The bank has launched Global Connections, an initiative which highlights the importance of international business.

Across the UK, the top 10 international and innovative businesses could be awarded a share in £60m worth of funding. The finalists will also be invited to take part in international exchanges for networking and business development.

David Beaty, HSBC’s regional commercial director for the North, said yesterday: “Through our many meetings with business leaders across the region, we know that Yorkshire is home to many entrepreneurial, forward thinking companies.

“And, in a tightening domestic economy, international trade offers a great opportunity for many businesses seeking growth.

“Our Global Connections initiative seeks to help UK businesses compete at the forefront of international trade. Not only can we help through providing funding but also through introducing them to other entrepreneurial businesses both in the UK and around the word.

“Once you bring businesses together, you can tangibly see partnerships forming as they share challenges, insights, and find synergies to help each other grow. It is a privilege to facilitate these connections and to help UK businesses achieve success on a global scale. Trading across borders is not only critical for the future success of businesses in Yorkshire but is also critical to the UK economy.”

HSBC has previously taken businesses from across the UK on ‘Thought Exchange’ trips in some of the world’s most dynamic areas of economic growth – Hong Kong, Brazil, New York, United Arab Emirates and Paris – allowing them to meet other businesses and investigate international trade opportunities.

This year’s competition will be linked into a global initiative allowing more businesses to connect. However, the competition element will be unique for UK businesses.

HSBC said it was “inviting forward thinking, ambitious businesses in Yorkshire to demonstrate the quality of their thinking”.

Businesses are able to submit an application detailing their business plans and funding requirements online at www.hsbc.uk/globalconnections by the closing date of Friday July 13, 2012.

Yorkshire Post 10th May 2012

Today, it’s determined to make a name as a retail destination.

A new multi-million pound expansion at the Kingsgate shopping centre will ensure that Huddersfield remains in the top 50 UK shopping destinations in the years to come, according to the owner of the centre.

Peter Everest, MD of WD Huddersfield, said that retail will centre on fewer towns, and into a much tighter core, as people choose to travel to shopping centres which offer larger stores.

Plans for the £40m expansion, which will see about six new large units and four smaller ones added to the Kingsgate shopping centre, and the centre grow by 50 per cent, if planning permission is granted, will help to ensure Huddersfield thrives as a hub for shoppers.

He said the aim was to try to bring back shoppers from centres such as the White Rose Centre, Meadowhall and Leeds to shop in Huddersfield.

“Kirklees and ourselves are looking at the town and how we can enhance it.

“We are working with the council and there is a recognition that the town needs to move forward, it needs to evolve.

“The intention is to benefit Huddersfield and to reduce the spend going out of the town,” he said.

The plans include a new entrance to the shopping centre which opens on to the station quadrant, which Mr Everest said would give smaller shops surrounding the centre a boost by their proximity to the larger department stores.

The land the new expansion would be built on is bordered between Cross Church Street, Oldgate and Kirkgate.

Mr Everest is hoping to attract one or two major department stores in to the newly expanded centre, in addition to the 80,000 sq ft House of Fraser store it already houses.

The Kingsgsate Centre, which was built at a cost of £65m-£70m a decade ago, is a project which is close to Mr Everest’s heart, as he watched it rise from the ground.

“I saw the drains go in and have been here every step of the way. It is my baby,” he said. “We have been looking at expansion for a couple of years now.”

He said that Huddersfield is a much better place to invest than people outside the area believe it to be.

“Huddersfield is in the top 50 towns and cities in the UK. It is a lot bigger than people think and is overshadowed greatly by Halifax. Bradford also takes a higher priority,” he said.

He said that his plans, which will be open to public consultation before he submits a planning application early next year, will help Huddersfield to keep its status as one of the top shopping destinations in Yorkshire. “The whole concept is that the people of Huddersfield will have a say as to what the options are,” he said.

One of the plans being considered is the possibility of including a four star hotel, which he said would benefit the town.

“This is something the town needs and it could be on the top of the car park, for example,” he said.

He said he is not anxious about making such a large investment even though these are tumultuous economic times.

“You always feel it is never the right time to invest. It could be that we are five to 10 years from being the right time to invest, but we are working with what we have.

“We need to enhance the town,” he said.

Mr Everest said he has seen a change in the retail landscape over the past few years, to one where the major stores are only interested in taking much larger units.

“Retail is changing, therefore we have to change or we will die. Unit sizes have gone up in the past five years,” he said.

“For one retailer we had to combine lots of bits and pieces to create a 12,000 sq ft store. This is where retail is going.

“Retail will concentrate on fewer towns and into a much tighter core so we have to provide that tighter core.”

