New research from West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce shows that confidence among businesses in the region has rebounded significantly, with the expectation of significant improvements in turnover and profitability. Data in the Chamber’s latest Quarterly Economic Survey for the first quarter of 2023 shows that the amount of companies expecting to grow their profits is now at a comparable level to that seen at the start of 2022, before the war in Ukraine. Optimism among the manufacturing sector in particular is very strong, with the level of firms in the industry expecting to grow their profits during the coming months now higher than levels seen prior to the pandemic, having nearly doubled from the preceding quarter. There was also positive news on employment, with both service and particularly manufacturers having taken on new staff since the start of the year. For the manufacturing sector, its employment figures are at a level not seen since the start of 2017. However, there was more negative news on investment and some areas of sales, with inflation pushing these areas downwards from the previous quarter as overheads continue to soar. While service sector firms saw a healthy 18 per cent rise in overseas sales, domestic activity was largely static or, in the case of manufacturers, down.  The research was conducting prior to last month’s rise in inflation and subsequent interest rate hike. Order books do not look terribly strong across the board but are marginally higher than seen before the Mini Budget in September. Both service and manufacturing firms will now be looking anxiously to the next three months to see if improving economic forecasts begin to translate into improving sales. One area business is not expecting to see an improvement in is prices. Just four per cent of firms expect costs to decrease in the coming months and the best most companies are hoping for is simply for prices to remain as they are. Elsewhere, cashflow remains a mixed bag with manufacturers having rebounded from two quarters of decline while service sector firms reporting a marginal decrease, albeit not on the same level as seen last autumn.

Company secretarial business Bruce Wallace Associates is joining East Midlands full-service law firm Shakespeare Martineau as part of a shared growth strategy. The union will see Bruce Wallace Associates’ team of five, including its directors Susan Wallace and Martha Bruce, take on the Shakespeare Martineau brand – bringing the team to more than 13. Bruce and Wallace are both Fellows of the Chartered Governance Institute and are regarded as experts in their field. They provide complex advice and support to AIM and main market-listed companies, as well as FCA-regulated and groups of companies. They also regularly contribute to a number of company secretarial and governance technical publications. Also moving to Shakespeare Martineau – which has hubs in Nottingham, Leicester and Lincoln – are Chloe Higgins and Susan Tudor-Coulson, both associates of the CGI, and Hollie Watkins, who is responsible for the compliance and statutory filing obligations for clients. Susan Wallace said: “Martha and I believe this is an excellent move for us and our clients, who will benefit from continuity of service and the 1,200-strong team of experts available across Shakespeare Martineau and the Ampa group. We are keen to grow our team and client base, and the infrastructure Shakespeare Martineau offers will enable us to do just that. “We were also attracted to Shakespeare Martineau’s empowered working principles – focussed on delivery and service instead of strict working hours, which is hugely important to our team. Martha and I set up Bruce Wallace Associates in 2012 from our homes and we have continued to work remotely and build a team of professional staff to support us.” Ben Harber, head of CoSec at Shakespeare Martineau, said: “We are thrilled to have Bruce Wallace Associates joining our team; not only do they have an impeccable reputation, excellent networks and share multiple service synergies with us, but they also share our values and ethos to provide the highest standard of company secretarial and corporate governance advisory services to their clients.” The CoSec team at Shakespeare Martineau provides specialist corporate governance advice and company secretarial services to public companies listed on AIM, AQSE and the main market as well as several large private groups. In financial year 21/22, the team achieved 25% organic growth, with a similar trajectory for this financial year and ambitious targets for 23/24.

