Rugby club sees rise in turnover
5 things we learned yesterday
1
NEWCASTLE Falcons’ parent company has seen a big leap in revenues and the narrowing of losses as good performances on the pitch were reflected off it.
Newcastle Rugby Limited, which runs both the Falcons rugby union team and the Newcastle Thunder rugby league side, saw turnover increase 17% to £9.1m in the year ending June 30, 2016, while losses narrowed from £2.3m to £2.1m.
The improving commercial situation preceded an upturn in the club’s playing fortunes, with this season seeing the Falcons recording a number of impressive victories and avoiding its customary relegation scrap.
2
The high streets of the North East are continuing to battle a retail storm affecting the nation, though more shops are closing than opening, research reveals.
Statistics compiled by the Local Data Company (LDC) for PwC shows 193 shops opened and 207 closed in the North East last year.
Five town and city centres in the region saw a positive net change last year, with Morpeth, Gosforth, Hartlepool, Newcastle and Darlington all experiencing more openings than closures.
But Durham, Bishop Auckland, South Shields, Stockton, Chesterle-Street and Whitley Bay saw the highest net reductions in the North East.
3
The new Premier Inn in Whitley Bay has been snapped up by London investors – before it has even been built.
Plans for a new hotel and restaurant were first approved more than a year ago as part of a £30m masterplan to regenerate the seafront at Whitley Bay, including plans which are breathing new life into the Spanish City Dome.
And now London investment fund LXi REIT has cemented its confidence in the region by forward-funding the 68-bedroom hotel – its
4
Labour has pledged to take action on the effect late payments have on small firms, after figures showed 1,345 companies in the region closed as a result of the issue. Party leader Jeremy Corbyn floated a number of policies to tackle late payment – including fines for large companies that failed to pay suppliers on time, excluding late-paying large firms from public contracts and giving public sector organisations a maximum of 30 days to pay bills – as he addressed members of the Federation of Small Businesses.
To accompany his speech, which has been welcomed by business groups, Labour released figures which showed that SMEs in the North East were owed an estimated £707m in late payments and had written off £156m as bad debt.
5
Bank note printer De La says it expects profits to top estimates. The firm, the world’s largest commercial banknote printer, said full year revenue for the group is in line with market expectations but underlying operating profit is now anticipated to be above the top end of the market consensus, which was set at £66.4m for the year ending March 25, 2017.
De La Rue, which has a manufacturing centre in Gateshead, also detailed how it has been benefiting from the weakness of the pound, although those benefits are being offset by R&D costs.