Digital bill would spark North West media mergers

Extract taken from Crain's Manchester Business

A wave of mergers would reshape the North West’s media landscape if the government goes ahead with reported plans for a new Digital Economy Bill. The measure, a response to industry lobbying following sharp declines in advertising revenue during the recession, would rewrite the rules on mergers in television, regional newspapers and local radio. The bill, likely to be introduced in the Queen’s Speech this autumn, could enable Trinity Mirror, owner of daily newspapers in Liverpool and weeklies on Merseyside and in Cheshire, to merge with Johnston Press, which controls daily papers in Preston, Wigan and Blackpool and weeklies in Lancashire. The bill would also make it much easier for Gannett, the US-based newspaper publisher, to dispose of its UK subsidiary Newsquest, which owns daily papers in Blackburn and Bolton and weeklies throughout Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Cheshire. Media watchers also expect UTV Radio, which owns Warrington’s Wire FM, to be a possible merger partner for radio group Bauer, owner of Key 103 in Manchester. The government has not commented publicly, but Andy Burnham, culture secretary and Leigh MP, is said to have told media companies privately to expect new legislation.

Revenues up 33 per cent at NCC Group

Extract taken from Crain's Manchester Business

Manchester-based IT security business NCC Group Plc (LSE: NCC) today reported a 33 per cent rise in revenues in the first ten months of its current financial year. On a like-for-like basis, sales were up 20 per cent, excluding some recently acquired businesses, and the company said that “all divisions continued to see good growth”. In an interim management statement, NCC said it was on track to deliver expected levels of profit and cash generation. The market has been expecting good news, with the shares rising from 300p to 320.25p since Tuesday’s opening. Group escrow solutions grew revenues by 18 per cent with renewals forecast to be £13.6m for the financial year to May 31, slightly down on last November’s figure of £13.8m. Growth in UK escrow is up to 4 per cent from 1 per cent last November. NCC said UK termination rates have marginally increased to almost 12 per cent, but it said the board believes this to be a temporary increase rather than a longer term trend. By the end of May, NCC expects to take full control of its escrow franchise operation in Switzerland where currently it owns 24 per cent. In the assurance testing division, where NCC hacks clients’ systems to find weaknesses, revenues are up 50 per cent, of which 28 per cent is from organic growth. The order book for ethical security testing stands at £6.6m, the same level as last November. NCC said it had identified “good opportunities” to supply its existing range of security testing services worldwide, in particular through NGS, which it acquired last November, in the US and Australia. It has promoted Roger Rawlinson to managing director of its assurance division. He will be responsible for both the assurance and consultancy operations, where there is increasing overlap between the group's activities, particularly in security work. NCC said that in June it would switch further resources from its non-core consulting activities to information security.

IT firm gets government-backed loan to boost telecoms sales

Extract taken from Crain's Manchester Business

Northwich-based Concise IT will use a £50,000 Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme loan to boost sales at a new arm of the business. The company recently acquired Wilmslow-based business telephony provider Takeda Technology after it went into administration and have now re-launched it as Concise Telecoms. The new working capital facility from NatWest will support sales and marketing initiatives. Concise IT, set up 15 years ago by husband and wife David & Nadine Southern, provides IT support services, disaster recovery solutions and the design, implementation and installation of business networks. David Southern, managing director, said: “The EFG loan allows us to look at various cross sales initiatives between Concise IT and Concise Telecoms.” Takeda supplied business telephone systems, contact centre solutions and mobile voice and data. Its 15 employees have now transferred to Concise, taking the group’s workforce to 50. Concise expects its turnover to rise to £4.2m this year from £2.9m in 2008. Under EFG, designed to ensure that smaller businesses can access finance for growth, the government guarantees 75 per cent of any loans made, with the bank covering the remaining 25 per cent.