News
January, 2004
White paper sets out 30-year vision
for airport development
“There has been a five-fold increase in air travel since the 1970s; half the population now flies at least once a year, and many fly more often than that,” said Mr Darling. “Forecasts suggest demand could be two and a half times current levels by 2030. Air freight has doubled in the last 10 years; one third by value of all goods we export go by air. Air travel is essential to the United Kingdom’s economy and to our continued prosperity. The aviation industry directly employs 200,000 people with a further 600,000 jobs supported indirectly.”
The paper concluded that there was an urgent need for more runway capacity in the South East, and recommended that two new runways be built in the region by 2030. The first should be at Stansted and should be completed as quickly as possible, by 2010 or 2011. The second, together with additional terminal capacity, should be built at Heathrow within the 2015-2020 period, but only if stringent environmental conditions can be met.
In the Midlands, Birmingham Airport was named as the preferred location for an additional runway, while the expansion of East Midlands Airport for both passengers and freight was also recommended. In the North of England, expansion of terminal capacity was recommended for both Manchester and Liverpool John Lennon airports, provided access was improved and measures taken to mitigate noise nuisance. Similar proposals were supported for Newcastle, Teesside and Leeds Bradford. The government concluded there was significant potential for expansion at Bristol Airport in the South West, including an extension of its runway.
In Scotland, the White Paper recommended that land should be safeguarded for terminal development and an additional runway at Edinburgh Airport, and also supported substantial terminal development at Glasgow, where a new runway remains an option. Terminal facilities should be developed to support growth at Aberdeen and Dundee. In Wales, further development was supported at Cardiff, though a new airport in South East Wales was ruled out. In Northern Ireland, capacity should be increased at Belfast International. It was decided that plans for the development of a number of smaller facilities around the country should be left to the relevant local authorities.
In the short term, services continue to expand. VLM Airlines is to launch a new high-frequency daily service between London and Liverpool in North West England, which is expected to attract millions of extra visitors in its role as European Capital of Culture in 2008. Humberside Airport in North Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Humber is planning to expand after its most successful summer ever. The airport, which saw passenger numbers increase by 11 per cent, plans to build an extension to its passenger terminal, providing additional arrival and baggage reclaim facilities.
Brown remains bullish on public borrowing
Chancellor Gordon Brown conceded in his annual pre-Budget report, delivered in early December, that the government would have to borrow $63.6 billion this year, $17 billion more than forecast in April. However, he insisted that public finances were healthy and that the UK’s debt burden was low by international standards. “It is right and prudent that – as in America, Japan, France and Germany – we borrow at this, the right time in the economic cycle,” he said. For 2004-05 he was more optimistic, predicting a fall in borrowing to $52.7 billion. He also insisted that he would meet his “golden rule” – that over the economic cycle the government would borrow only to invest – with $23.8 billion to spare over the current cycle. However, government revenues have been eroded by a shortfall in tax receipts and by the increased cost of military operations in Iraq.
In the report, which sets out economic forecasts and ideas for next year’s Budget, Mr Brown announced a number of new measures. He pledged almost $1.7 billion extra in child tax credit and introduced a rule allowing companies to offer employees up to $85 per week for child care costs free of tax. He also pledged $690 million to local councils to shore up public finances. The Bank of England is to adopt the internationally recognised Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices as its measure of inflation, meaning that the target for inflation falls to 2 per cent.
In the business sphere, the Chancellor is to push ahead with changes to the rules on pricing for intra-company transactions and financing structures to conform with European Union treaties. Small and medium-sized enterprises will be exempt. There will also be tighter rules to clamp down on the avoidance of Value Added Tax (VAT).
The recently introduced tax relief scheme for companies engaged in research and development is to be extended. Originally targeted at biotechnology and high-tech research activities, the legislation will provide a new, clearer definition of R&D and will have a wider scope that includes related expenses such as software and power. Tax breaks for the film industry and for North Sea oil and gas exploration will also be extended. First-year capital allowances of 40 per cent will be extended to manufacturers with turnovers of $37.4 million, and independent audits will no longer be required for companies with a turnover of less than $9.5 million.
