Ian Griffin, Leicester Mercury Business Editor

Want to buy multi-million pound AstraZeneca site for £1?

2011-11-17T08:50:00.007Z

Would you like to buy a multi-million pound state-of-the-art drugs research centre for just £1?

It sounds too good to be true, but apparently that's the going rate for AstraZeneca's 69-acre complex in Loughborough.

The company, which ceases operations at the site on November 30, would not confirm the figure, but admitted it was looking at a "flexible approach" to offloading the Bakewell Road plant.

However, people familiar with the situation say £1 could be enough to take ownership of the site.

The problem is the new occupier would have to fork out many millions of pounds a year to run the plant, including £2 million in business rates.

That is why AstraZeneca has found it so difficult to find a buyer in the 18 months since it announced it would be pulling out of Loughborough with the loss of 1,100 jobs.

Bosses say they have been talking to a consortium of business people for the past few months and the consortium has attracted the attention of potential Chinese investors. But a deal is no closer to fruition.

AstraZeneca is advertising the property with a major agency with the hope of attracting wider interest from other industries.

Whatever happens, business leaders and town residents will hope the site will be used for employment and not houses.

Legal merry-go-round

2011-07-14T10:58:00.006+01:00

Another rotation of the partners merry-go-round among law firms in Leicester is set to begin soon.

I've heard a law firm in the city is planning to poach a partner from one of its rivals in the local area.

Such moves have in the past resulted in the firm the partner leaves poaching someone themselves to fill the vacant role - and so starting a bit of a merry-go-round.

No names so far - although I know the law firm looking to do the poaching. Keep an eye on the Mercury business pages over the next few weeks for more details.

Next boss: 'I'm no Luddite'

2011-07-13T17:34:00.013+01:00

I was glad to hear Next boss Lord Simon Wolfson declare he is not a Luddite during a parliamentary debate about a planned rail link.

It was an interesting statement for a man who has taken advantage of socio-economic and technological progress to make the Enderby fashion group one of the best performing UK businesses of the past few years.

The chief executive of Next made the comment yesterday during a meeting of the House of Commons Transport Committee.

He wanted to make it clear his opposition to the proposed £32 billion HS2 rail link from London to the North of England, via the East Midlands, had "nothing to do with ludditism or nimbyism", but was the result of reasoned economic argument.

The millionaire Tory peer is hardly the type of man to go around smashing up hi-tech knitting machines, as the Luddites famously did in Loughborough more than 150 years ago, forcing pioneering industrialist John Heathcoat to relocate his lace-making business to Devon.

Of course these days he'd have to travel a lot further afield (ie, southern and eastern Europe, the Far East and North Africa) if he wanted to find a significant number of knitwear machines to attack.

Given the bumper bonuses Next has paid its hundreds of head office staff after two years of record profits, most people living in and around Enderby will be glad the company is based in their back yard.

(Picture depicts Luddites attacking John Heathcoats' factory in Loughborough in 1816)

Pretty in Pink

2011-07-06T17:50:00.014+01:00

An appearance in the Financial Times - widely known as the 'Pink'un' - carries a lot of weight across the world.

Leicester Tigers' front page coverage in the FT in April about them raising £4.4 million from investors certainly seems to have turned a few heads.

One of the team's players was pictured ball in hand charging forward in the main front page picture.

Club chairman Peter Tom told me last week the prominent position in the prestigious publication - seen as the bible of the business world for many - has led to a huge amount of positive feedback and opened many doors commercially. (In the same conversation Tom also joked he had considered making the club's third strip for next season pink).

However, some questioned the high-profile coverage given to the deal, as it only involved a few million pounds, while multi-billion pound deals appeared throughout the rest of the newspaper.

It seems the journalist who wrote the story - leisure industries correspondent Roger Blitz - is a big Tigers fan. He obviously lobbied hard for the story to go front and helped to give the club's profile a big boost.

It is a something the club's 10,000 shareholders will want to see more of when Tigers eventually float on the London Stock Exchange, something which is expected within the next six months.

Can Andrew bring home the bacon?

2011-06-29T17:46:00.008+01:00

Yesterday, we revealed in the Mercury's the Business that Andrew Bacon, interim chairman of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP), had been given the role permanently.

It followed a long drawn out search for someone to head the county's economic development agency, which involved two rounds of advertising and a row between the city and county councils.

Whether Stephen Woolfe, the senior partner at Harvey Ingram, who had been put forward for the unpaid, part-time role by the city council and business leaders - but whose appointment was blocked by county council leader David Parsons - decided to bow out is not known.

What we do know is that Mr Bacon (pictured), who will retain his role as director of business development at British Gas Community Energy, is a man who is used to dealing with big businesses and politicians. This will certainly form a key part of his role in the coming months and years.

The focus of Mr Bacon and his 14-person board will now be on drawing up a list of key priorities for the city and county. Here is a rough list of what I think they should be;

- Securing enterprise zone status for MIRA near Hinckley

- Ensuring the innovation centre at Leicester Science Park is built

- Ensuring Coalville hi-tech firm Zeeko relocates to the science park

- Ensuring the Eastern Gateway scheme close to Loughborough Railway Station is completed on time and attracts the private sector investment needed to make it work

- A clear plan to tackle the skills shortage which is holding back many growing county firms

- A clear plan for the second phase of the new business quarter, close to Leicester Railway Station, and moves to sign up private sector partners.

Please feel free to suggest your own below ...

UPDATE: July 6, 2011: I've since found out Stephen Woolfe was interviewed along with Andrew Bacon and Andrew was selected because he was felt to have better experience because of his previous role as a board member of Prospect Leicestershire. Only those two were interviewed.

Right or wrong turn?

2011-06-16T10:27:00.009+01:00

The Leicestershire Business Voice forum held this week on the future of travel in the city and county was well attended.

At the event, called 'Right Turns', experts from the city and county councils, as well as De Montfort University and Loughborough University, talked about the need to encourage businesses to use cars more wisely.

But when I turned up to the event - admittedly 10 minutes late - the first thing I noticed was how full the car park was.

Why? Perhaps because the meeting was being held at the National Space Centre, which was only realistically accessible by car to the 100 or so business and public sector attendees, including myself.

Surely somewhere more central within the city, where most of the attendees were based, would have been more appropriate given the topic being discussed.

However, I nearly found myself walking down Abbey Lane after my car broke down. Luckily, I was able to limp back to Mercury towers and replace it. Hence why I was late.

Perhaps I should cycle or jog next time. I know I could do with the exercise.

Public Image

2011-05-25T22:11:00.013+01:00

In March, one of Leicestershire's most senior female executives was forced to step down as a board member at the business where she worked.

Louise George (pictured), chief executive of scanning equipment maker Image Scan, of Barrow-upon-Soar, had to give up her position on the board after losing a vote at the firm's annual general meeting.

Three shareholders were able to defeat Ms George's bid to be re-elected to the board because of the lack of investors at the meeting. It meant she was forced to step down, but her role as chief executive was unaffected.

The irony was that a few weeks before I'd talked about the county's leading companies having a higher proportion of women on their boards than top businesses nationally - 13.6 per cent compared to 12.5 per cent.

It was revealed this week Ms George, the only female chief executive of a Leicestershire stock market-listed business, is set to be re-appointed to the board at a meeting on June 21.

There's nothing to suggest the three shareholders voted against Ms George's re-appointment for nothing other than business reasons, but it's interesting to note the vast majority of investors seem to have no problem with her performance.

It has been an unfortunate episode at a time when the Government is encouraging firms to increase the number of women in their board rooms.

Lord of the Dance

2011-05-04T18:02:00.013+01:00

In typical style, Next chief executive Lord Wolfson today tried to play down the significance of the group's better-than-expected 5.2 per cent sales rise in the first quarter.

The Enderby fashion chain said at least 2.5 per cent of this increase was due to the feel-good factor brought on by the extended Easter break, warm weather and royal wedding.

However, Lord Wolfson (pictured) was quick to quash any idea this marked a general upturn on the high street after a dismal few months.

"We are not seeing a general consumer splurge. What we are seeing is directly related to clothing and it's weather-related," he told me today.

But the experienced retailer did provide one reason to be cheerful, with the suggestion the high street may be over the worst of the downturn brought on by the hike in VAT, rising energy prices and public spending cuts.

"February and March were particularly tough - we don't see any worse than that this year," said Lord Wolfson, a Tory peer. He said rising employment was also a reason to be optimistic.

His upbeat tone is bound to be seized above by the national press, who see his views as a bellwether for the general economy.

Other retail bosses will be hoping to follow his lead in the coming days and weeks.

A local partnership for local people?

2011-03-17T07:45:00.015Z

The row this week over the choice of chairman at the new Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for the city and county provides an interesting take on the 'localism' debate.

Prime Minister David Cameron's flagship policy is about decisions being made at grassroots instead of them being imposed by central Government or a regional quango.

LEPs lie at the heart of this philosophy. The partnerships, which replace Labour's regional development agencies, are designed to bring together local businesses and councils in helping to grow the local economy.

The spat between Leicester Shire Business Council, which will choose the chairman, and county council leader David Parsons, who as one of the senior politicians overseeing the body will need to endorse the decision (reported in Tuesday's Mercury), provides an interesting test of the 'localism' agenda.

Councillor Parsons has been accused of delaying the appointment of a chairman because he doesn't like the business council's preferred choice of a local business person and wishes to see a 'big hitter' with the ear of Government ministers appointed instead.

