News
February, 2004
Confidence rises with continued
growth in economy
Business output and optimism are at their highest levels since May 2000, according to a survey by BDO Stoy Hayward. The accountancy and consultancy company forecast that healthy domestic demand and an improving world economy would lift economic growth in the UK to 2.3 per cent in the first half of 2004, compared with an estimated 2.1 per cent for whole-year 2003. It found that even service-sector companies were optimistic, despite fears that high levels of personal debt could constrain consumer spending in the months ahead.
Productivity picked up strongly in the second half of 2003, outpacing the average in the eurozone. The Deloitte/NTC Research index showed that productivity levels in 600 UK manufacturing and service-sector companies moved up from 57.3 in November to 57.4 in December, the highest level in the six years since the survey began (the 50 mark divides an improvement from a deterioration). The score for the whole year was 55.6, down slightly from 55.7 in 2002, but still better than the eurozone average of 54.1. The UK rate was comparable with Germany’s, but better than those of France and Italy.
Another survey, of 1,000 companies in the East Midlands, showed that both domestic and overseas market conditions continued to improve over the fourth quarter of last year. Companies reported domestic sales and orders increasing to their highest levels for six quarters. Countrywide, optimism amongst medium-sized companies is at its highest for 18 months, according to private equity firm Gresham. In the manufacturing sector, output fell unexpectedly by 0.7 per cent in November, following a rise of 0.9 per cent in October. However, overall confidence in the sector is at its strongest for four years, according to the latest survey of purchasing managers.
Retail sales over Christmas, an important economic indicator, were down by 1 per cent on 2002 in the run-up to Christmas Eve, though many retailers responded by opening for the first time on Boxing Day. House prices rose a further 1.5 per cent in December, though building society mortgage lender Nationwide predicted that annual price growth would slow from its current 15.5 per cent to 9 per cent by the end of 2004. The upturn in the economy has refocused attention on interest rates. The Bank of England left its base rate unchanged at 3.75 per cent in January, but most observers expect the rate to rise in small increments as the year progresses.
City firms optimistic as profitability rises
Confidence is also returning to the City, with the profitability of City firms rising by its fastest rate for more than three years in the final quarter of 2003, according to a key quarterly survey by professional services firm PwC and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The survey showed that financial services companies expected the upturn to continue in the first quarter if 2004, albeit at a less rapid rate. “It is clear that the recovery, which began early last summer, has now taken root,” the report concluded.
Business volumes rose in almost every sector, with fund managers and building societies reporting the fastest growth and business levels at their highest since June 2000. Only life insurance and insurance brokers saw business fall. Outside financial services, profitability is also on the increase, with the rate of return for non-financial companies rising from 12 per cent in the second quarter of 2003 to 12.6 per cent in the third, fuelling hopes of an imminent rise in business investment.
There are also increasing signs of life in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market. Investment bankers are predicting a surge in activity this year, led by US companies but with their European counterparts close behind. The UK’s leading M&A adviser in 2003 was Morgan Stanley, which edged out the traditional winner Goldman Sachs, with 40 deals worth a total of $56.8 billion. Its biggest transactions included GE’s $10.6 billion acquisition of pharmaceuticals business Amersham and the $3.8 billion takeover of Northumbrian Water by a consortium led by Deutsche Bank.
The increasing optimism is good news for City workers. The number of people employed in London’s financial district is beginning to rise, reversing the job cuts that followed the dotcom crash and economic downturn of 2000/01. Employment fell from 326,000 in 2001 to fewer than 300,000 in July 2002, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research. However, the revival in the second half of 2003 saw the total pick up to around 311,00 by the end of the year, and this is expected to rise further to 318,000 by the end of 2004. By 2006 employment levels should be back where they were before the downturn, predicts the organisation.
FDI predicted to rise as UK eyes China market
Further good news for the economy comes from UNCTAD, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which predicts that flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) will rebound this year, after last year’s halt to the steep decline that began in 2001. The organisation estimated flows in 2003 at $653 billion worldwide, only just above the level seen in 2002 and less than half the $1,400 billion record set in 2001.
