May, 2004

News

DTI replaces RSA grant scheme
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has wound up its Regional Selective Assistance and Enterprise Grants schemes in England, with effect from 1 April, and replaced them with new packages, known as Selective Finance for Investment in England (SFI) and Tier 3. The SFI scheme, and its predecessors, are a system of discretionary grants to help businesses, awarded by the DTI but administered through the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs).

Under SFI, which will replace RSA/EG in Tier 2 assisted areas, there will be a minimum threshold for grant applications of $18,000. Applications for less than $180,000 do not need to involve job creation or safeguarding to be eligible for support. However, in addition to existing criteria, applications under the new scheme will need to demonstrate the potential for growth in productivity and higher skills levels (NVQ 2 or equivalent) in the jobs created. There will be some limited scope for projects that do not meet the criteria but which promise to create employment.

The Tier 3 scheme will operate in a similar way to the Enterprise Grant scheme. The grant maximum is being increased from $135,000 to $180,000 in Tier 3 areas. Jobs do not have to be created for an application to qualify, but the focus will be on high-quality projects. An example of the kind of company that benefited under RSA is Moeller Manufacturing Ltd, based at Dukeries Industrial Estate in Worksop in the East Midlands. The company was facing uncertainty after a change of ownership and found itself competing for work with similar facilities in Germany. An RSA grant of just over $1 million from the East Midlands Development Agency secured the future of Moeller and its 158 employees.

In London, grants of up to $54,000 are available for companies seeking to implement new business ideas, as part of a two-year funding package worth nearly $12 million. The money is designed to raise levels of spending on research while encouraging London firms to forge stronger links with universities. It will fund three major new projects. The $5.8 million JumpStart programme will offer grants of up to $18,000 to small businesses to help develop new products, streamline their processes and improve productivity.

The SME Innovation Support Programme will offer small and medium-sized businesses in deprived areas of the capital free analysis of their performance and suggestions for technical improvements and new business opportunities. This will offer maximum assistance of $54,000. Finally, $3.6 million will be spent to set up the London Innovation Relay Centre, which will enable entrepreneurs and businesses to exchange ideas about new technological developments with their counterparts in the UK and the EU.

In Scotland, $15.7 million of European Regional Development Funding has been approved under the Highlands and Islands Special Transitional Programme. This latest round is worth nearly $59 million when match funding is included. The money will be shared among six projects, including the Inverness Medicentre, construction of an access road for Inverness Airport and the second phase of a road upgrade between Achnasheen and Kinlochewe. The Highlands programme was set up in 2000, and in the period 2000-2006 has allocated around $333 million to support local projects.


UK companies top wealth creation league
Wealth creation among UK companies is increasing faster than in the rest of the Europe, according to the DTI’s 2004 Value Added Scoreboard. The scoreboard lists the value added (wealth created) for the top 600 European and top 800 UK companies, and shows that since last year value added by the UK companies has risen by 4 per cent while other European companies show only a one per cent increase. Value added is defined as sales less the cost of bought-in materials, components and services. Another measure provided by the scoreboard is value adding efficiency, in which UK companies rank 12 per cent higher than their European counterparts.

The UK has 165 companies in the European 600, more than any other country. Second is Germany with 89 companies and third France with 83. These three countries accounted for two-thirds of all wealth created in Europe last year; the UK’s share of this was 27.5 per cent, the same as in the previous year. As a group, the value added for the 165 UK companies increased by five per cent, while the German companies improved by just one per cent and the value added of the French companies fell by one per cent. Britain’s top value-creating companies were Royal Dutch/Shell, BP and Vodafone. The British leader, Shell, dropped from third to fourth position in the European league, overtaken by Deutsche Telekom of Germany.

Productivity, or output per job, in the UK economy as a whole increased by 1.8 per cent year-on-year in the final quarter of 2003, compared with 1.5 per cent year-on-year for the third quarter. Quarter-on-quarter growth was unchanged at 0.7 per cent. Unit wage costs increased by 1.5 per cent compared with the same quarter a year ago, down from growth of 2.4 per cent the previous quarter. Wage costs fell by 0.3 per cent from the third quarter to the fourth.

