Bristol Business News

Music school BIMM Bristol is to further develop its curriculum and extend its range of courses following a long-term finance deal with Barclays Corporate.

The £5.65m facility is a major boost to BIMM, which also has sites in Brighton and Dublin and runs the Tech Music School (TMS) in London. More than 2,000 students are studying music and music business at the colleges.

BIMM Brighton opened in 2001 and BIMM Bristol in 2008. Investment fund Sovereign Capital backed a buyout of this business in March 2010 with £10m. Since then it has acquired TMS in June 2010 and opened in Dublin in September last year.

BIMM group colleges cater for musicians who are serious about a career in the industry and students can study a range of professional qualifications from diploma to post-graduate level.

Each of the colleges is equipped with state-of-the art facilities and staffed by professional musicians and experienced music industry executives.

BIMM director Adam Carswell said: “The UK music industry has the world’s fourth-largest live music sector market, providing thousands of jobs each year.

“Our aim is to offer an innovative and outstanding environment to meet the increasing demand for higher and further educational music courses. Our relationship with Barclays Corporate is a vital one, and will help us greatly in achieving our aim of successfully competing in the music higher education arena.”

Barclays Corporate relationship director Mark Mattock added: “We are proud to continue to work with and support BIMM in their growth plans. We have sustained an ongoing dialogue with the colleges over the past 10 years and have always been impressed by the quality of leadership and strategic planning they have put in place. This facility clearly demonstrates our ability to work closely with our clients to deliver tailored financial solutions that appropriately align with their commercial aims.”

Bristol Business News

Proposals that could boost investment in the local economy are under review following talks between the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership and bankers from Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Santander UK and HSBC.

LEP chair Colin Skellett said: “Small and medium-sized businesses across our region are united in their call for more to be done to ease access to finance to help them grow. The meeting with the banks was a good opportunity to explore areas where we have common goals, particularly in our discussions with central Government ahead of the Budget to influence local and national policies on economic development.”

The talks agenda focussed on:

• Lobbying Government in advance of the March 21 Budget on advancing investment in the local economy and SMEs. Access to finance is cited as local businesses’ greatest barriers to growth;
• Measures to tackle high levels of youth unemployment, looking at the Backing Young Bristol campaign and ways the banking sector can support it and other initiatives;
• Financial mechanisms available to cities for investment in infrastructure and skills, looking at innovative models of investment such as tax increment financing or municipal bonds;
• Bristol’s bid for the Green Investment Bank and the support the banks can play to reinforce Bristol’s strong case.

LEP vice chair and city council leader Barbara Janke added: “The Centre for Cities latest report again highlights the role successful cities like Bristol can play in driving growth and creating jobs. Indeed Bristol now has the highest employment rate of any major city and we must build on this.

“We have been clear for a long time that we want local authorities to be more financially independent of central government. The banks were receptive to our innovative ideas for how we could support investment in the local economy, such as tax increment financing or municipal bonds.”

More than 70 business leaders from across Bristol are this lunchtime pledging their support for the city’s bid to be the home of the new Green Investment Bank.

Bristol is competing against up to 20 rival towns and cities to be the location for the bank, which will help spur the UK’s drive to a low-carbon economy by supporting green and sustainable industry and energy projects.

Bristol launched its bid campaign, called Bristol: The Natural Home for the Green Investment Bank (GIB), shortly before Christmas with a high-profile delegation to the Houses of Parliament.

Today the case for Bristol is being outlined to the city’s business community at a briefing held at law firm Burges Salmon’s showpiece waterfront offices at Temple Quay.

The area around the Temple Quay office park and nearby Temple Meads station is to become the city’s Enterprise Zone, and a possible location for the bank.

Bristol’s case is built on:

• Its superior credentials in the environmental technology are stronger than anywhere else in the UK. The sector and the transition to a low-carbon economy holds the key to the future prosperity of UK plc;
• It boasts the second-largest economy outside of London;
• It has competitive property prices compared to London;
• It has greatly benefitted from a brain drain from London – there is world-class expertise and experience, easily on a par with London, in Bristol for GIB to draw upon;
• It is extremely well connected to national/global markets;
• It has a booming digital and creative industry, which is closely aligned to the growth of the green technologies sector.

Speaking at today’s event will Andrew Garrad, president of Bristol-based GL Garrad Hassan, the world’s leading renewable energy consultancy, Bristol West MP Stephen Williams, Bristol City Council leader Barbara Janke, and Colin Skellett, chair of the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership.

