December 2005

News

Bigger spend on R&D as UK expertise is recognised
The number of research and development-intensive, middle-sized companies in the UK has increased by more than 75 per cent over the past four years, and there are 100 more companies with an annual R&D spend of more than $516,000 than there were a year ago, according to the Department of Trade and Industry’s annual Research and Development (R&D) Scoreboard. The scoreboard is the most comprehensive of its kind in the world, examining data for the top 750 companies investing in R&D in the UK and the top 1,000 in the world. It defines a middle-sized company as one with a turnover of between $43 million and $860 million, and an R&D-intensive company as one whose R&D spending equals more than 4 per cent of its sales.

The number of UK-owned ‘R&D-vigorous’ firms increased by 32 per cent, from 88 to 116, over the 2001-05 period. The UK has the fourth largest number of companies in the international top 1,000, after the US, Germany and Japan. Globally, the three largest R&D sectors are automotive, IT hardware and pharmaceuticals. Those growing most rapidly over the past year included pharmaceuticals, automotive and aerospace. This year’s survey shows that the business climate for such companies has improved worldwide over the past year – in terms of sales growth, profitability and R&D – but most rapidly in the US. It also reiterates the point that there are clear links between R&D and company performance and market capitalisation.

Big spenders on R&D in the pharmaceuticals industry included Cambridge Antibody (the leading spender overall, by a margin), Skye Pharma, AstraZeneca, Shire and GlaxoSmithKline. In IT hardware, the top spenders were ARM, Spirent, Marconi and CSR. UK-owned companies dominated the software, IT hardware and electronics sectors, while foreign-owned companies are in the majority in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, chemicals and the automotive industry.

Large foreign-owned companies are increasingly turning to the UK as a base for their R&D activities. Twelve of the top 17 foreign-owned firms analysed by the scoreboard have a much larger R&D intensity than their parent companies, investing a high proportion of their global R&D effort in the UK. Pfizer’s UK operations have an intensity four times higher than that of its parent, while the UK arms of Syngenta, Airbus and Visteon spend more than twice as much. They are closely followed by the likes of Ford, Lucas and Oracle.

Science Minister Lord Sainsbury said: “The high amount of multinational R&D that is located in the UK shows that we are one of the best places in the world for R&D science and innovation generally.” The UK offers tax-based incentives to encourage companies to invest in R&D.


Research initiatives forge links between business and academia
In an example of inward-bound R&D funding, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation of the US has given a grant of $87.2 million to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) in North West England. The grant will fund an international research programme that will put LSTM at the forefront of global efforts to develop treatments for infectious tropical diseases such as malaria. The research has been made possible by the creation of a new Centre for Tropical and Infectious Diseases at LSTM, which has received European and local Regional Development Agency (RDA) funding of $31 million, and which will double the size of the school.

The North West has a number of internationally renowned centres of life science R&D, including the universities of Manchester and Liverpool, and the region is home to major pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Sanofi-Aventis and Chiron Vaccines. The North West Development Agency (NWDA) has a dedicated organisation for the sector, Bionow, which is leading the development of new facilities such as the National Biomanufacturing Centre at Speke and the Daresbury International Science and Technology Park.

Meanwhile, the government has announced that four successful projects have been chosen to work with universities and high-tech businesses in the US to strengthen science and innovation links and to increase industrial competitiveness and knowledge transfer. Each project will receive funding of $2.6 million over two years.

The University of Manchester will work with the University of Washington, the Northwest Aerospace Alliance, Airbus, Boeing and a wide range of businesses in the US and the UK to develop composite materials for use in aircraft design. Imperial College London will work with the University of Texas, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Georgia Institute of Technology on energy research and treatments for cancer, while the University of Cambridge will strengthen its existing ties with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The SETsquared Partnership (a collaboration between the universities of Bristol, Bath, Surrey and Southampton) will work with the University of California in San Diego and Irvine to develop spin-out research in areas such as wireless technology, life sciences and advanced materials.

The Wellcome Trust has donated $13.8 million to the School of Life Science at the University of Dundee in Scotland for a pioneering drug development initiative that bridges the gap between academia and industry. The grant will be used to create a commercial-style unit with 16 scientists hired from pharmaceutical companies to develop treatments for three of the world’s ‘neglected’ diseases – African sleeping sickness, Chagas’ disease and leishmaniasis.

