North ‘disruptors’ make UK top 100
5 things we learned yesterday
1 THREE Newcastle companies have taken their place among some of the country’s bestknown firms in a list of the UK’s top disruptors.
Indoor football group The Futsal Partnership, shipping container business Kontainers, and coffee company Clockwork Espresso have been included in the Maserati 100 index, which is billed as the “definitive list of 100 game-changing British business disruptors”.
The list has been put together by luxury car maker Maserati and The Sunday Times, and includes the likes of craft brewery Brewdog, Candy Crush developer King Digital, Hotel Chocolat, and Just Eat.
Sunday Times business editor Iain Dey said: “With this year’s Maserati 100, we are paying tribute to some of the many business disruptors in the United Kingdom – from successes like Fever-Tree to start-ups like About the Funeral.” 2 TRANSPORT giant Arriva boosted sales to more than £4.32bn after a successful year saw it take over the Northern rail franchise.
Sunderland-based Arriva, which forms part of German group Deutsche Bahn, has published annual results for 2016 showing revenues increasing 5.2% to €5.093bn, which has triggered investment of more than €359m (£309m) in its UK and European businesses – 30% more than the previous year. Chief executive Manfred Rudhart said Arriva increased its UK spending power to €133m (£114.8m) in 2016, which it used to investand trains,in new stationand improved improvements buses and innovations such as mobile ticketing apps. A key highlight for the firm was the launch of the Northern rail franchise, which it will operate until at least 2025. 3 MORE than 260 jobs have been lost after 25 Jones Bootmaker stores brought down the shutters across the UK, including in the North East. The footwear retailer, which had more than 100 branches nationwide, has been sold to Endless LLP, a private equity firm. As part of the sales process, Will Wright, Steve Absolom and Blair Nimmo of KPMG LLP were appointed joint administrators of A Jones & Sons Limited last Friday.
The administrators completed an agreement to sell the majority of the business but 25 underperforming stores and six concessions are not part of the sale and have closed immediately, including the firm’s stores in Newcastle and Durham. 4 A Gateshead start-up is cutting physiotherapy waiting times and costs for patients by arranging video call appointments online.
JimJam Physiotherapy is using technology to improve medical appointments by connecting patients with professionals using a “Skype-style consultation”.
Based in the Gateshead International Business Centre, JimJam was founded by Jamie Hurst, Paul Bryce, and Chris Kennelly. 5 Firms across the country are being held back by unreliable broadband connections which hits productivity and causes “needless” delays, a report warns.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) found that businesses in rural areas were twice as likely to have a poor connection as those in towns or cities.
A survey of almost 1,500 businesswomen and men showed that smaller companies were most likely to suffer.