news Shareleague Thames Valley Presented by in association with Business T H E M A G A Z I N E


RWS, the Chalfont St Peter-based company that is recognised as one of the world’s leading patent translation and search companies, was the most successful group in the Thames Valley when it came to pleasing investors about its share price during March.


In its trading update for the half year to March the RWS board said it was encouraged by strong trading and expects revenues to increase by at least 10% to £32.4 million from £29.4m in the comparable prior year period.


Having fully hedged its euro and dollar trading exposure for the current financial year, the company anticipates profits for the first half to be comfortably on course to deliver market expectations for the year as a whole. The shares rose 16% during the month.


One of the region’s most successful medium-sized companies was Interserve, the Twyford-based support services and construction group, which reported a strong second-half performance within its annual results for 2010. It said there were significant opportunities for growth in a number of markets both in the UK and internationally and, as anticipated, reported a 32% improvement on first-half headline pre-tax profit


During March the group won a multi-million, three-year contract to clean William Hill’s entire betting shop estate – the largest in the country – and also secured a three-year maintenance contract to support UK operations at a main air base in the Middle East.


Large (over £1 billion) Closing price


BRITISH SKY BCAST.GROUP HALMA SHIRE


BG GROUP


SERCO GROUP SPECTRIS


ELECTROCOMP. CENTRICA


ICTL.HTLS.GP. CABLE & WIRELESS WWD.


28/02/11 787


336.5 1741


1496.5 544.5 1394 276.4 340.1 1368 71.85


Closing price 31/03/11 825


350.5 1811 1551 558


1363 267.3 325.3 1278 52.45


Medium (£250 million to £1 billion) Closing price


ELEMENTIS


ASHTEAD GROUP INTERSERVE


OXFORD INSTRUMENTS VITEC GROUP SHANKS GROUP MCBRIDE


XP POWER (DI) AVIS EUROPE DIXONS RETAIL


28/02/11 125.5 171.4


239.75 615 545 115 144


1790 207


19.38 RWS HOLDINGS


PINEWOOD SHEPPERTON ACAL


ALBEMARLE & BOND HDG. KEWILL


GAME GROUP ANITE


OXFORD BIOMEDICA


AEA TECHNOLOGY GROUP HMV GROUP


28/02/11 350 143


328.25 303.38 93 61 68


6.63 5.03


20.75


Sub £50 million Closing price


LATHAM(JAMES) ECKOH


CLINICAL COMPUTING SOPHEON PROLOGIC ANGLE


BEZANT RESOURCES PIPEHAWK


MILESTONE GROUP MBL GROUP


28/02/11 218.5 7.12 1.75 9.25 53.5 27 50


2.63 1


41 THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MAY 2011


Closing price 31/03/11 152.1 198.4


275.25 700


600.5 114.1


142.25 1750 188.7 12.57


Small (£50 million to £250 million) Closing price


Closing price 31/03/11 406


160.5 342


308.5 94


56.5


61.75 5.83 4.23


15.25


Closing price 31/03/11 251.5 7.75 1.88 9.63 55


23.25 41


2.13 0.63 14


Change in share price 4.8% 4.2% 4.0% 3.6% 2.5% -2.2% -3.3% -4.4% -6.6%


-27.0%


Change in share price 21.2% 15.8% 14.8% 13.8% 10.2% -0.8% -1.2% -2.2% -8.8%


-35.1%


Change in share price 16.0% 12.2% 4.2% 1.7% 1.1% -7.4% -9.2%


-12.1% -15.9% -26.5%


Change in share price 15.1% 8.8% 7.4% 4.1% 2.8%


-13.9% -18.0% -19.0% -37.0% -65.9%


People in focus What’s new from April


i EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATES Default Retirement Age (DRA)


Any employer would have found it hard to ignore the changes to the DRA which have been discussed in length over the past few months. Well, the chance to benefit from the transitional provisions has now passed so if you have not already issued your notices of intended retirements then you are too late!


Requiring employees to retire at a set age will now be discriminatory on the basis of age ... but there is an exception if you can demonstrate that compulsory retirement is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.


In practice, it is likely to be difficult to justify a fixed retirement age and it is something that would require careful consideration and consultation with legal advisers.


The most practical way to resolve the issue is to encourage a culture change within the business and have workplace discussions with individuals aged 65 and over. In many cases employees may still wish to retire at 65 (or before) and where there is a desire to stay the employer should hold discussions with the employee to manage expectations on both sides.


Employers should avoid the temptation to hijack another reason for dismissal as a substitution for retirement as employees will not accept sudden performance management issues or proposed redundancies in an effort to enforce their retirement when they reach 65. Effort must be made to check that managers are well informed on the implications of age discrimination claims and that older employees are treated the same as anyone else. This is particularly important given that losses in a claim could stretch well beyond the age of 65 as the retirement date is now unknown.


What else has changed?


• Any eligible fathers of babies born after April 3, 2011 will enjoy the benefits of extra paternity leave under the Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010.


• The option to positively discriminate in relation to recruitment and promotion


are now in force, allowing an employer to recruit or promote underrepresented groups when faced with two candidates of equal qualification.


• From April 2011 statutory maternity pay increased to £128.73 and the job seeker’s allowance increased to £81.60 per week.


• Also from April 6, 2011 employers must deduct full tax from the applicable rate for any payment made for compensation of loss of employment, such as in a compromise agreement. The actual tax paid is the same but it is now deducted at source rather than in tax returns from the employee.


Looking ahead


• Despite increased paternity leave now being available the Government has launched a consultation on further extensions to maternity and paternity rules that include shared parenting with both parents being at home to care for the child. Nothing has been decided yet and consultation is expected to be lengthy but watch this space!


• It has been announced that the Bribery Act will now come into force on July 1, 2011 and the Agency Regulations on October 1, 2011.


• The Government has also announced a wide ranging consultation on the employment tribunal system including raising the qualifying period for unfair dismissal to two years, introducing compulsory pre-claim conciliation through ACAS, charging claimants to start claims and even forcing employers who lose at tribunal to pay a fine of up to £5,000 to the Government.


Details: David Blomfield dblomfield@boyesturner.com 0118-9527224


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www.businessmag.co.uk


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