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WELCOME

EDITORIAL
Editor
Mark Simms BSc Tel: 01732 773268
mark.simms@itmagazine.uk.com
ADVERTISING IT TAKES THE WORST OF TIMES
Regional Director (Home Counties & South East)
Mark West Tel: 020 8467 3613
mark.west@itmagazine.uk.com TO BRING OUT THE BEST
Regional Sales Manager (Midlands)
David Harman Tel: 01772 462596 hese are challenging times for the UK’s industrial sector, as they are for
david.harman@itmagazine.uk.com
many others, and there are predictions that, even with the job retention
Regional Sales Manager (North of England, Scotland & Wales) scheme, the various grants and government backed loans, 70% of small
Jan Anderson Tel: 01978 314730 Tbusinesses may not survive the summer without further government
jan.anderson@itmagazine.uk.com aid. Research compiled by Vala Capital and the Enterprise Investment
Scheme Association (EISA), based on feedback from more than 250
Deutschland/Suisse/Österreich
SMEs, reveals that equity funding for small businesses in the UK has
Eisenacher Medien Tel: +49 228-2499860
collapsed since the outbreak of Covid-19, and that nine out of ten
info@eisenacher-medien.de
growth businesses needing investment right now may disappear
Overseas within 12 months if the government fails to act, with the loss of
George Bennett MA Tel: + 44 161 374 5615 millions of jobs.
it.marketing@itmagazine.uk.com
So it is even more remarkable how many design companies,
Special Projects manufacturers, suppliers and distributors are putting their own
Steve Brotherton Tel: 01625 268585 troubles aside and coming to the aid of the NHS by pouring efforts
steve@itmagazine.uk.com into making personal protective equipment (PPE). Times of crisis
MAILING ADDRESSES tend to bring out the best in some and the worst in others, but there
Press Releases: mark.simms@itmagazine.uk.com are huge numbers of engineering companies in the UK who can be
immensely proud of their efforts to meet the needs of the present, even
Advertising Copy: production@itmagazine.uk.com
Head Office: Victoria House, 2 Mornington Road with their own futures looking bleak.
Sale, Cheshire M33 2DA The government’s measures to secure the futures of British
Email: it.marketing@itmagazine.uk.com businesses are unprecedented – packages of support that have
Circulation Department: PO Box 85, Sale M33 2BB previously only been offered to banks. But for many it won’t be enough,
Email: it.circulation@itmagazine.uk.com which is why Vala Capital is calling for the government to provide a £600
GENERAL ENQUIRIES million lifeline to small businesses through increased investor tax reliefs.
Email: it.info@itmagazine.uk.com Tel: 0161 374 5615 Many of the most innovative early-stage companies – those working on
technologies, systems and processes that can have a profound impact on
As a controlled circulation journal, Industrial Technology is sent free society – are at risk of closing because they are not eligible for the
of charge to individuals in the UK who meet the terms and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), while take up
conditions of the publishers. To apply for free regular copies, write to is slow.
the Circulation Department. To those not meeting the terms and
conditions, the magazine is available on UK subscription at a cost of SmallBusiness.co.uk surveyed 1,823 small businesses, of which 53%
£90 per year (10 issues). Single copies are £9. Overseas said their loan application had been rejected since the scheme was
subscriptions (airmail) are as follows: Rest of Europe including Eire overhauled on 3 April. The survey chimes with business secretary Alok
£140 (single copies £14); USA $220 (single $22); Rest of the Sharma’s admission that only 4,200 loans worth £800m have been
World £170 (single copies £17).
awarded, despite more than 300,000 enquiries – a conversion rate of just
1.4%. It is easy to see how many of these businesses could go to the
Printing & production by Pensord Press, Blackwood, Wales
wall – yet any of them could be just the businesses the UK needs
should another crisis arrive at our shores in the future.
Industrial Mark Simms
Technology Editor

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