Monthly Archives: February 2023

Aerospace, News

Running an urgent air cargo business is like being a venture capitalist — the risks are too high

Written by Nikolay Kurbanov, Managing Director of AVEM AERO

Imagine the level of risk venture capitalists experience when investing in unknown but promising startups. This is what it looks like to work in urgent cargo aviation.

What is special about the niche of urgent cargo charters? These transportation services become necessary for the client in case of force majeure. Here is a typical example: the production line of an automobile concern in Germany was stopped at night due to a lack of spare parts necessary for the assembly of cars, which are located in Italy, they need to be brought within a couple of hours since a downtime of the line will lead to huge losses. And then the task is to quickly provide the aircraft, organize all paperwork, prepare the crew and start the flight in 1.5-2 hours. 24/7 365 days a year. The same situation with other types of cargo that we transport — military cargo, dangerous goods, animals, medicines, and fuel — their transportation requires urgency and special conditions. This specificity of services leads to some peculiarities in doing business.

Either you have the knowledge and experience, or you have an endless supply of money, otherwise, you won’t be able to start an aviation business. There is a joke about aviation: if you want to become a millionaire, you should invest a billion in an aviation company.

Starting my own business, I realized that we would not survive if we follow the classic way of company development through aircraft lease agreements with payment guarantees. After all, this would mean that we need to pay a fixed amount of money every month, regardless of whether we fly or not. Instead, I was looking for companies that would agree on mutually beneficial terms. And found them, and we had a unique relationship. We gave them the possibility of extra income, in addition to regular programs.

If you enter this business in a classical way, you will need a lot of resources. In such case, the chances of failure are very high, which is why I do not recommend entering this business without understanding how it works.

“We were selling the flight at night, operating it during the day, and returning the plane to the homebase airport in the evening”

Paying a fixed monthly fee, whether you fly or not, is a money-losing model in the urgent air cargo niche. Fixed-term charters are an unpredictable business, there are statistics, but they are like a “black swan” — you can calculate up to a certain point, and then everything changes. We work in a niche where little can be predicted, respectively — guaranteed. The guaranteed payment model is initially unacceptable for us, although this is the standard model for regular programs. What we did instead: we picked up planes any day of the week when they were on stand-by at a company that operates regular cargo transportation. They were saying: tomorrow or the day after tomorrow the plane is free, and we take it to work. It is impossible for a regular air cargo company because of the bureaucratic process. We have a flexible management model, so we can take a plane for a few days. Thus, the partner increases the efficiency of the fleet, and we have the opportunity to earn.

The idea seemed crazy, but it worked. We were using the gaps in the schedule of regular flights in the daytime (from 6 UTC to 18 UTC). We were selling the flight at night, operating it during the day, and returning the plane to the homebase airport in the evening. This is how our relationship developed. We used to work like this in the beginning, but then we switched to a more stable model, as such a scheme cannot be sustained for a long time as it makes the team burn out and makes you live under constant pressure not to let down either the client, or the partner who landed you the plane, or your own team charged with difficult work.

We came up with this idea, which was risky and difficult to perform but allowed us to enter the market with minimal financial costs. Why did it work? Thanks to the reputation in this market: personality means a lot here since everything is built on trust. In addition, we had partners who were ready to try new approaches, a non-standard idea, and flexibility within the team, which allowed us to adapt to rapid changes.

“They had planes, money, crew, but there was no understanding of how urgent charters market works — so they were just losing money”

Basically, the transportation of goods in Europe is carried out by regular routes, and only a small percentage — by charter flights. And the difference in the way they operate is huge. The regulars have permanent contracts, the same route, and the crew knows what to do. But charters are a completely different story. You have to have your online support and sales work 24/7. To handle the scope of work, you need to have a team of at least 2-3 salespeople and 5 dispatchers working on each plane. These are quite large expenses. Companies that do not work on this marker understand that it is almost impossible to enter a charter niche if there is no experience, and there are no dispatchers or salespeople who work under constantly changing conditions and a high level of risk.

