Member Article

Business leaders across North West welcome growth in GDP

The announcement that UK GDP has grown by 0.75 – and by 3.0 per cent compared to the same quarter a year ago – has been greeted with approval by business and civic leaders in the region.

Headline figures show that the quarterly growth see the recovery continuing. According to the announcement by the Chancellor, George Osborne:

• Growth is slightly down from the 0.9 per cent increase in Q2 2014 on a Quarter-on-Quarter basis, although the fall of 0.2ppts is well within the usual volatility that we see in the quarterly figure.

• It means the UK is now 3.4ppts above the pre-crisis peak (in Q1 2008), after the great recession shrank the economy by 6.0 per cent.

• The growth is balanced, with all four major sectors of the economy showing uplift: Manufacturing (0.4%); Services (0.7%); Construction (0.8%); Agriculture (0.3%).

• On an annual basis, for the second quarter in a row, the three largest sectors of the economy - Services, Manufacturing and Construction (making up 95.5% of the economy) - each grew by three percent or more. Prior to the last quarter, the last time all three sectors grew by three percent or more, on the year, was in Q1 (versus Q1 1999).

The North West has the greatest number of apprenticeships in the country – over 70,000 more than the next biggest region, the South East

The region has also benefitted from the greatest amount of direct investment from Regional Growth Funds in the country, and has the highest number of new business start-ups after London and the South East.

North West headline figures:

Jobs and Tax

• Employment Up 91,000

• People taken out of income tax 343,000

• People who have had an income tax cut 2,810,000

Skills

• Apprenticeships started 334,000

• Number of Academy schools 294

Business

• Businesses getting up to £2k off National Insurance 74,000

• Start Up Loan approvals 3,099

• Value of Start Up Loan approvals £16,607,370

• Increased number of businesses 44,775

Housing, Infrastructure and Investment

• Number of new first time buyers 91,200

• Number of projects/programmes in National Infrastructure Plan * 61

• Direct investment from Regional Growth Fund £460,000,000

Christine Gaskell, Chair of the Cheshire and Warrington Enterprise Partnership said: “We welcome the continued strong growth in the economy.

“Within Cheshire and Warrington, we continue to build on the success of international brands such as Bentley, who are committed to investing £800 million in Cheshire creating 1,000 new jobs. The success of Warrington’s Omega site continues, with over £217million already invested and major companies such as Brakes Group, ASDA, Hermes Parcelnet and Travis Perkins signed up.”

Jim Gill, Chairman of Professional Liverpool said: “The Professional and Financial Services Sector in Liverpool City Region generates a higher than average level of GDP per employee and has recovered strongly from the recession as business confidence has improved overall. Business start-up activity is strong and more mature businesses are expanding through export growth.

“The Merseyside Special Investment Fund has had its second most active year in almost twenty years of operation with £9m invested in 160 companies across all stages of the business lifecycle, including 110 start-ups.”

Geoffrey Piper, Chief Executive of the North West Business Leadership team said: “Throughout this year the level of confidence reported by our members has risen quarter by quarter and overall the past twelve months have witnessed what I believe is a remarkable resurgence in the level of optimism for business in the North West.

“ All the indicators now suggest that our region is fast making up the ground lost in the period from 2008 to 2013. This has also been borne out in the Institute of Chartered Accountants’ North West Business Confidence Monitor which currently shows business confidence in the region standing at one of its highest levels ever recorded.“

John Ashcroft, Chief Executive of Pro-Manchester said: “The GDP figures are in line with the latest reading from the Manchester Index™ derived from the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Economic Survey.

“Strong growth in service sector and construction is supported by growth in manufacturing and investment. We have identified some weakness in export deliveries and orders in the quarter. However, overall prospects remain strong particularly in the automotive, marine and aerospace sectors. For the year as a whole we expect growth of over 3% moderating slightly in 2015 to around 2.8%.

“The Manchester Index™ is a powerful coincident indicator of trends in the Greater Manchester and the UK economy.”

Clive Drinkwater, Regional Director of UKTI North West said: “The GDP figures announced today are at the level the market predicted, 0.7% and the fastest growing of any advanced economy.

“International business continues to play a very important role in the wealth and prosperity of the North West, and we need to continue our efforts to make the most of international opportunities. There are some fantastic businesses in the North West, including our own Export Champions, and I want to encourage them to reach out to new markets.

“If every current exporter in the region achieves this, expanding to just one more market this year, we can increase GDP in the North West even more, significantly aiding economic recovery and giving a boost to our competitiveness as a region.”

A spokesperson from BAE Systems Submarine Solutions, Barrow, said: “Sustained Growth in Cumbria is being driven by its high concentration of global manufacturing companies with new investments by Bae systems, GSK, M-Sport, Tritech International either starting soon, or in Tritech’s case just completed – a £5.5m, 33,000ft2 R&D/manufacturing centre, £80m being invested by Centrica Energy onshore at Barrow and continued export success of Siemens Subsea which is embarking on a range of new product investment supported through RGF grant help from Cumbria LEP.

