Shares in JELD WEN, one of the world's largest door and window manufacturers which has its UK head office and a manufacturing facility in Rotherham, have begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
The initial public offering (IPO) of the common stock of JELD-WEN Holding, Inc saw the US firm raise around $600m as 25 million shares began trading last week.
JELD-WEN is one of the world's leading manufacturers and distributors of quality timber windows, external and internal doors, patio doors and stairs.
As it launches on the stock exchange, JELD WEN, which moved its European headquarters to the UK, warns that the effects of Brexit could inhibit the growth of the business.
The Woodhouse Mill site, which is one of the biggest employers in the area with over 400 members of staff, operates as the UK head office and also houses a door manufacturing site - producing almost two million doors per year for UK distribution. It received some £4m in investments in production facilities in 2015.
Growing from an Oregon millwork plant with 15 employees, today the company spans across 22 countries in North America, Europe and Australia. JELD-WEN comprises of approximately 150 divisions employing more than 20,000 people.
The slowdown in the construction sector following the global economic crash saw private equity firm, Onex Corp., invest around $900m from 2011 for an increasing percentage of the business. It is being reported that Onex will use the IPO, which values JELD WEN at around $2.4 billion, to sell its 84% stake.
Documents filed as part of the listing state that JELD WEN will use the proceeds to repay debts created when it made payments to common stock holders before the IPO. Proceeds will also be used as working capital and could be used to make acquisitions.
Advertisement Net revenues in Europe, where JELD WEN is ranked as the number on manufacturer in residential doors, increased $24.4m, or 3.3%, to $752.2m in the nine months ended September 24 2016.
The company believes that, although construction activity in Europe has been slower to recover compared to construction activity in North America, new construction activity is expected to increase across Europe over the next several years.
The filing documents also point to uncertainty caused by the UK leaving the EU. It states: "The effects of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union on the global economy, and on our business in particular, will depend on agreements the United Kingdom makes to retain access to European Union markets both during a transitional period and more permanently.
"Brexit could impair the ability of our operations in the European Union to transact business in the future in the United Kingdom, as well as the ability of our UK operations to transact business in the future in the European Union. If the United Kingdom and the European Union are unable to negotiate acceptable withdrawal terms or if other European Union member states pursue withdrawal, barrier-free access between the United Kingdom and other European Union member states or among the European Economic Area overall could be diminished or eliminated.
"Brexit is likely to continue to adversely affect European and worldwide economic conditions, and may contribute to greater instability in the global financial markets. Among other things, Brexit could reduce consumer spending in the United Kingdom and the European Union, which could result in decreased demand for our products. Similarly, housing sales and home values in the United Kingdom and in the European Union could be negatively impacted and Brexit could also influence foreign currency exchange rates.
"For the year ended December 31, 2015, we derived 5% of our net revenues from our operations in the United Kingdom, and we have moved our European headquarters to the United Kingdom. As a result, the effects of Brexit could inhibit the growth of our business and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations."
A road improvement scheme that could pave the way for 850 new jobs in Rotherham is set to get underway next week.
Last year, Rothbiz reported on plans for £1.2m of transport improvements to support the proposed £37m leisure development adjacent to Rother Valley Country Park.
Now the Sheffield City Region (SCR) Combined Authority has agreed to contribute up to £759,000 to the A618 Growth Corridor scheme, which will see work completed on junctions on the A618 and A57 network including traffic lights and extra lanes.
Close to junction 31 of the M1, the scheme is also set to support further phases of the successful Vector 31 development at Waleswood.
Owners and developers, Langtree, are in discussions with Rotherham Council to deliver approximately 215,000 sq ft gross of employment space on land over the road to the 160,000 sq ft of industrial space already let.
Advertisement At the nearby Pit House West site, 98 hectares to the north of the Rother Valley Country Park is planned to be transformed into Gulliver's Valley - a family theme park resort and year round destination aimed at 2 - 13 year olds. 215,000 sq ft of buildings are proposed including: Main Street featuring an indoor, year round attraction including a splash zone, interactive play areas and NERF zone; five key ride areas providing over 40 rides and attractions; three hotels; themed holiday lodges, themed leisure facilities; and a spa and fitness centre.
The planning application is scheduled to be discussed by the Council's planning board at a special meeting this month.
Damien Wilson, strategic director for environment and regeneration said the transport scheme was key to ensuring the local infrastructure supported future economic growth in the region.
He said: "Having two very successful companies interested in developments within the Rotherham borough demonstrates the confidence businesses have that coming to Rotherham can yield good returns financially. We want to ensure that the road network is capable of supporting that growth and investment, whilst ensuring any developments do not disrupt the local population, but instead provide opportunities for everyone."
Phase 1 works would need to be carried out by the end of March and lane closures will be in place at the roundabout at Aston Way / Mansfield Road from February 6.
Any further and later works in the area would have to be the subject of a further bid, or funded by other sources. The Council's cabinet has already approved the use of £384,000 for Phase 2 from the £10m allocation for Highway Improvement Works, approved as part of the Capital Strategy.
Rotherham success story, Martek Marine is bucking the trend on the gender divide as it continues to make waves in the global maritime industry.
Based at Manvers, Martek Marine is one of the world leaders in the supply of safety and environmental monitoring systems for the shipping industry.
Historically marine industries have been significantly male dominated but Martek Marine now boasts a leadership team which is made up of 75% women.
Martek launched in 1999 with three employees and £6,000 in start up capital in the smallest unit in the RiDO-run Century Business Centre. It now employs over 60 people at purpose built premises in Adwick Park and its products can be found in vessels across the globe.
The business serves 80 different countries and women currently make up 45% of their entire workforce.
Several attempts have been made in recent years to try to increase the number of women in the industry.
In 2014 The World Maritime University (WMU) and IMO published a book to highlight the achievements of women in the maritime sector, concluding the maritime industry needs more women, particularly in leadership roles.
A year later the IMO launched the video “"Making Waves: women leaders in the maritime world" in support of International Women's Day 2015. The video reports on continuing efforts by IMO and the World Maritime University (WMU) to promote the advancement of women in shipping.
Advertisement Also in 2015, the International Transport Workers' Federation estimated that only 2% of the world's maritime workforce is made up of women but for Martek this is not something that has proven to be a problem at all.
Paul Luen, CEO of Martek Marine, said: "Here at Martek we see gender as completely irrelevant, it is just about the best people for the job.
"As we have evolved it just so happens that the most talented, energetic, highest performing managers that embrace our culture and unite in pursuit of our mission are female."