There are examples in the market when companies tried to move from regular charters to urgent ones, but these attempts were not successful. They had planes, money, and crew, but there was no understanding of how urgent charters market works — so they were just losing money.

It seems to me that they simply did not know that to receive one order in urgent charters, you need to process over 40 applications — this is a peculiarity of the market. Imagine that you need to dig a garden and you come with a shovel, you dig, but it seems to be not working, and then you understand that you can’t do it with a shovel, you need a special tool, and if there is no such tool, then the task becomes unrealistic.

In the high season, there can be up to 100 applications per day, and to get an order, you need to quote all of them and get feedback from the client. And each quoting includes 10 to 15 actions, namely: to check on cargo loadability, check on weather and NOTAMs of each airport, check the flight time, and airport opening hours, choose alternate airports and check the crew flight duty time. And all this should be done quickly.

As we get about 100 applications every day, we need to minimize the processing time for each one in order to give the client a quote quickly. This is where new players get burned: their application processing takes a lot of time and they do not always know where they can save. But in urgent cargo, if the processes are not optimized, you simply cannot cope with the volume of tasks. You need to quickly grab the opportunity if it arises.

“We are waiting for a new wave, like surfers”

There is a low and a high market, and our approach may change during the week. If we see that the pricing policy is not working for some reason, we change it.

The market is dumping, but this is not an objective situation, and it happens because market players behave this way. We have chosen the position not to be led by the market. And we can manage to do so as our internal market analysis system gives us the real situation on the market and we change prices depending on objective indicators. It’s like playing poker: you have to count well to know what cards other players have.

We make money on the high market, but when it is low and we cannot make money, then we accept that at least our partner will earn so we give a price without margin. And our success depends on how effectively we use the opportunity. Therefore, we are waiting for a new wave, like surfers, and we take everything we can out of it.

News

Keysource Adds to Sustainability Portfolio with Ekkosense

Keysource, the datacentre and critical environment specialist, has signed a strategic partnership with EkkoSense, the global software leader in AI and VR driven thermal optimisation for critical live environments, in a move further strengthening its extensive sustainability portfolio that helps datacentres on their full life sustainability journey from design through to operation.

Under the terms of the global agreement, Keysource will offer the EkkoSense datacentre optimization software to its new and existing customers as part of its solutions designed to maximise energy efficiency, save money and reduce carbon. Keysource will also support EkkoSense globally by providing professional services to users of its software as required to help them realise savings today and drive forward on a continual improvement basis.

The EkkoSense software provides real-time operational visibility enabling organisations to remove thermal and power risk, optimize cooling capacity, minimize energy waste and lead the way to achieve net zero across critical M&E infrastructure. It will complement Keysource’ existing sustainability focussed portfolio, from considering embodied carbon in design, through to full lifecycle optimisation, when combined with Keysource’ 40+ years’ critical infrastructure experience.

Chris West, Head of Manages Services at Keysource, said: “This is a powerful and mutually beneficial strategic partnership with EkkoSense providing the identification and visualisation of the opportunities and Keysource supporting datacentres to take the action necessary to realise and maximise the benefits. The result for customers will be a reduction in energy consumption, and increased sustainability, all helping to drive a sustainable strategy, to meet increasing ESG and surrounding regulatory requirements and a drive to NetZero.”

Matthew Farnell, EkkoSense’s EMEA Director of Sales added: “Our EkkoSoft Critical AI-driven data centre optimisation software is increasingly seen as the smart choice for organisations looking to optimise data centre performance while also delivering against their sustainability strategy. Keysource already offers one of our sector’s strongest portfolio of data centre energy and sustainability services, and we look forward to working together to help unlock further value for their customers.”

News

Q saddles up to support cycle delivery scheme

A Shropshire financial firm is helping the chain take the strain by throwing its weight behind an innovative cycle delivery scheme.

Q Financial Services is sponsoring work to promote Shropshire Cycle Hub’s free Cycle Delivery Scheme in Wellington which delivers shopping to people’s doors across the town.