The US bucked the trend with a sharp increase in FDI in 2003 but investment into the European Union shrank, with France and Germany particularly badly affected and only Ireland enjoying an increase. Switzerland also suffered, as did Australia, Canada and Japan. This year, however, UNCTAD expects figures worldwide to be boosted by stronger growth, increased profitability and investment, growing investor confidence and a revival in M&A activity.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of FDI at present is China, which saw a new record inflow of $57 billion in 2003, accounting for more than half the Asia-Pacific total. Chinese companies are also investing abroad, and the UK is keen to develop its commercial relationship with the Asian powerhouse economy. Around 250 Chinese companies currently invest in the UK, five times as many as three years ago, and some 50,000 Chinese students are studying at British universities.
A number of initiatives are being undertaken to strengthen ties between the two countries. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao plans to visit the UK in May, when he will focus on boosting bilateral trade and investment. The London Stock Exchange has signed agreements to strengthen cooperation with the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges in China, and a number of industry-specific working groups containing officials and company representatives are to be set up. These will cover sectors such as natural gas, water, power, technology, healthcare, financial services and possibly mining.
Investors of all nationalities are likely to be attracted by the entrepreneurial nature of UK businesses. The 2003 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the largest annual barometer of entrepreneurship worldwide, shows that the UK was one of very few developed nations to record an increase in such activity. Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rose to 6.4 per cent of the UK population, from 5.4 per cent in 2002.
Framework introduced for new laws on working practices
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has published
its first annual statement of changes to domestic employment law and practice.
From 2004, changes to employment law will be implemented on only two days each
year – April 6, the start of the tax year, and October 1, the review date for
the national minimum wage. The DTI hopes that by harmonising commencement dates,
it will increase clarity and make it easier for employers and employees alike to
implement and respond to changes. Statutes due to be introduced in the course of
2004 include new rules on employment appeal tribunals and regulations to limit
the working hours of junior doctors. More information on employment law, and a
copy of the statement, are available on the DTI website at: www.dti.gov.uk/er.
The UK is coming under pressure from the European Union over the number of hours
its employees spend at work, after a European Commission study showed that twice
as many British workers are opting out of the EU working time directive as
actually need to. The directive, agreed in 1993 but now due for review,
stipulates that the working week in EU member states should be limited to 48
hours, although the UK negotiated its own opt-out clause. Now, however, the EU
review shows that the UK has the longest working hours of any EU country and
that it is the only member state where working hours have actually increased
over the past decade.
Some 4 million people, or 16 per cent of the workforce, work more than 48 hours
a week though, according to the CBI, 33 per cent have signed an opt-out
agreement. The concern of EU commissioners is that certain firms may have
coerced workers into signing such agreements, even though they are meant to be
on a voluntary and individual basis.
Meanwhile, the cost of work permits for foreign nationals employed in the UK is
set to rise from June. The current cost of a work permit is $173, or $135 under
the sector-based scheme. The Home Office is planning to almost double this, with
the charge being set in the range of $282-$328, and possibly rising further.
Also, from April, businesses will have to pay in the region of $173-$227 to
extend the stay of work permit holders. Employers’ organisations have expressed
concerns about the size of the increases, but Home Office minister Beverley
Hughes pointed out that they brought the UK into line with countries such as the
US, Canada and Australia.
Funding secured for science and technology
research
The government won a crucial vote in the House of Commons
on January 27 to allow it to go ahead with its controversial proposals to reform
university funding. The government has already pledged to increase public
investment in higher education from $13.6 billion this year to $18.2 billion by
2005/06. However, it also wants to introduce variable fees payable by students
to help finance university expansion. Students could be charged up to $5,460
annually, depending on their family circumstances and the charges set by
individual establishments, although they would not be expected to repay this
until they had graduated and their income had reached a certain level. They
would also benefit from the abolition of the current system of upfront fees.
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Education Secretary Charles Clarke called the
proposed new system “fairer” than the existing one; their proposals squeaked
through Parliament with a wafer-thin majority of five, by 316 votes to 311.
