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Porcelain Superstore see sales more than double to £13.5million

Sam Whitear
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Manchester-based tile retailer Porcelain Superstore has recorded a seventh consecutive year of growth, after seeing more than a 100% increase in year-on-year turnover.

Sales at the family-run business topped £13.5m during their financial year, which ran from September 1, 2020 to August 31, 2021.

This is more than double their 2020-year-end of £6.65m. The online tile retailer also took on seven full-time hires across service, warehousing and fulfilment – increasing their total workforce to 25.

The three brothers behind the family-run-business hope to see turnover hit a record £15m for the 2021 calendar year.

Abbas Youssefi, who founded Porcelain Superstore alongside his siblings Ben and Sam in 2014, credits the success to the firm’s clear ambition to buck existing trends in the tile market as well as continued investment into their website, marketing and staff.

He said: “Logistically, it was an extremely challenging year with the impact of Brexit and the ongoing pandemic.

“However, rather than buckle down over the last 12 months, we’ve expanded our range, our staffing and completely overhauled our website to make it more aspirational, informative – and most importantly – user friendly.”

The year hasn’t been without its problems. One of the biggest issues faced by Porcelain Superstore has been the shortage of HGV drivers, which has delayed some stock reaching their warehouse, as well as longer turnaround times on customer orders. However, thanks to their large stockholdings, impact has been kept to a minimum.

Abbas added: “The growth plan has been strong and deliberate, and we have seen the benefits of previous investment in warehousing.”

It is the seventh year of sustained growth for Porcelain Superstore. The results show an increase in year-on-year revenue. In 2020, they finished the financial year up 80% on 2019’s figure of £3,706,000, which was an increase on 2018’s £2,167,000.

KOMI Group’s ARK Media signs deals with Reuters and AFLO and announces appointment of News Editor

Sam Whitear
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ARK Media – the licensing, syndication and rights management division of Manchester-based the KOMI Group – has signed distribution partnerships with Reuters and AFLO that will give the business the opportunity to distribute its content to a broad network of leading international publishers and broadcasters for the first time.

Reuters will be focusing on breaking news and trending content whilst AFLO will be targeting the Japanese market with the viral and trending content.

The deals were negotiated by Terry Pierce, who joined ARK Media as its Head of Distribution and Partnerships earlier this year. Since his arrival, Terry has led the licensing and distribution of KOMI’s acquired and licensed content for use across editorial, TV production and brand/ad segments. He has also consulted across the wider group to enhance its entire content licensing and distribution services.

The business has also announced that Jack Mobley has been named as its News Editor. Prior to joining, Jack was acting Head of UGC at Caters Media Group. His focus will be on driving Ark Media’s day-to-day content acquisition strategy, ensuring it builds on the quality of content it offers to its clients.

Over the past few months, the Ark Media team has undertaken a complete rebuild of the ARK video platform, allowing its clients to discover, license and access content completely autonomously, as well as overhauling its content distribution notices, meaning more clients get more relevant notifications of great content in real time.

Terry said: “2021 has been a real turning point for Ark Media and these new deals, along with the arrival of Jack and the recent platform development, are all enabling us to iterate our content offering and to shift to a more timely, current content collection. Our focus is on continuing to strive to acquire and distribute the best trending videos online every day.”

KOMI Group is a three-divisional agency business consisting of dedicated social media, marketing, and licensing teams. Its team of content creators, analysts and video producers have made and then distributed video content and viral campaign adverts for international brands such as BBC Films, O2, Universal, Bud Light and Disney.

Content is shared across its Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts including the It’s Gone Viral page as well as Go Fetch, a platform for dog lovers to connect with one another; Happiest, which focusses on bringing the most entertaining and uplifting content and real-life stories; and Ultimate which is a community based around crafts and lifestyle. On average the company delivers over one billion views across its portfolio of pages each month.

It recently doubled its office space at Beehive Mill in Manchester after taking an additional 1,300 sqft on a six-year lease. The firm moved its operations to the site on Jersey Street in early 2020. It also announced that it had achieved £2m turnover for the first time in the past year and that it will grow its headcount to 50 by the end of September 2021.

AG Project + Building Consultancy secures place on £560million framework

Sam Whitear
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Manchester-based AG Project + Building Consultancy (AG), has secured a place on the JV North framework, a consortium of housing associations and local authorities.

The £560 million framework will enable the framework partners to build approximately 4,000 homes from now to the end of 2025. The JV North consortium is one of the biggest developers of new social homes in the UK, and its members are building the equivalent of 3.5 homes every day.