A team of volunteers use electric bikes to deliver shopping from town centre stores to customers three days a week – helping boost town centre trade, cut down on traffic and carbon emissions and taking the weight off shoppers who no longer have to struggle with heavy bags.

Shoppers send a text to a special number and the volunteers then ride into action to pick up the shopping and deliver it to the customer’s home.

Q Commercial Finance director Steve Parry – who has lived in Wellington all his life and works at Q’s base in Haygate Road – said he was delighted to be backing the scheme.

“This is an absolutely fantastic service which is staffed entirely by volunteers and is totally free for the people who use it. The cyclists collect people’s shopping from stores taking part in the scheme and then deliver it to their home so they don’t have to worry about carrying it.

“It operates within a three-mile radius of the town centre and is a real boon to the elderly, people with mobility issues or anyone who does not have a car and struggles carrying their bags on the bus or whilst walking.

‘The ethos of doing something which benefits not only the customer but the town and the environment very much reflects our own philosophy at Q. The scheme has the potential to benefit the whole town centre and that is something we are delighted to support.”

Wellington Cycle Delivery Scheme volunteer Paul Kalinauckas said Q’s help could not have come at a better time.

“We have tremendous support from Shropshire Cycle Hub, which has loaned us one of the two bikes we use, and we really want to grow the number of people who use us. We pick up from the independent shops in the town centre and the market so people can come into town and not worry about how they are going to get their shopping home.

“Everyone who has used us so far says what a fantastic job we do and we now want to expand the scheme and attract more people to use it.”

Felllow volunteer Anthony Lowe – deputy mayor of Wellington Town Council – said all volunteers were fully trained and insured.

“This free of charge service provides convenience for Wellington shoppers and supports our distinctive range of small shops and market traders.

“It also reduces unnecessary car or van journeys as people can come into the town by foot or public transport and then get their shopping taken home later,” he said.

Shropshire Cycle Hub, a community charity which improves access to healthy, sustainable transport, administers the scheme, which is currently operating on Thursdays and Fridays from 10.30 am until 2pm and 9.30 am to 12.00 pm on Saturdays.

Delivery can be booked by calling or texting 07398 136120 during operating hours.

Steve added: “The more people who use the scheme, the better it will be for the whole town. My own family has used it and I cannot recommend it enough.”
For more information about Q – which has bases in Wellington and Shrewsbury – visit https://www.qfinancialservices.co.uk/

Employee Engagement, News

‘World-class’ Ground Control recognised in Best Companies awards

UK biodiversity business is certified with three-star accreditation rating in Best Companies annual awards, representing ‘world-class’ levels of employee engagement.

Ground Control, the biodiversity and external maintenance business, has been awarded ‘world-class’ status for employee engagement in the 2022 Best Companies results.

The award – which surveyed Ground Control’s 400+ staff – found that 91% of employees felt proud to work for the company, with 92% agreeing the organisation is run on strong values and principles.

Nine in ten employees believe Ground Control makes a positive difference to the world it operates in, and 86% said they were excited about the direction the company is heading.

The award was underscored at Best Companies’ live ceremony on February 2nd, where it was announced that Ground Control was ranked #16 in the ‘Top 100 Large Companies to Work For’ league table.

The Best Companies results noted that Ground Control – which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year – had recorded significant improvement in the ‘Wellbeing’ category, with 92% of staff saying Ground Control supported their mental wellbeing.

Employees at the Essex-based business are allocated three volunteer days annually, which are typically used to work on community-based projects like tree planting. This year, Ground Control’s wellbeing programme also included a one-off wellbeing payment to help staff to manage the increased cost of living.

Ground Control enables businesses and developers to contribute to building back biodiversity through initiatives like the Wildfell Centre project, a 296-acre site which builds habitat banks and creates woodland. .

