Chamber News

Businesses from across the UK are invited to compete in the fourteenth annual Chamber Business Awards – hosted by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).

The prestigious competition is one of the showpiece events in the business calendar, recognising and promoting the best of British business through a series of regional heats, culminating in a Gala Awards Dinner, which will take place at the Brewery, London on 30 November.

Entries open on Monday 13 March and will run until Friday 30 June. This year’s Awards are being launched at the London Stock Exchange, where last year’s winner of Business of the Year, Scientifica, have won the special honour of opening the Exchange as a prize. Next year’s winners will have the same chance to do so, a rare opportunity for a private business. 

Companies can enter nine categories, covering exports, small business, people development, technology, high-growth, customer service, partnerships with the education sector, social media, and health and wellbeing.

Francis Martin, President of the British Chambers of Commerce said:

“Businesses are the driving force of the UK economy, creating jobs, growth and prosperity, and helping Britain to maintain its reputation internationally. This is exactly why it is important for us to recognise and celebrate the contribution they make to their local communities and the wider economy.

“The broad spread of categories in the Chamber Business Awards reflects both the diversity of industries and skills of British firms, and the range of achievements and projects that they have been involved with.

“Each time I visit Chamber member businesses, it is inspiring to see so many companies finding innovative ways to grow their business in every corner of the UK. The Awards acknowledge the relentless efforts of these businesses and their talented employees.”

Adrian Corbin of Scientifica, Winner of the ‘Business of the Year’ award last year, said:

“Everyone at Scientifica is incredibly proud that the company won Business of the Year at the Chamber Business Awards 2016. It is an enormous achievement and a fitting testimony to all the hard work that has gone into creating such a great company.

“We are at the forefront of high-tech British manufacturing, exporting our products to more than forty countries worldwide. We employ a highly-educated and international workforce who are all committed to producing innovative products to help further neuroscience research, and the winning of this award will undoubtedly help us expand into even more markets around the world.”

Market Overview

The Philippines is one of the fastest growing economies in the world with an economic growth of 6.8% in 2016, and a remarkably positive GDP growth trajectory over the past decade projected at 7% by 2018. It is the second largest market in ASEAN with 103 million people, the 36th largest economy in the world (by nominal GDP) and is forecasted to become the 19th largest economy by 2030. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently predicted the sustained growth momentum in the country. Key drivers of growth are services sectors (i.e. real estate, manufacturing and tourism), strong domestic consumption, high remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) amounting to $26 billion annually and recently, the increased public spending of the government.

Opportunities

Strategically located in Southeast Asia, the Philippines is an ideal market for doing business particularly for companies that are looking to set up a regional operation. Seeing infrastructure as the bedrock of economic development, a huge opportunity lies within the infrastructure and construction sector. The government recently launched its ‘build, build, build’ campaign as it paves way towards the next six years’ “golden age of infrastructure”. British companies are encouraged to take advantage of these opportunities. Other strong sectors include information and communication technology, food and beverage (F&B), agribusiness, real estate, energy, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and healthcare.

Strengths

The Philippines takes pride in its competitive wages and highly trainable, educated and English-proficient workforce, which heightens the ease of doing business. It has strong domestic consumption and a growing middle class with high appetite for imported brands/ products. The government has a positive attitude on foreign investment/ importation, with 2016 FDI inflows amounting to $8 billion. Services sector remains the main engine of economic growth catering to international companies through its young and dynamic human capital.

For more information about opportunities in the Philippines, please contact Rona Diaz.

A surge in exports has left UK firms feeling more optimistic about selling overseas than they have in over four decades, one of the UK’s leading business groups has reported.

Export orders in the first quarter (Q1) of 2017 grew at their fastest rate in six years, while domestic orders rose more rapidly than they have since July 2014. The optimistic outlook is recorded in the latest CBI Industrial Trends Survey.

Covering the period to the end of March, the survey of 397 manufacturers shows growth in export orders rising to +22% – the highest level since the +24% reached in April 2011.

Domestic orders over the quarter rose at +20%, which was the fastest rise recorded from the +23% in July 2014.

The quarterly survey also found that, with 42% of businesses experiencing an increase in total orders and 17% reporting a decrease, the balance of +25% was the highest recorded since April 1995 (when it was +27%).

Looking ahead, growth is anticipated in total new orders (+14%), domestic orders (+7%) and export orders (+24%) over the next quarter.

However, average domestic prices (+29%), export prices (+20%) and unit costs (+41%) are also expected to rise quickly in the coming three months with the rise in unit costs being the strongest in six years.

