24/03/2004 14 Western Mail cboase 25/03/2004 APPOINTMENTS Mar 25

14

The Western Mail

The business newspaper of Wales

Thursday, 25 March 2004

BUSINESS
w w w. i c w a l e s . c o . u k / b u s i n e s s
Business Editor Sin Barry 029 2058 3656

Barclays chief doubles pay to 3.9m

David Winning newsdesk@wme.co.uk THE banking chief criticised for a gaffe over borrowing by credit card is to double his annual pay package to 3.9m, it emerged yesterday. Barclays chief executive Matthew Barrett, who said he would never borrow by credit card because it was too expensive, will be paid 3.1m in pay and bonuses for 2003. As a reward for leading the bank to profits of 3.84bn last year, Mr Barrett will also pick up share options worth 831,000 four times the amount he collected in 2002. And according to its annual reports and accounts, Mr Barrett will also receive a 990,000 top-up to his pension fund. The pay arrangements drew criticism from unions while the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) wanted evidence that the rises were sufficiently tied to performance targets. NAPF joined a shareholder rebellion last year over the pay deal for the chief executive, which included a golden parachute clause that entitled him to twice his annual package in the event of a change of control. A spokesman for Unifi, which represents workers at the bank, said yesterday, Staff at Barclays will have difficulty reconciling their pay increase this year with that of Matthew Barrett. But a Barclays spokesman defended the pay package, pointing out that Mr Barrett had not received an increase in his basic pay of 1.1m last year. The hike in bonuses reflected improved performance at the bank and this was the basis for judging the pay of every member of staff, she said. Share options were awarded to directors after the performance of Barclays was measured against 11 major rivals including HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Deutsche Bank. The spokesman said, The past four years have been the most profitable in Barclays history. Since Matthew Barrett has been there, hes transformed the bank. Mr Barrett was criticised last year after telling the Treasury Select Committee he did not use a Barclaycard to borrow money because it was too expensive.

Carms Business of 2004 is CR Clarke

Rhodri Evans rhodri.evans@wme.co.uk AMMANFORD manufacturer CR Clarke was last night named as the Carmarthenshire Business of the Year. The firm, which produces plastic forming machinery for industry and the educational market, was announced as the overall winner at the Carmarthenshire Business Awards, held at the Stradey Hotel in Llanelli. The event was compered by BBC Radio Wales broadcaster Roy Noble, pictured below. CR Clarke took the overall prize after being named as Carmarthenshire Exporter of the Year, a category sponsored by Wales Trade International. WTI International trade counsellor, Elaine Choules, congratulated the company on its success. CR Clarke & Co has planned and implemented a successful approach to all overseas activities, she said. The company has found a niche in a very competitive marketplace and maintained an excellent reputation for quality of product and after-sales support. Five other category winners were announced on the night. Picton Sports of Llanelli won the Environmental Award 2004, sponsored by Arena Network. Maros Riding Centre, Llanelli, scooped the Best Tourlink Business award, sponsored by Carmarthenshire Tourist Association. The E-Commerce Award, sponsored by Antur Teifi, went to Health Leads UK of St Clears. The WDA-sponsored Gareth Jones Memorial Award for Best Use of Innovation and Technology went to Excel Precision of Llanelli. The Self-Employed New Deal Achiever of the Year award, sponsored by Job Centre Plus, was won by Caroline Anne Davies of the Cotton Nappy Company.

TURKISH DELIGHT: The new Peacocks store in Istanbul opens up a whole new market. Below, the Arabic Peacocks logo

Peacock spreads its wings

VALUE-FOR-MONEY clothing group Peacock has announced an expansion into the Middle East. The Cardiff retailer yesterday revealed it had secured a franchise deal to open Peacocks stores in Turkey and the Gulf States. The exclusive franchise agreement, which extends the global reach of the Peacocks brand, has been agreed with Saudi Arabian company Alshaya. Alshaya, established in 1890, is the largest franchise operator of western retail brands in the Middle East. It already operates more than 550 outlets throughout the region in countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain Lebanon and Turkey. Its stores trade under a variety of popular international brand names, including many from the British high street, such as Next, BHS, MothRhodri Evans Business Correspondent rhodri.evans@wme.co.uk