Charlie Whyman, marketing manager at Martek Marine, added: "The industry is most certainly changing, not only here at Martek, but as a whole. A lack of women was historically seen as a problem and potentially put other women off taking up roles. Now there are not only more women working across maritime businesses but also helping run them which can only be good for the industry.
"Men and women have very different viewpoints and ideas so the gender diverse workforce here enables better problem solving and discussion which ultimately leads to superior performance of the business."
Tata Steel Ltd reported its first profit in five quarters, largely driven by strong performance from Indian operations, but with the European operation back in profit.
The European operations posted £74m of earnings before tax (EBITDA) in the quarter ended December 31 2016. This compares with a £90m loss during the same period last year.
European EBITDA had turned around from negative 6% in the previous year to positive margin of 5% during this quarter. Tata said that the financial performance reflects strong underlying operating performance across the group inspite of a seasonally slow quarter in Europe.
Overall, Tata reported a consolidated net profit of £27.8m for the three months, an increase on the big losses of last year.
Spearheaded by a focus on high value sectors such as aerospace and oil & gas at the South Yorkshire specialist steel sites, the proportion of total sales from differentiated products in Europe has risen to over 35% and their value rising by almost 30% year on year.
Hans Fischer, MD & CEO of Tata Steel in Europe, said: "Our European strategy continues to be focused on developing differentiated products and services which improve our customers' competitiveness. Sales of differentiated products were +13% higher and their value-add almost 30% higher than a year ago, with stronger sales in the automotive and construction sectors.
"This helped us to achieve an EBITDA in the third quarter of Rs. 610 crore, though this was lower than the sequential quarter due to higher raw material and energy costs. Our third-quarter EBITDA result was significantly better than the loss recorded in the previous year partly due to better market conditions and the weakness of the pound relative to the Euro.
"We are continuing to focus on improving our competitive performance in the context of the global supply-demand imbalance which held deliveries steady from European mills in the nine months to September despite growth in EU demand."
Advertisement Last year, Tata Steel concluded that it was exploring all options for portfolio restructuring including the potential sale of Tata Steel UK, in whole or in parts. Following a board meeting in July, the steelmaker decided on a separate process for the potential sale of its Speciality Steels business, which until recently employed over 2,000 people at sites like Aldwarke in Rotherham and Stocksbridge in Sheffield.
Liberty House and Tata Steel announced in November that a letter of intent had been signed and that they expect the acquisition of the speciality steel business in its entirety, including the two businesses in Rotherham (at Aldwarke and Brinsworth Strip Mill), to complete early in the first quarter of 2017.
Tata Steel also reached an agreement with the trade unions to progress towards the closure of its defined benefit pension scheme to future accrual, seen as important step towards a more sustainable future. Ballot on the scheme is currently open with unions backing the proposals.
Koushik Chatterjee, group executive director (Finance and Corporate) at Tata Steel said: "The strategic initiatives in the UK on the pensions continue to be an important priority for the Company and we welcome the Unions recommendation to its members to support the ballot process that is currently on to close the BSPS to future accruals. This is part of the several steps being undertaken to make the UK business more sustainable in the future. We continue to be deeply engaged with the British Steel Pension Trustees and the Regulator towards developing a structural solution for the UK pensions in the coming months."
The plans for the £37m Gulliver's Valley Theme Park are being recommended for approval by planning officers at Rotherham Council.
Rothbiz was first with the details when the full plans were submitted in October. The proposals, which will create around 400 jobs, will see Gulliver's buy approximately 250 acres from the Council. The restored former colliery and opencast site will be transformed into a year round destination aimed at 2 - 13 year olds and is set to include a theme park hub, woodland adventure centre, ecology and education centre, lodges, hotels and a holiday village.
Following planning approval, the scheme is expected to be built over 12 - 15 years, the theme park would come first and further developments would follow afterwards.
Two applications were submitted, one for the change of use of the greenbelt site to a leisure resort and a second that details the phases of the resort and the attractions. Both have been recommended for approval by officers as they go to the planning board of Rotherham Council next week.
Gulliver's, the operators of theme parks in Warrington, Matlock Bath and Milton Keynes, has developed plans for the first of their sites in the UK to encompass all their major family entertainment elements in one location with new attractions exclusive to Rotherham.
Advertisement The Council has long had ambitions for the Pit House West site to be transformed into a landmark leisure / tourism development on a national and international scale. Agreements relating to the YES! project and Visions of China developments were terminated due to the lack of progress.
The overall site is approximately 98 hectares in area comprising the northern part of the Rother Valley Country Park. 215,000 sq ft of buildings are proposed, including: Main Street featuring an indoor, year round attraction including a splash zone, interactive play areas and NERF zone; five key ride areas providing over 40 rides and attractions; three hotels; themed holiday lodges, themed leisure facilities; and a spa and fitness centre.
Further details of the attractions set for Gulliver's Valley, including Liliput Castle, a log flume, Antelope, Pirate Coaster, Tower Ride, farm park and pet resort, can be found here.
As the proposal represents inappropriate development in the Green Belt, very special circumstances need to be demonstrated to overcome the harm caused. The Council's emerging plans and strategies add that "The Council will support proposals for a comprehensive, regional scale leisure and tourist attraction north of Rother Valley Country Park compatible with its location within the Green Belt."
Advertisement A report to the planning board, concludes: "The proposed development is considered to constitute inappropriate development within the Green Belt, however very special circumstances are considered to exist due to the economic benefits of the development in terms of increased local employment opportunities and the increase in numbers of tourists and visitors to Rotherham.
"The proposal will positively contribute to the local economy and tourism opportunities with a diverse range of job opportunities created both within the construction and operational phases, and will create up to 125 full time jobs and 325 part time jobs. The proposal will attract tourists to Rotherham which would be beneficial for the local economy."
The report adds that the elements of retail, leisure and hotels on this site, which is outside of a town centre, are not considered destinations in their own right, as they form part of the whole themed resort.
It also adds that buildings have, where possible, outside the theme park itself, been designed to respect the countryside setting in terms of building materials and locations and that the proposal has been designed to blend in with the landscape wherever possible using existing woodland areas as screening.
With access from Mansfield Road, and a £1.2m improvement scheme underway, the proposal is considered acceptable in highway safety and transportation terms.
Issues of ecology and wildlife, drainage, noise, ground conditions and local support and objections have also been assessed during the planning process.
Members of the planning board will tour the site of the proposal before making a decision on the application, which will come with a number of conditions.
Due to its prominence, The National Planning Casework Unit will be given the opportunity to "call in" the application on behalf of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
The applicants hope to begin construction immediately after an assumed grant of planning permission. The first phase of development (the main entrance and access roads, theme park hub and core parking) could be open in 2020.