Bristol Business News is backing Bristol’s GIB bid. We will be running a series of features and interviews over the next few weeks in our weekly e-bulletins explaining why the GIB should be located in Bristol. To subscribe, enter your name and email address in the boxes at the top left of this site.

For Bristol Business News’s recent analysis of Bristol’s case go to http://www.bristol-business.net/?p=3874.

Bristol Business News

A free masterclass in winning a share of 52bn euros of EU funding for R&D is to be held in Bristol early next month.

Sponsored by the Enterprise Europe Network South West and the Information Communications Technology Knowledge Transfer Network the masterclass will focus on participation in Framework Programme 7.

It will provide a comprehensive view of the main areas that any organisation planning to participate in FP7 should be aware of including:

• Making the right strategic decisions about participation
• Taking the right approach to minimise the cost of participation
• Working with the EU Commission on your proposal
• Available support
• Building a team
• Work integration
• Matching roles to partners
• Consortium organisation
• Partner search methods
• Building a proposal
• Proposal section by section view

The event, to be held on February 7 at the offices of Smith and Williamson, will offer an opportunity for in depth examination of the task of putting together a winning proposal with all the information required to make strategic decisions about participation.

The organisers say developing a proposal for the EU Commission has many parallels with proposals to other funding organisations and even private investors. If your organisation is planning to seek funding to support R&D then you will find this day of great value.

The free masterclass will be delivered by collaboration domain expert Eddie Townsend who will draw on his experience of successful proposal submissions and management in FP6 and FP7. Eddie has also published articles on the subject of collaboration and the role of collaboration in product innovation.

Membership of the ICTKTN is free and attendees are encouraged to register as members at https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/ictktn

Priority will be given to South West SMEs and confirmation of attendance will be provided.

For more information call 01275 370849 or email events@businesswest.co.uk

Independent investment management firm Brewin Dolphin has agreed a sponsorship deal for the Cheltenham Cricket Festival.

The three-year deal with Gloucestershire County Cricket Club (GCCC) means the festival, which began in 1872, will be known as the Brewin Dolphin Cheltenham Crciket Festival.

Brewin Dolphin has been involved with GCCC for over 10 years, when they became a player sponsor.  Their logo will continue to appear on the collar of Gloucestershire Gladiators’ Twenty20 shirts.

The Cheltenham Cricket Festival is the longest running cricket festival played on an out ground in the world.  It was started by James Lillywhite in 1872 – the first match was played against Surrey and was won by Gloucestershire.  No other cricket festival has been played on the same ground for that length of time and no other cricket festival in the world lasts for twelve days or more.

The 2012 festival gets underway on Wednesday, July 11 with a four-day LV= County Championship match against Essex, followed by a CB 40 match on Sunday, July 15 against Essex once again.

GCCC will then play Worcestershire for a CB 40 local derby match on Tuesday, July 17 before taking on Leicestershire in the LV= County Championship on Wednesday, July 18.  The climax of the 2012 Festival will see GCCC take on Middlesex for a CB 40 clash on Sunday, July 22.

Alex Barrell, head of Brewin Dolphin’s Cheltenham office, said: “We are delighted to become the lead sponsor of the Cheltenham Cricket Festival.  This most prestigious and historic occasion always proves to be a great success, attracting cricket lovers from across the world.

“We are also very proud to be associated with Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and being able to continue to build this partnership, helping to raise the profile of Brewin Dolphin both in Cheltenham and the South West.  This association reflects our position as one of the largest investment managers in the country.”

James Caan

Bristol Business News

Former Dragons’ Den star James Caan’s private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw has invested in Bristol-based specialist recruitment consultancy Timothy James Consulting (TJC) in a move that will enable it to double its staff and increase turnover by more than 75% in just two years.

The deal, put together by Bristol corporate finance advisers Baker Tilly and Bristol law firm Ashfords, will also enable TJC director Peter Bennett to exit the business he co-founded in 2003.

Since its launch the firm’s rapid expansion has put it in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 ranking of high-growth businesses. Today it turns over £17m and has offices in London and Manchester as well as its Bristol headquarters.

Hamilton Bradshaw’s investment, details of which have not been disclosed, will fund further expansion at TJC, enabling chief executive and founding shareholder Chris O’Connell to achieve his ambitious growth plans which will double its 60-strong staff and increase turnover to a projected £30m-plus.

The consultancy focuses on senior level and executive appointments primarily in IT, digital media, project programme and change management.

Commenting on the investment, James Caan, chairman of Hamilton Bradshaw, said: “This is a very exciting business for HB to invest in. TJC has an excellent management team with an outstanding reputation in its sector. We have been looking for a technology specialist for quite some time and I am delighted that TJC was the business we finally selected.”

