Business News


HSBC fund backs new school site


A £28m funding deal is helping to transform one of the most historic school sites in the Midlands. The development finance


package, arranged between HSBC and the Warwick Independent Schools Foundation, has enabled the foundation to move King’s High School for Girls to a new purpose- built campus on Myton Road where Warwick School (including Warwick Junior School) and Warwick Preparatory School are already based. The move, which will take three


years to complete, will see the creation of a new main school building, a new shared music building, a new sixth form centre and improvements and extension to the Bridge Sports Centre. Jonathan Lynch, deputy area


director for Corporate Banking at HSBC, said: “This is a significant deal which underpins HSBC’s credentials in the education sector and our appetite to support a broad range of establishments. “We’re thrilled to be supporting


the foundation in the next phase of their growth and we look forward to working with them in developing first class facilities for the school’s pupils.”


Profit warnings point to a weakening economy


Further evidence of the UK’s weakening economy has emerged after five profit warnings were issued by West Midlands businesses in the third quarter of 2017, compared to zero in the previous quarter and two in the same quarter of last year. According to EY’s latest ‘Profit


Warnings’ report, the increase in profit warnings recorded from July to September reflected the unpredictable state of the current economic climate. West Midlands quoted


companies have issued nine profit warnings so far in 2017, the same number of warnings recorded in the first three quarters of 2016. Across the UK, profit warnings


have seen their biggest quarterly rise in almost six years. UK quoted companies issued 75 profit warnings in Q3 2017, significantly above the average levels of warnings (62) for a third quarter and up from the 45 issued in Q2. This high number of profit


warnings exposes a growing divergence between those sectors


Dan Hurd: mixed fortunes for West Midlands companies


of the UK economy more exposed to domestic pressures and those benefiting from growth in overseas markets. Pricing and cost pressures


feature in 25 per cent of all profit warnings so far in 2017, compared with just 16 per cent in 2016. Dan Hurd, associate partner in


EY’s restructuring team in the Midlands, said: “Summer brought mixed fortunes for West Midlands


plcs, with the contrast between accelerating overseas markets and the slowing UK economy increasing. “Many businesses besieged by


pricing pressures before Brexit, are also now feeling the brunt of rising domestic uncertainty and costs. “The rise of profit warnings we’re


seeing in the West Midlands reflects the struggle of some companies caught on the wrong side of economic and digital trends to break free. Companies with a winning formula will continue to thrive, but it’s going to get tougher to keep up.” Among wider UK trends


referenced by the report include a warning that retailers are facing a tightening of the purse strings. FTSE general retailers’ warnings


hit their highest third quarter total since 2008 in Q3 2017 with eight warnings and 31 per cent of the sector warning in the year-to-date. Home improvement retailers make up almost half of retail warnings in the past six months, a warning of falling confidence and increasing pressure on discretionary spend.


22 CHAMBERLINK November 2017


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