Performance Highlights2014/15

ENABLE GROWTH, CREATE JOBS, IMPROVE LIVES

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Strategy & Research Providing research and analysis to drive policy and delivery

Business Support Offering a comprehensive range of support to help & Finance businesses startup, grow and thrive

Skills Providing skills for individuals and businesses

Employment Supporting the employment and recruitment needs of employers, local people and government

Marketing Improving the perception of Greater Manchester nationally and internationally

Organisational Helping ambitious organisations realise their true potential Development Services

Delivering Greater Manchester Strategy priorities in relation to the following areas:

MGC comprises the following:

1200 employees · £107m turnover · IIP Silver Accredited

MGC is a group of companies whose core purpose is to:

Enable Growth, Create Jobs and Improve Lives.

MGC works, in partnership, to help deliver the Greater Manchester Strategy’s growth, productivity and inclusion objectives.

The Group delivers these objectives through:

• Working with and leveraging the resources of public agencies and the private sector

• Maintaining and developing a strong evidence base for future strategy and delivery

• Securing public contracts and commercial income (including outside of Greater Manchester)

• Integrating service delivery to increase efficiency, maximise effectiveness for customers and best meet Greater Manchester’s needs

• Generating surplus to re-invest in Group delivery

Pantone 295 Black

MICRO LOANS

Additional services that MGC is contracted to deliver:

* In partnership with NW Chambers

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I am delighted to introduce the annual results for the Manchester Growth Company (MGC) following our first full year of operation.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority agreed to the creation of MGC in November 2013. This brought together the Manchester Solutions group, including the

Business Growth Hub, with Marketing Manchester and MIDAS. Integrating these companies into a single group has enabled better coordination of the economic development functions of Greater Manchester and ensures that not only are efficiency savings delivered but that all resources are more directly aligned to local priorities, as set out in the Greater Manchester Strategy.

It has been a very busy twelve months and I’d like to say a particular thanks to our new Board and colleagues who have steered us through the set up of the Group and delivered very strong first year results.

Our first year has inevitably involved work on instituting a wide range of capacity building measures to ensure that, as a company, we are robust and flexible enough to respond to the needs of our stakeholders and the commercial environment in which we operate. We have put in place a new governance structure, created a new corporate identity, moved business areas to a single site and agreed a series of company-wide financial re-investments against our service delivery priorities.

Of course, our ultimate focus is on delivering activity that will assist business growth and improve the lives of residents and communities in which we work. Through work across a broad range of partnerships we have supported a large number of local businesses, and worked with a significant number of young people, all securing impressive results. As a company we have added £349 million GVA to the economy by creating over 17,000 jobs, via our business support and business finance activity and as a result of our inward investment delivery. We have also placed 5,417 unemployed people back in to work and supported 29,000 learners, making us the largest skills provider in the North West.

In addition, the company has demonstrated strong performance in bidding for commercial contracts with £98.5m worth of business secured during 2014/15 including a further five years of the UKTI North West Trade Contract, National Careers Service Contracts and Regional Growth Funding to support textiles and exporting.

Review of the Year

I was delighted to take up the post as chair of MGC in November 2014, coincidentally the same month that the Chancellor announced the Greater Manchester trailblazing Devolution Deal.

There have been further headline developments: the £56.6 million expansion of Greater Manchester’s

Growth Deal, a ground-breaking agreement for Greater Manchester to have full control of its entire £6 billion health budget by 2017, and the general election.

The impact of the latter on Greater Manchester is still to be fully understood. What we can be sure of however, is that we have retained a chancellor who fundamentally understands the importance of cities, and clearly wants to see Greater Manchester succeed.

Yet we are only at the very beginning of our journey into devolution. MGC will continue its work across the devolution agenda, ensuring the rest of the group is equipped for its role around implementation.

As we build capacity and develop our stakeholder networks, our attention is becoming ever more focused on how we can boost Greater Manchester’s skills and business base, and better coordinate and promote its core strengths. We have recently launched GM Futures, an agreement that brings together several like-minded organisations to focus on developing an improved employer-led skills system for Greater Manchester and one which provides opportunities for our residents to reach their full potential. This project will look specifically at employment and skills opportunities within the new European Social Fund (ESF 2014-20) programme.

