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Tim and Simon Belcher of Lillehurst Farm
with Dyke Yaxley’s David Latham
...is our business
CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
A lawyer from a Shrop-
shire-based legal practice has
won a place on a panel of national
experts who deal with cases in-
volving medical accidents.
Lucy Small, of Lanyon Bowdler
Solicitors, is now among the UK’s
most respected clinical negligence
lawyers as part of the Action
Against Medical Accidents char-
ity’s legal panel.
The charity, known as AvMA,
is the UK’s top organisation
helping people who need to file
complaints against hospitals and
health trusts following medical
accidents or errors.
Being part of the panel is a ma-
jor accolade, as the charity only
selects leaders in their field.
Lucy Small, who is a partner
at Lanyon Bowdler and heads
the Ludlow and Hereford clinical
negligence teams, said she was
delighted to have been selected.
She said: “AvMA is a fantastic
charity which supports people
through incredibly difficult times
in their lives.
“Official figures show there are
more than one million medical
accidents in UK hospitals every
year, and it is estimated that
about one in every 10 people who
visit hospital are affected by some
sort of clinical error.
“While those figures are quite
scary, it should be said that the
majority of errors are fairly min-
or and don’t result in physical
harm. However, when things do
go seriously wrong, the impact on
patients and their families can be
catastrophic.
Complicated
“AvMA supports people
through the whole process of
starting a claim against a hos-
pital or health trust, which is
a very complicated thing to do,
particularly for people when
they are emotionally affected by
an incident. It is gratifying to be
recognised by such a respected
charity.”
Fe c g firm bo ght
o t by market leaderA Shropsh re fe c g a d gar-
de woodwork compa y has
bee s apped p by a E ropea
compet tor.
Grange, which is based in Telford and
operates from a number of sites across
Shropshire and Humberside, manufac-
turers and distributes timber and relat-
ed products.
That includes fences, gates and garden
structures. It supplies to DIY chains, build-
ers merchants, buying groups and garden
centres.
Now the company has been acquired by
Stelmet, which is based in Zielona Góra in
the west of Poland.
The buying company is similarly engaged
in the production of garden and timber prod-
ucts.
The terms of the deal have not been dis-
closed but Stelmet said the transaction sig-
nificantly expanded its European footprint
and manufacturing capabilities.
Halesfield Industrial Estate-based Grange
achieves annual turnover in the region of
£35 million, and employs more than 200
people, including around 170 in its Tel-
ford-based production division.
Acquisition
The Birmingham-based Transaction Ser-
vices team at BDO provided cross-border
financial, tax and operational due diligence
services to Stelmet in connection with the
acquisition. Lead advisor on the transaction
was BDO Poland.
Stelmet said: “The BDO Birmingham
Transaction Services team provided a de-
tailed yet commercially focussed FDD re-
port and demonstrated their ability to both
pro-actively manage the relationship with
the management team at Grange, while
also responding to the complexities of a
cross-border transaction.”
Stelmet is the one of the biggest compan-
ies in Europe in the field of “garden architec-
ture”, as the company describes its products.
It makes items designed for fencing,
equipping, and decoration of garden, parks,
terraces and any other recreation areas.
The company exports 98 per cent of its
products across the European Union, and
includes France, Germany, the Netherlands,
Great Britain, Norway and Turkey among
the countries which buy its goods.
A manufacturing collaboration featur-
ing two Shropshire businesses is to ex-
hibit its range of expertise at an industry
showcase next month.
The Midlands Assembly Network,
which includes Telford-based Advanced
Chemical Etching and Cleobury Mortim-
er-based Muller Holdings, will demon-
strate its collective capabilities at Sub-
con 2015 which kicks of on June 2.
Held at the NEC in Birmingham the
event looks at subcontracting in the
manufacturing sector.
Working across 12 state-of-the-art fac-
tories, the MAN collective will showcase
its total manufacturing solution, from
initial prototyping, fabrication and pre-
cision machining to chemical etching,
injection moulding and development.
“In the last year, MAN has secured
over £9m of new business across auto-
motive, aerospace, offshore wind, rail
and renewables,” said chairman Tony
Hague. “Despite the differences in sec-
tors, customers have the same goal in
mind – to find a new way of managing
their supply chains and finding answers
to difficult problems. This is something
we have a proven track record in.”
He added: “All of the nine companies
share the same belief in world class
manufacturing and none of us compete,
meaning we work together very well.
Better still we have developed a new
partnership with Warwick Manufactur-
ing Group, giving us unique access to
new technology and R&D that few of our
rivals can match.”
MAN’s businesses employ more than
700 people, and have sales of £70 million.
Britain’s dominant services sector
grew at its fastest pace in eight months
in April, lifting hopes of a bounce-back
for the wider economy after a slow start
to the year.
The sector posted a reading of 59.5 on
the closely watched CIPS/Markit pur-
chasing managers’ index (PMI) survey,
in which 50 separates growth from con-
traction. It was the highest level since
August and up from 58.9 in March.
