Episode 53 Show Me the Money

told. Now it is time for Show Me the

Good evening. Show Me the Money, your weekly guide to who is making

big cash and what it means for us. With us tonight, we will find out

what changes are on the cards for Clinton with a new boss. Another of

enterprises anywhere, enterprise editor at the Mail on Sunday, and

the firm that makes accessories to plug into your Tablet and

Smartphone. Today we have had a peek inside the Chancellor's box of

economic delights. This comes ahead of his autumn economic statement on

Tuesday. First up, more investment in building projects, and he wants

to make it cheaper for firms to get loans. It is through a scheme

called credit easing and would involve the government under

writing loans for firms that turn over less than �500 million a year.

Helene, just explain how this would work for us. Credit easing? It is

made up of three parts. The state will guarantee bonds sold by the

high-street banks, provided they use that money to lend to small

businesses, up to �50 million. The benefit is for small firms that it

should lead to lower interest rates on those loans. The second part is

to package loans made to small and medium-sized enterprises, which

gives the banks more capacity to lend yet again, and the third part

is to try to increase long-term loans which are made to SMEs and

the benefits of that is to give greater stability to firms if they

know that loan will be held over a longer period. One of the big

problems with business we keep talking about is how it is so

difficult to get the money from the bank in the first place, and it

sounds as though this scheme is about getting their loans are

cheaper but not necessarily greater access to them. We don't expect the

banks to lend to unviable businesses. But the problem is they

are too cautious at the moment. If the state guarantees to underwrite

a significant percentage of those loans, the banks will think, we are

in more of a position where we can give those loans. Tom, your

somewhat qualified because your turnover is less than �50 million a

year. Would you go for it? Absolutely, we welcome anything

that would give us better access to capital. I have a lot of questions

about how it would be implemented and I am interested to know how it

would have set the front line and how quickly it could come. My main

comment is that the cost of capital isn't really the barrier for

smaller businesses. It is access to capital. My questions are around

how this will affect access for small firms. Coming to you on this

as well, do you think it will help to restore the business confidence

that is needed in the economy? welcome the statement from the

Chancellor today. It will help small businesses. We need to

remember why it is important to help small businesses. They are the

backbone of the economy. They are the largest employer group in the

country. Anything that helps us to boost unemployment, many of the

large businesses today such as us, Clinton. We started as a small

business. We had one store. We now employ 8,000 people. Helping small

businesses is vital to the economy. Isn't part of the issue that we

need to get companies to export more because even though you might

give them the money, they had then got the issue of having to try to

sell their services? Of course we need a balanced economy. One that

has the right amount of manufacturing and financial

services and the right amount of services for everybody in this

country, so it is about balance. But of course, the more we export,

the better it is. It is about helping small businesses get access

to money. There are some people who might hear this �40 billion figure

and think, where is all this money coming from? It is not money that

has been handed out by the government? Absolutely not. The

Chancellor does not need to find 40 billion. It is that the government

will underwrite those bonds. It is a commitment as opposed to a

natural cash amount. Time now for our quick flick through some of the

stories you hoped you would miss this week. This lot have been

camping out for six days in Texas just so they can be the first in

line for the infamous Black Friday discount day. This is the

traditional start to the Christmas shopping season, when retailers

lure people in with massive sales. This year's events did not quite go

to plan. There were reports of shopping related violence,

including looting, shooting and a security guard attacked with pepper

spray. Have you ever wanted to meet and

greet your loved ones at the airport in a way that makes you

stand out from the crowd? Amsterdam's airport has taken

delivery of what is thought to be the first vending machine which

prints out personalised banners in just a few minutes. The standard

messages include "and Mr Hugh" and "will you marry me?". Some of you

may be in a grump about the state of the world economy but this

Japanese store is having none of it. It has just put on sale a golden

Christmas tree for �1 million. The stock on top of the tree alone is

worth nearly �40,000. It took 15 craftsmen four and a half months to

complete. I can't imagine that I will be seeing that in my house

this Christmas. Tom, we were talking about black

