Saga, the over-50s travel and insurance group, is to be merged with the Automobile Association, with head offices in Basingstoke, in a £6.2bn deal.Saga’s 3,900 staff will join the AA’s 7,200 employees under the combined ownership of the private equity houses Permira, CVC and Charterhouse. Permira and CVC have owned the AA since 2004. (more…)
Basingstoke Shopfitting Contractors, Routledge & Young, last week took the trophy for Best Supermarket project of the year at the Shopfitting and Display Industry Awards 2007, held at The Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane. Routledge and Young were up against some tough competition, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Superquinn, but the project work for a branch of Somerfield in Broadstone helped Routledge and Young take the award.
Somerfield along with the Directors and Team at Routledge and Young were obviously all delighted with the result against some stiff industry competition. Pictured is John Upshall, Contracts Manager from Routledge and Young (second from right) collecting the trophy (with Somerfield Clients) from Fred McAuley (far right).
Steve Skuce, Director of Routledge and Young said:
We are delighted to have won this award. It is all credit to the Design team and Property Management team at Somerfield and the Management and team at Routledge and Young. Somerfield Broadstone was a complicated project and it is good to be recognised not only by our clients for difficult projects but also by the industry. We are looking forward to next years awards already
The trophy is now in pride of place in the company board room, along with the after dinner party photos!
A Thames Valley Enterprise Hub Breakfast Seminar
Wednesday 11th July; 8.30-10.00am
Absolutely Offices, Grove House, Lutyens Close, Chineham Court, Basingstoke
Thames Valley Enterprise Hub has the specific goal of helping technology and knowledge-based companies with pioneering ideas become thriving commercial concerns. July’s Breakfast Seminar will provide these companies with a practical insight into the steps required to protect and exploit their Intellectual Property (IP) by discussing:
If you are developing potentially valuable IP it is critical that you attend this Thames Valley Enterprise Hub Breakfast Seminar.
The seminar is being given by Jason Burwell of Kogitant. Jason is an extremely experienced IP lawyer who is retained by SEEDA to provide advice to companies across the Enterprise Hub Network in the region.
This seminar if free to attend. To reserve your place please e-mail Tracey Sanderson at t.sanderson@reading.ac.uk or visit www.thamesvalleyhub.co.uk
May’s meeting of the North-Hampshire Women In Business Group played host to Sharon Bowles, a Member of the European Parliament for the South-East of England, at the Basingstoke Country Hotel at Nately Scures, Basingstoke. (more…)
DICOM Group, based in Chineham Business Park, Basingstoke, yesterday announced the appointment of Bradley Hall as the Group’s Vice President of Human Resources.
Prior to joining DICOM Group, Hall, age 48, was Senior Vice President and Global Head of Talent Management at ABN Amro Bank. Before ABN Amro, his experience includes four years spent at IBM, where he was Director, Global Executive and Organisational Capability for IBM Asia Pacific, and five years at AT&T Japan in a similar capacity.
Commenting on the appointment, Rob Klatell, Chief Executive Officer of DICOM Group, said:
We are delighted to welcome Brad Hall to the Group. The people of DICOM are our most important asset, and they are critical to our success in the fast-paced and constantly evolving environment in which we compete. Therefore the appointment of a global head of human resources is an important step for us. We believe Brad Hall brings to DICOM a wealth of experience that will be invaluable to our organisation as we face the challenges ahead and strive to expand upon our industry-leading position.
Dicom is a global leader of Intelligent Capture & Exchange solutions. Its leading edge capture and exchange technologies and solutions enable Business Process Automation by managing the transformation and exchange of business-critical information (residing in various formats such as paper, fax, electronic documents, e-mail, SMS) among people, applications and devices.
Through a global network of more than 1,200 authorised partners and its own sales and service organisations in the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA, DICOM Group helps blue-chip enterprises in more than 60 countries to reduce cost, increase efficiency and minimise risk in their critical business processes.
For more information, visit www.dicomgroup.com.