Jason Knights, Managing Director at Ground Control, said: “We are incredibly proud that Ground Control has been recognised as a ‘world-class’ business to work for by Best Companies. We pride ourselves on putting our people and our planet at the heart of everything we do, and this award recognises that this is a commitment shared by those at every level of the business. But we think there’s even more room to improve, and we plan to use these results to keep learning and focus on the right areas to help our people continue to excel at work.”

Education, News

Sustainability at the core of new student competition with Microsoft Italia and three top business schools

A competition aiming to tackle societal, economic, and environmental challenges has been launched by three major European academic institutions – POLIMI Graduate School of Management, EDHEC Business School, and ESMT Berlin.

Supported by Microsoft Italia, INNOVA Europe invites students from bachelor to master’s level to submit innovative proposals that address any one of the specific challenges outlined in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).“Technology and innovation are the key forces behind tangible action on environmental and social sustainability. This challenge was launched precisely to provide skills and guidance to young students and entrepreneurs who are committed to devising effective solutions to address the challenges that the European Union has identified as fundamental for the coming years and to shaping a better future for all,” explained Tommaso Agasisti, Associate Dean for Internationalization and Quality at POLIMI Graduate School of Management.

With collaboration and entrepreneurial thinking at the heart of this initiative, the three leading business schools from, Italy, France and Germany believe this competition will generate new products and solutions that can target a particular problem relating to at least one of the 17 UN SDGs.

“Our economies, societies, and cultures are facing unprecedented challenges, creating both threats and opportunities. Cooperation across countries is fundamental to instigate the rapid change needed, and we believe that fostering responsible entrepreneurship as well as bringing up the contribution of student innovators can be decisive in what the future holds,” said Ludovic Cailluet, Associate Dean for The Centre for Responsible Entrepreneurship at EDHEC Business School.

The winning team will receive a prize which consists of €5,000, and vital incubation services offered by the three academic incubators of the partner Schools – PoliHub, EDHEC Entrepreneurs, or Vali Berlin.

“With the Student Challenge for Sustainable Development Impact, we are creating a new form of international collaboration that prepares students for the challenges of tomorrow. In the process, they not only learn entrepreneurial thinking and develop innovative creativity, but they also gain access to a network from which they can benefit far beyond the competition,” said Baris Efe, manager and co-founder of Vali Berlin at ESMT.

“Together with POLIMI Graduate School of Management, we are looking for innovators capable of promoting positive change in Italy and Europe through digital. Technological innovations, beginning with Cloud and Artificial Intelligence, are more strategic than ever for driving sustainable growth and a more equitable society. We need to join forces and put systems in place to achieve a common goal: that of ensuring a better future for ourselves and for the new generations,” said Matteo Mille, Chief Marketing and Operations Officer at Microsoft Italia.

News

Zoho Unveils Unified Communications Platform Trident To Boost Business Productivity, Collaboration and Communication

Zoho Corporation, a leading global technology company, today unveiled its unified communications platform, Trident, as well as strengthened collaboration technologies to offer businesses easier ways to communicate across channels, reduce tool-ambiguity, and improve an organisation’s overall digital adoption.

Trident builds upon Zoho Workplace, which has grown 30 per cent year-over-year and now has more than 16 million users. This substantial growth is attributed to increasing business demand for simplified, streamlined solutions that maintain utmost standards for user privacy as well as rising costs from other collaboration platform providers. Additionally, migrations from Google, Microsoft and GoDaddy to Zoho Workplace almost doubled in 2022.

Establishing itself as a central work hub or virtual headquarters, Zoho Workplace is a unified office platform that combines collaboration, productivity, and communications tools. It is now a flexible, full-featured business mail and cloud office suite that is built on a common data model and unified through search and AI, enabling users to operate collaboratively and seamlessly through applications.

Natalia Andrade, Head of Marketing, Fazenda Rodizio Bar & Grill, said: “There is no way that you can have smooth communication with people who are in different places and Cliq [part of Zoho Workplace] is our common ground. We have learnt throughout these years – since 2018 – that there is a way to learn more about the platform and make better use of it. It’s a platform that’s happy to evolve, progress and add new features.

