Secure email and Internet gateway security provider Marshal, with head offices in Basingstoke, has today announced the appointment of Helmut Haslbeck as Director of Central and Eastern Europe. The move is designed to accelerate Marshal’s expansion into the rapidly growing Eastern European market. Haslbeck, who joined Marshal last year as Director of Central Europe, will now also drive sales growth in the Eastern European region.

“We see a great market opportunity for our content security solutions in this region and wanted to increase our local presence. The Eastern European market is still growing rapidly and we intend to establish our company as the leading vendor in this market”

says Michael Clifford, VP Sales EMEA at Marshal.

“Helmut Haslbeck brings extensive sales experience and a comprehensive knowledge of the security market in Central and Eastern Europe. He will be a vital asset to the business as we continue to expand our footprint in the region”

Leading disability insurer Unum, based in Basingstoke, has been named ‘Rehabilitation Provider of the Year’ at the 2007 Rehabilitation First Awards, which were held on 13th July 2007 at the Kensington Roof Gardens in London.

The judges gave particular praise to Unum’s account management processes, which they cited as a major factor in the decision to hand them the award.

Joy Reymond, Head of Rehabilitation Services at Unum, says:

When it comes to protecting against the impact of long-term employee sickness absence, no business can afford to take shortcuts. Sickness absence can play havoc with any company’s bottom line, regardless of their size and, moreover, can have devastating effects on the morale and productivity of all the company’s employees.

For many years, Unum has been supporting employers and their staff during these often traumatic times, helping them to safeguard one of their most valuable resources. Our in-house team of experts provide crucial rehabilitation support, absence management and disability guidance to facilitate a safe and timely return to work for their staff. We are absolutely delighted to see our hard work recognised in this way.

Basingstoke real estate advisers, Vail Williams LLP, has successfully disposed of Units 5 & 6 at the IO Centre in Basingstoke, on behalf of client’s Teesland iDG.

The IO Centre is a new development of Grade A industrial accommodation, prominently located on Brunel Road within the established Houndmills Industrial Estate.  Units 5 & 6 were the last 2 remaining units to be disposed of by the developer, comprising 3,734 & 4,709 sq ft respectively.

Forelle Estates Limited, a local investor/developer based in Poole, has acquired Unit 5 for £400,000 and Unit 6 for £500,000, reflecting capital values of circa £106 per sq ft.

Russell Miller, of Vail Williams’ investment team said,

Our client has successfully developed a prime industrial estate within a major south east town and have now met their objective to dispose of all of the units just one year after practical completion.  Forelle Estates are confident that tenants can be found for these units over the coming months and are equally pleased to have been able to secure this investment opportunity.

Craig Killick and Robert Jones, founders of local design and web agency The Escape, will be pedaling hard next week as they aim to raise £4,000 for Action Medical Research cycling from London to Paris.

The four-day challenge sets off from London and will cover 300 miles as the pair head towards Newhaven, then across from Normandy to Paris, finishing alongside the Eiffel Tower the day before the finish of the world famous Tour de France.

The pair set up The Escape in Basingstoke in 1998 and this is their third cycling challenge as “Team Escape”. Craig commented:

We’ve have been involved with charity cycle rides before but only up to 55 miles in one go. This ride is four solid days of 60-90 mile rides so should be very tough.

It’s for a great cause though and our friends, families and business colleagues have been very generous and we feel confident we will reach our target.

You can find out more about the cycling challenge and Action Medical Research Charity on their website at www.teamescape.co.uk.

Robert Jones (left) and Craig Killick (right) - Team Escape.

Basingstoke-based Scott Wilson Group plc, the international consultancy offering integrated professional services in the transportation, property, environment and natural resources sectors, announced this morning that it has reached a conditional agreement to acquire the business of McLay Collier LLP for a goodwill payment of £2.7m. The acquisition is expected to be completed on 25th July 2007.

McLay Collier operates in the property sector in Central Scotland. It was formed from two well-known local partnerships in 1992 and has a track record in housing, retail, health, education and industrial sub-sectors providing services in structural engineering. Based in Glasgow McLay Collier employs 30 technical staff and four Partners.

Geoff French, Chairman of Scott Wilson commented:

I am delighted to announce today that we have acquired McLay Collier LLP. The acquisition is a further step in line with our stated strategy to complement organic growth and will also help to balance the sector portfolio of our Scotland & Ireland Division. McLay Collier bring new resources and experience to meet the Group’s growing demand and will enhance our reputation in the property sector in Central Scotland.

