Bryan Carnes feed - This is Business Staffordshire

Kevin Farrell - a sad loss for North Staffordshire

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:09:00 GMT

It was with immense sadness I learned of Kevin Farrell's death. As chief executive of the British Ceramic Confederation he was a tireless voice for the sector for 25 years.

He served on the North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce's commission, and latterly he was on its board.

He was a great champion, not only of the ceramics industry, but also for North Staffordshire generally. He was born and bred North Staffordshire and he returned here to his roots 25 years ago and he was a great advocate of the Potteries both nationally and internationally.

As well as his contribution to the ceramic industry, one of his greatest achievements was helping to lead Stoke-on-Trent College out of some very desperate times in the early 1990s.

He will be sorely missed by his many friends and colleagues who have worked closely with him over the years.

Don't be scared to invest - as long as it's not in Jonathan Ross

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:08:00 GMT

I often wonder why so many companies stop investing during a downturn. Yes, in the current environment protecting cashflow is critical and it may be more difficult or expensive to find credit, but there are many ways financially-strong businesses can turn a negative into a positive.

Churchill China certainly seems to be investing wisely in spite of the recession. They have bought the licence to produce Jamie Oliver-branded pottery from the administrators looking after Royal Worcester. Only some of this will be produced in North Staffordshire, but the deal should see significant sales internationally. That means more money coming into Stoke-on-Trent and it means local jobs are protected.

Celebrity endorsements can be invaluable in promoting goods. The secret is to choose the right celebrity at the right time, and I'm sure Churchill will do well with Jamie Oliver. You certainly wouldn't want to have been endorsed by Jonathan Ross recently and Gordon Brown wouldn't be too good, either.

Churchill are investing money and I see that as a positive development. Recessions are actually the ideal time to think about investing in a business. It's like driving a car and you slow down for a bend. When you're in the bend you accelerate to get out of it.

There are lots of reasons people should be looking to strengthen at the moment. Businesses need to use the opportunity to make sure they are in good shape to come out of the recession, that the basics of the business are sound, that costs are under control and that the fabric of the business itself – the buildings or the fleet of vehicles or the workforce – is as strong as possible.

A slack time is a good time to invest in training because you can take advantage of all the government resources and grants being thrown at the Learning and Skills Council, Train to Gain and other schemes.

Businesses should also be looking around to see what deals they can get. In a recession, the prices of all sorts of things come down and there is great value to be found.

Building will be cheaper, as will improvements to existing buildings.

But what about machines, tools, vehicles, stationery and anything else you need to run your business? There must be some really good deals out there for almost anything your company needs to function.

Merry Christmas... and a difficult new year

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:07:00 GMT

It is traditional at this time of year to offer our best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year. Never have those good wishes been more heartfelt.

We all know that 2009 will be a very difficult year for business. We've already seen some major household names going to the wall, while whole sectors have gone cap-in-hand to government for help. The world has never, in living memory, encountered a recession like the one we are in and, therefore, no-one can predict just how long and how deep it will be. It seems that, the economy will only start to stabilise when everyone is confident that house prices have reached their nadir.

Unlike previous recessions the biggest casualties appear to be larger firms who have previously had the resources to weather the storm, blue chip companies who have been able to call on the protection of the big banks. That support is no longer there and large companies do not have the flexibility of small firms to reduce costs, diversify product ranges, innovate their marketing and to tackle new markets. For them, the road out of recession may be long and hard.

On the other hand, whatever difficult times lie ahead, there will always be opportunities for the intrepid entrepreneur and the flexible SME.

But where will these opportunities be found?

1. The public sector – whatever happens in the private sector the public sector will continue to provide essential services and there will be opportunities with local authorities, NHS, government departments and agencies etc. Furthermore the government has committed the public sector to paying their debts within 10 days, so contracts with public sector organisations will also help to improve cash flow.

Most local authorities and government agencies have a procurement section on their websites to help SMEs to identify opportunities and to ensure they are familiar with tendering procedures.

2. London Olympics 2012. The one major project which the government is committed to during the next three to four years will be the London Olympics. There are already many opportunities for all sizes of business, from the self employed through to large contractors. There is already a wide range of products and services which are being demanded, from IT to marketing, from construction to transport etc.

3. Exporting. Despite the recession, many overseas markets offer excellent opportunities especially for British companies currently able to take advantage of the weak pound. Help is at hand from both chambers of commerce or through UKTI colleagues who can help you identify which markets may suit your particular product or services. They will also be able to offer advice on the best way to enter a new market and to ensure payment.

4. Growth sectors. Despite the recession there are some areas of business in the UK that have so far held their own and these include domestic tourism, health and medical, environmental, foodstuffs, etc. There are still lots of opportunities out there for those who have the imagination and enthusiasm to explore and take on new and different opportunities.

