Sage on the bounce back
Southern polishes its brand
SOUTHERN Cross, the UK’s biggest home-care provider, has recovered from financial loss and finished two places up at sixth.
It does so as chief executive Jimmy Buchan pledges that by the end of next year it will be a better run business with an improved brand reputation, even though, like others reliant on state revenues, it will have to cope with Government cuts.
The Darlington-based keeper of 700 homes, which was the subject of complaint about standards, has now spent more than £1m on improvements, aims to cut costs by 1% and raise the proportion of self-funded residents from 18 to 22%.
EAGA for success
Another riser is the energy support group Eaga – up five places to eighth. It’s also on the move in other ways – for example, currently taking up residence in a new tower block at Gosforth, which Northern Rock in its distress had to abandon. Eaga is doing this in a £21m deal involving Newcastle Council, but at the same time is seeking 150 job cuts from its UK workforce of 4,500. It, like Southern Cross, has to ready itself for Government cuts, in this case over a possible switch from energy grants to loans
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