Manufacturing productivity showed the biggest increase, rising by 6.3 per cent, up from growth of 5 per cent in the previous quarter. Output per hour worked rose by 2.1 per cent for the final quarter and by 4.6 per cent for the year as a whole. Growth in this sector is now at its highest level since the fourth quarter of 2000. Profits grew by more than 3 per cent last year, indicating that the four-year decline in manufacturing may be drawing to a close. Retailers reported sluggish sales in March, as poor weather kept shoppers at home, but forecasts were strong for April.

FDI predicted to bounce back
With business confidence growing around the world, corporate location experts are predicting that foreign direct investment (FDI) will take off again this year after three years of decline. In a survey by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) and Corporate Location magazine, three-quarters of 87 international location experts polled in different regions thought that the investment climate would improve over the next two years, and 80 per cent were optimistic for 2006/07. This was in line with Unctad predictions that FDI would rebound this year due to factors including stronger economic growth globally, improved company profitability, growing investor confidence and a pick-up in merger and acquisition activity.

The US was expected to retain its position as the world’s biggest destination for FDI, but the booming economies of China and India were also predicted to grab a large share. Among developed countries, the UK was considered the best prospect after the US, along with France and Canada. A number of emerging economies were also predicted to do well, among them Thailand, Poland, the Czech Republic, Mexico and Malaysia. Global FDI flows stagnated last year at $653 billion, less than half the record $1,400 billion seen in 2000. However, inflows into the US and China, the top two FDI recipients, rose to $87 billion and a record $57 billion respectively.


New bankruptcy laws aim to create fairer regime
New bankruptcy laws came into force on 1 April, with the intention of encouraging enterprise while cracking down on irresponsible and reckless creditors. The Enterprise Act 2002 marks the end of the ‘one size fits all’ approach to bankruptcy and represents the biggest shake-up of the personal insolvency laws for a generation. It introduces a fairer regime for those who have failed through no fault of their own, but also includes tough new measures for the minority of bankrupts who take advantage of creditors or the public.

The Act provides for the automatic discharge of most bankrupts after a maximum of 12 months, rather than two or three years as is now the case. It will also introduce Bankruptcy Restriction Orders to protect businesses and the public from bankrupts whose conduct is reckless, culpable or irresponsible, and Income Payments Agreements, which are a new way of repaying debts from the bankrupt’s income. It will also introduce fast track voluntary arrangements, allowing a bankruptcy order to be annulled in return for larger or speedier payments to creditors, and will remove unnecessary restrictions on bankrupts.

“Business is a dynamic process and difficulties and failure are an inevitable part of the enterprise economy,” said Consumer Minister Gerry Sutcliffe. “However, the fear and consequences of honest failure should not be so disproportionate that they act as a disincentive to entrepreneurs.


UK climbs e-readiness league table
The fifth annual ‘e-readiness’ rankings compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit and IBM show that the UK has climbed to second in the world in the internet adoption league, overtaking the United States. It is now second only to Denmark, by just 0.1 of a percentage point. E-readiness is judged on connectivity and other factors such as a country’s technology infrastructure, its business, social, cultural, legal and policy environment, consumer and business adoption and supporting e-services.

Both Denmark and the UK moved up a place from 2003, while the US slipped to sixth. The Nordic nations were well represented, with last year’s leader, Sweden, in third place, followed by Norway and Finland. The top ten was completed by Singapore, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Switzerland. The survey showed that early internet adopters, such as the US and Australia, where usage was already well established, were slower in their uptake of broadband services, and were being overtaken in this area by countries that were adopting internet technology from a lower base.

Within the UK, the latest monthly survey of internet service providers (ISPs) shows that active subscriptions to the internet grew by 8.2 per cent between February 2003 and February 2004. The market share for permanent connections continues to increase and in February stood at 24.3 per cent, compared with 23.1 per cent in January and 12.6 per cent a year earlier. Dial-up connections decreased by 5.7 per cent as subscribers switched over to broadband. British Telecom (BT) continues to enable exchanges for broadband across the country as they hit ‘trigger’ levels of demand. One of the most recent switches is in Telford in the West Midlands, where the exchanges covering the town’s three main industrial estates will be capable of handling ADSL technology within 3-6 months. There are now more than 200 enabled exchanges in the West Midlands region.

