Arriva and SNCF Talk About Partnership

The British bus and train company Arriva mentioned having talks with French national train company SNCF about a possible partnership.

Arriva currently runs most of the train services as well as the cross country network. Partnering with SNCF could mean that the French company may invest in these operations of Arriva. In the process Arriva could also help SNCF in any conflict with the German train company Deutsche Bahn.

Europe's railways have also been opened to new competition laws since the start of the year.

Arriva and SNCF Talk About Partnership

Coal Mining Company Losing Money

The UK's biggest coal mining company, UK Coal, is losing considerable amounts of money.

They have been losing for a number of years but this last year has seen 7 times more loss than those at £115M. The company expects to lose even more this coming year still.

This has all led to a fall in coal production and therefore coal prices have become lower.

Coal Mining Company Losing Money

Windows 7 'Thrilling' Sales

The computer software company, Microsoft, has seen a huge boost in sales. It's profits have increased 60% to amount over £4B.

Microsoft attributes such a high rise to its new Operating System Windows 7, saying there was such a large demand for the product. It was described by one the executives as 'thrilling'.

Windows 7 'Thrilling' Sales

Genius Bread

Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne is founder of Genius Bread, the gluten free bread for people who are coeliac.

Lucinda is a trained Michilen star chef and cookery book author. She started her business only 9 months ago after she was unable to find any good bread for her 7 year old gluten intolerant son to eat. After three years of baking bread every day to find the right ingredients she finally discovered what she was looking for.

Thereafter she managed to find funding to produce this recipe from an influential friend who was also gluten intolerance and who liked what she made. With the funding and the contacts she was given by him to help build the brand Lucinda has managed to spread her business far and wide within a few months.

In around 6 months she was able to sell her products in major supermarkets by proving her ability to mass produce the items and promote them herself in the markets. She took her products to a bakery who already made gluten free foods and they were willing to make her bread.

Gluten free bread was already available before Lucinda came up with the idea, however with her improved recipe making the bread fresher and more digestible, she claims to have grown the market be another 45%. Her bread is even enjoyed by those who are not coeliac but enjoy the texture and qualities of her product.

The bread cost £2.50, a lot higher than the usual range of bread, perhaps due to many of the ingredients being imported. Plans are being made by the company to lower the costs by introducing automated machinery to increase efficiency.

Plans are also being made to introduce 18 more products to Genius Bread, from scones to croissants and others, but without wanting to over stretch this new business before it has the resources.

Genius Bread

Companies Will Go Bust After Recession

Now that we're out of the recession more companies than before are expected to go bust. Insolvency experts have said around 28,000 will go bankrupt in 2010, 5,000 more than last year.

This is a common occurrence after a severe economic decline. In the recessions of the 80's and 90's unemployment peaked 2 years after recovery.

The reason for this happening is firstly because of an increased demand by customers from business owners for which they don't have the capital. The second reason is that loaners who may have lent to struggling owners during the crunch now expect payments quickly and the business owners are unable to pay this straight away.

There had been various help given by the government during this period including more loans and allowing taxes to be paid later. Some small to medium enterprises even had to take overdrafts which according to the British Bankers Association has amounted to £9B. Some want bankers and loaners to now be more flexible about receiving payments.

To prevent ones business becoming insolvent, Louise Brittain, the insolvency specialist at Deloitte, recommends seeking advice from professionals as soon as one feels they may be in difficulty. Speak to your bank and major creditors to make arrangements for cash flow issues and do this early.

Source: Working Lunch, BBC. (27-01-2010)

Companies Will Go Bust After Recession

Papa John's UK

Papa John's is an American pizza take-away with a market in Britain. They currently have 142 stores throughout the UK and have plans to open 40 more in 2010. They have seen a rise in sales for more than four years and saw a particular increase in the last winter.

The rise may owe partly to the recession as many preferred eating at home rather than going out to restaurants. Papa John's have also benefited from their new online order system where people may order even up to 14 days in advance. Thirty percent of their orders come online.

The company is one that looks for people franchising and in the last year has had around 1'200 applications. Their Managing Director Ian Saunders promises the franchisees great support before, during and after and recommends this course for those who would not want to risk running their own entrepreneurial venture in these economic times but would still like to run a business.