Commenting on the continued innovation, Sridhar Iyengar, Managing Director, Zoho Europe said: “In the past year, Zoho Workplace adoption has accelerated as businesses of all sizes transition to digital-forward, hybrid work. With a clear focus on continued innovation, Zoho is well-positioned to thrive during this time of readjustment. The goal of Zoho Workplace is to enable businesses to unify their work to a point where the line between apps disappears. It’s heartening to see so many new businesses join the Zoho family, using Zoho Workplace as their customisable centre of gravity.”

Here’s a look at what’s new:

1. Zoho Trident is a brand new collaboration, productivity and communication experience that combines mail, messages, audio/video calls, calendar, tasks and more into the same place. It’s also Zoho’s first native desktop app for email and chat. Trident is a move away from individual product experiences, as Zoho works to provide its customers with a unified platform.
2. The Zoho Voice platform is now a full Phone System integrated directly within team collaboration app Zoho Cliq and web conferencing app Zoho Meeting. This allows employees to make direct line calls and send SMS messages, as well as pick up inbound calls across the apps.
3. Zoho Webinar, within the Zoho Meeting app, enables businesses to broadcast themselves to thousands of attendees and engage with them using Polls and Q&As. Present to an audience using virtual file sharing without sharing your screen (saves bandwidth consumption). Upload session material prior to the webinar and easily share this with the attendees during the session.
4. Zoho is releasing a new AI-based grammar tool, BluePencil. This brings writing suggestions and a text editor which can be used on any third-party webpage.
5. Universal Drag & Drop functionality lets users save time doing things across multiple workplace products. Drag an email attachment and drop it to your colleague’s chat to send it directly, for example.
6. Mobile Device Management capabilities and OTP-restricted Emails have been added to the workplace suite as Zoho focuses on security.
7. TrueSync has been added to Zoho Workdrive so that hard drive storage limits are no longer a concern. TrueSync creates a mirror of all WorkDrive files and folders on the desktop so you can seamlessly switch between the cloud and your computer. You can access files locally and make changes without using up hard drive space.

Blair Pleasant, President and Principal Analyst of COMMfusion, said “Business customers are looking for single suite solutions with the communication and capabilities they need in one place without have to use multiple, standalone vendors. Zoho Workplace is making it easy for customers to access all of the key capabilities they need, and by creating a ‘centre of gravity’ or central dashboard, Zoho brings all of these capabilities together in one easy-to-access interface.” Pleasant added, “Zoho Workplace, with its newest applications Trident, Webinar within Zoho Meetings and Phone systems within Zoho Cliq and Zoho Meetings is helping users do their jobs more efficiently and effectively, without context shifting and losing focus.”

Zoho Workplace Pricing:
Zoho Workplace is available in three editions: Standard is £2.40 per user per month. Professional is £4.80 per user per month. Zoho Mail is £0.80 per user per month.

News, Sport

AvaTrade becomes official trading partner of Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One™ team

AvaTrade, the award-winning, established and renowned online trading broker, is thrilled to announce its exciting new partnership with Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One™ Team (AMF1). The Silverstone-based racing team is competing in the most prestigious automotive racing series in the world and is in year three of a journey aimed at establishing its position at the front of the grid.

AvaTrade’s partnership with AMF1, one of the famous brands in racing, is built on speed and innovation, as well as advanced technology and precision. AvaTrade is committed to revolutionising the online trading industry by providing a trustworthy and user-oriented trading environment that empowers users to invest and trade with confidence.  Like the bespoke racing cars built and developed by AMF1, the AvaTrade platform offers advanced technology and innovation, in  addition to providing full scale support for all its traders – the same way in which the pit crew at AMF1 supports the drivers in their aim for success. AvaTrade and AMF1s partnership is based on the core values that can make a successful trader as well as a competitive Formula One™ team  like AMF1: constant excellence in every aspect, pushing the boundaries of speed and innovation, advanced technology, and success.