Friday sales and getting people to buy products on days like this. Is

it a marketing trick? No, it comes from the day that the retailers go

from being in the road to being in the black. Cyber Monday is the UK

online equivalent. The patterns of people's shopping, the days that

retailers start to promote heavily, the issue retailers in the UK

started to promote heavily with 100 hour sales and it is an exciting

time. We'd just launched in the US and on Monday, the first thing I

will be interested in is how our Black Friday sales were. What is

your biggest day? One of the days in the run-up to Christmas and

hopefully not that last one! airport banner sounds quite

innovative. It is one of those products way you think, I am

surprised nobody has done it before. It is innovative and that is the

heart of good business, an idea that somebody has had but have

never acted upon. Do you think we are seeing enough innovation was

mad I think the UK is incredibly innovative. When we talk about how

we are struggling, we forget that we have a huge amount of incredibly

innovative companies in the UK. We just need the money now to make

those innovations happen. important is innovation in your

business? It is massively important. The market moves forward very

quickly and we have to invest a lot in design and technology and

opportunities open up every day for innovation. We put so much of our

profits and capital into developing new products. Do you see much

return on that? Isn't there a danger that you come up with a

wacky ideas and make money of one of them? Innovation is risky. That

is what business is all about, about managing risks. It is true

that if you do something that has never been done before, you can't

learn from others' mistakes. When we make mistakes, our competitors

look at those mistakes and the second market is sometimes a more

enviable place to be. We have thousands of great ideas now. There

are huge technology ideas that we are addressing. We are taking risks

with enervation and we hope those risks will pay off -- innovation.

You would say that! Can you be innovative with a card? Of course!

There is lots of innovation in the greeting cards market. Innovation,

I think, it is extremely important. The thing about greeting cards is

when you go and buy a card, it says a lot about yourself, this thing

that you are giving to somebody else. It says a lot about you and

the relationship you have so innovation is very important.

do you make of the Golden Christmas-tree? A Christmas tree

for �1 million? I feel a lot better about the one I got up under �100!

The wider point, people want to treat themselves now and again, so

having something that is premium is not a bad thing. It is all about

getting the balance right. Some of your cards on a fiver which I think

is pretty steep! I have your Christmas card here. When you open

it up, I think you'll find... It was not quite �5 but it is great

value. When I go and buy my Christmas card for my wife this

Christmas, what really matters is what the card looks like and what I

right inside and if I can convey my feelings for five quid to my wife,

I think it is great value for money. Would you pay a fiver for a card?

am a cheapskate, I am afraid I wouldn't! The point is it is around

choice and variety. We have cards from 99p and cards that go up to

even more than a fiver. What it is about, when you pick up the card it

has to be great value for money, but also it is about to you are

sending it to and what message you are trying to convey. It is about

emotion. Do premium products have a place in your mow -- market?

Absolutely. We sell products from premium prices to good-value prices

and all sorts of different channels. We pride ourselves on having a

product for every member of the family. At the premium end of the

business, the competition changes. All of the metrics in the business

changed but it is important for us to do, to put our innovation into

premium products and then seek that innovation filter down into the

lower-priced products. Do you suffer much from people selling

counterfeit versions of your products? There could be big

problems for you, people copying and selling it cheaper? We designed

and engineered products in the UK and they are manufactured in Asia

and sold all across the world. We have had some problems with designs

being copied. More recently we have been selling a range of angry birds,

that is the theme, and this angry birds cultural phenomenon,

everywhere in the world now, and my three-year-old of tricks me up

every morning asking me to play it with her on her iPad and it was

introduced by somebody who was 65, so it has massive appeal all over

the world and we have to control the counterfeits. Counterfeits is

sold in street markets in China but also imported into Europe so it is

damaging. You are the new chief executive of Clinton Cards, you

have been in the job six weeks. Looking at the performance in the

last year, it was loss-making until the end of the summer. How you turn

it around? We recognise that perhaps we did not modernise the

company as quickly as we should have. I have been in the job six

weeks and an undertaking a strategic review of the company.