CBI Chief Economist Rain Newton-Smith said that UK manufacturers are enjoying strong growth in demand from customers in the UK and overseas, and continue to ramp up production.

“Even so,” she added, “the combination of the weak pound and recovering commodity prices means that cost pressures continue to build, and manufacturers report no sign of them abating over the near-term.”

There is a capacity crunch in liner shipping and ship owners are not handling it particularly well, according to the European Shippers’ Council (ESC) following consultation with its members.

Earlier this year, the ESC complained that many shippers who regularly export goods to Asia have been facing a large drop of available slots for containers on almost every shipping line.

“ESC also draws the attention of the regulation authorities to the current market structure where three major alliances control close to 90% of the capacity on the major trades,” the Council said.

Following an emergency meeting requested by representatives of national shippers’ councils as well as by individual export companies, the ESC has highlighted that goods to be exported have been waiting for up to eight weeks to be loaded on ships.

Even when they are loaded, some goods from a shipment are frequently being left in the port.

Following the meeting, the ESC board of directors decided to set up a temporary observer group composed of representatives of European exporters to closely monitor the situation.

They will analyse the changes in capacity, the time of delays and the fluctuation of rates.

The ESC has said that it will meet the European Commission in a few weeks in order to present an informed view on the present crisis and to discuss strategies to prevent this from happening again in future.

A new system of electronic certification (e-certification) is being used to monitor organic products imported into the EU. Describing the e-certification system as pioneering, the European Commission said it will help enhance food safety provisions and reduce potential fraud.

In addition, the Commission said, it will reduce the administrative burden for operators and authorities while providing more comprehensive data on organic imports.

The electronic system entered into force in 19 April and will run in parallel with the existing paper-based system for six months. From 19 October 2017, organic imports will be covered only by e-certification.

Following recommendations from the European Court of Auditors and a request from Member States to address concerns about monitoring the movements of organic products and the consistency of import checks, the new rules are intended to improve the traceability of organic products and tackle fraud.

The e-certification system will be integrated into the existing electronic Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) which is used to track movements of food products across the EU.

Commenting on the new system, the EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, stressed the Union’s commitment to stringent certification and inspection measures as an important part of the EU’s food safety standards.

He added that the new rules will improve the traceability of organic products, which is an important growing market.

The legal basis of the new system is EU Regulation 2016/1842, which amends EC Regulation 1235/2008 as regards the electronic certificate of inspection for imported organic products and EC Regulation 889/2008 as regards the requirements for preserved or processed organic products and the transmission of information.

A new agreement aims to help promote trade opportunities for engineering and manufacturing companies in the UK and USA.

Signed by the manufacturers’ organisation EEF and its US counterpart, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the deal is being heralded as a bid to boost cross-Atlantic trade for firms in the manufacturing sector.

The agreement – which initially spans three years – will focus on promoting and raising awareness of the possibilities of trade in both countries.

Focusing specifically on opportunities for engineering and manufacturing companies, the agreement will include the sharing of market intelligence data. The two organisations will also help facilitate visits and economic delegations aimed at promoting trade and investment, as well as sharing promotional opportunities at trade fairs and other events.

The EEF and NAM say they intend to provide opportunities to meet both UK and US politicians, as well as senior manufacturing leaders from both countries.

Under the agreement, the EEF will have an associate member of staff in Washington to help co-ordinate and manage day-to-day activities, including creating an EEF-NAM Policy Forum.

Announcing the move, EEF Chief Executive Terry Scuoler said that the USA is a vital market for UK industry and is likely to assume even more importance in the wake of Brexit, as the UK seeks to extend its trade links across the globe.

“I am delighted to sign this agreement with our US counterpart, which will hopefully provide mutually beneficial opportunities for manufacturers in both countries,” he concluded.

Ahead of the general election, Norfolk Chamber is setting out the key Norfolk business asks for any future government and is calling for improvements to mobile signal coverage throughout Norfolk. 

Overall greater mobile coverage is needed to provide better reliability.  This include erecting more mobile signal masts and creating a simplified planning process to gain the necessary permissions. Another simple solution to improve existing coverage would be to allow mobile roaming across the existing network providers.

Nova Fairbank, Public Affairs Manager for Norfolk Chamber said:

“Norfolk Chamber wants to ensure that our business community is able to take advantage of new technology developments as they evolve and one of those key areas is the rise in the mobile office and the need by more business people to do business on the move.  To do this we need more investment in our mobile signal infrastructure and changes in how the service providers operate i.e. roaming signals.”

