The first 10 companies that signed up for the Group were given 1 minute slots to introduce themselves and their companies. The pace was fast, it was fun and there was a real buzz. We then heard from Terry Feegrade of MK Lamps who recently impressed a panel of judges and won through the regional final of the Local Business Accelerators Competition run in conjunction with the MK Citizen. He now goes forward to the national final where Deborah Meaden of Dragon’s Den will take on the role of mentor to the winner. Terry had to pitch his business in a Dragon’s Den scenario to 6 influential people in the business world including a Director of Barclays Bank. Terry will be updating the Group with his progress through to the final later in the year and we all wish him every success. The Group then had the chance to start networking over coffee and some good connections were made.

We are planning to hold the Group meetings regularly, in the large Meeting Room on the first Friday of each month at 8.00 – 9.00 am, however the next meeting is a week early due to the Easter Break. Make a note in your diaries:-

Friday 30th March
Friday 4th May
Friday 1st June

Take an office, studio or workshop at the Milton Keynes Business Centre and bring your number with you. We have the ability to port in any UK landline number, including 0800′s and 0300′s, enabling you to retain your existing advertised numbers. This also means that on outgoing calls we can display your number to the remote destination.

Need to work from a different location but stay in touch with your office?

Free calls between your office and wherever you are in the world. A remote IP phone works in the same way as a desk phone, except that it’s located somewhere else in the country or world. The call between the phone and the office is internal and therefore free. We have phones successfully working in the USA, Mexico, Spain and France. Outgoing calls from the remote phone can display the main office number and you can transfer calls between the phones. It will appear to everybody that you are in the office.

Want to analyse your sales calls?

Free of charge, we can provide you with Telesales Analysis on the outgoing calls from your sales team on a daily or weekly basis. Choose what time of day you wish to receive the EMail showing calls made from each extension. A summary will list each extension and the quantity of calls in columns by duration. See how many calls lasted less than 3 seconds, how many calls lasted 30 minutes. A more detailed list can provide a breakdown of the outgoing numbers called from each extension.

The main options available are:

Angel Investors
High net worth (HNW) or angel investors are a major source of finance for small early-stage businesses. HNW’s are incentivised to make investments by the attractive tax benefits available to them, in particular EIS and the recently announced SEIS.

The Government
The government is active in small company investments and has introduced and part-funded many initiatives in recent years through Capital for Enterprise Limited.

Venture Capital Trusts
The VCT market has a large amount of capital at its disposal and time limits in which its investments must be made so they are very much looking for new opportunities and actively taking stakes in high growth businesses.

For a fuller article in the R3 Association Business Recovery Magazine, written in December 2010 (but still relevant), please click on the link below:
Website Link>>>

Our next topic will cover selling your business.

Neal Judd NA Judd Corporate Finance

We provide company owners, management teams and funders with clear, strategic, corporate finance advice relating to and selling companies, raising finance, mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance consulting. Our motivation is to help our clients to achieve their aims and objectives in a cost effective and pro-active manner. Website Link>>>

The ‘Red Bull Home Run’ will take place from 12.30 pm – 3.00 pm on 10 December.

Very large numbers of visitors are expected on the day as some of the biggest names in Formula One are leading the Home Run.  Red Bull Racing drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber will be driving their Formula One cars along Midsummer Boulevard.  They will be joined by David Coulthard in a Red Bull Nascar, and Red Bull stunt rider Chris Pfeiffer.

People are encouraged to use public transport on event day and additional services are being arranged.  The council’s website has a dedicated event page at www.milton-keyes.gov.uk/redbullhomerun on which the event schedule, and information about public transport and other arrangements will be published as details emerge.

Let that be a warning to others – if you invite us we will come!!!

The configuration of our workshop units make them ideal for many leisure and recreational uses including gyms and fitness centres of all different styles and size, fancy dress hire, sports, theatre and health users.

Existing users find our workshops with their 24/7 access, free car parking, high quality landscaping and high maintenance standard, provide the ideal location from which to develop their business.

Each workshop has a large roller shutter delivery door for easy access.

Lynn Patey-Smith CapitalSpace

Companies occupying the workshops also have use of the on-site meeting rooms, telecommunications and internet access infrastructure and all the facilities associated with a modern business centre. Website Link>>>

Well, if for example, you are doing the March payroll for yourself or your staff and you pay the PAYE at the end of March.  The HMRC will allocate that payment back to February!  This means that they will show you as not having paid March, and the threatening letter will arrive.

