ace boost senior team - wmg story 04.10.16
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It’s not quite the Italian Job, but Shrop-shire glazing company Heritage Glass islaunching a raid on Chester, Worcester,Wolverhampton, Hereford and Mid Walesusing two new company Minis.The Shrewsbury-based firm has taken
delivery of two new branded Mini Club-man vehicles to boost its expansion plans,which will see it aim to pick up businessin neighbouring counties. The companyincreased its fleet as part of a tie-up withRybrook Mini in Shrewsbury.
Agents upbeat oncounty’s prospects
COMMERCIAL property agents inShropshire say the market remainsoptimistic after the Bank of Eng-land warned of a “sharp adjust-ment” in the sector.Minutes from the Bank’s Financial Pol-
icy Committee (FPC) meeting on Septem-ber 20 show that the number of FTSE 100shares bought by foreign investors overthe summer was less than half of what wasobserved last year, according to estimatesby S&P Global Market Intelligence.The FPC said this could have knock on effects
for the broader economy.It said: “Given the elevated level of uncer-
tainty around the economic outlook, the riskremained of a fall in overseas investors’ appe-tite to invest in the United Kingdom and conse-quently tighter funding conditions for the UKreal economy.”
But agents in Shropshire say they are not see-ing a significant knock-on in the local market,which is less prone to large peaks and troughsthan those in London.
Toby Shaw, from Shropshire-based agentsTowler Shaw Roberts, said: “I can genuinely saythat from our point of view inquiry levels havebeen as strong as I can remember for some time.
“Interestingly we are now getting competitionfor properties which prior to Brexit we weren’tgetting. From a confidence point of view thingsare as strong as they have been for some time.
“Where we would have been having eight to10 viewings for properties to get to the point ofsale, we are doing them in three or four.”Charles Howell, of Cooper Green Pooks,
agreed that the market was not fluctuating aswildly as in other parts of the country, addingthat manufacturing premises were in demandwhile retail was less so.
He said: “In terms of direct foreign invest-ments, if you had major investments like retailparks or shopping centres in Shropshire, thenthose investments might be affected more by thebigger picture, but from a purely property in-vestment point of view most of the transactionswill have a local connection
“Shropshire doesn’t really go through ex-tremes, so overall things are still cautiously op-timistic.”The Bank’s minutes noted that commercial
real estate transactions slowed by 60 per centin July and August compared to the same periodlast year, dropping to their lowest level since2009. That is as commercial real estate valuesdropped by 2.8 per cent in July, and by a further0.7 per cent in August.
But Mr Shaw said the most pressing issue inShropshire was a shortage of properties comingto market.
Heritage director Tony Randall, said:“To stay ahead of a continually movingretail platform we are opening outletsacross the neighbouring regions and havecreated bespoke sign-written vehicles sothat customers can feel completely confi-dent who they are dealing with when ourstaff initially visit them.“Following extensive expansion and
rebranding at our offices we believe thatthis new quality corporate image in bothstaff and vehicle fleet can only help to en-hance customer experience.”Ian Lockett, head of business for Ry-
brook Mini Shrewsbury, added: “TheClubman is the perfect vehicle for thesort of surveying and sales work thatHeritage Glass carries out throughoutthe region and we are delighted to be sup-porting them as their fleet increases inline with the company expansion.”
Nick Heyhoe of Heritage Glass with Jason Richards of Rybrook Mini with the glazing specialist’s new Mini vehicles
A double-fronted shop with development po-tential in Oswestry town centre is available tosale or let through commercial agents Halls.The site, at 15 Cross Street, is a three-storey
property with a basement, which has a totalground floor sales area of around 1,144 sq ft witha store and staffroom.
The property currently provides ancillary ac-commodation on the upper floor levels, whichhave a separate access.
Morris sheds light on first-ever Dubai deal
College leads the way on MOTs Town centre shophits the market
Report by Thom [email protected]
Expanding Telford manufacturer Advanced ChemicalEtching has tapped into a leadership programme to addto its senior management team.
The company, which produces metal components forthe automotive, aerospace, F1, medical and high valueengineering sectors, has appointed Jayne Powell as its
human resource director after she im-pressed on WMG’s Innovation BusinessLeadership (IBL) Course.
The former HR manager will be re-sponsible for overseeing the company’sincreasing workforce, which has grownby 25 per cent over the last two yearsafter the company secured a string ofnew orders to take its turnover past the£4m mark.
Her new role will see her leadingrecruitment, training and employee
wellbeing to help the 46-strong workforce cope with ex-pansion plans that will see ACE aim for £5m by 2017.
“We have invested heavily in new etching equipmentand a state-of-the-art laboratory, but have also chan-nelled significant funding into improving our people.Jayne’s development and subsequent appointment toour senior management team is testimony to this – wereally want to hold on and grow our best people,” saidmanaging director Ian Whateley.