Clothing chain expands into Middle East through franchise deal with Saudi firm
ercare and River Island. The first of Alshayas new Peacocks brand stores opened in the region during the past few days. March18 saw the opening of the first Peacocks in the Turkish capital Istanbul, and a second store opened in Bahrain on Tuesday this week. A further store is to open in Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates, on April 4. Under the agreement with Alshaya, the Peacock Group will supply its full range of womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, footwear and homewares to the Middle East stores, and receive a royalty payment on all sales. The move requires no outlay on behalf of the Peacock Group and it is understood that royalty payments will be around 5-10%. Both Alshaya and Peacock believe there is considerable scope to roll out the Peacocks brand name across the Middle East, predicting that at least 40 new stores will be created across the region over the next five years. Mohammed Alshaya, chief executive officer of Alshayas retail division, which employs 3,500 staff across the Middle East, said that the firm was planning an aggressive expansion across the region. We are excited and have high expectations of the Peacocks brand, he said. It widens our portfolio by allowing us to trade across the family shopping spectrum at lead-in retail price points. As such, we are planning a challenging and aggressive opening store programme across all of the major markets in which we operate. Richard Kirk, chief executive of the Peacock Group, said the deal provided new opportunities to grow the Peacocks brand. Alshaya has great experience and a proven track record of working well with British retailers in this increasingly important and dynamic region, he said. Our partnership with them

minimises the risks associated with international development, while maximising the pace and likelihood of its success. We are excited by the partnership and the interesting opportunities that it will open up going forward. The Welsh store group currently has around 400 stores across the UK, trading under the Peacocks brand name. The group has a further 300-plus stores trading under the Bonmarch name.

In its last full year of trading (to March 31, 2003, the Peacock Group achieved total sales of around 396.6m, and posted pre-tax profits of 23.1m. At the beginning of this month, the company announced that 250 of its Cardiff head-office staff had benefited from a 1m windfall in employee share options, because shares in the company have almost trebled in value over the past four years.

IQE in red after drop in sales

THE weakening of the dollar and tough pricing policies have conspired to keep semiconductor material manufacturer IQE firmly in the red. The London Stock Exchangelisted company, which has its headquarters in Cardiff, yesterday posted pre-tax losses for its financial year to December 31, 2003 of 13.6m. It was an improvement on its trading position for 2002 when it reported losses of 118m fuelled by a massive write off of assets. IQE, which manufacturers advanced customised wafers for the semi-conductor industry, said its 18.3% fall in sales from 22.9m to 18.7m, was the result of adverse dollar exchange rate movements and aggressive pricing to Sin Barry Business Editor sion.barry@wme.co.uk attract higher volume outsourcing opportunities. During the year the company also transferred from the main London exchange to the junior alternative investment market and successfully raised 17m through the placing of 125 million new shares. Its wafer volumes increased by 28% to more than 110,000 on 2002. Dr Drew Nelson, president and CEO, said, Although 2003 sales revenue fell due to a combination of adverse exchange rates and aggressive pricing policy by the group, operating losses before exceptional items were reduced even more significantly by 43% due to tight cost control, lower raw material prices and better operational efficiencies. Wafer volumes increased by 28% with the group shipping over 110,000 wafers during the year. The product portfolio was substantially strengthened and a number of exciting outsource opportunities began to emerge during the year. All key products were transitioned to large volume production systems to improve efficiencies and lower production costs and as a result we continue to see improved demand for our products. Shareholders will not be paid a dividend.

Cobra joins Exchange

INVESTMENT vehicle Cobra Capital was yesterday admitted to the London Stock Exchange with Welsh expertise appointed to oversee its 10m war chest. Guernsey-based Cobra has raised 1.35m through an equity issue at 50p a share It has also entered into a subscription agreement with Lynwood Group to raise a further 1.95m on or before April 22 at the same share price. It has an option agreement with Forestdale Trading to drawn down a further 6.6m of funding by next March. Monmouthbased Jonathan Freeman, until recently a corporate finance partner with Cardiff-based Gambit Corporate Finance joins Cobras board as a non-executive director. Dr Godfrey Ainsworth, pictured, managing partner of Gambit, has also been appointed to the industry advisory panel of Cobra. He said, Cobra is a strategic investment company which aims to achieve capital growth for its shareholders through the purchase, holding and sale of minority stakes in other companies and entities. Cobra will invest primarily in smaller capitalised companies, which are, or are expected shortly to be, quoted on recognised investment exchanges in Europe.

Amec wins biggest Iraq contract so far awarded to a British company

BRITISH firm Amec has won a one billion dollar (600m) contract to rebuild the water supply in Iraq, the biggest contract won by a UK company, it was announced yesterday. The deal is one of 10 major construction projects being funded by the US Congress to rebuild the war-ravaged country. The work will be carried out by Amec in partnership with US firm Fluor, a joint venture which won another big reconstruction project earlier this month. The new deal was awarded by the US Department of Defence to reconstruct water and sewage systems across Iraq. Brian Wilson, Prime Minister Tony Blairs special envoy in Iraq, said, This latest award confirms that British companies will play a key role in reconstructing Iraq, particularly in the water sector. This is a US-funded contract and I have no doubt that, as funding sources diversify, British companies will play an even bigger part in rebuilding Iraq. There is no doubt that the Iraqis very much want the involvement of British firms. Mike OBrien, UK Trade and Investment Minister, said, We have said all along that UK firms have the skills and capabilities to make a significant contribution to the reconstruction of Iraqs essential infrastructure.

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