Editor: John Arnold. E-mail jarnold@creditman.co.uk
Pat Williams. E-mail pwilliams@creditman.co.uk
Site: Business Credit Management UK
URL: http://www.creditman.co.uk
Issue: Vol 5 Issue 30
Dated: 5 August 2001
Welcome to the Business Credit News UK.
In this weeks edition you will find the following topics.
UKBUSINESS WELCOMES RATE CUT BOOST
Reacting to the Bank of England's decision on Thursday to cut interest rates to 5.00 per cent, Ian Fletcher, Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce said:
"This is fantastic news and will help cushion the UK impact of the global slowdown. The Bank of England has sent a clear signal that it is not prepared to allow the global slowdown strike any deeper into our domestic economy.
“With global recession not yet off the agenda, this pre-emptive quarter point cut will help boost business confidence and provide some relief to our hard-pressed manufacturers.
“To ensure growth remains on track, the Bank should remain vigilant to the risks threatening the UK economy and be ready to cut rates further if conditions worsen.”
The British Chambers’ most recent analysis of UK business performance, covering over 8000 UK businesses showed UK firms suffered their worst period of economic activity for over two years last quarter, with recession closing in on manufacturing and the service sector losing its grip on growth.
The British Chambers quarterly economic survey, established since 1985, regularly features in the Bank of England’s Quarterly Inflation Report and is a key barometer used by the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee in their interest rate deliberations.
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) represents, through a quality assured, UK network of Accredited Chambers of Commerce, more than 135,000 businesses in all sectors of the economy, and of all sizes. Accredited Chambers seek to represent the interests and support the competitiveness and growth of all businesses in their communities and regions.
CBI WELCOMES RATE CUT
The cut in interest rates was applauded by the CBI because it will help stave off the effects of the world economic downtown.
CBI Deputy Director-General John Cridland said: "Even though consumer spending remains robust, the cut was justified because of the impact of the global slowdown. This is driving pressures on manufacturing that are significant enough on their own to justify the reduction.
"Because the inflationary outlook remains benign, there was no need to wait for a slowdown in consumer spending. Indeed, further rate cuts will be needed, should the slowdown spread to the consumer sector."
TIME FOR INDEPENDENT TV AND FILM COMPANIES TO SHARPEN UP THEIR BALANCE SHEETS
A survey carried out by business and financial adviser Grant Thornton into the accounting practices of over 150 UK independent TV and film companies 'What do we tell the shareholders' has shown enormous discrepancies in the way these companies report their financial affairs.
"The last 10 years has seen a massive growth in the numbers and activities of the UK independent production and distribution businesses. Unfortunately this growth has not been matched by any increase in sophistication in the world of accounting." That's the view of Grant Thornton Partner Terry Back. Terry continues, "The UK accounting industry has not developed any accounting standards or guidelines to deal with the needs of our television and film companies." Grant Thornton believes that the real problem investors have when considering this sector is understanding the figures. As a consequence, it is not always easy for incoming investors to the sector to understand what is going on in the Accounts of our independents. Couple this with the lack of standardisation within the industry and you end up with the potential for some real problems. After the Goldcrest failure in the eighties, the City took over ten years to warm to the industry again.
The upshot of the lack of published guidelines in the UK is that companies have gone their own way to develop methods of recognising their income and valuing and disclosing the programme and film rights.
A classic example occurred when Carlton acquired the old Rank Film Distributors company in 1997. Rank had previously recognised its UK distribution income on contract signature and overseas income receipt of the money; Carlton recognised both UK and overseas distribution income on receipt. Following the takeover Rank Film Distributors changed its policy to fall in line with rest of the Carlton group and as a result the company's reserves of £6.4m were wiped out by a negative adjustment to shareholders funds of £8.9m.
Terry Back concludes, "The good news is that even after the media-related dot.com and telecoms disasters of late, there is still money around for investment in television and film at the current time. Witness the recent venture capital investments into RDF and Shine Entertainment. In order to sustain this interest, it is vital that the UK television and film industry turns its attention to getting its financial reporting house in order. We believe that the UK Television and Film industry needs a Statement of Recommended Practice ("SORP") - an industry-specific set of accounting guidelines promoted by a recognised trade body."