Together with other industry surveys
it pointed to the economy returning to
form in the second quarter, indicating
expansion at a rate of 0.8 per cent af-
ter a sharp slowdown in gross domestic
product (GDP) growth in the first three
months of 2015 to 0.3 per cent.
But despite the numbers – seen as a
boost for coalition parties – there were
‘warning lights about the sustainability
of growth’ after the survey data from
manufacturing and construction were
weaker.
The services sector represents more
than three-quarters of economic out-
put and has led the UK to surpass its
pre-recession size while other parts of
the economy still lag behind where they
were in 2008.
Today’s services data showed a
marked rise in new business amid im-
proving economic confidence and warm
weather. There was strong employment
growth and sentiment was ‘elevated’
though slipping slightly from March on
pre-election uncertainty.
However there was pressure on profit
margins as firms saw output prices fall
for the first time in six months as input
costs continued to rise on the back of
wage pressures, the survey found – likely
to revive worries about deflation.
Showcase for
MAN group
Sector sees
growth hike
Spread the
messageShropshire’s property portfolio and
healthy lifestyle will be promoted in
London tomorrow, when Balfours Prop-
erty Professionals exhibit at The Move
to the Country Show.
Alistair Hilton and Clemmie Rad-
cliffe, town and country sales managers
at Balfours will be promoting properties
on their books to the London market,
and Shrewsbury’s place at the top of 70
major towns in the UK, according to a
survey by the Royal Society for Public
Health.
Ms Radcliffe said: “Potential buyers
are pleasantly surprised by what Shrop-
shire has to offer, in terms of country-
side and market towns, plus of course
road network.”
Lucy Small of Lanyon Bowdler
County lawyer’s panel place
New boss for Alan Ward chain
Ex-Brintons chief takes
over at furniture retailerShropshire furniture chain Alan Ward has ap-
pointed the former boss of carpets firm Brintons as
its new managing director.
Carl Johnson takes over the independent store
chain as it marks its 45th year in business.
He has spent the last 16 years at Brintons Car-
pets, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-qual-
ity axminsters in Kidderminster where he led the
Retail Division consisting of 87 members of staff.
Prior to Brintons, the 52-year-old had worked for
11 years at Richard Burbidge in Oswestry in vari-
ous sales and marketing roles.
Alan Ward has its headquarters and a stores in
Shrewsbury, with other outlets in Chester, Wins-
ford in Cheshite, and Newcastle-under-Lyme.
“I have spent my entire career in home interiors
so to join the team at Alan Ward where we offer
everything under one roof – or four – is certainly
the perfect role for me,” Mr Johnson said.
“With the support of the management team here
at the head office in Shrewsbury and the teams in
each of the stores, we will be looking at developing
all of our products and services further in line with
customer demand and expectations.
“Although Alan Ward already offers an extensive
choice, the plan is to expand that choice even fur-
ther with new product categories and services both
in store and on-line.”
Mr Johnson added: “To join Alan Ward as man-
aging director as the business celebrates its 45th
year is a true privilege and I look forward to driving
the growth of the company.”
Carl Johnson has taken over as managing director of Alan Ward, which is based in Shrewsbury
BuSinESSNEWS
Sponsorship for
racing sensation
Shropshire-based IT company Rock-
ford has agreed a sponsorship deal with
a teenage racing sensation.
Telford-based Rockford IT will pro-
vide sponsorship for 19-year-old Jack
Butel in his Protyre Formula Renault
car.
The move will see the company’s name
carried on the Channel Islands-born
star’s car at tracks around the country.
Butel started racing in 2010, and is
now part of the SWB Motorsport team.
He now has 5 years’ worth of pres-
tigious titles under his belt and is well
placed for future success within the
car-racing industry.
He finished eighth in the champion-
ship for Formula Renault last year.
Rockford’s technical director Tom
Sykes said: “We’re delighted to be able to
sponsor and support this hugely talented
young driver Jack and the team behind
him for this season of Formula Ford.
“Jack is a rising star and a great guy.
We are all looking forward to seeing him
drive to victory at race meetings this
year and beyond.”
Movement
on estate
West Mercia Energy, which offers
energy procurement on the behalf of
four local authorities, has opened new
premises in Shrewsbury.
Part of Shropshire Council, the pur-
chasing group has taken up the last
available suite on the Abbey Lawns de-
velopment in Abbey Foregate.
Suite 1 in Chapter House South is
located on the ground floor in Abbey
Lawns, and comprises 1,717sq ft of mod-
ern accommodation.
Nigel Evans from West Mercia Energy
said: “Morris Property are extremely
well-known for developing high quality
properties and office developments and
Chapter House South reflects this. This
was one of the main factors that initially
attracted us to this popular area.”
Liz Lowe, head of estates at Morris
Property, added: “This development has
been a major success story underlining
how organisations are looking for a com-
bination of factors when housing their
businesses.
“It has high quality and well-designed
buildings, attractively landscaped sur-
roundings, good car parking facilities
and of course an ideal location just on
the outskirts of the town centre but with
easy access to the motorway network.
“Abbey Lawns ticks all the boxes.”
ShropshireStarTuesday,May12,2015
20