Trade with UAE and Turkey increases for Yorkshire firms as business with EU declines
The latest figures released by the Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce reveal growth in trade between firms based in the mid Yorkshire region and operators in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following Brexit.
The Chamber has released figures from its MY Export Hub department for 2021, which show that Turkey (32 per cent) and the UAE (20 per cent) are now the most popular exporting destinations for firms in Yorkshire.
This is followed by Saudi Arabia (10 per cent) and Egypt (9 per cent).
The figures have been published by the Chamber’s MY Export Hub department, which supports local businesses with all aspects of international trade.
The growth in trade with businesses in Turkey and UAE contrasts with less than 2.5 per cent of all documents issued being for EU countries, following changes to processes and requirements for trading after the UK’s departure from the EU.
Martin Hathaway, managing director of the Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “I am really pleased to see such significant growth in trading with these nations, and the strengthening of trade links with both Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
“The fallout from Brexit has dramatically affected our region’s trade with European countries, so I am delighted that we are forging new connections and creating new opportunities for global growth here in Yorkshire.”
The Mid Yorkshire Chamber processed almost 6,000 trade documents in 2021, with only 2.5 per cent being for EU countries.
Kornelia Szymla, export supervisor at the Chamber, continued: “Despite the challenges following Brexit and the effects of Covid-19 on international trade, we have had a really strong year in the MY Export Hub department, helping businesses in Yorkshire to trade internationally.
“We are keen to see the result of the current Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and hope that this will provide further opportunities for our region.
“I am confident that we can continue this growth in 2022, and we urge any business that requires assistance to seek support from our team.”
The Chamber’s MY Export Hub arm supports businesses in the mid Yorkshire regions of Halifax, Huddersfield and Wakefield with all aspects of international trade, including documentation, accredited training, foreign exchange and translation services.
MBO completes at meat processor
Endless, the mid-market private equity investor, has completed the acquisition of the specialist B2B processor and supplier of value-added meat ingredients, Yorkshire Premier Meat (YPM).
Headquartered in South Kirkby, YPM processes and supplies a range of meat ingredients into producers of ready meals, canned goods and savoury pasties/pies as well as the rapidly expanding direct to consumer subscription box meal market.
Endless backed the existing management team of Ed Lake, Stirling Oswin and Tariq Habib, who will continue to lead the business and drive its growth plans with Endless’s backing.
The deal was led by Endless Manchester partner Tom Jack, supported by James Warburton, Sian Banton and David Isaacs.
Tom Jack said: “YPM is a market-leading business with unique capabilities and a commitment to outstanding service.
“Despite the ongoing economic and political environment Endless was able to offer shareholders a highly deliverable transaction, closing the deal only four weeks from agreeing outline terms to minimise distraction to the Management team and avoid disruption to the business.
“YPM is a fantastic business with great potential for further success and we’re delighted to be supporting Ed, Stirling and Tariq on the next stage of their journey.”
CEO Ed Lake said: “We’re excited to be partnering with Endless as YPM enters the next chapter of its successful history.
“We were impressed by Endless’s strong track record of investing in food manufacturing businesses and look forward to working with them to drive growth as we continue to service our loyal customers with the highest standards of service and product quality.”
The investment is the latest from Endless’s £400m Fund V and follows previous food manufacturing investments by Endless such as Hovis, Bright Blue Foods and Karro.
Endless was advised by law firm Squire Patton Boggs, led by partner Giles Chesher, together with Gabriel Pennington, Christopher Blair and Alice Jenkinson. Tax advice was provided by Steven Heath, Zak Hawley, Bevan Edwards and Louise Warne at KPMG, with further deal support from Paul Satchell, Chris Dedman and Jadon Buckeridge at Spayne Lindsay.
Endless internal financial due diligence was led by partner and head of due diligence Kerry Battiscombe supported by Stefan Nowakowski and Jon Duffy.
The deal was originated by Stamford Partners who provided corporate finance advice to the vendors. The Stamford team included Simon Milne, Robert Iseman and Savinien de Gramont. Legal advice to the vendors was provided by Edinburgh law firm Vialex, led by Greig Williamson, and by CMS, led by Ben Hendry.
Leeds healthcare software provider makes second acquistion of 2022
Leeds-headquartered EMIS Group, the provider of healthcare software, information technology and related services, has made its second acquisition of 2022 with the purchase of medical appraisals specialist FourteenFish.
