Awards Told Business Is 'Backbone' Of Growth

National Business Award Winners

Updated: 3:34pm UK, Wednesday 14 November 2012

The National Business Awards Winners:

The Daily Telegraph Award for a Decade of Excellence in Business: Kate Swann, CEO, WH Smith

The Orange Leader of the Year: Phil Smith, the UK and Ireland CEO of high-tech giant Cisco

The Entrepreneur of the Year: Online bathroom retailer, Better Bathrooms

The Coutts FTSE 100 Business of the Year: Consumer product testing company, Intertek

The Ecommerce Strategy of the Year: Online clothing retailer, Zaggora.com

The Santander Small to Medium-Sized Business of the Year: Children's luggage creators, Magmatic (Trunki)

The Start-Up Business of the Year: Online courier service, Shutl

The Small Online Business of the Year: Online bathroom retailer Bath Empire, Luxury For Less Ltd

The BlackBerry Growth Strategy of the Year: Kitchen utensil designer, Joseph Joseph

The Business Enabler of the Year: Operational consultants, Newton Europe Ltd

The Croner Employer of the Year: Management consultancy, Baringa Partners

The Huawei Customer Focus Award: International payment and currency exchange, World First Ltd

The ICAEW Sustainability Award: High-street retailer, Marks and Spencer

The Orange Innovation Award: Caterers, apetito

The Transformational Change of the Year: Children's care provider, London Early Years Foundation

The 3i International Growth Business of the Year: Organic baby food company, Ella's Kitchen

The Leadership Diversity Award: Legal experts, Eversheds

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EC 'Rejects' Law To Boost Women On Boards

The European Commission has stopped short of imposing legally-binding quotas to bolster the number of women on company boards.

Commission Vice President Viviane Reding wants a target set instead to have women comprise at least 40% of the boards of publicly-traded European companies by 2020.

State-owned companies will have an earlier deadline of 2018 under the plan, which is yet to be fully endorsed and is subject to alteration.

The current proposals would demand that from 2016, companies where women make up less than 40% would have to choose qualified women to fill vacancies or face penalties, but it would be up to individual EU countries what penalties there would be for failure.

She suggested punishments could include fines or the annulment of the appointment of a male board member.

At present, women make up 15% of the board membership of Europe's largest companies. "This is a waste of talent," Ms Reding said.

Ms Reding faced a storm of protest over plans to write the 40% target into law - with some women's groups arguing the best person for the job should get the post.

While agreeing women are under-represented, they suggested positive disrimination to correct the imbalance risked alienating male counterparts.

Fiona Hotston Moore, a corporate partner at the accountants Reeves, told Sky News that "unconscious bias" was the biggest obstacle to the problem as self-regulation had failed.

She called for temporary quotas to help improve the imbalance.

But in giving his response to the European Commission's directive, the Business Secretary, Vince Cable made it clear that self-regulation was to continue.

He said: "The UK welcomes the Commission's decision not to impose mandatory quotas for women on boards.

"We remain fully committed to increasing women's representation in UK boardrooms but along with like-minded Member States, we have consistently argued that measures are best considered at national level.

"We believe that the UK's business-led, self-regulatory model, as set out in the Davies Review, is the best approach for us."

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Toyota Issues Another Massive Recall

Toyota has announced its second huge recall of vehicles in as many months in a move affecting almost 2.8 million cars world-wide.

The company blames problems with steering mechanisms and its hybrid system water pump.

The Japanese firm said it was recalling 1.5 million vehicles in Japan, 670,000 in the United States and 496,000 in Europe to correct  steering intermediate extension shafts which can be damaged at slow speed.

But it insisted that the problem, seen in cars such as the second-generation Prius and certain Corolla models, could be fixed in about 50 minutes.

Separately, the car-maker is recalling 630,000 vehicles worldwide, including 350,000 in the US and 175,000 in Japan, to fix water pumps in hybrid vehicles.

Toyota UK told Sky News there were 75 thousand British cars affected by the two recall issues in total and there had been no reported accidents in the UK as a result of the steering problem.

Customers whose cars are subject to the recall will receive a letter to that effect within 6 weeks, the company said, though anyone concerned could enter their car's registration into a special search database on the Toyota UK website to check whether their vehicle is affected.