Award winning Redrow Homes has helped raise over £15,000 for children’s charity Naomi House.
Redrow held a glittering dinner, at Oakley Hall in Basingstoke, for Naomi House, a charity which provides respite care, terminal care and bereavement support for children and families in central and southern England.
With the help of donations from local businesses in North Hampshire and with games and a raffle, with prizes including spa days, theatre tickets, an ipod, a case of champagne and Premiership football tickets, the evening raised £15, 217 to help Naomi House to carry on with their dedicated work.
Stuart Rowlands, managing director of Redrow Homes (Southern), based in Basingstoke, said:
As well as building quality homes across the country, Redrow strives to support the good work that local charities do. We’re proud of our link up with Naomi House and will endeavour to continue to support their worthy cause within the community.
Opened in 1997 and based in Sutton Scotney near Winchester, it now costs over £2.5 million a year to run Naomi House. With just 10% of the income coming from Government grants, the charity relies on voluntary and charitable support.
Jill Livingstone, corporate fundraiser for Naomi House, said:
The black tie ball organised by Redrow was a sparkling event enjoyed by all. It is a milestone year for us at Naomi House as we are celebrating our 10th anniversary and we are absolutely delighted to have the support of Redrow Homes during this very special year.
The ongoing support we receive from Redrow helps us to provide these crucial care services, free of charge, to children and their families at a time when they need it most. On behalf of everyone at Naomi House I’d like to say a huge thank you to Redrow for their tremendous support.”
Redrow’s Basingstoke based operation has a range of developments across the south of England, including schemes in Bracknell and Thatcham, in Berkshire, Eastbourne and Bexhill on Sea, in East Sussex, and Horsham and Crawley, in West Sussex, while new homes are planned for Hailsham, in East Sussex, and Farnborough, Hampshire.
Nationally, the house builder recently launched The Redrow Foundation, which aims to provide accommodation and related assistance for children in need, the elderly, the sick and the infirm. An amount of £50 from the sale of each new Redrow home goes to the Foundation.
Story Ref. UK Property News
Leading disability insurer, Unum, with offices in Basing View, has announced impressive financial results for the year ended 31st December 2006, increasing profits and maintaining its position as UK Group Risk market leader in 2006. This is set against a backdrop of transition in the current business environment.
Unum is the UK’s leading provider of group income protection insurance, with over 35 years of experience and by the end of 2006, they were protecting almost 2 million lives through more than 18,600 schemes with total benefit claim payments of £285 million – of which more than £191 million related to income protection claims.
Profit before taxation reached 131.6 million, which represents a profit increase of nearly 20 per cent since 2005, with total assets growing 3.9 per cent on 2005 to £2 billion.
Product development has been a key driver in this success and included the addition of a salary-based payment option to its Capital Options product in November 2006 to provide employers with greater choice. Earlier in the year also saw the launch of the Pay Direct product that allows employees to receive benefits direct from the insurer.
With a keen focus on early intervention and an innovative approach to rehabilitation, Unum has also helped 947 claimants return to work in 2006, representing an increase of 43 per cent over 2005.
Commenting on the results, Susan Ring (pictured) , Unum’s UK Chief Executive Officer said:
I am delighted to report a continued increase in profits and the retention of our position as clear Group Risk market leader in 2006.
This is particularly pleasing in light of the fact that this success has been achieved against a backdrop of increased market competition and significant change in the current business environment.
Whilst we have succeeded in adjusting to the new market context, we recognise that the company needs to move through this transition phase and create new and profitable growth in future. We therefore continue to focus on critical business drivers, such as maintaining and developing relationships with our distributors, service delivery and growing the group and individual protection markets.
As part of this strategy, in early 2007 Unum launched WorkMatters, a new range of insurance-related services, covering both assessment and occupational rehabilitation training programmes. This is a key initiative for Unum and one that they expect to reinforce their position as a market leader in disability insurance through 2007 and beyond.
For more information please visit www.unum.co.uk.
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