In the meantime, your chamber is working harder than ever to help members to fend off the worst of the recession. In addition to providing the usual services in support of business – networking, export help, training, etc – we are in touch with all levels of government, pressing them to introduce measures to help struggling firms.

Our national organisation in London, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is in regular contact with Downing Street and H.M. Treasury, detailing the hardships and problems which companies are facing – problems caused by lack of cash, punitive legislation or deteriorating markets.

Regionally and locally, your chamber is endeavouring to secure funding streams for business and to encourage local purchasing initiatives. Working with partners, we are working hard on your behalf to ensure Staffordshire will survive this recession with world class companies able to provide long term employment and wealth to every part of the county.

Just get on with it

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:06:00 GMT

Chief executive of the North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry Bryan Carnes tells bosses – just get on with it.

I've been going to meetings this week and talking to our members, but I don't get this sense of all-pervading doom – in spite of the Governor of the Bank of England saying we are heading into recession and our own quarterly survey identifying falling orders and confidence. The reality is most people just get on with it.

Some businesses inevitably are going to be casualties. They are the businesses which are in the wrong market at the wrong time. For example, who would want to be an estate agent in the current market or a solicitor whose main source of income is conveyancing work?

There will be others who do extremely well, and they say the best time to start a business is during a recession. There is still plenty of work out there, we just need those sectors with spending power, such as councils, the Government and other public agencies, to keep spending.

Talking of the public sector, Newcastle Borough Council has announced it is going to pay small businesses within two weeks of invoice to help us over these more difficult times. That's a very welcome move and other councils need to follow suit.

I've heard some commentators say it's a bit rich the business community calling on the public sector for help when we're usually asking them to leave us alone. But the truth is we've never asked the Government to leave us alone. We've asked for them to stop over-legislating us and to stop taxing us to death.

And the Bank of England can help. We need a full one per cent reduction in interest rates because cash is becoming a real problem and businesses will need access to decent-value loans and overdrafts.

Until then, my message to our members remains: get out there and find the business.

Global business is suffering - what next for Staffordshire?

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:04:00 GMT

In the first of his blog entries for thisisbusiness-staffordshire, chief executive of the North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry Bryan Carnes reflects on a week of turmoil in the business world.

So Lehman Brothers is insolvent and Merrill Lynch is to come under the wing of the Bank of America. But what impact will that have in Staffordshire?

I think it will be limited, although it will contribute to the national housing picture. We have seen a decline in house prices and less activity in the market, partly because people are finding it more difficult to get mortgages.

I find it ironic that many of the same people who were complaining 12 months ago how difficult it was to get onto the housing ladder because house prices had rocketed to inflated levels now seem to be complaining that values are dropping. But most of us buy houses to live in, not as assets, and it's important that people can get into the housing market. It might take 12 months or two years, but at a time when food and energy prices are going up, the readjustment in house prices is in many ways to be welcomed. We certainly shouldn't be alarmed by it – or by what's happening across the pond at Lehman Brothers.

As far as the general economy is concerned, business is slow, but it goes on. And there are a lot of success stories locally of companies doing well worldwide – Goodwin International, which has frequently featured in the business pages of The Sentinel, is a good example.

There may be a lot less manufacturing in Staffordshire than there used to be, but it has shown its resilience. The weak value of the pound against the euro and the dollar means they are well placed to grow, and hopefully we will see the reversal of the trend away from manufacturing towards services.

In the last few months we have seen that, while service industries are very valuable, they are not immune from the vagaries of the economy – in fact they may be even more vulnerable than manufacturing. It is absolutely essential Staffordshire develops a balanced economy, not one that is just service-oriented. Thankfully, the Government finally seems to have woken up to that fact.

The high-profile collapse of travel operators like XL last week has been seen as another cataclysmic global economic indicator – and debts of £143 million, 85,000 holidaymakers stranded and another 200,000 holidays written off certainly don't make for happy reading. In addition some of the industry's biggest names, including Sir Richard Branson and the British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh, have predicted the credit crunch and crippling fuel costs will bankrupt more airlines, travel agents and package firms in the coming months. Events like this can knock already-fragile consumer confidence. But the impact on business in Staffordshire will be limited – and behind the headlines there is a definite upside for some companies here.

It will affect the way people live. The days of cheap air travel are perhaps numbered, and people who regularly used to fly four or five times a year may fly just once or twice a year. With a bit of luck the impact will be to increase tourism in the UK. Again, the value of the pound against the euro and the dollar will help.

We could certainly do with seeing more tourists in Stoke-on-Trent from both overseas and the UK. If more people are going to be taking holidays in the UK, then the Peak District and attractions like Alton Towers could benefit. It's all about adjusting to the New World Order.

Finally, it's good to see a paper like The Sentinel – a paper with a great history and tradition of keeping the people of North Staffordshire informed – moving with the times by launching thisisstaffordshire-business.co.uk. People have relied on The Sentinel for information for more than 100 years, and I'm sure Staffordshire's business community will welcome this new resource.