In Brief: WH Ireland loss; Funding for sandwich expansion; Clearsilver donates charity logo; Construction forecast; Heath Lambert success

A £1m bad debt from a client helped plunge stockbroker WH Ireland into the red today.

The Manchester company, which has a Leeds office, last week revealed that merger talks with rival Blue Oar had collapsed, said it had been a victim of the “unprecedented collapse of the world banking system”, as its full year figures showed a £4m loss, against a £3.9m profit a year ago.

Trading volumes were down 18% in this country and by 43% in Australia taking group turnover down 23.7% to £32.59m.

Chairman Rupert Lowe, who along with Lord Maryland, and Car phone Warehouse founder David Ross and other investors bought in to the company last year, said the impact of losses on the company’s investment book was the contributory factor in the £4m annual loss.

At an operating level Ireland made a loss of £788,000 against a profit of £1.3m.

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A FAMILY-owned sandwich making business established less than two years ago is set for expansion after moving into new £675,000 headquarters, supported by The Royal Bank of Scotland in York.  

Funding for the property purchase and refurbishment for On a Roll Sandwich Company was provided by RBS in York, together with support from both RBS Invoice Finance and Lombard. 

On a Roll Sandwich Company, owned by husband and wife team James and Helen Stoddart, has moved to new premises on Riverside Park Industrial Estate in Middlesbrough.

On a Roll employs 17 people and produces more than 16,000 sandwiches a week for clients across the North East including hospitals, universities and public sector bodies.   

The move to new premises gives On a Roll the capacity to raise its production capacity to 22,000 sandwiches a week.

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CREATIVE brand communications agency Clearsilver has made an important contribution to its new charity partnership, St Stephen’s for Teens, by donating the design of a logo.

Leeds-based Clearsilver gave its time and resources to design the logo for the St Stephen’s for Teens charity partnership, which unites St Stephen’s Shopping Centre and Queen’s Centre for Oncology and Haematology Unit at Castle Hill Hospital, both in Hull, in its fundraising efforts. 

The charity partnership will, through a series of innovative fundraising events, provide equipment such as games consoles, laptops and pool tables for teenage cancer patients.

The £67m Queen’s Centre for Oncology and Haematology Unit is a UK Centre of Excellence for the treatment of patients with cancer and blood disorders. The centre aims to break away from the cold, sterile hospital environment.

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DESPITE the current economic gloom, construction output in the UK is expected to grow by 2% to £79bn in 2010, according to analysis of the industry by business advisory firm Deloitte.

The forecast comes despite research from industry commentators showing expected falls in construction output in the UK of between 7% and 10% in 2009 to £77bn.

Simon Manning , audit and advisory partner in the Leeds office of Deloitte, said: “It is clear that this year will be a year for ‘battening down the hatches’ for what could be a prolonged period of stagnation.

“Industry commentators are generally agreed that the raft of new public sector projects, supported by increased Government expenditure, will be insufficient to prevent construction output falling steeply in 2009.

“Recent opinions from within the industry indicate that public projects within the education, health and transport sectors are essential for the short-term prospects of the industry.”

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INSURANCE broker Heath Lambert has seen its Leeds office outperform other regional centres.

David Fryer, director of the firm’s Leeds office, said: “We worked exceptionally well throughout 2008 and have started 2009 on the front foot and we are well prepared for the challenges that 2009 is bringing.”

Heath Lambert’s Group income grew in 2008 through a combination of retaining key existing clients and expanding its client base.