I know who this preferred choice is and the name of the second candidate, who Coun Parsons seems to prefer, but I am sworn to secrecy.

The business council's preferred candidate has a high profile both locally and regionally and a detailed knowledge of the city and county economically, politically and socially. He also lives in the area.

The second candidate is a successful businessman with a national and international profile. He also has the ear of ministers, but his detailed knowledge of the city and county and its specific economic needs are questionable. He also does not live in the area.

I don't know if it's just me, but a non-local person heading the local element of key part of a political philosophy known as 'localism' seems at best contradictory and at worse hypocritical.

By the way, Coun Parsons said this week he wanted the LEP chairman's appointment delayed so the city's elected mayor - chosen on May 5 - can decide whether they want to take on the role. But Sir Peter Soulsby, the likely winner of the mayoral race, says he does not want the LEP job.

The good news is that relations between Coun Parsons and the business council seem to have thawed in the past two days and a compromise may be reached.

But just how local the LEP chairman will be remains to be seen.

Smoke and mirrors

2011-03-09T18:09:00.013Z

If a week is a long time in politics, then a year must be a lifetime.

Or at least enough time to comfortably perform a policy U-turn.

Twelve months ago, Tory and Liberal Democrat politicians were backing a campaign criticising a Labour government plan to ban the display of tobacco products in shops. Members of the two opposition parties supported Leicestershire Asian Business Association's claim the ban would cripple small independent shops, who rely on tobacco sales for a third of their takings.

Harborough Tory MP Edward Garnier was among those who voiced his criticism of the Labour proposal.

Mr Garnier, who as solicitor-general would be very aware of new laws being planned by the coalition Government, was one of the main guests at last Thursday's Laba silver anniversary dinner. He even heard Laba president Jaspal Singh Minhas call on fellow guest Mark Prisk, the business and enterprise minister, to clarify the Government position on the Labour proposal as soon as possible.

Today his Government colleagues did just that, stating the displaying of tobacco products would be outlawed in 2012 for large stores and 2015 for small shops. The only change from the Labour plan was the ban for small stores starts two years later. It left Laba and its members completely gobsmacked and, as Mr Minhas said today, feeling betrayed.

Whether or not Mr Garnier is invited to Laba's annual dinner next year, we can only wait and see.

Candidates for LEP chair revealed

2011-03-03T18:13:00.006Z

I've managed to find out the names of the two candidates who are in the running to be chairman of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership.

However, I have been sworn to secrecy at this time as negotiations enter a sensitive stage

All I can say is one has been a successful businessman nationally and internationally, with some connections locally and regionally, and the other is a well-known and much respected business figure locally and regionally.

While it would be great to have someone who has a lot of clout on the national and international stage, I'm worried about what the extent of the first candidate's commitment will be to the city and county.

At this stage, the locally-known business person is my favourite. Obviously, I'll keep you updated.

(PS: the manipulated picture is a photograph of me and shouldn't be taken as any indication as to either man's identity)

Can Dunelm mix homeware with software?

2011-02-22T21:30:00.008Z

New Dunelm chief executive Nick Wharton has announced he wants to make the firm's website its "biggest store".

The internet is an obvious area of growth for the Syston homeware chain given the service is able to easily piggyback on the group's existing store delivery infrastructure.

Dunelm, which trades as Dunelm Mill, has a 500,000sq ft distribution centre in Stoke, a strong brand and a reputation for value and quality.

Mr Wharton, who last week became the first person to head the company from outside the founding Adderley family, is probably also looking at the online success of competitors such as fellow Leicestershire retailer Next and Tesco. He will also be aware that Marks & Spencer is looking to substantially grow its internet operation.

But all three of these are nationally and internationally known retail brands, and successful online retailing is all about brand recognition.

Despite being the UK's third-largest homeware chain, Dunelm's customer base is highly concentrated in the Midlands and north of England, where the vast majority of its 100 stores are, and so its brand doesn't enjoy anywhere near the same level of recognition.

Given this, Mr Wharton's ambition to make online sales Dunelm's biggest revenue generator is perhaps a little premature.

Dunelm's online success will only go hand in hand with its plans to double its store numbers and spread its name more widely.

Your county needs you!

2011-02-12T17:34:00.018Z

A key role in the regeneration of Leicester and Leicestershire is due to be filled any time soon.

A group of leading business figures are in the process of persuading one of two successful business people to become chairman of the city and county's Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Presumably they are telling him or her: Your city and county needs you!

Six candidates responded to an advert for the unpaid part-time post late last year. All were rejected after not meeting the criteria. Leicester Shire Business Council, the group charged with filling the post, then switched to head hunting.

The LEP, which needs to be up and running by April, is the Tory-led Government's 'localist' alternative to regional development agencies such as Emda, who are set to close next year.

Despite my best efforts, I've been unable to find out the names of those who unsuccessfully applied for the job and the names of the two who have been approached. What I do know is that the business council is talking to two successful business people, one of who is likely to be named as the chairman shortly.

I also know that Brian Stein, the popular chief executive of Melton-based food giant Samworth Brothers and chairman of Leicestershire Cares, has not expressed an interest in taking the role, despite being a favourite among a number of senior business figures. He wants to concentrate on the jobs he already has.

The search for a LEP chairman may have been overshadowed by the race to become the city's first directly-elected mayor, but whoever gets the job will play an extremely important role in the creation of jobs and attracting businesses to the city and county.

The LEP's role will be to bid for Government funding for regeneration projects, a crucial responsibility given that the city's redevelopment masterplan has been on hold since the recession.

Peter Doleman, head of commercial property agent Innes England's Leicester office, last week questioned whether the second phase of the city's new business quarter, next to the railway station, will ever happen. A £9 million Government grant aimed at kick starting the £150 million scheme fell victim to spending cuts last summer.

The LEP chairman will be faced with the challenge of finding alternative forms of funding. Given the current economic situation, this will require the skills of an experienced and proven performer.

Keep an eye on the Leicester Mercury and http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/ for a possible announcement in the days ahead.

Office politics

2011-02-02T21:20:00.010Z

Prospect Leicestershire's £100,000-a-year, 10-year lease at the city's most upmarket office complex is a typical example of the kind of excessive public spending seen under the Labour Government.

That was the view of Conservative city council leader Ross Grant after it emerged taxpayers could be asked to fork out £343,000 for the offices in Colton Square to stand empty for three years when the economic development agency moves out as part of its merger with tourism body Leicester Shire Promotions. That is unless another occupier can be found for the 4,000 sq ft ground floor offce space.

The lengthy lease, signed in May 2009, has eight years left to run, but can be broken in May 2014 at a cost of £35,000. This and the £308,000 rent bill will be split equally between the city and county council.

"It's totally unacceptable that somebody signed this," bellowed Coun Grant.

But just who signed the lease? The county council, which was then, as now, controlled by Tories. Oops.

Building a wall

2010-10-14T21:58:00.012+01:00

As a journalist you sometimes write a story you know will turn a good relationship into a sour one, and which could make it more difficult to do your job in the future.

For a regional business journalist, writing a negative story about a major high-profile company can sometimes be like invoking the wrath of a big beast.

The story below, on page 3 of today's Leicester Mercury, is a prime example;

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Fury-Barratt-directors-receive-massive-bonuses/article-2757257-detail/article.html

So why did I write it?

Well first of all it's a story which chimes with the times. Many thousands of workers in the county, including those at the Leicester Mercury, have endured a pay freeze for the past two years.

Add to this the return of the bonus culture among bankers and other groups of professionals, which has been a huge hot topic in recent months, and you have a story which is going to attract a lot of interest.

Barratt, unsurprisingly, is not happy with what was written. I had an interesting conversation with its PR representative this afternoon who said that our good relationship built up over the past few years had been badly harmed. This could, I fear, now mean I find it harder to get access to the senior directors of the company when covering major stories.

I pointed out that 90 per cent of the stories I have written about Barratt, and before that Wilson Bowden, have been positive. That is the nature of regional business journalism - most of the stories you write about big businesses on your patch are going to be positive because a huge chunk of your readership works for them.

I was slightly sad that he'd taken this attitude. I had got on quite well with him, and still hope to in future.

Some would say it doesn't happen often enough, while others would say it happens too much, but in regional business journalism writing negative stories about large companies is just as important as writing about their successes.

And there's certainly no bonus in ignoring a good story.

High stakes at Highcross

2010-10-13T09:07:00.006+01:00

As reported in today's Leicester Mercury, Mark Murphy (pictured) has resigned as general manager of Highcross Leicester shopping centre less than five months after taking the job.

Deputy general manager Jo Tallack, who has taken temporary charge, becomes the fifth person to run the centre in the past five years.

This high frequency of managerial comings and goings almost puts the centre on a par with Leicester City.

So why the high turnover of people running the city's premier shopping venue? The reason is probably not too dissimilar to what lies behind the constant chopping and changing at Walkers Stadium - pressure for results.

Like a football club owner, when a major retailer centre developer such as Hammerson pumps many millions of pounds into a venture they are going to demand results.

Retail, like football, is very much a people business. It's about charisma, good relationships and having the confidence of others - staff, customers (supporters) and owners.

Add to this the pressure to be constantly improving, attracting bigger and better tenants (players) and dealing with the demands of current tenants, managing a major shopping centre is hugely demanding.