Founded in 2012 by a GP and an IT specialist, FourteenFish is a UK-based technology company that supports over 100,000 healthcare professionals – including GPs, nurses and practice managers – with their continued professional development (CPD) and ongoing industry learning.
It is the preferred appraisal toolkit partner for the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) and delivers the RCGP portfolio for trainee GPs.
Dr Shaun O’Hanlon, EMIS Group chief medical officer, said: “This is a timely acquisition that will enable EMIS to further support healthcare professionals at a time when pressures on their workloads, especially for those working in primary care, has never been higher.
“FourteenFish’s suite of learning tools and its philosophy to make learning easier and more enjoyable for healthcare professionals will add real value to our customers and expand our reach in an important space within the healthcare industry.
“I very much look forward to seeing the positive impact we can have in supporting the professional development of many more healthcare professionals through innovative technology.”
Co-founder of FourteenFish, Dr Duncan Walling, said: “When I was a practising GP, every year I promised myself that I would get better at recording my CPD, but I never quite managed it. I left general practice to set up FourteenFish because I knew there must be a better way – an easier and more intuitive way that made learning simple, but not any less powerful.
“Given the unprecedented pressures on NHS professionals following the pandemic, I am delighted that we can now expand our reach and impact by becoming part of EMIS.”
The FourteenFish deal follows EMIS’ successful acquisition of primary care data and analytics specialist Edenbridge Healthcare in January this year.
Brighouse tech company tackling disinformation completes $24m funding round
Logically, a Brighouse-headquartered technology company using advanced AI to tackle harmful mis- and disinformation, has completed a $24 million funding round led by growth investor Vitruvian Partners.
The round also included investment from the Amazon Alexa Fund, and existing seed investors XTX Ventures and the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), managed by Mercia Asset Management Plc.
Logically will use the funds to scale its capabilities and drive growth across its three core markets in the US, UK and India. The investment enables Logically to accelerate its technologies across AI, machine learning and OSINT, and stay at the forefront of the fight against harmful and misleading online information and conspiracy-driven threats in critical areas such as election integrity, public health and national security.
Online mis- and disinformation continues to cause significant real-world harm. In the past year we have seen the results of democratic elections questioned, COVID-19 vaccine take-up stall, and the rise of violent extremism fuelled by conspiracy ideology. It has been estimated that fake news is costing the global economy around $78 billion every year. Increasingly governments, organizations and platforms are recognizing an urgent need to tackle harmful and misleading online content, a need further compelled by the growing disinformation-for-hire industry intent on spreading false information for financial or ideological gain.
Lyric Jain, founder and CEO of Logically, said: “I am delighted to announce our latest fundraising round led by Vitruvian Partners. Vitruvian’s experience supporting high-growth and innovative technology companies globally will be invaluable as we continue to scale up our capabilities and operations.
“Given the evolving threat landscape and the increasingly sophisticated technology being used by adversarial actors, this investment will help us continue to stay at the forefront of the fight against misinformation, funding further research and development of end-to-end technology solutions that really break down and combat information threats.”
Peter Read, Cortex Partner at Vitruvian, said: “We are pleased to partner with Logically, who have a clear and compelling mission to reduce the harm caused by mis- and disinformation, and to enhance civic discourse.
“We’ve been impressed by Logically’s development over recent years, in the public and private sector as well as with the social media platforms themselves. We look forward to supporting Logically’s expansion into new geographies and sectors in order to increase the impact they can have on this global problem.”
Construction partner appointed for £3m affordable housing scheme in Sheffield
Esh Construction has been named as construction partner on a £3 million scheme which will bring new affordable homes to Sheffield.
Working on behalf of Great Places Housing Group – one of the fastest growing housing associations in the North of England – Esh will build 20 new properties on a vacant piece of land off Osgathorpe Drive, near to the Earl Marshal Recreation Ground.
Named Fir View Gardens, the two and three-bedroom homes will be available for affordable rent and will include associated parking and landscaping.
Great Places Housing Group named Esh Construction as the appointed contractor after the scheme was procured through the Innovation Chain North framework.
Esh operations director, Simon Woodward, said: “We are delighted to secure our first contract award via Innovation Chain North and to be working in partnership with Great Places Housing Group.
“Throughout this scheme we are committed to delivering a raft of initiatives which will provide social and economic benefits within the local area, including school engagement, work placement opportunities, volunteering and community funding.”
The development was given the go ahead by planners in August last year and forms part of the housing association’s plans to develop 11,000 homes by 2030.
