News in brief: Beers to more live music
MANCHESTER music venue Band on the Wall has announced a three-year partnership deal with German beer brand Warsteiner.
Band on the Wall has been a live music haunt since the1930s and continues to play a big role in Manchester’s internationally renowned cultural scene.
Warsteiner has a track record as the premium beer brand behind many of the most eclectic festivals and tours across Europe and North America, including the Berlin Festival, Melt Festival and Bunbury Festival in Cincinnati.
Gavin Sharp, chief executive of venue owner Inner City Music, said: “I am delighted to announce our partnership with Warsteiner.
“We share the same grown up passion and enthusiasm for music and talent, and the deal will help us develop our event programme both at the venue and at partner venues across the North of England.”
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A DRAMATIC hike in court fees makes it even more important that businesses have the right processes in place to recover bad debt, experts at Preston-based accountancy firm WNJ have warned.
The steep rise in fees, which came into place in March, makes it even more expensive to recover money through the courts.
For example, The Law Society says a claim for £40,000, which used to carry a £610 fee, will now cost £2,000 – a 228% increase.
WNJ says bad debt is a growing problem for SMEs in all sectors. And it is urging businesses in the region to look closely at their processes for recovering what is owed to them to ensure they are as effective as possible and avoid costly court action.
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STUDENTS are choosing the green transport option, with demand for university bus passes up across the region.
Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire has seen ticket sales for its new Unirider Plus pass rise by 24.2% in Liverpool and by 116% in Chester since the pass launched in September.
The Merseyside Unirider Plus offers unlimited bus travel on all Stagecoach’s services across Merseyside and Cheshire including Liverpool, Wirral, Southport, St Helens, Chester and Ellesmere Port.
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AN IT consultancy has been selected by UK Top 50 Legal firm Hill Dickinson to implement its adaptive case management solution.
Altrincham company Slicedbread was selected after carrying out similar work for another Top 100 UK law firm.
Slicedbread developed ‘sharedo’, a new bespoke adaptive case management solution and a culmination of 5,000 days of development and seven years of evolving best practice.
Keith Fenny, director of IT and operation at Hill Dickinson said:“We are pleased with the progress and acceleration that Slicedbread have bought to this project, and will continue to work with them to bring additional innovative products into our range of technology that provide real value to our clients.”
Director of Slicedbread Ben Nicholson added: “It’s awesome to have a partner like Hill Dickinson on board, who have the vision to transform the way in which legal work is undertaken, we look forward to working alongside them and watch their business flourish.”
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MERSEYSIDE-based Flynn Refrigeration has delivered a major package of improvements to the refrigeration and air-conditioning system on board a vessel used to transport specialist nuclear materials around the world.
Working under contract to ship managers, Serco, the Birkenhead firm has completed the retrofit and conversion project on International Nuclear Services’ (INS) MV Oceanic Pintail.
Managing director Alex Flynn said the extensive refrigeration and air conditioning work took 18 months to complete on board the vessel.
Flynn Refrigeration provides the complete refrigeration and air-conditioning package along with air compressors for industrial, energy and marine sectors – including supply, installation and maintenance services.
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Manchester-based scooter manufacturer, Swifty Scooters, is targeting growth after securing support and funding from HSBC.
Husband and wife team Jason and Camilla Iftakhar who launched the company’s original kick scooter the SwiftyONE to critical acclaim in 2011, has secured a new flexible business loan worth £40,000 from HSBC.
The company has ambitious expansion plans and will use the funding to upgrade its supply chain and streamline their manufacturing process, enabling them to expand their bulk orders from overseas and secure their long-term trading sustainability.
Swifty Scooters Joint Managing Director, Camilla Iftakher, said: “We’ve come a long way since Jason hand built and assembled the first ever SwiftyONE in our workshop more than four years ago. We are an ambitious business and HSBC has been there to help us grow our presence both in the UK and overseas.”
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MANCHESTER-based clothing giant JD Williams has chosen packaging manufacturer and supplier Duo UK, also based in the city, to launch a new initiative aimed at encouraging its customers to recycle old and unwanted clothing.
The scheme will use JD Williams’ existing distribution network and aims to reduce the amount of clothing that goes to landfill.
JD Williams will place the specially designed collection sack within all outbound mail order packages allowing customers to bag clothes up and arrange a collection by the firm’s delivery drivers. This collection method gives JD Williams’ customers comfort that their unwanted items are collected by a brand they trust.
JD Williams has signed up to the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP) and pledged to play its part in reducing the carbon, waste and water footprints of clothing they supply or receive in the UK by 15% by 2020.
The clothing recycling scheme, which was proposed by senior managers at JD Williams, is designed to build on the company’s existing CSR initiatives in order to meet this target.
Duo UK’s commercial director, Anthony Brimelow, commented: “When JD Williams told us they had a business objective to develop a clothing recycling scheme we were excited to work with them to meet this goal.
“We advised on the most appropriate polythene material blend to achieve a lightweight but strong sack and helped develop a design to communicate user instructions, whilst also aligning with the JD Williams brand image.”
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FORMER Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont will be sharing his views on where we are in the economic cycle, as well as his experiences as Chancellor in the early 1990s, at an upcoming event in Manchester.
The Begbies Traynor Spring Conference on Thursday April 23 will take place at Manchester United’s Old Trafford home, and is aimed at highlighting the current difficulties facing company directors and accountants in planning for the future in the current uncertain economic environment.
The morning’s line-up will include speakers from HMRC, the Insolvency Service and law firm Mills & Reeve, as well as the keynote speaker, Lord Lamont, who presided over a period of significant economic change when the UK exited the ERM and interest rates jumped dramatically.
The speakers will be addressing topics including director disqualification, corporate fraud, and football financial fair play, as well as a presentation from Begbies Traynor, showcasing a number of interesting turnaround case studies.