The two biggest areas that we need to focus on his all round the

customer. But in the custom at the centre of what we do. So when a

customer walks into a Clinton store and wants to buy a card for their

mum, we have to make it very easy for them to find it and when they

pick it up, it has to be super value for money. We need to make

sure that our people are doing everything they can to help serve

the customers. Surely that is basic, that you label things properly?

course. The thing about retell, it is about... It is in the detail. We

serve 2 million customers every week. I would like to say we get it

right for every customer but we don't. We are only as good as the

last sale so we have to redouble our efforts and make sure that the

way we lay out the stores and serve the customers, that we make

progress. The second really big area is all around digital and

online. We launched our website and online offers so you can go to

Clinton website and personalise your cards and send it to anybody...

You are a bit behind the times on Aren't you a bit late to the party,

other companies do that? Of the total card market, �1.5 billion,

online is 3% of the market, so we are getting in at the right time.

We don't have to completely be pioneers but we aren't early enough

to be able to satisfy our customers. Also about the greeting cards, back

to this point about emotion, many people still want to going, look at

it, take their time, to select their cards. You can almost split

customers into two different groups come of those that care deeply

about the card that they are buying and it is all about me and the

relationship, then there is blokes, who find it more of a chore.

Labelling all blokes there! I am judging them by my own standards.

Then it is all about a bit of a chore and a little bit last minute.

I think there is on line, room for it, but also retail will be here

for many years to come. The other big thing for you at the moment is

you are on a lot of high streets but we are seeing how streets hit

by more and more problems, we are seeing more empty shops, we had

Philip Green, the owner of Arcadia, this week saying that the shops he

will close will be some of the high street once because he makes more

money from the prime locations which he says are the big shopping

centres. Isn't there a danger you are going to lose business because

of the decline in the High Street? I think I am on record as saying

and said on this programme some time ago that I am a big believer

in the High Street, as in the High Street will be here for many years

to come and the high street plays a very important part in our

community. It is not just place to shop at a gathering place. Having

said that I think it is important that we do some things to revive

the high street. Our structure of rent and rates, the UK has one of

the highest cost retail property anywhere in the world but also

there are some things the high street can learn from the out of

town. The reason people go out of town is convenience, parking,

security, lighting, and there are things we can do in town centres to

learn from that. Darcy, thank you. Public sector workers across the UK

are due to go on strike on Wednesday. They are unhappy about

the spending cuts and the proposed changes to their pensions. 25

unions have voted for strike action, which will start at midnight and

last for 20 bar was. The government said that if talk -- but if all of

the 900,000 voters peak -- that is all for a 900,000 people who voted

for the strike to strike, it will cost the economy have a billion

pounds but the unions say the figure has been plucked from thin

air. It is difficult to try to work out how much it will cost but what

is the biggest effect for business, do you think? It is basically

disruption, the uncertainty of knowing if your staff will be able

to make it in or not. For most small businesses if their staff are

busy -- if their staff are absent they will not be able to afford

cover. It leads to knock-on costs. The his reputation will risks, if

you're involved in delivering goods and you are unable to because of

the strikes there are lots of people who will not necessarily

think of the strikes, they will think I did not get my parcel, I

wonder why. There could be a knock- on effect. It is difficult to

quantify the sum but there is an indisputable effect. Delivery is an

issue you have had before, Tom. You were hit by snow last year. By you

worried about how the strike might affect your business? We certainly

could be. We use air freight less than we have in the past but when

we are using or fight normally it is because we have urgent

deliveries of a hit product selling very well and we have to bring in

extra stock and if we have at great expense brought product in urgently

and it is coming through airports, any delays there would cost our

business and customers are potentially prevent someone having

an angry bird Speaker under the tree at Christmas time. You are

getting all the plugs in there! We have seen the issue to do with

employees. There are some people who will have children who can't go

to school because of the teachers'' strike and the fact that will not

be teachers there. Have you had any employees talking to you about

their concerns on that? I five -- I have heard lots of schools are

closing and that will affect many of our employees. Our approach will

be to let the kids to come in and give them breakfast and lunch.