The expansion is expected to create 600 permanent full-time equivalent jobs in the centre, with about 300 jobs during the construction phase.

The centre would be approximately 410,000 sq ft when it is finished and additional car parking is also part of the plan.

Kingsgate Centre manager Jonathan Hardy, who was born and bred in the town, and has been involved in every stage of the centre’s development said: “Huddersfield has a rich past built on textiles that were sold worldwide, and has a bright future as a leading destination for fashion.

“Those who visit the town centre for the first time are often pleasantly surprised by its magnificent architecture.”

Yorkshire Post 10th may 2012

Encos bricks and brick slips are made from a combination of recovered aggregates and vegetable-oil-based binders. They are manufactured using a patented method which is based on research originally carried out at the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Leeds by Dr John Forth into the use of alternative binders in construction materials. The process consumes no water, and produces no waste.

Mark Nichols, CEO of Encos Ltd said:
“Our carbon negative masonry units fit in perfectly with the Greenbuild Expo sustainable refurbishment and building theme, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to exhibit, demonstrate and discuss the properties of our carbon-negative bricks and brick slips at this important sustainable construction event. Because we are close to coming to market, the timing is ideal to explain to delegates how our products can help improve the sustainability performance of new builds and in refurbishing properties.”

AA Mirsons Solicitors Ltd were represented at this years Food and Drink Expo 2012 at the NEC showcasing their Food Regulations Services.

They were the only Firm of Solicitors attending to showcase their Food Regulations Services.

“We were very happy to meet the numerous companies and attendees represented at the EXPO. We would be grateful to receive any comments from those who we met on issues concerning the Food Regulation Services and needs, so please feel free to drop us a line.”

AA Mirsons Solicitors Ltd are an established firm with offices in the City of London and Leeds, so we can offer services throughout the country. We have a specialist regulatory law department with experienced, dedicated solicitors who can offer you the best advice in all aspects of UK and EU regulations, including not only Food Safety, but Health & Safety, Environmental Protection and Licencing.

The deal is with an unnamed global rail operating group. The company will use Leeds-based Tracsis’s resource optimisation software for an undisclosed sum.

Tracsis said the deal secures software licence revenue for at least two years for its core TRACS labour scheduling suite, and also its new fleet optimisation product TRACS-RS.

Both tools are designed to improve the speed and accuracy of resource planning while cutting cost and improving performance.

Chief executive John McArthur said: “Once again, we are delighted to have won this contract which is testament to the concerted efforts of our business development team in building fantastic working relations with transport operators both here in the UK and overseas.

“This latest announcement follows on from our contract award announced on April 18, and the subsequent trading statement issued on April 25, both of which indicated continued successful trading for the group.”

Tracsis has grown rapidly since it was spun out of the University of Leeds’ School of Computing in 2004.

The company’s products allow transport operators to computerise staff and crew scheduling. Its MPEC subsidiary, bought in June last year, allows remote monitoring of trackside equipment, reducing maintenance costs for operators.

Yorkshire Post 4/5/2012

THEY’RE the words every train passenger dreads hearing.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to apologise for the delay to your journey. We are awaiting our driver/we are stuck at a red signal/we are in a queue of trains – and should be on the move shortly.”

With record high fuel prices forcing increasing numbers out of their cars and on to trains, delays like this matter all the more.

For University of Leeds spin-out Tracsis, its solutions to these kinds of problems have earned it a rapidly-growing reputation.

Its ‘resource optimisation’ software is used by train companies including Virgin Trains, First Group, Go-Ahead, Serco, Arriva, Scot Rail and National Express. One of its biggest customers is Network Rail, responsible for the UK’s train tracks and infrastructure.

The Leeds-based company has seen its share price rocket 63 per cent over the past year, including a 23 per cent surge last Wednesday when Tracsis said its results will beat City expectations.

But while its recent share performance makes chief executive John McArthur “reasonably happy”, he believes Tracsis has much further to go before he can celebrate.

“It’s getting closer but if you do the fundamentals and take our cash we are still trading way below the market view for tech companies on AIM,” said McArthur. “We’re sitting on close to £6m of cash and that was a good few months ago.

“But I’m happy that good news gets a response on AIM.”

Aged 37, McArthur clearly feels Tracsis has unfinished business on the Alternative Investment Market.

Since 2005 Tracsis’s revenues have grown from £216,000 to more than £4m. It has four acquisitions under its belt, and now it has more than 40 staff and another 130 part-time employees.

The company’s products allow transport operators to computerise staff and rolling stock scheduling through ‘smart planning’, effectively using their resources much more efficiently.