International industrials and metals group, Liberty House, has closed a deal with Tata Steel UK to acquire its Speciality Steels business for a total consideration of £100m.
The sale agreement covers several South Yorkshire-based assets including the electric arc steelworks and bar mill at Rotherham, the steel purifying facility in Stocksbridge and a mill in Brinsworth as well as service centres in Bolton and Wednesbury, UK, and in Suzhou and Xi'an, China.
The deal secures the future of around 1,700 jobs directly, and thousands more in the supply chain and regional economy. The sale follows an extensive due diligence period, after the parties entered exclusive discussions in November 2016.
It will make Liberty one of the largest steel and engineering employers in the UK with more than 4,000 workers at plants located across Britain's industrial heartlands.
Liberty, whioch is pioneering its GREENSTEEL stratety, said that the Tata business has the capability to make around 1.1m tonnes of liquid steel per year from recycled scrap, melted in two electric arc furnaces at Aldwarke in Rotherham. This steel feeds downstream casting, re-melting and rolling processes, producing a range of high-value steels.
Advertisement Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of the Liberty House Group said: "I am proud that we are acquiring a world-class business with a very skilled workforce and broad range of high-value products. It is one of only a handful of such operations in the world and I am confident it will flourish within our group. Fulfilling the next key stage of our GREENSTEEL vision is incredibly exciting. We will now be able to melt scrap steel to create high-value-added products and I hope that, in due course, we will do so using renewable power.
"In the very week that Liberty is celebrating its 25th anniversary, I am delighted to welcome many hundreds more members to the Liberty family. We are grateful for the support from all stakeholders in achieving this deal, including the employees, unions and advisers."
Business Secretary Greg Clark added: "Acquiring Tata's Speciality Steels business in South Yorkshire and West Midlands, which manufactures high quality steel for some of the UK’s world leading industries such as aerospace and automotive is a great opportunity for Liberty House. I look forward to hearing more about their expansion plans which secures skilled jobs at the business into the future.
"We want to work with the steel industry on proposals to transform and upgrade their sector as part of the modern Industrial Strategy so we can build on our strengths and extend excellence into the future."
in March last year , Indian-owned Tata Steel concluded that it was exploring all options for portfolio restructuring including the potential sale of Tata Steel UK, in whole or in parts. Following a board meeting in July, the steelmaker decided on a separate process for the potential sale of its Speciality Steels business.
Bimlendra Jha, CEO of Tata Steel UK, said: "This is good news for Speciality Steels and for Tata Steel’s core business in the UK. For Speciality Steels, which is largely independent of our European strip products supply chain, this is an important step forward in securing a future for the business under new ownership. Today's news also marks another important step forward in realising a more sustainable future for our Port Talbot-based supply chain in the UK."
Plans announced by UK supercar manufacturer, McLaren to open a new factory in the Sheffield city region, have been welcomed.
McLaren has officially announced its part in a £50m Composites Technology Centre responsible for the development and manufacturing of advanced carbon fibre chassis for McLaren Automotive's supercars
The move mirrors that made by Rolls-Royce when the UK manufacturer invested in a £110m Advanced Blade Casting Facility on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham and is set to accelerate the emerging Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District (AMID) idea.
Both McLaren and Rolls-Royce work with the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing.
Located on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham and a partner in the HVM Catapult (the government's strategic initiative that aims to revitalise the manufacturing industry), the AMRC focuses on advanced machining and materials research for aerospace and other high-value manufacturing sectors. It is a partnership between industry and academia, which has become a model for research centres worldwide.
In 2014 the institution signed a deal to secure 50 acres of land at Sheffield Business Park, paving the way for the expansion of the AMRC and building on its success on the AMP, where it already operates from 300,000 sq ft of accommodation within seven separate buildings.
The impressive Factory 2050 was the first AMRC building to open and the new campus is expected to attract more leading manufacturing companies to locate the the area - McLaren the latest high profile name to be announced.
A specific site has not yet been announced for the McLaren Composites Technology Centre but Rothbiz understands that it will be somewhere on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham. It will be housed in a 75,000 sq ft building set over four acres and will be responsible for the research and development of future Monocell and Monocage carbon fibre chassis as well as the manufacturing of the chassis itself. The 200 new employees will comprise approximately 150 production staff and 50 manufacturing support staff.
Advertisement Cllr. Denise Lelliott, Cabinet Member for Jobs and the Local Economy at Rotherham Council said the move was a significant deal for Rotherham's Advanced Manufacturing Park, and further great news for the Sheffield City Region's economy.
She added: "McLaren joins other global names developing the next generation of advanced engineering and manufacturing technologies and products at the park. These businesses are choosing to come to a borough that has a history and future of engineering excellence.
"As we look to the future of manufacturing and the next stage of our economy, the Advanced Manufacturing Park project is the standard to which other parts of the country aspire."
Cllr. Leigh Bramall, Deputy Leader of Sheffield City Council and Cabinet Member for Business and Economy, added: "This is a tremendous deal for Sheffield, its people and workforce, and its growing research and development sector.
"It is further proof that the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District is the place for leading manufacturers to come not only for research and development and industrial collaboration, but also for production.
"This combination of value-adding R&D investment and related production employment is the key to our future economic success.
"We offer something unique here in Sheffield and Rotherham – a cutting-edge manufacturing base that links our two universities and leading businesses to create jobs and investment across the Sheffield City Region.
"Our team has led the charge to create a place that draws in and develops world-class people and a place where the world's leading companies come to explore new technologies and operating methods and deliver research and technology into the UK's supply and value chains."
Sir Nigel Knowles, Chair of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Board (LEP), said: "Our close partnership with the University, Sheffield City Council, and the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre was fundamental to bringing a global concern such as McLaren here.
"This is a nationally significant development, reflected in Theresa May's new Industrial Strategy which focused on areas where the city region has exceptional strengths – industrial digitisation, and the automotive, aerospace, and civil nuclear sectors. Our Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District, where McLaren will be based, highlights this.
"Our £12m commitment to the £50m project has been critical to ensuring McLaren could get the project off the ground. It's absolutely fantastic to see jobs coming to the North – the McLaren Composites Technology Centre will be the company's first purpose-built facility outside its current campus in Surrey – but none of this would have been possible without our single-minded approach to ensuring we create jobs and boost economic growth.
"Strategic investment in projects which will create good quality employment is central to the SCR's target of creating 30,000 high value jobs and 6,000 new businesses – and the funding for McLaren illustrates this."
