June, 2004

News

UK business groups welcome EU enlargement
UK business organisations largely welcomed the expansion of the European Union on 1 May, when ten new states, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe, joined to swell membership from 15 to 25 countries. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said that the UK economy would benefit from the controlled entry of workers coming to the UK from Eastern Europe, while a survey by the Institute of Directors showed that 60 per cent of its members believed that workers from the accession states would help to plug skills gaps in the UK workforce. The Federation of Small Businesses meanwhile called for greater recognition of the role played in both the UK and European economies by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with more attention paid to their concerns in the formulation of EU policy and laws.

A report from the World Economic Forum - the Lisbon Review 2004 - shows that several EU states are struggling to make progress in attaining the goals of the Lisbon Strategy of economic and structural reforms, which sets out the EU's desire to be the most dynamic, knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. The review found that the three Nordic countries - Finland, Denmark and Sweden - are outperforming the United States in many areas but that other economies, particularly in Southern Europe, are falling short of even the standards of the new accession countries.

Finland is the most competitive country by the Lisbon criteria, which measure social and economic factors such as liberalisation, innovation and R&D, network industries, integrated financial services and sustainable development. It is followed by Denmark and Sweden and then by the UK, which ranks highest among the four EU members of the G7 organisation. Of the accession countries, Estonia ranked first, followed by Slovenia.

The Bank of England raised its main interest rate to 4.25 per cent on 6 May. The rise, the third since November, had been widely predicted by analysts. Inflation is currently well below the Bank's target, standing at 1.1 per cent in March, although growth in the first quarter was disappointingly slow at 0.6 per cent. Many observers believe that interest rates could rise to 4.75 per cent by the end of this year and to around 5 per cent by the end of 2005.
 

Overseas companies bag Queen's Awards for Enterprise
		Ten of the winners had a North American connection, being the UK or European subsidiaries of US corporations. Seven were honoured in the International Trade category: FM Insurance, JMJ Associates Ltd, Kingston Technology Europe Ltd, New Balance Athletic Shoes (UK), Nicobrand Ltd (owned by Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc), O-I Europe (owned by Owens-Illinois Inc) and Weetabix Ltd (owned by Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst Inc). In the Innovation category, awards went to Fibercore Ltd (owned by Scientific Atlanta), Sericol Ltd (owned by Saratoga Partners) and Air Products PLC, Packaged Gases, Speciality Gases Group.

Two European-owned companies featured: French-owned MBDA UK Ltd, in the Innovation category, and the Dutch-based Triodos Bank NV, for Sustainable Development. Ampy Automation Digilog Ltd, owned by Bayard Capital of Australia, and Dishman Europe Ltd, owned by Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals Ltd of India were winners in the International Trade category. KeyMed (Medical and Industrial Equipment) Ltd, owned by Olympus Corporation of Japan, picked up an award in the Sustainable Development section.

Nicobrand manufactures active ingredients for anti-smoking devices at its base in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. In its own mini-version of the scheme, the province has awarded prizes in the second All Island Student Enterprise Awards, run in collaboration with the neighbouring Republic of Ireland. These awards, sponsored by Invest Northern Ireland, Ulster Bank and Enterprise Ireland, have a prize fund of $50,000 and this year attracted 400 entries from students across Ireland. A team from the school of computer science at Queen's University, led by postgraduate student Arjun K Pai, won the Cruickshank & Co Award for developing the world's first handheld digital colour scanner. Called Scantura, the device is able to scan documents in any direction and can store up to 20 pages of colour images or 1,000 pages of text.

Government business services go online
A new government website - www.businesslink.gov.uk - has been launched to provide a one-stop source of information for the UK's 3.8 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Business Link site contains details of government advice, funding and training and, for the first time, provides SMEs (defined as companies with 250 or fewer employees) with a single point of access to government information and services. Six months in the development, the site is the result of collaboration between government departments and agencies responsible for business, together with extensive feedback from users. Among its services are a searchable database of over 2,500 government-funded business support products, ranging from grants to consultancy services, and a training directory with over 500,000 courses, events and seminars to help firms develop staff skills. Businesses will also be able to find out quickly and easily about the rules and regulations that apply to them, and will be able to register for e-filing with bodies such as the Inland Revenue, Customs and Excise and Companies House.

