Basingstoke-based design and web agency, The Escape, will be the official sponsor of Basingstoke Live 2007 organised by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, announced EVPS Events last week at The Escape’s office in Daneshill.

Music will be ringing out from four free outdoor stages from War Memorial Park to Festival Square and The Malls as well as a host of well known venues around town, including clubs, pubs and bars.

The open air stages will go live from 12 noon on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 July with music to inspire every taste, including rock, pop, blues, jazz, folk, acoustic and classical sets from international, national and local musicians.

“The One and Only” Chesney Hawkes will be headlining the event on Saturday 7th July in War Memorial Park, with the legendary Mike Pender’s Searchers headlining the Sunday evening line up.

Cllr Keith Chapman, Cabinet Member for Sport and Leisure, said,

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is committed to providing high quality events for the people of Basingstoke and beyond and is delighted to be working alongside a local company such as The Escape. Basingstoke Live promises to be an event that will bring the town to life with both local and internationally renowned artistes.

Craig Killick, Managing Director of The Escape added:

Having started our business in Basingstoke ten years ago this year, this is a great way for us to show our commitment to the town and community. Being in a position to support this event, and the diverse local talent involved, is something we are very proud of.

The event still has sponsorship opportunities available on larger and smaller scale, please contact David Williams if you are interested in getting involved.

Further lettings and a prospective sale are reportedly in the pipeline at the Prisma Park development in Wade Road, Basingstoke.

Agents, Baker Davidson Thomas and London Clancy advise that another industrial unit of 2,410 sq ft has been let recently. Composite Metal Technologies plc have signed a lease for Unit C within the past couple of weeks, together with 900 sq ft of offices in one of the office buildings on the same development.

In a move from Cody Technology Park in Farnborough, CMT have also secured an option to buy the freehold interest in the two units in question. The organisation is an advanced materials technology company, involved in the research and production of machinery for the manufacture of aluminium matrix composites. These advanced composite materials offer significant weight and performance benefits over conventional un-reinforced materials, such as steel and alloys. CMT’s products are particularly associated with automotive, defence and aerospace applications.

CMT will join Homeserve Emergency Services as tenants on Prisma Four, the industrial/warehouse element of the Prisma scheme. Two other remaining warehouse units are reported as being under offer, one on a leasehold basis, the other by way of an outright freehold sale.

The agents also report “agreed terms” for one of the office buildings, but cannot release further details at this stage.

Richard Thomas at BDT commented;

it is pleasing to see this excellent scheme generating occupier interest. Equity Estates and their financial backers have adopted a highly realistic and flexible approach to discussions with prospective occupiers, and this strategy is now achieving results.

For further information on the remaining units in the Prisma Park scheme, either Baker Davidson Thomas or London Clancy can be contacted locally in Basingstoke.

Routledge and Young Shopfitters, based in Daneshill, have made the shortlist for Best Supermarket Project at the Shopfitting and Display Industry Awards 2007.

The project up for the award is the £600,000 refit of Somerfields Broadstone, which R&Y undertook during 2006, which included major upgrades and refurbishments.

Routledge & Young have been based in Basingstoke for 14 years and have a client list that includes Tesco, Oxfam, Somerfield and McDonalds, to name a few.

The team are delighted to be up for an award associated with Shopfitting and are hopeful to win. They are taking a large contingent to the award ceremony which takes places on June 13th 2007 at a Gala Dinner at The Grosvenor House Hotel.

Karen Skuce, Sales and Marketing Manager said,

It is great to be recognised by our industry awards and is testament to the hard work put in by all the team consistently. It would obviously make us even more proud to actually win this award against the other great projects.

Basingstoke-based De La Rue Plc, the world’s biggest printer of paper money, posted a 25 percent jump in second-half profit as demand for passports and counterfeit-proof banknotes boosted production to near maximum capacity.

Net income was 40.5 million pounds compared with 32.3 million pounds a year earlier. Sales rose 12 percent to 359.1 million pounds. The company said,

The strong order book in currency is expected to result in the business running throughout 2007/2008 at the high levels of capacity experienced in the second half.

Shares of De La Rue have risen 16 percent in the past six months as full-year net income advanced 38 percent to 70.2 million pounds, De La Rue said in a stock exchange statement.

Ref. Bloomberg

A newly formed Design and Project Management company Visual I’s, located in Hook, have become the main sponsors of Hartley Wintney Cricket Club and as part of their sponsorship have provided and installed a new electronic score board.

The scoreboard was ‘unveiled’ at the Hampshire County Cricket Club benefit match for Tony Middleton late last year.

