Industry news

Japanese based Hitachi has announced plans to move its global rail business to the UK as part of a planned expansion programme.

The expansion programme is hoped to increase revenues from €2 billion to €3 billion and increase the workforce to 4,000 workers from the 2,500 currently employed.

The move by the Japanese manufacturer places the company in proximity to its main competitors such as German based Siemens.

The announcement follows Hitachi’s success in winning a £1.2 billion contract to build next generational inter-city trains in north-east England.

Capgemini wins SAP contract from Hitachi Rail Europe

3.2 million SMEs are collaborating with one another in order to fuel growth, with focus on outsourcing marketing & sales according to new research.

The research released by CitySprint, as annual report ‘Collaborate UK’ revealed that 3.2 million small and medium businesses are pooling their resources and outsourcing in order to achieve greater growth.

In particular the research found that SMEs are looking to bring in marketing and sales support and are working together in order to win new business.

The report is based on the opinions of over 1,000 SMEs across UK, and also shows that:

• A net 11% looking to hire but 49% still in ‘survival’ mode

• Familiar barriers of red tape (16%), limited access to talent (15%) and finance (13%) hindering growth

• 1m looking abroad for opportunities

• Nearly a third (29%) feel more prepared to take on bigger competitors for new business

Professor Robert Blackburn, Director, Small Business Research Centre, Kingston University, said: "SMEs turned to each other to maximise efficiency and output during the downturn and are now starting to collaborate in different ways. This includes a focus on bringing in support for functions which will help them grow their reach and market share, perhaps even into related activities and new geographical territories.”

China has entered talks to buy more than 150 Airbus jets worth £12 billion.

Sources speaking to Reuters revealed that the deal would form part of the visit by Chinese president Xi Jinping to Europe at the end of March.

The deal is expected to involve the purchase of A330 craft and include talks surrounding the creation of Airbus’s second major factory in the country, which is ranked as the fastest growing aviation market on the planet.

The talks are also expected to ease relations between the EU and China following a cooling in trade relationships following environmental policies.

Airbus announce record 2013 sales

BAE and Airbus owner EADS merge

George Osborne’s latest budget continues and builds on the governments support of small and medium sized businesses.

In the budget announcement in the commons the chancellor detailed how SME support programmes would be built upon, as the government seeks to support SME growth and their contribution to the economy.

Mr Osborne announced that the budget will increase tax credits for SMEs involved with research and development while operating at a loss, with tax credits set to increase from 11 to 14.5 per cent in April.

The move to provide subsidies to SMEs involved in R&D comes as the new budget seeks to increase UK innovation

Genevieve Moore, a tax partner at London Chartered Accountants Blick Rothenberg LLP, said: “The way the R&D tax relief works for SME’s means the real cash impact will be an increase in the repayment due to the SME from 24.75p to 32.63p for every £1 spent on qualifying R&D.

Peter Grant, CEO, CloudApps, said: “With the business rate discounts that the Chancellor has announced today, SMBs have been given the chance to pursue growth. Receiving these benefits means that companies are able to focus on improving their own workforce and invest time and money in driving innovation internally."

Autumn Statement pushes continued austerity

The Chancellor George Osborne detailed the success of the UK’s austerity programme while moving to increase SME support and encourage outside investment in today’s budget announcement.

The budget announcement along with statistics from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) highlighting the success of the Chancellors overall economic programme measures, included announcements of tax reliefs for small and medium businesses, support for the manufacturing sector and social programmes in preparation for next year’s elections.

Future predictions from the OBR highlighted continued recovery from deficit, with a predicted surplus of £5 billion by 2018-19, but the Chancellor warned that while the new budget is designed to build on growth, their was need for continued caution and austerity, with the OBR warning of future of uncertainty.

Annual budget policies included:

1: Business tax cuts with corporation tax reduced to 21 per cent.