Auto manufacturers put faith in UK expansion
Nissan has decided to begin production of its new Micra coupe-cabriolet convertible model at is plant in Sunderland, North East England in autumn 2005. The Japanese car-maker was encouraged by the receipt of a $5.5 million Regional Selective assistance (RSA) grant from the government, which brings to $277 million the amount in government grants the plant has received since it was founded in 1984. In that time Nissan itself has invested around $3.6 billion in its Sunderland base, which employs 4,500 people and produces the Micra, Almera and Primera ranges.
Nissan has invested some $162 million in the development of the Micra convertible, which will have a production run of 74,000 cars and a shelf-life of three and a half years. Nissan’s European design centre in London and its technical centre at Cranfield, Bedfordshire have also had significant input into the new model. Some 250 workers will be assigned to the production of the new vehicle, which will use the plant’s existing facilities as far as possible. Production is set at 20,000 units a year.
One of the world’s biggest tractor-makers is also to expand production at its UK manufacturing plant. CNH, producer of leading agricultural and construction machinery brands such as Case, New Holland, Steyr, FiatAllis and Kobelco, is to increase output at its Basildon, Essex plant by 20 per cent, from 21,000 tractors a year to 25,000. Based in the US but controlled by Italian automotive and industrial group Fiat, CHN has spent more than $170 million in the past three years to re-equip the Basildon plant, one of the biggest in Europe with 1,800 workers, and to develop new products. Around seven out of every eight tractors the plant produces are exported. Worldwide, CHN is supported by more than 12,000 dealers in 160 countries.
Businesses take more realistic view of ICT potential
Business in the UK are making better use of information
and communication technologies (ICT) as they mature, according to an
International Benchmarking Study from the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI). According to the report, 2003 marked a watershed in the development of
business ICT use worldwide, with companies having a greater realism, more
focused expectations as to what ICT can and cannot do for them, and a heightened
focus on business economics and the return on investment that ICT can bring.
Overall, businesses, especially small ones, have become more cautious.
Certain major trends emerge from the research. In particular, there has been an
end to the ‘dash for access’: around 90 per cent of UK companies – and nearly
100 per cent of those with more than 50 employees – now have access to the
internet. This figure has been static for the past three years and is unlikely
to increase further – in short, everyone who wants internet access now has it.
Second, there is no longer a ‘perceived value of presence’. Businesses widely
believe that ICT and the internet can help them cut costs, but few now believe
they can boost revenues simply by having a presence in the ‘global marketplace’.
Indeed, many are questioning the value of maintaining web sites, and some small
businesses are actually ‘clicking off’.
Companies are also seeking to use ICT more shrewdly. Many have invested heavily
to find they have an expensive but depreciating asset, and have frozen further
investment while they concentrate on developing it to unlock value in their
business. There is also, says the DTI, a clear digital divide between small
businesses and larger ones. Large companies have the scale to take advantage of
cheap connectivity and almost unlimited bandwidth, while smaller companies find
themselves far closer to the position of the consumer, with less easily
available access and proportionately higher prices.
Meanwhile Ofcom, the UK’s new communications regulator, is to launch a major
review of the telecoms industry in January. The review, which will run
throughout 2004, will be the first comprehensive assessment of the UK’s telecoms
sector in 13 years. It will explore the scope for improving competition and
relaxing regulation, as well as looking at other issues such as innovation,
consumer perspectives and pricing.
It comes at a time of intense competition in the telecoms industry. A new report
from telecoms and media analyst Analysys, for example, points out that delays in
the launch of 3G services have now opened up much wider opportunities for GPRS
technology, in the UK and across Western Europe. Looking at the prospects for
the next five years, the report forecasts that revenue from GPRS subscribers in
Western Europe will grow from $18 billion in 2003 to peak at $87.6 billion in
2006, before beginning to decline as customers switch to UMTS technology.
Science initiatives keep UK at the cutting
edge
Invest Northern Ireland has launched a new initiative to
help commercialise the leading-edge technologies being developed at universities
in the province and increase the number of spin-off companies. The Proof of
Concept Programme will support individuals or small groups of academics while
they develop base technologies related to ideas with commercial potential. It
can take several years for new technologies to become commercially attractive to
private investors, and the programme is intended to support research and
innovation in the early stages. It will run initially as a three-year pilot
involving two universities and, if successful, will be rolled out to other
institutions across the province. A similar programme has been running in
Scotland since 1999.