John McVay, Chief Executive of PACT (Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television) comments: "PACT welcomes this survey and looks forward to its findings. It is clear that a range of sources of investment will be needed to help the Independent Production sector realise its ambitions to be a supplier of award winning content to the global markets."
Grant Thornton is a leading financial and business adviser to owner-managed businesses and entrepreneurial businesses and their owners. It aims to help clients realise their ambitions locally, nationally and internationally, via a network of 42 local offices, and an international network with representation in over 100 countries.
RETAILERS SAW SALES PICK-UP IN JULY - CBI
Retail sales volumes remain robust as stores report an unexpected pick-up in growth in July, according to the CBI's latest Distributive Trades Survey out last Wednesday.
Fifty-seven per cent of retailers said their sales were up in July compared with a year ago, with 13 per cent reporting lower volumes. The pick-up in the rate of growth is the fastest since May 2000. The underlying trend, which monitors sales growth on a three-month moving average, has also risen slightly to the highest level since February 2000. Sales are expected to grow more slowly in the year to August.
Footwear and leather shops, grocers and durable household goods' stores reported the largest growth in sales compared with a year earlier. Significant increases were also experienced by chemists, booksellers and stationers and stores selling hardware, china and DIY items. Off-licences reported sales growth for the first time since last November.
Sudhir Junankar, the CBI's Associate Director of Economic Analysis, said: "Today's survey is further evidence of the two-speed economy, with retail sales remaining strong while manufacturing output continues to decline. Although retailers enjoyed an unexpected pick-up in sales in July, they do expect sales growth to ease during August. Because of the impact the global slowdown is having on manufacturing and other exposed businesses, the CBI stands by its judgement that a quarter-point cut in interest rates would be a prudent move, without taking risks with inflation."
Retailers reported a slight build-up of stocks during July although they are expected to be run down during August.
Wholesalers saw an unexpected recovery in annual sales volumes in July despite previous expectations of a significant decline. Forty-two per cent of wholesalers said that sales were up and 33 per cent said they were down. The positive balance of nine per cent compares with three per cent in June and 18 per cent in May. Sales volumes are now expected to fall moderately in August, only the second negative expectation since August 2000. The three monthly average of sales has fallen to the lowest level since April 2000, with the underlying trend indicating modest volume growth. Business is expected to be significantly below average during August, the most negative expectation since December 1992.
Motor traders' annual sales volumes grew more slowly in July than in the previous survey, although the increase remained substantial. Sales are expected to increase by a similar rate in August.
Neil Wood, CEO of Global Credit Solutions Limited ( GCS ), has announced the acquisition of a 26% shareholding by Collection House Limited ( CHL ), industry leader in Australia and New Zealand in the provision of receivables management and debt collection services.
Incorporated in Hong Kong as a private corporation, and its Head Office located in Melbourne Australia, GCS commenced trading operations in March, 2001, offering a range of global credit management services, including debt recovery, credit & business information services, fraud investigation and risk management via its network in more fifty countries.
Utilising internet technology, GCS is delivering credit reports through its web site to clients located in seventeen countries, accepts assignments and reports to clients via its automated systems, on high volume consumer, and high debt value commercial accounts, and carries out a wide ranging number of investigations related to fraud matters, predominantly throughout Asia.
Wood, a well known identity in the international collection industry, through his long term commitment and involvement of the International Unit of the American Collectors Association, and role as Division President and National Vice President of the Institute of Mercantile Agents, established operations in Hong Kong in 1984, expanding these into China, the Philippines and Sri Lanka in the past decade, and has extensive knowledge in the core services of GCS, and the global marketplace.
CHL, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in October 2000, and has been an instant hit with the market, its share price going from a launch price of A$1.00, to A$5.50 as at last week. Headed by John Pearce, CEO, ( former Managing Director of George Laurens Queensland Pty Ltd, and with over thirty years experience in the Australian market ), and Dennis Punches, ( founder of PAYCO in the United States ), as Chairman, CHL has quickly assumed the role of industry leader with its innovative products and service and leadership in technology, and employs almost 700 staff across Australia and New Zealand.
For additional information on Global Credit Solutions Ltd visit http://www.gcs-group.com
For additional information on Collection House Ltd visit http://www.collectionhouse.com.au
eCREDIBLE ENABLES LEADING AUTOMOTIVE PARTS RESELLER TO SELL GOODS ONLINE WITHOUT CREDIT RISK
Denver, Colorado July 26, 2001: eCredible, a provider of integrated credit management services, has helped automotive and truck parts reseller, Number One Parts Inc. (NOPI), offer B2B e-commerce services on its Web site that are free from risk of payment defaults.
