Professional Services

Neil Robinson, managing director of WearCheck, talks to Jayne Alverca about the value the company can add to a myriad of operations that rely on oil-lubricated plant and equipment.

August Zerwick, managing director of South Africa-based engineering solutions provider MegChem, talks to Jayne Alverca about the company’s unique approach to managing complexity.

UK transport group National Express has announced its acquisition of one the largest student transport service providers in the US.

Cincinnati, Ohio-based Petermann Partners Inc is the fifth largest provider of student transport services in the US, with operations across 10 states in the Midwest, West and Southwest.

Pan African Shopfitters set up its own shop a long time ago and today, the retailers of Africa and beyond depend on it to turn their brand identity into reality on the street.

Now under the management of the third generation of the Blumenthal family, Pan African Shopfitters is nothing if not a dynastic enterprise, with all the advantages that entails. It is close knit, with shared values and policies; and it is agile—decisions about strategy, policy and investment can be made very quickly.

For South African flooring company, Floorworx, the main challenge is how to maintain its leading position in Southern Africa. Managing director Dr Donald Platt tells Gay Sutton about the importance of quality, innovation and raising industry skills levels.

UK bank Barclays has launched a £100 million fund for UK farmers investing in renewable energy.

Developed with sector specialists, the fund is available for solar, wind, and hydro projects in the UK, with Barclays including projected feed-in-tariffs when assessing each loan.

The bank said that new figures show that over one third of the UK’s 200,000 farmers are expecting to invest in renewable energy, with the majority doing so within the next year. It added that farmers expect the investment to generate returns averaging £25,000 per year.

Members of Norwich & Peterborough Building Society (N&P) have voted in favour of a merger with Yorkshire Building Society (YBS), the UK’s second largest building society.

Of those who voted, 89.61 per cent of savers and 87.22 per cent of borrowers voted in favour of N&P to merge with YBS.

The newly merged society will have three million members, approximately £34 billion of assets and a national network of 224 branches and 89 agency offices.

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2012 to be the International Year of Co-operatives (IYC) and Trent Bartlett, for the last 10 years CEO of Capricorn Society Ltd and a founder of Social Business Australia,has taken on the job of chairing the IYC 2012’s Australian Secretariat. We talk to him about Capricorn, IYC, and his vision for the co-operative movement.

UK-based banking and financial services group HSBC has announced the sale of 195 of its retail branches in the US.

The branches, primarily in Upstate New York, are to be sold to First Niagara Bank for approximately $1 billion (approx. £608 million).

As of 31 May 2011, the branches held approximately $15 billion in deposits, $15 billion in gross assets including $2.8 billion in loans and $4.3 billion in assets under management.

Wood Group PSN’s Australian operations form the company’s largest international business unit, with more than 2,100 personnel now working across five Australian regions: Victoria (Melbourne), Queensland (Brisbane), New South Wales (Sydney), Western Australia (Perth) and Northern Territory (Darwin).