THE WAGE bill for the executive directors of Northern Rock, the former building society which floated on the Stock Exchange in October, soared by almost 40 per cent last year to more than pounds 1.4m. The two companies are understood to have reachedan agreement on price.Flextech shares closed up 29p at 535p.. The second will be a sports entertainment channel carrying quizzes and gameshows.Flextech said it was still in negotiations with BSkyB, the satellite operator, about a deal which would offer all Flextech’s channels to subscribers to BSkyB’s digital service, which launches in June. The first, called UKFM, will be a music channel similar to MTV. He said Flextech had chosen travel because many viewers already use Teletext when planning their holidays.
The announcement was made as Flextech announced a net profit, before exceptionals, of pounds 1.9m for 1997, compared to a pounds 15.6m loss the previous year. The profits were struck before exceptional costs of pounds 7m related to the start-up costs of UKTV, Flextech’s joint venture with the BBC, and the costs of relaunching Flextech’s own channels.The company said it was planning to launch another two UKTV channels. Brett Harman, managing director, said the channel was likely to be one of many based around home shopping.
FLEXTECH, the television programming group, yesterday unveiled plans to launch an interactive travel television channel which will allow viewers to order holidays while watching programmes about their destinations. Providing companies with more highly skilled workers can only increase levels of dissatisfaction when those workersare employed in poor quality, low-paid jobs.”The paper, “Was Ratner Right?” recommends a dual policy of encouraging businesses to opt for the high-value strategy at the same time as improving standards of education and training.Companies would also have to switch to patterns of work organisation that allowed employees to use their skills, and improve employee relations to improve trust and motivation.It concludes that this “poses a major challenge to policy-makers for whom upskilling has for too long been a convenient ‘magic bullet’ solution”.. That will also depend on companies aiming to sell higher quality goods and services, according to a new report from the Employment Policy Institute. Many British businesses opt for what the authors identify as the “Gerald Ratner strategy” of competing on the basis of low price and low quality.
When the former head of the bargain jewellery chain described its products as “crap”, he might have been foolish but he was honest, according to Ewart Keep of Warwick Business School and Ken Mayhew of Pembroke College, Oxford.Their research suggests that many British companies opt for this strategy rather than developing high-quality products that require skilled labour.This can make sense for businesses that do not have a wealthy customer base or do not have the internal organisation to move upmarket.Given this pattern, improved workforce skills will not by itself guarantee a more competitive UK economy.Mr Keep said: “For many British companies, competitiveness lies not in upskilling workers to make quality products but through price.
Neither director will receive any pay-off following their resignation.Outlook, page 23. IMPROVING the skills of the workforce might be at the top of the Government’s jobs agenda, but it is no panacea for improving Britain’s economic performance. It wants to expand its mail order operation and is considering setting up new stand-alone retail outlets.Freddie Fletcher, group chief executive, said the controversy surrounding Freddie Shepherd and Douglas Hall had damaged sales. However sales of replica kits and merchandise were disappointing.
Newcastle wants to expand its retail operation from the North-East, where it has reached saturation. Participation in the European Champions league contributed pounds 5.5m, compared to the pounds 3.6m from the UEFA Cup the previous season. Operating profits rose 56 per cent to pounds 10.3m for the six months to January, thanks to a strong rise in television revenues.