Cranfield University in Bedfordshire, Eastern England – one of the UK’s leading
technical research facilities – has received a $14.5 million grant from the
government’s Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF) to support a number of
projects across its twin campuses, at Bedford and Silsoe. The projects include
extension and upgrading of its aerospace engineering laboratories; upgrading of
nanotechnology facilities and equipment and of IT infrastructure; a new
Integrated Research Centre that will investigate vehicle dynamics; and a new
diagnostics laboratory for the Institute of Bioscience and Technology at the
Silsoe site.
The University of Dundee in Scotland, meanwhile, has opened a new 3D Colour
Laser Scanning and Imaging Research Centre, using technology supplied by
UK-based company Kestrel 3D Ltd. The $1.2 million facility, at the Duncan of
Jordanstone College of Art and Design, will enable researchers to scan objects
and manipulate them using computer software. It has numerous research
applications, spanning the engineering, medical, education, museum and creative
sectors.
A consortium of three universities in Yorkshire – Leeds, Sheffield and York –
has been singled out by development agencies as an example of how collaboration
can help win government funding and boost commercial exploitation of their
research. The White Rose consortium, formed six years ago, has seen the three
universities come together to create a computer grid with massive power and to
develop a number of research initiatives with commercial potential. One of the
first was the White Rose biotechnology consortium, which has led to 21 start-up
companies and the filing of 41 patents and 14 licences, together with the
setting up of a now-annual bioscience forum. The consortium has initiated
spin-off projects such as an aircraft maintenance research facility in
collaboration with Rolls-Royce and the University of Oxford, and is working
closely with RDA Yorkshire Forward to establish centres for industrial
collaboration, in areas such as biomaterials and tissue engineering, stem cell
biology and particle science.
A survey by the UK Science Parks Association (UKSPA), in collaboration with the
Small Business Service, shows that companies based on science parks have higher
growth rates than similar companies at other locations. On-park companies grow
significantly faster than off-park companies in terms of turnover and
employment, and also find it easier to access finance, according to senior
managers at 876 companies surveyed. Sixty-seven per cent of respondents said
that being located on a science park added to their overall market image. The
survey also highlighted the fact that science park provision has continued to
grow steadily over the past seven years. There is now around 1 million sq ft of
accommodation at science parks around the UK, housing more than 1,700 companies
which employ 41,000 people.
Property market shows signs of bottoming out
The take-up of prime office space in central London in
2003 was the lowest for 20 years, according to Cushman & Wakefield Healey &
Baker (CWHB). Take-up in the West End was just 2 million sq ft, compared with
2.75 million sq ft in 2002 and 5 million sq ft at the height of the dotcom boom
in 2000. In the City the figure fell to 2.8 million sq ft, compared with 3.7
million sq ft in 2002 and 9.8 million sq ft in 2000. The agency predicted that
the market had reached its bottom, but was unable to say when it would start to
rebound. The picture is similar for industrial properties. A report from King
Sturge notes that the availability of industrial and distribution floorspace had
increased to 210 million sq ft by November 2003, but that in the period from
April to September availability had risen by only 1.1 per cent, and in some
areas it was actually falling.
The over-supply of space, of course, has meant that rents have remained low.
Prime office rents in the West End have fallen to $110.50 per sq ft, compared
with $146 per sq ft at the 2000 peak. In the City they currently stand at $76.50
per sq ft compared with a 2001 high of $110.50 per sq ft. Demand is picking up –
by some 60 per cent since June – but, based on cyclical projections, CWHB does
not predict that the market will peak again until 2012.