The move is the latest in a series of embarrassing recalls for the firm.

In October, Toyota said it was pulling back more than 7.4 million vehicles worldwide to fix faulty power window switches, the industry's biggest single recall since Ford took 8 million vehicles off the road in 1996.

A previous series of Toyota recalls involving more than 10 million vehicles between 2009 and 2011 damaged the firm's image but it recovered and earlier this month raised its full-year net profit forecast to $9.7 billion (£6.1bn), citing solid sales.

This year's profit forecast comes despite a big drop in car sales in China since September, when anti-Japanese protests erupted over a diplomatic row.

More follows...

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Sainsbury's Sees Pre-Tax Profit Up 2.5%

Supermarket chain Sainsbury's has reported like-for-like sales for the half year rise by 1.7%, with pre-tax profit up 2.5% at £405m.

Revenue, excluding VAT and fuel, for the six months to September 29 was up 4% at £12.16bn.

Total sales in the period were 4% higher at £13.365bn.

In early trading shares in the company were down 0.85%.

The profit boost for Britain's third largest supermarket chain was helped by the development of its online and convenience stores business, the two fastest growing grocery sub-sectors.

Sainsbury's, which has enjoyed 31 consecutive quarters of underlying sales growth, has continued to outshine industry leader Tesco.

Last month Tesco posted a 12.4% fall in first-half UK trading profit. Asda, the second largest in the market, is due to report its third quarter figures on Thursday.

Chief executive Justin King told Sky's Eamonn Holmes: "If you compare our performance with all our major competitors, we are currently doing the best, both in terms of sales and profit – and it is that combination that is important."

"The only way to grow profit at the moment is serving more customers and selling more groceries, and that is what we have done."

Mr King said that the firm would employ around 20,000 temporary staff during the Christmas period, and said habits are changing with festive spending.

"One of the changes we are seeing in customer shopping behaviour now is that they are spreading the cost of Christmas over a longer period of time."

Sainsbury's said consumers continue to be shrewd when it comes to purchases, with "customers putting on average one fewer item in their basket".

The chain has expanded its convenience store business by 20%, year-on-year and has made plans to further target customers who use the Nectar card, in the previously announced joint venture - Insight 2 Communication (I2C) - with loyalty programme owner Aimia.

Meanwhile, Mr King told Holmes consumers can have a say on the thorny issue of multinationals failing to pay UK corporation tax.

"I think customers have to understand that they can vote with their wallets," he said.

"If they believe that the companies that they are doing business with are not paying an appropriate level of tax and those companies have competitors who are, then they can switch where they spend their money."

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Report: Keep Heathrow As UK's Hub Airport

Heathrow bosses will put the case for the UK to maintain a major hub airport on Wednesday in a new report.

Chief executive Colin Matthews will send the report, entitled One Hub Or None, to the Aviation Commission.

At present, Heathrow is the UK's major hub airport and the need to maintain such a facility is at the heart of the commission's work.

Headed by former Financial Services Authority chief Sir Howard Davies, it will present an interim report on aviation policy to the Government by the end of next year and a final report in summer 2015.

Mr Matthews is expected to argue that splitting a hub between Heathrow and Gatwick - the so-called "Heathwick" option - is not practical and building up other airports as major hubs will not work either.

The aviation policy debate is likely to run for months.

London Mayor Boris Johnson met Sir Howard on Tuesday to reiterate his opposition to a third runway at Heathrow.

He favours a new Thames Estuary airport or possible expansion of Stansted.

The "Boris Island" scheme gained little support from MPs in a poll earlier this week.

Of 93 members surveyed, 46% supported expansion at Heathrow, with only 16% backing the estuary plan.

Sir Howard's team's initial report will focus on what can be done to cope with aviation demand in the immediate future.

The all-party 2M Group, which represents more than 20 local councils close to Heathrow, has said that it will be telling the Davies Commission that loosening restrictions on Heathrow's existing runways would destroy the quality of life for people living under the flight path.

The group wants a guarantee that "runway alternation" and night-flight restrictions will not be sacrificed so the airport can handle more planes.

The campaign group says allowing both runways to be used in tandem for arrivals and departures - a system called "mixed mode" - would be just as damaging as creating a third and fourth landing strip.

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UK Unemployment Total Drops By 49,000

Unemployment has fallen to its lowest total for over a year, although there has been an increase in the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance, according to official figures.