International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, added: "McLaren is a prime example of the UK’s continued world-leading role in technology, design and innovation. Establishing their new Composites Technology Centre in Sheffield shows McLaren's confidence in the UK as a world-leader in research that will support local business and high-skilled jobs while drawing international investment into the Northern Powerhouse."
A space is being readied on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham for supercar manufacturer McLaren to build a £50m, 75,000 sq ft, carbon-fibre composites factory.
The arrival of the premium UK brand will accelerate the development of the Sheffield-Rotherham Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District (AMID) and highlights the partnerships, support, training facilities and finance available to high quality inward investors.
Officially announced today, McLaren, will reshore UK production at a new purpose-built factory in the district with a multimillion pound Composites Technology Centre responsible for the development and manufacturing of advanced carbon fibre chassis for McLaren Automotive's supercars.
Years in the making and known only as "Project Mercury" the inward investment is largely down to a new partnership with the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing and is backed by a grant of up to £12m via the Sheffield city region (SCR).
It is another major name in the emerging AMID idea for the Sheffield-Rotherham corridor, where the aim is to develop Europe's largest research-led advanced manufacturing cluster.
Advertisement The latest deal will create more than 200 jobs through a combined investment of nearly £50m. The investment is set to have a £100m of GVA (gross value added) benefit to the local economy by 2028.
The new McLaren Automotive facility is due to start construction in early 2017 with the first pre-production carbon fibre chassis, built using trial manufacturing processes in the AMRC, expected to be delivered to the McLaren Technology Centre in the second half of 2017. Full production at the facility will begin by 2020.
Mike Flewitt, chief executive officer of McLaren Automotive, said: "In 1981, McLaren was the first company to recognise the exceptional properties of carbon fibre, and we have designed the highly-technical material to be at the heart of every McLaren road and racing car ever since.
"The now-iconic McLaren F1 was the world's first road car to be built with a carbon fibre chassis and every car built more recently by McLaren Automotive has the same. Creating a facility where we can manufacture our own carbon fibre chassis structures is therefore a logical next step."
Advertisement Last year, McLaren announced its Track22 plan which includes an investment of £1 billion into R&D over the coming six years, leading to the launch of 15 all-new cars or derivatives.
Flewitt added: "We evaluated several options to achieve this objective but the opportunity created by the AMRC at the University of Sheffield was compelling. At the AMRC, we will have access to some of the world's finest composites and materials research capabilities, and I look forward to building a world-class facility and talented team at the new McLaren Composites Technology Centre."
McLaren Automotive and the University of Sheffield will deliver a two-year research and development programme, which will lead to the development of a production facility to build its lightweight carbon fibre chassis for its new models from 2020. The University of Sheffield's AMRC Training Centre, on the AMP in Rotherham, will also immediately start training McLaren apprentices who will work in the new facility.
Professor Keith Ridgway, Executive Dean at the AMRC, said: "This is a tremendous piece of news for the Sheffield City Region and a boost for its future as the UK's centre for advanced manufacturing.
"In many respects it represents a new model that repositions manufacturing in Sheffield, taking it on from coal and steel to high performance components for the automotive, as well as the aerospace, sector.
"We will be working with McLaren Automotive on the construction of the carbon fibre chassis and further research, and we are talking with the supply chain. It is our ambition that supply chain companies will start to build factories here to supply the chassis plant."
The AMRC already operates a Composite Centre on the AMP in Rotherham, extending the AMRC's expertise in metals production into the new generation of carbon fibre composite materials.
The McLaren investment is linked to the AMRC's £31m AMRC Lightweighting Centre, which recently secured a £10m grant from the Sheffield City Region. The 8,000 sq ft centre will be part of the new AMRC Campus on the site of the former Sheffield Airport and will support the manufacturing and research of lightweighting structures and materials. It is set to house a 300 tonne hydraulic press and associated equipment and other experimental equipment.
Local businesses are being invited to a Rotherham procurement event this week to find out how they can grow through securing local contracts.
The morning event takes place on Wednesday February 15 at New York Stadium, bringing buyers together from business looking to build their local supply chains, as well as Rotherham Council and Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust.
Opening at 8am, the drop in session will carry on until 12 noon with exhibition stands from a selected a range of buyers from the public and private sector and at 10am will feature presentations and seminars from established buyers including leading procurement experts from the NHS Foundation Trust.
The "Meet the Buyer" event offers the chance to speak directly to some of the region's key purchasers and business decisions makers who are actively seeking suppliers of various goods and services.
Advertisement Cllr. Denise Lelliott, cabinet member for jobs and the local economy at Rotherham Council, said: "Meet the Buyer will provide a unique networking opportunity to share advice and guidance on how to win business in the NHS and other local businesses as well as the Council.
"As well as gathering top tips, attendees will gain an insight into how to use the tendering portals and meet the procurement teams from the Council and the NHS and other suppliers.
"The Council is committed to working with local businesses and this event fits with one of our core Council objectives; to extend opportunity, prosperity and planning for the future. We are aware that businesses across Rotherham are some of the most innovative in the country, and we want to work with them to help improve services for local people."
There is no need to register for the event, which is free to attend.
Shanks Group plc, one of Europe's leading waste management businesses, was forced to temporarily close its multimillion pound Rotherham facility during a difficult third quarter of trading.
The closure of the 220,000 sq ft development at Brookfield's Park in Manvers enabled the main contractor to make modifications to the plant to improve future performance.
The centre creates material suitable for recovery and recycling and includes Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) and Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facilities.
Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham Councils secured £77m through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) for the scheme and Shanks Group plc joined in partnership with SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy plc) to progress the plans. Known as 3SE, the operators signed a 25 year contract worth in excess of £750m with the councils for the treatment of black bag waste.
The facility processes around 250,000 tonnes of waste a year from 340,000 homes across Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham. Since it opened in July 2015, more than 96% of waste has been successfully diverted from landfill.
Advertisement In its latest trading results Shanks plc stated: "The Municipal Division had a very difficult third quarter, with the impact of both the mix and prices of the fuels that we produce being worse than expected, particularly at East London Waste Authority (ELWA).
"The Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham (BDR) facility was also temporarily closed to allow the main contractor to make modifications to the plant to improve future performance.
"Management continue to focus closely on this division: the recovery initiatives announced with the interim results in November are being implemented and further plans are being developed by the new divisional management team to improve performance. We believe that these actions will turnaround the business, with the benefits starting to be seen in 2017/18."
Recovery initiatives include improving and realigning contracts and ramping up to expected performance levels at its operations.
A recent update to local councillors stated that "there have been some issues which have affected the recycling performance of the facility." These include ongoing issues with a poor market for recycling plastics from an MBT. The price of oil is low; this means the virgin plastic material is cheap and consequently lowers the value of the recyclable material.