A network of providers ensures that the majority of Norfolk receives mobile signal coverage.  But no one provider can deliver a high percentage of overall signal coverage across the county.  At present the providers do not allow seamless roaming between their networks – so every business user, no matter which network provides their service, suffers from unreliable mobile signal coverage in Norfolk.  This effectively means that overseas visitors to Norfolk can expect better mobile coverage than local businesses and residents.

A recent British Chambers of Commerce survey showed that 83% of Norfolk business users experienced ‘not spots’; 43% had access to 4G; and more concerning, 11% of business users still only had access to 2G – voice calls only with no internet or data. 

Neil Orford, President of Great Yarmouth Chamber Council and Partner at Lovewell Blake said:

“Nearly every Norfolk business person can give examples of the difficulties they have faced when trying to make business calls on their mobiles.  We all know of local dead spots in and around commercial and residential areas and try to plan our mobile business calls accordingly.   If we wish to be seen as a place to do business, we must continue to press for improvement in the service provided.”

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has today (Tuesday) launched ‘Brexit and Beyond’, the Chamber Network manifesto for General Election 2017.

The Chamber manifesto calls for the new government, which will be responsible for negotiating the terms of the UK’s departure from the European Union, to provide business communities with clear answers to the pragmatic and practical questions around how Brexit will affect their day-to-day operations, including hiring, customs procedures and regulation.

However, business communities across the UK, including Norfolk, send a very strong message that the election cannot – and must not – be about Brexit alone.

The next government must deliver a bold and clear strategy to support economic growth across all regions and nations of the UK. Action is needed on a range of domestic fronts, including improving the competitiveness of the UK’s business environment, upgrading physical and digital infrastructure across the country, and supporting local growth.

The Norfolk Chamber business community will judge the next government against five key criteria:

• Infrastructure – revolutionise Norfolk’s physical and digital infrastructure. Ensure that the whole of Norfolk has access to super-fast broadband, better mobile connectivity, and delivering investments in the strategic schemes such as the A47 improvements, the Western Link of the NDR and the Great Yarmouth Third River Crossing, all of which will unlock the economic potential of the region.
• Business Environment – deliver a globally competitive business environment. Ensure the best business environment possible with a relentless drive to improve the skills set of tomorrow’s workforce, without clobbering firms with ever-higher upfront costs.
• Local Growth – unlock the potential of the local business community and maintain the place-based focus of the Industrial Strategy to ensure Norfolk’s key sectors can thrive and grow.
• Trade – support Norfolk exporters to drive economic growth. Expand trade support programmes, secure continued access to existing Free Trade Agreements, develop trade policy with business, and leverage Chambers of Commerce, which are best placed to provide stable export support in all regions of the UK.
• Brexit – work with businesses to secure the best possible deal with the EU. Protect the status of EU nationals in the UK, develop future customs procedures in partnership with business, create a future UK immigration system that is responsive to economic needs and skills shortages at all levels, and ensure that there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Jonathan Cage, President of Norfolk Chamber said:

“While businesses all across Norfolk want a good Brexit deal, they are very clear that decisions taken here at home matter as much – if not more – to our future growth prospects.  The best possible Brexit deal won’t be worth the paper it’s written on if firms cannot recruit and train the right people, get decent digital connectivity, or get their goods to their market.

“At this election, the Norfolk business community wants a clear commitment from all parties to create the best possible conditions for growth. Westminster must stop and reverse the relentless increases in the up-front cost of doing business in Britain, and give local businesses the confidence to drive investment, job growth and exports through the Brexit transition and beyond.”

Norfolk Chamber’s priorities for the next UK government include:

• Deliver frictionless future trade arrangements with the EU, and ensure that business continues to benefit from existing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).
• No new upfront taxes on businesses for the duration of the next Parliament.
• Develop a new UK regional funding system with maximum local autonomy, a strong voice for business and focus on economic growth.
• Deliver promised investment in road and rail infrastructure, and ensure businesses in Norfolk have access to world-class digital infrastructure.

Dr Adam Marshall, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said:

 “The key to a successful Brexit – and future economic growth – is to do everything to unlock the growth potential in our towns, cities and counties. Implementing an Industrial Strategy which harnesses the power of local areas should be a priority for the new government, alongside a commitment to secure the appropriate support and funding for its implementation.”

