13www.business7.co.ukNews
Inbrief...
DSLBusinessFinancesaiditsloan
applicationstopped�2.8millionin
2009.
Thenot-for-profitlendersaid
beforethestartofthecreditcrunch
itreceivedapplicationsfor�916,000
in2007followedbyajumpto�2.7m
in2008.
EuniceLancaster,general
managerofDSL,said:"Smalland
start-upfirmsarecontinuingtohave
difficultygettingbankfundingand
areturningtoalternativelenderslike
DSL.
"Wearealsofindingthetypeof
firmsapproachingDSLischanging
�weareseeingmoreestablished
businessesandhighgrowth
start-ups.
"Beforethebankingcrisismanyof
thesebusinesseswouldn'thavea
problemsecuringbankfinancebut
nowtheyarefindingthatisno
longeravailabletothemandare
turningtoDSL."
PARKDEANhasspent�2million
upgradingitssixScottishholiday
parks.
Thefirmsaidaccommodation,
leisurefacilitiesandentertainment
offeringshadbeenimproved.
DavidKey,areadirector,said:"Our
parksaresetinsomeofthemost
beautifullocationsScotlandhasto
offer,withstunningbeaches,deep
woodland,historiccastlesand
familyattractionsontheirdoorsteps.
"Ourrecentinvestmentinour
Scottishparksreaffirmsour
commitmenttothecountryandwe
continuallystrivetoofferourvisitors
thebestholidayexperiencewith
mod-conaccommodationandfirst
classfacilities."
Recession
boostsDSL
Parkdean's
�2mrevamp
B7 Friday,February5,2010
Myworkingweek..
SteveBrown,founderofpickledgreen
HAVING worked for Gordon Ramsay and
Anton Edelmann, setting up on his own
was always an ambition for Steve Brown.
With business partner Mel Colmant, he
opened the first pickledgreen restaurant
and deli in Edinburgh at the end of last
year.
Brown said: "I've been in the hospitality
industry for 10 years and it's certainly a job
full of colour, characters and variety. I even
cooked dinner for the Queen.
"Working back in my home city of
Edinburgh now is just as,if not more,
varied as the colourful characters,
countries and restaurants I've worked with
across Europe over the years.
"A `normal' working week will include
everything from managing the more
strategic business activity, proactively
marketing our new venture, liaising with
our local suppliers who provide us with
quality produce to meeting potential new
organic food & beverage suppliers."
Already he has plans to expand the
environmentally-conscious pickledgreen
concept to a wider audience.
"Myself and our talented head chef have
been working up our new outside catering
menus for companies looking for
business breakfasts, lunch or anything
in between.
"We've focused on simple and great
fresh food at a price that's affordable,
which is what pickledgreen's food ethos is
all about whether people eat at our place
or theirs."
The eco-freindly approach is already
paying dividends.
Brown added: "I'm delighted to say our
energy efficient fridges and cookers
together with our other environmental
practices such as food waste being turned
into a natural fertilser for farmers � are all
helping to reduce our carbon footprint
and costs.
"It's all go at pickledgreen. The best
thing is that each day it's a pleasure to
wake up and I'm always keen to get
into work and continue to offer
people fantastic value and great,
simplefood."
NVT Group has won a �6.8million
contract to provide IT hardware
maintenance services for the Central
Government Centre of Procurement
Expertise(CGCoPE).
TheLanarkshirecompanywasawarded
the tender to provide support for the PCs,
laptops, printers and scanners for three
yearswithanoptiontoextendbyafurther
12months.
Initially the Scottish Government,
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal
Service, Scottish Court Service, Scottish
Prison Service and National Galleries will
becoveredbythedeal.
NVT, which employs 70 staff across
Scotland, is taking three staff from the
previous contractors and hiring five
additionalpeopletoservicetheaccount.
Hamish Fraser, head of business solu-
tions at NVT, said: "We greatly welcome
this opportunity to provide a harmonised
service across government departments.
We have been trying to win this
contract since 1997, so over the
years we have become experts
in the tender submissions
process, which has finally
paidoff.
"Our appointment is sure to
generate ongoing tangible
savings for the public purse as
additional collaborative
partnersjointhisnewcontract,
securing greater economies of
scale.
"Thisframeworkagreementmeansthis
contract is open to all central government
agencies and non-departmental bodies,
and there are scores of those, and at the
moment we have no idea as to how many
ofthosewillcomeonboardoverthecourse
of the contract. We already service clients
throughout Scotland and
employ IT engineers who live
and work across Scotland, and
we'll be taking on more staff as
these framework agreements
grow."
Last year NVT won a
�386,000 three-year server
and communications
maintenance contract for the
StudentLoansCompany.
The group is also bidding for
the central government server
maintenancecontractlaterthisyear.
Fraser added: "The server contract for
central government is due for renewal in
October this year, and we are preparing to
submitabidforthecontract.
"We have the Student Loans Company
contract to provide maintenance for the
hundreds of servers they have as well as
theircommunicationshardware.
"That contract is growing all the time
becausetheStudentLoansCompanyhasa
number of sub-contractor contracts
which are now coming to an end, and
nearlyallofthehardwarebeingsupported
undertheoldcontractswillbetransferred
intothenewcontractwithNVT.
"These new contracts will significantly
increase our bottom line figures for the
coming year. Last year we hit somewhere
intheregionof�6minturnover,andweare
ontracktoreachbetween�7mand�7.5m
fortheyearendingSeptember,2010."
CGCoPE is one of five new Centres of
Procurement Expertise set up by the
Scottish Government in response to the
2006 McClelland Review of Public
ProcurementinScotland.
The McClelland Review recommended
the setting up of sectoral centres to offer a
more cost-effective level of services to the
Scottish government and its agencies,
non-departmental public bodies,
tribunalsandpubliccorporations.
ByScottMcCulloch Lanarkshirefirmwins�6.8m
contracttoprovideITservices
OPPORTUNITY:
HamishFraser
LUCRATIVE ACCOUNT:
NVT Grouphaswona
tendertoprovide
hardwaremaintenance
servicesforCGCoPE
NVTscoresnewdealNVTscoresnewdeal
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