Crain's Manchester Business - 15-19 February, 2010 - (Page 1)

CRAIN’S LIST Private Clinics and Private Hospitals Page 14 STARTS ON PAGE 11 Healthcare How to win NHS contracts CRAIN’S MANCHESTER BUSINESS VOL. 3, ISSUE 7, FEBRUARY 15 - 19, 2010 CrainsManchesterBusiness.co.uk £2 What’s News ■ Elaine MacPherson, the former owner of the Ethel Austin and Au Naturale retail chains, is understood to be bidding to buy them back out of administration for the second time since May 2008. The Manchester office of insolvency firm MCR was appointed as administrator to both last week and has since begun closing down sales at 129 stores, as well as laying off around 460 staff. It advertised in the businesses for sale section of the Financial Times, quoting sales of £166m at Ethel Austin and £39m at Au Naturale in the year to August 31, 2009. A spokesman for Macpherson confirmed to Crain’s that she had been attempting a fundraising exercise prior to the administration but said that it was too early to say if she would bid to buy it back. “She’s a significant creditor herself and is working with administrators at the moment, but I think its going to be a while before anyone is ready to put in an offer for the company.” ■ Christy Towels, the 159 year-old business based in Hyde which was sold to Indian textiles firm Welspun for £15.6m in 2006, has recorded a pre-tax loss of £2.1m on the back of a 6 per cent drop in sales for the year to March 31, 2009. The company, which changed its name to Welspun UK during the course of the year, employs around 480 people and has a customer service site in Openshaw. A directors’ report accompanying the accounts blamed “difficult trading conditions on the high street together with significant restructuring costs following the exit from certain concessions”. It said cost cuts would return it to profit. The company paid a dividend of £1.53m to its owners during the year. ■ Liberty Property Trust saw the value of its Didsbury Point office scheme drop last year. The South Manchester scheme, a joint venture with Countryside Properties, was part of a portfolio that led to the trust registering a $94.5m non-cash impairment charge for the last quarter of 2009. Around $80m related to a Washington, US joint venture and the rest of the impairment was for joint ventures in “Chicago, Blythe Valley and Manchester, England”, according to a trading statement released last week. ■ Trafford-based trailer manufacturer Cartwright Rentals is set to open two more UK sites in the next six months. Cartwright already has four sites in Altrincham, Avonmouth, Glasgow and Northampton, and has a pool of 8,000 trailers. The two new sites will be in London and the North-East and will offer around 800 trailers. ■ A care village being built on the site of a former garden centre in Secret lease swap hints that MEN will stay in city centre BY SIMON BINNS Trinity Mirror has taken a lease on 30,000 sq ft of offices at Centurion House on Deansgate in Manchester, suggesting that Manchester Evening News staff may not be moved out of the city centre after all. Trinity, which last week bought the MEN Media’s parent company Guardian Regional Media for £7.4m in cash, has agreed a lease swap with law firm DWF under which it will take over a five-year lease at the recently refurbished Bruntwood building. But more job cuts likely as Trinity Mirror prepares to impose Liverpool model on its new acquisition DWF is finalising a move into Scott Place, in Spinningfields, which gets MEN Media out of its 97-year commitment on the 40,000 sq ft it occupies plus another 42,000 sq ft of vacant space which it has been unable to sublet. Sources close to the situation said Trinity had made “no firm commitment” to occupy the space in Centurion House. If it leaves it vacant, it will have to pay empty rates on the space or try to find another tenant in a stuttering market. If the publisher does decide to take the space, however, a move across the road is likely to be well-received by unhappy MEN Media staff, who were told they could be moved to Trinity’s print plant in Oldham when the sale was announced last week by Guardian Media Group chief executive Carolyn McCall. A Trinity Mirror spokesman declined to comment on Centurion House but said a number of options were being considered. In a statement, he added: “Trinity Mirror doesn’t take ownership of MEN Media until the 28th of March. MEN Media staff will be the first to know of our plans after that date and once a decision has been made.” Trinity bought the evening title and 21 weekly newspapers but left SEE MEN, PAGE 18 Old Trafford Tesco too big says city planner BY SIMON BINNS Manchester City Council is standing in the way of plans for two large supermarkets in Trafford, including the Tesco store anchoring the regeneration of Lancashire County Cricket Club’s Old Trafford ground. The council has weighed into the debate by arguing the proposed 160,000 sq ft Tesco at Old Trafford and an 80,000 sq ft J Sainsbury store planned for the White City Retail Park by its owners, Derwent Holdings, would undermine efforts to redevelop Chorlton and Stretford town centres. Peter Babb, Manchester City Council’s head of planning, has written to Victoria Moran, senior planner at Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council, arguing that the proposed Tesco store at Old Trafford is too big and adding that the city council intends to formally object to the White City plans. The document is not a formal letter of objection, but it says the Old Trafford scheme, a joint venture between Lancashire County Cricket Club, Ask Developments and Tesco, will result in a drop in the number of visitors and shoppers going to Chorlton. “It is clear that there will be impact on centres in Manchester, notably Chorlton,” it said. “We are very concerned that in the event of both VADERA SCENTS GROWTH BY JAMES CHAPELARD SEE WHAT’S NEWS, PAGE 2 P erfume entrepreneur Sanjay Vadera plans to double turnover at The Fragrance Shop to £100m within three years by adding 50 outlets. Vadera said the expansion would increase the Trafford Park-based chain’s presence in Scotland, the South East and London suburbs and would create 300 jobs in the stores and 10 at head office. He said the rapid expansion was made possible by a recent restructuring which has included streamlining costs, retraining sales staff, improving back office functions, and improving terms with suppliers. The Fragrance Shop positions itself at the discount end of the market with small high street stores. Most of its outlets are in the North West, the Midlands and London offering designer brands and budget fragrances. He told Crain’s: “It’s been about making sure we can grow sales organically and cutting costs where we can. “We have a very aggressive roll out plan in the SEE FRAGRANCE, PAGE 18 SEE STORES, PAGE 18 Leading Page 3 FAILED HOTEL PROJECT COSTS COUPLE LUXURY HOME AFTER COURT VERDICT http://CrainsManchesterBusiness.co.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's Manchester Business - 15-19 February, 2010

Crain's Manchester Business - 15-19 February, 2010