The cricket club are looking to further extend their links with local businesses who promote their services whilst supporting this prestigious cricket club in it’s drive to improve it’s contribution to the local community.

Hartley Wintney Cricket Club publishes an Annual Fixture Card which is distributed to more than 500 people in the area and carries advertisements for more than 40 local businesses, although there is always scope to add more in this full-colour pocket publication and they are keen to attract more sponsorship from businesses in North Hampshire.

They also have an annual benefit match with Hampshire CCC, which this year is for Dimitri Mascarenhas and will be on August 3rd. This event provides numerous opportunities for sponsorship and the opportunity to buy a table, to use for company guests or friends, at the excellent pre-match lunch and auction. In 2006 the event attracted more than 2,000 spectators and guests.

For more information on this event contact Bob Fellows.

Businesses in North Hampshire are being urged to protect themselves against intellectual property theft as the Alliance Against IP Theft calls on all businesses to adopt IP Compliance Policies.

With more and more theft of intellectual property taking place in the work place, businesses are increasingly at risk with:

• Confidential commercial information available to hackers
• Computer systems open to viruses and other attacks.
• Company directors running the risk of damaging legal action as IP theft is against the law.

Launching their AAIPT Leaflet providing guidance for businesses on how to reduce these risks, the Alliance Against Intellectual Property Theft is urging businesses to protect themselves by adopting proper intellectual property (IP) compliance policies. Companies are also being urged to run regular checks to ensure their systems are not running illegal or unlicensed programs.

IP theft can occur in businesses when software, DVDs, CDs or written material such as books and journals, are illegally copied or used without the permission of the rights owner. For example, this could include putting software onto more computers than the license allows, or allowing employees to access illegal file sharing sites from their work PCs.

Illegal filesharing can seriously affect the integrity of companies’ networks. Hackers can access confidential commercial information and computer systems can become open to viruses such as spyware and malware including viruses that can bypass firewalls.

In addition, by failing to respect intellectual property, company directors can face fines of up to £5,000 in a Magistrates’ Court and up to six months in prison, or unlimited fines and up to 10 years in prison at Crown Court.

Estate agent Des Res has recently brought in new Internet usage procedures and tighter security after Alliance member The Federation Against Software Theft discovered illegal software was being made available from its computer system.

A surveillance operation revealed that one of the company’s computers had been involved in a file-sharing network making copies of FAST member TomTom’s software available for free download.

Susie Winter, Director General of the Alliance, said:

We are working alongside business organisations to ensure that companies large and small understand the importance of respecting intellectual property.

By having a clear staff policy in place which prevents infringement of intellectual property, companies can protect themselves without placing undue restrictions on their workers.

John Lovelock, Director General of The Federation Against Software Theft, said:

By working with industry, we hope to raise awareness of the importance of intellectual property and why it must be properly protected.

It is to be applauded that companies like Des Res are setting an example by rooting out and dealing with IP cheats in the workplace.

You can download a sample IP compliance policy here.

The Alliance Against IP Theft was set up in 1998 as a coalition of trade and enforcement organisations from the creative and manufacturing industries. It represents businesses that have a combined turnover of more than £250 billion, employing over one million people in the UK. It seeks to strengthen and bring consistency to existing laws in the area of intellectual property to ensure people’s ideas and creativity is properly valued and protected.

More information can be found on their website: www.allianceagainstiptheft.co.uk

Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, visited Huawei’s offices in Basingstoke earlier this week.

William Xu, president of Huawei Europe and Edward Chen, managing director of the vendor, were both on hand to welcome the Duke as he visited the offices as the UK’s special representative for international trade and showed the “down-to-earth [and] jovial side of his personality”, according to the Basingstoke Gazette.

It reported that the visit came about following a previous meeting with Huawei at the 3GSM World Congress 2007, earlier this year in Barcelona.

Huawei’s European headquarters opened in Basingstoke in 2006 and has about 300 employees, most whom are based in sites at the Viables and Faraday Office Park. The company has offices across the globe, including Silicon Valley, Dallas, Stockholm and Bangalore.

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DICOM Group plc, a global leader of Intelligent Capture & Exchange solutions based in Basingstoke, today announced financial results for the nine months to 31 March 2007.Financial Highlights (prepared under IFRS)

• Revenue up 2% to GBP 119.0m (2006: GBP 116.3m), up 6% in local currency terms
  • License and Service revenue up 7% in local currency terms
• Gross profit margins increased to 54.8% (54.0%)
• Adjusted* operating profits up 4% to GBP 10.5m (2006: GBP 10.1m), increase of 9% in local currency terms
• Adjusted operating profit margins of 8.8% (8.7%)
• Pre-tax profits up 38% to GBP 8.9m (2006: GBP 6.4m)
• Adjusted pre-tax profits up 9% to GBP 11.3m (2006: GBP 10.4m)
• Adjusted earnings per share reported at 8.9p, up 7% (2006: 8.3p
• Strong operating cash flow of GBP 11.7m, net funds of GBP 34.5m (GBP 29.7m at 30 June 2006)

* Further details with regards to the calculation of adjusted earnings and adjusted profits are set out in note 2 to the financial results.

