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Cefas to leave Essex after 50 years

Written by Lautaro Vargas
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
A Cefas scientist tags cod as part of an investigation into the migratory habits of northeast Atlantic cod that could help boost falling numbers by improving sustainability techniques. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas) has announced it will bring an end to 50 years of residency in Essex by the end of 2008 as part of a major group reorganisation. Cefas is an internationally renowned scientific research and advisory establishment, based at Lowestoft since 1902. It currently also has laboratories at Burnham-on-Crouch and Weymouth, and a number of other facilities around the UK. Forty Cefas staff have decided to leave Burnham and relocate to Lowestoft; and five of those have already moved. The remaining 53 staff will leave Cefas entirely during the course of 2008. The research group will consolidate all activities from Burnham-on-Crouch and Lowestoft into a new-build site, known as the Waveney Campus, at Lowestoft in Suffolk. This new scientific and administrative complex is due to open in late 2010 and will house some 1,000 employees from Cefas, Waveney District Council and Suffolk County Council. The Burnham Relocation Project will allow Cefas to move ahead with the re-organisation of its business processes and management structure, a fundamental aspect of its wider transformation programme. The laboratory move is scheduled to commence in early spring 2008, with the main removal effort occurring during the summer and the site empty and fully decommissioned by the end of December 2008. “I can assure you that the decision to leave was not taken lightly,” said Dr Lindsay Murray, divisional director and Burnham-on-Crouch senior manager. “Cefas is very sad to be leaving Burnham-on-Crouch after more than 50 years in the town. “There are major advantages in terms of our business transformation plans that can be gained by moving, including better links between teams, achieving cost savings and beginning new ways of working, all of which will help Cefas to meet the modern commercial challenges it faces.” The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) – Cefas’ parent department – is yet to decide on who might take the premises once Cefas departs. Region’s appetite for deals likely to defy global gloom Justin Zatouroff, head of corporate finance for KPMG in East Anglia, reviews deal activity for the region and looks at the global conditions. In 2007, deal activity in the East of England was strong – particularly in the mid market with relatively few high profile transactions. A notable exception was Apollo’s takeover of Countrywide PLC for £1bn early in the year. This contributed to the average deal size in the region increasing compared to 2006 even though the number of announced completed deals had decreased. Private equity was particularly active with ADP Healthcare services and Duke Street Capital competing on the acquisition of Oasis Healthcare with Duke Street ultimately succeeding with a revised bid of £122m. Also, Alchemy Partners exited its investment in Control Services Group for £110m. What can we expect the deal environment to look like over the coming 12 months? Intelligence on the economy is mixed, with a raft of surveys predicting a downturn in the UK but local companies not expressing major concerns to us about how the credit crunch is impacting on them After calling the top of the M & A market six months ago, the latest KPMG Global M & A Predictor concludes that M & A activity has now plateaued and is in decline in some areas. The Predictor suggests that 2008 deal levels may just about hold steady compared to 2007 but that deal values will fall away. However, with corporate balance sheets generally looking strong, the capacity for ‘intelligent’ deals to be struck remains. There are definite winners and losers, though; look closely and you see that the forward PE ratios are down 0.7 and 0.5 in Europe and the US, respectively. It is mainly the AsPac region – where forward ratios moved forward strongly from 17.0 to 19.0 – which is bolstering the overall numbers. This leaves us with a real mixed outlook. Where there is appetite and confidence, there are constraints such as a lack of funds or suitable targets. Where there is cash, there is nervousness, caution and a slight loss of appetite. Overall, though, deals will still be struck. Working from corporate balance sheets which look marginally healthier than they did six months ago, companies will be able to put together intelligent deals if they can rally investors and the market into creating bold and imaginative, value-enhancing transactions. Indeed, falling valuations and strong balance sheets could mean that 2008 becomes the year for acquisitive companies to consider consolidation and diversification deals. What does this mean for the East of England? It is likely that 2008 activity may be affected given recent economic uncertainty across the UK; but historically deal activity in the eastern region is fairly resilient compared to other UK regions. So, although I think we should keep an eye on the clouds on the horizon in case international and larger national problems time-lag their way to the regional markets, I’m convinced we won’t see a reduction in the appetite for M & A activity across the East of England. Set as favorite Bookmark Email This Hits: 800 Trackback(0) TrackBack URI for this entry Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Show/Hide comments Write comment Show/Hide comment form This content has been locked. You can no longer post any comment.