The update added: "During October to December, work was undertaken at Bolton Road to replace shredder rails and improve the refinement section. As a result, a proportion of treated waste did not have recyclable material extracted and some waste was diverted to third parties. The Contactor has mitigated the impact of these issues by: paying to get plastics reprocessed; paying for waste to be taken to third parties who can also recover recyclable material from the residual waste; making the improvements to the refinement section to increase the throughput of material and the recycling captured by the process."
It was also reported that Shanks Group Plc as operating contractor for the BDR Facility are in the process of negotiating a merger with Van Gansewinkel Group. The merger is not expected to impact on the BDR Project although it is likely that Shanks Waste Management will be rebranded.
A number of tours for the public are taking place at the Manvers facility on February 18.
Union members at Tata Steel sites in the UK, including in South Yorkshire, have voted to accept a proposal to close the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) to future accrual.
The Speciality Steel sites in South Yorkshire are set to be sold after Liberty House closed a deal with Tata Steel UK to acquire the business for a total consideration of £100m. The new owners will need to honour the new pension arrangements as part of the deal.
Last year, the Government launched a consultation on changes to the pension scheme - the huge pension liability with a reported £700m deficit that was seen as a deal-breaker for prospective buyers of Tata Steel's UK assets.
The consultation followed intense discussions between Tata Steel, the UK government, the pension scheme trustees and regulators to find the best option for members of the scheme.
Eight months after Tata announced their original intention to sell its UK steel assets, the firm made a commitment to secure the future of jobs and production at Port Talbot and other steelworks across the UK.
The ballot paper set out that the company's proposals to secure a sustainable future for the UK business. Key elements include £1 billion of investment over ten years, a commitment to running the blast furnaces at Port Talbot, an employment pact offering protection against compulsory redundancies, and the introduction of a Defined Contribution Pension Scheme, with maximum employer contributions of 10%, following the closure of the BSPS to future accrual.
Advertisement The assurances are conditional on a sustainable solution for the BSPS, Tata Steel UK remaining solvent, and no industrial action in connection with the proposal.
Trade unions also secured a guarantee from Tata that commits Liberty House to honour the new defined contribution pension arrangements. This means that under a new owner, union members in Speciality Steels would be entitled to the same pension arrangements as members in Tata Steel UK, with employer contributions of up to 10%.
Members of the Community Union voted 72.1% to accept the proposals, with members at Unite, 75.6% in favour. GMB members voting yes came in at 74.0%.
Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of Community, said: "This result provides a mandate from our members to move forward in our discussions with Tata and find a sustainable solution for the British Steel Pension Scheme.
"Steelworkers have taken a tough decision and have shown they are determined to safeguard jobs and secure the long-term future of steelmaking. Nobody wanted to be in this situation, but as we have always said, it is vital that we now work together to protect the benefits already accrued and prevent the BSPS from free-falling into the PPF [Pension Protection Fund]."
Innovative Rotherham company, Xeros, has appointed an expert in brand development and marketing to its board as it commercialises the patented polymer technology behind the first real revolution in laundry in 60 years.
Based on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), Xeros is a Leeds University spin-out that has developed a patented system using a unique method of special polymer beads rather than the usual large amounts of fresh water to clean clothes.
Stephen Taylor has joined the AIM-listed firm as it develops and commercialises Intellectual Property to deliver significant water and chemical savings to large scale global industries. Xeros' patented technology can be applied in partnerships with other companies across an increasing number of sectors, from commercial laundry, leather processing and now textile manufacturing.
Taylor is currently the chief marketing officer for PayPal Europe, the online payments system provider, and has over 20 years of experience working in brand development and marketing in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.
He was previously the chief marketing officer, Europe for Samsung Electronic Appliances. Prior to this he held a number of commercial and business development roles within Procter & Gamble and Findus.
John Samuel, chairman of Xeros, said: "Stephen's considerable consumer marketing experience and sector expertise will be invaluable as we continue to develop and roll out our platform technology in a range of global markets. I am delighted to welcome Stephen to the Board."
Advertisement Xeros is in advanced discussions with a number of globally recognised brands as it looks to accelerate the adoption of the technology. It has Approved Supplier status for Hilton hotels in the Americas and has signed a heads of terms with Wollsdorf Leder Tannery in Austria for a ten-year contract to convert its entire re-tanning processes to Xeros' technology in 2017.
Research and development teams are working to create a domestic version of the Xeros machine that has enabled adopters in the commercial laundry sector to use up to 80% less water, up to 50% less energy, and approximately 50% less detergent, whilst delivering superior cleaning results compared with conventional washing.
Taylor joins other non-exec directors, John Samuel, former CEO of the Molnlycke Health Care Group, Dr. Richard Ellis, previously the global head of R&D for Reckitt Benckiser, and Julian Viggers, head of technology investment at Enterprise Ventures, which is an investor in Xeros.
Xeros' CEO is Mark Nichols, who has led a number of technology start-ups in the cleantech arena and previously worked for global enterprises including Total, Laing O'Rourke and BOC. Paul Denney is the chief financial officer and his two most significant recent roles were within high growth environments at Experian plc and at Callcredit Information Group.
Dr. Steve Jenkins, chief science officer, stepped down as a director to concentrate on the firm's scientific development programmes at the start of 2016.
Problems with an investment in a new press led to the administration of Rotherham print group, Garnett Dickinson, documents reveal.
And the administrator's proposals also show a pension scheme deficit of £25m listed amongst the unsecured creditors.
Jonny Marston and Howard Smith of KPMG, were appointed as joint administrators to the business on January 24 2017 after the business ran into cash flow difficulties due to operational issues.
The joint administrators confirmed that Garnett Dickinson was sold in a pre-pack deal to GD Web Offset Limited, a vehicle incorporated for the purposes of the acquisition.
Based in a £20m state-of-the-art facility in Manvers, the group specialises in large run multi pagination printing and customers include high profile monthly magazines and luxury catalogue brands.
Garnett Dickinson Print Ltd had a turnover of £17.2m and made an operating loss of just over a £1m in the year to September 30 2015. KPMG highlighted that the financial position of the business deteriorated due to the poor performance of a newly installed printing press.
KPMG stated: "The Group invested in a new press in September 2016 to provide increased capacity, however operational issues encountered during the installation and subsequent use of the press resulted in high levels of outwork, overtime, paper usage and production overheads that were not sustainable. As a result of the operational issues, losses of approximately £1m were made in the first quarter of FY17 and this resulted in acute cash pressure.
