news Mabey Bridge seals first offshore renewables contract
Chepstow-based Mabey Bridge, which opened its £38m wind turbine tower factory in May 2011, has sealed its first offshore renewables contract. The deal with Fugro Seacore will see a
46m-long, 2.5m-diameter, 170-tonne monopile manufactured and delivered to E.ON. It will to be used as the foundation for a met mast for the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm, which is proposed 13km from the nearest point offshore in Sussex, south east England. Manufacturing of the monopile and topside
is already underway at Mabey Bridge’s bespoke Chepstow-based manufacturing facility. A monopile is a can-rolled steel tube
embedded in the seabed which provides the foundation for the topside structure above sea level. In this case, a met mast will sit on top of the monopile. Met masts analyse weather and wind
patterns, to allow wind farm evelopers such as E.ON to design the optimum layout for offshore wind farms. Fugro Seacore was attracted by Mabey
Bridge’s status as one of the UK’s only indigenous producers of wind turbine towers. David Buzzard, project manager of Fugro
Seacore, said: “We have been really impressed by what we have seen from Mabey Bridge since we started talking to them. The company’s
facility in South Wales is impressive and they are clearly delivering in what is a new market place for them. We had no hesitation in awarding this contract to Mabey Bridge.” Alex Smale, UK director of Mabey Bridge,
said: “We’re transferring over the skills we have developed in manufacturing high- specification wind turbine towers to similar structures such as monopiles and we are delighted that Fugro Seacore has demonstrated faith in our abilities. “This is engineering on a grand scale, just
like our worldwide bridge-building business whose heritage stretches back more than 160 years.”
Record turnover twice in a row
Newport-based leading UK multi-regional recruitment and training company Acorn has reported a second successive increase in turnover – to a record £94m. The Acorn Group earnings also played a significant role in boosting
parent company Synergie’s revenue for 2011 to record levels, returning sales for the year of Û1.44bn – an increase of 16.9 per cent. Matt Southall, group managing director of Acorn, which has its
headquarters at the Celtic Springs Business Park in Newport, said: “We are delighted that here in the UK the Acorn Group, including our subsidiaries Concept in the south west of England and Exxell in the South East, are continuing to make a significant and growing contribution to the ongoing achievements of Synergie. “It has proved to be a second successive record-breaking 12 months for
all of us at Acorn which, in what has been an extremely challenging year, and is the result of the tremendous hard work, commitment and care we give to all our customers and partners. “While we look to build on this success and develop our ambitions for
2012 still further, we’ll need to remain as agile, energetic and resourceful as we can to ensure we continue to support our clients as flexibly and competitively as possible.” Daniel Augereau, chairman and managing director of Synergie, said: “In
2011 we exceeded our growth targets and strengthened our position as the sixth largest European recruiter. “In view of the performances of all our business units such as Acorn
here in the UK, Synergie expects to see a new increase of its operational profitability and of its self-financing capacity, which will allow us to consider new acquisitions in 2012.” Acorn was founded in the midst of recession back in 1992, and this
year – also at a time of significant economic challenges – it celebrates its 20th anniversary by continuing to be a key partner for a huge number of businesses and organisations across the UK. Matt said: “We are currently placing around 5,000 people into the
workplace each day and deliver training and development programmes for approximately 1,000 individuals every month. With the number of permanent placements into full-time jobs also on the rise, we hope it will not be long before we see the confidence return to households and businesses, which we hope to see pick up during the second half of this year.”
Top auction house teams up with lender
ANewport-based auction house is the latest to team up with lender Auction Finance Limited to offer faster funding to purchasers. Paul Fosh Auctions is the
biggest auction house in Wales and has eight auctions lined up in 2012 which take place every six weeks in Cardiff. The business recorded sales
of £16.75m in 2011 from 304 lots sold out of the total of 406 offered. It auctions a range of
properties including industrial, residential, industrial, commercial offices, garages and plots of land, on behalf of a range of owners from local authorities to private sellers. Last year, in Wales, £93.5m
was raised at auction coming from 1,217 sales out of 1,633 lots on offer. This agreement with national
lender Auction Finance Limited means that investors can get fundstransferred within 24 hours following completion of a Paul Fosh Auctions sale so they can meet the tighter deadlines under auction rules. Paul Fosh, founder and
managing director of Paul Fosh Auctions, said: “We’d heard good reports from property investors who have used Auction Finance and we’ve wanted to work with the team for a while. “This arrangement gives us a
competitive advantage to enable purchasers to secure funds quickly to get the property they want on the day.
“We’re one of the fastest
growing auction houses in the UK and we’re ambitious for further growth in Wales. Arrangements like this enable us to offer more services to investors.” Scott Hendry, national
development manager of Auction Finance Limited, said: “We’re pleased to be working with Paul and his team. “The most important thing
for property professionals buying at auction is the ability to complete quickly. “Having funds in place
enables better opportunities to be completed so that property professionals can profit from the transaction after redevelopment or securing tenants sooner.” The next Paul Fosh auction
which will be held at the Park Inn Hotel, Circle Way East, Llanedyrn, Cardiff, on Thursday, March 29, starting at 5pm.
Paul Fosh THEbusiness QUARTER 5
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