For a PAYE payment to be treated as March it needs to be paid between the 6^th-19^th April and similarly for other months. 

This will get messy otherwise, now they intend to charge interest/penalties for not paying on time.

Roger Cladd Trutax

Trutax understand that your lives do not revolve around a tax return and specialise in tax returns, self assessment, investment, tax preparation, return preparation and finance. Website Link>>>

Permettez-moi de vous presenter, the new Peugeot iOn – a fully electric car and my first encounter with such a battery-powered creature. I’ve seen the media hype and indeed politicians looking to score votes by posing next to one but I must admit I knew very little, which meant expectations were rather own-brand than Duracell.

First impressions were surprisingly good; I even gave a modest nod and self-satisfying ‘mmm’. The size is what I’d expect but the rather futuristic and, dare I say, cool design was unexpected. Forget the basic and ‘cosy’ interior, albeit with Bluetooth, USB, CD player and even air con; for me this was all about the ‘electric dream’.

I still find this hard to believe but the iOn can be charged from any socket in your home (EDF will even come and check your wiring as a precaution). It takes six hours to fully charge from a household power supply (similar to an Ipad), but can be charged more quickly by a special unit allowing an 80 per cent charge in 30 minutes. On a ‘full tank’, which can cost just £1.40, you can achieve around 93 miles!

‘How will I ever travel to Dudley and back on that?’ You won’t and you’re not expected to. The iOn is mainly aimed at local government and car-sharing companies. For those that want to improve their CSR; win votes and for the ‘first-to-haves’ amongst us, the iOn ticks the boxes.

What surprised me above anything was the drive. The torque from an electric motor is immediately available for a fast acceleration. Unlike a traditional need go easy on the accelerator to conserve the precious droplets of fuel, there is no need with the iOn. Put your foot down, all you lose is achievable distance, but the feeling of not wasting money puts the fun back into driving.

The iOn is relatively quick and certainly no milk float or golf cart. It has a top speed of 81mph – I managed 80 easily (on a private test track of course, officer) and can easily compete with a small engine car. This was a real glimpse into the future of ‘motoring’ (although I guess they will have to think of a new name for it).

Perception is everything. I had a completely wrong one about electric cars in general, the iOn has changed this. The electric car needs better publicity and media support. This is the future and it’s exciting to be part of it.

Whether you buy one or not, visit Perrys in Bletchley and try the iOn for yourself and make up your own mind about the future of the ‘motorcar’.

C’est tres bon!

Price: £415 per month +VAT (four years); Top speed: 81mph; 0-62mph: 15.9sec; Economy: 93 miles on one charge; CO2: 0g/km at tailpipe; Kerb weight: 1120kg; Engine: Electric motor, 16kWh lithium ion battery pack; Power: 64bhp at 2500rpm; Torque: 133lb ft at 1900-2750rpm; Gearbox: Single-speed.

Leigh Strathearn Perception PR

Leigh founded Perception PR with the concept of delivering real PR results for all clients. Forget the nice fluffy piece in the paper, what is going to really impact a client’s business – that’s what matters to us. Ask any of our clients and that’s what we deliver – without exception. Website Link>>>

Damp is one of the most dangerous enemies in any building but can be overcome by sealing the building to keep the water out.  Pockets of moisture laden air are inevitably created inside the building as a result of cooking, running hot taps and even the inhabitants breathing.  If the moisture becomes trapped mould will flourish and rot will take hold, possibly wrecking the structural timbers in the long term.  The most vulnerable parts of the building are the void below the suspended timber ground floor area.  Under-floor ventilation such as airbricks must be fitted at 1.8m intervals around the bottom and above the sub-floor 150 mm ground level.

Tools required for fitting airbricks

• A bolster
• A club hammer
• Protective goggles
• Protective gloves
• Bricklayers trowel
• Pointing trowel
• Drill fitted with a masonry bit
• Bucket of water
• Something to mix your mortar

How to fit an airbrick

1. Drill out as much of the mortar as possible using a bolster to remove the mortar around the brick
2. Remove brick
3. Replace with an airbrick
4. Mortar the airbrick flush with the wall
5. Repoint the airbrick

Job finished!!!