Well known Basingstoke car dealership, Webbers, has been sold to Harwoods, ending a history of over 100 years at the Top of Town in Basingstoke. Harwoods will continue to run the long running franchise operation at its present site.

The professional teams acting for Winton Webber were Phillips Solicitors and Lane Monnington Welton Chartered Accountants, and they secured a speedy turnaround of the deal in just a month.

Lynda Lawson, business lawyer at Phillips, was able to draw on previous experience with Audi and Aston Martin dealerships and commented:

Today’s business environment moves fast and our task was to complete the sale of the of Webbers company within a very tight timescale. In fact the transaction went smoothly and we were able to complete the transaction only four weeks after Heads of Terms were negotiated and signed.

Mark Lane from LMW assisted with the negotiations and added:

By preparing a full information pack and giving the buyers all necessary information, we were able to secure an acceptable price at our first meeting with Harwoods and the Heads of Terms were signed within 24 hours.

WW Webber Limited of New Road and Southern Road have supplied cars in Basingstoke for more than 100 years after Walter William Webber moved to Basingstoke in the late 19th century as a grocers assistant and then set up a business selling bicycles.

Over the years, as the town of Basingstoke continued to grow and develop, Webbers also moved with the times, although the company remained a family owned business under Winton Webber, Walter William’s great grandson.

Yes, good business people of Basingstoke, we have created a Facebook Group for all you Social Networkers…

The Basingstoke Business Facebook Group. Why not join?

150 business women filled Audley’s Wood Hotel, Basingstoke, for a special commemorative evening to celebrate the North Hampshire Women In Business Group’s 15th Anniversary in September.

During a champagne reception, Sue Brown, President of the Women In Business Group, warmly welcomed guests, who included current and new members and past presidents of the Group. Many companies had donated discount vouchers and business gifts in a ‘goodie-bag’ that was presented to every guest upon arrival.

Sue presented a history of the Group, a non-profit making organisation which began in September 1992 when an affiliation to the North Hampshire Chamber of Commerce was specifically founded to be run by, and for, women to provide a regular forum for business women to meet and network with each other.

This extra special occasion prompted the need for an extra special speaker and Sue was delighted to introduce Barbara Harmer, the only English woman to fly supersonic!During Barbara’s speech, she explained that her career path had begun in a totally different direction. She left school at 15 years to train as a hairdresser. Never in a million supersonic years did she ever dream she would one day be flying the fastest aircraft in the World! She soon realised she wasn’t cut out to be a hairdresser and always sought more. Without the support of the armed forces or a commercial airline, she went under her own steam and, through sheer determination, she put herself through flight training, qualifying in May 1992 as a commercial pilot. That was only the beginning! Barbara found it difficult to get a job, especially as the airlines were not too enthusiastic at employing a woman to fly their planes. She finally got her first job flying for Genair – big bulky aeroplanes that were affectionately termed ‘the sheds’!

Barbara’s career flourished and for a number of years she has been employed by British airways and was fortunate enough to fly Concorde before its demise. Not only that, but she was the first woman pilot to fly the supersonic jet.

Sue thanked Barbara for her inspiring speech, commenting that, against all the odds and prejudice of her profession, Barbara has achieved the highest of accolades.

The evening continued with a grand raffle prize draw, the proceeds of which would be donated to the charity that the WIBG is supporting this year, the Basingstoke Women’s Refuge. Local businesses kindly donated an astonishing amount of raffle prizes, worth in excess of £25,000.

Kathryn Netherway, Chair of the Board of Basingstoke Women’s Refuge, gratefully accepted a cheque for £1,500 from monies raised from the evening’s raffle, plus an additional cheque of £1,400, raised by committee member, Katie Russell of LD Property Management in Basingstoke for sailing across the Atlantic - our very own Ellen MacArthur!

Kathryn thanked the WIBG for nominating the Refuge as their charity this year, saying that the monies will be wisely spent on helping women and their children in the area. Kathryn informed the Group that the Refuge was opened 30 years ago in Basingstoke, being one of the first to be set up in this country. The Refuge has grown to accommodate up to 17 families today at any one time, which is quite large. However, the Refuge receives between 200 and 250 referrals every year and, even with the three houses they now have, are only able to accommodate 35%, which goes to show that there is still a great need for the services that the Refuge provides.