He added: “The Innovation Business LeadershipCourse is the continuation of a long-term relationshipwith WMG at the University of Warwick and gave heran excellent insight into strategic skills and know-howon how to lead.”
ACE boostssenior team
Football chief tospeak to bossesShrewsbury Town chief executive Brian Caldwell will
be the guest speaker at a networking event for the town’sbusiness chamber this month.The event, at Shrewsbury Town FC’s
Arthur Rowley Suite at 6pm on October19, will also include a tour of the sta-dium.
The evening will provide a great in-formal networking opportunity for busi-ness people from companies, large andsmall, in Shrewsbury and the surround-ing area.Tickets are limited: you will also need
to book in advance so that the chambercan advise the club’s caterers. Entranceis free to members of the chamber, with a £5 fee for non-members and guests, to cover administration and cater-ing.Town moved to the NewMeadow in 2007, a UEFA cat-
egory four stadium with a capacity of 9,875. Mr Caldwelljoined Shrewsbury in February this year from Scottishside St Mirren.
Law updates attown seminarBusiness owners and managers are being invited to
a free employment law update being held in Telford onOctober 6.
The seminar is being organised by Lanyon BowdlerSolicitors, and delegates will have the opportunity toarrange a one-to-one meeting with an employment lawspecialist following the event.
John Merry, head of employment at Lanyon Bowdler,said that the seminar would be beneficial to businessowners and managers.
“Important changes are being made to the way certaintermination payments, and also benefits funded by sal-ary sacrifice, are taxed, and we will be helping employersplan for these,” he said.
“We will also share our thoughts about the extent ofthe impact that Brexit might have on employment law,and outline new rules relating to gender pay gap report-ing.
“We have already run this event in Oswestry andShrewsbury. It has been popular, and the feedback fromdelegates has been excellent.”The event will take place in Lanyon Bowdler’s con-
ference suite at its offices at Hazledine House, TelfordTown Centre from 12.30pm to 2.15pm on October 6, with10-minute one-to-one consultations following the semi-nar. Lunch will be provided.For more information, email [email protected] or call
01743 280281.
Phil Winnington, Harris Kaladi, Chris Morris and Murali Vasuderan
Brian Caldwell
Jayne Powell
Mini adventure for glazing firm
Shrewsbury-headquarteredmanufacturer Morris Site Ma-chinery has confirmed the de-tails of its first major order fromDubai, after agreeing to supply50 lighting towers for a projectin the emirate.
It is supplying Swaidan Trad-ing the LED lighting towers thismonth, for use on constructionprojects in the lead up to theglobal Expo in 2020.The fuel-efficient model has
been specifically adapted toimprove heat reflection and en-sure operation in the high tem-peratures in the Middle Easternstate.
The deal was sealed whenMorris Site Machinery chief ex-ecutive Chris Morris and inter-national business director Phil
Winnington flew out to Dubaito meet up with their new cus-tomer.
“We are delighted to havebegun what we hope will be-come a long standing, mutuallybeneficial relationship with AlNaboodah Group Enterprisesand Swaidan Trading,” Mr Win-nington said.
“This is an important orderfor us as it represents our firstsales into Dubai, a territorywhere we are now looking tobuild our business. Hot on theheels of this sales success a fur-ther order for lighting towershas now been placed for thisterritory.”
“The contract demonstratesfaith in our great British prod-ucts and service and the focus
we put on quality – both theproducts we take to market butalso the strong partnerships webuild with customers. It’s aboutunderstanding each other’sbusinesses enabling each toserve the other profitably.”
The business is currently ex-porting to more than 20 coun-tries, with the largest share ofthe business in Australia whereit has established its TL-90range of lighting towers over thepast 12 years.
Morris, which is part of theMorris group of companiesbased on the Welsh Bridge butwhich mainly operates fromFour Ashes, announced earlierthis year that it had secured£3.5 million of new overseasbusiness, including n Dubai.
Report by Thom [email protected]
New government-imposedrequirements for annual MOTtesters has led to a significantincrease in demand for train-ing and assessment courses atShrewsbury College.
Where previously MOT test-ers were required to undertakea refresher course every fiveyears, the Driver and Vehicle
Standards Agency (DVSA) isnow insisting that testers mustundertake MOT training andpass an assessment betweenApril 1 and March 31 each yearto retain their tester status.
“This is a significant in-crease in training require-ments for all MOT testers andwe want to ensure we offer
testers the highest qualitytraining in the best facilitiesas soon as possible,” said LynSurgeon, chief executive andprincipal of Shrewsbury Col-leges Group.
“As all MOT testers musttake the training and assess-ment by March 31 2017, weare investing over £40,000 im-
mediately in preparation forcourses to start at ShrewsburyCollege in November of thisyear.”Local engineering firm RMT
Garage Equipment Servicesfrom Oswestry has won thecontract to supply the testingequipment to Shrewsbury Col-lege.
BUSINESS NEWS
Vehicles set to help Monkmoor’sHeirtage Glass expand its horizons
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