Young solicitors in the North Hampshire area will soon have the opportunity to network with their peers. On the 10th January 2008, the groups formerly known as the Trainee Solicitor Group and the Young Solicitor Group merged to create the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD). Membership is now available to trainee solicitors as well as solicitors, legal executives, paralegals and licensed conveyancers with less than five years’ legal experience or qualification.
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Marshal integrates Cloudmark Technology to Augment its leading Anti-Spam Engine and Provide Even Faster and More Consistent Spam Detection.
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Basingstoke based RFI Global Services will be exhibiting at the Mobile World Congress on the 11th - 14th February 2008 in Barcelona. You can visit them in Hall 1 on stand 1B49.

If you are attending, they invite you to visit them to discuss your certification and approval requirements and how they can provide an efficient, cost effective way to meet your communication needs.

Once the world’s most dangerous racing driver, Jody Scheckter has reinvented himself as a pioneering organic farmer.

Vincent Graff from the Guardian visits Scheckter’s remarkable conversion at Laverstoke Park for an interview about his organic farming business.

Read more in the Guardian Website.

Kingfisher Housing Association (a member of the Wessex Housing Partnership) have completed the purchase of two adjoining office buildings at the top of Sarum Hill in Basingstoke, for use as their new headquarters in the town.

Sarum Gate and Deane House have been vacant for a number of years, offering a total of 17,400 sq ft and 71 car spaces. Although vacant, the buildings have been income producing for the respective landlords as a result of the previous tenant having been committed to a leasehold obligation until December 2011.

In a tripartite deal, Basingstoke surveyors Baker Davidson Thomas, acting on behalf of Kingfisher, agreed purchase prices with the two landlords and negotiated a surrender premium from the tenant, allowing the latter to walk away from further commitment, and Kingfisher to inherit vacant possession. They have already commenced work on site involving an extensive refurbishment of both buildings. A move from their current property in Winchester Road is anticipated towards the end of September this year.

Richard Thomas at BDT commented:

This acquisition sees the successful conclusion of a year long project. Kingfisher were very specific about their requirements for freehold offices in a town centre location. Combining the two meant that we had to dig beneath the surface to establish the availability of buildings which weren’t readily available, at least not on freehold terms.

Brian Hutchison, the Chief Executive of the Wessex Housing Partnership added:

We are really pleased to have bought Sarum Gate and Deane House in central Basingstoke within only 100m of our existing offices. As a rapidly expanding business, Kingfisher and Wessex have outgrown our existing building and moving to this new headquarters will allow our expansion to continue and enable our residents and other customers to retain their easy access to us together with providing staff with an excellent and convenient working environment.

Purchase prices and surrender premiums remain confidential. London Clancy represented the outgoing tenant.

Basingstoke Web Agency, The Escape, have announced a free seminar for March, entitled “How to Formulate An Effective Website Strategy“.

The free web seminar takes place in Basingstoke on 27th March 2008 and is aimed at marketing people interested in increasing their knowledge about how to get the most from their websites by establishing a realistic web strategy, covering:

• How to set your Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
• How to identify and filter your target audience
• Ways to use your current marketing experience to optimise your online sales process
• How to design an effective website structure
• Establish traffic funnel(s) to deliver results

Craig Killick, Managing Director of The Escape, said:

Marketing a business online, either through a website or with e-mail, is not only cost-effective but when done correctly can have a real impact on a companies marketing.

This particular seminar covers how to establish the best way to do this in the first place. Unfortunately many companies miss out this planning stage, leaving disappointment when their websites don’t deliver. This seminar will help people stop that from happening.

You can visit The Escape website for more details and registration on the web seminar.

Tuesday 22 January - North Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry Lunch
12.15 - 14.00

With the environment becoming an increasingly important issue, why not go along to Chineham Park and learn more about the Energy Efficiency Solutions available to SME’s with a guest speaker from CEN (Creative Environment Networks).

Discover how MEPC Chineham Park is developing the next generation of buildings that address the sustainability agenda.

Venue: MEPC South 60, Crockford Lane Chineham Park Basingstoke RG24 8QZ

Contact: Marian Bennett 01256 352275

Visit the NHCCI website for more information

Basingstoke-based Game Group this morning reported like-for-like sales for the UK and Ireland up by 30.3 per cent in the 6 week period ended on 12 January, on international like-for-like sales up 35.4 per cent.

Like-for-like sales in the 50 week period ended 12 January were up by 41.7 per cent.

Game said its customer demographics are changing, with more women and mature gamers buying products than ever before.

The current range and quality of products in the market is unprecedented. We are confident that consumer demand for our products will remain strong as we approach the March anniversary of the launch of the Sony PS3, and that the supply of the Nintendo Wii and DS Lite consoles will continue to improve.

via Retail Bulletin

GAME Group, the Basingstoke based PC and video game retailer, is set to smash profit expectations after a surge in demand for Nintendo DS and Wii games.

The company announced that sales continued to soar since it last updated the market on 11 December, when it reported a 44 per cent surge in like-for-like sales.

Game said it now expected pre-tax profits before one-off costs to be at least £70 million for the year to the end of January, more than double the £29.5m reported the previous year.

The results will benefit from the recent acquisition of Gamestation. Game Group added 333 new stores to its portfolio in 2007, including 217 acquired through its takeover of Gamestation, bringing its total number of outlets to 1,150.

(ref. Scotsman)