Executive director of growth at Great Places, Helen Spencer, said: “This scheme is within the heart of an existing Great Places community, and its completion will deliver high quality new homes to complement the existing neighbourhood. We are looking forward to working with Esh to deliver these homes and excellent social value outcomes for our community.”
Esh will work in partnership with Poole Dick Associates, Bowker Sadler Architects and Sutcliffe to deliver the scheme which is expected to get underway in March this year.
Work on landmark Aire Park hits two key milestones
An double milestone has been reached in the development of Aire Park – the urban oasis in Leeds city centre.
The largest new city centre green space in the UK, Aire Park will be made up of a series of attractive, diverse and interconnected public areas stretching across eight acres of land – from reclaimed roadway at Meadow Lane to tree-lined lawns and gardens on the former Tetley Brewery site. The green space will sit at the heart of a new mixed-use district which will provide much-needed homes, offices and retail space for the centre of Leeds.
Leeds City Council has now confirmed that the Meadow Lane part of the park – delivered for the local authority by contractor John Sisk & Son Ltd – is nearing completion, with a public opening date set for mid-April.
In a second milestone, developer Vastint UK has begun construction work on the five-acre section of Aire Park that will stretch east towards Crown Point Road. This phase of construction includes a large public events space and the first of the commercial buildings, both of which will open for use in 2023.
The announcement comes as Leeds rides the crest of an infrastructure investment wave, with the city seeing record levels of construction activity during 2021.
Aire Park and other major schemes – such as the successful implementation of the Leeds Public Transport Investment Programme and work towards the general traffic-free transformation of City Square by the end of 2022 – are designed to support the council’s net zero ambitions and its vision of Leeds as a place where you don’t need a car to get around and access opportunities.
These sustainable and people-focused infrastructure initiatives will, it is hoped, power Leeds’ post-pandemic economic recovery by attracting even more of the kind of investment that helps deliver jobs, homes and quality spaces where everyone can meet and connect.
Leeds City Council leader Councillor James Lewis and Councillor Helen Hayden, the council’s executive member for infrastructure and climate, were among a number of key players who last week paid a visit to the Aire Park site – in the city’s South Bank regeneration area – to see the progress being made on the project. Also in attendance were Simon Schofield, construction lead for Vastint UK North, and Sisk managing director Dominic Hodges.
A further phase of Aire Park will, subject to the future award of planning permission to Vastint UK, eventually take shape on the other side of Crown Point Road.
Councillor James Lewis, leader of Leeds City Council, said: “Aire Park will have a transformational effect on life in Leeds and it’s great to see how the plans are coming together thanks to significant investment by Vastint UK and help from other partners and stakeholders.
“Projects like this are testament to the strength of Leeds’ economy, as are the city’s recent record-breaking construction figures and investment successes such as the opening of the UK Infrastructure Bank, the arrival of Channel 4 and the new Leeds-based hub being planned by the Bank of England.
“The park will be a fantastic year-round attraction for people of all ages to enjoy and underlines our collective commitment to creating places and spaces that bring all our people together.
“Crucially, it should also act as an environmentally-friendly driver for regeneration and inclusive growth – and new homes, jobs and opportunities – as our economy bounces back from the effects of the pandemic.
“By creating public spaces that are greener and better connected, we want to make Leeds a magnet for investment and business activity that will turbocharge the city’s already impressive momentum and provide a wellbeing benefit that everyone who lives here can share in.
“The Aire Park investment is a massive vote of confidence in Leeds and I am looking forward to watching the project continue to take shape over the coming months.”
The work now under way on the Meadow Lane to Crown Point Road section of the park is being funded and carried out by Vastint UK as part of its wider redevelopment of the old Tetley site.
In total, Vastint UK will bring forward over six acres of public park, 1,000,000 square feet of commercial space, 850 homes and retail and leisure facilities in the first phase of the Aire Park development. The park will be maintained and operated by the council under a lease and management agreement with Vastint UK.
Ground broken on Sheffield Hallam University’s city campus development
Key figures from South Yorkshire visited Sheffield Hallam yesterday (Wednesday 16 March) to mark the start of construction work on the first phase of the University’s city campus development.
Representatives from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and Sheffield City Council visited the construction site adjacent to Howard Street leading up from Sheffield Train Station, which will provide a key gateway to the city centre.
The development is the first phase of Sheffield Hallam’s campus plan and will see the construction of three new buildings around a public green space. The buildings will provide teaching and learning facilities for students and staff as well as using the latest technology and sustainability solutions to make them zero carbon ready.