| Developers, however, are looking to the future. In London, the go-ahead has been given for a 1,000ft tower at London Bridge station that will be the tallest in Europe on completion in 2009. The 66-storey ‘shard of glass’, designed by architect Renzo Piano, will be built at a cost of $595 million, with preparatory work taking until 2005. Near Cambridge in Eastern England, approval has been given for the development of a 1,100-acre site at the former Alconbury airfield. The site will be developed as a 7 million sq ft distribution hub, with the emphasis on rail freight. Image of the 1,000 ft London Bridge Tower to be built at London Bridge station. |
1,000 ft London Bridge Tower to be built at London Bridge station. |
In the North West, a second phase of development is under way
at Sherdley Business Park in St. Helens, with the construction of eight business
units comprising 70,000 sq ft of space. In the West Midlands, work is
progressing on the $21.6 million second phase of Keele University Science Park,
with plans for phase three expected in the new year. In the same region, Walsall
has become the second town in the West Midlands to form an Urban Regeneration
Company (URC). It is estimated that the initiative will encourage more than $1
billion in public and private sector investment over the next 10-15 years, and
will create up to 15,000 jobs.
New bill aims to keep traffic moving
A new bill – the Traffic Management Bill – is to give the
Highways Agency and local authorities in England and Wales new powers and
responsibilities to keep roads clear and minimise the disruption caused by road
works. The legislation, designed to reduce congestion and to keep traffic
moving, contains five key elements. New patrols under the authority of the
Highways Agency will take over responsibility from police for getting traffic
moving after accidents or breakdowns on motorways, and regional control centres
will be established to monitor and manage traffic on the network. Local
authorities will appoint traffic managers whose duty will be to keep traffic
moving in that area. Councils will be given greater control over when and where
utility companies carry out street works, and will have the power to levy fines
if roads are not repaired satisfactorily afterwards. Local authorities will also
have greater powers in enforcing driving and parking regulations. Finally,
traffic management in London will be co-ordinated across boroughs and a single
citywide permit scheme will be introduced to cover all types of work in the
streets.
The total number of vehicles travelling to mainland Europe in the third quarter
of 2003 was 652,300, virtually unchanged from the previous quarter but 4 per
cent more than in the corresponding quarter of 2002, according to figures from
the Department for Transport. Of these, 451,600 were powered vehicles. The
number of unaccompanied trailers was the same as in the second quarter but 14
per cent up on 2002. Twenty-six per cent of all powered vehicles were
UK-registered, compared with 27 per cent the previous year.
Also according to the Department for Transport, in 2002 some 49 million tonnes
of cargo were carried on the UK’s inland waterways. This included non-seagoing
traffic and seagoing traffic that crossed into inland waterways. Goods lifted in
2002 fell by 8 per cent over the previous year, while goods moved fell by a
similar amount to 1.7 billion tonne-kilometres. This was mainly due to a fall in
liquid bulk traffic, principally crude oil and oil products, but was also part
of a longer-term decline that has seen goods lifted and goods moved decrease by
18 per cent and 15 per cent respectively over the past decade.
Crude petroleum and petroleum products, however, are still by far the biggest
single commodity moved on water, accounting for 77 per cent of the total. The
busiest inland waterway in 2002 was the River Thames, which saw 19 million
tonnes of goods lifted and 0.77 billion tonne-kilometres of goods moved. Total
water transport accounted for 7 per cent of goods lifted and 26 per cent of
goods moved of all forms of transport within the UK over the year.
A Freight Facilities Grant of almost $1.7 million has been awarded to Henty Oil
Ltd of North Wales to enable fuel to be transported by water rather than by
road, saving some 4,000 heavy lorry journeys on local roads. Under the FFG
scheme, the government pays the capital cost of equipment or facilities to
enable operators to make the switch from road to other, more environmentally
friendly forms of transport.
Spotlight falls on call centre industry
Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt has launched a
study into the global challenges facing the UK call centre industry. In
particular the study will look at ‘off-shoring’ – the growing trend among
businesses to move call centre and back office operations to countries with a
lower cost base, such as India. The Call Centre Association and other industry
observers point out that the call centre industry in the UK continues to grow,
but that more data is needed to maximise its potential. Ms Hewitt too remains
upbeat, observing: “Our service sector is thriving. We lead the world in
financial services, accountancy, consultancy and business services. Our service
sector now accounts for almost 21 million jobs and 70 per cent of our economy.”
Industry body the EEF has confirmed its role as the voice of British
manufacturing by dropping the title ‘Engineering Employers’ Federation’ and
rebranding itself as ‘EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation’. The move is meant
to reflect the changing nature of the organisation’s membership and its
increasing involvement in issues affecting the UK’s productivity performance.
