷ Hafan, who are based in south Wales, and Tŷ Gobaith who are based in north Wales and the borders, will work closely with Principality whose colleagues will endeavour to raise as much money as possible to make a difference to thousands of children and their families.

Maria Timon Samra, Chief Executive of Tŷ Hafan, said:

“Principality Building Society is an iconic Welsh financial institution, and it is an honour and privilege to have been chosen by Principality staff as their charity partner.

“Tŷ Hafan provides vital care and support for around 300 children with life-limiting conditions and their families in Wales every year, both in our hospice in Sully, and in the children’s own homes and communities across Wales.

“We are very much looking forward to working with our friends at Principality and with Tŷ Gobaith across Wales throughout the next two years, helping to share information about our charities.  It will enable us to raise essential funds, allowing us to keep on providing our unique, holistic care services free of charge to children with life-limiting conditions, and their families.”

Vicky Wales, Chief Customer Officer at Principality Building Society said:

“Our colleagues have chosen two fantastic charities that are very close to our hearts and do great work in our communities helping children and their families. Colleagues at Principality have always shown such amazing creativity and dedication when it comes to fundraising in the past and we’re sure it will be no different over the next few years.

“Our purpose is to work much more closely with people who need our support across the regions we serve, to help provide them with more secure futures.”