Wensleydale’s community-owned River Bain Hydro Ltd has now exported more than a million kWh (units) to the Northern Powergrid distribution network from a tiny hydro electric power station on the River Bain. Created using a start-up grant from the National Park Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund, River Bain Hydro is reliably generating a daily average 224 kW over the course of a year – enough to power 28 hours round the year. The scheme was financed by 190 company shareholders as well as a grant of £50,000 from the National Park Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund.  Currently there are 185 shareholders, with about 40 of them living locally. The Authority has a record of supporting hydro schemes across the National Park. In addition to the turbine at Bainbridge, it has also helped to fund works at Killington and Halton Gill, as well as numerous feasibility and design studies to develop schemes such as at Linton Falls. The support for hydro continued this year when the Authority awarded a £26,000 SDF grant for a turbine on Backstone Gill at Kingsdale Head Farm. River Bain Hydro Ltd shareholder and project leader Deborah Millward said:   “To have generated a gigawatt of electricity is a welcome milestone.  To have done so as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases its devastating report is a sobering thought. “In 2011 when Bainbridge hydro was put in, it was a bit of a trend setter.  It was never about making money; it was all about making green energy.  There are now two further plants in the Raydale catchment.” She added: “I am pleased to have been a part of what we now call Net Zero but I think we are all going to have to take much more responsibility for our own personal energy requirements. I have had solar panels for a decade and have just gone fossil fuel free at home, but uptake is going to have to be much, much faster if we are to hand on a safe home and planet to tomorrow’s children.” Tom Fairey, a director of River Bain Hydro and a retired electrical engineer, said: “When I first became involved with River Bain Hydro about five years ago, the plant had unreliability problems, which meant the output was severely depressed. I found gaining an understanding of the problems both interesting and challenging and with the help of our partners, Durham-based hydro specialists ‘Bluenergy’, the unreliability problems have now been resolved and the generator operates with high reliability whenever water flow in the River Bain permits operation. “During 2022 water flow in the river permitted operation during 196 days with 100% reliability. Clearly, like all forms of renewable electricity production, River Bain Hydro can never be the sole means of electricity supply to Bainbridge.  The important point is that the energy produced makes a valuable contribution to the overall national renewable energy mix. “In 2022 the plant generated 81,675 kWh which is a daily average of 224 kWh.  If the average household uses 8 kWh per day, then that equates to supplying the annual energy requirements of 28 houses in Bainbridge.”

An free-to-attend employment law update will be provided by the Employment Team at Rollits in Hull later this month.

The firm’s annual Employment Law Update seminar will look ahead to future changes which may be introduced as the government itself seeks a more settled landscape after the upheaval of pervious years. The event will take place at Rollits’ offices in Citadel House, High Street, Hull, on Thursday 20 April from 9am until 10.30am. It is open to clients and non-clients and admission is free. Partner Ed Heppel said the session will include a discussion about short service employee issues and upcoming legislative changes as well as an update of case law in the employment sector. He said: “We will look ahead to the key anticipated developments in employment law as the government renews it focus on legislative change and addressing the long-term legal impact of leaving the EU. “The session will be of particular interest to directors, business owners, senior managers and HR professionals who are seeking to learn from the changes and from the key employment law cases recently decided and who want to prepare for what we expect will happen next.” Rollits LLP demonstrated the depth and breadth of its knowledge and expertise by securing rankings in the 2023 edition of the UK Legal 500 for employment work. The publication enthuses about the “outstanding” Employment team which is recognised as “modern and progressive” with experience in contentious tribunal matters and particular expertise in TUPE and the Equality Act as well as unfair dismissal complaints.

Aldi UK, Aldi Ireland, and Aldi Süd KG have signed a £400m four-year sole supplier contract for 200 million bunches of cut flowers with long-standing partner JZ Flowers, which operates from sites in the East Riding and Lincolnshire. Julie Ashfield, MD of Buying at Aldi UK, said: “We are incredibly proud of our almost 30-year partnership with JZ Flowers, and are looking forward to seeing the relationship develop further as we grow together. We know that long-term partnerships like this one are fundamental to our mutual success in the UK, and we thank JZ Flowers for their ongoing support as we continue striving to offer our customers high quality products at the lowest possible prices.” Tessa Zwemstra, MD at JZ Flowers, said: “We are incredibly proud of our longstanding partnership with Aldi, and thrilled to extend for a further four years with the new contract. This contract gives us the long-term security to commit to our growers and make investments throughout our supply chain to ensure ALDI can provide customers with excellent quality, sustainably sourced flowers at the affordable prices it is famous for.” JZ Flowers has been supplying flowers to Aldi stores across the UK and Ireland for more than a quarter of a century, and employs over 900 staff at its sites in Moulton near Spalding, Newport near Hull, Naas in Ireland, and Miami in the USA. The company began supplying fresh flowers to the first handful of  stores in 1995, and the relationship has evolved alongside Aldi’s growth to see JZ Flowers’ products now sold in over 1,150 stores in the UK and Ireland. JZ Flowers, who also supply plants to retailers across UK and Ireland, is part of Dutch Flower Group, a unique group of floral trading companies who work together to serve the entire international floriculture chain.