Using eCredible's guaranteed transaction process, NOPI is able to quickly process and provide open account terms to new, unknown buyers that come onto its Web site or apply offline through its normal sales channel. Buyers are provided with a virtual instant line of credit to make purchases, and NOPI never has to worry about failed payments since all transactions are backed by the eCredible Payment GuaranteeTM, which ensures NOPI will be reimbursed if a buyer defaults.
"Success in our business is often dictated by how careful you are with credit management, said Bobby Evans, Director of Sales for NOPI. "Normally it takes us a minimum of two weeks to authenticate new buyers, conduct thorough credit checks and assign a spending limit. Offline buyers understand this, but Web buyers expect an instant experience and have no tolerance for delays."
"The eCredible system has allowed us to cut the time to process new buyers from weeks to hours, fully protects us from payment defaults, and automates the key components of our credit management system. That's resulted in clear cost savings for us and better customer service for our clients."
As a company within the NCM Group, eCredible has access to extensive credit information on more than 26 million businesses globally, which it retrieves online, in minutes, to accurately assess the spending capacity of corporate buyers.
Using simple system interfaces and Internet architecture, eCredible links with NOPI's back office and handles all the credit management functions of a transaction process including buyer authentication, credit decisioning, transaction monitoring, payment reminders and collections.
"We process over 1,000 transactions every day," said Evans. "Right now, most are still done the traditional way - through sales representatives over the phone. Increasingly though our customer base has become younger, more Web savvy, and more vocal about wanting to be able to make their purchases via the Internet. We didn't want to set up two different credit management systems, so we looked for a solution that could support both on and offline transactions. The eCredible system was the only one that could do it."
NOPI intends to use its e-commerce initiative to branch out into foreign markets. eCredible is a company within the NCM Group, a global giant that insures $150 billion in B2B transactions annually and has an unrivalled international network of underwriters and credit information providers. Through the backing of NCM, eCredible can offer protection to NOPI for transactions originating from the US or abroad.
About eCredible Ltd. (www.ecredible.com)
eCredible provides a full suite of online Credit Risk Management services from authentication and credit checks, to dunning and collections. All transactions are backed by the eCredible Payment GuaranteeTM that ensures sellers are fully protected from fraud and payment defaults. The system is web-based, fully hosted by eCredible, and can be easily integrated with a seller's front and back office systems within one month.
eCredible benefits from the experience and assets of NCM, one of the worlds' leading providers of credit insurance. NCM insures over $150 billion annually and is majority owned by Swiss Re, a AAA-rated global leader in reinsurance.
eCredible is headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, with US offices in Denver, Colorado and Baltimore, Maryland. More information is available at www.ecredible.com
A series of radical pro-enterprise reforms to competition and bankruptcy rules to make Britain the best place in the world to do business was announced last week by Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
The changes include measures to increase consumer choice, strengthen the economy, put downward pressure on prices and encourage risk-taking entrepreneurs.
Competition White Paper measures include:
Commenting on the proposals Patricia Hewitt said:
"I want UK firms to get to the future first - an environment which encourages enterprise is central to that.
"Driving competition into every part of our economy is the key to closing the productivity gap and creating a true enterprise culture in this country.
"Small businesses are the drivers of enterprise. These measures will give them better chances to compete.
"This Government is determined to strip away obstacles to competition and put the consumer first. That is good for business, the consumer and the country as a whole."
Insolvency White Paper measures:
Patricia Hewitt added:
"For too long in this country bankruptcy laws have worked against entrepreneurs. I want them to work for them.
"The prospect of failure puts off many potential entrepreneurs from having a go.
"The modern framework we are introducing will encourage responsible risk-taking and make it easier to save viable businesses."
Today's measures build on work in the Government's first term to drive competition into the economy, encourage innovation, remove barriers to open markets and ensure that the tax system provides incentives to enterprise and investment.
The White Papers 'Productivity and Enterprise: A World Class Competition Regime' (Cm5233) and 'Productivity and Enterprise: Insolvency - A Second Chance' (CM 5234) are both available on the DTI website at: http://www.dti.gov.uk/cp/ukcompref.htm and
http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/compwp.htm
Comments on the White Papers are invited by 5 October 2001.