In addition, the next stage of Government’s Apprenticeship Reform, giving employers more control over apprenticeship funding, and the pledge in the Queen’s Speech to create three million new apprenticeships during this parliament, signals a welcome continued commitment to the programme.

Going Forward

“I have no doubt that the level of ambition and determination that we have seen in Greater Manchester over the last year, will only become bolder as we move into 2016.”

“Our ultimate focus is on delivering activity that will assist business growth and improves the lives of residents and communities in which we work.”

Whilst growth and productivity is a key driver for us as an organisation, supporting the Greater Manchester inclusion agenda is also central to our work. Through our customer base we are working with hard to reach groups, a high proportion of whom were previously unemployed and people from the most disadvantaged areas. 47% of the businesses we assisted through our Business Growth Hub were based in wards that have a claimant count higher than the Greater Manchester average of 15.5%, and 57% of loans received through Business Finance Solutions were to previously unemployed people. Aspire, our own recruitment agency, placed 500 people into work, 72% of which were previously unemployed and our Work Programme results show a referral to job conversion of 35% for Job Seeker Allowance claimants.

Our success has been realised against a backdrop of strong overall performance for Greater Manchester. The emergence of opportunities such as Devolution should see not only the City Region go from strength to strength, but will allow for a better framework for delivery of services for MGC. The Devolution agreement, which was signed with Government in November last year, was perhaps the most significant development of the last twelve months. We supported the business case for this and are now assisting its implementation whilst also looking at what further opportunities could be secured. The Northern Powerhouse agenda also continues to be driven forward and enables Greater Manchester, and MGC, to work with our colleagues across the North in our ambition to rebalance national economic growth.

I believe this has been an impressive year for MGC and I would like to thank all employees for contributing to this success. I look forward to the exciting opportunities that the next twelve months will bring.

Mark Hughes, Group Chief Executive, Manchester Growth Company

Looking ahead, we are focusing on a changing economic landscape in which employment is improving and the economy is growing. However, productivity is not. So, a key challenge will be to address this through the assisting and promotion of those sectors that have the most potential for Greater Manchester and the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ including Advanced Manufacturing, Biotechnology, Creative, Digital & Tech, Financial & Professional Services, Low Carbon Goods and Services, and Tourism. On the latter, we’re working – through Marketing Manchester - on the delivery of a one-off funding initiative which will see £10 million released to help the North showcase itself as a top international tourist destination.

This is all in addition to our specific focus this year upon one of Manchester’s greatest assets: science. The city is presently recognised as the European City of Science, and rightly so. The honour will last for the next 18 months and MGC has been building up a team to coordinate the culmination of this very exciting project, which will be the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), staged in the city in summer 2016.

I have no doubt that the level of ambition and determination that we have seen in Greater Manchester over the last year, will only become bolder as we move into 2016. With the development of a less centralised and more sustainable economy, there will inevitably be plenty of challenges to be faced in the coming months. It is a great pleasure to be a part of a team that has the ability to come up with the solutions.

Richard Topliss, Chair, Manchester Growth Company

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£349mAdditional Gross Value Added (GVA) generated...

...from the new jobs created through business support and business finance activity, and the new jobs attracted by inward investments.

2,857businesses o�ered funding2,857 businesses o�ered loan or grant funding with £51million of o�ers to businesses.

organisations assessed against IIP framework & meeting the standard

WORKING TO TRANSFORM THE ECONOMY OF GREATER MANCHESTER, DELIVERING GROWTH AND PROSPERITY TO THE CITY REGION

organisations helped to develop & grow

We’ve helped over 6,000 organisations to develop and grow through consultancy, training, mentoring and implementation of the Investors in People standard.

6,0001,304

Additional export sales generated through international trade support

£850m2,596 New business

start-ups created

BUSINESS

ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

major conferences bid for and secured for Greater Manchester, generating £12m economic impact

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We contribute to the success and prosperity of Greater Manchester through bespoke research projects and continued analysis of available data.

