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WIRRAL manufacturer ANH Refractories Europe is reporting a record increase in turnover from £4m to around £7m in 2011 driven by strong export sales.It follows a raft of contract wins in the Middle East bolstered by robust growth in UK and European markets.The Bromborough based company manufactures materials used in linings for furnaces, kilns, incinerators and reactors operating at high temperatures.It is part of the ANH Refractories family of companies headquartered in Pittsburgh, USA.ANH Refractories Europe managing director, Peter Rooney, said: “The last 12 months have been hugely successful.“We are entering the New Year following a sustained period of growth and the forecast for 2012 is extremely positive.“We have strong growth in the domestic and European markets which has been backed by major deals with oil and industrial firms in Saudi Arabia.“Our core business has been in insulating and dense refractory products, where our tonnage of product distributed to the Middle East has doubled in the last year.“The petrochemical sector is proving a major driver of growth for ANH.”The firm has made new appointments in 2011 increasing the staff count by %. Plans for exp

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Tags: Wirral Manufacturer, £7m

This is another question received in my ask-me form on my timberry.com website:

Im hoping you might be able to help direct me in finding the perfect letter that I need to send out to potential private (mainly friends) lenders for a start-up Im involved.  I need this letter to spell out the details of the lending terms, conversion, etc.  Im a numbers person (CPA) not a writer but I need this letter to be very appealing to convince them to lend us the start-up capital we are seeking.

My answer:

Youre focusing on the wrong thing. People dont invest or not because of the perfect letter. Get the details right and the letter will follow. If

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Tags: Perfect Letter, Potential

At this year’s CES, the premiere consumer electronics tradeshow kicking off tomorrow in Las Vegas, revolutionary innovations in major consumer product categories appear to be off the table. Instead, thinner, lighter and smaller are the trends du jour, as electronics manufacturers attempt to deliver more refined versions of gadgets that are already familiar to consumers.

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Tags: Ces, Ces 2012

GROWTH in house sales, selling prices and margins is on the cards for housebuilder Bellway, it said in a trading update today.

The group, which operates a regional office in Hunts Cross, said, despite the backdrop of global and domestic economic uncertainty, it is well positioned to continue its three-pronged strategy, and its order book, up to November 30, stood at £458m compared with £440m at the same point last year, with 73% of its current annual sales target achieved.

It said in the period from August 1 to November 30 visitor levels and reservations had been “remarkably resilient” with reservations improving by 14% and the average selling price increasing by almost 7%.

Incentives to secure sales continue, but the group has seen a reduction in the use of shared equity. Inste

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Tags: Growth, Housebuilder Bellway

Every day when I get to my office I walk by an empty office of about 4,000 square feet, that reminds me of the dark side of pollyanna entrepreneurship, acting on impulse and optimism, without planning.

I don’t know whether or not anybody is paying rent for that space, but it’s class A office space. More than a year ago that space was tailored and customized for a new tenant. The changed the layout, added walls, carpets, interior lighting, and signage. It must have cost tens of thousands of dollars.

But nobody moved in. They ran out of money. Nothing happened but the leasehold improvements. That space has been empty for more than a year now.

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