UK Trade and Investment - the government agency responsible for helping both overseas companies locating in the UK and UK companies trading internationally - has made its quarterly Investment Bulletin available online. The bulletin contains useful statistics and investment indicators, together with feature articles and profiles of individual regions and sectors of the UK economy. Readers can subscribe to an e-newsletter that gives access to new content as soon as it becomes available. For more information, visit: www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk

The Manufacturing Advisory Service claims in its second annual report that it has helped UK manufacturers to add value of $70 million to their businesses in the past year, a seven-fold increase in just 12 months. Each company assisted by MAS has seen its added value increase by an average of $187,000. MAS was set up to provide practical advice through 10 centres in England and Wales to help manufacturing companies improve their productivity and competitiveness. In 2003, it responded to 10,757 enquiries from firms seeking advice; visited 4,422 companies to carry out a diagnostic 'health check'; and completed 982 in-depth consultancies. All these figures were substantially higher than in the agency's first year of operation. Among its achievements, MAS claims to have increased employee productivity by an average of 38 per cent and equipment productivity by 34 per cent; reduced wastage by 32 per cent; increased utilisation of space by 41 per cent; and improved stock turnover by 42 per cent and on-time delivery by 33 per cent.


Education under the spotlight
A raft of reforms has been introduced to the government's programme of Modern Apprenticeships, which a quarter of a million young people are following. Renamed simply Apprenticeships, the scheme will now include Young Apprenticeships for 14- to 16-year-olds, who will be able to spend two days a week out of school in a workplace learning a trade. One thousand places will be available initially, in the engineering, business administration and arts and media sectors. The upper age limit of 25 is also being scrapped, and efforts will be made to encourage more businesses to participate in the scheme, which is being administered through the Sector Skills Councils. A 'clearing house' system will be set up to match school leavers with employers, and apprenticeships will be 'portable', so that young people are able to move from one company to another.

Universities and private schools have both seen a dramatic upsurge in applications from overseas students. Members of the Independent Schools Council report particular increases in the numbers of Germans, mainland Chinese and children of expatriate Britons studying at British boarding schools. Hong Kong is the largest source of private school pupils from Southeast Asia, but last year there was a 13 per cent rise in admissions from mainland China. More than 1,000 German pupils came to the UK last September, an increase of 11 per cent over the previous year. Most come to Britain for the sixth form, to perfect their English or to prepare for university. More than two-thirds of foreign pupils in private school sixth forms go on to university in the UK.

University statistics show a big jump in applications from Cyprus, one of the EU's new member states. Applications from would-be students there more than doubled to 1,500. Applications from the US rose by more than 50 per cent, and there was also increased interest from Pakistan and Nigeria. In all, applications from outside the UK rose by around 15 per cent, to 49,000.

One of the UK's most prestigious academic institutions, the University of Cambridge in Eastern England, is gearing up for the biggest expansion in its 800-year history. The university is drawing up detailed plans for a multi-billion-dollar development that will include up to three new colleges, on a 142-acre site it owns to the north-west of the city centre. Cambridge argues the development is essential if it is to maintain its position as a world leader, particularly in science and technology, at a time of increasing international competition in higher education.

Business and higher education in Wales, meanwhile, has received a boost with the accreditation of 18 new Centres of Excellence by the Welsh Development Agency, under its Centres of Excellence for Technology and Industrial Collaboration (CETIC) programme. Each centre is based at a Welsh higher education institute recognised for its excellence in research. The CETIC programme covers a wide range of disciplines and is intended to establish a network of centres with a track record of experience relevant to industry. Since the programme was set up in 2001, 942 Welsh companies have developed innovative products or services at the Centres of Excellence, creating or safeguarding 1,100 jobs and generating nearly $21 million in income.


Decline in crude oil traffic slows ports growth
Provisional statistics from the Department for Transport for freight traffic through UK ports show that total freight traffic in 2003 dropped by 0.7 per cent, to 554.7 million tonnes (Mt). Crude oil traffic declined by 7 per cent, but all other traffic increased by 2 per cent. Inwards traffic rose by 2.4 Mt to 323.2 Mt while outwards traffic fell by 6 Mt to 231.5 Mt. Freight handled by the UK's largest 52 ports was down 4.4 Mt on 2002, but at 537.7 Mt still accounted for 97 per cent of all port traffic. Grimsby and Immingham maintained its position as the leading port in terms of tonnage, with 55.9 Mt. It was followed by Tees and Hartlepool (53.8 Mt), London (51 Mt), Forth (38.7 Mt) and Southampton (35.7 Mt).