We are a key delivery partner on Greater Manchester’s ground-breaking devolution agreement.

growth in the visitor economy

We help to maintain a 5% growth per annum in the visitor economy making Greater Manchester the 2nd most visited place in England, outside London; attracting visitors, supporting 88,915 jobs in the sector and pumping £7billion into the economy.

5%

International media coverage promoting Greater Manchester

Attracting 2.67million visits to visitmanchester.com, generating £2.8million direct revenue into hotel and venues and supporting growth in airline passenger numbers.

£4.3m additonal visitor spend generated through seasonal marketing campaigns

£37.5m

STRATEGY & RESEARCH

MARKETING & TOURISM

Enable GrowthEnable Growth

MGC Performance Highlights 2014/15 MGC Performance Highlights 2014/15

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MGC Performance Highlights 2014/15

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MGC Performance Highlights 2014/15

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new jobs created and existing jobs safeguarded through business support and finance, trade advice and inward investment

17,767

unemployed people directly assisted into work

5,417

Repatriation of UK Textiles Manufacture

The biggest study in twenty-years on supply and demand in UK textile manufacturing has delivered one of the most successful Regional Growth Funds – The NBrown National Textiles Growth Programme – supporting £45.6m investment in 133 textiles firms; creating 1,518 jobs and safeguarding 327. This represents a national gross economic impact of £92m GVA annually; and within Greater Manchester, accounts for projects worth £26.3m GVA, creating/safeguarding 526 jobs in 21 companies.

BUSINESS

The number of inward investment projects by foreign owned companies56

EMPLOYMENT

STRATEGY & RESEARCH

Work programme performance continues to out perform the national average with a 35% referral to job conversion rate for JSA clients and 21% conversion for ESA clients.

Best performing UK city outside London for inward investment creating 4,000 jobs from 92 inward investment projects, safeguarding 6,000 jobs with over 50% in priority sectors of digital, science and advanced manufacturing.

22,542 tonnes of carbon savings by businesses from resource e�ciency improvements

Number of apprenticeships started by people under 24

individuals supported with careers guidance who have progressed into a job or other career related activity.

Number of unemployed people who have successfully moved from work programmes into learning.

2,167

856

11,349

3,272

SKILLS & EMPLOYMENT

The largest skills provider in the North West and 2nd largest nationally with 29,000 learners this year.

BUSINESS

Largest provider of apprenticeships in Greater Manchester supporting 3,272 apprenticeships with 92% progression into employment or further training and 4 in 10 clients from disadvantaged areas.

people placed into work by Aspire Recruitment during 2014, 72% of which were previously unemployed and 65% of which have gone on to secure permanent employment.

500+

Improve LivesCreate Jobs

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Case Studies 2014/15 Case Studies 2014/15

University of Manchester Construction Academy

The University of Manchester Construction Academy is a partnership aimed at providing trained labour to support the University’s £1bn capital programme, which will see the expansion of the campus over the next eight years. The Academy operates through The Works, a joint initiative between the University and the Work Company with support from the National Careers Service, MGC’s employment agency, Aspire, and The Skills Company. This provides an employer led one-stop-shop supporting people to find jobs, develop skills and access training courses, financial advice and services. The University’s ambition is to support at least 1000 unemployed people into work, and 500 into apprenticeships.

Newland Engineering

Newland Engineering is a manufacturer of telescopic conveyors for vehicle loading/unloading and is based in Hyde. The company contacted the Business Growth Service (BGS) for advice on improving performance. The BGS Manufacturing team carried out Lean Manufacturing training and CAD simulation training enabling the company to be more responsive to customer needs, and turn customer requirements into complete 3D designs quickly. The project resulted in increased orders and growth in GVA of £176,000, as well as creating a design job and safeguarding two production jobs.

From Work Programme to Employment

Chris Barnes was a Work Programme customer who had not worked since leaving college, when he was referred to the Work Company by Jobcentre Plus. After a period of assessment, it emerged that Chris had good IT skills and wanted to work in an administrative role. Chris was enrolled to do his Level 2 Apprenticeship in Business Administration with The Skills Company and at the end of his Apprenticeship, Chris was confirmed in the role of Project Coordinator. He is now undertaking his Level 3 Apprenticeship in Business Administration with The Skills Company and is progressing well in his career.

