finance 23 Line your NEST with pensions advice


Companies across the UK are being urged to line their NESTs – that’s the National Employment Savings Trust, a state-led pension scheme – ready for this year’s phased introduction of mandatory qualifying pension schemes for all employees. But are employers ready for pension reform? Chris Duggan of Griffins takes a closer look


In the UK today, just 8% of employers currently offer workplace pension schemes; that’s only 100,000 out of 1.3 million businesses. As a result of the government’s pension reforms, more than a million UK businesses will have to offer new qualifying pension schemes to their employees. And companies that already offer a scheme will need to review their existing arrangements to ensure compliance with the new rules.


Thankfully, the introduction of contributory pension schemes is being phased in to give smaller businesses more time to comply with the regulations. But like it or not, contributory qualifying workplace pension schemes will become compulsory for all employers – even those with a single employee – over the next four years.


Unfortunately for most small- medium businesses, implementing


a workplace pension scheme – whether this is NEST or an occupational scheme – takes time and expertise that often isn’t available in-house. Administration costs and the crisscrosses of red tape will hamper many businesses seeking to meet the new pension reform requirements.


Many businesses will want to take independent advice in order to select the best scheme for them, to ensure that they comply with the rules and to communicate this significant new benefit to their employees. However, under the new rules, being compliant is not just about choosing the right scheme. Ensuring that staff are enrolled into the scheme at the right times, and that the contribution levels are correct, is an on-going task. That’s why we’re helping businesses to tackle pension reform by providing access to both expertise and technology.


We are introducing an innovative web-based platform to simplify the administration of workplace pensions, and employee benefits schemes. Bro@dcast is an advanced system previously only available to larger companies, which keeps details of each employee’s benefits packages online in an easily accessible but secure format. The web platform minimises the need for administration, making it a particularly cost-effective solution for those companies that don’t have HR expertise in-house.


Additionally, our team of independent financial advisers can help to review existing schemes and processes, and ensure compliance with the new pensions regulations efficiently and cost-effectively. We offer group presentations and one- to-one training to help businesses and employees to understand the value of their benefits packages.


Griffins’ new employee benefits manager, Dion Prideaux-Reynolds, is heading up our benefits consultancy. Prideaux-Reynolds has a particular interest in pension and benefits provision, and has almost 30 years of experience in the financial sector.


If you need any assistance regarding any matters above, contact Chris Duggan.


Details: Chris Duggan 0118-9235020 c.duggan@griffins.co.uk www.griffins.co.uk


deals Project Owen


Completion Date: 25/05/2012 Target: CloserStill Holdings and Closer2 Investments Acquirer: Newco funded by Phoenix Equity Partners Deal Value: £25 million +


Details: Deloitte LLP acted as lead adviser and supplied tax structuring advice to NVM Private Equity and management as shareholders of CloserStill Holdings (CSH) and Closer2 Investments (C2, together ‘the CS Group’) on the sale of their interests to a Newco funded by Phoenix Equity Partners


Funding: Phoenix Equity Partners


Corporate Financial Advisers: Ian Barton and Mark Kennedy, Deloitte Legal Advisers: Kerman & Co LLP


Micropoint sold to IP Integration


Transcend Corporate Finance has advised the shareholder of Micropoint Managed Services on its sale to IP Integration.


Reading-based Micropoint, established in 1997, is a leading technology systems integrator, providing technology-based business solutions, service and support.


IP Integration, also headquartered in Reading, is a unified communications specialist with specific expertise in contact centre, computer telephony integration and voice, data and video connectivity.


Ian Aldridge led the transaction for Transcend. THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JULY/AUGUST 2012 Ferns acquires Passion for Coffee


Ferns Coffee, one of the oldest coffee roasters in the UK and headquartered in Basingstoke, has acquired Passion for Coffee, a southern-based coffee company with traditional roots across the hospitality sector.


Passion for Coffee’s customers will now be able to enjoy the wider range of blends, coffee machines, and service that Ferns can offer, with synergies between the two business set to accelerate Ferns Coffee’s own foothold across the South of England.


The acquisition is part of an ambitious investment programme by Ferns Coffee that has seen it double its business in the past 18 months, with an eye on taking the company back to its glory days of the 1970s.


Chief executive Justin Slawson said that the acquisition of Passion for Coffee is the start of a bigger programme that will position Ferns Coffee as a major, national provider


of coffee solutions to the hospitality sector: “There is a gap in the market for a specialist coffee provider that can offer premium blends for catering establishments that put simply, enable them to compete with the high street through offering a signature blend. We do this through taking a quality raw product and roasting on the premises to produce a unique result. Passion for Coffee’s customer base, which includes pubs, cafes and the MOD/Naval contract in Portsmouth, strongly complements our existing business and the service offered will be seamless, yet broader and more extensive than ever before.”


The acquisition comes on the back of Ferns’ recent launch of its new and exclusive blend of premium coffee for catering establishments, SASSETTA. It also follows a recent rebrand and substantial investment into new equipment at its roasting premises in Basingstoke.


www.businessmag.co.uk


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