When it comes to playing follow the leader mining group has the better strategy than pharma company ©Reuters If you’ve ever envied folks absorbed in puzzle magazines as you sit shuffling board papers on the train, here’s your chance to join in the fun with Lombard’s inaugural governance teaser: Problem:
A Kent tyre company has been sentenced for safety failings after 21-year-old Matthew Hoare, from Canterbury was killed when a tyre exploded. Canterbury Crown Court heard how Matthew, an employee of Watling Tyre Service Limited of Kent, was repairing a puncture to the tyre of a ‘dresser loading shovel’ when
A round-up of some of the week’s most significant corporate events and news stories. Ikea issues US’s biggest furniture recall ©AFP Ikea this week issued the US’s biggest furniture recall. The Swedish group’s recall of 29m chests of drawers came after three children died as a result of its furniture
Speaking to Construction News, the housebuilder’s chief executive Alan Brown said the group’s strategy was “to grow the business to over £1bn by 2020”. “We have the infrastructure in place to deliver that, both the products, the people and the land,” he said. The group posted a 15 per cent
Barratt Developments in Scotland, a housebuilder that includes Barratt and David Wilson Homes, has received a five out of five star rating in the new Home Builders Federation (HBF) customer satisfaction survey for 2018. Being rated as a five star company means that more than 90% of its customer would
A recent regulatory change in licensing requirements could lead to delays in large and small construction projects across Scotland if businesses are not aware of it. From January 1st this year, construction projects larger than four hectares or longer than 5 km are obliged to obtain a ‘Complex License’. The
Saint-Gobain, the world leader in the habitat and construction markets, is celebrating its one year anniversary of partnership with children’s charity Barnardo’s, for which it has raised more than £200,000 over the year. Saint-Gobain’s charity programme brings together employees, customers and suppliers across the company’s 36 businesses to fundraise for
Metsä Wood is pleased to announce that a graduate architecture design studio called ‘Mass Timber Mid Rise’ at the Department of Architecture at MIT is contributing to the Open Source Wood initiative – the pioneering open innovation project aimed at facilitating knowledge sharing and growth in modular wood construction. “At
FlexiSolar, the innovative solar carport specialist based near Cambridge, has today announced details of its growing operations team; recruited to design, develop, install and maintain integrated large scale solar carport solutions at sites across the country. Backed by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, FlexiSolar formally entered the market in
The construction industry’s charity CRASH was called upon to help Emmaus Village Carlton, a charity in Bedfordshire that provides employment and social enterprise opportunities for former homeless people, make its customers feel welcome from the very moment they step onsite. ACO’s award winning ground reinforcement system was then chosen for
When it comes to playing follow the leader mining group has the better strategy than pharma company ©Reuters If you’ve ever envied folks absorbed in puzzle magazines as you sit shuffling board papers on the train, here’s your chance to join in the fun with Lombard’s inaugural governance teaser: Problem: Sir Andrew Witty and Sam Walsh are chief executives. Sir Andrew is 51. He started eight years ago. Shares in his company, GSK, are higher but have lagged behind the pharma industry by 64 per cent. Sam is 66. He started three years ago. Shares in his company, Rio Tinto are lower but by less than the mining sector. Sir Andrew will retire in one year and has no nominated successor. Sam will retire in three months in favour of Jean-Sébastien Jacques. Jean-Sébastien knows a lot about copper mining. He is French, a fashionable nationality for FTSE 100 bosses. Sam collects milk jugs. Sir Andrew collects money. He got £6.6m last year. Everyone loves Sam, a grandfatherly Aussie. Sir Andrew is charismatic, and, inevitably, witty. But not everyone loves him. His non-fans include China, a country with 1.4bn inhabitants. In 2014, China fined GSK almost $500m for bribing doctors. Neil Woodford, a powerful fund manager, has said for some time that Sir Andrew should do something else. Perhaps he could collect milk jugs too? Sam could show him the ropes. Perhaps GSK could sell its consumer division for £17bn to a company that knows about that sort of thing? Question: On a scale of one to 10, how well have GSK and Rio handled their succession? Answer: Rio Tinto gets eight. This is how it is supposed to happen. The transition is short, which makes it less destabilising. The successor looks credible. He comes from inside Rio, but isn’t a