Leading commercial law firm Ward Hadaway has the second busiest team of all Corporate legal dealmakers in the country, according to the latest Q1 Experian MarketIQ legal volume rankings which tracks M&A deals valued at more than £500,000 at regional and national level.

The firm’s Corporate team, across its offices in Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester, advised on 20 deals in total. The North East team completed 11 of those deals, almost three times of the next ranked firm in the region.

Earlier this year, Ward Hadaway’s Corporate team was recognised as last year’s busiest Corporate dealmaker in the North East in the 2018 Experian MarketIQ league tables.

Robert Thompson, who heads up the 30-strong Corporate team, said: “We are extremely pleased to see that we are defying Brexit-related uncertainty as one of the busiest law firms in the UK when it comes to buying, selling and fund raising for businesses during Q1.

“We work with businesses of all sizes and across many different sectors and so we are really grateful to our clients for continuing to trust us with their transactions, and to our fellow professional advisers who continue to recommend us to their clients.”

Bury-based cable and pipe seal manufacturer Roxtec UK is reporting rapid growth across the European rail sector after doubling sales to more than £750,000 in the last 12 months.

Roxtec Divisional Manager for Infrastructure & Industry, David Chalmers, said UK sales grew substantially by 120pc, following a series of high-profile project wins in the rail sector. The deals have contributed to sustained growth over a four-year period, for new and retrofit applications.

David said: “Roxtec UK has enjoyed another record-breaking year in the rail sector

“We have developed strong business partnerships in the rail and rolling stock markets where we deliver specialist cable, pipe and conduit seals. We offer a complete package from design, engineering, installation training, maintenance and inspection support. Some key projects driving growth include the delivery of multi-cable transit systems for London Underground and heavy-duty cable seal solutions for Network Rail’s London Bridge Station. We are also involved in pioneering projects such as Crossrail’s new Elizabeth Line for London and the South East. This passes through 42km of tunnels and is currently one of Europe’s largest infrastructure project.”

Roxtec UK is a British subsidiary of the £173million turnover Swedish headquartered Roxtec Group. In 2018, the division delivered a record financial year. Following three successive years of stable turnover, UK sales rose substantially in the 2017/18 financial year to more than £6million.

David added: “Our solutions make it possible to route multiple cables and conduits of different sizes through openings in rail and rolling stock, as well as allowing our customers to add additional services at a later stage, without making new holes. Some applications Roxtec’s solutions can be applied to include signalling and rail control, communications, tunnels and bridges, railway stations and rail yards.

“Within the rolling stock arena, we offer cable management and sealing solutions for jumper plates, bogies, HVAC systems, junction boxes, pantograph and partition walls. We offer cable retention systems tested for shock & vibration and dynamic forces. Roxtec’s pre-configured sealing solutions are tested and certified according to standards such as EN 45545:3, up to E60 EN 45545:2 HL3 and BS EN 1366 up to EI120 in order to guarantee long-term protection against multiple risks, Roxtec are Network Rail and London Underground approved. We can also create customised solutions according to specific needs and requirements.”

Interstate Hotels & Resorts has been named as the new management company for the Holiday Inn Manchester, Central Park, marking the firm’s fourth move into the city in less than a year.  Interstate was selected as the management company by a private investor that acquired the hotel in early 2019.

The 83-guest room property houses a casual dining restaurant and five meeting rooms with a total capacity of up to 120 people.

The news follows a duo of new signing announcements for Interstate at Manchester Airport and the opening of Interstate’s first hotel in the city, the Hotel Indigo Manchester Victoria Station.

Nicholas Northam, Executive Vice President, International said: “Manchester is a really exciting city with so much going on across both the leisure and corporate travel markets, so we’re thrilled to be further strengthening our presence in the area with this latest signing – the Holiday Inn Manchester – Central Park.

“With Manchester Airport undertaking a major £1bn transformation programme and a real wave of new development taking place across the Manchester region, the city is embarking on a new era and we’re very proud to be playing our part.”

Holiday Inn Manchester Central Park will take Interstate’s operational European portfolio to more than 70 hotels.

Nicholas Northam added: “It’s been fantastic to get 2019 off to such a strong start with new signing announcements and the addition of an operational property to our portfolio.

“We pride ourselves on the experience and expertise of our team here at Interstate and our performance to date proves testimony to this.”

Lucardo Rawtenstall has held an engaging team building event for the North West Skills Academy.

The event, organised by Cube HR, saw representatives from the leading provider of Government funded construction NVQ qualifications split into three groups of five to six to undertake team building exercises at the Escape Room experience.

The teams took part in all three games at the venue; Dragon’s Heart, Corruption and Gem Runner, before sitting down with Cube HR managing director, Lisa Sourbutts, for a reflective and reinforcing presentation and workshop.

Lucardo Rawtenstall is the first franchise from the well-known Manchester venue and is already a success, with over 1,100 teams trying to escape, involving over 4,500 participants.

Simon Milnes, Co-Owner, Lucardo Rawtenstall, said: “The North-West Skills Academy team building event was a fantastic success and a great showcase for how Lucardo Rawtenstall’s facilities can be utilised by a variety of businesses for team building events.

“I encourage organisations to get in touch with us, so that we can help them create bespoke team building exercises in a fun, exciting and memorable way.”

Lisa Sourbutts, added: “Lucardo Rawtenstall was the perfect venue to hold an engaging and memorable team building event for the North-West Skills Academy. The facilities allowed us to hold a reflective presentation as well as a workshop, reinforcing the highlights from an excellent team building event.”

Manchester’s Cunning Plan Marketing is celebrating this week after winning a four-way pitch to become the agency of choice for Warrington’s Business Improvement District (BID) project.