Away from the political debating chamber, UK universities and public bodies
continue to benefit from government funding. Science and Innovation Minister
Lord Sainsbury has awarded $27 million in new funds to 16 bidders under the
government’s Public Sector Research Exploitation (PSRE) initiative, to help them
turn their research into commercial reality. These include the North West NHS
Innovation Hub, TrusTECH, which will receive $1.4 million to develop new
products with commercial potential, including disposable eye surgery kits;
National Museums Liverpool, which receives a similar amount to help develop its
expertise in 3D computer modelling techniques and the laser cleaning of delicate
artefacts; the Forensic Science Service, which will set up a development unit to
commercialise its world-leading forensic software applications; and NHS
Innovations North, which receives funding for new products such as an instrument
for assessing head-injury patients.
| A leading-edge company based in the North West, Manchester Innovation, has opened a new $45.5 million building that will provide incubation and grow-on space for young high-tech companies. The venture has close links with the University of Manchester, which is also to manage a new centre for the biotechnology industry, the North West Institute for Bio/Health Informatics. The $4.9 million centre, the first of its kind in the UK, will provide training and learning opportunities for companies in the North West to develop their understanding of biological and health informatics. It will operate out of new facilities at the universities of Manchester and Liverpool. |
Anna Ford, current Chancellor of The University of Manchester, presented an engraved stone at the opening ceremony. |
In Eastern England, the University of East Anglia has opened
a new $12.7 million facility dedicated to the study of interactions between the
oceans and the atmosphere. The Laboratory for Global Marine and Atmospheric
Chemistry will investigate areas that include the ocean uptake of greenhouse
gases such as carbon dioxide and the production of atmospheric particles from
gases emitted by marine algae, which can have large impacts on climate.
Cambridge University is sponsoring a series of industry-oriented seminars
designed to enable companies to take advantage of new research findings and
build links with academia. The most recent of its Horizon seminars focused on
the information and communication technology sector and was attended by
representatives of companies such as ABB, Toshiba, Sanyo, BT Exact, Qinetiq,
Boeing and NTT, together with leading researchers in the field.
Sun Microsystems of the US has chosen the University of Hull, in Yorkshire and
Humber, as a centre of excellence for the development of its ‘digital campus’
concept. Hull has been running a ‘digital university’ project for the past
two-and-a-half years, enabling its 17,000 students to access a flexible web
content management system and university resources via a central portal. It now
joins 50 universities around the world in assisting Sun’s customers to develop,
plan and deploy educational e-services and portals.
Action plan launched to encourage innovation
Beyond the academic realm, the government has launched a $272
million action plan to increase innovation amongst British businesses and help
them compete on a global basis, particularly in the development of
nanotechnology. The National Technology Strategy, formulated after wide
consultation with businesses, academics and trade unions, will provide a
framework for policy priorities. New public procurement guidelines will be
introduced to make the government a more ‘intelligent customer’ in the $197
billion it spends each year on products and services. The Small Business Service
will have an increased role in promoting innovation and knowledge transfer, and
there will be new goals to increase the rate of knowledge transfer and
interaction between science and businesses. In addition, a new Patents Bill has
been introduced that will update and improve patents law, bringing it into line
with European legislation to help British-based businesses compete with
companies from the European Union.
In another new initiative, a national resource centre to promote women in
science, engineering and technology (SET) is to be set up by a consortium of
universities led by Bradford College and Sheffield Hallam, under a publicly
funded $4.4 million contract. The centre, which will open Bradford, Yorkshire
and Humber, in the spring, will give practical help and support to women working
in the sector and will provide best practice advice to employers.
British brands turn in strong performance
The Northwest Development Agency (NWDA) has launched a
three-year, $4.6 million initiative to raise the profile of the call centre
industry in the region. CallNorthWest, hosted by the University of Central
Lancashire in Preston, will develop a ‘skills agenda’ for the industry and will
help to develop a range of business advice and investment strategies for
companies across the North West. The call centre industry is one of the most
important in the region, employing 146,000 people, or 4.3 per cent of the
workforce. A further 60,000 people are employed in support industries such as
IT, training and education, and multimedia, internet and telephony services.
In other sectors, spending on film production more than doubled last year to
$2.2 billion, with British studios contributing to forthcoming blockbusters such
as Troy and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. New figures from the Film
Council show investment reached a record high, with a 50 per cent rise in the
number of films produced in the UK or involving British crews. Overseas
producers and studios such as Walt Disney and Warner Brothers funded most of the
177 films made in the UK during the year, with inward investment accounting for
some $1.3 billion of the total.
The value of exports of leisure cruisers and yachts built in the UK grew by 10
per cent last year to reach $1.4 billion, according to the British Marine
Federation. Domestic sales took overall revenues to $3.3 billion, up 5.2 per
cent on 2002. The number of workers employed in the industry rose by a similar
percentage, to total just over 30,000. The UK leisure marine industry has seen
its revenue grow for five consecutive years, with sales up 45 per cent over the
period.