On the roads, freight moved by GB-registered heavy goods vehicles within the UK increased by 1.3 per cent in 2003, to 152 billion tonne kilometres from 150 billion tonne kilometres in 2002. Freight lifted increased by 1 per cent, from 1,627 million tonnes to 1,643 million tonnes. The average length of haul was unchanged at 92km.

Irish-based low-cost airline Ryanair has opened a new $18 million maintenance facility at Glasgow Prestwick International Airport in Scotland. The 43,000 sq ft facility will be the company's main aircraft service centre outside the Republic of Ireland, and will employ up to 200 people over the next five years. Its hangar will be large enough to accommodate three Boeing 737-800 aircraft, and will be used for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul.

In Liverpool, North West England, a new $58.5 million passenger terminal has opened at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, boosting capacity there. Other improvements to the city's infrastructure include a $9 million redevelopment of the Arriva North West bus depot at Birkenhead and a $1.5 million modernisation of the bus-rail interchange at Kirkby.


BT opens market to rival telecoms suppliers
BT Group, the UK's leading telecoms provider, has cut the prices it charges rival operators to access its local exchanges by up to 70 per cent. The move seems likely to encourage renewed competition in the market for wholesale high-speed broadband internet access, and pre-empts a formal review launched by industry watchdog Ofcom of BT's local loop unbundling - the opening of its last-mile copper wire connections to alternative suppliers. Ofcom said that the proposed cuts would take the UK from being the second most expensive country in Europe for unbundling to the fifth cheapest.

According to the regulator, BT's move will allow cable operators to roll out DSL services outside their network coverage areas and alternative telecoms suppliers to offer much more differentiated products, including faster download speeds and cheaper voice calls. It should also enable the delivery of video over broadband. Until now, BT has been slow to unbundle in comparison with other operators in Europe. This has contributed to it maintaining its dominance of wholesale broadband access outside the coverage areas of the two main cable operators, NTL and Telewest.

The latest monthly survey of internet service providers (ISPs) shows that active subscriptions to the internet grew by 0.7 per cent from February to March, and by 8.8 per cent from March 2003 to March 2004. The number of permanent connections continued its sharp rise, growing by 6.7 per cent from February to March, and by 97.7 per cent year-on year. Permanent connections accounted for 25.7 per cent of total subscriptions at the end of March, compared with 13.9 per cent a year earlier. The number of dial-up connections continued to decline, falling by 1.1 per cent from February to March, and 5.6 per cent year-on-year. 'Always on' subscriptions rose to 26 per cent compared with 14 per cent in March 2003.

Motorola, the US mobile communications giant, has opened a customer innovation centre for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region at its facility in Swindon, South West England. The new centre is the latest in a series of Motorola initiatives designed to demonstrate mobile communications technologies to potential customers. Swindon is a fitting location for the initiative: it has just become the first place in the South West region to enable all its telephone exchanges for broadband without external funding assistance.


Call centre industry is in good shape, says report
The call centre industry in the UK is set to gain around 200,000 jobs over the next three years, according to a report commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The sector has grown by almost 250 per cent since 1995. The report - The UK Contact Centre Industry: A Study - is the first comprehensive examination of the industry in the UK. It predicts that the sector will remain healthy and will employ more than 1 million people by 2007, four times as many as in India.

Commissioned in response to concerns about job losses in the industry, particularly to offshoring, the report finds that the quality of service in UK call centres is high, but that there remains room for improvement in workforce skills and the way in which the industry is perceived. It recommends that training and qualification schemes for workers should be developed. Despite the sector's image as a high turnover industry, the report found that call centre operatives stayed in their jobs for an average of 2 years and 8 months. The report also warns companies to consider carefully all the implications before taking decisions about moving operations offshore. All stakeholders, including customers, employees and trades unions, should be consulted, and companies should be aware of hidden costs such as travel, relocation of senior management and potential customer discontent.