Chris O’Connell added: “This is a very exciting time for TJC.  We met with several potential partners to work alongside us on our future expansion. What stood out about Hamilton Bradshaw was the fact that it doesn’t just bring capital, it also brings incredible talent with some of the best people in the industry who will support the business to achieve its ambition to become the number one in its field.”

The new-look board will be chaired by Tristan Ramus of Hamilton Bradshaw who will develop the company’s strategy on mergers and acquisitions, joint venturing, board development and long term exit strategy.  Adam Fletcher, HB investment director, will also be joining the board bringing expertise in key hiring, development of the national and international footprint and key client positioning.  Deepak Jalan, HB chief investment Officer, will be strengthening the team with his skills in finance, tax and structuring to help expand the business.

Throughout the transaction Baker Tilly’s Bristol office was able to drive the process forward and maintain momentum while maintaining a clear focus on Chris’s requirements and the key issues that would impact TJC. A deal structure was agreed that met all these needs and ensures that TJC is in the best possible position for the future.

Baker Tilly corporate finance partner Nick Harber, who led the advisory team, said: “TJC is an outstanding business with strong client relationships and a great management team.  It is now perfectly positioned to achieve its ambitious growth plans.”

Andrew Betteridge, corporate partner at Ashfords, added: “We were able to use our extensive knowledge and experience of acting for private equity funds and on private equity transactions to ensure that Chris was provided with the best possible outcome.”

The deal is one of a number of transactions Baker Tilly is currently working on. Corporate finance associate director Paul Lamacraft said: “We are talking to a number of private vendors about their exit strategies and are seeing increasing levels of interest from trade buyers in both the UK and overseas. The recruitment sector, in particular, is a sector where we have completed many deals and expect to see further consolidation of the market.”

Bristol Business News

Bristol Together, the groundbreaking social enterprise supporting a major programme of job creation for ex-offenders, has secured initial funding with the help of ethical investment specialist Triodos Bank.

Clifton-based Triodos acted as lead advisor for the initial fundraising from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and a private individual, successfully securing a £600,000 investment to buy and renovate empty sub-standard properties in Bristol.

These will then be fully repaired and refurbished. Over the next five years Bristol Together expects to create more than 200 full-time jobs for some of the most excluded people in and around the city.

It will partner with other social enterprises, such as the Restore Trust and Aspire, who together will employ the ex-offenders and the long-term unemployed to work on additional properties.

Once renovated, these will be sold and the proceeds used to buy more properties in need of renovation – so creating even more employment opportunities.

Bristol Together’s endorsement by Esmée Fairbairn comes ahead of a £1m fundraising campaign next spring which will launch a tax-efficient social impact bond targeted at high net-worth individuals.

Bristol Together began employing ex-offenders last month but has already won the award of Social Business of the Year at the ClearlySo conference in London.

Instrumental in getting the Bristol Together project off the ground has been its management team – Paul Harrod (founder and CEO), Peter Culliford (operations director) and Andrew Street (chair and investor-director).

Triodos Bank’s corporate finance lead advisor Lydia Westmore worked with the team to shape the business and make it investor-ready

“We believe that this project will add-value to UK society as a whole – demonstrating the effectiveness of social impact bonds, and giving real assistance to vulnerable individuals in the Bristol area,” said Lydia.

Paul Harrod added: “There is an urgent need to create jobs for ex-offenders.

“The cost to the taxpayer of people reoffending is huge – but we have already proved that, given the right opportunity, we can help people leave their criminal past behind them, and develop their skills and employability. At the same time we are bringing empty property back into use.

“Having worked with Triodos for the past nine months I feel confident that this project will succeed. We would like to see if it can replicated in other major cities across the UK where the need for jobs is just as great as it is here in Bristol.

“I look forward to seeing private investors support this initiative, leading to a very positive result for people in the Bristol area – and beyond.”

Imogen Hilton-Brown and Sue Faiers from Smith and Williamson

Bristol Business News

Accountants Smith & Williamson’s Bristol office is celebrating two high-profile successes this month with a tax advisor making into the Top 35 UK Private Client Practitioners Under 35 list and an associate director being awarded fellowship to the Personal Finance Society.

Imogen Hilton-Brown has been officially recognised as a rising star in the private client profession in this year’s Private Client Practitioner’s Top 35 Under 35.

The list is the definitive annual list of young private client practitioners and is designed to identify and recognise the rising stars of the industry. Imogen was selected following a range of young and upcoming stars within the private client advisory professions, including lawyers, accountants and trustees.