Land Rover – the utility vehicle marque owned by Ford of the US – has been named
‘Best British Brand of the Year’ by not-for-profit group Walpole’s, which
champions the excellence of British products at home and abroad. At the group’s
annual awards ceremony in November, Land Rover beat off competition from other
leading British brands such as Manchester United and Harry Potter. The car
maker’s accolade follows the success of another Ford-owned brand, Jaguar Cars,
in the same awards in 2002. Land Rover designs and build four separate product
lines in the UK and has a presence in 142 markets around the world.
Wind farm plans move a step closer
Plans to boost the UK’s renewable energy sector have advanced
with the announcement of 15 new offshore wind farm sites around the coastline.
The sites will be built in three strategic areas of shallow sea – the Thames
Estuary, the Greater Wash (in Eastern England) and the North West. The wind
farms are expected to produce between 5.4 and 7.2 gigawatts of generating
capacity by the end of the decade, enough electricity for more than one in six
UK households. They include the world’s largest proposed offshore wind farm,
30-40km off the Lincolnshire coast, which could have up to 250 turbines and
provide 1.2 GW of generating capacity.
Greengas, an Australian company that specialises in the replacement of diesel
fuels with alternative, more environmentally friendly technologies, is to
establish a European headquarters at Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire, in west
Wales. The $5.4 million investment will be used to set up an administrative,
training and research facility at Llandeilo and the first of a national network
of engine conversion centres at Pontypool. A new company, GreenGas Fleets (UK)
Ltd, will employ 30 people in Llandeilo and 20 in Pontypool.
Developers set their sights high
The City of London Corporation has approved plans for the
tallest skyscraper ever proposed for the capital’s financial district. If built,
the 712ft Minerva tower, designed by architect Nicholas Grimshaw and extending
over 50 storeys, will contain 1 million sq ft of offices – the first building in
the City to do so – and will be taller than One Canada Square at Canary Wharf.
The $910 million building, sited on 1.9 acres at Houndsditch EC3, will also
contain 50,000 sq ft of retail space. It is one of three major new projects on
the drawing board for the City, the others being the Heron building and Renzo
Piano’s ‘shard of glass’ at London Bridge. If all goes smoothly, work could
begin in 2005, with completion set for 2007.
Outside London, work is soon to begin on the $27 million speculative second
phase of the Pacific Quay business park in Glasgow in Scotland. Sited next to
the BBC’s new 350,000 sq ft headquarters building, it will contain 60,000 sq ft
of offices. The Scottish Criminal Records Office will occupy the first phase of
the development. In Leeds, Yorkshire and Humber, a new speculative 31,000 sq ft
office building is planned for the 270-acre Thorpe Park business park, beside
the M1 motorway on the edge of the city. The new building – called Twenty One,
Fifty – will consist of three storeys and will come with 137 parking spaces.
A new business park development is planned for Apollo Park in Oldbury in the
West Midlands. A 12-acre brownfield site has been reclaimed and work has now
begun on the first phase of a planned 19,500 sq ft of industrial and office
units, ranging upwards in size from 4,500 sq ft. The project is supported by
funding from the European Union, as is another business park project at
Newcastle-under-Lyme in North Staffordshire. Four new workspace units for small
and medium-sized businesses are to be built at the High Carr Business Park,
ranging in size from 7,000 to 19,000 sq ft. Also in the West Midlands, a
derelict haulage depot in Walsall is set to be transformed into a business park
offering eight units of various sizes for small and medium-sized companies by
July. The Bentley Mill Way site is half a mile from junction 10 of the M6.
International links set to expand
The Department for Transport has published the sixth
edition of its Transport Trends report on its website, at www.dft.gov.uk. The
publication, from the National Statistics Office, examines trends and key issues
relating to transportation in the UK over the past 20 years, and is a companion
volume to the more detailed Transport Statistics Great Britain. For instance,
the report shows that road traffic has grown by 77 per cent since 1980, while
visits to and from the UK by air rocketed by 180 per cent. The volume of freight
moved in terms of tonne-kilometres (weight multiplied by distance) grew by 45
per cent between 1980 and 2002, though the actual tonnage of goods lifted
remains largely unchanged since the late 1980s.