Two shared services operations based in Manchester, North West England have scooped four out of five of the top prizes in the 2004 International Shared Services Awards. Manchester hosted the awards ceremony in mid-May as part of its Shared Services Week event, which attracted delegates from around the world. RBS Group took two prizes: the MIDAS award for Service Excellence in Shared Services and the Robert Hall International Award for Outstanding Contribution for Shared Services. Business process and IT services company Xansa won the HMSL Award for Best Outsourced Shared Service Organisation and the Burns Award for the Most Advanced Automation. The award for Best New Shared Services Organisation went to DIAGEO Business Services Centre, based in Budapest, Hungary.


R&D initiatives launched in metals and medicines
Regional development agency Yorkshire Forward is spearheading an initiative to boost research and development in the advanced engineering and metals industry. Together with a consortium of regional funding agencies and Corus Research Development and Technology, the agency will deliver leading-edge technology and training from the Swinden Technology Centre at Rotherham, servicing firms in the Yorkshire and Humber region, as well as across the UK and the rest of Europe. Due for launch in the autumn, the initiative is expected to generate more than $17 million in research activity within three years of start-up. It will give companies access to some of the world's most advanced metals and engineering research expertise and equipment, and will provide high-level training facilities for senior executives and their employees. Yorkshire Forward has identified the metals manufacturing and engineering sector as a key area for growth and plans to invest nearly $180 million over three years to develop the industry.

A new laboratory complex is to be built at the Centre for Life in Newcastle, North East England to carry out research into life-threatening diseases. Newly approved funding of $11.7 million will be used to extend the centre's Life Knowledge Park, which was established in 2002. The Park will build upon the latest discoveries in genetics to tackle degenerative diseases such as cancer and those linked with ageing. It will also carry out innovative work on stem cells to investigate new ways of repairing or replacing diseased and damaged body tissue. It will also work on improving diagnosis and disease monitoring, and on new techniques to establish how patients respond to particular drugs.

In Cambridge, Eastern England, a new world-class centre for research into the treatment of cancer has celebrated its topping-out ceremony. The University of Cambridge-Hutchison-Cancer Research UK Laboratory Building at Addenbrookes Hospital is a striking five-storey building that will provide more than 150,000 sq ft of research laboratories. It will house up to 300 scientists, providing facilities such as a 200-seat seminar theatre, a restaurant and an exhibition area. Funding for the $76 million project has been provided by Cancer Research UK, the University of Cambridge, Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa and an anonymous donor.

Meanwhile, leading British biotechnology company Celltech has been taken over by Belgian company UCB, in a deal worth $2.7 billion. The surprise takeover gives UCB a foothold in the booming global biotech sector, which is dominated by US companies. A licensing deal also gives it access to Celltech's CDP 870 treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, a flagship product that is believed to have sales potential of more than $1 billion a year. The two companies said the agreed takeover would create a European leader in the industry, with the ability to take on the big US players. The deal follows last year's acquisition of UK vaccine maker Powderject by US group Chiron and the sale of diagnostics and biotechnology company Amersham to General Electric.

London aims to put itself in the picture
In other sectors, the New York International Log and Lumber Company (NYIL), based in Huntington, New York, has opened an office in Minehead, Somerset, in South West England. NYIL is a bio-energy supply company whose wood fibre-based products include biomass, woodchips and sawdust. It works with power generators, governments and corporations on carbon emission strategies, and is the only US company selected to supply the Euro Energy Group.

In the East of England, Lowestoft in Suffolk has been earmarked as the site for a centre of excellence for the offshore wind industry. The centre, which could be up and running by 2006, will provide business support and office and exhibition space for firms in the rapidly expanding wind energy sector. It will act as a focal point for the development of an integrated supply chain, promoting collaboration between developers, industry and colleges and universities in the region.

ClearSpeed Technology Ltd, based in Stoke Gifford, Bristol in South West England, has been awarded a grant of $770,000 by the DTI to develop a high-speed, low-power parallel processor that will help to make the UK a world leader in nanotechnology. The 64-bit embedded parallel processor will be used by the emerging nanotechnology industry to carry out high-performance computing and simulation tasks. Following the launch of ClearSpeed's acclaimed 32-bit processor, it aims to overcome the twin barriers of power consumption and complex cooling systems, at a lower cost than has previously been possible.