Also at Dundee, In Practice Systems, part of the French group CEGEDIM and a leading developer of software for the European medical sector, is to expand its development centre to create the next generation of online patient databases for use in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries. The expansion, aided by a Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) grant of $344,000, will see the creation of 25 new jobs, more than doubling the company’s workforce. Among its customers is the UK’s National Health Service.


UK strengthens position as global financial centre
Spending on acquisitions in the UK by foreign companies in the third quarter of 2005 increased to $21.1 billion from $15.1 billion in the second quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics. The actual number of deals fell slightly, from 59 to 55. The biggest single deal was the acquisition of lastminute.com by Sabre Holdings Corporation of the US, for $992.4 million. Other significant deals included the Nordic-based Kaupthing Bank’s acquisition of Singer & Friedlander Group, Challenger Connections of Australia’s purchase of Inexus (Group) Holdings and US-company Castle Harlan Partners’ acquisition of Polypipe Group. Expenditure by UK companies on acquisitions abroad increased from $12.9 billion to $13.4 billion from the second quarter to the third. The biggest transaction in this category was Barclays Bank’s acquisition of Absa Group for $4.5 billion.

London is increasing its influence as a global financial centre and, in particular, is consolidating its role as the European capital for a number of important wholesale markets, according to a report comparing financial markets trends in Europe and the US. The research, by London-based International Financial Services, points to a wealth of evidence including, for example, London’s success in increasing its share of the global OTC derivatives market in 2004 from 36 per cent to 43 per cent.

Another survey, the Capital Access Index 2005, by the Milken Institute, shows that for the first time since the rankings began in 1998, the UK tops the worldwide index for the efficiency of its capital markets, in terms of making capital accessible to entrepreneurs. It pushed last year’s winner, Hong Kong, into second place, also edging out Singapore and the United States. The 2004 index covered 121 countries representing 92 per cent of global GDP, and ranked them on more than 50 measurements, from the strength of their banking systems and the diversity and efficiency of their financial markets to general economic conditions.

The diversity of London’s financial markets has been demonstrated once again by the decision of a gold mining company from Kazakhstan to list on the London Stock Exchange. Kazakhaltyn, one of the country’s biggest gold mining groups, was aiming to raise at least $172 million from its floatation at the end of November. This followed the successful floatation in October of compatriot Kazakhmys, a leading copper group, which raised $1.2 billion. The two Kazakh companies join a growing list of enterprises from Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe that have sought a London listing.


Chemicals companies on the acquisition trail
KemFine Ltd of Finland has acquired Avecia Fine Chemicals Ltd, based in Grangemouth, Scotland, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition includes all of Avecia’s assets and operations on a 162-acre site, as well as all 310 of the company’s employees. In 2004, the company recorded sales of $65.4 million. The combined business, which will operate as KemFine UK Ltd, will create a new force in the global fine chemicals sector and will supply contract manufacturing services to the agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals industries.

Meanwhile, Avecia Pharmaceuticals, based in Manchester, North West England, has been acquired by Nicholas Piramil India Ltd (NPIL), based in Mumbai, for $16.5 million. The UK-based firm provides custom chemical synthesis and manufacturing services for companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors worldwide. NPIL develops healthcare solutions for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a variety of diseases.

Another Indian company, Genesis Speciality Chemicals, is to open Europe’s first ever back-integrated chemicals manufacturing facility in Rochester in Kent, South East England. The 16,000 sq ft facility will create 25 jobs for skilled chemical engineers within the next three years. Genesis supplies anti-foams and polymers to the pulp, paper, oil and petrochemical industries. It chose Kent as the location for its new plant as the South East is home to some 60 per cent of the UK’s paper manufacturing companies.

Symmetry Medical, a Warsaw, Indiana-based supplier of products to the global orthopaedic device industry, has opened a new 25,000 sq ft facility at Cheltenham in South West England. The new facility, Symmetry Medical Cheltenham, more than doubles the area of the company’s existing operations in the town and will support its European customers.