The launch of the Queen Mary 2 cruise liner has highlighted a significant
expansion of the UK’s merchant shipping fleet. The registered trading fleet has
trebled in size in the past seven years, from 2.8 million tonnes in 1997 to just
over 9 million tonnes, as more shipping companies choose to fly the British
flag. Government reforms have helped to spur the expansion, including a revised
tonnage tax, an increased emphasis on training and closer links with the
Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
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EWS, the train operator which has a monopoly on freight
services through the Channel Tunnel, carried 22 per cent more traffic in 2003
than in the previous year, when services were disrupted by asylum seekers on the
French side of the tunnel. However, the total of 1.8 million tonnes was still
far less than expected when the tunnel opened. EWS is now talking to a number of
rail freight operators on the Continent with a view to expanding its services,
and is planning to introduce new, higher-speed services on routes to and from
the UK.
Meanwhile Eurostar, the Anglo-French-Belgian company that operates passenger
services through the tunnel, reported a 15 per cent increase in passenger
numbers in the final quarter of 2003, after the first section of the high-speed
Channel Tunnel Rail Link opened in September.
Midlands’ newest city thrives on feelgood factor
Since its elevation to city status to mark the new millennium, the former market town of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands has seen a huge surge in investment across a broad range of sectors. The city centre has been revitalised, with its shopping centres refurbished and a number of new mixed-use developments under way, including a new Canalside Quarter. There are plans for a $23.6 million integrated transport interchange in the city centre that will bring together road, rail, bus and metro services in a single gateway hub. Molineux Stadium has been home to local football club Wolverhampton Wanderers since 1889 and the club’s presence this year in the English Premier League has helped to create a feelgood factor that has filtered down to the local economy.
| Local business parks are thriving, and companies with bases in the city include Chubb, the famous lock manufacturer purchased last year by United Technology Corporation of the US. The University of Wolverhampton is engaged in a $127 million building programme that will dramatically improve facilities for its 22,000 students. A further $13 million is being spent to create a city centre Learning Quarter. Wolverhampton Science Park, jointly owned by the university and the city council, has expanded rapidly and has recently opened a 45,000 sq ft third phase that doubles its capacity. Tenant firms are active in areas such as software, electronics, environmental science, materials development and medical technology, and the new expansion contains a centre for firms involved in the creative industries. The science park is also a key element in the Wolverhampton-Telford High Technology Growth Corridor, one of three designated by local RDA Advantage West Midlands. |
Wolverhampton Science Park |
Around the regions
Genzyme, the US biotechnology company based in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, is to open a research facility in Cambridge, Eastern England. The
facility will focus initially on antibody technology and its applications in
oncology, renal disease and immune-mediated diseases. Genzyme has invested in a
number of research and manufacturing operations in the UK over the past 20
years; the new Cambridge facility will put it into proximity with world-renowned
academic institutions and a cluster of nearly 200 biotech companies.
Also in Cambridge, US scientific software company Accelrys is to boost its
existing presence. The company is to cut 50 top research jobs at its
headquarters in San Diego, California and transfer them to its centre of
excellence at Cambridge Science Park, increasing the workforce there from 120 to
170. Accelrys, a subsidiary of Pharmacopeia, Inc, provides software to
pharmaceutical R&D organisations for computation and simulation and for the
management and mining of scientific data.
US company Appleton, based in Wisconsin, has acquired BemroseBooth, based in
Derby in the East Midlands, for $60 million. The UK company is a provider of
secure and specialised print services, including security-printed vouchers and
payment cards, mass transit and car parking tickets, variable data labelling,
high-integrity mailing and niche publishing. Appleton, which has a workforce of
2,600 and is entirely owned by its employees, specialises in carbonless,
thermal, security, inkjet and performance packaging products.
Work has begun on a $7.6 million business innovation centre for the UK motor
sport industry at Silverstone race circuit in Northamptonshire in the East
Midlands. The centre forms part of the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC)’s
plans to develop Silverstone into a world-class Formula One venue and is also
intended to reinforce the burgeoning motor sport sector, which involves 2,200
businesses and has an annual turnover of $8.4 billion. The UK’s top 50 motor
sport engineering firms saw turnover surge by 500 per cent between 1989 and
2000, and doubled their workforces. The new centre will house up to 40
high-performance engineering start-up companies (including 16 in incubator
units), together with more established businesses. It is scheduled to open in
October.