In the creative sector, a new London-wide collaboration between development, administrative, transport, policing and tourism agencies has been set up to attract film and media businesses to the UK capital. Called Filming London, the initiative aims to build on the recent success of movies such as Love Actually and 28 Days Later, which use the city itself as an integral part of their story. A film production task force led by Lord Puttnam will work with borough councils - some of which already have dedicated film offices - to develop a uniform structure for shooting in the city, encompassing issues such as training, administration, tendering and communication. The film and media sector generated more than $2.7 billion in revenue for London in 2003, and employed more than 100,000 people.

Capital's office market shows signs of recovery
The past quarter has seen continued signs of an upturn in the Central London office market, albeit still a relatively cautious one, according to the latest CORe (Central Offices Research) survey from DTZ Research. Take-up of space rose from 2.1 million sq ft in the fourth quarter of 2003 to 2.6 million sq ft in the first quarter of 2004, while the volume of space under offer rose from 2.6 million sq ft to 2.9 million sq ft. Availability fell by just over 1 per cent to 28.5 million sq ft, the first decline to be recorded since the third quarter of 2000.

The volume of known requirements at the end of March was 7.1 million sq ft, a significant increase on the 5 million sq ft logged at the end of December. Space under construction held steady at 8.5 million sq ft, about 40 per cent of which was speculative. Prime headline rents and incentives in the City and West End stayed unchanged over the quarter, according to DTZ.

Analysts point out that demand for premium office space is beginning to rise, particularly in the financial services, banking, insurance and professional sectors. This is good news for prospective landlords such as Swiss Re, which has yet to find tenants for its landmark 'environmental' skyscraper, dubbed the Gherkin, at St. Mary Axe in the City. The reinsurance company has moved its 800 London staff into floors two to 15 of the 40-storey building, and has begun full marketing for what agents describe as the "most innovative and progressive working environment in London".

Jobs boost for Welsh industry
A new engine line has gone on stream at Ford's plant in Bridgend, South Wales, creating more than 600 new jobs and raising the plant's annual capacity from 600,000 to 1 million units over the next five years. The line is part of a $425 million investment programme at Bridgend, which cements Ford's position as the leading engine provider in Europe. The Welsh plant is now the fifth largest engine facility in Europe, and features Ford's first moving assembly line section in a European engine plant. The line can produce six- and eight-cylinder engines at a rate of up to 325,000 a year. It will initially turn out V8 engines for Land Rover's new Discovery model, but will also produce engines for future models across Ford's Premier Automotive Group, including Jaguar, Volvo and Aston Martin.

In North Wales, three suppliers of key components to Merloni's washing machine plant at Kinmel Park, near Bodelwyddan, are to set up manufacturing operations near the facility, between them investing $28.8 million and creating 216 new jobs. Italian-owned Technoplast, which produces injection-moulded plastic parts, is to invest $18.9 million in a production unit at Kinmel Park and will employ a workforce of 133. Another Italian company, Pasell, which supplies Merloni with counterweights, will invest $9 million in a production unit at Sandycroft, Flintshire, employing 68. Tuscarora, part of Sweden's SCA Global Packaging Group, is investing $1.8 million to produce packaging material on-site, and will employ 15 people.

Italian-owned Merloni Elettrodomestici produces nearly 1 million Hotpoint-brand washing machines a year at the plant, with new investment enabling a machine to be produced every 14 seconds. Merloni, whose brands also include Indesit, is the biggest maker of white goods in the UK and the third largest in Europe. It employs 6,000 people in Britain and is currently engaged in a $108 million investment programme spread over three years at its four British factories.

Work has begun at Aberporth in West Wales on ParcAberporth, a 50-acre high-technology park which will focus on the UK's Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) sector. The area has an established skills and knowledge base in this sector, and the $37.8 million development has the potential to create up to 1,000 high-technology jobs. Plans include a business and incubation centre and R&D facilities, with the aim of attracting a cluster of companies working in the UAV and related sectors. The UAV sector is growing rapidly worldwide; its civil applications include scientific research, disaster and emergency monitoring, maritime and coastal surveillance, inspection of utilities, laser terrain mapping and mineral exploration.