“Shipbuilding continues to be a major driver of growth in Cumbria. Naval shipbuilding is a major driver of Cumbria’s GVA being responsible for 3.8% annual average employment growth, in comparison to all other business sectors 0.5% growth role.

“The annual average change in GVA for shipbuilding in Cumbria since 2006 is 16.9%, in comparison other sectors showed only 1.5% change. The shipyard at Barrow has since 2004 increased employment from 2,900 to over 6,500 now, with more than 1000 recruited in 2014.”

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, said: “I am delighted that The University of Manchester is playing a leading role in delivering a significant boost to the North-West economy. A key part of this is ensuring we recruit the highest calibre of staff and students who contribute to the prosperity of the region.

“Our £1bn Campus Masterplan will create world-class facilities for staff and students on a single campus and will involve the construction of new teaching and research buildings, student facilities and major improvements to the public realm. In addition, we are building two world-leading graphene centres – the £61m National Graphene Institute and the £60m Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre – aimed at working in partnership with industry to accelerate graphene applications to market.

“I would expect these and many other important projects at the University to be integral to the success of the local economy and attract large numbers of jobs to the region.”

Alan Torevell, Chairman of Dewhurst Torevell and of North West Energy Squared, a visionary project for tidal energy and coastal transport investment, said: “North West Energy Squared is a project, supported by the NWBLT, to reinvigorate the North west, to create up to 20, 000 high earning jobs, to increase connectivity from West Scotland, through the North West’s underdeveloped areas of West Cumbria, the Fylde and Merseyside, across the Dee to North Wales.

“The project means to generate 5% of UK electricity requirement using tidal gateways across the estuaries. and provide impetus for education, for successful welfare projects, for Tourism, and an incentive for engineering projects of all kinds. The whole will produce social benefits worth almost £2billion a year, and green electricity worth £1billion a year, reducing the import bill equivalently, and hugely increasing energy security.”

Simon Allport, North West Senior Partner, Ernst & Young, said: “Professional services firm EY recently opened a new forensic technology facility in the North West, which is expected to create 50 jobs over next two years. EY’s first dedicated forensic hub outside of London, the lab specialises in eDiscovery, which involves collecting, managing and analysing data for legal disputes and regulatory investigations, for clients across the UK.

“Our new lab facility highlights our commitment to the North West economy, growing our business in the region and investing in people. The region’s exceptional universities and thriving technology sector supports a deep talent pool that is enabling us to build a national forensics centre of excellence.

“The North West is the focus of even greater economic and political interest due to HS2, the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ vision and the debate surrounding the devolution of political powers to the regions. It is a strategically important market for EY and represents a real growth opportunity for our business as the region focuses on its contribution to rebalancing the economy. Through investing in our North West practice to support the ambitions of our clients and the communities we work in, we remain committed to helping the region thrive.”

Graham James OBE, Director of Flexcrete Technologies Limited, based in Preston, reports that buoyant exports are helping the company remain in good shape.

The firm is the UK’s leading independent manufacturer of technical mortars and high performance coatings for buildings and other structures, and enjoys a thriving export business with international agents and distributors in 65 countries worldwide and export sales accounting for some 50% of its revenues.

He said: “Our export business is very strong and we currently have significant orders on the high seas being delivered to markets as diverse as Ghana and Australia. Another recent order has involved the supply of 35 tonnes of an innovative coating system for the petrochemical industry in Azerbaijan, which is a new export market for us. It’s exciting times for us at the moment and we are visiting Mexico next month to launch some new high performance roof coating systems.

“We have been trading in export markets for some 30 years now and we firmly believe that our business is in good shape because we have invested in new product development, not just with the UK but global markets in mind. For instance, we’ve just launched an innovative new coating called Monodex Clear which was primarily developed to serve our export markets, but it also fulfils a demand in the UK as well, so it’s a win-win situation,” Graham continued.

Mark Pegler, Managing Director of ParkCloud based in Stockport is achieving success via international sales, with a 400% increase in international growth this year.

He said: “ParkCloud is an award winning, global provider of reservation systems and marketing services for the parking industry.

“Having been trading for 6 years, we operate in 36 countries around the world and our clients include a huge variety of parking facilities, including Charleroi airport in Belgium; Paris-Beauvais airport in France; Poznan airport in Poland; airlines such as Ryanair, Wizz Air, and airBaltic; Quick No Problem Parking management group in Italy; Spanish airport operations giant AENA, national Italian rail operator Trenitalia and international construction group Vinci Park.

“Expansion is a constant at ParkCloud, and in recent years over 400% international growth has been recorded, alongside the doubling of the company’s in house, multinational team. In April this year, ParkCloud was delighted to be award the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, in the category of international trade, which celebrates the company’s outstanding achievements overseas in the past few years, and the promise of more yet to come from their base in the UK.”

What More UK Ltd is currently enjoying huge success, and recently opened a new 500,000 square foot facility in Burnley to accommodate rising demand for its quality plastic houseware and garden products. The company won the prestigious Queen’s Award for International Trade earlier this year.