Dáire Ferguson, CEO at AvaTrade, said: “We are delighted to announce this partnership with AMF1. Traders and sports teams competing at the highest levels require a number of similar characteristics. They need to be driven, opportunistic and dynamic, whilst availing of professional support to get to the top of their game. This is why we’re so excited to be working alongside AMF1, a team which shares our views and outlook on what is required to achieve success.

“As a global leader in online trading, we thrive to achieve success through calculated moves, efficiency, and ground-breaking technology , all of which are embodied by AMF1. We are dedicated to empowering our loyal traders to reach the top of their game, just like the talented  racers, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, do for AMF1.

“As one of the most regulated and trusted brokers in the industry, we are delighted to have AMF1 representing our brand and working with us to promote our commitment in providing traders with cutting-edge technology and the highest level of regulation to ensure they reach financial goals and lead the rest of the field in the race.”

Jefferson Slack, Managing Director – Commercial & Marketing, AMF1 added: “It is hugely exciting to welcome AvaTrade as the Official Trading Partner of AMF1. As a racing team, we strive to improve ourselves continuously and stay ahead of the competition. But we cannot do this alone, we are supported by leading engineers,  an expert pit crew, cutting-edge technology, and state-of-the-art tools which allow us to compete at the very pinnacle of motorsport. This draws parallels with the team at AvaTrade, which provides its traders with skilled expert advisors and personal account managers to guide them to maximise their full potential in their trading journey. As we seek to maximise our driving potential, AvaTrade seeks to drive investors trading potential.”

Sean Ryan, CEO, Pan Sports commented: “Congratulations to these two powerhouse brands. This really is the joining of two companies that have so much in common – from integrity and history, to brand alignment and exciting plans on the horizon. We cannot wait to see what the future brings for both AvaTrade and Aston Martin F1 Team.”

This partnership with AMF1 will enhance AvaTrade’s position as a gold standard, world-leading online broker, which is focused on providing its clients with the best training, technology, risk management tools, and educational guides needed to be successful, ensuring this is with speed, efficiency and innovation.

Please see the official announcement video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJeOH3OJOFI

For further information, please visit www.avatrade.com or www.astonmartinf1.com

About AvaTrade

AvaTrade is a leading online trading broker that supports investors of all kinds through a range of platforms, including MT4/5, AvaTradeGO mobile app, WebTrader, AvaOptions, DupliTrade and others. Traders benefit from tight spreads, a personal account manager, multilingual support, 1000+ instruments, and market-leading risk management tools such as AvaProtect, alongside real-time market access and immediate execution. Accounts are totally segregated and transactions fully encrypted. AvaTrade is regulated in the EU, Japan, Australia, Abu Dhabi and BVI, while holding a strong presence in Canada through a partnership with Friedberg Direct, a member of Canada’s Investment Industry Regulatory Organisation.

About AMF1

The legendary Aston Martin marque first raced in Formula One in 1959 and returned to the sport in 2021 under the leadership of Canadian entrepreneur Lawrence Stroll. With a team of passionate people at its heart, and a talented squad of drivers – including double World Champion Fernando Alonso and Canada’s Lance Stroll – this is a team with both a rich heritage and a fresh perspective. Alongside collaborative and strategic partners, the Silverstone-based team is bringing new energy to the sport with a determination to shake up the order and compete at the sharp end.

 

Apprenticeships, Law, News

Case for law apprenticeships proven beyond doubt

A whole generation of apprentices is helping to “future-proof” business for one of the West Midlands’ leading law firms.

FBC Manby Bowdler, which has offices in Wolverhampton, Redditch and across Shropshire, has 10 apprentices learning on the job towards becoming solicitors or paralegals.

HR Director Sarah Bond-Williams said apprenticeships were a key part of the firm’s employment strategy. She said: “We are working hard to grow the company, and to do that we need a full complement of skilled and talented staff.

“The apprenticeship scheme allows us to “grow our own” which, given the skills shortage across all UK industries, is helping to future-proof our workforce.

