North West Business Insider January 2023 | Insider Media

New horizons and a bright future

At Insider’s Business Outlook for the Year Ahead event, I had the pleasure to interview Luke Downes, a director of major Swiss bank Julius Baer.

As one of Switzerland’s oldest and biggest banking institutions, I wanted to get his sense of the wider economy and what this could mean for North West business.

One of my takeaways was his comment that investors will want to invest in companies “that aren’t necessarily wholly reliant on the UK consumer”. Was he suggesting now would be a perfect time to go international? His reply was “absolutely”.

When I welcomed the audience at the International Trade Awards I relayed this message. Because this was a room full of people who were doing just that – the North West’s top exporters. Our opening address was given by Marian Sudbury, director for English regions at the Department for International Trade. She emphasised the North West’s trading relationship with the US. Last year our region exported goods worth more than £30bn, and £4bn of those were to the US. She pointed out that one of Insider’s past winners, Kendal Nutricare, was personally welcomed by President Biden when they began their export journey. She also cited China, Mexico, Vietnam and New Zealand, markets Insider will examine in the coming year.

Blackpool is the subject of this month’s regional feature. I visited local companies and the council and was given an insight into the dramatic changes afoot in the town. If you associate Blackpool with donkey rides and fortune tellers you may be surprised by the latest plans for the region. I visited family business Fox Brothers and was given a fascinating look at how a privately owned business has rapidly grown with ten acquisitions in the last few years and innovative recruitment strategies.

Elsewhere in this issue you’ll find guides to refinancing, R&D funding and wealth management in family businesses. There’s also our annual Top 500 companies, the hotly anticipated Residential Property Awards shortlist and our Housing Breakfast where the verdict was a bright future for our region.

Simon Keegan, editor, North West Business Insider
@SimonKInsider