The creation of a green public space will provide a heart for the campus, with more than 400 square meters of new greenery and spaces for up to 150 people to sit and relax. It will complement the extensive work being undertaken by partners to develop the Heart of the City.
The development is the first phase of wider plans to improve the city centre campus. Future phases of the campus plan will see further redevelopment and refurbishment of the city campus, enabling teaching, learning and research activity to be moved from the Collegiate campus within the next seven years, realising the ambition for a single campus in the city centre.
Delivering phase one of the campus plan, significantly improving part of Sheffield city centre, is one of the University’s key commitments in its Civic University Agreement. This includes a commitment to work with local partners to ensure plans maximise the benefits for Sheffield and the wider region.
Sheffield Hallam University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Chris Husbands, said: “I was delighted to mark the start of works on our new campus development alongside our key civic partners today. Once completed, our development of the city campus will play a major part in delivering on our ambitions as a university, including our contribution to the city and region as set out in our recently launched Civic University Agreement.
“These new facilities are designed to deliver significant benefits for our students, and to make Sheffield Hallam an even more attractive place to study and work, whilst also enhancing a key gateway to Sheffield City Centre.”
The first phase of the development is due to be completed in Spring 2024.
Campus plans are being developed by a number of key partners as part of collaborative ‘Hallam Alliance’. The first of its kind in the UK for a university building programme, the Alliance involves all design, construction and facilities management partners working collaboratively with the client through all stages of design, construction and operation.
Members of the Alliance include Sheffield Hallam University, BDP ARUP (Design), BAM (Construction) and CBRE (Facilities Management).
Greater Lincolnshire LEP launches £1.7m drive to fund filling job vacancies
Greater Lincolnshire LEP is launching a call for innovative projects to support jobs and the region’s labour market by offering funding worth a total of £1.7m
The number of job vacancies in the UK is at all time high, and in Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland there are vacancies across a whole range of different sectors, occupations and salaries. There are many reasons for this, and today we are launching a call for projects that is designed to test out activities to support filling vacancies.
Vacancies are particularly high in caring roles, driver occupations, machine operatives, the construction sector and a whole range of jobs within the visitor economy and food sector. The demand for labour in these areas is not new, but the combined impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, a desire for better work-life balance, and a reduction in migrant labour from EU has resulted in large increases.
Pat Doody, Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP said: “On behalf of the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership I am pleased to launch the Greater Lincolnshire Labour Market Support Fund today. It is designed to test out new ways of supporting and growing talent within our area, and we are keen to see innovative proposals that support future economic growth and resilience.”
Any business, training provider or third-sector organisation in Greater Lincolnshire or Rutland is eligible to apply as long as the proposals do not duplicate existing activity and are innovative in new ways of addressing the challenge.
The fund is seeking to strengthen or address Greater Lincolnshire’s immediate labour market challenges. The LEP is keen for the fund to demonstrate direct short-term impact where possible, understanding that the fund is limited in what it can cover.
The closing date is 29th April 2022 , and the lead officers are Halina Davies halina.davies@lincolnshire.gov.uk and Clare Hughes clare.hughes@lincolnshire.gov.uk.
Known barriers to employment and categories that will be considered for funding are:
- Training, eg for specific occupations such as Large Goods Vehicle Training (LGV) or training that is more flexible than other funds allow
- Labour market attraction schemes, e.g. face-to-face jobs fairs, industry tasters, job related campaigns
- Specialist support for people out of work (over and above what is already available through Government funding and European Social Fund schemes)
- Specialist recruitment and retention support
- Purchase of equipment/capital investment/new technologies, eg to resolve requirement to labour-intensive roles
- Support to fill roles that have been continuously challenging to fill
- Other innovative or collaborative schemes, eg transport schemes, sustainable childcare schemes
- Consideration of the impact of Covid – how do we enable people to return to work ensuring that any mental health needs are addressed?
- Rural dimension is very important – are there technology interventions in social care that could be considered? Care, visitor economy and hospitality sectors are losing large numbers of staff to other sectors; what opportunities are there to rebalance this beyond offering higher salaries?