Norwich City Council have released their latest economic barometer. The report highlighted:

Locally

• Norwich based Topic Biosciences have secured a £60,000 Eastern Agri-Tech Growth Initiative grant to develop new varieties of coffee plant at Norwich Research Park
• According to a ManpowerGroup survey, employers in the East of England are ‘most likely to hire’ for the second quarter running
• Business activity at firms in the East of England grew at a slower rate, although firms are still more optimistic about their growth prospects in the coming year
• Average house price in Norwich grew by 0.4%.  the average house price in Norwich currently stands at £192,080

Nationally

• UK construction sector growth slowed in March, led by a weaker rise in residential building activity
• The UK manufacturing sector had a solid finish to the first quarter.  The boost to export competitiveness from the weak sterling exchange rate contributed to this
• Britain’s retailers saw falling sales in March, according the BRC, takings were down by 1%
• According to the ONS, average weekly earnings for employees rose by 2.3%, including bonuses, when compared with a year earlier

For full details of the latest economic barometer click here.

In October 2016 the Government announced the expansion of Heathrow Airport.   An expanded Heathrow will double the airport’s cargo capacity and increase the number of domestic connections, boosting Britain’s exporters and ensuring every region and nation of the UK can get to global markets. With up to 40 more long haul destinations, the project will make Britain the best-connected country in the world. 

Heathrow has committed to maximising opportunities for British businesses, including those in Norfolk, of all sizes who could benefit from being involved in the building one of the largest privately-funded infrastructure projects in Europe.  

They are inviting local business communities to showcase why their area is suitable to host one of four new logistics hubs. Suitable locations will have good connectivity, access to a relevant supply chain and strong local skills.  Heathrow has produced a document explaining what they want to achieve and how businesses can get involved.

 Interested applicants should visit https://procurement.heathrow.com to register their interest and complete an Expression of Interest questionnaire before 31st July 2017. All applications will be considered by Heathrow and a list of potential sites is expected to be announced later this year.

If you have any questions, please contact: [email protected]

A1151 Wroxham Road

Drivers are warned to expect delays on the A1151 Wroxham Road, with temporary signals at the site of the new Green Lane West junction tomorrow (Thurs) and Friday, and a longer stretch under 24-hour traffic lights from Tuesday (2 May).

Tomorrow (27 April) and Friday the traffic lights will be in use after the morning peak, and will be removed as early as possible in the evening. The road will be clear of signals through the bank holiday weekend.

From Tuesday (2 May) for up to two weeks, a long stretch of the A1151 close to the main NDR construction site will be reduced to one lane controlled by traffic lights. This is to allow Anglian Water to complete the diversion of a water main. The active work sites will be at either end of the coned-off carriageway, but too close to run two sets of temporary lights efficiently.

Salhouse Road closure

Temporary traffic lights will remain in use on Salhouse Road at the NDR roundabout construction site until the road is closed for up to two weeks from Monday 8 May to allow completion of the roundabout and tie-in to the existing carriageway.

Reepham Road closure

The current closure of Reepham Road during construction of the roundabout with Drayton Lane is scheduled to continue until Friday 5 May, when Drayton Lane between Reepham Road and Hall Lane (Drayton) will also be reopened. This will reduce pressure on Hall Lane and School Road, Drayton, which are being used as unofficial diversion routes.

Buxton Road closure – new dates

The closure of Buxton Road, Spixworth, originally scheduled for May, has been put back until Monday 5 June and reduced from three to two weeks. This is for the completion and tie-in of the bridge over the NDR. Pedestrian and cycle access will be maintained.

The Norfolk Chamber Board has appointed successful Norfolk entrepreneur Chris Sargisson as the new Chief Executive to succeed Caroline Williams, who is stepping down after 17 years in the role.

Commenting on the changeover of Chief Executive, Jonathan Cage, Norfolk Chamber President said: “We wish our current Chief Executive Caroline all the best in her new career. She has played a key role in the success of the Norfolk Chamber since 2000 so it’s been an extremely important exercise to select the right candidate both to build on Caroline’s many achievements and take this important organisation forward.”

Chris Sargisson will head Norfolk’s premier biggest business membership organisation starting in June. “He strikes the right balance of proven business experience and successful entrepreneurial behaviour” said Jonathan Cage.

Chris was educated and lives in Norwich with his wife and two children. He worked in the 1990s shaping Norwich Union Direct before leaving to set up and launch its4me plc, one of the UK’s most successful online car insurance brokers and major Norwich employer. Chris also created House Revolution, one of the UK’s first online estate agencies, alongside running his own business consultancy practice which has helped organisations of all sizes across the UK.