This follows a year of growth for Scott Wilson as they also release their preliminary figures for the year ending April 29th 2007, with the following highlights:

• Record results, on an adjusted basis, lead to 5 successive years of double-digit revenue growth
• Strong organic revenue growth of 18%
• Full year dividend 10% higher than indicated at the time of the IPO reflecting the strength of the Group’s performance
• Four acquisitions completed during the year - all successfully integrated and performing above management expectations
• Gross pension deficit significantly reduced to £12.4m in 2007: (2006: £33.6m)
• 2007/8 off to a good start with a record order book of £257m and two major contract wins: Greece Central Motorway Concession (fees of £13m) and Three Counties Alliance (fees of £8m).
• Two acquisitions since the year end. DCL Consulting Engineers Limited, a building services consultancy based in the South West of England for a total potential consideration of £1.1m and McLay Collier, a property structural engineering consultancy based in Glasgow, announced today for a goodwill payment of £2.7m.

These results demonstrate the Group’s ability to take advantage of the buoyant trading conditions that currently exist in our key markets. The broad range of consultancy services that we have established across multiple sectors has increased our competitive edge and enabled Scott Wilson to achieve annual double-digit organic growth once again.

During the year, we expanded our capability through selective acquisitions, all of which have been successfully integrated into the Group. I am delighted that we have been able to announce a further acquisition today. The broader scope that we now have, together with our improved margins and record order book, means that the Board remains confident in its ability to deliver our strategic objectives and to continue to enhance shareholder value.

In rain-soaked June, the weather was relatively kind on the evening that Marylyn Abbott, owner of historical West Green House in Hartley Wintney, opened up her beautiful gardens to the North-Hampshire Women In Business Group.

The rain held off long enough for Ms Abbott to provide an insightful talk and walkabout on the latest development to her gardens. Marylyn is a keen supporter of sustainable agriculture and works with the Slow Food movement to help keep traditional ways of making food, like cheese and oils, alive. In keeping with her beliefs, Marylyn experiments every year with different ideas and a theme dedicated to growing a variety of plants, flowers, fruit and vegetables in a portion of her garden.

This year’s project is ‘Gardening with Dracula’! and Marylyn devoted her talk to the inspiration she gained whilst visiting Transylvania last year which gave her the ideas for her current theme.

Sue Brown, President of the WIBG, pictured left with Marylyn Abbott in her gardens at West Green House, Hartley Wintney.

Sue Brown, President of The North-Hampshire Women In Business Group, said,

“Thank you so much to Marylyn for, yet again, providing a truly wonderful evening that has certainly brightened up these wet June days we’re presently having! This is the 4th year that Marylyn has opened up her Gardens for us and this event always proves extremely popular with our members, all of whom gain inspiration for their own gardens!”

West Green Gardens opens annually: Easter to 30 September. Wednesday through to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays from 11.00am until 4.30pm (last entry).

The former general manager of Motorola UK, Jim Michel, returned to the business this week after pulling out of a senior role at 20:20.

He told Mobile Magazine he was glad to return to the Basingstoke business adding:

“Motorola is looking to change direction in the way it works with the UK market.”

Michel spent two months in the top UK slot at Motorola, before setting his sights on a senior role at 20:20. Although he was recruited as business development director, the departure of 20:20 MD Peter Hubbard had paved the way for Michel to take on that role instead.

Michel added: ‘Mark Ryan and Matt Moulding [20:20’s bosses] have been very good about the whole thing.’

Motorola is looking to rebuild its position in the UK after a difficult year when the manufacturer has lost ground both in terms of market share and margins. The delayed Z8 is one of a series of new devices that the company hopes will restore its fortunes in the UK contract handset market, as its senior managers pledge to work more closely with their UK retail and operator customers.

Ref. Mobile Magazine.

Agreements for closer links with China and possible inward investment have been promised to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council following a fact-finding visit by a delegation from the Chinese Embassy.

Possible twinning links and an invitation to the Embassy to sign up to working in partnership to promote the area to Chinese businesses were among the successes of the visit to the borough this week (5 July).

The visit was a major coup for Basingstoke and Deane and came after links were made between the council and the embassy during the visit in May of HRH the Duke of York, who is the UK’s special representative for international trade, to meet senior management and staff of Huawei Technologies in Basingstoke.