Operating Highlights

• Launch of simplified and integrated product brand architecture
• Strengthening of Kofax Intelligent Capture & Exchange with introduction of Kofax Document Exchange Server
• Launch of Kofax Ascent® Fax, a new software product to automate receipt of fax documents and move them directly into business processes
• Kofax INDICIUS and Kofax Document Scan Server win awards at AIIM Conference & Expo 2007
• New customer wins during the quarter include Eagle Global Logistics, Arizona Healthcare Cost Containment, State of Utah, CIMB Bank, Generali France, Severn Trent Water, Het Kadaster, Örlikon IT Solutions GmbH, The Prescription Pricing Division of the National Health Service Business Services Authority and Bundesamt für Straßen (ASTRA)

Commenting, Rob Klatell, Chief Executive Officer of DICOM Group said:

The third quarter financial performance was below our expectations mainly due to softness in the sub-prime mortgage lending market in the Americas and to slower then expected sales in certain countries in Asia Pacific. However, a strong pipeline for the fourth quarter and the momentum we enjoy in EMEA give us confidence that we will achieve our goal of increased profitability for the year as a whole.

More information can be found on the Dicom Website.

Integrated email and Internet content security provider, Marshal, with head offices in Basingstoke, has announced a new strategic reseller alliance with Evolve Technology Group, an information technology provider specialising in security, data, voice and video communications solutions.

The partnership with Evolve, based in Rocklin, California, will enable both companies to supply business with the expertise, implementation and support of Marshal’s market-leading suite of security solutions. Steve Sheinbaum, VP, Marshal Americas Sales:

As a company with a strong channel focus, partnering with a well-known, dynamic security player adds significant value to our business and our customers, both existing and new… We look forward to building a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with Evolve Technology Group.

Marshal has worldwide and EMEA headquarters at Basingstoke in the United Kingdom and regional offices in Munich (Germany), Paris (France), Johannesburg (South Africa), Houston (USA), Atlanta (USA), Sydney (Australia) and Auckland (New Zealand).

Marshal is a global vendor of Comprehensive Secure Email and Internet Management solutions that integrate content filtering, compliance, secure messaging and archiving, to protect businesses against email and internet-based threats.

For more information on Marshal and its various partnership programs, please contact John Kirley

Barclays Asset & Sales Finance, based in Churchill Plaza, have been awarded “Best Leasing & Asset Finance Provider” by Business Moneyfacts magazine for the sixth consecutive year.

The award comes at a time when businesses are facing increasingly competitive and fast-changing market conditions as the face of UK industry continues to develop. Reports continue to highlight that businesses are under constant pressure to keep up-to-date with new technology, legislation and working practices, placing even greater strain on cash flow and operational funds. Alongside this, businesses continue to need new solutions to meet strategic goals such as expansion, acquisition and MBOs.

Barclays has proven expertise in helping companies to overcome these difficulties through the provision of flexible, innovative and highly effective financing solutions. Not only does a tailored solution enable companies to purchase the assets they need when and how they want, manage their cashflow or release valuable working capital, they can also provide an immediate boost to business, encouraging growth and new developments.

The award recognises the factors which have helped to make Barclays Asset & Sales Finance (BA&SF) stand out from the competition. The Barclays Asset & Sales Finance division has always prided itself on its ability to provide a network of business knowledge and expertise, which allows for the development of innovative approaches and provide solutions to meet customer needs, however simple or complex, using a range of Barclays quality products.

Getting ahead by listening to and understanding the customers businesses and challenges, means that Barclays Asset & Sales Finance can then seek to effectively use all the resources at their disposal across BA&SF and the rest of the Barclays group to ensure customers can meet their goals. – Increasingly, leasing and invoice finance are being used in partnership to provide a viable source of funding to make strategic business changes and acquisitions possible.

Keith Sangwin, Sales Director at Barclays Asset & Sales Finance, commenting on the factors he felt underlay the award decision, said,

Although businesses today have a very wide range of financing solutions and suppliers available to them, they are increasingly looking for an integrated mix of products to fund their day-to-day working capital finance needs as effectively as possible. Our portfolio includes products that are flexible, offer tax benefits and can be tailored to help each organisation meet its specific goals.

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