After completing a degree in history and archaeology at Durham University, Imogen, a mother of two, began her career in private client tax at Deloitte in 2001 before moving to Ernst & Young. She joined Smith & Williamson in 2010 as a private client senior manager and heads its private client managers’ team, as well as being an active member of the professional partnerships committee for the office and the private client finance committee.

As a winner, Imogen was invited to attend a champagne reception at Swarovski’s flagship boutique on London’s Oxford Street.

Sue Faiers, associate director for personal financial planning, is the office’s second winner having been granted fellowship to the Personal Finance Society, which reflects an array of qualifications she has accumulated across the financial services industry over the years.

Fellowship to the society, the professional body for the financial planning profession in the UK, is regarded as the highest level of accreditation in the sector and is awarded following application to the society and an approved level of industry qualifications.

Sue entered the industry 25 years ago and has spent the past 20 years advising in the independent financial services sector.

Smith & Williamson managing director Mike Lea said: “These successes demonstrate Sue and Imogen’s commitment to their own professional development and the industry as a whole. The advisory landscape has shifted significantly since the start of the recession and during this time we have maintained a market-leading presence through understanding clients’ challenges and adapting our services accordingly. These accolades are a credit to Smith & Williamson’s ambition in the private client arena.”

The Bristol West MP Stephen Williams has attacked the bosses at banking giants RBS and Lloyds over their decision to restrict basic account customers using rivals’ cash machines.

MPs on the influential Treasury select committee have written to the chiefs of Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group expressing their concern at the policy.

Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie said he was concerned that it would exclude basic bank account customers from the majority of the UK’s free cash machine network.

Meanwhile Mr Williams, the co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Treasury Committee, said the move was a “huge step backwards” in the campaign for financial inclusion and called for them to rethink their policy.

“I discussed the issue of improving access to bank accounts at two fringe meetings on financial inclusion at my party’s autumn conference,” he said.

“This decision by Lloyds and RBS is a huge step backwards in the campaign for financial inclusion. It unfairly penalises poor and vulnerable customers who are most likely to have only a basic account.

“I call on these two publicly-owned banks to reverse this policy. They must realise that they still owe a debt to the public and should act accordingly.”

Basic accounts offer most of the services of a standard current account, but do not have overdraft facilities or chequebooks. They are useful for people with poor credit histories.

In August, RBS announced that it would end its policy of allowing access to other banks’ cash machines for its one million basic account holders, saying the fees it was paying to other banks for the service were too high. Lloyds has had a similar policy in place for a number of years, while Natwest has also recently started to change its basic accounts to a similar standard.

Businesses in the West have reacted cautiously to plans to reform the banking system, in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008.

Yesterday, The Independent Commission on Banking (ICB), led by Sir John Vickers, said UK banks must ring-fence high street retail banking from investment banking.

He said it would “make it easier and less costly to resolve banks that get into trouble”, and called for the changes to be implemented by the start of 2019.

Another of the ICB’s recommendations is that banks must have a buffer to absorb the impact of potential losses or future financial crises – of at least 10% of domestic retail assets in top-quality form, such as shares or retained earnings.

Phil Smith, managing director of Business West, said any reforms to the UK banking system must be considered in the wider context of economic growth.

“The government must prioritise enterprise, wealth creation, growth and jobs, and a strong, well-capitalised banking sector prepared to lend is vital to achieving this. While there is clearly a need to ensure our banking system is robust, we must ensure that new regulations, however desirable in principle, do not inadvertently derail the fragile recovery.

“The UK urgently needs more competition amongst banks lending to SMEs. Greater competition would help to address one of the biggest concerns – the overall cost of credit, which includes SME complaints about the level of fees and conditions over and above the headline rate of lending offered by banks. Increased competition would also ensure that potential customers are presented with a real choice from a variety of offerings on lending rates, fees, covenant levels, conditions, and service.”

Meanwhile, the IoD welcomed the reform ideas, but believed the changes would only “slightly reduce the risk” of a future financial crisis.

Miles Templeman, director general of the IoD, said: “Many of our members will welcome the most radical reform of the banking system in a generation.

“However, the proposals only slightly reduce the risk of a future financial crisis. The problem of ‘too big to fail’ investment banks remains the elephant in the room.”

Bank shares all fell yesterday, with RBS closing down 3.4%, HSBC down 2.4% and Barclays and Lloyds both down 1.6%.

There is a view that regulating UK banks could push some to leave the country in search of a place where regulation is lighter.