"The directors of the Group were forced to enter into discussions with key suppliers, HM Revenue & Customs, its landlord and the Secured Creditors as the Group was struggling to generate sufficient working capital to continue trading."
Previously a board member, Nicholas Alexander bought Garnett Dickinson Group, with the exception of its digital operation, for an undisclosed sum in 2015 and instigated a restructure of the operations.
Advertisement KPMG was engaged by the group in December 2016 to provide advice on options for restructuring its defined benefit pension scheme following a meeting with Alexander.
The cash pressures led to an exploration of options available in respect of investment, refinance or a sale, and to run an accelerated mergers and acquisition process. No offers were received for the Group so six trade competitors were identified and contacted regarding the opportunity.
GD Web Offset Limited was the only offer to come forward and the deal saw all of the trading business and assets sold to the new company whose directors are Paul Mursell of EWO Media in Essex and Jeremy Spring of Aspenlink, a company that converts some twenty five thousand tonnes of paper a year.
KPMG documents show that three connected Garnett Dickinson companies have left a shortfall of £29m, including a £25m pension deficit and £4.1m owed to trade creditors including finance providers RBS and Lombard.
The documents show that KPMG has been "liaising with the trustees of the defined benefit pension scheme, the Pensions Regulator and the Pensions Protection Fund concerning the changes caused to the pension scheme as a result of our appointment."
Accounts filed at Companies House for 2015 describe the defined benefit pension scheme as having a £6m deficit. The scheme was closed to future accrual in 2009 with no further contributions made by the company. A defined contribution scheme was set up and the company entered into an agreement to make good the deficit on the group pension scheme.
The original Garnett Dickinson business started in 1858 in the back of a busy stationary shop where it first published the South Yorkshire Advertiser. The Rotherham Advertiser is now published by Regional Media Ltd, a company which also has Alexander as a director and acquired the publishing business and assets from Garnett Dickinson in 2015.
A rollercoaster of a journey in the redevelopment of the Pit House West site in Rotherham is the closest it has ever been to becoming a reality with the approval of detailed, deliverable, plans for a £37m leisure resort from an established company with its own finances already in place.
Rothbiz was first with the details when the full plans were submitted in October. The proposals, which will create around 400 jobs, will see Gulliver's buy approximately 250 acres from the Council. The restored former colliery and opencast site will be transformed into a year round destination aimed at 2 - 13 year olds and is set to include a theme park hub, woodland adventure centre, ecology and education centre, lodges, hotels and a holiday village.
Gulliver's, the operators of theme parks in Warrington, Matlock Bath and Milton Keynes, has now secured unanimous approval from the planning board at Rotherham Council and is keen to begin work on site.
Due to its prominence, The National Planning Casework Unit will be given the opportunity to "call in" the application on behalf of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Gulliver's now has 21 days to wait for the decision of the Secretary of State on their application.
Following planning approval, the scheme is expected to be built over 12 - 15 years, the theme park would come first and further developments would follow afterwards.
Advertisement Julie Dalton, managing director of the Gulliver's group, said: "Everyone at Gulliver's is very pleased with the Council's decision which takes us to the next stage of the planning process.
"We are confident that the Secretary of State will recognise the enormous benefit of our plans to the Rother Valley area and the local community. Our plans would transform an area of Rother Valley that has been disused for many years."
Rotherham Council has long had ambitions for the greenbelt site to be transformed into a landmark leisure / tourism development on a regional, national and international scale. The reclamation of Brookhouse Colliery and incorporation into the Rother Valley Country Park to enhance its attraction as a regional facility was first mooted when the colliery operations closed in 1985. After purchasing the site from the Coal Authority, the council began the search for a developer in March 2002.
This is the third time the Council has sought interested from developers. Outline planning approval was granted for the £350m YES! Project in 2007 and updated plans were approved in September 2010.
Developers, Oak Holdings were dropped for a lack of progress and the £110m Visions of China project was the preferred choice of the authority in 2011. Having previously come forward for discussions with the Council in 2014, Gulliver's entered into an agreement to purchase the land from the Council in 2015 after the Visions of China project was also dropped.
Planning approval for 215,000 sq ft of buildings come with a number of conditions, including operating hours, and a £1.2m transport improvement scheme is already underway in the area.
Further details of the attractions set for Gulliver's Valley, including Liliput Castle, a log flume, Antelope, Pirate Coaster, Tower Ride, farm park and pet resort, can be found here.
Special circumstances for development in the Green Belt were agreed, namely the positive economic impact, and Gulliver's will enter a legal agreement to ensure that the hotels and accommodation will not come forward without the theme park elements.
Julie Dalton told members of the planning board: "As a family and a company we are committed to bringing forward the long-standing aspiration for a regional scale leisure and tourism attraction on the Rother Valley Country Park. Gulliver's is a sustainable family business with a proven track record for designing, building and running family entertainment developments, and have done for 39 years.
"We know exactly what families are looking for in a day out and a short break, and that is what we have designed into this resort. Pit House West is a very attractive site and we have put lots of time and energy into designing our attraction around the site so we can make best use of its natural assets.
"This will be the first of the Gulliver's sites to incorporate everything we have on our other sites, and it's got quite a few new elements that you don't see existing.
"This proposal gives us the opportunity to enhance both the leisure and tourist facilities within the borough and the proposals bring significant economic benefits."
Construction is anticipated to start in 2017 immediately after planning permission is granted.
The first phase of development (the main entrance and access roads, theme park hub and core parking) will be open in 2020.
Rotherham-based retailer, Fishing Republic is expecting its revenue figures to show an increase of approximately 40% year-on-year.
One of the largest fishing tackle retailers in the UK, the Eastwood company floated on the AIM stock exchange in 2015, raising millions to help carry out its expansion plans.
In a trading update, the firm said that it continues to make encouraging progress and results for the year are expected to be in line with current market expectations. Revenue is expected to show an increase of approximately 40% year-on-year, driven by the addition of new stores, organic growth across existing stores, and strong growth in own website sales.
Last September the group has decided to rebase its profit forecasts for the current financial year to allow it to invest for growth in both its store network and online. This came after a strong balance sheet position. For the six months ended June 30 2016, the group reported that revenue increased to £2.5m, up by 34% from the £1.87m in the same six months of 2015. Profit before tax was £157,000 and compares to a loss of £150,000 reported last year after exceptional costs of £299,000.
Advertisement The latest update added: "We are making good progress with our online sales strategy, where we are transitioning away from third party platforms to own website sales, where margins are higher and we own the customer. As a result, our own website sales increased by 132% year-on-year and accounted for c. 40% of total online sales for the year. As expected, with lower third party sales, total online sales decreased but, importantly, overall gross margins improved. We will continue to expand our in-house capabilities in digital technology, marketing and customer data in the year ahead to support this transition strategy."