BT has also announced a number of new initiatives for delivering digital content over the internet, laying foundations for the delivery of pay-per-view television over broadband and trialling a new ‘flexible bandwidth’ service that will offer faster download speeds for data-rich services such as live video. BT Rich Media, a new division within the group’s BT Retail arm, will seek to provide small businesses and organisations with an end-to-end production platform that will allow them to showcase online content, including music and videos. The new service will offer download speeds of 2mbits per second, allowing video streaming at near-DVD quality and paving the way for the launch of a new pay-per-view TV platform, planned for next year.


Overseas companies enter postal market
Royal Mail has announced a number of deals with overseas postal operators, following the first phase of liberalisation in the UK postal market. It has signed an agreement with TPG Post UK, a subsidiary of the Netherlands’ main operator TPG, giving it access to 27 million households. TPG, trading under its global TNT brand, will carry business mail to Royal Mail’s 73 inward mail centres, starting in the summer. Previously Royal Mail has signed agreements with several other operators, including UK Mail, a subsidiary of Business Post, and Deutsche Post, the German postal operator and owner of DHL. Deutsche Post has obtained a long-term licence to operate in the UK, collecting and sorting mail which the Royal Mail will then deliver. It has relocated its 160 UK staff to a 74,000 sq ft in Croydon, south London, which will enable it to triple its capacity to 7.5 million items a month.

Liberalisation of the postal market began in 2003, allowing competition in business-to-consumer bulk mailings, which account for around 30 per cent of the letter market by value. The second phase will be introduced in April 2005, adjusting the bulk mail threshold to open up a total of 60 per cent of the market, before restrictions are abolished in mid-2007.


UK leads the way on renewable energy
The UK has overtaken Spain to become the most attractive national environment for wind power, according to the third Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index by Ernst & Young. The British government is committed to increasing energy generation from renewable sources, and since the last index in October 2002 has pledged to extend its Renewables Obligation Compliance to 15 per cent by 2015. It has also promised further support for wind power. An Ernst & Young spokesman commented: “The UK provides a friendly environment for renewable energy as a whole, and in particular the wind sector, with a combination of an attractive capital allowance regime and the availability of capital grants for offshore wind and other renewables.”

Wind power is likely to be the dominant renewable technology until 2020, says the Renewables Innovation Review, a report published jointly by the DTI and the Carbon Trust. On- and offshore wind will be able to deliver almost all of the growth required to meet the government’s 2010 renewable energy target, but wind power alone would not be sufficient to meet aspirations for 2050. All renewable technologies will have a part to play, concludes the report, and there will be an especially important role for fuel cells in delivering carbon savings through increased efficiency. Key issues for long-term development of the sector include the need to demonstrate the technical and commercial viability of wave and tidal projects; the fuel supply development of biomass through clusters of regional-level projects; and a more coherent approach to building integrated renewables such as solar photovoltaics. The government has recently introduced additional grant funding for investment in solar projects.

Industry body the British Wind Energy Association believes that the electricity generation capacity of wind farms will triple over the next two years. Government initiatives have encouraged a surge of investment, and projects worth $1.8 billion and providing a further 1,000 MW of electricity – enough to power almost 1 million homes – are set to be completed by the end of 2005. Much of the increased capacity is expected to come from onshore and, increasingly, offshore wind farms. Currently just over 3 per cent of the UK’s electricity is generated from renewable energy and 0.5 per cent from wind.

Wind turbine manufacturer NEG Micon Rotors is expanding its operation on the Isle of Wight in South East England to cope with rising demand. The company is set to occupy a 60,000 sq ft building at the Venture Quays site at East Cowes. It has created 70 new jobs but this could rise to as many as 120. The company first started producing turbine blades on the island four years ago with a workforce of 150; it now employs 500 people. Among wind projects currently underway, construction has begun of the Scroby Sands offshore wind farm, 2.5km off the coast of Great Yarmouth in East Anglia. The $135 million project involves thirty 2MW wind turbines that will generate enough electricity to supply 41,000 homes.