Its MPEC subsidiary, bought in June, allows remote monitoring of trackside equipment, reducing cost of maintenance for operators.

“The UK rail industry and the worldwide rail industry is growing. It plays to our strengths,” said the Scot. “It’s all about solving problems for the rail industry, like removing delays and reducing delay minutes.

“There are lot of big, fat, unmet but well-recognised problems in the UK to get right. The pain is very clearly felt but we’ve got a set of customers that are well aware of the problems they face and are actively trying to solve them.”

Tracsis, which was named best sub-£10m company at the Yorkshire Post’s Excellence in Business awards in October, is also branching out abroad. It has seen increasing demand from Northern Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Sales abroad now comprise about 10-15 per cent of revenues.

“Some of the largest opportunities we’ve got are overseas,” said McArthur. “Europe is the big market for rail, and potentially Australia, New Zealand and the Far East. In due course we will go into China.” McArthur is not a railway man by training. He started out in consultancy with Arthur Andersen on leaving Strathclyde University with a degree in management science. He joined the firm’s small management consultancy, specialising in ‘change management’ and corporate recovery during the dot-com boom.

On leaving Arthur Andersen, he joined a venture capital fund, investing in early stage technology businesses with “varying degrees of success”.

“We expected about half of them to fail, a quarter of them to wash their face, and a couple of home runs. That’s exactly what we got.”

Then came a spell as investment manager at Techtran, a company founded to commercialise research from Leeds University, now owned by Tracsis’s major shareholder IP Group.

While walking the corridors of the university, he came across Dr Raymond Kwan, an expert in transport scheduling.

Together they founded Tracsis in 2004 with “website and a pack of business cards”.

They soon found Tracsis’s automation software was in demand, and in 2005 McArthur left Techtran to join Tracsis full-time.

He now splits his time between his farm in Scotland’s Grampian foothills and Leeds – but opts to fly between them instead of travel by train.

“When I spoke with transport companies it was clear that this was a really compelling proposition,” he said.

“Although I’d done management consultancy I’d never really worked for a trading business. Arthur Andersen didn’t produce things and sell things. I wanted to see if I could properly run a business from scratch.”

McArthur was just 32 when Tracsis floated, making him one of the youngest CEOs on the London Stock Exchange.

The last book he read, Outliers: The Story of Success, gives a clue as to his ambition. It dissects why high achievers, from athletes to software billionaires, make it where others fail. “I thought as soon as it floated that would be time for me to go, but then I realised that’s just the beginning,” he said

“I will be there for as long as it provides me with a challenge.”

McArthur believes some of Tracsis’s success is down to the fact that he’s not an academic, but an expert at securing invest-ment and growing businesses.

“You don’t see that many of them (academics) that are particularly successful. It tends to be a different skill set between the guy that comes up with the technology and the guy that takes it to market.

“That’s possibly where we’ve done quite well in managing to articulate what we do to industry – they want something that solves problems.” His big preoccupation is acquisitions. Future deals will be niche, adding to the company’s problem-solving abilities in transport. At any one time Tracsis is considering at least a dozen possible deals, said McArthur, with another 30 or so on its radar.

“We’ve been pulling up trees trying to find the next suitable target but the reality is we’ve had to walk away from a few that did not fit our portfolio.

“There are some great targets out there. I would like to think we will be able to give further good news on that.

“The acquisitions are a really big turn on for me; I like doing the deals. We’ve done four successful acquisitions.

“The day-to-day stuff, we’ve got better people in the business taking care of that.”

Could Tracsis itself be a takeover target? The fact that it supplies most of the major train operators appears to suggest they’d be unlikely bidders, as operators would hardly accept a rival gaining a monopoly over the technology.

McArthur warns potential buyers a takeover will not be cheap. “It would be far too premature. We’ve had some approaches but I just do not think now is the right time.”

John McArthur Factfile

Title: Chief executive, Tracsis

Date of birth: March 11, 1975

Education: Degree in management science from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

First job: Cleaning the car park of a Clydesdale Bank

Favourite song: Anything by The Prodigy

Favourite film: Jaws

Last book read: Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell

Car driven: Range Rover

Most proud of: My pride is relatively short-lived. I take satisfaction from creating something. We IPOd in quite a tough climate and I was one of the youngest CEOs on the London Stock Exchange

Yorkshire Post 1st May 2012

The party marked the opening of Dickinson Dees’ new 17,000 sq ft Yorkshire office at No I Whitehall Riverside.

The firm, which opened the doors of its new office this month, is currently announcing a string of senior appointments across all departments, which will strengthen the talented 60-strong team it is has brought from York.