Examples where people have been penalised by the current bankruptcy system:
In both of these cases, what were previously thriving businesses failed as a result of reasons beyond the owners' control. Under the present law they were treated the same as the minority of bankrupts who seek to defraud their creditors.
The right to appoint an administrative receiver will remain where floating charges are granted in connection with certain transactions in the capital markets. As now, cases falling within Part VII of the Companies Act 1989, which deals with financial markets and insolvency, will fall outside the scope of insolvency law.
BUSINESS BROADLY WELCOMES COMPETITION AND INSOLVENCY REFORM
Reacting to the publication of the Government's Competition and Insolvency White Papers on Tuesday 31 July, David Lennan, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce said:
"Any new reforms to help businesses grow and succeed can only be welcomed. It is in all our interests - businesses, consumers, and communities - to develop, nurture and maintain a thriving culture of enterprise in the UK. Government must continue to look at ways of removing unnecessary barriers to allow businesses to trade openly and fairly."
Commenting on the range of measures announced today, David Lennan said:
On Competition Law Measures:
"Fair competition is an essential ingredient of a healthy and productive economy and we should not settle for second best. We will now look to the finer points of the Government's proposals but in principle we support what it is trying to achieve.
"The ultimate aim should be to create a culture in the UK, which abhors anti-competitive practices. To create such a culture is not just about having a strong Competition Act, but also about the mechanisms in today's White Paper, through which, consumers, aggrieved businesses and the authorities can pursue their concerns."
On Insolvency Law Measures:
"To encourage a more entrepreneurial climate in the UK, we need to appreciate how hard it is to grow and maintain a business and be more tolerant of those people whose businesses innocently fail.
"In its proposals, the Government has struck the right balance, between the needs of bankrupts and their creditors. What is particularly pleasing is the Government's willingness to move on the Crown's preferential status and the powers to appoint an administrative receiver. This should help encourage businesses to view the package favourably as a whole."
CBI BACKS ENTERPRISE PLAN BUT CAUTIONS ON PROPOSAL TO CRIMINALISE CARTELS
The CBI gave strong backing to government plans for enhancing competition and improving bankruptcy rules.
But it said the plan to criminalise cartels needed much greater scrutiny to see whether it would actually result in a better system of law enforcement.
John Cridland, Deputy Director-General, said: "The overall package is a big step towards an effective Enterprise Bill. On mergers, companies need to know that decisions will not be overridden by the political pressures of the day. They need a system that operates with clarity, consistency and certainty. On discharging bankruptcies, the changes should help end the needless punishment of failure."
But Mr Cridland added that plans to criminalise cartels were premature and had not yet been fully thought through. "The current system encourages companies to cooperate with the authorities but criminalisation could undermine this," he said.
KPMG's RESPONSE TO PROPOSED BANKRUPTCY REFORMS
Steve Treharne, Corporate Recovery Partner and national head of personal insolvency at KPMG welcomed the proposed move to reduce the period of discharge for honest bankrupts from three years to one year and to introduce longer periods for those individuals who are found not to have been honest in their dealings as set out in today's Insolvency White Paper. He went on, however, to sound two notes of caution:
"While I welcome the changes, there are going to be significant practical problems in determining whether an individual who has been made bankrupt has been honest or not - it is not always obvious and it may also take some time to determine.
"This distinction will be of prime importance to those who have been declared bankrupt because it is proposed that any bankrupt who is considered not to have been honest will face a period of bankruptcy of up to fifteen years. The decision as to which side of the fence a bankrupt falls will clearly have a material affect on how soon that individual will be free of the restrictions placed on bankrupts.
"My other concern is that the government believes that reducing the period of discharge for bankrupts will foster an entrepreneurial culture and enable those who have experienced a bankruptcy to get a fresh start in the business community at an earlier opportunity than is currently the case.
"While the change of the period under which the restrictions placed on bankrupts (for example, the right to act as directors of limited companies) is to be welcomed, there still needs to be a marked change in the attitude of providers of finance towards bankrupts. Those who have been bankrupt are going to struggle to obtain the funding and support that they need to start again, and this is the fundamental problem that the government's reforms fail to address."