A new website is set to launch in March.
The placing of ten million new shares at 15p per share in 2015 raised £1.5m. A share placing in 2016 raised a further £3.75m.
Floating on AIM, the directors believe that Fishing Republic is the only participant in the market looking to act as a consolidator, snapping up smaller, often family-run businesses.
Fishing Republic operates 16 stores and the three new stores opened in the first half of the financial year, in South Birmingham, Crewe and Hull, are continuing to build their sales in line with management forecasts. The latest opened in Milton Keynes in January and two further stores, in Reading and Ipswich, are expected to open before the end of the first quarter. Further openings are planned later in the year.
A briefing event for the Sheffield city region (SCR) on accessing the new £400m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) is taking place next month.
Based in Sheffield, the NPIF will work with ten Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), combined authorities and Growth Hubs, as well as local accountants, fund managers and banks, to provide a mixture of debt and equity capital to northern-based SMEs at all stages of their development. NPIF will provide funding to fund managers who will offer Microfinance (£25,000 – £100,000), Business Loans (£100,000 – £750,000) and Equity Finance (up to £2m).
A briefing event to tell local partners about the new fund and how to access it is being held in Sheffield on March 2 in collaboration with the SCR LEP.
The fund builds on the work of initiatives backed by European money such as Finance Yorkshire - the regional funding body that has invested £105m fund into companies in Yorkshire and Humber.
Advertisement In November, The British Business Bank, which is overseeing the fund and investing £50m of its money, published a report to mark its second birthday which details how the NPIF will offer solutions for smaller businesses looking to grow, as well as identifying the strengths and challenges within the region.
An Independent Economic Review of the Northern Powerhouse, as well as highlighting areas of focus that could drive future growth, identified a number of existing strengths including capabilities in Advanced Manufacturing, Energy, Health Innovation and the Digital Economy.
Officially launching the fund, Keith Morgan, CEO at British Business Bank, said: "The North of England has a long and proud history of driving global innovation and economic progress. The region has more high-growth businesses than London and, at close to one fifth of UK GDP, is larger than the economies of Greece, Denmark, Austria and Belgium.
"The region has enormous untapped economic potential that can be realised by improved funding options and opportunities. The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund represents a co-ordinated policy approach to help realise this potential across the North."
Working with LEPs, the NPIF has attracted investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.
The specialised fund managers been appointed to manage the fund are:
- Microfinance: Business Finance Solutions & MSIF, Finance for Enterprise & Business Enterprise Finance - Business Loans: FW Capital and Enterprise Ventures - Equity Finance: Maven Capital Partners and Enterprise Ventures
Rotherham and its economy is moving in the right direction with more business starts and jobs created over the last year.
And there are positive signs for the future as significant progress has been made on key initiatives such as the development at Pit House West, the continued regeneration of the town centre and around the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP).
The positive picture is provided by an update on the borough's growth plan, the live document with ambitious targets to help deliver 10,000 new private sector jobs in Rotherham over the next ten years.
Signed off in 2015 and developed by the Council's economic development team, the plan is a partnership between the public, voluntary and private sectors and focuses on the main themes of growing businesses, skills, employment and inclusion, employment land, housing, the town centre and transport.
The vision is based on "creating an economy in which business will prosper and local residents will have the enterprise and employment opportunities which reflect their ambitions and skills."
Other main aims of the Rotherham Growth Plan are to help create 750 additional new businesses over the next five years and to increase gross value added (GVA), a measure in economics of the value of goods and services produced in an area, for the Rotherham economy.
Indicators and statistics on the economy can be volatile but an update from the council's regeneration arm, RiDO highlighted that the number of Rotherham-based jobs has increased by 2,000, going from 98,000 in 2014 to 100,000 in 2015 - a return to pre-recession levels.
The number of businesses has also seen a large rise, from 6,390 to 6,810 over the year. A 420 rise is likely to be linked to more people working on a contract or a self-employed basis.
Advertisement On skills, where the borough lags behind on national and regional levels, more residents are attaining higher level skills and the number of people starting an apprenticeship in a year has gone from 1,889 to 2,500. In addition, the employment rate is up and the unemployment rate is down. The proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 who were in work has risen from 67.4% in 2015 to 70.7% in 2016.
The aim now is to ensure that these indicators continue on an upward trend. Areas for intervention include addressing vacancy rates in the town centre where 23 units (15.5%) were recorded as empty in 2016, an increase from 13.7% the previous year.
Tim O'Connell, business investment manager at RiDO, said: "It is a positive story to tell but there are still areas that we want to improve on. We are still not at the level we want to be. Our aim is to close down the gap on the national average but it would be far better if we were looking to move beyond the national average and be one of the better performing locations in the UK.
"Generally the stats are showing some good progress after a year, what we need to see is sustained improvement over a number of years. But as a progress report on the first year, I would say that it is moving forward in the right way."
The update includes the progress made on key projects. These include:
- £12m Higher Education Campus, including £3.5m for the RNN Group from the Sheffield city region skills capital fund for the Higher Education Campus at Doncaster Gate - £50m luxury supercar manufacturer McLaren chassis factory at the AMP - creating 200 jobs - £50m retail and leisure development at Waverley in the Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation District to include a hotel, shops, restaurants and a new town square, with links to the Advanced Manufacturing Park and a transport hub to central Rotherham - Multi-million leisure development on Forge Island - £6.8m for affordable housing developments and a portion of the Government's £1.2 billion Starter Homes initiative, to help first time buyers into home ownership. - £1.1m for road improvements near Wales to enable growth in the area around the successful Vector 31 industrial park, including £759,000 from Sheffield City Region Combined Authority - £12m refurbishment scheme at Rotherham Interchange car park, together with improvements to the bus station
Cllr. Chris Read, leader of Rotherham Council, said: "These projects are part of a detailed, aspirational plan and we need to make sure we deliver on them. We have been determined to gain the full benefits of working within the Sheffield City Region and we are now starting to see funding coming into Rotherham.
"We are in a very strong position and it's now an excellent time to look towards the next stage of growth, and to achieving our ambition to create thousands of jobs across the borough."
Rotherham-based retailer, Fishing Republic has announced the appointment of Iain McDonald as a non-executive director with effect from March 1 2017.
One of the largest fishing tackle retailers in the UK, the Eastwood company floated on the AIM stock exchange in 2015, raising millions to help carry out its expansion plans.