The place marketing campaign for Warrington is part of a £1.8million investment that will improve services and entertainment in the town – making Warrington town centre cleaner, greener and a better place to shop, work and spend leisure time.   

The BID proposal was approved last year and promises to put Warrington firmly on the map thanks to a five-year business plan, which includes marketing an exciting schedule of events, improved retail support, more green spaces, enhanced safety and transport links and a suite of services to help businesses thrive in the town.

Cunning Plan will work with the BID team to promote Warrington Town Centre as a destination to over 100,000 residents within a ten-mile radius of Warrington, increasing footfall through the promotion of a single brand for the town. The Altrincham-based agency is tasked with creating a fully-integrated marketing campaign that includes branding, website design and build, social media management, content creation, stakeholder relations and PR. 

Dawn McElroyChair of the Warrington BID team said: “Since BIDs were introduced in 2004, over 250 have been approved, now it’s Warrington’s time to shine!  We have lots of exciting plans and need to make sure that the people of Warrington and further afield know about them. 14 north west agencies tendered for the project but Cunning Plan’s approach to the brief impressed us all; their experience, creativity and passion for the project made them the obvious choice for such a high-profile project.”

James Adam, Managing Director at Cunning Plan said: “Our goal is to give Warrington an individual, authentic identity that everyone can get behind. We’ll be working closely with the BID, the business community and those living on the outskirts of Warrington to create a place marketing campaign that truly sets Warrington apart from its neighbours. It’s a hugely significant time for the town and we’re very excited to be a part of the journey.”

Cybersecurity firm Secarma Ltd has taken a 13.3% stake in Shearwater Group PLC, in a deal worth £7.4m.

The transaction sees Secarma, a leading provider of penetration testing and cloud security solutions, sell its legacy Pentest subsidiary to Shearwater.

Consideration of £7.4 million is to be paid by Shearwater through £6.7 million in new ordinary shares and £0.7 million in loan notes.

The assets being sold include the Databridge Software Division, which owns and operates a cloud-based platform-as-a-service software package. Databridge is licensed to customers on a recurring revenue basis and integrates IT service management platforms and ticketing systems.

Following the transaction, Secarma will continue to employ a 40-strong team of penetration testers and senior management and is owned by UKFast founder and CEO Lawrence Jones MBE.

Jones said: “Secarma continues to go from strength to strength and we have laser focus on the direction we want to take the business.

“Two decades’ experience building and supporting cloud platforms with UKFast, and working closely with customers, has given us clear insight into their needs. Our fast-growing cloud security division is where we’re focussing our attention.

“We’re building out some really innovative recurring revenue products to give peace of mind to our customers.”

Secarma continues to foster an ever-closer partnership with British hosting giant UKFast, also owned by Lawrence Jones MBE, addressing the overlapping needs of their respective customer bases and service offerings in response to the significant rise in cybercrime.

Jones said: “Within UKFast, we’re developing our Security Operations Centre, our Threat Monitoring service and just this week we announced a £4m investment in our global DDoS protection network, DDoSX. These products sit incredibly well alongside Secarma’s cloud security division.”

Shearwater has a longstanding relationship with Secarma and will continue to collaborate across certain projects.

Shearwater Group chairman David Williams said: “Secarma is going to be a meaningful shareholder in Shearwater Group and we’re looking forward to working closely together for the benefit of all parties.”

Jones added: “There’s a symbiotic relationship and close synergies between the two businesses.”

Salford-based MC Construction has begun work on Manchester Airport contracts worth more than £3m, including the new private terminal PremiAir.

The family-owned company is the main contractor for PremiAir, which is due to open in the summer, and for a refurbishment project at a 42ft tower which will be the new base for airfield operations staff.

MC Construction won the contracts under a building services framework to which it was appointed last year.

The company has previously delivered a £450,000 upgrade to a 48,000 sq ft hangar used to service airfield vehicles such as passenger buses, aircraft tugs and baggage trucks. Its facilities services division has also carried out projects under the framework.

PremiAir has been designed by Jacobs and will be the first facility of its kind at a major UK airport.

It will offer guests a pay-as-you-use ‘private jet experience’ while flying in and out of Manchester on commercial airlines, with secure parking, a personal greeting, faster baggage processing, an elegant lounge with complimentary food and drink, dedicated security and passport channels and a chauffeur-driven car to take them to and from their aircraft.

As well as building the single-storey terminal, MC Construction is undertaking drainage, road and car park works at the site, which is next to the Runway Visitor Park.

MC Construction has also begun work on an overhaul of the former IDLEx tower which is attached to Terminal One.

The tower – whose initials stand for International Departure Lounge Extension – was previously used by airfield operations staff and the airport telephone exchange, but was mothballed some years ago.

It is being brought back into use as part of the huge Manchester Airport Transformation Programme and will once again be the base for the airfield operations teams.

The scheme involves creating offices and a conference room on the top floor of the five-storey tower, with rest rooms and a kitchen on the third floor. MC Construction is also undertaking works on the ground floor to create storage and locker facilities.

Marwa Derouiche of Jacobs is the project manager. Halliday Meecham is the architect.

David Lowe, managing director of MC Construction, said: “We are thrilled to be working on these projects for our valued client Manchester Airport.

“The PremiAir terminal is a prestigious scheme which will transform the guest experience, while it is pleasing to see the IDLEx tower being brought back into active use as part of the airport’s transformation programme.”

Marwa said: “The IDLEx was in desperate need of refurbishment and we are all excited to see the finished result. Airfield operations are looking forward to moving into their new office space, which offers great views of the airfield.”