INSOLVENCIES IN THE SECOND QUARTER 2001
Statistics showing insolvencies in the second quarter 2001 were published on the 3 August by the Department of Trade and Industry.
COMPANY INSOLVENCIES
There were 3,789 company insolvencies in England and Wales in the second quarter of 2001 on a seasonally adjusted basis. This was an increase of 2.6% on the previous quarter and an increase of 9.3% on the same period a year ago.
1.1% of active companies became insolvent in the twelve months ended Q2 2001, the same as the previous quarter and the corresponding quarter in 2000.
INDIVIDUAL INSOLVENCIES
There were 7,634 individual insolvencies in England and Wales in the second quarter of 2001 on a seasonally adjusted basis. This was an increase of 2.7% on the previous quarter and an increase of 1.6% on the same period a year ago.
Number of Insolvencies in England and Wales (seasonally adjusted)
Percentage change
2000 2000 2000 2001 2001 Q2 2001 on:
Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1r Q2p Q1 2001 Q2 2000
Companies 3,467 3,741 3,703 3,694 3,789 2.6 % 9.3%
Individuals 7,514 7,212 7,239 7,433 7,634 2.7 % 1.6%
p = provisional, r = revised
The Official Insolvency Statistics are the most comprehensive record of the number of insolvencies and bankruptcies and provide a more accurate picture for analysing business conditions. The figures include businesses and individuals, with a breakdown by type of insolvency procedure. The figures treat Scotland separately (as insolvencies are defined differently in Scotland) and give an industrial analysis (for which the figures for England & Wales are published one quarter in arrears).
The statistics are derived from administrative records of the DTI Insolvency Service and Companies House Executive Agencies. The figures for company insolvencies are made up of compulsory liquidations (winding-up orders made by the courts) and creditors' voluntary liquidations registered at Companies House. Figures for individual insolvencies comprise bankruptcy orders and individual voluntary arrangements under the Insolvency Act 1986 and deeds of arrangement under the Deeds of Arrangement Act 1914. Individual voluntary arrangements and deeds of arrangement are now included under one column.
Numbers of insolvencies are not directly comparable with numbers of new business formations. Statistics of business starts and stops that are directly comparable with each other have been assembled from VAT records and are published by the Department of Trade and Industry.
A company or individual with debts that they are unable to pay as they fall due is said to be insolvent.
Insolvent companies are dealt with under the Insolvency Act of 1986. They can either be the subject of a compulsory liquidation (winding-up) order obtained from the Court by a creditor, member or director or themselves pass a resolution, subject to the approval of a creditors' meeting that the company be wound up voluntarily (creditor's voluntary liquidations). A third type of winding-up, members' voluntary liquidation, is not included because it does not involve insolvency.
The Insolvency Act 1986 also introduced the procedures of company administration orders and company voluntary arrangements. The administration procedure gives a period of time during which creditors are restrained from taking action and a court appointed administrator puts forward proposals to deal with the company's financial difficulties. The Company Voluntary Arrangement procedure aids business by enabling a company in financial difficulty to come to a binding agreement with its creditors.
Receivership appointments comprise administrative receivers appointed under the 1986 Act and certain other receivership appointments, for example under the Law of Property Act 1925. Due to the use of the same statutory documentation for different types of receivership, it is not possible to give a breakdown between them.
For individuals the term bankrupt is used to indicate insolvency.
Insolvent individuals in England and Wales are dealt with mainly under the Insolvency Act 1986. A bankruptcy order is made on the petition of the debtor or his creditor when the Court is satisfied that there is no prospect of the debt being paid. (Figures for bankruptcy orders include administration orders, which are bankruptcy orders relating to the estate of a deceased debtor). There are also individual voluntary arrangements and deeds of arrangement, which enable debtors to come to an agreement with their creditors.
Insolvent individuals in Scotland are subject to sequestration under the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985. (There are no deeds of arrangement or individual voluntary arrangements in Scotland). The Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1993 amending the 1985 Act came into force on 1 April 1993 and will have affected the number of sequestrations in the Scottish Courts.
Insolvent partnerships may either be wound-up like an unregistered company under the Insolvency Act 1986, or the estate, if the partnership may fall to be administered following joint bankruptcy orders against the partners.
