22nd November 2010 - New investment trainees at Brewin Dolphin

Newcastle’s Brewin Dolphin Investment Management firm has made two new appointments to support the firm’s strategic growth plans.

Vicky Casebourne and Tom Solly took up their posts in October as trainee investment managers.

Vicky, a former student of Durham University studied anthropology and then went on to complete a master’s degree in business management. She’s a keen skier having spent a ski season in Val D’Isere, and is looking forward to developing her career in one of the UK’s leading private client investment firm.

Originally from Stocksfield Tom was educated at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, and is now a former student of Leeds University where he read politics. Prior to his appointment with Brewin Dolphin he spent a gap year in America.

Charles May Head of Office “We are having a good run of business which has seen us secure some significant clients. We continue to grow our business here in Newcastle. Turnover is up this year and we have taken on a good number of clients. We are delighted to have sourced Vicky and Tom, two outstanding individuals to join our teams. We wish them well in their careers here at Brewin Dolphin.

19th November 2010 - Brewin Dolphin wins Citywire's Best Large Firm Award

Brewin Dolphin, one of the UK’s largest independent private client investment managers is delighted to have won the 2010 Citywire Large Firm Adviser Choice award.

The firm was chosen by independent financial advisers (IFAs) throughout the UK, who rated both service and performance and the award was presented at the Citywire Wealth Management Retreat at the Grove Hotel in October.

Charles May, Head of Brewin Dolphin in Newcastle said, “This is a tremendous achievement for Brewin Dolphin. To be recognised by other professional advisers endorses the high levels of service and commitment we continually strive to offer”.

The Brewin Dolphin Group manages £23 billion of funds for over 130,000 private clients and of this over £13 billion is on a discretionary basis. BD has 41 offices throughout the UK and Channel Islands and Brewin Dolphin Corporate Advisory and Broking is adviser to 90 small and medium size quoted companies and institutions.

19th November 2010 - Sadie Scoops Top Retail Award

It’s a double celebration for Sadie Ayton after winning the prestigious Lingerie Retailer of the Year award at the 20th annual Drapers Awards.

The event, held to celebrate the best in UK fashion and retail, saw over 1,000 of the UK’s top fashion stores and brands come together for a glamorous ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on 17th November.

Sadie, who also celebrates 40 years in business this year, was joined on-stage by her granddaughter and her husband Tom after receiving her award.

Operating four stores in Consett, Darlington, Sunderland Ashington, Sadie the bra Lady beat off stiff competition from the likes of Debenhams to take home the award, presented by TV personality and model Lisa Snowdon. Stocking brands including Fantasie, Gossard and Curvy Kate, Sadie the bra Lady takes over from the 2009 winner Boudiche of Glasgow.

12th November 2010 - Unplugged Event Increases Stellar Line-Up

To mark the closing day of Global Entrepreneurship Week, If We Can You Can is hosting an Unplugged event in partnership with Get British Business Online, with very special guests who have made their mark in the online industries and are keen to share their thoughts and experiences.

Friday 19th November from 8:30am – 11am at the Regus Centre The Axis Building, Maingate, Kingsway North, Team Valley, Gateshead NE11 0NQ

Using the successful Unplugged format we will hear from experts in the fields of e-commerce, Search Engine Optimisation, Internet Marketing and Web Design. Our speakers will be covering what inspired them to start, the challenges that they’ve overcome, and their experiences within the industry. So far, confirmed to be in the hot seats are If We Can You Can member Darren Williams of Hair X-Tensions Ltd and Pascal Fintoni from The Centre for eBusiness.

We are also delighted to announce the recent addition of Dominic Allon, Agency Leader for Google UK, to the stellar line-up to offer his technical (yet jargon free) expertise and offer hints and tips on the world wide web. Google UK is the biggest market for Google outside the US and the most advanced major country in terms of e-commerce and online advertising spending. Dominic’s role focuses on helping Google’s agency partners get the most out of the internet and he will be divulging industry secrets and lessons learnt to our guests at this not to be missed event. Before joining Google in January 2007, Dominic worked at The Economist for seven years where he led international ad sales across the prime business and financial categories, and pioneered the Economist Group's integrated sales initiative.

Join us to hear from three industry and entrepreneurial experts, be inspired by their stories and gain invaluable insight from their unique experiences. You will also have the opportunity to chat, mingle and exchange ideas with likeminded people during this informal gathering. Please be assured that the event will be jargon-free and relevant to anyone in business at any stage, whether you’re a novice on internet marketing, unsure of how to make the most of the internet or are looking to grow your presence online.

For more information, or to register for this breakfast Unplugged event for free, please contact Will McLean on 0191 226 7488 or will@entrepreneursforum.net

11th November 2010 - Tech Specialist Doubles Turnover For Third Year Running

Global economic woes haven’t stopped the region’s only virtualisation specialist double its projected turnover for the third year running and push through the £1.5m turnover point.

Newcastle-based SITS Group is about to move to bigger offices at Quorum Business Park to accommodate growing staff numbers after hitting its growth targets eight months ahead of expectations.