The EEF has 6,000 member companies from the manufacturing, engineering and
technology sectors, and is divided into 12 regional associations. It is also one
of the UK’s leading providers of business services in health, safety and
environment, employment relations and law, and education and skills training.
Renewables projects spark interest in green
energy
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has announced $3
million in new funding for 16 renewable energy projects across the UK. The
funding is part of the DTI’s $34 million Major Photovoltaic (PV) Demonstration
Programme, which is designed to help businesses, individuals, public buildings
and community projects convert to solar power. These are the sixth set of
medium- and large-scale proposals approved since the programme began in 2002.
Among the wide range of projects are plans to power a new racecourse in Essex,
Eastern England, a learning village in Croydon, Greater London and a resource
centre for children at the Eden Project in Cornwall, South West England.
The first wind turbine visible from the M25 London orbital motorway has been
erected at Kings Langley in Hertfordshire, Eastern England. The turbine will
generate pollution-free power for a new environmentally friendly office
development for wind energy company Renewable Energy Systems (RES). It is one of
several renewable energy technologies used in the refurbishment of a set of
1930s Arts and Crafts buildings on the site, formerly the Ovaltine Egg Farm.
Solar panels, energy crops and a seasonal heat store will also help power the
buildings, and will send any surplus power into the local grid for use by homes
or businesses.
In the same region, the East of England Development Agency has decided that
plans for a Centre of Excellence for Offshore Wind, submitted by renewables
agency Renewables East, should go ahead. It is proposed to site the centre in
the area around Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, and more detailed plans will be
drawn up by March 2004. In Yorkshire and Humber, a Swedish-owned renewables
company, Renewable Fuels Ltd, has established a base at the Escrick Park Estate
between York and Selby. Owned by Agrobränsle AB and part of the Lantmännen
Energi Group, RFL is a wood-based fuel supply company. It particularly promotes
the use of willow and is currently working with the Renewable Energy Growers’
producer group to harvest 1,500 acres of willow in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and
Nottinghamshire. The UK is committed to generating 10 per cent of energy from
renewable sources by 2010 and to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per
cent by 2050.
Creative industries have something to shout
about
The British film industry is currently generating almost $2.4
billion a year from special effects, computer graphics and post-production
services, according to figures from the UK film council. The industry employs
15,000 people in post-production for broadcasting, film and advertising
companies, accounting for 5 per cent of the post-production sector globally. It
is heavily concentrated in central London, which accounts for more than 80 per
cent of the total. Sales in the sector rose by 4 per cent in 2002 and it now
accounts for 25 per cent of all production budget spending, up from 13 per cent
two years ago. Recent successes for UK film-makers include the Harry Potter and
Lara Croft series, Finding Nemo for Walt Disney and Ice Age for Twentieth
Century Fox.
Outside the capital, a new internet-based marketing service has been launched
for the 12,000 creative businesses in the East Midlands. The ShoutOut site, at
www.shoutout.info, will allow members to upload company profiles and news to
create a directory that can be accessed by other companies in the sector and by
potential clients. It is aimed at any business in the creative sector, from
architects and photographers to web designers, musicians and film makers, and of
any size, from freelancers and small businesses to larger agencies.
Around the regions
Kiel Laboratories Inc of the US is to open an $8.5 million
manufacturing plant in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. The Georgia-based
company, which manufactures private-label and generic prescription drugs in a
variety of categories, including pulmonary and respiratory diseases, will employ
100 staff within three years. Also in Northern Ireland, German-owned Hüco
Lightronic has opened a new 22,000 sq ft manufacturing facility at Aghanloo
Industrial Estate in Limavady. The company, which manufactures electronic
control equipment for lighting systems, employs 70 people in the province and
has recorded five straight years of growth.
Taiwanese import-export company Tipp Co has set up a logistics, sales and
customer support centre at Salford Quays in Manchester. The company, which
specialises in retail and wholesale equipment, including stationery, fitness
equipment and fashion accessories, also has offices in Germany, Taipei and
Shanghai. It is the second major investment in Salford from Taiwan in the past
12 months, following Compal’s expansion of its operations. Meanwhile a new
building specifically designed for high-tech businesses is ready for occupation
at Salford Quays. The nine-storey Digital World Centre offers 72,400 sq ft of
accommodation and boasts plug-and-play broadband internet access, secure data
communications rooms and a range of other facilities.