The aim of the Refuge is to provide temporary accommodation to women and children who have been subjected to domestic violence. The Refuge will work with these devastated families to try and empower them to take charge of their own lives and to stop this recurring again.

Women In Business Group’s President, Sue Brown, guest speaker Concorde pilot Barbara Harmer, with former Presidents of the WIBG, Sheila Glyn-Owen and Ann Davies with celebration cake donated to the Basingstoke Women’s Refuge.

Basingstoke based Brackenwood Windows celebrated twenty years of success in Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire by inivting a very special car to an open weekend last week.

Local families were invited to come on down ‘toot sweet’ to see Chitty, the original star from the 1968 motion picture who has amazed and inspired generations of children all over the world. Also known as ‘Gen 11’, Chitty is based on the famous cars of the flamboyant 1920s racing driver, Count Louis Zborowski.

(L-R: Neil Briggs, David Medcraft & Lee Ackroyd from Brackenwood with the famous car)

The Chitty-tastic weekend also saw the appearance of the star car with her original owner and famous member of the cast! Children could watch the original motion picture on wide screen and there were lots of ‘truly scrumptious’ nibbles for the kids. David Medcraft, Managing Director of Brackenwood welcomed local families to the event commenting,

In celebration of our 20th anniversary, we gave the first 10 eager customers the exclusive opportunity to buy any windows at 1987 prices!

You can find out more about Brackenwood on their new website - www.brackenwood.com.

Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY, TSX: SHQ), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company with headquarters in Basingstoke, announces that it has agreed to sell a portfolio of non core products to Almirall for a cash consideration of $213m. The portfolio includes the dermatology products, SOLARAZE® (3% gel diclofenac sodium) and VANIQA® (eflornithine hydrochloride), and six other non-promoted products¹ across a range of indications, which are principally sold by Shire in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Ireland.

The divested products are no longer core to Shire’s strategy of building market leading positions in specialty markets through the development and commercialization of competitive global products with strong intellectual property protection. Shire’s focus is on building its attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), human genetic therapies, gastrointestinal and renal diseases businesses and, with its recent in-licensing of JUVISTA® (human recombinant TGFβ3) from Renovo plc, Shire intends to build a new specialty area of regenerative medicine. Shire’s specialty products are increasingly global in their reach – for example Shire aims to expand its ADHD expertise to markets outside the U.S. within the next two years, with an initial focus on the EU. This product divestment will enable Shire to pursue this strategy in a more concentrated way.

Shire plc Chief Executive, Matthew Emmens comments:

Our strategic focus is clear and our emphasis in the international markets is on developing competitive positions for our global products that meet the needs of the specialist physicians and their patients, in our chosen areas of expertise. Almirall is well positioned to ensure future development and investment in the products we are divesting, which are no longer core to our strategy.

Almirall Chairman and CEO, Dr Jorge Gallardo said

We are very satisfied with this acquisition since it expands our international presence in a critical market like the UK and reinforces our position as one of the key European specialty pharmaceutical companies.

The transaction is contingent on competition clearances and other customary consents. Shire was advised by Rothschild.

Basingstoke law firm, Lamb Brooks solicitors, is going from strength to strength with the appointment of Alton resident, Adrian Owen, as head of its Business Restructuring and Insolvency team. Adrian, who joins from Bond Pearce in Southampton, said:

Basingstoke is a growing business community, and in times of rising interest rates and uncertainty in the lending market it is important that businesses in difficulties take early commercial advice. This has been my specialist area since I qualified in 1990 and that experience is invaluable to the clients I work with.

Adrian, who trained as a solicitor at top City of London firm Freshfields, also spent several years as a senior government lawyer with the Treasury Solicitor’s Department.Adrian has contributed to a number of leading publications and is a Fellow of the Association of Business Recovery Professionals.

David Evans, senior partner at Lamb Brooks and commercial practitioner, in welcoming Adrian to the team said,

Adrian is a great asset for our commercial department. His expertise compliments the services that we already provide and will enable us to advise insolvency practitioners, banks and other business stakeholders on all aspects of restructuring and corporate recovery.

Magellan Duplication based in Basingstoke is making a splash within the music market, they are hitting the social network sites with a music band competition on Facebook.

