2 Business Argus


Finding it difficult to sell your property?


HOMEStaging has arrived in Newport with start-up Tick Tock Interiors. Selling a house can be a tough challenge in today’s market and that’swhere ‘home staging’ can help. Staged homes sell for an average of 10 per cent more – and quicker - so it’s a no brainer that engaging a stager pays off. Jo Chinery, the entrepre-


neur and designer behind Tick Tock, is focused on the needs of home sellers in South EastWales, and is also obsessed with great interior design. Jo,who previously


worked for the BBC, said: “I’ve had great support from the local Centre for Business and would encourage anyone consid- ering self-employment to pick up the phone to them.I renovated houses for family and friends and was told I should do this for a living. It’s a great feeling to provide that fresh pair of eyes to help solve a problem and to help peoplemove on.”


Contact us...


Editorial Jo Barnes Special features editor


Tel: 01633 777240 email: jo.barnes@ gwent-wales.co.uk


Advertising Graham Harris Senior Field Sales Executive


Tel: 01633 777135 email: graham.harris@ gwent-wales.co.uk


Samantha Taylor Media Consultant


Tel: 01633 777147 Email: Samantha.tay- lor@gwent-wales.co.uk


southwalesargus.co.uk/ business


By Jo Barnes 01633 777240 jba@gwent-wales.co.uk Twitter @SWABusiness


SUNDAY sawthe clocks go forward, meaning we get more sunlight at the end of the day. Gwent business people have


been telling uswhat they think of the twice-yearly time change andwhat it means for their business.


James Pugh,


of County Industrial Supplies, Cwmbran


I THINK it is quite overdue to re-look at the clocks chang- ing. I did a quick bit of research and the idea of sin- gle/double summertime (SDST) system means that we will get an extra hour in the evenings in summer, so the sun will rise later and set later. This, however, is for personal gain and I have never seen it have any effect on business, although if they don’t come in with a smile on their face they have to go in the stores and count all the fastenings.


Clive


Thomas, man- aging partner atWatkins& Gunn


Solicitors


I THINK the clocks changing on Sunday will be beneficial for most businesses—it’s not just golfers and the barbecue industrywhich benefit from extra daylight! It can have a real effect on energy. Bywhich I don’t just mean people using less elec- tric. I mean that people are energised by getting up for work in the sunlight and knowing they have longer evenings post-work to enjoy recreational activities. This translates to a happy and more motivated workforce, which is always a good thing for your business.


Gerald


Davies, execu- tive chairman, Kymin, Newport


THEoriginal reason for changing the clocks, we were told, was that if we didn’t it would still be dark in Inverness at 11 o’clock in the morning. Iamwondering, therefore,whether we should wait for the result of the ref- erendum on Scottish inde- pendence before making any decision. If they vote to go their own way, then presuma- bly they can be in their own little time zone. As for the


Tuesday, April 1, 2014 The big question...


current arrangements, they are merely an inconvenience but will obviously affect some businesses. As an aside, I often go to Madeira in January/February. Because it is quite a long way west of us, though in the same time zone, it is darker in the morn- ing but light until seven in the evening.


Terry Edgell, executive director, Premier Forest Products, Newport


THEclocks going forward an hour to introduce British Summer Timemakes a big difference to the working day and pro- vides a big lift for our staff. Coming to work in the dark


and going home in the dark can be soul destroying, and there’s a noticeable shift when the clocks change and you not only arrive for work in daylight but leave for home at the end of the day with the sun in your face and the prospect of being able to spend some quality time in the garden, at the park or even on the beach.Wouldn’t it just be great to be able to do that every day? But, of course, that would mean hav- ing to emigrate!


JohnNewell,


owner, Kingston Newell Estate Agents, Newport


THEclocks going forward is good formy


business because the lighter evenings enable us to book in more viewings in the late afternoon and early evening at the time of the yearwhen the housing market is at its most active.


Joanna Ingles, licensed con- veyancer in the Newport office of Howells Solicitors


THEextra hours of daylight in the evenings allows house sellers to do any DIY required to their houses in the evening before putting them on the market, and house buyers oftenmake the most of the additional day- light to view properties they


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have seen online for themselves after work. I think there is a general feelgood factor associ- ated with the longer evenings.


Gareth Jones, director, Audere Medical Services Limited, Usk


THEactual time change means that our engi- neers have to manually reset some of the medical decontam- ination equipment we work on in the different hospitals around the country, but apart from that it doesn’t really affect us.


Personally, the additional day-


light hours in the evening allowsmeto get out and about in the evening going for a run in the Usk countryside,which isn’t a bad thing at all.


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