Also in Eastern England, local company Banham Poultry has won approval for an innovative plan to establish a renewable power plant near Attleborough in Norfolk. The plant will use pyrolysis and gasification technology to heat dried poultry by-products in oxygen-free conditions, releasing a combustible gas that will then be used to generate electricity. The plant will be capable of handling up to 1,200 tonnes of material a week, producing 5.5MW of electricity. In Peterborough, Microgen Energy has opened a major new facility to develop and test its Microgen Micro Combined Heat and Power units. These promise to revolutionise the domestic energy market, says the company, by enabling customers to produce some of their own electricity whilst heating their homes.

A major conference and exhibition for the renewables sector, All-Energy Opportunities 2004, is taking place in Aberdeen, Scotland from 25-27 May. More than 1,000 people from the European energy sector are expected to attend, making this the biggest event of its kind in the UK. The exhibition, to be held at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, will stage workshops on wind power, as well as wave, tidal, hydro, hydrogen, fuel cells, solar and biofuels technology. More information at: www.all-energy.co.uk.


Aerospace investment is on the up
Bombardier Aerospace of Canada has announced new investment of $60 million in two aircraft programmes at its manufacturing facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The plant will produce components for two new aircraft: the Bombardier Learjet 40, a six- to seven-seat light business jet, and the 12- to 19-seat long-range Bombardier Global 5000 business jet. The fuselage for the Learjet 40 and the forward fuselage, horizontal stabiliser, wing-to-fuselage fairing and other components for the Global 5000 are being designed and manufactured in Northern Ireland. Bombardier is a major investor in the province, contributing more than $240 million annually to its economy in employee salaries alone.

Italian high-technology company Finmeccanica is to acquire the Alenia Marconi Systems air traffic management unit of BAE Systems, based in Bristol, South West England. The deal is part of an agreement signed between the two companies in July 2003, known as the EuroSystems partnership. Under this agreement, BAE Systems will be largely responsible for systems integration while Finmeccanica will take charge of the avionics business.

In the West Midlands, Dunlop Aerospace Braking Systems is to invest $14.4 million in three new process facilities at its plant in Holbrook Lane, Coventry. The new investment will enable the design and manufacture of aerospace components such as wheels and brake housings, aimed at the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers. It will create 100 new jobs.

A new aviation training facility has opened in the North East. Newcastle Aviation Academy will provide top-class training and qualifications from two of the UK’s leading providers of aircraft engineering and education, Kingston University and City of Bristol College, and will create a pool of skilled aviation engineers. The $3.4 million facility is housed in a hangar at Newcastle International Airport and includes fully functioning Boeing 737 and HS125 aircraft on-site for practical training.

Investment is also growing in the UK’s space industry. According to a survey by the British National Space Centre (BNSC), business has increased by 20 per cent over the past two years and the sector is now worth $7 billion a year. Researchers surveyed 222 firms with commercial investment in technology and orbit, and found that satellite manufacturers generated a turnover of $900 million in 2002/03 – slightly down on the previous year but 13 per cent better than 2000/01. Two-thirds of firms expected positive growth in the industry over the next two years.

Pharmaceuticals makes a major contribution
The importance of the pharmaceuticals sector to the UK economy is underlined by new figures that show its contribution to balance of payments figures rivals that of the oil and gas industry and financial services. The balance of trade in the sector rose by 15 per cent in 2003 to $5.7 billion, on exports of $21.2 billion. Spending on pharmaceutical R&D reached $6.3 billion, double the level of ten years ago, and accounted for a quarter of all industrial R&D spending.

US company W.L. Gore & Associates (which produces Gore-Tex waterproof fabric) is to add a new medical products manufacturing line to its facility in Dundee, Scotland, where it already makes electronic interconnect products. The new line will manufacture catheter devices, which the Newark, Delaware-based company has traditionally produced in the US. A small number of new jobs will be created initially, rising to 20 in two years’ time.