Statistics Directorate: http://www.dti.gov.uk/sd
*** FORTHCOMING CREDITORS MEETINGS ***
For detailed information on all the British Isles insolvency's (liquidation's, receiverships, administrations, dividends, creditors) please visit http://www.insolvency.com/cgi-bin/gazette/liq/nots.pl
TW LW TW LW
USA 1.43 1.43 Canada 2.20 2.20
Austria 22.41 22.43 Portugal 326.52 326.80
France 10.68 10.69 Belgium 65.70 65.76
Finland 9.68 9.69 Italy 3153.52 3156.27
Germany 3.18 3.18 Sweden 15.11 15.17
Holland 3.58 3.59 Switzerland 2.45 2.46
Spain 270.98 271.23 Ireland 1.28 1.28
Australia 2.77 2.81 Denmark 12.14 12.13
Hong Kong 11.19 11.16 Euro 1.62 1.63
Africa Com 11.82 11.71 Saudi Arabia 5.38 5.36
India 67.66 67.49 Malaysia 5.45 5.43
Singapore 2.58 2.59 Norway 13.05 13.05
Japan 178.82 177.08
TW This week LW Last week.
GE Capital, the finance arm of General Electric, paid $5.3 billion for Heller Financial. The acquisition strengthens GE Capital's corporate-finance business and gives it a base for expanding in Europe.
Investors in two Internet firms, Amazon.com and Ebay, are suing a Wall Street analyst, Mary Meeker, and her employer, Morgan Stanley, for bullish recommendations of Amazon and e-Bay shares.
Pearson, the British media group (and owner of 50% of The Economist), said it would struggle to hit its profits targets for the year. After an advertising slump, pre-tax profits for the first half were just GBP5m ($7.2m). However, Pearson claimed that healthy growth at its education and publishing arms would help it ride out the downturn better than most rivals.
Pre-tax profits of British American Tobacco increased 33% to GBP936m ($1.3 billion) in the first half compared with a year ago. As the world economy worsens, some Europeans turned to BAT's soothing products for solace.
Clifford Chance outstripped law firms worldwide to record revenue of GBP938m for the year to the end of April. The firm prospered through a series of mergers with European firms designed to take advantage of the hastening pace of integration on the continent.
Source - The Economist
Croda International announced pre-tax profits of 23 million pounds, after exceptional gain, on turnover of 163.1 million, for the six months ending 30th June 2001. Earnings per share stand at 10.3p.
Games Workshop, the wargames company, announced pre-tax profits of 9.37 million pounds, after exceptional charge, on turnover of 92.6 million, for the year ending 3rd June 2001. Earnings per share stand at 18.4p.
Hanson, the building materials group, announced pre-tax profits of 235.6 million pounds, after exceptional gain, on turnover of 2,042 million, for the six months ending 30th June 2001. Earnings per share stand at 28.1p.
Powergen, the electricity group, announced pre-tax profits of 100 million pounds, after exceptional charge, on turnover of 3,415 million, for the six months ending 30th June 2001. Earnings per share stand at 17.2p.
Smith and Nephew, the medical devices group, announced pre-tax profits of 113 million pounds, after exceptional charge, on turnover of 89.7 million, for the six months ending 30th June 2001. Earnings per share stand at 7.9p, on reduced capital.
MERGER NEWS
The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has decided, on the information at present before him, and in accordance with the recommendation of the Director General of Fair Trading, not to refer the following merger/s to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission under the provisions of the Fair Trading Act 1973:Proposed acquisition by Tessenderlo Chemie SA of The Widnes Plant and business of Atofina UK Ltd
Proposed acquisition by Societe Europeenne des Satellites of GE American Communications Inc, and The proposed acquisition by General Electric Capital Corporation of 25.1% shareholding in SES Global SA
Acquisition by Macdonald Hotels and Bank of Scotland of Heritage Hotels
Completed acquisition by ALSTOM of Railcare Limited
Proposed acquisition by Misys plc of DBS Management plc
THE WORLD FACTBOOK 2000
Produced by the Central Intelligence Agency of the USA it is a very good source of Country Profiles. You can find it at http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
THE TRADE PARTNERS UK
Visit the website at http://www.tradepartners.gov.uk/
BOOST FOR CIVIL COURT MODERNISATION PROGRAMME
Plans to modernise the civil courts today received support from a Judicial Working Group and a £17.9m funding boost.