Inion Oy, a Finnish biomedical products company, has opened a new European Technical Centre in Cambridge, Eastern England. The centre will focus on research and development of next-generation biomaterials; one aim is to produce biodegradable implants that stimulate bone growth and accelerate the healing process. The company plans to invest between $17.7 million and $23.6 million in R&D at the facility over the next three to four years.


UK-US business relations are stronger than ever
There were 464 investment projects from the US into the UK in 2004, up 48 per cent from 2003; these projects were responsible for creating 17,730 new jobs. This is one manifestation of the increasingly strong business relationships between the two countries, highlighted in a new survey conducted jointly by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and BritishAmerican Business Inc. The 2005 Transatlantic Business Survey questioned 140 senior executives in the US and the UK to explore the ‘special relationship’ between the two.

Two-thirds of those surveyed said that the business relationship between the US and UK had grown stronger over the past five years, despite the emergence of economies such as India and China. The main factors driving investment and trade both ways across the Atlantic are the strength of the overall economy and skilled workforces in both countries. Both sets of respondents identified the availability of skilled staff, good transport links and a common language as the three most important factors in making the countries good locations for each other’s businesses. The UK outpointed the US on the skills of its workforce, with 89 per cent of respondents rating skills levels as good or very good, compared with 74 per cent saying the same of the US.

The findings of the report echo those of property consultant Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker’s annual European Cities Monitor survey, which recently named London as the best city in Europe in which to do business, for the 16th consecutive year. However, it did point out competition from India and China and an increasing burden of regulation as the two biggest threats to transatlantic business over the next three years.


Reform bill aims to simplify company law
Sweeping changes to simplify and improve company law have been introduced in the new Company Law Reform Bill, which aims to save businesses up to $430 million a year, including $172 million for small businesses. Deregulation is at the heart of the bill, which rewrites company law to make it more flexible and to reduce red tape. Among the changes for small businesses will be simpler rules for forming a company and the abolition of the need for a company secretary.

In general, there will be greater clarity on the duties of directors, greater use of e-communications and the introduction of ‘paperless’ share transactions, and proposals to introduce auditor liability and to boost audit quality. Shareholder powers will be increased, including rights to question auditors and named partners. Perhaps most significantly, investors will have statutory powers to sue company bosses for negligence or breach of duty.

The median gross weekly earnings for adults in full-time employee jobs in the UK was £431 ($741) in April 2005, up 2.8 per cent from £420 ($722) in April 2004, according to the Office for National Statistics. Men’s earnings in full-time jobs were £472 ($811), up 2.5 per cent, compared with women’s earnings of £370 ($636), up 3.9 per cent. The faster rate of growth in women’s wages meant the gender gap in pay narrowed from 14.5 per cent in 2004 to 13.2 per cent in 2005. Median gross weekly earnings for all employee jobs grew to £337 ($580), up 3 per cent from £327 ($562).

Four new business skills academies, sponsored by business and backed by government, have been announced, with the aim of training tens of thousands of young people in skills demanded by the workplace. Employers will provide at least half of the $69 million start-up costs for the scheme, and will be closely involved in developing curriculums for the academies. The first four academies will be in construction, financial services, engineering, and food and drink manufacturing. Companies backing the initiative include Lehman Brothers, Bovis Lend Lease, Northern Foods, Caterpillar, Next and Marks and Spencer. A pilot skills academy for the retail sector was launched earlier this year by Philip Green, billionaire owner of the Arcadia retail group. It enrolled its first batch of 50 students on a one-year course in September.
 

The company recently won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise, marking its growth in overseas sales in the 2002-04 period, when it virtually doubled sales to $3.4 billion. Toyota UK’s pre-tax profits in the year to March grew to $86.9 million, from $28.9 million a year earlier. The Burnaston plant employs 4,573 people and in January will see the opening of a new $19.2 million European training centre, which will train up to 1,000 staff from across Europe each year.

Honda’s plant in Swindon, South West England, also reached a milestone in October, as it began production of the eighth-generation Honda Civic, a five-door hatchback model destined for the European market. The car will go sale in January, with more new models in the Civic range planned for the next 12 months. It is expected to boost European sales of the Civic by as much as 50 per cent over the next two years, with UK sales in 2006 predicted to be 35,000 units. The Civic is Honda’s mainstay model in Europe, accounting for 30 per cent of its overall sales. Production of the latest model began just seven months after the concept version was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. It marks the first time a new model has gone into mass production in the UK without first being produced at Honda’s parent plant in Japan.