Apprentice leads to Foundation Degree

After completing A levels, Carl Tanner did a year of a course at university, before deciding to look for opportunities that offered practical experience whilst continuing to train on the job. Carl registered with the Skills Company and started a Level 3 Apprenticeship in Principles of Marketing, at Milk Design, a digital branding and social marketing business in Didsbury. The Apprenticeship suited Milk as it offered them the chance to take a risk and employ someone with little experience, and train to their own requirements. Carl successfully completed his apprenticeship, and was taken on permanently with Milk as an Account Executive. Following his apprenticeship, Carl enrolled on a Foundation Degree course in Business Management at the Skills Company, and graduated in summer 2014.

Quantum Profile Systems Ltd

Oldham based building products manufacturer, Quantum Profile Systems Ltd (QPSL), has identified new annual savings of over £30,000 thanks to resource efficiency support from Green Growth. The company specialises in the extrusion of rigid and flexible PVC and employs 90 people, with a turnover of £10 million. QPSL has been working with Green Growth since 2012, and was already saving nearly £122,000 and 302 tonnes of CO2e a year through compressed air efficiency improvements, reduced raw material usage, process controls and legal compliance.

New actions undertaken by Green Growth included an onsite resource efficiency review, thermal imaging surveys and support with environmental and sustainability queries. These actions have identified a number of improvement opportunities for QPSL which have produced annual savings of an additional £24,000 and 120 tonnes of CO2e. Simon Crossley, Director of QPSL said: “QPSL are committed to environmental sustainability and Green Growth has allowed us to improve our green credentials at the same time as reducing our overheads.”

Greater Manchester to host World Summit on Media for Children in 2017

Marketing Manchester has led a successful bid for Greater Manchester to host the next World Summit on Media for Children (WSMC), working in partnership with BBC Children’s and global professional conference organisers Conference Partners. The summit will welcome over 1,500 delegates from around the world, and will be held in December 2017.

Thumbfood

Thumbfood is a videogame company founded by Simon Smith, after 15 years industry experience with leading games designers and advertising agencies. While Simon had good knowledge of gameplay and high-end visuals, he was inexperienced in running a business, so he signed up to a Start Smart Workshop with the Business Growth Hub. Simon found it an invaluable experience, providing him with practical advice about the start-up process, tax and legal issues, as well as the opportunity to network with other entrepreneurs. Simon enrolled on a range of the Hub’s

Gelexir Healthcare

Gelexir a University of Manchester spin-out, has developed a hydrogel intended to relieve back pain by allowing cells in the disc to get back to “normal” functioning, hence relieving the cause of pain. This has the potential to save the NHS and healthcare systems around the world significant sums of money and reduce back-pain suffering for millions of people. Gelexir engaged with the Co Angel team in offering specialist support in facilitating the fundraising.

Gelexir has received investment from sector specialist investors including the NW Fund for Biomedical, the Central Manchester Foundation Trust and a number of overseas and local angel investors. The funding is needed to take the business through a pivotal pre-clinical study and into first “in man” studies. The Co team is also continuing to work with Gelexir to identify additional funding that will take their investment in the online business to £950k.

Hans von Celsing, Executive Director Gelexir said: “The team at Co have been instrumental as part of the process to date in giving strong and impartial advice, providing us links to potential investors, and generally supporting us in the fund raising process. We are looking forward to continuing our excellent working relationship with the Co Angel team to complete this current round of funding”

master classes including marketing and corporation tax, which helped to unravel some of the intricacies of tax for a new business. Simon also began to work with a mentor with a wealth of experience in digital technologies. Since starting up, he’s won a number of key contracts including work with Manchester City to develop games for the junior supporters’ area of their website, and he’s now talking to other Premier League clubs about similar projects. Simon has capped a successful first year by being nominated in two categories at the prestigious games industry TIGA awards.

Manchester is uniquely placed to host the event, bringing together BBC Children’s, BBC research and development and a number of BBC software developers, as well as celebrated makers of children’s TV such as Cosgrove Hall, Mackinnon and Saunders, and Brown Bag Films. The summit is expected to generate an estimated £2.98m for the local economy, and will reinforce Manchester’s position as one of Europe’s leading creative and digital media hubs.