Consortium members include Bury Council, Johnnie Johnson Housing, One Manchester, Peaks and Plains Housing Trust, Muir Group, Plus Dane Housing, Sovini, Stockport Homes, Stockport Council, Torus, Trafford Housing Trust, Weaver Vale Housing Trust and Wythenshawe Community Housing Group.

AG is one of eight employers’ agents to secure a place on the framework.

Managing director Jonathan Shaw said, “We’re proud to have been selected and look forward to playing our part in helping deliver quality affordable housing for people living in the North West.

“The inclusion to the framework aids our expansion into the housing sector, which is an important aspect of our growth plans. We look forward to working with the consortium members in not only creating quality housing but helping deliver projects that help rebuild communities.”

Adyen partners with Dubarry to support growing international online sales

Sam Whitear
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The maker of the iconic Galway Boot doubles down on online sales by re-platforming to remain resilient throughout the pandemic

Manchester, UK, 21st September 2021: Adyen (ADYEN:AMS), the payments platform of choice for many of the world’s leading companies, has partnered with premium performance footwear brand, Dubarry of Ireland, to support rapidly increasing online sales. Founded in 1937, Dubarry has evolved greatly over 80 years. Its partnership with Adyen is yet another marker of change for the Galway brand as it looked to smooth out operational complexities and expand its international reach.

With international expansion being central to its goal, Dubarry consolidated its global online payment infrastructure to Adyen’s single platform. Integrating Adyen acquiring has improved Dubarry’s authorisation rates by up to 15%, and its shoppers can now enjoy a seamless and localised checkout experience.

“Before Adyen, we were working with four different providers, which was both costly and convoluted. One of the key things we wanted to achieve was to standardise from one market to the next. Adyen allowed us to do that effortlessly through unified reporting for our accounts team and a single integration for the tech teams,” said Marc O’Donnell, Head of eCommerce at Dubarry.

“Local payment methods are so important, especially where the brand is not as well known. They help to build trust and remove a potential barrier to purchase. And with Adyen, it’s been so easy. All the payment methods we have wanted have been available to us without having to integrate each one separately.”

“The global acceleration of ecommerce adoption in the last 18 months has been a significant challenge to many businesses. Together with Dubarry, we have helped evolve its online operations and extended its reach across borders,” said Colin Neil, Managing Director of Adyen UK.

“The team at Dubarry understands the importance of global partners that can help them simplify their operations, while providing a unified view of their business around the world. We’re delighted to help them achieve this.”

As the partnership develops, Adyen will be working with Dubarry to combine its online and in-store payments into one system. “We want to make the customer experience better by having a consolidated view of everything in one place. And I don’t see any reason why we’d need to look past Adyen for this,” said O’Donnell.

About Adyen

Adyen is the payments platform of choice for many of the world’s leading companies, providing a modern end-to-end infrastructure connecting directly to Visa, Mastercard, and consumers’ globally preferred payment methods. Adyen delivers frictionless payments across online, mobile, and in-store channels. With offices across the world, Adyen serves customers including Facebook, Uber, Spotify, Vue Entertainment and Fat Face. The cooperation with Dubarry as described in this merchant update underlines Adyen’s continuous growth with current and new merchants over the years.

Employee Engagement Levels: How To Prevent Your Employees Becoming Bored

Sam Whitear
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If your team is bored, then your team will be disengaged from their work. This article will explain some methods that you and your HR department could look to implement to boost employee engagement levels sooner rather than later.

Communicate Regularly

One of the most important factors in regards to boosting an employee’s engagement level and prevent them from becoming bored comes in the form of communication. This is a crucial aspect of any business, and any business without effective communication is doomed to fail. You should look at the way your business currently communicated, both internally and externally.

This information will help you find strategies and innovations to improve communication. It could be with the way you conduct meetings, or the way each department talks to each other. Consider speaking to your employees to see what they think.

Implement Modern Engagement Strategies

Ideally, you should be looking at the inner workings of your business at all times, striving for innovation.

That’s why you should be looking at research and changes related to employee engagement strategies. One of the most effective modern engagement techniques comes in the form of talent mobility solutions. This encompasses a range of different techniques to boost employee engagement levels as well as make them more productive.

Talent mobility solutions are an effective way of boosting the morale of your employees, and giving them something more interesting to do day-to-day. If you’re considering taking a look at the internal talent mobility solutions, then you should work with an HR expert who understands career growth and employee happiness, such as Randstad RiseSmart. Seeking third-party assistance can go a long way in helping your business grow through employee engagement boosting.

Praise Good Work Often

If you want your employees to be more productive and happier with the work they’re doing, then you must praise them often for their work. If an employee has worked hard on an assignment or project and they receive no credit for it or praise, then it may make them feel like it was a pointless endeavour.