Total car production in the UK dipped by 3.5 per cent in September and by 0.5 per cent for the third quarter, the smallest quarterly drop for the year. Production for the home market fell by 10.4 per cent year-on-year. However, this was offset by a rise in production for export by 1.2 per cent for September, 3.7 per cent for the third quarter and 1.4 per cent year-on-year. The Society of Motor Manufacturers, which published the figures, said production was robust and had been affected to a lesser degree than expected by the closure of MG Rover. Production of commercial vehicles was stable, down by just 0.6 per cent year-on-year, though there was a fall of 9.5 per cent from August to September.

Sales of motorcycles and mopeds are on the increase, with new registrations in September jumping to 16,000, compared with just under 11,000 a year earlier. This followed a dip in sales at the beginning of the year, and meant that registrations for the first three quarters of the year were virtually unchanged from 2004, at 109,000. The increase in sales has given a boost to Triumph, the UK’s only indigenous large-scale manufacturer. The company, which makes around 50,000 motorcycles annually at its plant at Hinckley in Leicestershire, East Midlands, unveiled three new upmarket models at October’s international motor show in Birmingham.

Freight traffic on the increase as container port changes hands
Freight traffic at UK ports rose by 3 per cent in 2004 to reach 573 million tonnes (Mt), according to new figures from the Department for Transport. Inward traffic rose 6 per cent, by 19 Mt to 342 Mt, while outward traffic fell 1 per cent to 231 Mt. Bulk traffic, in terms of tonnage, grew by 1 per cent while container and ro-ro (roll-on roll-off) traffic rose by 10 per cent. Containers increased by 386,000 units and numbers of road goods vehicles and unaccompanied trailers increased by 263,000 units.

Grimsby & Immingham is the UK’s leading port by tonnage

The top three leading ports by tonnage were unchanged from last year: Grimsby & Immingham (with 57.6 Mt), Tees & Hartlepool (53.8 Mt) and London (53.3 Mt). However, Milford Haven, with 38.5 Mt, and Southampton with 38.4 Mt increased their throughput to take fourth and fifth positions respectively. Dover remained the leading ro-ro port, with 2 million movements of road goods vehicles and unaccompanied trailers, up 11 per cent from 2003. Felixstowe was still the leading container port, handling 1.7 million containers, an increase of 8 per cent.

The UK’s registered merchant fleet grew by 10 ships during 2004 to 597, while tonnage grew 7 per cent to 9.8 million deadweight tonnes. The fleet included 128 tankers, 139 ro-ro vehicles, 131 container ships and 40 passenger ships. Container ships accounted for over half the total deadweight.

The Port of Liverpool, in North West England, has changed ownership, with the acquisition of its parent company Mersey Docks and Harbour Company by leading property and transport group Peel Holdings. With the acquisition, Peel Group becomes the UK’s second largest ports group, after Associated British Ports. Among its portfolio are Clydeport in Scotland, the Manchester Ship Canal, Heysham Port in Lancashire and Medway Ports in South East England. It also operates container terminals in Cardiff in Wales and at the Irish ports of Belfast and Dublin. Liverpool currently handles more container trade with the US and Canada than any other UK port.


Luton to expand as new airports get off the ground
London’s Luton Airport has unveiled ambitious plans to triple its size by 2030, as part of a $2.6 billion scheme that will also deliver a new full-length runway in time for the 2012 London Olympic Games. London Luton Airport Operations, the company that runs the airport under a 30-year concession, was taken over at the beginning of this year by Spanish infrastructure group Abertis, as part of its acquisition of TBI, the UK regional airports group. Against a background of growing air travel and calls for more airport capacity in South East England, Luton forecasts that passenger numbers could grow from 9.5 million in 2005 to 15 million by 2012, which would exhaust its current capacity. The planned expansion, supported by a 3,000-metre runway and a second terminal building, would see passenger numbers grow to more than 30 million a year by 2030.