Spanish steel-maker Grupo Celsa has purchased the Castle Works site in Cardiff Bay from the Welsh Development Agency for $5.3 million. The Barcelona-based company, which owns another site in the Welsh capital, plans to build a 40,000 sq ft extension to the steel-making facilities at the site. Grupo Celsa purchased the steel-making assets of Allied Steel and Wire when that company went into receivership in 2002, and now employs 400 people in Cardiff.
 

Around the Regions
KBC Bank NV, the largest independent bank in Belgium, has opened a UK regional office in Birmingham in the West Midlands. The Brussels-based bank already has an office in London and was attracted to the UK’s second city by its status as a centre for banking, finance and corporate services. KBC is active in 30 countries, with 970 branches in Belgium and 1,006 throughout central Europe.

US company Airdrome Holdings has acquired aerospace component manufacturer AF Aerospace (AFA), based in Rugby in the West Midlands. Founded in 1939, AFA originally supplied hydraulic fittings to the UK military sector; more recently it has entered the aerospace sector. Airdrome Holdings plans to integrate it with another subsidiary, Airdrome Precision Components of Long Beach, California, which supplies precision tube fittings for spacecraft, commercial jets and military aircraft, as well as engines and industrial machinery of various kinds.

Flagship Foods of the UK is to merge with Tulip, the UK subsidiary of the Danish Crown group of Denmark, to form one of the largest meat groups in the UK. The newly formed business will be known as Tulip and will be based at Warwick in the West Midlands, though its portfolio will include 21 other sites and processing factories with a workforce of almost 7,000. Its activities will cover the complete range, “from farm to fork”, including pig production, abattoirs and fresh-meat operations, as well as bacon, cooked meats and other processed products. UK sales are forecast to be around $1.8 billion annually.

Automotive components company Johnson Controls (UK) Ltd, based in Wednesbury in the West Midlands, is undertaking an expansion programme with the help of a $1.5 million Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) grant from RDA Advantage West Midlands. The company, which employs more than 230 staff and makes foam head rests and car seats for companies such as Peugeot, Toyota, BMW, Vauxhall and Land Rover, will install new plant and machinery and refurbish existing buildings.

Swiss-owned machine tool manufacturer Agie Charmillies has consolidated its three existing sites in the West Midlands into a new Centre of Excellence at the premises of its parent company Georg Fischer AG in Coventry. The company’s products include electric discharge machines and high-speed machining centres, and it currently employs 40 people.

Japanese company Yushin Precision Equipment has formed a subsidiary, Yushin Automation, based at nearby Cannock, to expand its business in European markets. Headquartered in Kyoto, Yushin manufactures robots and automated stock machines for automated part extraction and storage from moulding machines. It also designs manufacturing systems for plastics injection moulding plants.

The ioCentre, a new industrial and warehouse development on the Coventry Business Park, has a number of high-grade industrial units available for B1(c), B2 and B8 uses. Situated off the A45 road in a landscaped environment, the development offers seven units either to let or for sale, ranging in size from 5,000 sq ft to 17,500 sq ft. The first unit of the first phase has been bought by a local clothing manufacturer. A second phase is planned that will offer occupiers design-and-build premises of up to 21,000 sq ft.

Precision Drilling Corporation of Canada is to acquire UK company Reeves Oilfield Services through its wholly owned subsidiary Precision Holdings (UK), in a deal valued at $164 million. Precision Drilling, based in Calgary, Alberta, is a global provider of oilfield drilling, production and evaluation services. Reeves Oilfield Services, based in Loughborough in the East Midlands, provides well evaluation logging services to energy companies worldwide.

Sunderland in North East England and Glasgow in Scotland are among seven cities in the running for the prestigious title of ‘World’s Most Intelligent City’. Nominated by the US-based World Teleport Association, the UK cities are up against some of the world’s leading communities in the development of new technology, including Taipei in Taiwan, Victoria in Australia, Western Valley in Nova Scotia and Yokosuka in Japan. Sunderland’s nomination recognises the city’s economic transformation, following the demise of its traditional mining and shipbuilding industries at the end of the 1980s, and the way it has adapted to the new world of information technology.

Akzo Nobel of the Netherlands has opened a new R&D laboratory at its Marine and Protective Coatings facility at Felling, Tyne and Wear in North East England. The new lab will serve the company’s global marine and yacht coatings operations, while the existing R&D building at the site will be redesigned to serve as a technology centre, as part of a $12 million investment programme worldwide. Work at the laboratory will focus on the formulation of new anti-fouling technologies, building coatings and maintenance and repair coatings.