lifer. So he should bring fresh perspectives to the job. At 44 he’s much younger than Sam, so won’t be exposed to speculation about how much longer he’s got. Sam stabilised Rio during the commodities crash. Jean-Sébastien has a chance to expand judiciously at a time when asset prices are low. GSK gets a score of five. Sir Andrew’s retirement deadline is too long. It suggests foot-dragging in the face of shareholder pressure. He has no named successor. This might create a power vacuum. The succession process has become semi-public. Candidates such as finance director Simon Dingemans are more likely to feel embarrassed and leave if they don’t get the job. GSK can improve its score by anointing a successor swiftly and trimming Sir Andrew’s tenure. Otherwise, his leave taking threatens to be as extended as that of a Wagnerian tenor who says he’s dying, then lies on stage like a beached whale for three hours singing about it. jonathan.guthrie@ft.com Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link
A Kent tyre company has been sentenced for safety failings after 21-year-old Matthew Hoare, from Canterbury was killed when a tyre exploded. Canterbury Crown Court heard how Matthew, an employee of Watling Tyre Service Limited of Kent, was repairing a puncture to the tyre of a ‘dresser loading shovel’ when it exploded. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Matthew was working on his own with inadequate work equipment which was not properly maintained. He was not trained or competent to undertake the work he was told to complete. After the hearing, HSE Principal Inspector Mike Walters said: “Employees need to be provided with properly maintained equipment and the correct equipment to undertake tasks whilst out on site. Employees also need to be trained and competent in the tasks they were asked to undertake.” Watling Tyre Service Limited pleaded guilty, at a previous hearing on 29 January 2016, to breaches of Section 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 were today fined £1 million and ordered to pay costs of £99,485. For more information about mechanical tyre repair visit: http://www.hse.gov.uk/mvr/mechanical-repair/tyreremoval.htm Notes to Editors: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/ HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk Journalists should approach HSE press office with any queries on regional press releases. Source link
A round-up of some of the week’s most significant corporate events and news stories. Ikea issues US’s biggest furniture recall ©AFP Ikea this week issued the US’s biggest furniture recall. The Swedish group’s recall of 29m chests of drawers came after three children died as a result of its furniture toppling on to them over the past two years, write Lindsay Whipp and Richard Milne. The recall of its Malm drawers and other designs comes amid a push by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to reduce the number of children being killed in furniture and television tip-over accidents in the country, which has reached one every two weeks. Last year, Ikea offered free wall-anchoring kits with many of its chests and dressers, after reports of two deaths. However, subsequently a 22-month-old child died in February after an Ikea chest fell and crushed him. The chest had not been secured to the wall. “We have no information of any tip-over incidents with a properly anchored chest of drawers,” Ikea said. “This is why we are committed to raising awareness among consumers of the tip-over risks and how to prevent them.” Ikea added that there would be a financial impact, including the “significant investment” it was making in its campaign to educate consumers about preventing tip-overs, but not a lasting one. The CPSC said that in addition to the deaths, there have been reports of 41 incidents of Ikea Malm chests tipping over, resulting in 17 injuries, all to children aged between 19 months and 10-years-old. In addition, there have been reports of 41 incidents of other Ikea chests toppling over since 1989, with 19 injuries and three deaths, according to the CPSC. BHS pushes Goldman into client review A top Goldman Sachs executive has conceded that the US investment bank’s reputation had not been enhanced by its involvement in BHS, a corporate failure that has cost 11,000 UK jobs, writes Mark Vandevelde. Goldman provided informal — and unpaid — advice to the retail tycoon Sir Philip Green ahead of the sale of the now collapsed department store chain to the former bankrupt Dominic Chappell. Michael Sherwood, co-head of Goldman in Europe, said the group was now reviewing whether to keep Sir Philip as a client, adding: “The frequency with which we review clients will be looked at again.” Sir Philip has insisted that Goldman’s observations helped to persuade him to sell BHS to Mr Chappell for £1 last year. “If they had said, ‘Don’t deal with this guy’, that would have been the end of it,” he