Luton Airport unveils expansion plans

Delta Airlines, the leading US transatlantic carrier, has expanded its operations in London and has relocated its Western European Call Centre (WECC) to London Gate in Hayes, in the west of the city. The new centre will handle more than 1 million calls annually. It has a workforce fluent in 17 different languages and is already handling customer calls from across Europe. Delta is currently aiming to expand, with the biggest international growth plan in its 76-year history.

Newquay Airport in Cornwall, South West England is set for expansion after the Royal Air Force decided not to develop a base at RAF St Mawgan, the military airfield whose facilities it shares. This clears the way for development of civil aviation at the airfield, making it one of the key transport gateways to the region. A number of flights already operate from Newquay, to domestic destinations such as London, Bristol and Leeds Bradford, and internationally to Dublin and Malaga. A number of operators are believed to be interested in launching new services.

Manston Airport in Kent, South East England, could be back in business for both passenger and cargo flights by next summer, according to its new owners. Operations at the new airport shut down after low-cost airline EUjet collapsed and its former owner Planestation went into administration. However, New Zealand investment company Infratil has bought the Thanet airport for $29.2 million, and has already wooed back freight operator MK Airlines, which stopped using Manston due to high landing fees. Infratil already owns Glasgow’s Prestwick Airport in Scotland, and has plans to develop Manston along similar lines, making it a centre for low-cost passenger travel.

Nottingham East Midlands Airport (NEMA) won the accolade of ‘Best UK Airport’ at the British Travel Awards held recently in London, beating off rivals such as Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Stansted. The award was judged on a variety of criteria, including passenger figures, new routes and airlines, terminals and retail developments, relations with the UK travel industry, and road and rail access. In the meantime, the airport has launched a new website dedicated to all aspects of its cargo operations, at www.NEMAcargo.com.

Coming down to earth, a new road bridge linking the Isle of Sheppey with mainland Kent, South East England, has been completed. The $172 million bridge over the River Swale is 35 metres high and has four lanes; it is projected to carry 26,000 vehicles a day. It replaces a previous bridge that had to be lifted up to 20 times a day to allow ships to pass, causing traffic disruption in the area.


Office rents show fastest growth in nearly five years
Rental levels for prime office space in the UK are rising at their fastest rate since March 2001, according to property consultant Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker, in its quarterly Marketbeat report for November. It reports that, nationally, rents rose by 1.8 per cent over the third quarter, taking the increase over the past 12 months to 4.6 per cent. There was strong growth in a number of locations, including Central London, Manchester, the East Midlands and towns and cities in the South East, such as Chelmsford, Southampton and Guildford. Other markets, however, such as Leeds and Birmingham, remained static. In the industrial sector, rents grew by 2.7 per cent for the quarter to stand at 3 per cent higher than a year earlier. Demand was strongest for distribution warehousing, while the areas seeing the highest level of activity included Wales, Yorkshire and Humber and parts of the South West.

Examining the Central London market in more detail, DTZ Research’s latest core report reveals that the volume of space available on the market continued to shrink in the third quarter, falling from 21. 4 million sq ft to 19.2 million sq ft, and reducing the overall availability ratio to 8.7 per cent, from 9.7 per cent at the end of June. Take-up rose slightly to 3.9 million sq ft, bringing the total for the first nine months to 10.6 million sq ft, compared with 9.5 million sq ft in the first nine months of 2004. Known requirements grew to 6.9 million sq ft, though the total amount of space under construction fell slightly, from 7.1 to 7 million sq ft. The level of development starts halved to 700,000 sq ft, but completions stood at 880,000 sq ft.

Headline rents in the City increased to £47.50 ($81.70) per sq ft, according to DTZ, while inducements declined slightly, to an average 33 months for a 15-year lease. In the West End, prime headline rents remained stable at £65 ($111.80) per sq ft, with typical rent-free periods remaining at 15 months for a 15-year term.

New developments on the drawing board include a 700-acre mixed-use development in the North East. Wynyard Park will be developed on a site between Billingham and Hartlepool in rural Co Durham. In nearby Darlington, ten acres of land at Faverdale East Business Park will be used to build 190,000 sq ft of industrial premises.