you will pay out money for that. That is fine. Darcy, would you let

your employees bring kids to work? From our colleagues at Clinton

Cards, we will work with everybody and individual circumstances to be

able to help. If you work in a retail store it is difficult to

take your kids into it, probably easier if you work at the office

but we also have a lot of part-time people and we will work with, you

know, there is nothing we can do other than to deal with the

situation in hand and we will work with all our colleagues to find the

best solution for them. You might be able to use them to direct

people towards the cards you were saying in his issue -- they were

saying is an issue you mentioned earlier. Brilliant, you need to

work for us. I have my own job to do. Do you worry about the effect

on shoppers? There might be some people who might not bothered to go

into town because it sounds like a nightmare, even though it might not

be? I think if it is one day we will live with it and cope. The

things that worries me more is if this is a prolonged action over a

prolonged period of time. That will have a much more serious effect.

But if it is one day we will work with it. The thing in business is

these types of thing happen to us all the time. With any -- within

any given year there are disruptions. We talked about them,

whether it is whether or this. We have to navigate through it. We

can't use it as an excuse. Thank you very much. We all like a get

together, businesses are no different. Joining your company

with other like-minded ones might Many high streets up and down the

country look a bit like this one in Hertfordshire. Not a big name

Brandon site. But for small independent shops like these, the

threat of consumers turning to big business is always present. But

this pharmacist is one of many that is biting back. These two have

owned this chemists for over a decade. They have joined a group of

pharmacists five years ago. Trade alliances are organisations that

abounded and funded by businesses of the same type. Alliance members

hope to take advantage of being part the Dodhias say they have

saved over �5,000 a year in costs alone. They say there are other

advantages of being an alliance member. Apart from the monetary

benefit city's social networking, the support we get, services to the

pharmacy like training staff and training as. The latest one we have

been on is the new medicine's service. They offered us the

training beforehand, so on 1st October when the service came into

place we were ready for it. talk about those financial benefits

but what exactly are they? As an independent we work with ourselves

and when we don't have time to talk to the bigger wholesalers and

manufacturers', we see our group people who talk on our behalf and

negotiate a discount, where we get an extra discount which the larger

stores get and that eventually builds up every year to a

substantial amount. It was launched in 19 -- and needed to and it has

gone from strength to strength. It is a fully established public

limited company with over 1000 members. In its last reported

annual results it posted pre-tax The owner of this central London

hotel went one step further earlier this year. He said up his own

alliance with some fellow independent hotel owners. IHotels

has been up and running since May. We consulted with several hoteliers

of different sizes to see what they would seek from an alliance of this

nature. We consulted with lawyers, accountants, industry experts, and

also looked at other alliances and how they operate. We then embarked

into speaking to suppliers and picked on every expense heading on

the profit and loss account to see where we would be able to mitigate

costs and look at buying opportunities. Going forward, what

challenges do you face? challenges are to maintain the

membership, make sure they get value for money, make sure that

they have the opportunities and the initiatives that we had promised

initially. If you won't a small firm and think that joining an

alliance would be good for business what should you look out for?

is the life of the alliance? Is it a new alliance or is it an

established alliance? You have to consider people that are coming to

form the alliance, what reputation their upbringing. Are they going to

help you with with the benefits which they are promising? If they

are talking about enhanced terms and conditions for example, or

better deals, are they going to be able to deliver on that? Trade

alliances may satisfy one part of your business, be that marketing,

be that suppliers, but what are the other options which you need and

what are the resources you need? What capabilities do you need in

the long term to develop and his trade alliance going to help you in

differing those capabilities? Next week we have the boss of