US-based e-business company Azerity, of Milpitas, California, has opened a UK
sales office in London. Azerity provides web-based software applications for
sales transactions and channel automation, together with intelligent automation
and management of customer transactions. One Network Enterprises of Charlotte,
North Carolina has also set up an office in the capital. The company provides
supply chain on-demand services that help companies keep track of their
activities, including processes, transactions and connectivity both within the
enterprise and with retailers, distributors, manufacturers and providers of
logistics services. Another new arrival is communications systems company
Netrake, based in Plano, Texas, which is opening an EMEA office to manage sales
of its Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system control products.
Swedish IT and medical technology company Sectra has established a new company,
Sectra Communications Ltd, with offices in Cheltenham, South West England.
Sectra specialises in secure mobile communications systems, high-speed
encryption for telecom and data lines and tactical radio systems. Its customers
are government authorities and defence forces within Europe and NATO.
The importance of Chinese investors to London’s economy was highlighted by a
recent reception hosted by London First Centre and the Mayor of London, Ken
Livingstone. The UK capital has the biggest Chinese community of any European
city, with around 190 companies, 130 of which have their base in the Special
Administrative Region of Hong Kong. They include Hutchison Whampoa, the largest
single Asian investor in the UK, and many companies in the trading, banking,
insurance and travel sectors. High-tech companies such as Huawei Technology, ZTE
Corporation and Shanghai General Electronics Co have set up offices in London,
as has newcomer Glo Group Plc, a food retailer that is using the capital as a
springboard to launch a Europe-wide network of ready-to-eat Asian food outlets.
2002 was a record year for Chinese investment in the UK, with 22 new companies
arriving, more than half of which chose London as their base.
Duraflex, the UK subsidiary of building products corporation Masco, based in
Taylor, Michigan, is to expand its operations with a new 290,000 sq ft
headquarters building in Gloucestershire, South West England. The plastics
extruder currently operates from three separate sites in the county, but its
head office, manufacturing and distribution sites will now be consolidated into
a single site, with additional space for manufacturing activities. Duraflex is
one of the largest UPVC extruders in the UK, with an annual turnover of $52
million. It was acquired by Masco in 2002.
Phihong, a Taiwanese manufacturer of mobile phone chargers and accessories, has
opened a European office in Tiverton in Devon, South West England. The new
office will include a sales and technical support centre and initially will
employ three people. The company supplies products, including cradles,
hands-free headsets and interface cables, to electronics OEMs. Its global sales
for 2003 were expected to be more than $300 million.
Japanese automotive manufacturer Sanko Gosei is to invest a further $1.6 million
at its plant in Skelmersdale, North West England to improve efficiency and
expand its warehouse facilities. The company, which employs 200 people at the
plant, manufactures bumpers, instrument panels and other components for car
manufacturers such as Honda, Toyota and General Motors. Its facilities at
Skelmersdale include a full injection mould-making plant and an engineering team
that works in tandem with 26 Sanko facilities worldwide. Also in the North West,
Koito Aerospace, a Japanese manufacturer of airliner seats, is to set up a
manufacturing facility at Skypark International in Speke, Merseyside. The
facility will produce passenger seats for commercial aircraft, creating 21 new
jobs.
US-owned Precision Hydraulic Cylinders (PHC) Ltd is to create 70 new jobs at its
plant on Bassington Industrial Estate in Cramlington, Northumberland in North
East England. The company, which makes hydraulic cylinders for use in forklift
trucks, earthmoving equipment and heavy goods vehicles, is rebuilding after its
original premises were destroyed by fire in May. The company decided to remain
in Cramlington, encouraged by an RSA grant of $1.2 million from RDA One
NorthEast and further funding of $85,000 from Northumberland County Council.
Consumer electronics manufacturer Orion Electronics of Japan is to create 200
permanent jobs at its production plant in Margam, South Wales, taking the
workforce to 530. The company usually takes on 200 part-time staff in the run-up
to Christmas, but increased demand for its products means it will make the
positions permanent. Orion, which first set up in Wales 20 years ago, makes
products for the UK and European markets that are branded for big-name
retailers. Increased sales of its own-brand products, particularly flatscreen
TVs, has seen it open a new production line.