“Along with trainee solicitorships and advancement programmes for legal executives, our investment in apprenticeships is really paying off – and our staff engagement scores are the highest they’ve ever been.

“The ability to learn while they earn also makes a career in the law more achievable for young people who might be daunted by the costs and practicalities of going to university. There is a whole pool of untapped talent out there, and apprenticeships help us to find and develop it.”

Applications are now open for FBC Manby Bowdler’s 2023 apprenticeship intake. The six-year programme, delivered and awarded by the BPP University Law School, will lead to a full LLB (Hons) degree in legal practice.

Apprentice solicitors work to the same standards as all other solicitors and achieve the same qualification. Twenty per cent of the apprentice’s time is spent in formal learning and the rest spent working within the firm.

FBC Manby Bowdler’s current apprentices are paralegal Ayman Idrees and solicitors Lillie Pritchard, Rowan Jones, Abigail Noakes, Chloe Turner, Emily Shenton, Hannah Barker, Lara Sidell, Maisie Addinell and Noah Lloyd.

Apprenticeships, News

Health and Social Care Company Embraces Apprenticeships

A leading health and social care company is celebrating National Apprenticeship Week as more than 600 employees have completed its apprenticeship pathways.

This week it is National Apprenticeship Week, which aims to highlight the exceptional work being done by apprentices and employers across the UK.

Cygnet Health Care is a leading provider of services for individuals with mental health needs, learning disabilities and autism and is leading the sector on the employment of nurse associates and the development of nurse apprenticeships to help overcome the current recruitment challenges. The company offers opportunities ranging from nursing, healthcare, management, HR, IT and finance to help people grow their skills and embrace new challenges.

The training is free to the apprentices because Cygnet Health Care funded the programme through levy, introduced by the government in 2017. To date, more than 600 Cygnet Health Care staff have completed an apprenticeship pathway.

Suzanne Smith, Apprenticeship Manager at Cygnet, said: “We want our existing staff to feel invested in, and able to recognise that we support career progression, empowering them to forge their own path and take every opportunity to create a clearly defined career pathway.

“The passion and drive to succeed exhibited by our apprentices has been awe inspiring. I couldn’t be prouder seeing them take their place in our services, using their expertise and skills to support our service users.

“Offering clear pathways that enable people to enter the profession, pursue their career goals and in turn retain their talent is the ultimate goal for us.”

Warren Bridges is a Registered Mental Health Nurse at Cygnet Heathers on Grout Street, West Bromwich, a 20 bed service providing neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative rehabilitation for men with mental health difficulties and acquired brain injury. He joined Cygnet Health Care as a support worker nine years ago and always had ambition to further his career.

He explained: “I always wanted to get into nursing and I am very grateful that the Apprenticeship pathway opened up that gateway and has allowed me to flourish.”

His apprenticeship journey started in 2018 with the Cygnet Health Care Nursing Pathway Apprentice Programme, which addresses an industry-wide shortage of nurses, as recruitment and retention of staff remains a key concern for the sector.

“It was a steep learning curve, but I’m really glad I did it,” said Warren. “Balancing being a support worker with the apprenticeship was challenging but very rewarding.”

Warren qualified as a Nurse Associate in 2020 and completed his follow up nursing degree apprenticeship last year.

“The apprenticeship has helped me to increase my knowledge base and I use what I have learnt in my role all the time,” he added. “The skills I have gained help me to support the nursing team and our service users with up-to-date, evidence-based practice.”

“For what Cygnet have invested in me, I feel like I am able to give that back to our service users,” said Warren “It has enriched my ability to help. They have been fantastic throughout the whole process.”

Food & Drink, News

Mackie’s scoops record UK market share

Pivotal year sees green credentials boosted amid investment for the future

CELEBRATED ice cream maker Mackie’s of Scotland has achieved its highest ever UK market share after adding almost half a million customers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The major breakthrough came despite a tough time in the ice cream sector, as the overall market contracted by 7.4% over the same period.