told MPs earlier this month. “But that is not the advice that we got.” However, Mr Sherwood said on Wednesday: “I absolutely do not accept blame. He [Mr Chappell] never passed our sniff test. All we highlighted was observations about the risks around Mr Chappell and the transaction.” Mr Sherwood was brought up in north London a few miles from Sir Philip and has stayed close to the billionaire since the two worked together on a failed takeover bid for the retailer Marks and Spencer more than a decade ago. But Mr Sherwood said the bank had received very little money from Sir Philip since the 2004 M&S bid, describing any fees it had charged as “de minimis”. Two European banks fail US stress tests ©Bloomberg Two European bank subsidiaries failed US “stress tests” this week — but shareholders in the biggest Wall Street institutions were given a clean bill of health, allowing them to pay up to $96bn to shareholders, writes Alistair Gray. In the second and final round of the Federal Reserve’s annual evaluation, which checks the banks’ ability to cope with catastrophic shocks, the US subsidiary of Banco Santander failed for a third consecutive year, while Deutsche Bank’s US unit fell short for a second. Both were judged to have “broad and substantial weaknesses” in their capital planning, and were rebuked for making insufficient progress since the last round of tests in March 2015. In addition, Morgan Stanley was given notice that it needed to improve its internal systems, or risk having its payouts to shareholders blocked. But the other 30 banks under scrutiny passed without conditions, and were given the green light to go ahead with dividend and share buyback plans. According to estimates from RBC Capital Markets, these will return 16 per cent more capital to investors than was the case a year ago — about $96bn in total. Passing the Fed’s stress tests was welcome news for investors in Bank of America and Citigroup — institutions that have struggled with the process in recent years. They were among several to confirm their capital return plans shortly after the Fed published its results. Gerard Cassidy at RBC said Citigroup was set to distribute $10.4bn in dividends and buybacks, Bank of America $8bn, and JPMorgan Chase $17.4bn — each up more than half from a year ago. News of these plans lifted Citi’s shares by 2 per cent, Bank of America’s by 1.4 per cent and JPMorgan’s by 0.9 per cent in after-hours trading on Wednesday. However, Morgan Stanley’s test result added to concerns raised by analysts after the first round. In the Fed’s “severely adverse” scenario, it stood to lose up to 45 per cent of its equity capital as a proportion of risk-weighted assets. VW’s costly scandal ©Getty A car undergoes standard emissions testing in laboratory conditions in Germany Volkswagen, US environment authorities and more than 44 states agreed this week to the largest car-related consumer class settlement in history, writes Patrick McGee. The $15.3bn package is meant to punish the carmaker for equipping half a million diesel engine cars with software to cheat official emissions tests. The agreement, which needs court approval later this month, will see VW set aside $10bn so that it can offer owners of the cars between $5,100 and $10,000, and then also buy back or fix them. Volkswagen will be in a position to shave billions off that figure if
Speaking to Construction News, the housebuilder’s chief executive Alan Brown said the group’s strategy was “to grow the business to over £1bn by 2020”. “We have the infrastructure in place to deliver that, both the products, the people and the land,” he said. The group posted a 15 per cent increase in turnover in its full-year results, with group revenue of £587.1m for the year to 30 June 2016, up from £511.6m a year earlier. Pre-tax profit also jumped by 18 per cent to £60.1m in its latest results, up from £50.9m over the same period. Mr Brown added that his firm had seen “no impact” on the business since the June EU referendum, and praised Theresa May’s new government for its recent moves to boost housebuilding. Business secretary Sajid Javid yesterday announced a £3bn Home Builders Fund and a £2bn ‘Accelerated Construction’ scheme to speed up the construction of housing on brownfield land, which Mr Brown said he supported. “Since 2010, the government has recognised we have a significant housing shortage, and that we need to do something about it,” he said. ”We’ve seen positive changes since then, and what I’m particularly pleased about is that since Theresa May became prime minister, if anything [the government]’s desire to solve the housing crisis has increased.” The group, which focuses on Scotland, the Midlands and the South of England, has increased completions by 16 per cent in the last year, with 1,151 homes completed in the year to 30 June 2016, up from 993 a year earlier. It has also added 30 sites to its porfolio in the financial year, which are projected to deliver nearly 2,700 homes in the near-term. Cala saw gross margins from housing fall to 21.8 per cent from 23.5 per cent in its previous results, with a particular impact from changes to stamp duty hitting some of the firm’s luxury developments. It also saw a slowdown in one of its core Scottish markets in Aberdeen, where house prices are continuing to fall due to the economic impacts of falling oil prices. The group added that it had seen “a noticeable increase” in the number of outline planning approvals granted, and has now acquired land with planning permission for 3,078 homes across 34 sites, with a gross development value of £1bn. Source link