The Judicial Working Group, in their report published last week, establish the central role of the judiciary in developing the court modernisation programme in partnership with the Court Service. The programme aims to improve the range and quality of services available for people who need to use the civil courts through improved use of technology and new ways of working.
The extra funding boost, provided by the Government's Capital Modernisation Fund, is additional to the £43m already allocated to the programme last year and will be spent on two new projects to develop electronic services in the civil courts.
Ian Magee, Chief Executive of the Court Service, said:
"I welcome the central role of the judiciary in helping us develop our programme to modernise the courts. The Judicial Working Group's report offers an invaluable contribution to the formulation of our final plans which we expect to publish in the Autumn. Indeed, the recommendation for the development of single cross-jurisdictional information systems has already influenced our thinking on the structure of our Modernisation Programme."
"I am also delighted with the extra £17.9m which will enable us to develop two new projects: electronic diary management, one of the systems the Judicial Working Group identify as being essential to a modern justice system, and a 'customer partnership' for housing disputes. Both projects aim to use new technology to provide improved choice and quality of service for people who use the courts.
"These two projects represent a step towards the joint goal of both the judiciary and Court Service, of introducing common computerised information systems as soon as is practicably possible. We recognise that our modernisation programme is essential if we are to address the deficiencies of the current system."
Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales said:
"This report marks a major step forward in the plans for modernising our courts. I am delighted that the Court Service has now decided to carry forward its modernisation plans in a single integrated programme.
The Working Group's central recommendation is for common computerised information systems to be introduced as soon as is practicably possible across all jurisdictions. It also goes on to describe the four systems that will provide judges and the Court Service with the essential tools to meet the fundamental requirement of a modern justice system: electronic case record, the electronic file, the electronic diary, and the electronic case management system.
The two new projects funded through the Capital Modernisation Fund are:
Electronic Diary Management (£4.4m over three years) - The project aims to improve use of courtrooms and Judicial time and also reduce instances where parties attend court to find that their case has listed but not reached. The paper-based diary systems used to keep record of hearings before judges at each county court will be replaced with an electronic system that allows the available judicial and courtroom time in a group of courts to be used to maximum efficiency.
The electronic diary will also will be linked to court case management systems and will be accessible by court users to provide an alternative way of checking on the progress of a case. The Judicial Working Group report estimates that the potential savings are 'very large' if better use can be made of judicial time. The project will start with a six-nine month feasibility study, followed by a four-six month pilot and subject to a successful outcome national implementation will follow.
Customer Partnership for Housing Disputes (£13.5m over three years): The project aims to test the concept of 'customer partnerships' which allow regular users of the court, in this case housing authorities/associations and mortgage lenders, to communicate directly with the court electronically instead of by post. For example, housing claims will be able to be issued electronically. Electronic support for housing actions presents an opportunity to allow access to the case record by advisers (eg at a Citizens' Advice Bureau). Knowledge of the status of the proceedings, make the provision of appropriate advice easier and may facilitate and encourage early dispute resolution with the claimant. This project will be tested in two pilot court groups.
http://www.courtservice.gov.uk
Wednesday 26 September Sussex & Surrey Branch of the ICM A speaker from Surrey Police Fraud & Financial Investigations Unit Venue - The Bridge House Hotel Reigate Time: 700 for 7.30 p.m. Sponsored by ICC Information Systems Ltd Thursday 18 October Magazines in Credit 2001 Conference and Awards Grosvenor House Park Lane, London W1 Telephone Justin Barry on 020-7400-7534 for more information or e-mail justin.barry@ppa.co.uk or visit the website at www.ppa.co.uk/events/credit2001Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 24th to 26th October 2001 International Credit Exhibition & Conference The Westin Stamford, Singapore http://www.internationalcredit001.com E-mail info@internationalcredit001.com
Thursday 22 November Sussex & Surrey Branch of the ICM Factoring/Invoice Discounting/Asset Finance Speaker: To be advised Venue - HSBC, Farncombe Road, Worthing Time: 7.00 for 7.30 p.m. Sponsored by HSBC Thursday 24 January 2002 Sussex & Surrey Branch of the ICM Annual General Meeting Followed by Dinner. Speaker: To be advised Venue - The Imperial Hotel, Hove Time: 7.00 for 7.30 p.m. If you have an event coming up which is credit management related and you would like us to make an entry in the Diary section please e-mail the details to jarnold@creditman.co.uk
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