The danger here is that this could lead to an employee not putting in any effort for any work they do in the future, as they don’t feel like they’ll be praised for any hard work. The bare minimum is something you want to avoid in work, instead, you want to build a culture of workers who are happy to be there and support each other.

Listen To Feedback

Similarly, you must listen to regular feedback from your workers, in both positive and negative ways. This will help you identify what is working with the business, and what will require work. It can only benefit your business to hear what your workers truly think, and allow you to build a business that has a fully committed team. You can do surveys anonymously if you want feedback that you feel will be more honest.

R&D tax experts Counting King save businesses over £3 million in six months

Sam Whitear
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A specialist research and development tax credit consultancy has saved businesses over £3 million in the last six months by delivering expert advice to help them claim back corporation tax relief.

Salford-based Counting King has grown year on year and helped hundreds of businesses save money in tax benefits. It recently smashed its tax saving record by supporting clients to receive over £500,000 in a single month.

Counting King has expanded its team to eight people over the past six months, including specialist R&D tax analysts and an ex-associate tax director from EY, who has over 20 years of experience.

In May this year, it opened new offices on the fifth floor of innovation hub HOST, the Home of Skills & Technology at MediaCityUK, with space for up to 20 people to support its growth ambitions.

It plans to continue expanding its service offering by showcasing and educating businesses on the importance of innovation across the country, helping to guide them through the process of utilising incentives and the funding opportunities that they may be eligible for.

As part of this, Counting King is holding its first networking and exhibition event, Innovation North West, which will bring together leading industry experts including AWS DeepRacer, Viscgo and the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre.

Established in 2020 by Gary Hilton and Sam Dallow, Counting King works with UK limited companies to help remove the stress and effort of submitting labour intensive technical reports and detailed financial calculations to HMRC.

Sam, co-founder and head of R&D analysis, said: “We have experienced immense growth in the past three months, with an additional six new team members joining us across several departments. We attribute this growth to our wide network of partners, consultants, and commitment to compliance which has always been at the forefront of our business.

“As a company, we wanted to create an accessible platform for companies within the sector, to promote innovation in the region and that’s how Innovation North West was born. It’s a fantastic opportunity for businesses and entrepreneurs to network and connect with like-minded people.”

Martin Bremner, MD of Bremner Group, said: “It’s always a pleasure working with Gary, Sam and Sunny from Counting King, they’re very knowledgeable and transparent with their process. The service that they provide is always professional, smooth and compliant.”

Senior appointment for Manchester-based finance firm

Sam Whitear
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A Manchester-based independent business finance firm which operates across the UK has bolstered its structured finance team with a new senior appointment to support the company’s ongoing expansion.

John Platt has joined PMD Business Finance from Natwest’s Corporate Banking team, where he worked for 14 years, most recently as relationship director.

In his new role as structured finance director, John will assist clients across the UK on all aspects of structured finance requirements including acquisitions, management buyouts, employee enterprise trusts (EOTs), restructuring and growth capital. The firm’s structured finance division was formed by PMD’s Callum Bull in 2020 and has since grown rapidly, supporting over £60m of transactions.

John will also lead a new property funding division which will see PMD offer specialised brokerage services such as commercial mortgages and development finance.

Tom Brown, director, PMD Business Finance, said: “Over the past year, PMD has grown from brokering £150m of lending each year to around £180m across a variety of sectors and clients.

“John’s appointment is an important part of our ambition to reach £250m lending in the next 12 months and to further cementing our position as the UK’s largest independent business finance intermediary.

“Over recent months, we have seen a significant rise in demand for property finance, both from introducers and clients. We are excited to be launching a new property funding division to support the requirements of new and existing clients in this area.”

John’s recruitment is the latest in a string of senior appointments at PMD in recent months, taking the company total staff numbers to 50.

PMD is based in Oldham, Greater Manchester and was acquired earlier this year by its management team – Tom Brown, Lee Schofield and Rob Dermody – from founders Peter Dobson and Mike Rodgers.

With over 150 funding lines, PMD provides solutions for businesses looking to expand, improve cash flow, purchase property or acquire plant, machinery and vehicles. In addition, it also assists businesses through its structured finance team in restructuring debt along with providing finance for acquisitions, management buyouts, EOTs and trade sales.

John Platt said: “I’m excited to be taking this step in my career, one which will allow me to be part of the story of one of the UK’s most exciting independent finance providers. I’ve known the team at PMD for many years and am looking forward to using all of my experience to help PMD clients and introducers with both structured finance and property finance requirements.”

pro manchester names HideOut Youth Zone as Chairman’s charity partner with a helping hand from Theo Paphitis

Sam Whitear
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Business development organisation pro-manchester has announced it will partner with Manchester based HideOut Youth Zone to support the charity in raising funds for young people and will support the charity’s innovative Thousand Campaign – which encourages supporters to set up a regular monthly charitable donation totalling £1,000 across a twelve month period.

Funds raised by The Thousand will give young people unique, fun and inspiring opportunities such as residentials & DofE expeditions, purchasing specialist equipment and supporting yearly memberships for young people.

As part of a year of support for the charity which has been chosen by chair of pro-manchester and OpenMoney Founder Anthony Morrow, pro-manchester will raise awareness of The Thousand campaign alongside raising funds for HideOut Youth Zone. Fundraising will take place at some of its key events including The Annual Dinner taking place in November 2021. The charity will also benefit from regular exposure across pro-manchester’s network through press, communications and events.

The first pro-manchester event working with HideOut Youth Zone will take place on 7th October 2021 welcoming Theo Paphitis to the city for a live Q&A event to be held in a unique setting at the Youth Zone on Hyde Road in Gorton. Theo will talk about the future of retail and ecommerce following the challenges of the last 18 months, and his aspirations for the young people of Manchester.

HideOut Youth Zone is a safe and inspiring place for thousands of young people aged 8 – 19, and up to 25 for those with additional needs, to enjoy their leisure time.
Located on Hyde Road in Gorton, HideOut Youth Zone is a charity dedicated to supporting young people by providing three things that all young people need and deserve – somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to.

Inside the £6.6million Youth Zone, young people are welcomed by friendly, qualified staff and a team of committed volunteers. They have the opportunity to take part in over 20 fun and engaging activities every evening including sports, arts, music, media, dance, drama and much more.

Employability workshops and support is available for any young people who need help getting into employment, education or training. Inside HideOut’s enterprise suite, young people will be encouraged to dream big and develop their entrepreneurial skills.
By providing fantastic opportunities and offering support in a safe and secure environment, HideOut Youth Zone is set to make a real difference in Manchester.

Speaking about the partnership pro-manchester Chairman Anthony Morrow said

“ It is always tough to choose a charity partner but I was so impressed with the work HideOut Youth Zone does, which really aligns with my ambitions for my term as chair. In particular to improve inclusivity around Manchester, to make real efforts as a community not to leave youngsters behind in a city they increasingly feel detached from and to commit to increasing the opportunities for these young people as Manchester grows as a city”

Richard Driffield, Head of Development for HideOut Youth Zone said

“We’re extremely grateful to the chair Anthony Morrow and the pro-manchester team for choosing to support HideOut Youth Zone this year. This partnership will really help to increase the profile of our charity and raise funds to support our vital work with young people across the city. We have great ambitions for those we engage and cannot do it without the incredible backing from organisations like pro-manchester and businesses across the city”

Tickets are available for pro-manchester members for the 7th October event with Theo Paphitis here

The Future of Retail and Ecommerce

Social Chain MD joins Your FLOCK board as company prepares for new stage of product development and growth

Sam Whitear
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Katy Leeson, MD of one of the world’s fastest growing digital media agencies, Social Chain, has become the latest Board appointment of Your FLOCK as the company enters its most intensive round of product development and growth so far.

Based in Manchester, Your FLOCK is the world’s first values-based engagement platform that enables companies to understand their employees’ individual values, how they align with company values and culture, and how to maintain that over time, so that companies can hire, keep and develop the best talent for business success.

Katy is the latest addition to the Your FLOCK Board that has recently added an impressive array of leading specialists, including Tom Auld in machine learning/AI, David Levine, tech start up and entrepreneurial growth, and Jess Jackson, who has supported myriad tech start-ups via her senior advisor role at The Growth Company, which was a key investor in the latest round. They join original Board members, Sandy Lindsay MBE, a serial entrepreneur and NED and Laura McGowan, a top HR specialist.

Katy has been MD of Social Chain for five years and has overseen one of the largest growth periods in the company’s history. She has been trialling Your FLOCK with some of her teams, which is what led her to her wider involvement on the Board:

“Using Your FLOCK, and hiring the right people, we have learnt more and more about our company culture and the needs of our team. Not about the marketing values but the real values of the people and our business,’’ she commented.

‘’This learning is the real deal of the company culture and is key for the employee experience at Social Chain, be that working from home or in the office. It’s all about the skills you can give your people as an employer. Not just skills for the job but skills for life, as happy people will create the best work for clients.’’