Icelandic retail investment company Baugur has acquired the Julian Graves chain
of snack food shops, based in Kingswinford in the West Midlands. Established in
1987, Julian Graves operates 200 stores in the UK and employs around 800 people.
It has doubled its turnover in the last two years to $61 million and Baugur
intends to build on its success, increasing the number of stores by 50 per cent
over the medium term.
A new initiative is being undertaken by the South Yorkshire Investment Fund to
promote professional services in the region. Pro-South Yorkshire is a
business-led project made up of local companies in the business, professional
and financial services sectors. Its primary role is to attract new investment to
South Yorkshire, and it will also work to increase the involvement of
professional firms with local businesses. Finance for the first three years of
the project has been secured from European Objective One funding.
Indian company Sundram Fasteners, part of the TVS Group of companies, has taken
over Cramlington Precision Forge (CPF) Ltd in Northumberland, North East
England. CPF produces precision forged gears and components medium and heavy
trucks and for agricultural machinery, and has recently expanded to supply gears
and blanks for the defence and professional power tool industries. The plant was
under threat of closure in June 2002 when parent company Dana Spicer announced
plans to switch production to Hungary. However, local RDA One NorthEast and
Northumberland County Council have helped put together a business plan that will
allow the new Indian owner to globalise its business and safeguard the 37 jobs
at the plant.
Two new websites supported by the East Lancashire Partnership have gone online
to assist companies looking to set up or expand in this area of North West
England. The first, www.eastlancsproperty.com, features a searchable database of
business sites and premises available in the area, together with details of
funding opportunities and case studies of high-profile local businesses. The
second, www.eastlancsexpo.com, is intended as a shop window for local businesses
to market their goods and services worldwide. It will be presented as an online
exhibition, with a theme that changes quarterly. The aerospace industry is the
theme of the first quarterly exhibition.
Iggesund Paperboard of Sweden is to invest $21 million at its mill in Workington
in Cumbria, North West England to upgrade its paper box-building equipment and
increase output. At the end of the 1990s the company invested some $91 million
in the facility to rebuild its pulp production facilities and its BM2
manufacturing facilities; the latest investment is further evidence of its
commitment to the plant.
Swedish furniture retailer IKEA is to open a 308,000 sq ft store in Southampton
on the South Coast, creating 500 new jobs. The company opened a 28,000 sq ft
store in Cardiff, South Wales in November of last year, creating 400 new jobs
there. The moves are part of a ten-year expansion plan that will see the company
build 20 new stores around the UK.
Brita of Germany, which claims three-quarters of the UK market in domestic water
filters, plans to expand its UK operations and move to a new factory in Bicester,
South East England, in August 2004, from its current base at Sunbury-on-Thames.
The investment, worth around $18.8 million, will see the workforce expand from
100 to 130. The new plant will allow for the all-British manufacture of the
company’s filter cartridges, and will produce for the UK market and for export
to the rest of Europe. Retail sales of water filter jugs in the UK have nearly
doubled in the past five years and the market is worth more than $180 million
annually.
Japanese-owned Fujitsu Telecommunications, based in Antrim, Northern Ireland,
has won a major three-year contract to provide warranty, repair and
refurbishment services to Lake Communications, a leading supplier of
communications services in the UK, US, Republic of Ireland and Australia. In
particular, it will support Lake’s new flagship product, BT Versatility, a
new-generation communications system for small businesses. Fujitsu
Telecommunications, part of the global Fujitsu group, operates from a 25,000 sq
ft facility in Antrim and counts big names such as BT Convergent Solutions, BT
Payphones, Nortel Networks and Mitel among its customers.
TWI, the operating arm of The Welding Institute and one of the world’s leading
independent R&D organisations in welding and joining, is to set up a new base at
the Welsh Development Agency’s ECM2 facility at Port Talbot in South Wales. The
organisation, which supplies technical support to some 3,500 companies
worldwide, will use $5 million of European Objective One funding to employ 14
specialists in the development and use of non-destructive testing technologies.
Athletic footwear retailer The Athlete’s Foot, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is
planning to open a network of 20 new stores across the UK. The company has
signed a franchisee agreement with Applecross Retail of London, and the first
store has already opened in Llandudno, North Wales.
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