In Leeds in Yorkshire and Humber, outline planning permission has been given for a $172 million scheme in the city’s emerging cultural quarter. A development of six buildings on an 8.1-acre site at Quarry Hill will include 106,000 sq ft of offices, along with shops, apartments and a medical centre. The area is home to a number of cultural institutions, including the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Leeds College of Music.

In North Wales, the 10-acre site of the former Hotpoint factory at Llandudno Junction is to become a focus for development, with plans for a complex of high-quality office buildings, together with space for car showrooms. On the island of Anglesey, a 113-acre site at Ty Mawr near Holyhead will be used for a sustainable mixed-use development that will include a business park aimed at manufacturing, high-tech and knowledge-based businesses, together with a hotel and leisure facilities.

In South Wales, a major regeneration project is planned for the town of Llanelli. The Llanelli Waterside project includes five key sites comprising 100 acres of development land, and is intended to create 340,000 sq ft of business and office space, 180,000 sq ft of leisure facilities, 1,000 houses and 1,500 jobs. The two main sites are North Dock, an 18-acre area in the Millennium Coastal Park that is slated as a new business and commercial leisure district, and Delta Lakes, a 34-acre site earmarked for a mix of commercial and business development, including a high-tech business park.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has formally switched on the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) Solar Tower project in Manchester, the largest of its kind ever undertaken in the UK. The 400ft service tower of the listed city centre building has been coated with 7,000 photovoltaic panels, which are expected to generate 180,000 units of renewable energy each year – enough, says CIS, to make 9 million cups of tea. The project is not yet fully complete, but has already started feeding electricity into the national grid.


Around the regions
Indian IT consultancy Infosys has relocated from Croydon, South East England to the Canary Wharf financial district of London. The company has been in the UK for nine years and now has 115 full-time staff and 800 consultants, as it continues to expand. It is a global leader in ‘next-generation’ IT and consulting, with revenues worldwide of $1.5 billion a year.

London has cemented its position as a leading centre for Executive MBA programmes, with four of the top eleven programmes taught worldwide in 2005 being located in the capital, according to the annual EMBA rankings from the Financial Times. London Business School was in third position worldwide (behind University of Pennsylvania Wharton and Hong Kong UST Business School), followed in sixth place by the University of Chicago, which relocated its European campus from Barcelona to the City of London earlier this year. Other UK-based institutions in the top 20 were the Cass Business School at City University, Imperial College’s Tanaka school, Warwick Business School and Ashridge business school.

Gamma Enterprise Technologies, based in Woodland Hills, California, has opened an office in London to provide sales and support for its SAP data management solutions throughout the EMEA region. This is the company’s first office outside the US. NTP Software, a provider of storage management software based in Nashua, New Hampshire, has also opened an office in the capital. It will provide marketing and sales support to resellers and will offer technology assistance to customers and channel partners.

WiredRed, a San Diego-based provider of enterprise communication software, has opened its first UK office in Chichester, South East England. The company’s e/pop software package allows users to communicate with colleagues in real time, using instant messaging, alerts, online meetings and training sessions via web conferencing. Another US IT company, Servigistics of Atlanta, Georgia, has opened a new European HQ at Bristol in South West England to take responsibility for the company’s EMEA operations. Servigistics, a provider of service parts management solutions, is expanding its operations in Europe.

Saint-Gobain of France, one of the largest suppliers of building materials in the world, has made a cash offer of nearly $6.8 billion for BPB, a leading international producer of plasterboard, based in Slough, South East England. BPB has seen its orders grow from customers in developed countries around the world in response to tighter building regulations, such as fire prevention.

Meanwhile, Saint-Gobain’s glass factory at Eggborough in the East Riding of Yorkshire has been named Deloitte Factory of the Year in an annual award scheme run by the Cranfield School of Management in conjunction with Works Management magazine. Saint-Gobain Glass UK also won awards for Best Process Plant, Best Health, Safety and Environmental category and the Regional Award for Yorkshire and Humber at the awards ceremony, held in London in September. Getrag Ford Transmissions, based in Speke, Liverpool, won the accolade of Best Engineering Plant, while other foreign-invested factories to be recognised included Siemens Standard Drives in Congleton, Cheshire and Gillette (UK) Ltd, based in Reading, Berkshire, both of which were highly commended in different categories.