Barratt Developments in Scotland, a housebuilder that includes Barratt and David Wilson Homes, has received a five out of five star rating in the new Home Builders Federation (HBF) customer satisfaction survey for 2018. Being rated as a five star company means that more than 90% of its customer would recommend the homes to a friend. Currently, Barratt is the only major national housebuilder to have received a five star rating for nine years in a row. In addition to this celebratory reason, Barratt Homes is also looking forward to its 60th anniversary this year. This high customer satisfaction is the result of the housebuilder’s commitment to building high quality homes and creating great places, as well as its focus on looking after customers, particularly post sale. “The fact that 90% of our customers would recommend us to a friend is testament to the effort we invest to make sure our customers enjoy the best possible experience when buying a Barratt or David Wilson Home. Being independently rated as a 5 star builder is a great endorsement of our approach, particularly as we the only major national housebuilder to have 5 stars for 9 years in a row. To us this is the most important industry award which is why we put so much effort into building high quality homes and nurturing trusted relationships with our customers,” said Douglas McLeod, regional managing director for Barratt Developments in Scotland. The HBF survey is one of the largest surveys of this type, with almost 40,000 people completing it. The simple 1-5 star rating system was developed to give customers an easy to view ranking system of which housebuilders have the most satisfied customers. “Achieving high levels of customer satisfaction is hugely challenging. It requires leadership from Board level downwards and commitment from all areas of a housebuilding business and is a credit to every member of staff. A 5 star rating is not easy to achieve and is a very positive endorsement of the processes, systems and culture in place and should provide customers with real confidence in Barratt and the homes they build,” said Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation.
A recent regulatory change in licensing requirements could lead to delays in large and small construction projects across Scotland if businesses are not aware of it. From January 1st this year, construction projects larger than four hectares or longer than 5 km are obliged to obtain a ‘Complex License’. The same licence requirements apply to sites with ground of more than one hectare or length greater than 500 metres with a slope in excess of 25 degrees. The more immediate concern however, is that the licence approval from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) can take up to four months and the work must not commence before the approval. “As outlined in these regulations, projects are now obliged to apply for a complex licence, should they meet the criteria. They will have to compile information regarding surface water movement, the volumes of surface flow and discharge points, what will be used to treat the water and agree water quality standards that will be achieved. All this information is required before they can even apply for a licence,” said Simon Knott, managing director of environmental consultancy Naturally Compliant. “Then there will be months of waiting to see if the application is successful. According to the information seen, not a spade can be turned until the licence application is successful. My concern is that many firms are unaware of just how great an impact the new regime could have on their programming. We are also waiting to see how developers react to the changes and whether they will apply for the licence prior to awarding contracts,” he added. The licence requires a named person or company responsible for securing compliance to the licence and then a Pollution Prevention Plan will have to be agreed with SEPA as part of the licence, while the cost of application will be between £1000 and £2000. “Construction professionals need to be aware now of the cost and time implications this could have for their companies and they should seek expert guidance to help mitigate the more damaging potential effects,” concluded Simon Knott.