Source: Working Lunch, BBC. (27-01-2010)

Papa John's UK

Business for Older People

It is often thought that entrepreneurship is for younger people, when in fact many who set up businesses tend to be elder people.

One of these people is Daksha Kumar, the Sales Director of The Indian Kitchen. She started her business when she was 59 and her food company is running quite well. Her kitchen now packs meals for Tesco after they asked if she would provide for their Asian food range. Daksha's motto is, "you're never too old to do anything".

This is the same motto Prime work by. Prime is a charity that was set up by Prince Charles with the purpose of helping over 50s set up a business. They believe that with elder peoples' many experiences and life skills they have an advantage, and with a large number of unemployed in their late 50s and early 60s starting a business is the ideal opportunity for them. (Laurie South, Chief Executive of Prime)

If somebody is interested they can visit their website at: primebusinessclub.com and get help and useful advice.

Source: Working Lunch, BBC. (27-01-2010)

Business for Older People

New Balance Sports Shoes

New Balance is an American owned company with a factory in Fimbly in Cumbria. They are the last factory mass manufacturing trainers and other sports shoes in the UK and are well ahead of their competition in the Far East. Some of their items are even exported to those areas.

The factory was built just less than 30 years ago, and after other shoe making companies in the area closed down, New Balance had many skilled workers available. Up to now some of those who worked there from the start remain and work along side new younger recruits.

Surviving the Cumbrian floods as well the recession the company plans on following up its success by trebling productions from last year taking sales from £1M to £3M.

Source: Working Lunch, BBC. (27-01-2010)

New Balance Sports Shoes

UK Space Industry

When imagining space crafts most people would think of the USA. However there is also a growing space industry in the UK. The space industry is said to be one of the highest value adding sectors in the UK economy.

Surrey Satellite Technology is a manufacturing company in this industry based in Guildford, Surrey, although their products are usually launched in sites across the former USSR.

The company launched 34 satellites in the last 25 years. Most of the satellites they make are for taking images of the Earth using cameras, but they also make other telecommunication and navigational ones as well. The biggest contract they have right now is making 'Galileo' which will be a navigation system for Europe and up against Americas GPS system.

The company claims to already be popular within the industry. The popularity has grown out of the country and last year a European Satellite manufacturer bought a controlling stake of the business.

So how does this small British company compete with the massive manufacturers in the United States? Their answer is lowering the costs. Rather than using the traditional and very expensive space qualified components, Surrey Satellite Technology uses commercial of-the-shelf parts.

With their alternative methods, this UK company has managed to give a substitute to the American products for the UK and European space industry, and so far their exports are on the rise.

Source: Working Lunch, BBC. (26-01-2010)

UK Space Industry

UK Officially Out of Recession

Britain has officially just come out of its longest recession. After 6 consecutive quarters, or 18 months, of a shrinking economy the tables have finally turned.

The growth, however, is not as great as experts had predicted, having only risen by 0.1 percent. Some also fear a double dip claiming that people spent more only to avoid the rise in VAT that was to occur, and after the VAT has increased people may cut their spendings once again.

Still, many companies are feeling more confident because of this significant change. Managers at the Vauxhall plant in Luton for instance have already announced reversing their scheme of less work and lower pay which was put in place during the recession.

The founder of Jordans Cereals, Bill Jordan, is also feeling optimistic about these figures and says that over the last few months premium brands like his have already regained popularity.

Source: Working Lunch, BBC. (26-01-2010)

UK Officially Out of Recession

Halfords Incorporate New Techniques

Starting as a small hardware store in 1892, Halfords has now become a huge business having 370 superstores and an online presence. The company works in two main areas, car maintenance products and bicycles.

After first only selling car maintenance products, the company now also fits the parts for its customers, changing the company from a retailer to a service provider. In the last few months they have spent on training their workers for the tasks involved in the service and have also scheduled extra workers for the busiest times.

As for their bike sales, according to their Chief Executive David Wild, this area is a major one for income and is doing better each year. The business does well in offering an extended range of childrens' bikes and also has a focus on premium bikes.