So if aspiring music bands want to spread the sound of their music and become the next Arctic Monkeys or Klaxons, then to enter simply join the Magellan duplication group on Facebook and post a link to the submitted track, upload it on the Magellan website or send a file of up to 5Mb in size to marketing@magellanworld.com

The next step is to spread the word via social networks. To make votes count anyone voting must add Magellan duplication as a friend on Facebook - so the more friends who get involved the better the chance of winning.

The winner will be selected from the artists who have the most votes during a specified period during December 2007.

The winner will receive 100 professionally produced CDs in jewel cases with printed inserts. The CDs will be printed via thermal re- transfer which is the same quality as any CD you purchase in HMV.

The top 20 entries (based on voting) will appear on a compilation CD which will be sent out to a list of A&R contacts in the UK music industry.

Visit the Magellan website for more information & competition rules on the Magellan music band competition including the prizes.

Basingstoke: Scott Wilson Group plc, an international consultancy offering integrated professional services in the transportation, property, environment and natural resources sectors, is pleased to announce that it has been appointed by the Scottish Borders Council as Engineering Advisor for the Waverley Railway Project.

The value of the contract to Scott Wilson, with the inclusion of call-off services, is expected to be up to £9 million over the duration of the project. Waverley Railway is expected to be opened for service in the Winter of 2011.

The role of Engineering Advisor includes the provision of multi-disciplinary design, requirements definition, reference design and construction supervision and work starts immediately.

The Waverley Railway Project is a 47km rail link from the existing Edinburgh Crossrail scheme at Newcraighall to Tweedbank in the Central Borders and includes seven new stations. The line will serve a combined population approaching 200,000 in the Scottish Borders and Midlothian, two of only three mainland areas in Scotland not currently served by a passenger railway. It will provide an effective public transport link to enable residents of these areas access to important employment, education, health and leisure opportunities.

The Waverley Railway Project is managed by a partnership comprising Scottish Borders Council, Midlothian Council, City of Edinburgh Council and Transport Scotland. As Engineering Advisor, Scott Wilson is one of a number of Specialist Advisors involved in the scheme.

Geoff French, Scott Wilson Chairman, comments,

We are pleased to be awarded this contract win which reaffirms our reputation for delivering major multi-disciplinary rail projects. We look forward to contributing to this project and working closely with the partnership.”

As part of their commitment to growth, Phillips Solicitors are delighted to announce three new appointments.

Phillips, regarded as one of Basingstoke’s leading firms of solicitors, are investing in a successful future by expanding their teams of solicitors.

Kelly-Jean Lees, solicitor specialising in employment law, has joined Gill Brown’s employment law team, adding considerable weight to the commercial arm of Phillips and its business clients.

Melanie Roberts, solicitor specialising in residential and commercial property, strengthens Alex Preshaw’s residential property team at a critical time, with the introduction of Home Information Packs.

Rob Parker, recently qualified solicitor, joins Howard Gardener in the disputes and family law team.

Howard Gardener, senior partner, says

Our most important resource is our people and in order to deliver the very best service to our clients we are investing in new and highly professional people. I am confident that they will enhance the future expansion of our services to our private and business clients.

The State of Qatar has chosen Basingstoke’s De La Rue Identity Systems to supply an integrated end-to-end ePassport solution, providing it with an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) compliant biometric document which includes the latest high security features and is integrated into Qatar’s existing eID scheme.

De La Rue has supplied Qatar’s travel documents for over 15 years. De La Rue’s latest integrated solution incorporates ePassport documents, MIDIS™ document issuing system and the recently launched SIPS™ 500e for automated ePassport personalisation. Used in conjunction with De La Rue’s secure laminate MLIS™, SIPS™ 500e automatically both encodes the chips with the holder’s personal and biometric data and personalises the physical document. Sophisticated tracking and audit control features ensure that the secure laminates and passports are recorded and tracked as the document moves through the system. This provides the reassurance that every passport issued is a unique document, properly assigned to the correct individual.

James Thorburn, Managing Director of De La Rue Identity Systems, commented,

We’re very proud to be working in partnership with the State of Qatar to launch the region’s first ePassport. The new document will enable the Government to offer an enhanced level of service and security to its citizens and visitors, marking a new phase in passport issuing in the Middle East.