Iain has over 20 years' experience in investment, in particular in the retail and e-commerce sectors. Over the last ten years, he has been investing directly into the online and technology sectors and a number of Iain's long-term investments have been into the most successful e-commerce businesses in Europe. These include The Hut Group Limited, ASOS plc, Boohoo.com plc, MetaPack Limited and Anatwine Limited.
Advertisement Iain previously worked in investment banking at Numis Securities and ING Barings-Charterhouse, where he specialised in retail and e-commerce companies.
Iain holds 0.8% of the company's shares having invested alongside Bill Currie and Sir Terry Leahy in the placing announced in 2016. Leahy is the current chairman of fast-growing discount retailer, B&M and is the former chief executive of Tesco.
Revenues at the firm have increased by approximately 40% year-on-year, driven by the addition of new stores, organic growth across existing stores, and strong growth in own website sales.
The company's online sales strategy involves transitioning away from third party platforms to its own website sales, where margins are higher. In a trading update Fishing Republic said that own website sales increased by 132% year-on-year and accounted for around 40% of total online sales for the year. A new website is set to launch in March.
Floating on AIM, the directors believe that Fishing Republic is the only participant in the market looking to act as a consolidator. Expansion plans involve snapping up smaller, often family-owned fishing retail businesses.
Rotherham-based Harworth Group, one of the largest property and regeneration companies across the North of England and the Midlands, has posted a set of full year results with profits and net asset value (NAV) ahead of expectations.
The specialist in brownfield regeneration has released its results for the year ending December 31 2016 which saw operating profit hit £45.8m, compared to £37.9m at the same time last year. Profit from operations was up to £2.2m from the £1.5m posted in 2015.
Harworth is based close to its own flagship development at Waverley. Its extensive portfolio consists of a total of around 22,000 acres across 140 sites. Harworth Group plc was created through the complex restructure of what was UK Coal.
NAV has grown by 12.5% to £334.9m at the end of 2016, up from £297.7m in 2015. This is ahead of the board's ambition of increasing net asset value (NAV) by at least 10% per annum through the property cycle.
The core strategy for the listed firm is to grow and realise value from its extensive land bank, much of which derives from heritage coalfield portfolio, supplemented by a range of land and property acquisitions in the North and Midlands over the past two years.
Six acquisitions were completed during the year, for a total of £31.6m and four further option agreements have been entered into to acquire strategic land sites that extend to approximately 228 acres, comprising a mixture of potential residential and commercial sites located in core regions.
Advertisement Harworth has extensive experience in remediating and developing large used sites for future use for commercial and residential purposes. Not least at Waverley in Rotherham.
Owen Michaelson, chief executive at Harworth plc, said: "These are a strong set of results, reflecting our continued focus on maximising the value of our strategic land bank whilst simultaneously growing our income base through new lettings and acquisitions. We are particularly pleased by the progress made and value uplift we have seen from our flagship North West site, Logistics North in Bolton, and are pleased to have improved the quality of our income base over the year. We have a proven strategy to create value and the market fundamentals in our regions remain strong, giving us confidence in the future."
Key deals for the year include Whistl taking a ten-year lease at Logistics North and the sale of the next phase of 4.7 acres of engineered housing land at Waverley to Avant Homes for £2.5m.
Harworth said in the results that it would prioritise capital investment on sites with the largest value enhancement potential, including the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham, Logistics North in Bolton and Gateway 45 in Leeds, to ensure that both land and property is available for immediate occupation.
Rothbiz editor, Tom Austen, takes a look at the Spring Budget 2017.
It was never going to include something as welcome and unexpected as a £7.6m grant for the restoration of Wentworth Woodhouse like the Autumn Statement but this year's budget really didn't contain a great deal. A lot fewer key announcements, and indeed pages, in the published document.
The Chancellor, Phillip Hammond began with forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that show that the UK economy is expected to grow by 2% in 2017.
Britain's growth in 2016 was second only amongst the major advanced economies, to Germany with employment reaching a record high of 31.8 million people. Hammond made a point of telling the house that unemployment has fallen fastest in Yorkshire than any other area in England.
After covering borrowing and spending forecasts, the Chancellor moved on to the business of business stating that: "I am listening to the voice of business."
The complex issue of business rates and the delayed reforms and revaluations has caused Governments a headache for years. The 2017 business rates revaluation will have winners and losers so £435m has been set aside to support businesses adversely affected.
Building on previously extended small business rate reliefs, the chancellor is introducing additional caps for those coming out of small business rates relief due to a revaluation. It is highly unlikely that this will affect any small businesses in Rotherham where rates have not been revalued since before the recession.
Local pubs are set for a £1,000 rates discount and councils are also set to be provided with a £300m fund to deliver discretionary relief to target individual "hard cases" in their local areas.
The other headline announcement was the chancellor addressing the National Insurance Contributions (NICs) paid by the self-employed. With the new state pension, Hammond said that it was not fair that the self-employed paid less in NICs.
The chancellor said he would always encourage and support "the entrepreneurs and the innovators who are the lifeblood of the economy" but Class 4 NICs for the self employed, which are currently at 9% and are paid on profits between £8,060 and £43,000, will increase to 10% in April 2018 and to 11% in April 2019.
Also branded unfair was the tax breaks for Director/Shareholders with the tax-free dividend allowance to be cut from £5,000 to £2,000 with effect from April 2018.
Advertisement The Budget also focused on improving skills, in order to boost productivity and living standards over the long term.
New T-levels for 16 to 19 year old technical students will be introduced from autumn 2019. Replacing the 13,000 or so, different qualifications, students will be able to choose from 15 different routes such as construction, digital or agriculture.
The number of hours of training for these students will increase by over 50%. As part of the course, all students will take part in an industry work placement.
The government will also provide maintenance loans for students doing higher-level technical courses at National Colleges and Institutes of Technology – like those available to university students. Maintenance loans will also be available for people entering part time degrees, and doctoral loans of up to £25,000 to support higher-level study.
£90m will provide 1,000 new PhD places, including in science, technology, engineering and maths and £210m will create new fellowships. £536m was announced for new free schools and to maintain existing schools.
The first details of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) were also announced which should fund joint research by industry and academia. £270m in 2017-18 "will kick-start the development of disruptive technologies that have the potential to transform the UK economy."
On devolution, Hammond said that: "In May, powerful mayors will be elected in six of our great cities." This will not include the Sheffield city region where the mayoral election has been postponed for a year.
On transport, no major announcements were made following the National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) being established in November. Some allocations have already been made and £690m more will be competitively allocated to local authorities, with £490m made available by early autumn 2017.
£220m from the NPIF will go to "pinch points" on the strategic road network, with details of individual schemes to be announced by Department for Transport shortly.
