Business

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Will a metro be good for business?

Page 2

Argus

Summit will put city centre stage

Mitel in top merger deal

MITEL, which has a base in Caldicot, employing 155 people, has completed a merger with Aastra Technologies Limited. With $1.1bn of combined annual revenue and 60 million customers worldwide, Mitel now has one of the largest global footprints in the industry and is driving consolidation in the $18bn business communications market. Aastra Technologies, which has its headquarters in Ontario, Canada, makes products and systems for accessing communications networks. Richard McBee, president and chief executive officer of Mitel, said Mitel was well positioned to capitalise on a massive global growth opportunity as the market begins a long-term migration to cloudbased services. He said: With this merger the combined annual revenue of Mitel exceeds a billion dollars, which we believe creates the financial scale and operational leverage to drive shareholder value and profitable growth in an opportunity-rich consolidating market. We now have double the talent, tools and range of solutions to aggressively compete for a greater share of our market. Mitel offers a comprehensive portfolio covering digital to IP to Cloud. With a $100m annual R&D budget as a combined business, Mitel has the resources needed to support ongoing innovation and a broad range of global and regional solutions, protecting customers by limiting the risk of stranding them and their investment. In conjunction with the closing of the merger, Mitel also completed financing of a $405m credit facility consisting of a $355m term loan maturing in January 2020 and an undrawn $50m revolving credit facility maturing in January 2019 Steve Spooner, chief financial officer of Mitel, said: We are pleased to have secured new credit facilities on these very favorable terms, which significantly reduces our annual interest cost and enhances our operating flexibility. Our new capital structure, combined with the enhanced cash flow generation we expect from the merger, positions Mitel with one of the best financial platforms in the industry. A spokesman for Mitel said: In a merger of this size there are immediate, near-term and long-term opportunities to integrate the two companies into a unified organisation. It was not a process that would take place overnight or with abrupt disruptions to channel partners, customers or other stakeholders.

A summit is being held in Newport today looking at the future of the city including the NATO summit and redevelopment of the city centre BUSINESS people from Newport will be at a special summit today to hear about the plans for the future of the city from hosting the NATO summit in September to how to help the area drive business growth. The summit, which is being presented by Newport City Council and reNewport, and sponsored by the Celtic Manor Resort, is being held at the City Centre Campus of the University of South Wales. The summit will also look at how Newport can play a pivotal role in the South East Wales City Region and how it can make the most of all the opportunities which comes its way . Newport City Council leader Councillor Bob Bright will be among the speakers during the event. Other speakers will include Simon Gibson, chairman of Newport Task Force, who will speak about driving

By Jo Barnes

01633 777240 jba@gwent-wales.co.uk Twitter @SWABusiness

business growth for the city; Ian Edwards, chief operating officer of Celtic Manor Resort, who will tell delegates about plans for the NATO Summit in September and the Wales International Convention Centre, which is set to be built at the resort. Later in the morning Simon Powell, chief executive of EYSYS, will talk about Newport being a technology city, followed by Neil Ward, chief executive of FAW Trust, who will speak about the sporting side of the city . Gill Sandford, Dean of the Faculty of Creative Industries, University of South Wales, will be the last speaker of the event when she talks about Newport A Cultural and Creative City . Business people will also get the opportunities to quiz

each of the speakers in question and answer sessions. One local businessman who will be at the summit, Robin Hall, managing director of Newport-based Kymin, said: This summit is the kind of gathering the city has needed for quite some time. Im extremely encouraged that there will be a strong representation from the body of people in the city that can really make things happen such as the leader of Newport City Council councillor Bob Bright and Newport Taskforce chairman Simon Gibson. Businesses such as Kymin are keen to know exactly what is happening in the city and also whats planned after a number of false dawns in the not so distant past. The NATO Summit is a golden opportunity for the city . Its in the same global league of importance as the Ryder Cup and can really put Newport on the world map. There are some who would

argue that we failed to capitalise on and to really make the most of the staging of the Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor. Lets now work together to ensure that we dont repeat that mistake this time. The proposal for the creation of the Wales International Conference Centre at Celtic Manor is also potentially enormously favourable for the city and along with the completion of Friars Walk could really be seen as a bright future for Newport. Mr Hall added: Ill be at the Newport City Summit today and look forward to hearing what the various speakers have to say . Id also like to see this event become an annual gathering so it can act as both a catalyst and yardstick; so we can see how promises have been delivered and how far we have travelled in our journey to create a new city here in Newport.

Firmly anchored with a new home on estate

SPIRAFIX Ltd, manufacturers of the unique ground anchor, has moved from Suffolk to Wern Industrial Estate, Rogerstone, near Newport. Managing director of Spirafix and MLC Technology, Tony Morgan, said: This is a great move for us as a team and Im delighted that the move has gone so smoothly. With Spirafix on board in our new unit and MLC firmly established as a premier supplier of metal recycling shredders to the UK and Europe we have a great opportunity to look forward to a very busy and successful couple of years. Spirafix Limited designs and manufactures a specialist and widely-used ground anchoring system which can be used where concrete isnt wanted so for garden sheds and childrens play equipment through to scaffolding and marquees the ground anchor provides an alternative to concrete or tarmac bases. Paul Clatworthy said: This is a brilliant product that we always get great feedback on as its so easy to use and can be removed and reused, so we really do provide great anchoring solutions and value for money, The move to Wern Industrial Estate is a very positive one for us a convenient location, enough room for the expansion we plan and we have great new neighbours. Weve been busy settling in and making the changes we need to see us through the next 12 months, which we expect to be busy. Its important to us that we fill the vacancies we have created with the move were looking for workshop and office staff.

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