In the nanotechnology sector, iCurie Lab Holdings has chosen the UK as its base for the development of a new nano-scale super-cooling technology, encouraged by the UK’s Global Entrepreneur Programme. The team is led by former Samsung and NASA scientist Dr Jeong Hyun Lee, who has created and patented the revolutionary cooling technology, which is expected to have a major global impact on a range of everyday applications, from air-conditioning to faster computer speeds. The system works without the need for fans, pumps, dangerous gases or electricity, and has initially been applied to semiconductor cooling in the pursuit of faster computer speeds. The new company hops to create hundreds of jobs in the UK nanotechnology sector. “We found that the UK offers the ideal financial, technical and corporate environment from which to grow a major global business,” said Dr Lee.


Healthy outlook from finance to fashion
In other sectors, leading US financial services firm Lehman Brothers has officially opened its new European headquarters at Canary Wharf in London’s Docklands district. The new purpose-built facility, designed by Cesar Pelli & Associates, is 37 storeys high, including four basement levels, and occupies 1 million sq ft of space. Lehman Brothers has operated in London for 32 years, but this is the first time it has had all its staff under one roof.

Investment management company David L Babson & Company Inc of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is to acquire London-based institutional debt fund manager Duke Street Capital Debt Management (DSCDM). DSCDM specialises in collateralised debt obligations backed by leveraged loans. It invests in senior and mezzanine loans and buyout-related high-yield bonds, mainly in Europe. David L Babson & Company has more than $1.5 billion in assets under management and is a member of the MassMutual Financial Group.

US company NYFIX, a provider of technology solutions for the financial market, has set up a UK subsidiary, NYFIX International Ltd, and opened a data centre in London. Based in Stamford, Connecticut, the company supplies electronic trading infrastructure and execution services to brokerage firms and institutional investors.

Car sales reached a record high in the first quarter of 2004, as consumers used low-interest loans and the proceeds from remortgaging homes to buy new vehicles. Car sales of 466,955 in March were the highest since the twice-yearly number plate system was introduced in 1999, meaning that the 12-month rolling total also hit a new high. Industry observers cautiously looked forward to a fourth consecutive record year for the new car market, believing that the current forecast of 2.5 million units will need to be revised upwards if the market – and the economy as a whole – hold up.

In the creative sector, a new website has been launched to showcase the fashion and textile industries in the North West. The Northwest Textile Network (NWTexnet) has launched the site – at www.fashionnw.com – to act as a one-stop resource for companies looking to source expertise in this fast-growing sector. Fashion and textiles has been identified by the Northwest Development Agency as one of 16 key industrial sectors, and the region is home to some of the UK’s fastest-growing brands, including Felix Blow, Ringspun, Hooch and Henry Lloyd. The launch of the new site was celebrated with a party at Manchester’s City Art Gallery, attended by luminaries such as model and actress Jerry Hall.


Businesses head north
Northern Ireland and the North of England are the hottest markets for company relocations, according to research by the Royal Mail. The organisation’s Business Barometer, which calculates the UK’s top 100 business populations, showed that Belfast was the fastest growing city in terms of new and relocated companies in the past 12 months, with a total of 487 firms starting operations there, an increase of 4.7 per cent on the previous year. Hull, in Yorkshire and Humber, was in second place, with 183 new companies and a growth rate of 3.3 per cent, and Blackburn in the North West in third, with 121 new companies, or 3 per cent growth. Other cities in the top ten included Newport and Swansea in Wales and Taunton and Exeter in the South West.

Although London’s business population fell by 2.2 per cent over the year, the capital and surrounding counties still account for the largest proportion of British business, with 26 per cent of the companies registered in the UK located there. The North – including Scotland and Northern Ireland – accounts for 24 per cent.
 

Around the regions
TWI, a world leader in joining technologies based in Cambridge, Eastern England, has announced it will invest $32 million in a new industrial R&D centre at the Advanced Manufacturing Park at Waverley, South Yorkshire. The 100-acre site, near Rotherham, forms the high-tech hub of RDA Yorkshire Forward’s advanced engineering and metals cluster. TWI specialises in new joining technologies for high value-added engineering sectors such as aerospace, automotive, defence and the oil and gas industries. The new centre will create 40 new jobs, while in all TWI expects to create 600 jobs through a range of projects over the next six years.