SITS has also recently joined an elite group of technology experts after being awarded two sought after industry accreditations.

The company specialises in the £180billion market for virtualised computer solutions and is the only specialist within the North East.

Virtualisation works by creating networks of virtual servers housed on a small number of physical machines, which reduces operating and capital costs while boosting resilience and efficiency.

Commercial director Phil Cambers says the board is delighted with the company’s results: “Our predictions were that turnover would reach just under £1m by the end of year three, which is actually next summer, but we are actually on target to achieve £1.5 M turnover by next March.

“We achieved our first year’s sales targets in just five months and we’ve repeated that pattern of 50% growth year on year. This is great news, especially in the teeth of a fairly challenging recession.

“Part of our success is down to more organisations turning to virtualised solutions to help them lower costs and manage their IT assets much more efficiently. The average non-virtualised IT environment is likely to be running at about 10% of its capacity, which is a chronic waste of assets, and sadly it’s the case at so many organisations.

“In the North East, our findings show that around 75% of organisations have made no significant IT investment in the last two to three years, and a lot of that comes back to the fact that their existing infrastructures are simply not delivering the return on investment that they should be.

”Helping businesses from SMEs through to global names to get more out of the infrastructure they already have in place, and future-proof their investment so the IT is scalable alongside the growth of the business is actually fuelling the growth of our own business too.”

As part of the company’s plans to open up new markets next year it will tap into the cloud computing market by offering IT as a completely bought-in service for clients who do not want to host any IT on their own sites, or invest directly in their own IT infrastructure.

Virtualisation solutions market leader VizionCore has awarded SITS Platinum Partner status, making it one of only eight in the UK licensed to advise on top tier solutions; and Dell, the world’s third largest Server and PC manufacturer, has named SITS a Dell Enterprise Architecture Partner.

“There’s no denying trading conditions are tough, and set to remain so,” said Phil.

“But we are fairly bullish about the fact that our expertise is helping businesses of all types and sizes to save money and improve their efficiency, and when times are hard that’s more important than ever. That’s one of the reasons we are very optimistic about the future.”

11th November 2010 - Strictly the best banger served up for Uniquethinking

A Newcastle creative agency put its best foot forward this month when it helped TV judge and choreographer Craig Revel Horwood to find Britain’s Star sausage for British Sausage Week 2010.

Uniquethinking worked closely with the British Sausage Appreciation Society to promote the awards which were staged in six cities across the UK to celebrate the taste, quality and diversity of the sausage, of which there are some 400 individually named varieties in Britain alone.

The event in the North East was staged at Blackfriars Restaurant and saw nine local butchers from the North East dazzling the judges with their sausages in a bid to win the prestigious best banger award and a donation to the charity of their choice. The winner was local butcher Allisons of Ferryhill, winning the much coveted title and £150 to donate to the charity of their choice thanks to their Durham Pork Sausage.

Britain’s toughest judge, Craig Revel Horwood commented: “I’m known for being a tough judge but I can genuinely say the standard of entries was so high picking a winner was hard work, however the pork sausage was just fab-u-lous! A worthy winner of the North East Star Sausage!

Uniquethinking provides PR and marketing services to regional, national and international clients such as Windjammer Landing in Saint Lucia, Restaurant Design Associates, Costa Coffee and Vodafone where the agency helped to launch Vodafone’s World of Difference Campaign scheme last month enlisting celebrity Gok Wan, the face of the campaign.

Sam Hook, managing director of Uniquethinking, said: “We were delighted to meet Craig Revel Horwood and to see the British Sausage Appreciation Society back at Blackfriars for this year’s competition. It was great to see regional talent and fantastic food being recognised and Craig was the perfect judge.”

For more information visit www.uniquethinking.co.uk

10th November 2010 - NETE Makes £2m Investment In Wholesale Division

A rapidly expanding auto specialist has embarked on a two year £2m investment strategy in a bid to bring 250,000 extra tyres to market.

North Eastern Tyre and Exhausts (NETE) is investing £2million into its wholesale division, NE Wholesale, in a bid to offer the market close to quarter of a million tyres, spanning 1000’s of product lines.

NETE has acquired a vast 69,000sq ft warehouse in Stockton, almost the size of two football pitches to accomodate the new drive for business.

Tim Darcy, general operations and logistics manager for NE Wholesale, said: “The acquisition of this massive storage space is in addition to our current NE Wholesale storage sites, and is a strategic move in NETE’s growth plans.

“We are now able to work even closer with our wholesale customers and offer an incredible range of tyres we now have at our fingertips, all with a substantially decreased delivery time.”

The storage site which relies on 1400 stillages and three forklift trucks to manage its stock base of 100,000 of tyres, is the first stage of NETE’s current drive to be lean and smart in tough economic times.

Next on the auto specialist’s agenda is to invest in state of the art automated technologies which will enable faster picking and stock optimisation.

Story courtesy of www.bdaily.info