It seems Mr Murphy felt his talents would be better used elsewhere. It is not known whether he has another job lined up.

The Guardian of Truth

2010-08-26T08:40:00.015+01:00

A day after I called for more clarity on Leicester City's takeover in my column in the Business, a national newspaper repeated the demand.

An article in the Guardian by David Conn yesterday gave an overview of the questions which surround Milan Mandaric's £39 million sale of the club to the Thai-led Asia Football Investments consortium.

Mandaric (pictured) has blamed the lack of details on the fact that his main focus is currently on satisfying the Football League's request for information on the new owners' financial backgrounds.

He said he should be able to provide a clearer picture in the next few days, when the League is expected to give the deal the green light.

Mandaric also told me yesterday that he would lose "far more than £5 million" as part of the takeover deal. The significance of the £5 million figure is that this was roughly how much the club's 48 previous shareholders lost as a result of the deal they agreed with Mandaric when he took control of the club in 2007.

Under the deal, the shareholders were initially paid £600,000 for their stake on the promise that if the club got to the Premier League by 2009-10 and stayed there for one season they would get another £5 million or so.

Mandaric had previously said he will sell his remaining stake (believed to currently be about 40 per cent) over the next two years. But yesterday he suggested he may leave City sooner.

This is interesting given today's reports the Serbian-American could be lining up a return to City's Championship rivals Portsmouth, who he sold in 2006 after taking them to the top flight, but have since suffered major financial problems.

Top that Tom

2010-08-18T21:10:00.019+01:00

Age seems to be no barrier in the world of big business in Leicestershire these days.

Less than a week after 25-year-old Aiyawatt 'Top' Raksriaksorn fronted the Thai consortium which took control of Leicester City, 70-year-old Peter Tom went and bought the UK's sixth-biggest quarry business.

The charismatic Leicester Tigers chairman has been looking for a way back into the industry after retiring as head of Bardon's Aggregate Industries following its £1.8 billion sale to Swiss group Holcim in 2005.

Mr Tom's stock market-listed investment vehicle Marwyn Materials has bought Ennstone, of Breedon-on-the-Hill, from Barclays and its pension fund for £2.25 million, and has raised another £50 million to pay down some of its debt and fund further acquisitions.

Ennstone, which had been owned by Breedon Holdings, will be renamed Breedon Aggregates.

It comes after last year's Barclays-led buyout of the debt-laden business through a pre-pack administration.

Annoyingly, Mr Tom's deal was announced the day after I'd written a piece about Breedon Holdings' improving financial situation on the front of the Business. Chief executive Ciaran Kennedy had even spoken to me on Monday afternoon, clearly aware of the imminent takeover but not giving any indication it was about to happen. I only found out when the announcement was made the next morning.

It was just a coincidence that the company's latest accounts had just become available on Companies' House. When I rang Ciaran I wasn't even expecting to get hold of him so easily.

Whether that will be the last time I speak to him in that role, we shall see.

Here we go: UPDATE 2.15PM

2010-08-12T14:18:00.003+01:00

Leicester City's takeover by a Thai-led international consortium has been announced
Here is the press release from the club;

INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM ACQUIRES LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB IN ‘TRANSFORMATIONAL DEAL’ ‘NEW STRENGTH AND ENERGY OFFERS TREMENDOUS OPPORTUINTY FOR SUPPORTERS AND CLUB’

Milan Mandaric, Chairman of Leicester City Football Club, has today announced that a new international consortium has acquired Leicester City Football Club and plans to work in partnership with him to secure ‘our ambitious’ and ‘our exciting plans for the future’. He believes the deal will empower LCFC; ‘Bringing new strength and energy to Leicester and offers a tremendous opportunity for supporters and the club’. ‘We are celebrating today’ he continued; ‘as the deal represents three things;’ ‘First Ambition: this will help us push forward to compete harder for a place at the top table of English Football; Second Strength: it will strengthen the squad and Youth Academy by bringing additional financial support and introducing a new global network of contacts and access to player talent; it also represents a third key factor; Partnership: I am delighted to remain as Chairman and a stakeholder in the new consortia and I am pleased Lee Hoos, the Chief Executive and his winning team remain focussed and in place to keep our plans and ethos alive’. The consortium is led by Thai businessman, Aiyawatt Raksriaksorn of the King Power Group, the duty free empire based in Thailand, who last week secured a 3-year shirt sponsorship deal with LCFC. Aiyawatt said today; ’We are delighted that Asia Football Investments has secured this exciting deal; I am passionate about football and I see in Leicester City as a club with tremendous passion and potential; it has excellent management on and off the pitch and I am convinced that it has the right mix of ambition and realism to drive the team, and club, forward’. He continued; ‘I do look forward to getting behind the new manager and his team and to enjoying real progress, which I know the fans crave and deserve’. Lee Hoos, CEO, welcomed the new consortium and stated that the partnership is ‘transformational’ and ‘unique’. He said today; ‘It provides a real opportunity for Leicester to grow and transform its status over the next few months and years; we are of course realistic and we wish to assure supporters that this deal will not pile the pressure on the Football Manager and create unreal expectations.’ ‘We have a new young and clearly talented Football Manager in place and our strategy and targets remain the same. We want consistency but also sustainability in our current league, and of course future leagues, and that makes this deal unique as we are signed-up to these ideas. New networks abroad will also strengthen our team and we hope to embrace new ideas from our new colleagues.’ Paulo Sousa said today; ‘Things do move quickly at Leicester City; I was promised support and change when I joined and the Chairman is living up to that promise. I am delighted to welcome the new investors to the club and pleased that Mr Mandaric and I will continue our partnership’. Milan Mandaric concluded; ‘In celebrating the deal I would also like to thank everyone who has believed and continues to believe in my work here which started in 2007’. ‘LCFC has demonstrated an incredible fighting spirit to reach this point where global investors sense the opportunity and feel able to back our plans’. ‘The road to recovery on and off the pitch has not been easy but the supporters, executives and the entire squad have shown real commitment and I know that it will now continue as the new 2010-11 season gets underway and as we plan for further exciting developments in the near future’.

Here we go

2010-08-12T09:08:00.006+01:00

An announcement on the future ownership of Leicester City is due to be made this morning.

The prospect of five new multi-millionaire owners is certainly exciting, given that it should provide the cash-injection needed to get the club into the Premier League and keep them there.

However, as a fan I am still a little nervous about the potential pitfalls of multi-ownership. You only need to look at the Hicks-Gillett regime at Liverpool to see the downside.

I'm sure a lot of potential areas of conflict have been ironed out during negotiations between club owner Milan Mandaric (pictured) and the consortium over the past few weeks.

But, as always, the devil will be in the detail.

For the latest keep an eye on http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/

Food for thought

2010-08-11T17:09:00.012+01:00

In my column in Tuesday's the Business I said I'd mostly received positive comeback on last week's story about a lack of quality restaurants in the city. It seems I spoke too soon.

That very day I received two phone calls from business leaders not very happy with the story and wanting me to do a follow-up praising the virtues of the city's leading eateries.

One restaurant boss has even called the article - in which Leicester Shire Promotions chief Martin Peters and Case restaurant owner David Hartshorn both said there were not enough top-notch restaurants - an "embarrassment to all the local business".

In a letter to another business person, which has been passed onto me, the restaurateur said:

"I would like to point to you the embarrassment to all the local business from the Leicester Mercury indicating the lack of a quality restaurant instead of encouraging people where to go and give them a guide or a list and support the local business.
There are a sufficient number of restaurants in the city with their own characteristics and with quality food and service. A short list for you is: the Case, San Carlo, Cherry's, the Boot room, 1573, Maiyango, Colourwork.
This is NOT the way for a local newspaper to support the city. As long as the Leicester Mercury are happy to be negative as always, that 30 per cent of a confidence booster that could be given to people will be lost and unused.
Local media need to be more positive and share their opinion very carefully. Leicester needs people and people need to know Leicester in its true colours.
I hope you can see the point and maybe address them to the right people."

Obviously, the restaurateur is annoyed with the tone of the article and I suppose I can understand his frustration, particularly when he feels his establishment offers top quality food and service.

But the point is the line we take is backed up by the boss of the body responsible for attracting visitors to the city, as well as a well-known restaurant owner. He also seems to think the article says the city lacks any quality restaurants. In fact it says there are some, but not enough.

Yes, one of the Leicester Mercury's roles is to support and assist businesses. But this does not mean we should ignore major issues which hold back the city from achieving its potential.

Myself and a number of leading business people in the city think the lack of quality restaurants is a big issue which needs to be addressed. And there are currently plans being cooked up behind the scenes to tackle the problem.

I am planning a follow-up story, but it probably won't be exactly to the recipe this particular restaurateur is demanding.

It's a battlefield

2010-07-01T22:13:00.017+01:00

In all wars there are winners and losers.

Unfortunately, for Leicestershire the losers of the battle to win a multi-million pound contract to make light tanks for the British Army are 260 highly-skilled workers in Braunstone Frith.

BAE Systems today announced the closure of its Scudamore Road factory, while at the same time the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said US rival General Dynamics (GD) had won the £500 million deal to build the armoured vehicle.

The MoD named GD as its preferred supplier for the programme in March. It's likely BAE had been working hard behind the scenes to try and persuade the new coalition Government its plans were better than GD's. The firm, after all, spent five years and £50 million developing the Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) vehicle.

