44 | MAY 2018
Business
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
Small business confidence in North West
recovers as economic forecasts lift
Confidence among
LEGAL & GENERAL
LAUNCHES
AFFORDABLE
HOUSING ARM
Legal & General announces
the launch of Legal & General
Affordable Homes, a new
wholly-owned affordable
housing provider which it
is establishing through a
leading development and
management platform.
Focused on supporting
the UK’s demographic and
affordable living needs,
and consistent with Legal &
General’s housing growth
strategy, Legal & General
Affordable Homes will lead
the evolution of the afforda-
ble housing sector with an
aim to become the leading
private affordable hous-
ing provider in the UK. It
forms a subsidiary of Legal
& General Capital, which
invests capital into sectors
where there has been a
shortage of investment and
innovation, focusing on
growth opportunities and
scale ups.
The UK continues to have
a chronic shortfall of over
100,000 homes per year.
The position is particular-
ly stark in the affordable
housing sector with over
1.3 million households1
on UK waiting lists with
new additions averaging
only 30,000 properties a
year over the last 10 years.
Legal & General Affordable
Homes will aim to be fully
operational and delivering
3,000 homes per year with-
in the next four years.
With Legal & General’s
long term financial backing
and utilising the housing
management expertise
of the leading existing
affordable housing provid-
ers, the new business will
be looking to accelerate
and grow the provision of
affordable housing across
the UK, targeting all areas
of the affordable housing
market, including new build
Section 106 and grant-fund-
ed affordable rent, social
rent and shared ownership
units.
legalandgeneralgroup.com
small North West firms has
recovered against a back-
drop of lower inflation,
progress on Brexit talks and
a positive Spring Statement,
according to the latest Fed-
eration of Small Businesses
(FSB) Small Business Index
(SBI).
But confidence in the re-
gion remains in negative ter-
ritory – the only UK area in
minus numbers, excluding
Scotland. The quarterly SBI
measure for the North West
stands at -3 in Q1 2018, up
from -17 in Q4 2017.
More than a quarter of
small firms in the North
West expect their perfor-
mance will either improve
(31%) or remain the same
(39%) over the next three
months, while only three in
ten (31%) lack confidence
about the coming quarter.
More than half of firms in
the region (52%) now report
that revenues are either
stable or increasing. The
proportion of firms plan-
ning to increase investment
has reached 29% and almost
half (44%) of small busi-
nesses in the area expect to
expand operations over the
coming 12 months.
International traders re-
main bullish, with the share
of North West small export-
ers expecting global sales
to increase over the coming
three months at 36%, an
increase on the last quarter
(27%).
The domestic economy
remains the biggest barrier
to small business growth
for firms in the South West,
with almost half (46%) of
firms raising it as an issue.
Consumer demand (28%),
appropriately skilled staff
(26%) and labour costs
(26%) are the other most
frequently flagged barriers
to growth among small
firms in the region.
www.fsb.org.uk
Origin Credits Revolutionary Ordering
Technology for Business Growth
Leading British manu-
facturer and home brand,
Origin, is experiencing ex-
ponential business growth
thanks to its revolutionary
online quoting and order-
ing system - Origin Sale
Safe (OSS). Not only has
it increased the number
of orders, but it has also
dramatically reduced the
time partners spend on each
order.
Introduced at the end of
2016, OSS was designed
specifically to help Origin
partners easily quote and
order products from the ‘Or-
igin Home Range’, increas-
ing accuracy and efficiency
in the process. Built and
developed in-house, OSS is
the only system of its kind
that allows users to build
and save whole customer
projects, rather than quoting
on individual products.
This means each custom-
er’s information is stored
in one place, removing the
need for multiple quotes for
one customer and allowing
installers to edit orders right
up to delivery.
The OSS’ easy to navigate,
simple design and intuitive
functionality, means that the
ordering process is dramat-
ically faster than before. By
Synseal Group appoints Matthew
Mycock as permanent CEO
Synseal Group has announced the appointment
of Matthew Mycock as their new CEO in a
permanent capacity, effective immediately.
Matthew has a wealth
of Board experience,
including as Managing
Director for Plumbing Trade
Supplies, a business unit at
Travis Perkins, Managing
Director at Autoglass (Bel-
ron UK Ltd), and Managing
Director at Frontline Group,
the UK’s largest magazine
distributor.
Matthew’s early career
was spent in fast moving
consumer goods, includ-
ing spells at Levi Strauss,
Diageo and Mars Confec-
tionery.
Synseal Group Chairman,
Adrian Fawcett, said:
“Matthew is well placed
to lead the Group through
its next exciting chapter
of cultural and business
change, supporting new
routes to market, and re-en-
ergising growth in sales
across all product categories
with new business part-
ners.”
Matthew will replace Deb-
orah Kemp who has been
Interim CEO at Synseal
Group since September.
www.synseal.com
transferring over to OSS,
Origin partners now have