John Marshall, the senior partner at Dickinson Dees, whose other offices are in the North East and in London, told guests: “We have found Yorkshire welcoming and a great place to do business. Based here in Leeds, we can serve the wider city region and beyond from this, the leading financial and legal capital outside London.

“We now have a team of 60 staff. We are adding to this at all levels from trainee to partner with quality recruits who want to be part of our success here inYorkshire. Senior recruits such as Mark Owen, Nick Mason and David Cunningham have joined us because they share our enthusiasm for the scale of our opportunity.”

As well as attracting new recruits to the firm since its arrival in Leeds, Dickinson Dees has also signed two major sponsorship deals. The firm has become the founding commercial sponsor of the Yorkshire Cricket Academy and is sponsoring ballerina, Jess Morgan, at the Northern Ballet.

Guests enjoyed live music at the party, provided by Belleville, a Jazz quartet based in Leeds.

30/04/2012

http://www.yourchamber.org.uk/news/2012/04/dickinson-dees-celebrates-arrival-in-leeds/

The idea for the academy came from the Manchester Hoteliers Association (MHA), a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting the Manchester hotel scene. Richard Morell, Vice Chairman of the MHA, explains: “The aim is to provide top level training across all levels of the hospitality and corporate events industry. The idea came to us when we began discussing the lack of trained individuals. Employers tend to look for candidates with previous hospitality experience, which is now becoming increasingly difficult to get. It then occurred to us that there is no training facility in the UK that is dedicated specifically to the hospitality industry.”

The MHA put the idea to Oldham Council, and the council went on the hold talks Oldham College and other education providers in order to move the plans forward. “The Hotel will offer a range of courses aimed at the students who want an alternative to university,” adds Richard. “Management courses will also be available in the summer to allow university students to fit them around their studies. The curriculum is being co-ordinated by Manchester College, Oldham College and Rochdale College. It will be a real luxury hotel with real paying customers and will give the students a hands-on experience.”

Oldham Council is in the process of acquiring funding for the project and is hoping to have the hotel up and running in 2015. Elaine Mclean, Oldham Council’s Executive Director for Economy, Place and Skills, said: “Ideally we will begin construction of the academy in spring 2013, though this is a provisional start date. Discussions with a range of potential funders and partner organisations are currently on-going. As well as helping regenerate Oldham town centre and bringing in many new jobs to the area, this will also boost our standing as a town. This project is set to make Oldham synonymous with excellence in the hospitality industry.

The tool enables shoppers to search in real time online at white-rose.co.uk for products from participating retailers on their smart-phones or tablets, accessing inventory feeds and live stock data for their favourite products. Initially the tool will be trialled with leading retailers Debenhams, Top Shop and Aurora brands Oasis and Warehouse from now until the end of May 2012.

Shoppers using the new state-of-the-art functionality will be surveyed to secure their feedback so tweaks and enhancements can be made to the software before it launches across Land Securities’ network of retail outlets. All those who participate in the survey will find themselves in with a chance of winning a £100 gift card in recognition for their time and suggestions.

Richard Akers, Managing Director, Land Securities Retail said: “This new technology from Google provides shoppers with a single place to locate the product information they need and to plan their Land Securities shopping experience. It also allows retailers to promote their competitive products within the search results and learn more about how their customers prefer to shop.”

Leeds shopper, Davina Flaherty, who has trialled the new technology commented: “There’s nothing worse than not being able to find exactly what you’re looking for and this new online tool will help eliminate that. Being able to search for what products are in stock and in store before heading out makes shopping even more exciting because I know I’m going to have a successful trip – it’s a brilliant idea and would urge all to try it.”

Land Securities has also announced plans to roll-out a free WiFi service to the 300 million customers a year who visit its shopping centres and designer outlets across the UK. Working with public WiFi provider The Cloud, the scheme is expected to be up and running by the end of 2012.

Richard Akers continued: “UK retail has reached a crossroads. Digital technology is estimated to influence 25 per cent of product sales and successful retailers are waking up to consumers’ demands for new shopping experiences. Offering free WiFi access to all of our shoppers is an important structural change that will capitalise on our existing digital infrastructure, as well as offering new commercial opportunities for retailers across our portfolio.”

A full refresh is also underway to redesign and mobile optimise the majority of Land Securities shopping centre websites. A number of shopping centres have already benefited from the overhaul including the White Rose.

Richard Akers concluded: “Consumer behaviour is changing fast and the past few months have seen retailers ‘leap-frogging’ ahead with new multi-channel services and products. Providing an immersive and superior customer experience regardless of channel is a priority for Land Securities, and retailers and customers will feel the benefit of our new digital tools announced today.”