This programme had originally been worth £4 billion, but has now been broken up and may be reduced in size again as part of the defence spending review.

But the new regime was not prepared to change a decision made by the Labour Government. This, together with new Government's decision to the delay the upgrade of 450 Warrior armoured troop carriers until the spending review has been completed, resulted in today's announcement.

Meanwhile, defence minister Peter Luff announced the £500 million contract signed with GD had safeguard hundreds of jobs in south Wales and would create 200 new posts over the next few years.

It is likely some of these jobs will be filled by workers from the BAE site in Leicester.

All this comes in the same week as Hinckley sock maker HJ Hall lost out on a MoD contract to supply British armed forces to a firm in Northern Ireland which makes its socks in China.

A miserable few days on the business battlefield for Leicestershire firms.

A balanced picture

2010-05-20T17:48:00.013+01:00

Read this blog from Mercury politics correspondent David Maclean about accusations of political bias during the General Election.

http://davidmaclean.eu/party-political-bias-not-here/

The irritation of being accused of favouritism when it's totally untrue is something I can identify with. Over the years I've been accused of both being too close to the management of a businesses and taking the side of workers during industrial disputes. I've even been accused of being in the pay of a company I'd written a story on. All this, of course, is totally untrue.

Yesterday, I was accused of not giving enough coverage to the negative side of last year's debt-for-equity deal which saved Braunstone Frith camera chain Jessops from collapse. The deal, which was widely covered by the Mercury, left investors with 9.7p per 100 shares.

After our interview with Jessops chief executive Trevor Moore on Tuesday, in which he said sales were at a two-year high, a reader contacted me to say he had been a shareholder and the whole episode required "investigative journalism".

What more I could have learned from an in-depth probe into the financial side of a business whose high-profile fall from grace has not only been extensively covered by the Mercury but by the national press as well, I'm not sure.

For those that don't know the story, Jessops floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2004 valued at £160m and was valued at about £1m five years later when it was effectively taken over by HSBC and its pension fund.

Perhaps it is people who invest vast sums of their savings into businesses at the peak of their market who should be more "investigative".

Fine details

2010-05-19T18:20:00.004+01:00

Would you believe it. After repeatedly moaning about the lateness of Leicester City's financial results, I ended up being on holiday the day they are finally published.

The club's marketing team sent a press release detailing their £6.2m loss in the year to May 31, 2009 yesterday afternoon, coinciding with the information becoming publicly available on the Companies' House website. My colleague Gary Mitchell wrote the story for today's back page.

The accounts are six weeks late, meaning the club face a fine of several hundred pounds. Mere pennies to Mr Mandaric, of course.

So here it is, merry X cross

2010-05-06T10:24:00.007+01:00

After months of electioneering the day when Britain decides who will get us out of the massive financial hole we are in has finally arrived.

While some of the latest opinion polls show the Tories getting a working majority, many people still feel a hung parliament is likely.

So much has been said about the draw backs and the virtues of a hung parliament over the past few weeks, it is not worth going into here. Suffice to say, the Liberal Democrats will play a key pivotal role.

Apart from what job Nick Clegg would get in a Tory-Lib Dem coalition, many will be wondering what position Lib Dem treasury supremo and all round good egg Vince Cable will be given.

Mr Cable has been a popular commentator throughout the credit crisis and has some genuinely interesting ideas on the future of our financial institutions.

Whether he'll get the deputy chancellorship under George Osborne - otherwise known as Chief Secretary to the Treasury - we can only wait and see.

Meanwhile, I'm stocking up on caffeine to ensure I am there to witness what promises to be one of the most exciting General Election results since the war.

Looking across to my colleagues on the Mercury politics desk, they seem strangely subdued. Contemplating the thrilling rollercoaster ride to come over the next 24 hours, no doubt.

The Cat that got the cream

2010-05-05T09:38:00.007+01:00

After more than a year in the doldrums it seems manufacturing is back to full health.

And nowhere more is this evident than at Caterpillar's huge factory in Desford.

See the link below;

http://tinyurl.com/35ty3ep

The upbeat announcement from Caterpillar came a day before figures from the closely-watched Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply's activity index said UK manufacturing output rose at its fastest pace in 15 years last month.

My visit to the Caterpillar plant last week to interview general manager Robert Droogleever was a great experience.

A walk around the shopfloor was a huge highlight. I followed a digger right the way through the production process. I can imagine chocolate addicts having the same palpitations during a visit to the shopfloor of a Cadbury's factory.

The only thing is that this factory has been owned by Americans for more than 50 years and they have all but guaranteed its long-term future.

The end of the Alliance is one step closer

2010-04-30T08:58:00.008+01:00

The 250 words on the financial performance of Spanish bank Santander in today's Mercury business page mark the end of an era.

Santander owns Alliance & Leicester, the bank based in Narborough. Yesterday, for the first time since its £1.3bn takeover of the business in October 2008, Santander did not give specific financial information about A&L.

It also marks the first time in A&L's 158-year history no specific financial data is available for the institution, which started as Leicester Permanent Benefit Building Society in 1852.

This is the latest step in the bank's absorption into Santander. The final one will be in the autumn when its 254 branches are renamed Santander.

Learning to direct

2010-04-20T17:33:00.008+01:00

This is today's story on the front of the Leicester Mercury's The Business supplement. (Click on link)

http://bit.ly/avWxT8

For those who are regular readers of the Leicester Mercury and its business coverage you will see the way I have written it is a little unusual.

I have had to put "it is understood" up to 100 jobs are being created by Government agency Learn Direct at Colton Square in Leicester because the organisation said it was unable to say how many jobs it was bringing to the site.

Although this seems strange, it is because most of the jobs being created in Leicester are being transferred from elsewhere in the country and the employees effected will be subject to statutory consultation.

This is why Prospect Leicestershire chairman Nick Carter was unable to give any details on job numbers. However, I was able to give an idea after speaking to other sources.

People may ask why I've thought it necessary to do this and why I just didn't wait until Learn Direct was able to give the figure itself.

Firstly, it is major vote of confidence in the city to see a Government agency transferring staff here and bodes well for when Whitehall starts to move civil servants from the South East. Therefore it is a story which needs to be told as soon as possible.

Secondly, Colton Square stands opposite the Mercury headquarters. Indeed, as I write I can see workmen fitting out the offices.

It's obvious dozens of people are going to work there, and with the relocation of staff from other Learn Direct offices in Leicestershire it is likely to be a lot more than 100 people who will eventually be based there.

You just can't ignore a story like that when it's literally on your doorstep.

Waiting for the results to come in ...

2010-03-31T18:18:00.008+01:00

It will take a little longer than I'd hoped to find out exactly how much of a loss Leicester City made last season.

The accounts were due to be filed at Companies' House today. But after calling the club this afternoon, I was told it would be another two to three weeks before they're ready.

Yes, I know chairman and owner Milan Mandaric (pictured) has already told us the Foxes made a loss of at least £5m to £6m and that most fans are probably more concerned about the promotion push.

But as a supporter I feel it is important to know the financial health of my club in detail, especially after it made a record £14m deficit the previous season.

The one thing I do know is the club will owe an extra £150 after tomorrow - the amount they will be fined for missing the filing deadline.

When is the Next recession?

2010-03-25T18:38:00.005Z

It's as if the recession never happened for Enderby fashion chain Next after it reported a record £505m profit and record sales of £3.4bn for last year.

Bosses put the success down to cost cutting, a superb range of clothing and a less than expected hit from the downturn.

Many of the firm's 4,000 Leicestershire staff are now in line for bonuses of several thousand pounds each.

Yet another positive business news story prominently featured in the Leicester Mercury - it's on tomorrow's front page.

So much for us press types all being doom and gloom merchants.

Class war and Leicester's role in gas war

2010-03-24T18:18:00.012Z

Not too much to get excited about in this afternoon's Budget for businesses.

A few bits of help for small and growing firms, but mainly disappointment the 1% National Insurance hike and the 2.5p-a-litre fuel duty rise will still go ahead.

Chancellor Alistair Darling's eve-of-election set-piece was quite clearly an attempt to move the Government firmly into old Labour terrority with a Robin Hood-style giveaway. The most obvious example of this was increasing the zero stamp duty threshold to £250,000 and the 1% rise to 5% for those buying homes for £1m or more.

This may have been a desperate bid to win votes just weeks away from polling day, but it is also likely to have been influenced by an increasingly vocal union movement.

Unite, the Labour Party's biggest donor, is already causing chaos at British Airways, with a second wave of strikes planned for this week. Rail union the RMT has also threatened walkouts.

Yesterday, 8,000 GMB members at British Gas voted overwhelmingly for industrial action after claiming the company is about to cut 25% of frontline staff and the management were bullying workers.

Shop stewards will meet at the British Gas service centre in Aylestone Road, Leicester, tomorrow to decide what type of action to take.

FURTHER UPDATE: Tanks for nothing

2010-03-23T14:03:00.003Z

As we reported would happen last week, the Ministry of Defence yesterday handed the tank contract to US firm General Dynamics, putting the future of BAE Systems in Leicester, and 300 skilled jobs, in doubt. Click on link below;

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Failure-win-Ministry-Defence-contract-puts-Leicester-jobs-risk/article-1936556-detail/article.html

UPDATE: Tanks for nothing

2010-03-19T12:59:00.003Z

Liz Kendall and Celia Harvey contacted me early yesterday and late on Wednesday respectively. The power of the blog!

See Monday's Mercury for a follow up on this story

Tanks for nothing

2010-03-17T17:13:00.013Z

Another week, another cutting-edge Leicester business being threatened with closure thanks to the Government.

Today, we revealed the BAE Systems site in Braunstone Frith, which employs 300 people, could be put in jeopardy if the defence contractor does not win a £4bn contract to create 1,300 hi-tech tanks for the British Army.

The site is renowned for its development of military equipment, but its future would be put in doubt if the contract is given to US rival General Dynamics, which, according to the national press, it will be. The Ministry of Defence has declined to comment.

Managers and staff at the site responded angrily to the reports, which are thought to be based on a well placed leak in either the Government or military.

This latest example of Government action threatening skilled Leicester jobs has once again sent an election-conscious Labour politician ducking for cover. Last week, Leicester South MP Sir Peter Soulsby failed to respond to my request for a comment on the H Beesley story (see below), despite it effecting a business in his constituency.

Today, Labour's parlimentary candidate for Leicester West, Liz Kendall, has not responded to my email and no one was answering the telephone at her office (the answer machine did not appear to be taking messages and there is no mobile phone number on her website). The factory is based in this constituency.

Current Leicester West Labour MP Patricia Hewitt has urged the MoD to reverse its decision. But these are rather shallow words when they come from someone who is about to retire from Parliament.

Whether Liz or any of her staff will call back tomorrow, we'll see. But with an announcement on the tank contract due in the next few days, events may overtake - or should that be roll straight over - her.

(In the interest of political balance, I must say I've also not yet received a response from the Conservative candidate for Leicester West, Celia Harvey, who I understand is an officer the Territorial Army).

Exploding the myth

2010-03-10T09:09:00.008Z

Yesterday's Leicester Mercury front page seemed to chime with a lot of businesses (click on link below);

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/120-jobs-risk-Leicester-firm-Government-stops-exports-Iran/article-1897042-detail/article.html

Thousands of well-run small and medium-sized companies across the UK say they have gone to the wall because of lack of help from the Government.

H Beesley's case is fairly unusual because of the allegation that the parts they were exporting to Iran could have helped make nuclear weapons. But the view that the Government doesn't do enough for small and medium-sized firms, voiced throughout the economic downturn, is certainly compounded by this episode.

The point here is that the company is not a victim of the credit crunch, but Government interference, which can at best be described as over-efficient officialdum, and at worst as a complete over-reaction.

Before all this happened, it was a thriving hi-tech company which has supplied parts to the Eurofighter and Royal Navy nuclear submarines and in the past six years had doubled turnover to £5.6m and its workforce to 123.

The company says it was under the impression Government officials were willing to come an arrangement where the £900,000 it owed the HM Revenue & Customs was paid off over a number of years.

However, at a meeting with Business Minister Ian Lucus it was told it was not worth saving because it was "too niche" and its customer base was too small.

And which bank advised the department on whether Beesley should be helped or not? One Royal Bank of Scotland, which had to be bailed out with billions of pounds of taxpayers' money.

RBS may not have been accused of helping to make nuclear bombs, but it did contribute to a financial time bomb whose fall-out was deadly.

The A to Z of rumours

2010-03-03T19:14:00.011Z

Here is today's story about the closure of AstraZeneca in Loughborough (click on link below);

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/AstraZeneca-closure-single-biggest-jobs-loss-Leicestershire-20-years/article-1880653-detail/article.html

This was something I'd heard rumours about for months, even before AstraZeneca's announcement in January of a major worldwide shake-up which will see the loss of 8,000 jobs over the next four years.

However, I did not actually expect it to happen, and neither too did most of the 1,200 staff and Leicestershire's business and political leaders. Many of the senior business figures I spoke to yesterday morning, before the news was officially released, were left speechless or thought I was over-exaggerating.

As a Loughborough resident it was genuinely upsetting to hear such a major name and employer turn its back on the town. But the full devastating impact of what I knew was a massive story didn't actually dawn on me for several hours as I was too wrapped up ringing around for reaction and comment.

It will be some time before the economic consequences are known and felt. The staff are high wage earners and two-thirds live in Charnwood borough, so it is likely there will be a significant impact on the area. Hopefully, this can be mitigated by some kind of intervention by an election-conscious Government. However, the real work will be done after the May poll when the new Government will have a variety of new priorities on its agenda.

What worries me is what will become of the 69-acre site. There are rumours AstraZeneca is considering razing the whole thing to the ground at the cost of a couple of million of pounds, thus escaping the several millions they would need to pay annually in empty property tax. The speculation is that this land would then be turned into a housing estate.

It may be rumour at this stage, but we know what rumour can become.

UPDATE 3PM: AstraZeneca's statement

2010-03-02T15:06:00.005Z

Below is AstraZeneca's statement about the Loughborough plant closure. Note the lack of information about the number of jobs affected, despite it meaning the loss of 1,200 posts in the town.

AstraZeneca today shared with its employees further details of proposals designed to improve the productivity of its global research and development organisation. The proposed changes, first outlined at the end of January, include focusing research efforts on a smaller number of disease areas and consolidating activities onto a reduced global footprint through the merger of some sites. Some of our sites will close.

AstraZeneca will continue to invest in research and development in all of its current therapy areas (Cardiovascular, Gastrointestinal, Oncology, Respiratory, Inflammation, Neuroscience and Infection). However, within those broader therapy areas, AstraZeneca intends to cease discovery efforts in the following specific diseases: thrombosis (Cardiovascular); acid reflux (Gastrointestinal); ovarian and bladder cancers (Oncology); systemic scleroderma (Inflammation); schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety (Neuroscience); hepatitis C and vaccines other than respiratory syncytial virus and influenza (Infection).

As a result of this disease area focus and the creation of new Innovative Medicines Units and a Global Medicines Development function, AstraZeneca has proposed the merger or closure of some R&D sites over the next few years. AstraZeneca currently has 17 principal R&D centres in eight countries in Europe, North America and Asia.

Subject to consultation, the main changes are as follows:

UK
· AstraZeneca’s research and development site at Charnwood in Leicestershire and a smaller facility, acquired with Kudos, in Cambridge, will close.
· The company is interested in selling its Arrow Therapeutics business, which occupies a small facility in London.
· Pharmaceutical development work at the Avlon facility near Bristol will cease with some roles transferring to Macclesfield or Alderley Park in Cheshire. Manufacturing at Avlon will continue.
· The number of people working in R&D at Alderley Park, the company’s largest UK R&D site, will increase as employees transfer from other sites.

Sweden
· AstraZeneca’s research site in Lund will close.
· The Mölndal research and development facility will grow to accommodate Respiratory and Inflammation research activities to be transferred from the Lund and Charnwood sites.

US and Canada
· At AstraZeneca’s facility in Wilmington, Delaware, early-stage discovery research will be stopped and related activities will be significantly reduced. Some roles will transfer to other sites. Wilmington will continue to be a centre for late-stage Global Medicines Development.
· The company’s facilities in Boston, Massachusetts will see some growth as employees transfer from other sites.

As previously disclosed, AstraZeneca estimates approximately 3,500 R&D positions will be affected by these changes by 2014. After taking account of relocations to other sites, investment in new capabilities and further expansion of the company’s biologics activities, a net reduction of around 1,800 positions across R&D is expected. Whenever possible, AstraZeneca will make efforts to lessen the impact by re-skilling, re-deploying and, in some cases, offering relocation to affected employees. Consultation is ongoing.

Anders Ekblom, Executive Vice President of Development at AstraZeneca said:
“AstraZeneca’s strategic commitment to investing in innovative research and development is as clear as ever. We have made real strides in improving our efficiency in recent years, but there is a continuing need to adapt our organisation in anticipation of future challenges. These proposed changes will help us create a more focused, innovative and productive company.

“I am also acutely aware that these proposed changes will have a significant impact on our people and we are committed to providing support to them.”

UPDATE 2.30PM: AstraZeneca is closing

2010-03-02T14:18:00.005Z

The closure of AstaZeneca's Loughborough plant and the loss of 1,200 jobs has been confirmed. A hammer blow to the town. (Click on link below)

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/1-200-jobs-axed-drugs-firm/article-1879118-detail/article.html

AstraZeneca to close?

2010-03-02T08:32:00.007Z

Hundreds of staff at pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca in Loughborough will be fearing for their future this morning after strong rumours the site is to close in 2011.
The company says it is due to hold meetings with the firm's 1,200 staff in the town this afternoon to provide further details of a major shake-up, which will see the company axe 8,000 jobs worldwide.
The rumour is that they will announce the Bakewell Road research and development site is to shut down.
It comes after it was reported 1,500 jobs are to be axed in the UK as part of the restructuring.
Keep your eyes on the Leicester Mercury website for updates;
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/

Rumour circuit

2010-02-16T21:53:00.008Z

This is my interview with Donington Park owner Kevin Wheatcroft in today's Mercury (click on link below);

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/tried-shield-dying-dad-Donington-crisis/article-1838137-detail/article.html

Because of space restrictions, I was not able to include Mr Wheatcroft's response to the many rumours about the track's future which have circulated in recent weeks.

He said he had never spoken to East Midlands Airport about selling part of the 500-acre site and told me Formula One racing supremo Bernie Ecclestone (pictured) is not buying land surrounding the track.

On the latter, he said: "I heard that too. I asked Bernie and he denied it. I have no reason to doubt him."

It begs the question: where do some of these rumours come from? Is it me or does the idea of Ecclestone buying land around the track, as opposed to the track itself, seem quite bizarre. The only possible explanation I can think of is he is looking for a side line as a car park operator.

But surely that would only be lucrative if Donington won back the MotorGP and World Superbikes, and perhaps, in the long-term future, F1 racing.

The first two are a priority for Mr Wheatcroft, while the third is more of a dream.

One piece of speculation the track owner did confirm was that businesses had approached him to turn the circuit into something other than a motor racing track. Three "non-motorsport development" proposals were put to him, all were dismissed. I will leave it up to you to speculate what form these proposals took.

Mr Wheatcroft is planning to make an announcement about a new circuit operator on Sunday, March 7 at an event at the track organised by the Save Donington campaign group. For more details go to;

http://www.savedonington.co.uk/

The loss of Ross

2010-02-10T17:54:00.011Z

While Ross Willmott's decision to stand down as leader of Leicester City Council is celebrated by his opponents, it will have caused concern among business leaders.

Despite the numerous critical comments on the Leicester Mercury website today, a large section of local community feel Councillor Willmott has had a major positive influence on the city's economy.

Business leaders and those overseeing the city's regeneration projects feel he has played a key role in the multi-million pound redevelopment seen in the city in recent years. Some even state it wouldn't have happened without him.

He was someone most of Leicester's corporate movers and shakers felt they could deal with - a senior local government politician who was comfortable networking at business events, something many of his colleagues and opponents find hard.

Coun Willmott, along with county council leader David Parsons, nurtured the friendly relationship now enjoyed by the city and county councils, which was so crucial to the creation of Prospect Leicestershire. This is an economic development agency which many other areas of the country are now using as a template.

Given the recent MPs' expenses scandal, Coun Willmott's plan to take six weeks off to campaign to become MP for North West Leicestershire while continuing as council leader and still claiming all the allowances which come with the post, was always going to cause controversy. There have been calls for him to stand down for some weeks and many viewed his attempt to hold on to the job until he knew whether or not he had been voted into Parliament as at best unreasonable and at worst arrogant.

The question for city business leaders now is who will replace him.

The names being put forward are Vi Dempster, the cabinet member for education, and Veejay Patel, the cabinet finance spokesman. Most business people will know little about them.

But whoever it is, businesses will be hoping for a similar level of strong and decisive leadership from them.

Don't label us gloom merchants

2010-02-04T21:47:00.011Z

Here's a rare sight, you may think. A business story on the front page of a newspaper which isn't all gloom and doom. Click on the link below to read the story;

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Leicester-Factory-workers-163-57-000-thank-helping-save-firm/article-1804092-detail/article.html

The Mercury, as well as other media outlets, have been criticised during the recession for focusing too much on the negative.

However, I would say at least 75% of the business stories I have written in the past 18 months have been positive, in that they were either about a company creating jobs, increasing sales or winning orders, or about an initiative designed to help them.

The problem is negative stories become magnified during an economic crisis, making it look like the newspaper is being written by doom and gloom merchants.

Like many of the business stories I write, I found out about this by talking to a business person hoping to get a good positive line for the daily business pages. In this case Stuart Kellock's PR agent had sent a press release which I thought I could expand on. It ended up being so good it was elevated to the front page.

What helps, of course, is that Mr Kellock knows the value of good PR. He was willing to talk me through the problems which had been faced by his company in detail. It's not something a lot of people would be prepared to do with a journalist.

As I say repeatedly when accused of only being interested in gloomy stories, I know there are plenty of uplifting ones out there, it's just getting people to tell me about them.

Famous green raincoat

2010-02-03T18:14:00.014Z

Reporting on the closure of historic machine firm Wadkin earlier this week brought back memories of my early weeks with the Mercury.

The world-renowned 113-year-old company, in Bardon, near Coalville, has gone into liquidation after Skipton Building Socieity withdrew its support for the troubled business.

In March 2001, less than two months after starting at the Mercury, I was asked to stand outside Wadkin's former factory in Green Lane Road, in Spinney Hills, Leicester, to try and get reaction from the then 250-strong workforce after it had gone into administrative receivership.

I was aware the company was in trouble a few days beforehand because I knew a couple of people who worked there. Having had no joy getting anything out of the company, the then business editor told me he had received a press release from the receivers informing of the firm's collapse.

I was despatched to the factory to get some comment to add colour to a front page story being put together for the following day. I arrived about 4.40pm and spent 20 minutes walking up and down the front of the historic building before workers began leaving for the day. However, despite by best efforts not one of them would comment - on or off the record - even one of the people I knew, who I spotted walking to his car. He just looked at me and smiled.

I later found out workers had been ordered over the factory tannoy not to the talk to the journalist in the green puffer jacket outside. My friends immediately knew who that journalist was. I had bought a green Spiewak jacket in New York a few months before in a half price sale, was rather proud of it and wore it constantly.

The second friend deliberately stayed inside the factory fearing if he came face to face with me someone would find out he had tipped me off and he'd be one of the first redundancies. He didn't know anything about the press release.

I ended up going back to the office with no comments.

Privates on parade

2010-01-27T21:37:00.010Z

A lot of the time my job consists of writing about the financial performance of well-known Leicestershire companies. But when it comes to highlighting the profits or losses of businesses it is mostly those firms listed on the Stock Market I focus on.

Stock Market-quoted firms, of course, publicly disclose their financial figures every six months and give an indication of how well they are trading every three months. Privately-owned businesses - i.e those not on the market - on the other hand by their very nature prefer to stay private, and so can be reluctant to give away such information.

The internet has made it easier in recent years to delve into the financial affairs of private firms via the Companies' House website. Like most regional business journalists, I have email alerts set up to tell me when a company in my readership area has filed anything interesting with Companies' House, such as annual accounts.

But sometimes my job is made even easier by private businesses who take it on themselves to highlight a rise in sales or profits - although it is usually only the former because disclosing both figures can give a lot away about the running of a company.

Two recent examples of this are Braunstone-based Aurum Holdings, parent company of jewellery chain Goldsmiths, and Leicester shoe store chain Shoe Zone Group. Both firms sent press releases detailing sales rises in recent months, and so highlighting the strength of their businesses in the midst of the current economic uncertainty. To be fair to both, they also gave an idea of how profitable they were, although they failed to give exact figures.

The frustrating thing about private businesses is that they have 10 months from the end of their financial year to file accounts with Companies' House. This means it can be almost a year before I'm able to write a story about the 12-month financial performance of a high-profile company.

I had to wait until the end of March 2008 to find out via Companies' House that Leicester City had made a loss of £5.43m in the year to May 30, 2007. But after months of pestering new club chief executive Lee Hoos summoned me to his office this time last year to reveal the club had made a record £14.2m loss in the year to May 30, 2008. Even then he refused to tell me what the wage bill was, which resulted in another story when the accounts were eventually filed at Companies' House. Not surprisingly, the club was always keen to share the news in September or October if they had made a healthy profit the previous season.

I called Mr Hoos earlier today to see when I could find out last season's figures - which are likely to show a fall in losses. He said it may be some time yet. Whether I have to wait until the end of March this year to tell City's fans how their club was performing financially 10 months' ago remains to be seen.

The story behind Donington Ventures

2010-01-19T21:04:00.003Z

On Saturday, the Leicester Mercury ran a front page story on the £4.8m owed to more than 30o firms by Donington Ventures Leisure (DVL), the company which tried but failed to bring the Formula One British Grand Prix to Donington Park. See link below;

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Firms-fight-survival-collapse-Donington-Park-bid-F1/article-1717856-detail/article.html

Why, two months since the company went into administration, have these figures only just become known? Well, it seems it has taken that long for administrators Begbies Traynor to get to grips with how much exactly DVL owed and to who.

But these debts were very much known about by the scores of small Leicestershire firms which have been owed hundreds of thousands of pounds by DVL for months. And many of them have struggled to survive as a result.

The administrators' report, which became available to the public on the Companies' House website for the first time last Friday, says that creditors had been chasing DVL for some time, some taking legal action.

Meanwhile, DVL chased the £100m-or-so it needed to upgrade the circuit to Formula One standard. Begbies pointed out that DVL's initial plan to raise the money - through a scheme based on future income from corporate suites - collapsed as a result of the "credit crunch" (sic) - putting the phrase in quote marks as if it was a new concept. Some people would say the existence of a credit crunch seemed to be something new to Simon Gillett and DVL's three other directors when they began their grand adventure in early 2008.

The global credit crunch led to the collapse of two other fund-raising ideas - potential investment from a Dubai property magnate and a bond issue. The report says that the company filed its intention to appoint administrators a month before actually going into administration to protect itself from creditors taking legal action as it gave its fund-raising bid one last push.

The report also reveals DVL forfeited its lease for the circuit in April last year because of non-payment of rent. However, the company managed to gain breathing space while it tried to secure the funding. The track was finally put back into the hands of Wheatcroft & Sons on December 23.

So what now? Well, it is unlikely most of the creditors will see any of the money they are owed. The Wheatcrofts are currently looking to hand the lease to another company so that Donington Park can rebuild both physically and in terms of reputation. How quickly that happens remains to be seen.