Metallink Fluid Power Systems, part of the Europe-wide Borghi Group, is expanding its base at Crook in the Wear Valley, North East England, and creating 25 new jobs in response to increased demand for its products. The company manufactures a variety of components for earth-moving equipment, agricultural machinery and diesel engines, including hydraulic hoses and rigid and semi-rigid steel tubes. The expansion will be part-funded by an RSA grant of $315,000 from RDA One NorthEast.

US company Openwave Systems, which provides open software products and services for the communications industry, is to acquire Magic4, based in Warrington, North West England, for around $83 million. Magic4 supplies messaging and software products for mass-market mobile phones, including the top seven global brands; the company claims it was the first software vendor to provide enhanced messaging (EMS), multimedia messing (MMS) and instant messaging (IMS) to the mass market. Openwave, based in Redwood City, California, has a range of products including mobile phone software, MMS, e-mail and location and mobile gateways.

Norwegian telecommunications company Birdstep, which has bases in Oslo and Seattle, is to open a new technology centre in Cambridge, Eastern England. The centre will concentrate on Symbian platform developments for the SmartPhone market, which is forecast to reach 240 million devices by 2006.

Unterland Flexible Packaging AG, an Austrian manufacturer of plastic film, has acquired a 75.1 per cent shareholding in Norvic Associates Ltd of Norwich, Eastern England. Norvic has been the exclusive UK distributor for Unterland agricultural stretch film for 14 years, and also distributes agricultural netting and twine.

Stibo Catalog, a Danish provider of multi-channel product information management and publishing software, has expanded its UK operations by opening a new sales and product development office at York Science Park in Heslington, Yorkshire and Humber. The company’s STEP software solution has two core components: STEP Product Information Manager, for workflow information, digital asset and product information management; and STEP Publication Manager, which allows product information to be grouped into meaningful information for advertising and other purposes.

Another overseas company to benefit from the system of RSA grants is contact lens maker Bausch and Lomb, which was recently awarded $2.3 million in assistance by the Scottish Executive. The US-based company, which this year is celebrating its 150th anniversary, has had a presence in Scotland for 10 years and employs 1,300 staff at two plants in Livingston.

GZ Digital Media of the Czech Republic is to invest $2.5 million to set up Scotland’s first CD and DVD manufacturing facility, at a site in East Kilbride. GZ, based in Lodenice near Prague, produces CDs, DVDs and other digital media, and claims to be the leading manufacturer of audio and data carriers in Central and Eastern Europe.

Amazon.co.uk, the online books and music retailer, is to open a second UK fulfillment centre at Gourock, Renfrewshire in Scotland. The new facility, due to open later this year, is expected to create up to 300 new jobs within 18 months.

Swedish security company Securitas is to acquire Bell Group, based in London, for around $173 million. Securitas operates in more than 20 countries and employs 200,000 people. It provides solutions for security and cash-handling services and systems. Bell Group is an international organisation that offers IT-based solutions for the management of corporate assets and operations. This involves areas such as facilities, security, human resources, IT and finance departments, together with marketing, purchasing and distribution.

The ASCII Group, which claims to be North America’s largest group of independent computer resellers and solutions providers, has opened a European office in London. Based in Bethesda, Maryland and established in 1984, the group achieved sales of more than $11 billion in 2003. Bonsai Networks, a provider of WiFi wireless local area network solutions based in Herndon, Virginia, has also opened a European sales operation in the capital.

US investment bank and brokerage firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW), which specialises in the financial services sector, is expanding its London office. Previously focusing only on US equity sales, the firm has now taken on 17 staff to handle equity research, sales and trading operations, specialising in European financial services companies. Established in 1962 and based in New York, KBW counts among its client’s banks, insurance companies, brokers, mortgage lenders, asset management companies and speciality finance firms.

China’s largest telecoms equipment manufacturer, Huawei Technologies, has opened its European headquarters in Basingstoke, South East England. The company plans to increase staff levels at its HQ building from 80 to 200 within two years, and it will also build an R&D centre at the site. Huawei invests at least 10 per cent of its sales each year in R&D; sales in 2003 grew by 42 per cent year-on-year to reach $3.8 billion.

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