Saint-Gobain, the world leader in the habitat and construction markets, is celebrating its one year anniversary of partnership with children’s charity Barnardo’s, for which it has raised more than £200,000 over the year. Saint-Gobain’s charity programme brings together employees, customers and suppliers across the company’s 36 businesses to fundraise for the chosen charity. “Our funds are being focussed on two critical areas: firstly, we’re building on our commitment to training to develop a new training academy in London together with a range of construction based training programmes to give young people valuable skills to help build better performing homes. Secondly, we are funding the construction of new transitional homes for young people leaving care – using know-how and combined solutions from more than 20 of our brands to create comfortable, high-performance homes,” said Richard Batley, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and HR for Saint-Gobain UK and Ireland. Tara Honeywell, Head of Corporate Partnerships for Barnardo’s, also commented on the outcome of this partnership: “The money raised by Saint-Gobain will really make a difference to transform the lives of the vulnerable children and young people we work with. This could not have happened without the dedication, hard work and commitment demonstrated by the Saint-Gobain brands. We look forward to building on this momentum in year two and seeing the impact of such an important partnership.” If you would like to donate towards Saint-Gobain/Barnardo’s projects please visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/saintgobainbarnardostogether or if you would like to see how the partnership has gone so far, you can click on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0u5NKPiigs. Saint-Gobain in the UK and Ireland includes some of the best-known and respected companies in the construction sector including: British Gypsum, Jewson, Graham, Weber, Isover, Glassolutions, Saint-Gobain PAM, and Ecophon. Together they offer a range of high performance energy-saving products and solutions to help create great living places and improve daily life.
Metsä Wood is pleased to announce that a graduate architecture design studio called ‘Mass Timber Mid Rise’ at the Department of Architecture at MIT is contributing to the Open Source Wood initiative – the pioneering open innovation project aimed at facilitating knowledge sharing and growth in modular wood construction. “At a moment when many coastal US cities face the challenges of urbanization, innovating and so testing ideas for green urban hybrid housing is more essential than ever. Our MTMR studio explores new models of mid-rise affordable housing utilizing mass-timber technologies and Metsä Wood’s Open Source Wood initiative provides us valuable insight into wood construction and prefabrication technologies”, says Professor Andrew Scott of MIT Architecture. The Open Source Wood initiative aims to speed up the growth of modular wood construction by making wood element designs freely available for all. Only a fraction of urban construction today is wood, partly because knowledge and expertise in wood construction have been difficult to find. Open Source Wood gathers innovations in modular wood construction from all corners of the world and makes them available for all, free of charge. “We are excited to work with the design studio at MIT Architecture and I look forward to what we can achieve together”, says Mikko Saavalainen, SVP Business Development Metsä Wood. The MIT group participates today in an Open Source Wood Hackathon in Finland together with Metsä Wood and students from Aalto University. Learn more about Open Source Wood and how you can participate: www.metsawood.com/opensourcewood
FlexiSolar, the innovative solar carport specialist based near Cambridge, has today announced details of its growing operations team; recruited to design, develop, install and maintain integrated large scale solar carport solutions at sites across the country. Backed by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, FlexiSolar formally entered the market in 2017 as a design, manufacturing, installation and operations company specialising in the integration of solar panels, electric vehicle charging points and carports. Innovate UK has backed FlexiSolar as part of its focus on driving the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy. FlexiSolar’s delivery is led by Operations Director, Keenan Gratrick, who as well as being a seasoned electrical engineer qualified to 11KVa, brings over 10 years’ experience specialising in the renewable energy sector; overseeing the installation of circa 800 MW of Solar PV. In his career, Keenan has been responsible for setting up commercial operations and solar park maintenance departments using market leading renewable technologies across the UK and overseas. The Operations and Maintenance