Is Leicestershire the capital of speed?

2010-01-13T17:18:00.008Z

Leicestershire is now home to two world-famous motorcycle manufacturers and three sportscar manufacturers. See link below;

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Second-supercar-Leicestershire/article-1692434-detail/article.html

Not quite Detroit status yet, but the unique cluster of Norton, Triumph, Noble, Ultima and Lee Noble's new supercar brand Fenix Automotive is a fantastic advertisement of the county's cutting-edge engineering know-how.

This hasn't happened by accident, something which inward investment experts at Prospect Leicestershire are keen to highlight. It is a combination of an accessible central location, historic engineering pedigree and a skilled and available workforce.

It would be great to see these high-octane credentials used in marketing campaigns aimed at attracting investment to the county. It would certainly make up for the failure to attract Formula One motor racing to Donington Park.

Lee Noble's new car is causing a sensation among petrol heads across the world. I'm due to interview him later this week. Look out for this in next Tuesday's the Business supplement.

I don't know whether I can persuade him to lend me his latest creation for a day or two, but in the current weather conditions that's probably not a good idea. It's hard enough keeping my humble VW Polo out of the ditches at the moment. I'll leave all that to Clarkson and co.

It'll be a blue Christmas without you

2009-12-16T17:10:00.009Z

It's no big surprise that St George's Cental - otherwise known as 'the Blue Tower' - is in financial trouble. After all, the office, retail and leisure complex is three-quarters empty two years after its £33m revamp. See link below;

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Leicester-s-blue-tower-taken-bank-scheme-hits-financial-trouble/article-1611781-detail/article.html

What is perhaps more interesting was the reaction of the person who has claimed to be owner of the St George's Way building for the past eight years.

Amir Zarbafi had repeatedly told us and others he was the owner of either the site itself or Magnet Property Investments, the company which until the building's repossession by its bank a few days ago, was its owner.

During a series of interviews with the Leicester Mercury the businessman was keen to portray himself as a maverick and outspoken developer who was not scared to take on the authorities. He was very critical of Leicester City Council's £3bn regeneration programme, but hinted he was looking at other projects in the city.

When I received a tip off a few days ago that the scheme was having financial problems, I rang Mr Zarbafi, who quickly distanced himself from the project, saying he had been employed as a consultant and was not a shareholder or director of Magnet. He said his contract had now ended with Magnet.

When I pressed him to answer further questions - given his previous role as the face of the development - Mr Zarbafi ended the call.

The whole project seems to have been jinxed from the start. It began with a very public spat between Mr Zarbafi and Leicester Regeneration Company - which resulted in a huge sign being erected on the side of the building criticising the regeneration company. A number of hoped-for tenants never materialised and then Pettifer Construction, who had carried out the redevelopment work, went into administration.

Let's the hope Kevin Mersh, the man who has been appointed by the Anglo Irish Bank to attract tenants into the building, has more luck.

Whether or not the city council should have just slapped a compulsory purchase order on the site and razed it to the ground is now academic. They missed their chance several years ago.

For your information, Magnet Property Investments' sole shareholder and director is a Charles Sofaer.

Women drivers and diva moments

2009-11-22T20:30:00.009Z

I was left a little red faced last week when a colleague pointed out that a series of questions I'd asked a business woman could be considered sexist.

The six questions I had put to the woman were for the slightly tongue-in-cheek Company Car Man/Woman column for Tuesday's the Business supplement.

The usual format for this long-running column is to mix current affairs-based questions and with more light-weight offerings. I realised that for some inexplicable reason the half-dozen posers I came up with last week were based around either shopping, soap operas or celebrity culture. After contacting the woman - a lawyer - she agreed that my questions could be seen as sexist, but hadn't said anything because the she felt the main tone of the column wasn't meant to be too serious.

However, I decided to change a question about whether the woman had 'diva moments' with one about the future of the city's developing cultural quarter.

A colleague told me a good rule-of-thumb in future was to ask myself whether I'd have asked a man the same set of questions. It's quite probable that I wouldn't.

What this highlights, of course, is the fine line between 'a bit of fun' and causing offense - a problem journalists have grappled with since the invention of the printing press. I think on this occasion I overstepped the mark slightly.

Consider my wrist firmly slapped.

No sting from Severn Trent boss Wray

2009-10-28T21:37:00.011Z

I've had my preconceptions of a prominent business leader shattered this evening.

Given the bad press Severn Trent has received in recent years, I'd been expecting chief executive Tony Wray to be a difficult character to interview.

I spoke to Mr Wray before he gave a lecture at De Montfort University on how to get people to use water more sparingly.

Keen to see if I could fluster or trip him up, I asked him exactly what he did to save water. But instead what I got was a blokish honesty almost never expressed publicly by bosses of major companies.

The 48-year-old said he and his family did their bit, but were no means environmentally-friendly "zealots". He said he was leading by example because he had introduced a few water-saving devices to his "normal house", the kind of thing he would like to see all his customers do.

This was a charming and interesting man proud of his Leicester roots and the fact he still lives in the county. Not surprisingly, he had a lot to say about how he would like to see the water industry develop in the future, including the creation of more competition.

Whether or not he was trying to ingratiate himself to his local newspaper - which he said his mum reads regularly - and he is normally a nightmare to interview, I don't know. But it was a refreshing encounter which left me pleasantly surprised.

See what you think by reading my interview with Mr Wray in the Business supplement on Tuesday. There is also likely to be a story in the main part of the Leicester Mercury in the next few days.

*****************

UPDATE: 9.15am: October 30, 2009

Today's front page of the Leicester Mercury is not the story Mr Wray and I were anticipating on Wednesday evening.

A few hours after the interview a pipe bust near to Fosse Park shopping centre, leaving 3,000 homes in the area with low water pressure or no supplies at all.

The irony is that Severn Trent's record on water leakage - they lost 490 million litres per day in 2007/08 - formed a major part of our conversation. Mr Wray argued there was really nothing the company could do to prevent it happening.

A small part of the interview is due to appear in tomorrow's Mercury, with an extended piece in the Business supplement on Tuesday. Don't miss them.

Poor handling of Morris closure

2009-10-21T21:33:00.002+01:00

Faceless overseas investors are very much in the news at the moment following the takeover of Notts County, the world's oldest league club.

It seems most County fans, whatever concerns they may have, are prepared to give these unknowns the benefit of the doubt because of the cash they are putting into the club.

However, the announcement yesterday of the closure of one of Leicestershire's oldest manufacturers by its Finnish owners certainly did nothing to belie the uncaring and distant stereotype often associated with overseas business owners.

The 90 workers at 125-year-old Loughborough crane maker Morris Material Handling had been prepared for the worse after plans were revealed in the summer by Konecranes to merge the business with two sister firms.

A statement put on Konecranes' website at 12.40pm yesterday headlined 'Konecranes streamlines its business in the UK' announced the plant's closure and that crane production was being transferred to East Kilbride in Scotland. However, management at the site did not formally talk to staff face-to-face about it, leaving them fuming. And understandably so.

When I rang the factory I was told managing director Steve Davis was not available. Instead, I was put through to Bill Oliver, the sales and technical director, who declined to comment and referred me to the Konecranes statement and the group's Finland-based press office.

Yes, we all must accept the realities of the global economy. But it's a poor show when the management of a world-renowned company cannot comment on its sad demise and instead refers you someone in another country.

The announcement, of course, is a major blow to the town and overshadows the rescue late last week of that other historic Loughborough business, the 225-year-old Taylors Eayre & Smith bell foundry, following its collapse into administration.

Bank job losses 'could have been a lot worse'

2009-10-13T18:32:00.009+01:00

Let's be honest, the announcement this afternoon that Alliance & Leicester is to axe 200 jobs in Leicestershire was no big surprise.

Spanish owner Santander said in December last year it was looking to cut 1,900 posts at A&L and its Abbey and Bradford & Bingley businesses. Union officials subsequently told us A&L would bear the brunt of these cutbacks, with 1,000 job losses.

Then in January, A&L announced the beginning of a voluntary redundancy programme for staff at its Carlton Park head office in Narborough and its Heritage House call centre in Southgates, Leicester (where the job cuts announced today are taking place). The bank said at the time the number of redundancies would be known by the end of March. Since then it has declined to give out any more details about job cuts - until today.

The bank has now announced more than half of the 1,000 job cuts the Communication Workers' Union had predicted after today admitting 250 jobs had been axed at Carlton Park and Heritage House since January, presumably many of them as a result of the voluntary programme. It announced 100 job cuts at its Wigan mortgage operation in August.

But even after the 200 job cuts - which are due to be completed by January next year - A&L, which had to be rescued by Santander after suffering a £1.3bn loss as a result of the global financial meltdown, will still be one of the county's biggest employers, with 2,250 people.

As one business leader said to me this afternoon: "Things could have been a lot worse."

Read tomorrow's Leicester Mercury for the full reaction.

Multi-million pound questions

2009-10-07T17:50:00.007+01:00

Self-made multi-millionaires can be unpredictable at the best of times.

So I was slightly nervous when I rang the mobile of Dunelm founder Bill Adderley this morning to ask him about his decision to sell part of the business for £48m.

Previously, the man who set up the £400m-turnover homeware chain from a Leicester Market Stall in 1979 has been unwilling to speak to me.