Record increases in the cost of ingredients, haulage, feed and fertiliser have combined to make the outlook a challenging and unpredictable one for Scotland’s most popular ice cream company.

Mackie’s says the growth of UK customers outwith its traditional Scottish market and its early adoption of renewable energy has helped it offset rising cost pressures and to build for the future.

Kantar Worldpanel reported that the ice cream maker’s customer numbers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland climbed from 939,000 in 2021 to 1,424,000 in 2022.

Mac Mackie, Executive Chairman and one of three family owners at Mackie’s, said: “We are putting in place the foundations to be a bigger business and one that is even better equipped for growth in the years ahead.

“It’s been a pivotal year in our history. We witnessed this encouraging step change in our sales and cut-through south of the border, predominantly as a result of us winning and building on second-line listings for our honeycomb ice cream with a number of supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s.

“For a long time, it’s been the case that our Scottish customers have been able to choose from a wide range of our ice cream flavours, but those in the rest of the UK could typically only reliably get their hands on our best-selling Traditional flavoured real dairy ice cream. We’re thrilled to be reaching new customers and determined to build on the success of these new listings.

“It’s also been a very difficult year due to the scale of the cost increases we have been subject to. While this looks set to continue and worsen, we have robust plans in place to ensure the family business rides out the storm and is here to be successful for generations to come.”

The Aberdeenshire firm posted revenue of £17.7 million and profit before tax of £1.7 million according to annual accounts to the year ending 31 May 2022. While down 59% on the record highs of the previous year (£4.1 million), this profit represents a positive return above initial forecasts. Revenue has since rebounded due to strong sales, with the calendar year rivalling previous record levels of turnover, though profit is forecast to fall further in light of steep cost increases.

The significant wider ice cream market shrinkage over the same period has been attributed to increases in cost pressures and a market rebound following surging take-home ice cream sales during the pandemic.

The audited period also saw Mackie’s continuing commitment to investment being made back into the business, most notably the culmination of a £4.5 million spend into the one of Europe’s most efficient and advanced low carbon refrigeration systems.

Currently partly operational and set to be fully deployed in the coming weeks, the cooling system will slash the firm’s refrigeration-related energy usage by up to 80% along with its carbon footprint. It will enable Mackie’s to make more efficient use of its vast renewable energy generation capacity, courtesy of its on-site 7000 panel solar farm, four large-scale turbines and biomass plant, which combined produce twice as much energy as the business uses overall.

Further investment has seen Mackie’s upgrade its filling machines to significantly increase capacity, while also bringing most of its sauce making in-house with an investment in state-of-the-art machinery, allowing it to purchase the fruit required for its compotes from local farms.

The programme of investment also encompasses further improvements to its packaging plant as well as the implementation of a market-leading enterprise resource management tool to streamline internal processes.

Newly appointed Managing Director, Stuart Common, commented: “Like all businesses we’re facing major challenges resulting from rising costs throughout our operations which has led to careful negotiations with our trade customers while we do our best to manage and absorb increases that may otherwise be passed on to the wider public.

“Despite the restrictions associated with the pandemic, we have maintained export sales of over £2 million, which includes increased export to the US, which poses an exciting opportunity for growth.

“We’ve committed to unprecedented levels of investment into our operations to make us a more efficient and sustainable business as well as being better insulated from some rising costs and position us for further future growth. 2022 saw more than £850,000 invested in plant and machinery, which included a new ice cream filler which will give us more options for new products as well as increasing our capacity as we look to continue to grow.

“I believe that our long-term strategy of doing right by the planet and investing so significantly in renewable energy is now giving us the tools to create a competitive advantage, allowing us to continue to offer shoppers a premium dairy product at what we think is an affordable price, particularly when compared to many other premium products in the market which have had to rise higher and faster.

“Our sustainable investments are now paying dividends by helping us to overcome this challenging period, expand our market presence and boost our contribution to the local and national economy over the years ahead.”