Evertz Microsystems, a Canadian manufacturer of film and television equipment based in Burlington, Ontario, has acquired Quartz Electronics of Reading, South East England. Quartz manufactures television routing switchers and master control products, and has over 450 master control channels installed worldwide. Through the acquisition, Evertz has increased its presence in the high-definition television (HDTV) market, and now claims to offer the world’s most complete end-to-end HDTV solution.

dbsXmedia, a subsidiary of Virginia-based company Ariel Way, has opened a new European headquarters in Plymouth in South West England. dbsXmedia provides corporate communications infrastructure and digital signage services to companies throughout the US and Europe. Ariel Way specialises in developing innovative and secure technologies for international communications solutions. It also seeks to acquire emerging technologies and communications service providers.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), an Indian IT consultancy company based in Mumbai, is to move into the UK life and pensions industry. It has been in talks with UK closed fund group Pearl Group, with the aim of transferring Pearl’s existing business processes to a new UK company, a subsidiary of TCS, based in Peterborough, Eastern England. The new company will employ around 950 of Pearl’s current staff of 1,100, and will specialise in business process outsourcing (BPO) for life and pensions, aiming to become a centre of excellence. It will start with Pearl’s closed books portfolio, and will offer similar services to other life companies. The deal is expected to generate $487 million over the next 12 years.

Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus is to expand its operations at the Scunthorpe steelworks in Yorkshire and Humber with an investment of $344 million, making it one of the main steel-making centres in the UK. The new facilities will include an inline continuous finishing mill capable of producing sections of rail track up to 120 metres long – a world first. Rail production will be transferred from the company’s plant at Workington on the northwest coast, and the new facility, which also includes an automated distribution centre, is expected to be completed by November 2006. Corus is the second largest steel producer in the EU and in 2004 was responsible of 10 per cent of all European production. The company has a workforce of 48,000 in 40 countries. Major customers for its steel rails include SNCF of France, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in India and rail companies in Mali, Senegal and Tunisia in Africa.

Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus is to expand its operations at the Scunthorpe steelworks

A new $6.5 million business centre in Rotherham, Yorkshire and Humber, has been officially opened by HRH Prince Andrew. The centre, Moorgate Crofts, is part of the $3.4 billion Rotherham Renaissance 25-year masterplan, aimed at regenerating the town. A number of enterprises are already trading from the centre, which is aimed specifically at businesses in the ICT, digital, creative and professionals and financial sectors.

HRH Prince Andrew opened Moorgate Crofts business centre, part of Rotherham Renaissance

Google, the world’s largest internet search engine company, is to make Manchester in North West England its main UK base outside of London. It has opened a new office there with a small number of specialist staff, but will expand as demand for its services grow. The Manchester office will be the hub for Google’s operations in northern England, the Midlands, Wales and Scotland. Worldwide, the company employs nearly 5,000 people. Kate Burns, head of its operations in the UK, said: “Manchester is the north’s creative capital, with 70,000 people employed in advertising, marketing, IT and the media. Coming to the city was an easy choice to make.”

The engineering systems business of Swedish industrial group Trelleborg has acquired the operations of Dunlop GRG Holdings, a developer and manufacturer of flexible containers for the storage and transportation of fluids, based in Manchester in North West England. Dunlop GRG’s products are used in marine operations, the defence industry and in disaster relief. Its operations will be fully integrated within Trelleborg’s engineering systems organisation.

Two German companies, IT Campus of Leipzig and Tribe Technologies of Frankfurt, have formed a joint venture company to provide IT solutions to the UK call centre industry. The new company, yet to be named, will be based in the European Business centre, a new facility in the Fabriam Centre on North Tyneside, in North East England. The North East has strong links with Germany, playing host to more than 50 German companies, including BASF, Degussa, Siemens and Thyssen Krupp. Some 8,500 German nationals live in the region.

OKI Europe Ltd, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Oki Electric Industry Company, has opened a new unit at its existing base in Cumbernauld, Scotland. The new company, OKI Printing Solutions, will produce supplies for computer printers and will secure 250 jobs. OKI has been investing in Scotland for 18 years and employs around 600 people. The latest investment was supported by a Regional Selective Assistance grant of $1.5 million from the Scottish Parliament.

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