Halfords now sell their products online. There were fears initially that an online option would impede customers coming into stores. After implementing it however they have learnt that around 80% of online customers still come in to stores. With a reserve and collect service, where the online user can choose a product and check which stores it is available in, shopping in store is actually becoming more attractive.

The online presence also brings new customers who otherwise would not shop at Halfords, but now do after seeing the company's offers online.

Source: Working Lunch, BBC. (21-01-2010)

Halfords Incorporate New Techniques

Sky to Sell ITV Shares

Sky, the British satellite company, bought almost a fifth of ITV shares at the end of 2006. By doing so it managed to stop a merge between its rival and the cable TV company now part of Virgin.

The High Court has now ruled that Sky must sell the ITV shares it owns. This may cause a loss for Sky as ITV shares have since fallen.

Source: Working Lunch, BBC. (21-01-2010)

Sky to Sell ITV Shares

Vauxhall / Opel Cutting Production

The UK car manufacturer Vauxhall with its European counterpart Opel are aiming to cut their car production by around one fifth following a long term fall in sales.

Vauxhall currently has 2 production plants including one in Luton. They have hinted to cutting 350 jobs in that particular plant. Meanwhile Opel are to close their plant at Antwerp in Belgium.

Source: Working Lunch, BBC. (21-01-2010)

Vauxhall / Opel Cutting Production

New Ownership of West Ham Football Club

The famous entrepreneurs and former owners of Birmingham City Football Club, David Gold and David Sullivan, have recently bought West Ham United Football Club (WHUFC). They bought the club for £105M.

Their aim now is to get West Ham into the Champions League within 7 years. They also hope to use the new Olympic Stadium after the Games in 2012.

Source: Working Lunch, BBC. (19-01-2010)

New Ownership of West Ham Football Club

Red Tape and Taxes May Prevent New Jobs

There is a warning that companies may refrain from creating new jobs in the face of having to pay higher taxes and more on regulations.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has announced that new employment legislation and taxes will cost businesses almost £26bn over the next four years. Around half of that will be because of next years 1% increase in employer National Insurance contributions.

Source: http://www.britishchambers.org.uk/business-news/businesses-face-26bn-red-tape-costs.html. (20-01-2010)

Red Tape and Taxes May Prevent New Jobs

Kraft Takeover Cadbury

An icon of British companies, Cadbury, has been bought out by the American food company Kraft. After many weeks of haggling Cadbury finally accepted the increased offer of £11.5 Billion.

Kraft had to borrow a lot of the money and now people fear they may compensate by cutting many jobs.

Professor Chris Bones of Henley Business School is an ex-worker of Cadbury. He says that Kraft may owe around £7 Billion in debt. On top of this they will probably have to pay hundreds of millions of pounds on fees to advisers and other bodies. He says that this will have a huge repercussion on their future expenditure and means there will most likely be cuts in jobs, investment, research and development and other important areas.

Many workers of Cadbury may be upset, however shareholders seem to be quite happy with the takeover as they are being offered decent prices for their shares.

Big takeovers like these are not always known to work. With Krafts heavy spending, some question the possibility of it failing. However Kraft is convinced about this move. They say that by joining the two companies they'll be able to save a lot more money by cutting overhead costs and the like. Yet the main benefit they will get is through opening their market to where Cadbury runs and where they originally didn't.

Source: Working Lunch, BBC. (19-01-2010)

Kraft Takeover Cadbury

Odeon Cinemas

Odeon and UCI Cinemas Group is owner of the largest chain of cinemas in all of Europe. They have over 200 cinemas in 7 countries.

Their Chief Executive, Rupert Gavin, thinks that 2010 will see an increase in people visiting the cinema. It would seem that in the recession many prefer to spend a little of their money which they saved on a cheap outing to the movies, and escape from reality into a world of fantasy and humour.

People particularly like to spend some time with their families and watch a family movie. Films like Ice Age and Harry Potter have been very popular choices.

Rupert also believes that the next big thing in cinemas is 3D movies. The recent movie Avatar has been a 3D blockbuster and the owners of Odeon expect to see a growth 3D movies now.

Odeon Cinemas