Local government contract win for eg solutions

STAFFORDSHIRE-based back office optimisation software company, eg solutions, has strengthened its portfolio with a major new contract win.

The Dunston company will deploy the eg operational intelligence® Managed Cloud Services in partnership with a major third party outsourcing company. The contract is within the Local Government sector.

The contract, worth £1.6m, will run over four years with approximately £500k expected to be recognised in the financial year beginning February 1, 2015. The balance will be forthcoming over the following three years.

The contract is intended to optimise the processing performance of council tax and benefits across a number of local authorities. The initial work will begin immediately.

Elizabeth Gooch, CEO of eg solutions, said: “We are delighted to have signed this contract in another new vertical, which further demonstrates applicability of our software across many sectors. We look forward to growing our presence in this new sector and continuing to work in partnership with third party outsourcers”.
 

New Group Company Secretary at Hill & Smith

SOLIHULL-based infrastructure products supplier Hill & Smith Holdings has announced the appointment of a new Group Company Secretary.

Alex Henderson has taken up the role with immediate effect and the appointment follows the planned retirement of John Humphreys. Henderson has joined from Redditch-based retailer Halfords, where he was Group Company Secretary and Head of Legal for six years.
 
Derek Muir, Chief Executive, Hill & Smith said, “On behalf of the board I would like to thank John for his 10 years of dedicated service to the group and we wish him well in his retirement.  Alex joins the group at an exciting time in its development and I am certain his experience in both the legal and listed company environment will be a great asset to the group.”

Buoyant UK car market boosts Pendragon

THE success of the UK new car market has had a beneficial impact on Midlands-based Pendragon, with the company predicting full-year results ahead of expectations.

Pendragon, which operates the Stratstone and Evans Halshaw dealerships, said it was also viewing 2015 with optimism – at odds with some predictions that the car market may plateau this year.

It said the performance of its Motor Division continued to be ahead of 2013 with used car sales holding up in a market it expected to be broadly flat.

Visits to the Stratstone.com, Evanshalshaw.com and Quicks.co.uk websites were also up, increasing by 18.8% in Q4.

The immediate post-Christmas period has seen an increase of 36% in web visits and it noted a 65% increase in tablet and smartphone activity during the period.

Its ‘Sell Your Car’ initiative has progressed, with 38 retail points now operating from its dealerships in the UK.  The motorist can now sell their car direct to evanshalshaw.com, which will pay them more than rival ‘webuyanycar.com’.  The group said this had the benefit of providing an inflow of used cars sourced directly from consumers.

Towards the end of last year, the group also completed the purchase of some of its leasehold dealership properties for £12.9m. This will yield an annual rent saving of approximately £1.3m.

Trevor Finn, Chief Executive said: “We are pleased to report that our 2014 full year performance will be ahead of expectations.  Our strategic focus on used performance and our online activities continues to deliver enhanced value and we are looking forward to some exciting opportunities to come in 2015.”

Pendragon will announce its full year results on Tuesday February 17, 2015.