Brookfields Park

Manvers Enterprise Zone, Rotherham

Palram Europe, a multinational company with a base in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, has won a $3.6 million contract to supply polycarbonate roof panels for the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece, which will host this summer’s Olympic Games. The company, a specialist in thermoplastic sheeting, was the only one able to match the specification for the 259,000 sq ft roof on performance, appearance and safety standards. Production of 4,750 thermoplastic sheets is being undertaken by the Palram Polycarb factory, and the completed order will weigh over 320 tonnes.

The first quarter of 2004 saw a number of new developments get under way in Doncaster. Work has begun on the new terminal building at Doncaster Finningley Airport, and large new speculative office developments have started on sites at Denaby, Redhouse, Carolina Court and West Moor Park. New plans are on the table for a major $8 million office development at J3 of the M18 motorway. Croda Chemicals and TH Brown have taken an extra 64,000 sq ft of space at Doncaster Industry Park, and Spanish company Porcelanosa is undertaking a further expansion of its existing premises at Lakeside.

Kodiak Networks, a provider of instant wireless systems based in San Ramon, California, has opened its European headquarters in Swindon, South West England to serve EMEA markets. Kodiak claims to be the only vendor in the European market to support all the global standards for instant wireless voice systems.

A new initiative has been launched to boost the call centre industry in the North West of England. Call NorthWest (CNW), backed by the North West Development Agency, is a three-year project led by the University of Central Lancashire in partnership with key industry players from the region. It will help companies to provide good infrastructure and working conditions; assist them with training; develop a ‘knowledge hub’ where companies can get help and advice; and assist existing facilities to meet world-class standards. Some 146,000 people work in the region’s 650 call centres – more than 4 per cent of the local working population.

Suzuki GB, the UK subsidiary of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corporation, is to develop a new $22 million national parts, training and technical centre at Milton Keynes in South East England. The 165,700 sq ft facility will be built on a greenfield site, with completion scheduled for the second half of 2005. The centre will be Suzuki’s UK base for the warehousing and distribution of motorcycles and marine products, though its main administrative headquarters will remain at Crawley, where it has been based for 22 years, until the current 25-year lease expires in 2007.

Sumitomo Electrical Wiring Systems (Europe), part of the Japanese Sumitomo group, is to invest nearly $4 million in the Swansea Valley in South Wales to grow its existing operation at Ystradgynlais into a key centre for the development of automotive wiring systems. The company has chosen the location as its main European research centre, on account of its strong links with local universities at Swansea and Cardiff, and the Welsh Development Agency’s planned Auto Technium for the automotive component sector at nearby Llanelli. Sumitomo, which has had a presence in the Swansea area since the 1980s and currently employs 100 people at the site, will create a further 15 new skilled jobs and will build an 11,000 sq ft extension to double the size of its existing premises.

Invest Northern Ireland reported that client companies committed to invest nearly $740 million in the province’s economy during 2003/04, bringing the total for the agency’s two years of existence to $1.8 billion. In the past year, 27 inward investment projects were secured. Eleven of these were new projects, representing investment of $63 million and the creation of 1,099 new jobs, figures that were up 65 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively, on the previous year. New investment from externally owned companies with existing projects in Northern Ireland amounted to $175 million.

German engineering plastics specialist Ensinger is to open a new manufacturing facility in South Wales, creating 48 new jobs and safeguarding a further 54. The company plans to invest $9.5 million in a purpose-built plant and is currently evaluating sites for a 540,000 sq ft facility in the area between Bridgend and Llantrisant. The new facility will encompass Ensinger’s stock shape distribution business and one of its specialist machining companies, Ensinger Precision Engineering.

Recruitmax, a US-based provider of workforce management solutions, has opened a European headquarters and data management centre in Chiswick, west London. The company, based in Ponte Vedra, Florida, offers software and services designed to help companies attract, hire, retain and manage their workforce effectively.

Chartwell Technology, based in Calgary, Canada, has opened its first European office at Stockley Park, Heathrow, South East England, through its subsidiary Chartwell Games. The company specialises in the development of Java- and Flash-based gaming applications and entertainment content for the internet and wireless platforms, and other remote access devices. Sorrent Inc, a creator of mobile entertainment based in San Mateo, California, has opened a new sales and marketing office in London to serve the EMEA region.