As Your FLOCK closes its latest investment round and emerges out of its tech start-up stage, Katy’s appointment is perfectly timed as the last piece of an extensive round of Board appointments which will ensure the company has the best chance of fulfilling its ambition to be the leading global SAAS product in the employee engagement space.

Your FLOCK has been working with a number of enterprises to pilot and trial the product and currently has a waiting list of more than 100 businesses wishing to take part in the next round of product development.

Founding Board member, Sandy Lindsay MBE, commented: ‘’The founding partners, Dan Sodergren and Michal Wisniewski, have carefully and very impressively crafted a Board which literally spans the full gamut of knowledge and expertise we now need as we move into the next exciting phase of development and growth. I’ve learned so much already from all of the longer standing exec and new Board members and Katy’s appointment is another ‘win’ for the business, especially as she has been hands on trialling the product in one of our leading target sectors: ‘fast growing enterprises’, so can give us some real insight.’’

Katy joins the already very diverse Board from mid-September. Unlike many tech start-ups, Your FLOCK’s Board comprises more than 60% women: “Working with Your FLOCK is going to be really interesting,’’ Katy concluded. ‘’Not just from a tech point of view, but from a people perspective. They are unlike many other data and people analytics start-ups. They don’t just talk about culture, values and diversity, they live it.”

PROGRESS21 – landmark event on Thursday

Sam Whitear
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GREATER Manchester’s large, ‘in-person’, one day conference bringing together thousands of residents and businesses takes place on Thursday.

PROGRESS21, designed and produced by The Growth Company, will offer a wide-ranging programme of presentations, workshops and support in a bid to progress skills, careers and business opportunities as the city-region and its leaders look to add significant momentum to the economic recovery and make the most of 2021 and beyond.

Among many highlights, the event will include an opening address and keynote speech from the outgoing leader of Manchester City Council, Sir Richard Leese that focuses on realising Greater Manchester’s global ambitions. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham will also be outlining ambitions and plans for the city region’s economic development.

The ambitious conference will take place at Manchester Central this Thursday (23 September) and focus on three specific areas – careers, business and Greater Manchester’s global ambition:

PROGRESS21 Careers: a jobs fair ‘plus’, thousands of available jobs, training opportunities and a wide range of advice and support with a focus on getting people into jobs.
PROGRESS21 Business: The Greater Manchester business event, offering specialist insight and practical support for business post-pandemic recovery and growth including generating sales, managing cash-flow and raising finance, creating and leading a high-performance workforce, digital transformation and understanding Net Zero.
PROGRESS21 Global: The event that brings Greater Manchester together, working to promote the city-region on the global stage to attract investors and visitors.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “PROGRESS21 is a timely opportunity for Greater Manchester to come together and showcase our ambitions to become a world-leading city-region with a drive to become carbon net zero, innovate in the digital sector, and accelerate our economic growth as the region recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This growth must be sustainable and inclusive, which is why PROGRESS21 Business is designed to help small and medium enterprises across our region recover and grow, while PROGRESS21 Careers will help those businesses recruit talent that they can then nurture and grow.”

Mark Hughes, Growth Company CEO, said, “As we continue our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, employment, business growth and securing global opportunities will play a key role in the green and inclusive recovery of our city region. PROGRESS21 is our chance to come together and build momentum and support individuals, businesses and the city-region to recover and then start to thrive.

“This event is only possible thanks to us working together across the private, public and third sectors. This includes business representative organisations such as CBI, FSB, Chamber and IOD, the Mayor and GMP LEP, government departments including DWP, BEIS and DIT along with support organisations such as Citizens Advice and of course the many individual employers and freelancers.”

Sir Richard Leese, outgoing leader of Manchester City Council, said: “PROGRESS21 is a leading example of how a city like Manchester – recently named one of the best cities in the world by Time Out magazine – is continuing to push the envelope and hasten efforts to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

“Bringing together all the right people who have an integral role to play in helping Greater Manchester to expand its global potential and accelerate its economic growth, PROGRESS21 will be a fantastic opportunity to seize the moment and set the tone for what we can and will achieve as city-region in the years to come.”

PROGRESS21 will include a series of expert seminars, thought-provoking presentations, practical workshops and exhibitions.

Keynote speakers include Paul Scully, Minister for Small Business; Janine Smith, Director of Business Growth at GC Business Growth Hub; Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, and Lou Cordwell, Chair of GM LEP. You can find the full schedule and register to attend here.

PROGRESS21 is being carefully planned in line with government guidelines to maximise COVID-19 safety. You can view the COVID-19 Policy Statement here.

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