German conglomerate Siemens has acquired the remaining 49 per cent it did not
already own of Oxford Magnet Technology (OMT), a manufacturer of magnets and
other components used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners. Based in
Oxfordshire in South East England, OMT was founded by Oxford Instruments in 1982
and became a joint venture between Oxford Instruments and Siemens in 1989.
Siemens has 120 sites and offices within the UK, involved in a wide range of
activities.
New research highlights the emergence of a semiconductor design cluster around
Bristol in the South West to rival the one associated with Cambridge in Eastern
England. Numerous semiconductor companies have set up in the area in the past 25
years, attracted by a pool of skilled professionals and the proximity of Bristol
and Bath universities. The cluster now employs more than 800 people, including
500 silicon design engineers – 25 per cent of the UK’s total. Global players
such as ST Microelectronics, Hewlett-Packard and Lucent are among the companies
to have set up operations in the region.
A $425 million leisure and tourism development that could create up to 2,500
jobs is planned for Rotherham, South Yorkshire. The Yes! Project, planned for
300 acres of former industrial land adjacent to the Rother Valley Country Park,
just off the M1 motorway, will include high-tech entertainment facilities,
extreme sports and other leisure pursuits. Theatres, TV and recording studios, a
hotel spa resort, restaurants, bars and shops are among the attractions on the
drawing board.
Nobia of Sweden has acquired Gower Group, a manufacturer of kitchens and other
furniture based in Halifax, Yorkshire and Humber for around $120 million. The UK
company supplies flat-pack kitchens and bathroom and bedroom furniture to
builder’s merchants, retail chains and independent kitchen suppliers across the
UK.
US company Platinum Equity, headquartered in Los Angeles, is to acquire the
trading operations and some of the assets of the logistics division of the Hays
Group, based in Guildford, South East England, for around $170 million. Hays
Logistics designs complex supply chain solutions for firms both in the UK and
internationally, and is a leading provider of logistics outsourcing in Europe.
It has more than 16,000 employees and operations in 11 European countries as
well as in the US. Platinum Equity is a global acquisition firm, with principal
offices in Paris, New York, Boston and Atlanta. Its portfolio currently includes
19 companies, with combined revenues of over $4 billion and 16,000 employees
worldwide.
Breakfast cereal manufacturer Weetabix, based in Kettering, Northamptonshire in
the East Midlands, has been taken over by Latimer Acquisitions of Dallas, Texas
in a deal worth just over $1 billion. Gatekeeper Systems of Irvine, California
has acquired activeRF, based in Swaffham Bulbeck, near Cambridge in Eastern
England. activeRF is a developer of radio frequency ID tracking and locating
systems, used by customers such as supermarket chains Safeway and Tesco.
The city of Liverpool in North West England has switched on a new floodlit
landmark, the Mersey Wave, a 65-tonne sculpture made up of 12 giant aluminium
fins that straddles one of the main roads into the city. The sculpture, 100ft
high and 200ft long, was designed by Czech-born artist Peter Fink. It is 30ft
taller than the renowned Angel of the North on Tyneside in the North East, and
Liverpool is hoping its own sculpture will attract the same level of interest
and goodwill as it prepares for its role as European Capital of Culture in 2008.
Gaming company The Isle of Capri, the seventh largest casino operator in the US,
has announced plans to build a 100,000 sq ft ‘resort casino’ at the Coventry
Arena in Coventry, West Midlands. The entertainment complex – slated as the
largest in the UK – will boast gaming floors, restaurants and entertainment
stages and is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs. The $102 million Coventry
Arena development, on which work is soon to start, will include a 32,000-seat
sports stadium, a 6,000-seat conference and exhibition venue, conference
facilities and hotel accommodation. Meanwhile, Coventry First, a network for
professional and business support services in the city, has launched the
Coventry First Professional Services Directory, listing companies and bodies
offering professional services in the Coventry area. More information on:
www.coventry.gov.uk/business.
To find out about business exhibitions and events happening around the United Kingdom click on the EVENTS button.