Representatives of Huawei Technologies, which has its European headquarters in Basingstoke, also helped to host the visit which showcased the business benefits of the town. The China business advisor for UK Trade and Investment South East also attended.

Creating a learning campus, bringing together further and higher education on one site in the borough with links to national and international universities and offering training to support the needs of local employers, was among the topics for discussion during the whistlestop visit. Plans for the regeneration of Basing View to breathe new life into the commercial heart of the town were also unveiled to the visitors.

The party saw an award-winning borough business in action, with a trip to Vitacress. They stopped off in the Chineham Business Park to learn about how the borough has some of the best value commercial rental rates in the south east.

There was also a close up on how the borough is nurturing young technological talent with a tour of the art and technical block at Queen Mary’s College, where there was a presentation by the young enterprise team from Costello Technology College.

The council’s Cabinet Member for Economic and Educational Development Cllr Andrew Finney said:

“This was a fantastic opportunity for the area to show that we are an economic powerhouse in the south east.

“A report to the South East Development Agency called us a virtual gateway to the global economy and we are determined to capitalise on this potential to bring real benefits to the borough. Building international links like these is one of the ways we can help to ensure the future prosperity of the borough. The visitors from the Chinese Embassy were very interested in the borough and impressed by what they saw. The visit was a real success and forged a partnership to raise interest from Chinese investors in the future.

“We hope to help any local firms wishing to establish links with China and the embassy are keen to support such links”

Front row: The Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane Cllr Warwick Lovegrove greets the delegation from the Chinese Embassy (from left to right): Lu Zhouxiang, Jiang Fan, Li Minghui and Hui Liu. Middle row: The council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development Cllr Andrew Finney; Enterprise, Skills and Learning Manager Elizabeth Verner; Huawei Technologies Business Strategy Director Dr Qing Xuan; Huawei Technologies Event Manager Tingting Li; translator Siew Kee Garcia from Sherfield School; the council’s Policy & Partnerships Co-Ordinator (Information) Geoff Gosling and the council’s Deputy Chief Executive Tony Curtis Back row: Translator Graham Bond and UK Trade and Investment China Business Adviser Chris Lowsley

Lu Zhouxiang from the Chinese Embassy, the council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development Cllr Andrew Finney and Jiang Fan from the Chinese Embassy, on a tour of Vitacress led by Production Manager Tanya Mew

WorkMatters, a Unum Group company, has launched the Absence Tracker service, as part of its new initiative to help manage workplace absence because of illness, disability or injury, reports the Basingstoke based business.

The cost of staff absence to the UK economy rose to £13.4 billion in 2006, with over 40% of overall time lost attributable to longer periods of absence of 20 days or more. The average employee took around seven days off sick in 2006, losing UK businesses 175 million working days in total. Though some of the worst performing organisations lost 12 days per employee, the best performing organisations only lost 2.7 days per employee. ¹

The significant differences in employee absence amongst organisations demonstrate how important the management of workplace absence is for an organisation’s productivity. These findings are backed up by a recent sickness absence survey from Unum which asked employees in full-time work, whether they thought that they or their colleagues would have fewer sick days if there was a stricter reporting procedure in place - almost a third thought it would. ²

With this in mind, WorkMatters has developed the Absence Tracker solution. Absence Tracker provides the first point of contact for all absent employees. It is based on an intelligent software solution that enables individuals to contact a dedicated absence line and provide details of their absence. The employee’s details are captured, recorded and depending on the cause or duration of the absence, an email/ text notification will be passed onto the line manager immediately. This process leaves a clear audit trail for both employee and employer and delivers a low cost consistent approach to managing absence across a whole organisation.

Absence Tracker also facilitates analysis of absenteeism across the business to give a better understanding of the causes of absenteeism, the regional or divisional hotspots and the real impact it is having on an organisation.

Commenting on Absence Tracker, Wojciech Dochan, Head of Commercial Marketing at Unum said:

Employee absence is a growing challenge for employers and hits their bottom line. Employers who have more formal absence reporting and management can reduce levels of absence and improve productivity.

The Absence Tracker service provides employers and employees with a simple, efficient system of reporting and tackling absence. The audit trail enables employers to determine trends and patterns of absenteeism; track the impact of employee absence, promote the adoption of early intervention and programmes that help employees back to work.

To find out more about WorkMatter’s Absence Tracker solution, please visit: www.unumworkmatters.co.uk