My usual approach to interviewing multi-millionaire business people is to start by praising their achievements and saying how inspiring I and others find them (which most of the time is quite true) and then posing more and more difficult questions, which, if pushed too far can result in things ending rather abruptly.

To be fair to Mr Adderley, he was willing to engage in a conversation about his reasons for selling a 7.8% share of the business, as well as his views on the future of Dunelm. Our chat went on for more than 10 minutes and the interview can be seen in the business section of tomorrow's Leicester Mercury. However, as is usually the case, he was more forthcoming on some subjects than others.

The main thing which came across from Mr Adderley - who still controls more than a third of the business - was the fact he is a down-to-earth man far removed from the pin-stripe City brigade which had advised him now was a good time to offload some of his shares.

It is easy to knock wealthy business people, particularly during a recession, but Mr Adderley's positiveness and sense of pride in the business was quite inspiring. Having come into work this morning feeling I may have been coming down with swine flu, I felt genuinely reinvigorated afterwards.

One in, one out

2009-09-30T19:45:00.019+01:00

Rather like a sporting substitution, one of Leicestershire's best-known companies is to enter the field of high City finance, while another is to leave it.

Leicester Tigers announced earlier this week it was planning take a dual listing on the London Stock Exchange and the Channel Islands exchange next year.

Yesterday, debt-ridden Jessops, the UK's largest photography chain, confirmed it was leaving the Stock Market after completing a rescue deal with its bank.

What many people might not know is that Tigers' shares are already being traded. But the club's directors believe a flotation will see the shares - currently priced at £1.75 each - soar in value.

This is because a listing on the Stock Market will see them become more easily available to a wider number of investors.

Currently, those wanting to buy or sell the shares have to find a stockbroker who can get hold of them or a buyer, which can take up to a month. It is rather like selling 100 of the latest DVD releases on Amazon instead of hawking them around various pubs. They are likely to be sold more quickly and at a higher price, because you have a ready-made market.

The decision by Jessops, based in Braunstone Frith, to go back into private ownership had been widely expected. Just under half of the firm will be owned by HSBC, 33% will be controlled by the group's pension trustee and the remainder will be owned by an employee trust fund.

The camera chain's five years as a Stock Market-listed company has been nothing short of a nightmare. It floated just as the competition from supermarkets, internet retailers and mobile cameras increased. Valued at £160m in 2004, investors were told yesterday their shares were worth a total of just £100,000.

Tigers, which has 10,000 shareholders, should be valued at above £10m when it floats. But it won't be the experience of Jessops which concerns supporters, but the problems encountered by neighbour Leicester City after it floated on the Stock Market in 1997. A boardroom power battle and an agonising collapse into administration were all played out very publicly because of the need to keep the market up to speed with goings on behind the scenes. But the Tigers board is adamant nothing like that could happen at the club because its management culture is completely different.

Jessops and Leicester City are connected through the camera chain's sponsorship of the football club's shirts. But the other interesting link is the fact that both Jessops and Leicester City spent five years listed on the Stock Market, and City exited when it went into administration in October 2002, while Jessops confirmed it was leaving the market just two days before October.

Spookily, both Jessops and Leicester City also floated in October.

It may be likely the Tigers' board won't be pencilling in a stock exchange launch in a month starting with the letter 'O'.

Restaurant famine

2009-09-23T16:50:00.004+01:00

Leicester's restaurants are not what they used to be. That is the view of John Harris, the director of city advertising firm Rock Kitchen Harris.

He told me in an interview last week that when taking upmarket clients out to lunch in the city he was forced to go to the same eaterie each time - Casa Romana in Albion Street - because it was the only one he could rely on.

Mr Harris said he was worried the lack of fine dining establishments within walking distance of his Lower Brown Street office could have a negative impact on his business.
He admits the situation is much better within the county, but points out getting to these venues would require travelling by car.

Mr Harris says his views have received support from a number of prominent business people since the interview was published.

I agree with him to an extent. The closure of Watson's in Upper Brown Street, once seen as the city's premier fine dining restaurant, has exposed a shortage of top-notch places to eat in the city following a number of closures in recent years. But there is still The Case - which when I dined there a couple of weeks ago was excellent - as well as the recently opened The Boot Room, in Millstone Lane, and 1573 at Highcross.

Yes, Leicester does need more quality restaurants to help it compete with the likes of Nottingham and Birmingham, particularly as the city has upped its game in terms of shopping and cultural offerings.

Let's hope there are more entrepreneurs, like the people behind The Boot Room and 1573, willing to take advantage of this gap in the market.

Return of the Cable Guy

2009-09-19T18:02:00.001+01:00

Everyone's favourite economic sage was back in Leicestershire on Thursday.

Vince Cable, the Lib Dems' deputy leader and treasury spokesman, is one of the few politicians to have seen their approval rating soar during the financial crisis. But like most politicians his supporters are good at spinning. They claim he predicted the credit crunch, but so did around a dozen eminent economists - the trouble was no one listened.

The thing about Mr Cable is that his monotone accountant-style delivery - which 12 months ago brought him a certain amount of ridicule - is exactly what's called for when making speeches about the economy these days. Those measured tones had the 200 senior business figures at the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce President's Dinner at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Leicester capitivated.

It was the second time I had interviewed Mr Cable in four months, after I caught up with him when he visited businesses in south Leicestershire earlier in the year. That day I spent two hours driving around the Harborough area with him. It was fascinating to see a senior politician at work. His mobile phone never stopped ringing, with calls from numerous national journalists and one call from the BBC's Question Time about his appearance on the show that evening.

It made the £25 parking fine I received for overstaying in a street parking bay in Market Harborough well worth it.

Mr X Calling

2009-09-12T00:16:00.002+01:00

Like many newspaper journalists, many of my stories originate from anonymous tip-offs, usually via the telephone.

These unnamed sources reveal a wide range of information a journalist would not have otherwise known, such as redundancies being planned by a company, a company's financial problems or the fact a business is in administration or in the process of going into liquidation.

The trick, of course, is to turn what is usually limited information into a credible story which is legally sound. A lot of the time this can be relatively straight forward, such as getting the tip-off confirmed by the business itself or an administrator or insolvency practitioner. Sometimes, however, it is not so simple.

Two examples from the past few days highlight the different ways anonymous tip-offs can go.

The first relates to a tip-off about Hampson Aerospace Machining, in Scudamore Road, Leicester, which was recently bought by Darwin Private Equity. A worker rang to say the new management had announced it was cutting 19 jobs, a fifth of the workforce. This was despite the newly-installed chairman telling us a few days before that the takeover "would be very good for employees" and no cost cutting was planned.

This was a good story which was fairly easily written following a quick phone call to the chairman, who confirmed the job cuts, but denied that his previous statement had been a pledge not to reduce the workforce in the short term (the semantics of business speak is a subject for another day).

The second example was when the brother of a worker from a medium-sized Leicestershire firm called to say his sister had told him she and other workers had not been paid this week because of the firm's financial problems. Given that the business employs well over 100 people, the tip-off, if it turned out to be true, would, of course, be a significant story. However, after a few probing questions I realised the story I was being told was not as straight forward as the caller had initially made out.

A call to the boss of the business confirmed that things were a lot more complicated. The boss, who only spoke to me on the condition everything he said was off the record, said staff had not been paid a proportion of their wages this week (he would not give me an exact figure), but that more than 80% of them had agreed to it because they realised it was for the good of the company. He said the cut in wages was only happening for one week, but the rest of the information he gave me was rather vague. He said he did not want to see a story printed because it could jeopardise the future of the company and the 100-plus workforce. He also pointed out the fact that only one employee had contacted me highlighted the support the management had from staff on this matter.

He then challenged me to write a story based on what I knew without quoting anything he had said (which was the condition on which in spoke to me in the first place), menacingly telling me his lawyers would be taking a close interest in what I wrote. Given the lack of an official union source and the fact the conciliation service Acas refused to confirm they were involved, I know at this point it is impossible for me to write a credible and legally watertight story.

But I did tell the boss I would be calling him again if another of his workers contacted me with any more details. He promised to take my call.

Jessops' new marketing strategy

2009-08-10T22:24:00.000+01:00

I am Business Editor of the Leicester Mercury and I have decided to begin a blog where I will talk about the stories and issues affecting Leicestershire businesses. It will provide comment and further information on stories in the Leicester Mercury and the weekly the Business supplement.

In tomorrow's the Business there is story about Jessops executive chairman David Adams announcing a change in direction in the troubled camera chain's marketing strategy and his admission that the 74-year-old Braunstone Frith-based group cannot compete with supermarkets and internet retailers, which have been a thorn in its side for years.

The chain has been working with HSBC - to which it owes £57m - on the new strategy as the bank prepares to take a majority stake in Jessops as part of a debt-for-equity swap. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the announcement is it shows the group almost certainly now has a secure future after concerns earlier this year the loss-making firm would not last until the end of the summer.

There is also a story about a Hamilton engineering firm which is re-employing 15 staff it had been forced to axe earlier this year after its attempt to drum up business from key customers resulted in a flurry of orders. It follows an upbeat assessment about the future of manufacturing in the East Midlands from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

On top of this, we have an interview with the boss of an organic baby clothing firm on its global expansion.

Meanwhile, I will be interested to hear what proclamations Business Secretary Peter Mandelson makes during his week in charge of the country, given the somewhat controversial views Harriet Harman took the opportunity to share with us during her stint at the helm last week.