NetSuite, Inc, a provider of online CRM/ERP application software aimed at small to medium-sized businesses, is to expand its operations in the UK. The company, based in San Mateo, California, is opening a new office in Reading, South East England, and appointing a vice-president for the EMEA region.

US retailer 1-800 Contacts has acquired contact lens company VisionTec from technology commercialisation group BTG, in a deal that will see the London-based group continue to receive royalties for a period of ten years. VisionTec, which is to be renamed Clearlab UK, manufactures daily disposable contact lenses, using a low-cost spin-moulding process. 1-800 Contacts, based in Sandy, Utah, sells all the popular brands of lenses in the US, via a toll-free telephone number and its website.

IronCAD of Atlanta, Georgia, a provider of design collaboration solutions, has opened a new European sales office in Chichester, South East England, following a 21 per cent increase in European support venues in 2003. The company’s flagship product, IronCAD, and other parts of its software suite provide an integrated design and information management environment, with 3D design and collaboration systems managed through a web-based engineering data management system.

Ciba Specialty Chemicals of Switzerland has acquired Pira International, a supplier of business solutions to the packaging, paper, printing and publishing industries based in Leatherhead, South East England. Pira, which employs 140 people, has worked with its client industries for more than 70 years, providing consultancy and services, together with major publishing and conference activities. Ciba has a presence in around 120 countries worldwide, supplying chemicals to some 40 different market segments.

Globespan Virata, Inc, a leading provider of broadband communications, which has a base on the Cambridge Science Park in Eastern England, is to merge with Conexant Systems, Inc, based in New Jersey. The combined company, which will have annual revenues of around $1.2 billion and will employ 2,400 people worldwide, will retain the Conexant name. It will possess the industry’s most advanced portfolio of semiconductor solutions targeting broadband communications, enterprise networks and the digital home.

Arch Chemicals, Inc of Norwalk, Connecticut, is to acquire the biocides operations of Avecia, based in Manchester, North West England in a deal worth $210 million, subject to approvals. These consist of two businesses, Pool & Spa and Protection & Hygiene. Pool & Spa provides non-chlorine-based sanitisers for swimming pools and spas, while Protection & Hygiene is a leading global supplier of biocides to the industrial and consumer segments of the market. The businesses have their primary manufacturing sites in the UK and, between them, employ about 290 people worldwide.

Dawson International, based in Kinross, Scotland, has sold its premium cashmere brand, Ballantyne, to Charme Investments SCA, a Luxembourg-based private equity company. The deal, subject to shareholder approval, is worth around $26 million. The company has manufacturing operations at Innerleithen and Galashiels, both in Scotland.

Shareholders of Dutch shipping and road transport firm Royal Nedlloyd have approved a $600 million buy-out of British partner P&O, based in London, from container shipping joint venture P&O Nedlloyd. P&O Nedlloyd claims to be the world’s fourth largest container shipping firm.

The port of Felixstowe in Eastern England has taken delivery of ten new rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGCs) and a ship-to-shore gantry crane (SSGC) from Zhenhua Port Machinery Company of Shanghai. The new quayside cranes are among the largest in the port, and bring its total complement to 88 RTGCs and 26 SSGCs. A further two SSGCs have been ordered from ZPMC, and are due for delivery in September.

British Midlands, the joint marketing agency for RDAs Advantage West Midlands and the East Midlands Development Agency, has opened a new office in Toronto, its fifth in North America and its first in Canada. The office will market the Midlands region to potential Canadian investors, promoting it as an ideal place in which to do business. A number of major Canadian companies already have a presence in the Midlands, among them Cott, Magna, Bombardier, Husky Injection Molding, Quebecor, Alcan, Woodbridge Foam and McCain.

Workers in Wales have the highest levels of job satisfaction in the UK, according to a new study presented to the Royal Economic Society. Although wages are lower and unemployment higher than the national average, workers in the principality feel more rewarded by their work than their counterparts in other regions, said the study. Among reasons put forward for this apparent contradiction were good industrial relations and the theory that workers in Wales are less concerned about pay than workers elsewhere. “If I were a firm, I’d be looking to set up in Wales – the good morale plus the low wages make it the ideal location for business,” said Professor Peter Sloane, of the University of Wales Swansea, co-author of the report.

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