2. Increased funding for businesses working in UK sciences and technology including funding for big data.

3. Manufacturing subsidies including £140 million in funding to be made available for flooding damages and infrastructure repairs, with £200 million being made available for for local infrastructure projects including pot-hole repairs.

4. Development of housing projects including £150 million to be made available for the right to buy housing scheme along with housing construction programs.

5. Polices aimed at highlighting links to Scotland including tax breaks for North Sea Oil & Gas.

6. Plans to support export growth, which the OBR expects to double, backed by increased funding and reduced taxes.

7. Social policies including the removal of inheritance tax for emergency services personal that die in the line of duty.

8. Stamp Duty changes designed to prevent avoidance abuse and loopholes.

9. The introduction of a new £1 coin to reduce current high levels of fraud impacting the old coinage.

Chancellors budget continues government SME support

Capita has succeeded in winning a bid for a five year contract to create a deliver an online contact centre for supermarket chain John Lewis.

The contract is valued at £93.5 million and will see the development of a digital service designed to provide integrated services to customers, both online and in store and help to fuel the companies continued success from online sales.

The new contract replaces the incumbent supplier Teleperformance with the switchover scheduled to occur over the next few months, with 500 employees moving under TUPE from Teleperformance to Capita under the contract.

The online site will be based in Glasgow, where Capita currently have 5,000 employees situated, with expectations of expansion over the contracts lifecycle to an additional 2,000 extra employees.

Andy Parker, Capita chief executive said: "Capita has extensive experience of working with household names from across the private sector, including major retailers. We appreciate the importance of becoming fully immersed in a company's brand values to ensure that customer experience is at the heart of service delivery."

John Lewis reports massive surge over Christmas period

Atos has signed a five year contract with IT provider Kelway, which will see the provision of datacentre and framework services alongside support services.

The contract is believed to be worth around £150 million over the five year period is expected to deliver significant efficiency savings.

Phil Doye, CEO of Kelway, said: “We’re continuing to impress leading global brands with our comprehensive range of solutions and services. Working with Atos will provide another opportunity to help a successful organisation achieve competitive advantage with the right technology.”

Atos to manage personal data removal

Atos moves to exit disability assessment after death threats

The Department of Work and Pensions has moves to end its jobs website known as Universal Jobmatch, after the site became too expensive to operate.

According to documents seen by the Guardia n, the DWP will likely move to end the service after two years when the contract comes to an end.

The website has also been plagued by a host of fake job listings including parody MI6 listings and drug courier positions for the mafia. Fake postings also included scams aimed at DWP users which asked for money for criminal checks or sought to gain details for identity fraud.

Labour MP Frank Field when investigating the site said that it was: “bedevilled with fraud”.

DWP consults suppliers over procurement plan

DWP defends Universal Credit IT

IBM has been selected to provide outsourced services to the Adani Group, with the contract representing one of the largest outsourcing deals seen in the Indian It market in recent years.

IBM has been competing against other enterprise level competitors including HP and Wipro for the contract, which is valued at around $200 million. The deal for delivery of IT services is expected to be closed within a two week period.

IBM already has a strong history of contract success in the Indian marketplace, with the American based group investing heavily in securing business in the domestic IT market.

IBM acquires analytics firm for network monitoring

IBM factory workers strike over Lenovo purchase

Morrisons has revealed a series of new IT programmes designed to reverse the supermarket fortunes after it revealed pre-tax losses of £176 million.

The supermarket said that the IT programmes were necessary to in order to transform an antiquated legacy IT infrastructure into a 21st century service capable of handling customer and business demands.

Morrisons’ chairman Sir Ian Gibson, said: “we do not yet have a meaningful presence in online and convenience - the two fastest growing channels in the grocery market - have clearly held us back, and the overall performance of our core business has been disappointing.”

Sir Gibson identified that the supermarket was hoping to drive businesses by developing loyalty programmes and personalised couponing with new IT programmes, with digital capabilities such as these haven proven to be highly successful in other organisations.

IT upgrade trips up Morrisons

Limited online presence impacts Morrisons