team has grown fast in light of the high level of projects awarded to FlexiSolar so far this year. The department has also been working hard to gain maintenance contracts on existing Solar Plants; as part of its objective to grow their portfolio of maintained sites. Electrical and Automation Design Engineer, Piervanni Fois, joined FlexiSolar having gained over 12 years’ experience as a designer and consultant within several organisations and independently. Piervanni has developed detailed designs of electrical power networks, protection and control systems for industrial and commercial buildings, as well as wind and solar farms including applications for control and PLC systems, and software development. He developed his professional profile with a keen interest in renewable energy systems, solar generation, smart grids and energy storage including EV charging. Construction Manager, Andrew Edwards, has over 10 years’ experience within the Solar PV industry, with a proven track record in delivering multiple and complex projects on time and within budgets. With a passion for clean energy and a strong interest in pioneering energy storage deployment in the UK, Andrew was previously at Belectric Solar Ltd, where he dealt with rooftop solar installations and was responsible for a number of ground mount projects, ranging from 3.8 MW to 126 MW. In total Andrew has dealt with the installation of 88 solar parks. Site Manager, Ashley Wass, joins FlexiSolar from Morrison Utilities, where he gained experience in civil engineering, emergency water work repairs, whilst authorising method statements and risk assessments, and supervising multiple projects. Ashley has been in the Solar PV industry for over 4 years and has dealt with a number of ground mounted installations. The Operations & Maintenance team is supported by Project Co-ordinator, Rachel Wareing, who works to ensure the effective and efficient administration of all projects. Rachel has a technical background, having spent 12 years in the RAF as an aircraft mechanic, with a strong skillset also gained from a number of years in the NHS, managing 160 properties used for accommodation for staff and patients’ families. Speaking about the recently expanded operations team, Robert Carpenter, Managing Director of FlexiSolar said “Our large scale solar carports offer a significant opportunity to generate and harness energy at source. The level of complexity and understanding in the design and installation of these solutions is of paramount importance and needs clear expertise behind it; which is exactly what we have put in place with the FlexiSolar operations team. The growing team is focussed on developing intricate, bespoke solar carport systems for our clients, from concept to completion.” FlexiSolar’s expert sales team were also introduced earlier this year and are working with organisations and local authorities across the country to discuss their large scale solar carport requirements.
The construction industry’s charity CRASH was called upon to help Emmaus Village Carlton, a charity in Bedfordshire that provides employment and social enterprise opportunities for former homeless people, make its customers feel welcome from the very moment they step onsite. ACO’s award winning ground reinforcement system was then chosen for car park improvement works. CRASH and Emmaus Village Carlton have been working together on a number of projects over the years. Previous to this collaboration, the old building was so cold that Companions (residents) had to work in their coats, gloves and hats and customers used to complain about it. The next job that followed the improvement of the internal facilities was the development of the parking space. In order to create more spaces, a grass lawn area was designed for the new car park. ACO Water Management donated £9,000 worth of its lightweight ground reinforcement system, GroundGuard. The permeable gravel-filled system is over 90% porous and delivers a highly efficient rate of surface water run-off. This was a key consideration, given the fact the car park was to be built over a piece of grassland. The sustainable benefits of GroundGuard were a huge selling point, as not only is the system environmentally friendly, but it is also cost-effective as it eliminates the expense of having to install a supplementary drainage system. In addition, GroundGuard is quick and easy to install, which ensured that the project was going to be completed in the specified five week timeframe. The system holds the gravel in place and helps keep the maintenance down to a minimum. Overall, it has delivered on all aspects of the project and the parking area is now safe, clean and aesthetically pleasing. The 250 sqm car park is located just a short distance away from the bistro and will help relieve the current pressure on the main car park, which can become very busy at lunchtimes during the week.