46 Business DECEMBER 2018
In case you mIssed It...
A round up of the biggest news stories from the last month
Four hotels at
aIrport to create
500 new jobs
Manchester Airport will have
FOUR new hotels on-site by
2021 - creating 1,200 new beds
and 500 jobs.
The £180m hotel district,
which is part of Airport City,
will include two Hilton hotels,
a Holiday Inn and Ibis Budget.
Cash from overseas is behind
at least one of the projects after
a London and Moscow-based
real estate consultancy
brokered a £4m investment
into the Hilton Hotels on
behalf of a Russian
businessman.
Founded in 2012 by Alisa
Zotimova, AZ Real Estate
property consultancy
specialises in advising
primarily Russian-speaking
clients seeking to invest in
London and UK property.
The CEO said: “Hotels are an
excellent investment
opportunity in areas with
guaranteed high footfall, and
the combination of
Manchester’s rapid growth and
£1bn airport masterplan looks
set to make this a highly
successful transaction.”
bId to buy
traFFord centre
owner Is dItched
A £2.8bn deal to buy shopping
centre giant Intu Properties
has been scrapped.
Intu said the market
conditions meant the
consortium - led by John
Whittaker’s Peel Group - could
not continue with the
proposed offer within the
timeframe set out by the City
takeover rules.
Whittaker, chairman of The
Peel Group, said: “We remain
fully committed to intu
Properties as a long-term,
strategic shareholder, as
demonstrated by our
participation in the
consortium’s possible offer.
“Physical retail continues to
play a key role in all successful
multi-channel retailer sales
strategies and intu’s national
portfolio of centres enjoys
some of the highest customer
footfall in the country.”
In a statement Intu said:
“Whilst market sentiment
towards retail and retail
property remains negative,
intu is confident of its
commercial prospects which
are underpinned by market
leadership in UK regional
shopping centres, clear focus
on the highest quality assets
and resilient operational
performance in a challenging
market.”
It expects like-for-like
rental income growth to
remain between 0% and 1%
in 2019.Fast growIng law
FIrm jmw hIt
£37m target
Manchester law firm JMW
Solicitors has announced a
20% rise in half-year revenues- and is on track to exceed its
full-year target of £37m.
This follows a rise of 30%
cent in the financial year to
April 2018. The firm now
employs 500 people at its
Spinningfields base across 12
commercial and private client
work areas.
Revenue between May -
October was £18.9m compared
to £15.8m in the previous year.
The firm is on target to exceed
its £37m budget for 2018/19.
The family team saw the
biggest growth with a 110%
increase in fees.
Strong revenue growth was
also seen across business
crime & regulation, with
revenues up by 52% and
employment, up by 36%.
Joy Kingsley, senior partner at
JMW, said: “We are pleased
that the growth of people
numbers and revenue
continues unabated. The
growth is fuelled by the
requirements of existing clients
and the addition of new clients
in all areas of our practice. This
means that our ambitious
plans are aligned with our
clients’ wishes. The success we
continue to enjoy is supported
by the hard work of our
partners and staff.”ukFast gears up
For Ipo wIth
£50m revenues
Revenues at Manchester cloud
hosting business UKFast is set
to hit £50m as it gears up for a
public listing.
The company, founded by
tech entrepreneur Lawrence
Jones and his wife Gail,
provides internet hosting
services and is due to report
underlying earnings of £25m
this year, up 19%. Revenues are
set to exceed £53m, that’s up
13% from £47m last year.
UKFast, set up in 1999,
provides services to more than
5,000 clients including the
NHS, the Ministry of Defence
and the Cabinet Office. It has
350 staff at its campus in
Hulme.
CEO Lawrence Jones said:
“It’s been an incredibly
exciting period for UKFast.
We are expanding our campus,
launching a new AI and secure
government data centre facility
and developing some truly
world-class new products to
help our clients stay fast and
stay safe online.”leadIng busIness
FIgures
joIn tech FIrm
Mike Blackburn, the chair of
the Greater Manchester Local
Enterprise Partnership, is
among a number of high
profile business leaders to join
the board of fast growing tech
firm, Telcom.
Joining Blackburn, is group
chair Christopher Baldock, a
highly experienced executive
in the telecommunications
and IT sector.
Chris is currently chair of
Unified Communications
company Qunifi, SMB IT
specialist Simply Mail
Solutions, online teaching
company Tute education,
Robotics EdTech business
CBIS education and non-
executive director of Hotel and
leisure IT specialist QDOS SBL.
The Northern Quarter
business is also joined by
David Lathwood, lead director
for Jones Lang LaSalle North
West and John Ogden, MD of
CBRE (North).manchester
Is key cIty For
I n n ova tI o n
Manchester has been named
as one of the most innovative
cities in the world - beating
competition from Shanghai,
Beijing and Madrid.
The city jumped 11 places
in this year’s Innovation Cities
Index which ranks top
destinations from across all
continents.
Home to the largest
creative, digital and
technology cluster outside ofLondon, Manchester is the
only British city apart from
the capital to feature in the
top 50 list - coming in at 34.
Data firm 2thinknow
compiled the list after scoring
cities on three key factors:
cultural assets; human
infrastructure; and networked
markets.They also assessed
the locations against 31
segments in their industries
and economy as well as 162
indicators for innovation
Amazon will establish
operations in Manchester
creating 600 highly-skilled
‘Silicon Valley’ style jobs in
early 2019.Also TalkTalk is relocating
its headquarters to Greater
Manchester and intelligence
and security organisation
GCHQ will establish a major
base here.
●●Tim Newns, CEO of MIDAS
said: “This ranking cements
Greater Manchester’s status as
a world-leading hub for
technology, research and
innovation. We are fast
becoming the business
location of choice for
innovative global brands as
well as start-ups, thanks to the
wealth of knowledge, expertise
and opportunities to
collaborate in the city.