- Innovative schemes/structured approaches to help address vacancies in the interim, given that automation and planning for the future take time, eg food sector, loss of seasonal EU staff
- Ideas that help address retention of skills in key sectors, eg in the construction and manufacturing sector; many are picking and choosing their jobs in other regions (attraction of larger projects, higher salaries, etc)
- Initiatives such as wheels to work, bespoke demand-responsive transport options, understanding the seclusion of many of our rural communities
- Innovative ideas that might help attract back recently retired individuals, garnering knowledge and expertise
- Wage incentives will not be eligible
- Schemes must not duplicate something already funded or readily available and accessible
- We are seeking schemes that are innovative and/or collaborative
- All projects must address labour shortages in the immediate or short term and focus on solutions that reduce the need for labour or fill job vacancies
- Schemes that will not result in addressing labour shortages by March 2026 will not be considered
- Where the proposal is for a capital asset, or for funds to train your own staff or recruit staff for your own business, match funding will be required
- Schemes that deliver training must result in people moving into job roles that would otherwise not have been filled within 60 days of the end of the intervention
- All project proposals must state clearly how outputs or outcomes will be measured and reported
- There is a maximum of £1.7m available in this scheme
- Scheme proposals can be capital or revenue or a combination of both
- Funding requests should be in excess of £200,000, although consideration will be given to proposals that seek £100,000 if there is a very strong case
- All funds must be spent by 31st December 2024, and outcomes delivered by 2025
HMRC warns self-assessment tax filers to be on the lookout for scammers
HM Revenue and Customs is warning filling in Self Assessment tax returns to be on their guard following the Self Assessment deadline after more than 570,000 scams were reported to HMRC in the last year.
At this time of year, Self Assessment customers are at increased risk of falling victim to scams, says HMRC, even if they don’t mention Self Assessment. They can be taken in by scam texts, emails or calls either offering a ‘refund’ or demanding unpaid tax, thinking that they are genuine HMRC communications referring to their Self Assessment return. In the 12 months to January 2022, nearly 220,000 scams reported to HMRC offered bogus tax rebates.
Criminals target unsuspecting Self Assessment customers to try and steal money or personal information. They use phone calls, texts and emails to try and dupe citizens, and often mimic government messages to make them appear authentic. In January 2022, phone scams rose to 3,995 compared to 425 reported in April 2020.
Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said: “If someone contacts you saying they’re from HMRC, wanting you to transfer money or give personal information, be on your guard. Never let yourself be rushed, and if you’re in any doubt then check our ‘HMRC scams’ advice on GOV.UK.”
HMRC gave customers an extra month to submit a completed tax return and if customers filed by 28 February 2022, they would avoid a late filing penalty. More than 11.3 million customers filed their Self Assessment tax return by 28 February, with more than 1 million of those taking advantage of the extra time by filing in February.
Customers have until 1st April to pay an outstanding tax bill or set up a Time to Pay arrangement to avoid receiving a late payment penalty. Interest has been applied to all outstanding balances since 1st February.
Customers can report suspicious phone calls using a form on GOV.UK. Customers can also forward suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and texts to 60599.
Doncaster formally launches bid to be nation’s rail HQ
Doncaster has today formally launched its bid to host the HQ of Great British Railways, the new body that will run the country’s rail network.
The bid is backed by civic leaders and Chambers of Commerce across the region. If successful, GBR’s HQ will bring hundreds of high-skilled jobs to the region. It will create many more in the broader rail sector that will benefit from the extra investment and talent it will attract.
In support of the bid, CEO of Doncaster Chamber Dan Fell, said: “Doncaster is the right choice for GBR’s HQ. We are a community of rail families. Our region may be steeped in rail history, but it’s our future too. We built the Flying Scotsman and Mallard. But we also maintain today’s fleet of new LNER trains.
“Our rail industry employs 20,000 people across 200 companies. Whatever your focus within rail or logistics, you can make your career here with the biggest names in the trade. Network Rail, Unipart Rail, Hitachi, DB Cargo, Volker Rail – all have chosen South Yorkshire. The Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, which brings together leading producers from around the world, is based at the University of Sheffield. The National College of Advanced Transport and Infrastructure (NCATI) caters to the range of careers in rail.
“This new HQ will be just a short walk from Doncaster’s East Coast Mainline station with fast onward connections by rail and road to the rest of the country.
“If we win, it will mark a major milestone in our economic revival – underpinning the growth of one of our most promising sectors. It will prove how far ‘Team South Yorkshire’ has come in working together to secure transformational investments in our economy.”
Mr Fell added: “The scale of support from businesses and communities for Doncaster’s bid is becoming very clear. The region’s Chambers, which jointly work with more than 20,000 businesses a year and represent members employing more than 422,000 people, throwing their weight behind this campaign is significant. We are all determined to maximise this opportunity for our region and our business communities; we stand ready to work with our partners, businesses and Government to make GBR’s move to the Doncaster as resounding success.”