Director Tony Grimshaw said: “We have invested heavily in people, products and manufacturing capability and distribution. By 2007 What More was brand and market leader in the UK, and after major investment in 2008 we had enough capacity to supply our UK customers with an additional 30% cushion for growth, with more production capacity available, so we looked to exporting. Today we have a department of International Sales Managers with their own support team, and recently appointed our first country Sales Manager for Germany. Our products sell in 54 countries worldwide and export has become a major part of our business.”

Ryan Wholey, CEO of Tiss Ltd in Blackpool, said:

“We take great pride in our products which are 100% manufactured in the UK. In the past 3 years we have substantially increased our global reach and now sell TankSafe™ into over 40 different territories. In this time period we have seen our export sales rise from 13% to 45% of the Company’s turnover and we fully expect International Sales to exceed UK business in the next 12 months.

“From successful recent market visits (aided by UKTI) to Dubai and Germany, we have created business agreements in 4 new territories in the last month alone. Our international success has seen TISS shortlisted as a Finalist for the local BIBA Award in International Trade and more importantly the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade 2014, which we received from Lord Shuttleworth (the Queen’s representative for Lancashire) at an extremely well attended ceremony hosted in our home town of Blackpool earlier this month.”

Successful Bramhall based business, Contra Vision, continues a tradition of innovation and industry in the North West. Head of PR Jo Bentley, said: “Contra Vision is a truly North West based success story, building on the history of innovation and industry which continues to flow out of the area.

“We formed the business in 1985, patenting and licensing the technology now known worldwide as Contra Vision® see-through graphics. Today, we have 27 inventions patented or patent-pending and has brought products to market worldwide, licensees range from multi-nationals, 3M, Avery Dennison and LG Chem to small printing companies.

“Contra Vision developed the see-through graphics market in the UK and internationally, and this year we won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise having grown overseas sales earnings 1084% over the last six years and increased exports as a percentage of total turnover from 35% to 80%, with a network of 18 distributors located across the world from Europe to Australia.

“The business has remained true to its North West roots and developed into a global enterprise. Our Bramhall office has expanded from an initial staff of two (30 years ago) to 15 full time staff and a number of specialist consultants.

“With a range of international distributors covering Canada, North and South America, Europe, South Africa, Japan and Australia and New Zealand we can claim to be a truly international company. Although one of our most successful markets is Australia, business in the USA is expanding with a sales increase of 46,345 % over the last 5 years.”

Chairman and Director Roland Hill added, The Queen’s Award for Enterprise recognises UK companies which have achieved outstanding results within their respective fields. Roland Hill comments, “We were delighted to receive this Award, which is a testament to the hard work and dedication of Contra Vision staff and the world class products which we continue to develop and innovate.”

Marcelina Gadecka of High Voltage Partial Discharge Ltd (HVPD) in Salford said: “High Voltage Partial Discharge Ltd (HVPD) are experts in the growing industry of partial discharge testing and monitoring.

“We offer a complete range of equipment that gives an early warning of faults and deterioration in medium and high voltage insulation, allowing plant owners to take early corrective action. We provide bespoke solutions to our customer base in oil and gas, renewables, shipping, transmission and distribution, and generation industries. Over 350 customers in 100 countries already trust our technology.

“2014 has been a very exciting year for HVPD to date with July seeing us receive two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise 2014, in the categories of Innovation and International Trade. Our open innovation and continued investment in research and development has helped us to develop new world leading test and monitoring technologies this year, including the On-line Partial Discharge (OLPD) Monitoring and Benchmarking Solution and the PDS Insight™ - the world’s first handheld test unit with an asset management tablet application, the OLPD Manager™ app.

“HVPD are also pleased to have opened two new offices in 2014, HVPD USA in Houston and HVPD Offshore in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, both of which will support our continuously expanding global client base.”

Glenn Cooper, President of ATG Access, a high tech international security business based in St Helens said: “ATG Access is going from strength to strength, thanks primarily to our export activity which continues to account for 70% of our annual turnover, but the source is proudly from the UK. The origin of all of our training and the education is British. We are using British expertise to develop and improve international security standards and best practice, with support from UKTI, British industry and the government.

“Last week alone we had multiple events happening simultaneously across the globe, including a Security Seminar in Dubai hosted with the support of the UKTI in the prestigious British Embassy, a Security exhibition in Doha - MIllipol, Qatar where we showcased our shallow mount technology innovated by our British team and manufactured by our partner in Abu Dhabi, a Security seminar in Moscow - showcasing our illuminated access control high security products with locally assembled cabinets working with our Russian partner and a distributor conference in Asia, bringing together all of ATG Access’s global partners from South East Asia for annual training and new product updates.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said: “Strong growth figures show that the UK continues to lead the pack in an increasingly uncertain global economy.

“With all the main sectors of the economy growing it’s clear that our recovery is broadly based. But the UK is not immune to weakness in the euro area and instability in global markets, so we face a critical moment for our economy. If we want to avoid a return to the chaos and instability of the past then we need to carry on working through our economic plan that is delivering stability and security.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .