AUGUST 2021 £3.50 YORKSHIRE & LINCOLNSHIRE’S LEADING BUSINESS MAGAZINE www.blmgroup.co.uk VOLUME 36 ISSUE 8 THE HUMBER BANK The year of the Humber BUSINESS SERVICES Taking on challenges PRINT AND PACKAGING Looking to the future ABOVE AND BEYOND ABOVE AND BEYOND 01.qxp_Layout 1 02/08/2021 13:29 Page 1Looking forward at new business opportunities SINGLE USE MENUS / NOTICES AND SIGNS / INFORMATION LEAFLETS / LOGOS AND BRANDING STATIONARY / BUSINESS CARDS / NEWSLETTERS / POSTCARDS / FLYERS / BROCHURES VINYL BANNERS / ROLLER BANNERS / POSTERS / PLAN PRINTING Established more than 40 years ago, Lincoln Print & Copy Centre has experienced the highs and lows of the economy alongside many other businesses in the area. Looking at the opportunities as the economy grows, they identified areas where they can help their customers stand out from the crowd and have invested in new printing and finishing equipment. With the latest Xerox Versant 280 press and Kasfold 640 booklet maker, they can now supply landscape A4 brochures, 6 page A4 leaflets and A5 concertina leaflets with other products available in the near future, all in smaller as well as large quantities. The combination of the new machines offer many new exciting products for customers. Their experienced design team have worked in print for many years so understand what’s required in the worlds of commerce, industry, hospitality, culture and tourism. They can help customers understand how the new ideas will work for them, discuss branding and logos, what will attract and inform their customers. For more information visit www.lincolncopycentre.co.uk 9 Clifton Street, Stonefield Park Industrial Estate, Lincoln, LN5 8LQ tel: 01522 546118 email: sales@lincolncopycentre.co.uk SUPPLIERS OF QUALITY PRESSURE TREATED TIMBER To discover more about our range of timber products visit: www.caldersandgrandidge.com Email enquiries@caldersandgrandidge.com or call our experts on 01205 358866 Fencing Poles Track Timbers 02.qxp_Layout 1 02/08/2021 13:29 Page 1It should come as no surprise that with the end of imposed social distancing, infection rates have crept up, bringing an irksome new buzz word: ‘pingdemic’. It’s a word worthy of an eyeroll, but it’s a major issue facing businesses across a myriad of sectors. July was supposed to be a boon for businesses, and yet many have complained that they are struggling to maintain operations when so many staff have been told to stay at home. The ping referring to the notifications of the official NHS app which tells you if you have possibly come into contact with an infected person – and therefore need to self-isolate. Unsurprisingly, it has led many to simply delete the app. With fourth lockdown rhetoric rising, it’s hard to know how things will look even next month – adding yet more uncertainty for businesses in every sector. We might not be able to predict the future, but we have put together an august issue serving as a barometer of regional business. Stay safe and good reading, as always, Michael Fisher Editor From the Editor VISIT WWW.DEXTERSHARPE.CO.UK FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Dexter & Sharpe Chartered Certified Accountants At the heart of Lincolnshire We provide a comprehensive range of services, if you would like to find out how we can help you or your business why not head over to the contact us page to find your local office. Our 130 years of experience has taught us to initially listen more than we talk. When we talk, you’ll find that it's plain jargon-free practical advice which is not only accurate but tailored to your specific needs. Having gained a full understanding of your business our aim is to ensure this timely advice helps you and your business achieve its objectives. For a pro-active, friendly and accessible service or your FREE Consultation contact one of our teams: Horncastle: 01507 526071 - Boston: 01205 311966 - Spilsby: 01790 753340 Bourne: 01778 393656 - Louth: 01507 609933 - Skegness: 01754 763222 - Lincoln: 01522 533588 AGRICULTURE • CHARITIES • CONSTRUCTION • FINANCIAL & CONSULTING • MANUFACTURING • MEDIA • MOTOR RETAIL & REPAIR • TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS • VETERINARY 03.qxp_Layout 1 02/08/2021 13:34 Page 1CONTENTS AUGUST 2021 6 News The latest business news and success stories from around our region. 10 Commercial property Despite doom and gloom across the whole country, our region’s commercial property market is leading the recovery, bucking many national trends. 14 The Humber Bank There’s four months left of 2021 and yet we don’t hesitate to call it the year of the Humber. The region’s star continues to rise as it drives the nation’s low carbon transformation. • Kingston Engineering 22 Supply chain management Supply chain management is rapidly evolving as technology such as AI, IoT sensors, and blockchain are wielded. 25 Print and packaging spotlight Moving past a tough year for certain sectors in print and packaging, Business Link considers some of the main technologies and trends stimulating change. 28 Business services In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, business services firms have had to be agile, quickly adapting to increased digitalisation, home working, et al. Though optimism is now rising, there are still a number of challenges the sector must take on. • Stokes Tea & Coffee Q&A 34 Anaerobic digestion and biomass Arguably the nexus of the nation’s anaerobic digestion and biomass industry, our region is leading the way when it comes to this renewable energy solution. Not only is it helping Britain evolve a cleaner, greener energy mix, it’s also reducing waste. 37 Accountancy review Accountants are indispensable to businesses – whether that’s helping with financial matters or assisting post- pandemic recovery. 40 Corporate hospitality With an end to lockdown in sight it’s time to get out of our home offices and back into the working world. For many of us who haven’t had to speak face to face for a long time, the prospect of large-scale conferences and meetings could well be an intimidating one. 42 AutoLink Like many industry sectors, the pandemic hit motoring hard – we look at how the industry is doing now that restrictions are finally being lifted. 46 Events We take a look at business events happening around Yorkshire and Lincolnshire 50 And finally… Yorkshire-Lincolnshire- Business-Link @blmforum blmforum.net CONNECT WITH US 28 34 37 04-05.qxp_Layout 1 02/08/2021 13:35 Page 1Group Editor Steve Fisher (s.fisher@blmgroup.co.uk) Editor Michael Fisher (m.fisher@blmgroup.co.uk) Assistant Editor Dominic Cuthbert (d.cuthbert@blmgroup.co.uk) Journalist Tess Egginton (t.egginton@blmgroup.co.uk) Editorial contact newsdesk@blmgroup.co.uk Tel: (01472) 310305 Fax: (01472) 310317 Sales Director Angela Cooper (a.cooper@blmgroup.co.uk) Advertising Vicky Hunt (v.hunt@blmgroup.co.uk) Kerry Randerson (k.randerson@blmgroup.co.uk) Tel: (01472) 310310 Accounts & Subscriptions Angela Sharman, John Downes Tel: (01472) 310301 Fax: (01472) 310311 Design & Production Gary Jorgensen, Mark Casson Tel: (01472) 310304 Fax: (01472) 310314 (studio@blmgroup.co.uk) E-Mail: yorks-lincs@blmgroup.co.uk Website www.blmforum.net Address Haychart Ltd, Armstrong House, Armstrong Street, Grimsby, N.E. Lincs., DN31 2QE. ISSN No: 1462-2092 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, photocopied, recorded or otherwise without express permission of the copyright holder, for which application should be addressed first to the publisher. While every reasonable care is taken, neither the publisher nor its participating agents accept liability for loss or damage to prints, colour transparencies, negatives or other material of whatever nature submitted to this publication. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views of those held by the publisher. COVER PHOTOS : SHUTTERSTOCK - NATASCHA KAUKORAT • NOPPUNS • ANDREY _ POPOV • WEERASAK SAEKU • DUNCAN CUTHBERTSON www.blmforum.net 14 04-05.qxp_Layout 1 02/08/2021 13:35 Page 2Plans in place for major hydrogen storage facility in Yorkshire SSE Thermal and Equinor are developing plans for one of the world’s largest hydrogen storage facilities at their existing Aldbrough site on the East Yorkshire coast. The facility could be storing low-carbon hydrogen as early as 2028, they said. The existing Aldbrough Gas Storage facility, which was commissioned in 2011, is co-owned by SSE Thermal and Equinor, and consists of nine underground salt caverns, each roughly the size of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Upgrading the site to store hydrogen would involve converting the existing caverns or creating new purpose-built caverns to store the low- carbon fuel. With an initial expected capacity of at least 320GWh, Aldbrough Hydrogen Storage would be significantly larger than any hydrogen storage facility in operation in the world today. The Aldbrough site is ideally located to store the low-carbon hydrogen set to be produced and used in the Humber region. 6 Business Link www.blmforum.net NEWS Pegasus takes flight with new factory in China Pegasus China has invested in brand-new towelling manufacturing premises in Nantong in the south east of the province of Jiangsu. The new premises will enable the Leeds-based Pegasus Group to continue its expansion programme, working closely with the UK’s largest laundries and hotels through its Pegasus Textiles division. Pegasus Textiles will now be able to meet the increased demands of the hospitality industry, following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in the UK. These plans also include an increased product offering for Pegasus Homeware, as it expands further into the retail market in the coming months and years. Ivan Zhou, CEO of Pegasus Group, which is based at Logic Leeds business park in south Leeds, explained: “These magnificent new manufacturing premises will be a game-changer for us. We are establishing ourselves as a major player in the UK homeware market and our Nantong factory will provide the capacity and the expertise to enable us to achieve this aim.” New director for £45m robotics research centre at York A director has been appointed to lead a major new £45 million research centre at the University of York. Professor Miles Elsden will oversee the development of the new Institute for Safe Autonomy which is due to open later this year on the University’s Campus East. The new institute will focus on research to ensure robots and autonomous systems such as driverless cars, operate safely. Bringing extensive public sector and business experience, Professor Elsden completed a PhD in applied mathematics before working in industry and government. He worked in multiple government departments advising on issues across science and technology. His last role in government was as Chief Scientist at the Department for Transport where he worked on issues ranging from air quality to electric and autonomous cars. He left the Civil Service in 2015 to work for a US spinout Artificial Intelligence company and his own consultancy firm. Professor Miles Elsden © Esme Mai Ivan Zhou 06-09.qxp_Layout 1 02/08/2021 13:36 Page 1www.blmforum.net Business Link 7 NEWS Sumo Group acquired in £919m deal Sumo Group, the listed Sheffield-headquartered video game developer, is being acquired by Chinese tech giant Tencent in a £919 million deal. Through a wholly-owned subsidiary, Sixjoy Hong Kong, Tensent will acquire the share capital of Sumo which members of the Tencent Group do not already own at a price of 513 pence per share. Sumo has studios in Nottingham, Leamington Spa, Warrington and Pune, India and owns The Chinese Room in Brighton, Red Kite Games in Leeds, Lab42 in Leamington Spa and PixelAnt Games in Wroclaw, Poland. Carl Cavers, Chief Executive at Sumo, said: “From a single studio in Sheffield, Sumo now totals 14 studios in five countries, spread across the globe, with more than 1,200 people. “Sumo is and always has been a people business and great people make great games and enjoy great times. I am proud to lead such a talented and creative group of individuals.” © Shutterstock/jantsarik West Yorkshire secures multi-million-pound funding for innovation Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, recently announced the Government’s new Innovation Strategy at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield which includes £22.6 million in funding for the Advanced Machinery and Productivity Institute (AMPI). The new joint scheme is designed to support innovation in advanced machinery across West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. AMPI, a partnership across West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester, and led by the National Physical Laboratory, has been awarded funds released through the Strength in Places Fund (SIPF), a UKRI programme that helps areas of the UK to build on existing strengths in research and innovation to deliver benefits for their local economy. Boost for region’s bioeconomy The THYME project, a collaboration between the Universities of Hull, Teesside and York, has secured a farther £1.8 million in funding from Research England’s Connecting Capability Fund to continue working together to develop innovation assets to help to boost economic growth. The fast-growing bioeconomy represents a major economic opportunity for the UK and particularly for the North of England, which has world-class bioeconomy assets. The THYME project aims to build on these regional assets to drive increased productivity of companies operating in the bioeconomy across Yorkshire, Humberside and the Tees Valley. The project also aims to pave the way to a more sustainable future where industry uses renewable sources of raw materials. The Research England funding is part of a commitment announced today by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng MP to increase annual public investment on R&D to a record £22 billion, while stressing the need for private sector investment. © Shutterstock/Jevanto Productions © Shutterstock/Oleg Krugliak 06-09.qxp_Layout 1 02/08/2021 13:36 Page 2TOWER FIELD SERVICES Cat Tech Tower Field Services offers bespoke mechanical services to oil refinery and petrochemical plants all around the world. Our team has vast experience in overseeing and undertaking the installation of all types of Tower internals. Our Tower tray, packing and other internals installation services has deep roots, with several of the senior team at Cat Tech being involved in the founding of the Cana-Tex organisation. Since 1971, Cana-Tex had been the premier global Tower speciality contractor; performing Tower maintenance and plant turnaround projects around the world. These origins, with the addition of new team members, make Cat Tech Tower Field services a global operation which is both cost effective and technically experienced. We strive to create new ways to make your Tower work safer, faster and more productive and that can make very good things happen for your business. We thrive on exceeding our clients expectations and understand the need for upfront communication in relation to timescales and costs. No-one likes surprises in this industry and we ensure that everything is done, from pre-job planning, on site activities to post job reporting in a manner which allows our customers to concentrate on their core business. Let us show you what we can do. We work hard to maintain an industry reputation for safety, speed and dependability. Ours crews have been trained by us, this allows us to staff a project with the proven skills necessary to produce customer satisfaction. It is our intention to demonstrate the benefit of utilising Cat Tech for all of your Tower work. The benefits of engaging Cat Tech are: l Experienced Tower specialists. l Proven track record. l Ability to supply spares and replacements. l Spade to Spade service. l Revamps or modifications to Towers / Internals. l Inspection of Tower internals. l Supervision of external/client labour force. l Detailed inspection reports. l Cleaning of tower internals. l Reactor tray field services. l Turnkey reactor tray field services. At Cat Tech, we continue to create new ways to make Tower work safer, faster and more productive. And that can make very good things happen for your business. Contact us for further information. Our well established sales team have a wealth of experience. We take pride on ensuring all enquires are dealt with quickly and efficiently. UK: Cat Tech (Europe) Ltd., 1 South Park Road, South Park Industrial Estate, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, DN17 2BY UK Phone: +44 (0) 1724 871747 Fax: + 44 (0) 1724 861928 Bulgaria: Cat Tech Services (South Eastern Europe) Ltd., Devnia, Varna District, Povelyanovo, 20 Droujba Str, R Bulgaria, 9160 Phone: +(35) 9519 92052 Fax: +(35) 9527 46770 China: Cat Tech Services (Shanghai) Ltd., Room 1230 No.1, 58 Nong Huachi Road, Putuo District, Shanghai 20061 CN Phone: +(86) 2152 9175 08 Fax: +(86) 2152 9175 05 Singapore: Cat Tech Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., 17 Fan Yoong Road, Singapore 629794 Phone: +(65) 6264 6261 Fax: +(65) 6264 6401 South America: Please contact the UK office on +44 1724 871 747 Thailand: Cat Tech Services (Thailand) Ltd., 2/1 Soi Banbon Nuenpayom Road, Maptaphut Sub District, Muang Rayong District, Rayong Province 21150 TH Phone: +(66) 894 064 100 Fax: +(66) 638 692 382 MAKING YOUR PLANT WORK… SMARTER www.cat-tech.com PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/KAWINNINGS 06-09.qxp_Layout 1 02/08/2021 13:37 Page 3www.blmforum.net Business Link 9 NEWS Northern PE deals pass £10bn in H1 2021 Dealmakers in the North of England have remained active during the first half of 2021, with private equity houses completing a total of 30 deals worth £10.4 billion. This is according to data from CMBOR, the Centre for Private Equity and MBO Research, which was re-established within Nottingham University Business School last month. Funded by Equistone Partners Europe as exclusive sponsor, the research reveals the highest private equity deal volume seen from the regions for more than five years, with the value almost 10 times the £1.9 billion completed during the same period last year. The North West was the most active market for deals in the North, with 15 completed in the first six months of the year. Behind this, Yorkshire saw 11 transactions finalised, followed by four in the North East. The first half of 2021 represented the most active start to a year for Yorkshire’s private equity community for four years, with the 11 deals completed only bettered by the 12 seen in 2018. © Shutterstock/PanyaStudio Spalding plant, flowers and herb supplier blossoms with £29m investment to support eco-friendly distribution Bridge Farm Group, producers of ornamental plants, flowers and herbs, has secured £29 million of debt finance from specialist lenders Shawbrook Bank and Tosca Debt Capital. As part of Bridge Farm Group’s investment in its operations, the business has developed a 48-acre, fully automated glass house in Spalding. The modern Clay Lake site includes biomass boilers and on- site reservoirs, making Bridge Farm Group energy self-sufficient. The new funding will enable Bridge Farm Group to continue its investment in its state-of-the-art glasshouse facilities, helping the business to meet increased sustainability demands of the UK’s supermarkets, which are focused on driving towards a net zero carbon supply chain. Bridge Farm Group, which is led by founder David Ball and CEO Louise Motala, sells more than 80 million units of plants, cut flowers and herbs per year to retailers and consumers across the globe. BUSINESS LINCOLNSHIRE The Peer Networks programme is back to boost your business Business Lincolnshire is pleased to announce the return of its popular Peer Networks programme, perfect for business leaders and decision-makers ready to take their business to the next level. The national scheme, delivered locally by the Business Lincolnshire Growth Hub, guides Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland SMEs as they work together to reach their full potential and boost the local economy. The programme, which completed its first successful run in 2020, encourages SMEs to collaborate, so they can overcome the common challenges facing their businesses, as well as grasp any opportunities that may come their way. Each cohort focuses on a different specialism – from women in business, to manufacturing to visitor economy – and is led by an expert facilitator. The scheme allows businesses to share their trials – as well as their triumphs - in a safe space so they can find solutions, along with building a trusted local support network that they can rely on in the future. Darren Joint, Manager of Viking Signs and a Peer Network Alum, says he would highly recommend the programme to businesses hoping to improve their performance and reach new heights. He said: “The Peer Networks programme has been a fantastic way to connect with more local manufacturing businesses like ours. I’ve made trusted connections and enjoyed the experience of learning from my peers and boosting my business in the long- term.” Interested in joining the Peer Network programme? Visit the Business Lincolnshire website to find out more: www.businesslincolnshire.com, or email businesslincolnshireadmin@lincolnshire.gov.uk to express an interest. © Shutterstock/Porstocker 06-09.qxp_Layout 1 02/08/2021 13:37 Page 4Next >