The jobless total dropped by 49,000 in the quarter to September to 2.51 million, the lowest figure since last summer.

But the so-called claimant count jumped by 10,100 last month to 1.58 million, the highest since July, and the biggest monthly rise since last September.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the number of people in work increased by 100,000 in the latest quarter to just under 30 million, a rise of more than half a million over the past year.

Other figures from the ONS showed that long-term unemployment - those out of work for over a year - increased by 12,000 in the quarter to September to 894,000, while 443,000 people have been jobless for over two years, up by 21,000.

A drop in London jobs was seen as a result of the Olympics winding down

Part-time employment increased by 49,000 to 8.1 million, close to a record high, while there were 51,000 more people in full-time jobs, at 21.4 million.

Employment minister Mark Hoban told Sky News he believed a portion of the higher number seeking jobseeker's allowance were those no longer claiming disability allowance.

"These figures suggest that our welfare reforms are working, with fewer people on long-term sickness benefits and more people either in or looking for work."

He added: "It's good news to see yet another increase in the number of people in work and to see unemployment fall again.

"The fall in youth unemployment is particularly welcome, although we're not complacent about the scale of the challenge still facing us."

Unemployment among women fell by 10,000 to 1.09 million, and by 39,000 among men to 1.43 million.

Meanwhile, unemployment among 16 to 24-year-olds fell by 49,000, which accounts for the total fall in today's jobless figures.

More young people are classed as economically inactive, most of whom were in full-time education.

Neil Carberry, the CBI's director for employment and skills, said: "It's encouraging that people are continuing to find jobs and that the unemployment rate is falling.

New incapacity benefit rules means more people are on jobseeker's allowance

"But progress on getting people into work is much slower than we saw earlier in the year, and last month there was a troubling rise in the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance."

Average earnings have failed to match inflation. They increased by 1.8% in the year to August, up by 0.1% on the previous month, giving average weekly pay of £471, including bonuses.

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Energy Firm SSE Defends 38% Profits Rise

The energy firm SSE has defended a 38% rise in half year profits at a time when its gas and electricity bills are rising by 9% on average.

The company, formerly known as Scottish & Southern Energy, made an adjusted profit before tax of £397.5m in the six months to September 30.

SSE's retail business, which supplies electricity and gas to homes and businesses, reported an operating profit of £75.7m for the first-half after posting an operating loss of £101.4m a year ago.

Lord Smith of Kelvin, the firm's chairman, said: "While some observers may choose to criticise SSE for making a profit and paying a dividend (of 25.2p per share - a rise of 5%) I believe that profit and dividend allow SSE to employ people, pay tax, provide services that customers need, make investments that keep the lights on and create jobs while providing an income return that shareholders like pension funds need."

In August SSE, which trades as Southern Electric, Swalec and Scottish Hydro and is the UK's second-largest generator of electricity, became the first of the so-called 'big six' energy firms to announce inflation-busting increases to household bills.

It blamed "sustained increases" in the cost of using the electricity and gas networks, costs associated with mandatory Government schemes and the price it had paid for energy in the wholesale markets for the 9% rise, which came into effect last month.

Wholesale gas charges had risen 14% year-on-year, the group said and its bill increase would add another £8.53 a month on to the typical monthly direct debit, dual fuel customer - taking the average annual bill to £1,274.

In its statement today SSE said that despite the rise its retail profit margin was just 1.5%.

"The prices achieved for generating electricity have been weak and higher gas and non-energy costs unfortunately had to be reflected in the increase in household energy prices."

Adam Scorer, Director of Policy and External Affairs at Consumer Focus, suggested energy firms only had themselves to blame for criticism of profits.

"The furore over wholesale costs, energy pricing and company profits has deepened consumer distrust in the energy industry.

"Energy companies need to make profit so they can invest in our energy infrastructure. But if confidence is to be rebuilt in this market, the information that all energy firms are required to provide must be fully transparent, comparable, and include profit and trading information from across the whole of their business."

SSE's share price opened up slightly when trading began on the FTSE 100.

At the same time, rival npower - another of the 'big six' confirmed an operating profit - a different measure to that of SSE - of £238m for its first nine months.

That represented a 2% fall on the same period last year, the company said.

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