A Year in Yorkshire Business – Review of the Year part two

YORKSHIRE embraced the spectacular Grand Départ in July.

It was an occasion that attracted 3.3 million spectators to the region and was worth an initial £102m to Yorkshire.  The first two stages were Leeds-Harrogate and York-Sheffield, before the peloton moved south and raced from Cambridge to London.

July was also the month deputy prime minister Nick Clegg launched his Northern Futures Project, calling on leaders, residents and business owners in the north of England to put forward their ideas on how to create economic growth in the north.

Morrisons continued to hit the headlines and in July, turnaround investor Endless acquired Kiddicare from the Bradford-based group for £2m. Morrisons, which acquired the business in 2011 for £70m announced earlier this year that Kiddicare was non-strategic and that it would seek a transfer to new ownership in 2014. The supermarket took a £163m writedown on the lossmaking business as part of the sale process.

News from another Yorkshire supermarket was popular in July when Asda revealed it was creating 5,630 new roles but making 1,360 redundancies as part of a major restructure.

It was announced in August that Yorkshire-based social housing contractor Keepmoat was on the verge of being taken over in a £400m deal and then the following month, Sun Capital and investment funds managed by TDR Capital signed an agreement to acquire Lakeside 1 Limited, the holding company of Keepmoat.

Doncaster celebrated in September when it was announced that the new National College for High Speed Rail was to be split between Doncaster and Birmingham.

The college, due to open in 2017, will be headquartered at Birmingham’s Science Park and will have a site at Doncaster’s Lakeside Campus. 

Plans for a £65m leisure, international and residential development in Sheffield were revealed in September, too.

A consortium of six investors from China are behind the project, working closely with New Era Development, the company behind the plans.  The 20-storey scheme is set to create 400 new jobs once construction has been completed. Work is due to start early next year. 

September was also the month that Huddersfield’s Mamas & Papas reached an agreement with creditors on proposals to safeguard the future of its UK retail arm. Creditors, including landlords of 60 of its UK stores, voted overwhelmingly to approve a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA).

Moving into October, law firm Squire Patton Boggs revealed that further growth was “very much” on the agenda after announcing a move to Wellington Place which is set to take place next year.

This was also the month that a Yorkshire manufacturer – which can trace its roots back to 1789 – was sold in a £365m deal.

Melrose Industries signed an agreement for the disposal of Doncaster-based Bridon to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

The CBI appointed Lucy Thornycroft as its new regional director in Yorkshire & Humber in November.

She will be relocating to the region from London where she was head of the construction policy team at the CBI’s headquarters. Prior to that she was head of investment policy and strategy at the National Housing Federation.

As we got closer to the end of the year, the business world didn’t slow down.

Some of December highlights so far have included Sheffield City Region agreeing a devolution deal with Government which will give local authority and business leaders greater say over how they grow the local economy; an independent prep school in North Yorkshire closing after an aborted merger left the school unable to stop haemorrhaging money; and Leeds United being hit by a transfer embargo after failing to meet the Football League’s financial fair play (FFP) requirements. Today, it has emerged that owner Massimo Cellino has been given a stay of execution by the Football League over its demand that he must relinquish control of the club.
 
Earlier this month, it was also announced that Leeds and Partners is to be closed in a move that will save nearly £1m after the council ran short of money and patience for its inward investment agency.

Just two years after it rebranded from Marketing Leeds and expanded its remit, it is to be abolished after failing to keep pace with the direction of change.

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