Capital Quarter

My little experiment worked...I was waiting for those exact posts

Don't get me wrong, it's nice to see any home grown business develop and be ambitious, with plans to expand as well. Good on them. But you really do have to question why the hell the government needed to give them money. If their business plans are that good surely banks would be happy to lend ?

I couldn't help but think that the staff at Finance Wales in the same building just fancied a coffee shop downstairs maybe ?

As for the word 'Artisan' , it might just be my least favourite word in use right now. It's utter bollocks.

Finance Wales staff get unlimited free coffee as part of the deal

Grrr Random Comment beat me to it by 3 minutes. I shouldn't have popped out for my hand crafted artisan 100% arabica bean roasted by genuine Columbians and topped by locally sourced free range milk from cows bred on grass grown on south facing slopes only coffee.

you forget, hand roasted on the thigh of a virgin Karl

you forget, hand roasted on the thigh of a virgin Karl

I didn't know Karl was a virgin. It's a bit of a surprise in this day and age. Still I guess he has his reasons.

you forget, hand roasted on the thigh of a virgin Karl

I didn't know Karl was a virgin. It's a bit of a surprise in this day and age. Still I guess he has his reasons.

A comma is the difference between helping your uncle jack off a horse and helping you uncle jack, off a horse

Grrr Random Comment beat me to it by 3 minutes. I shouldn't have popped out for my hand crafted artisan 100% arabica bean roasted by genuine Columbians and topped by locally sourced free range milk from cows bred on grass grown on south facing slopes only coffee.

you forget, hand roasted on the thigh of a virgin Karl

I'm not a virgin, I'm a Leo on the cusp of Cancer. And the only thing that goes on my thighs these days is Ralgex.

Indeed, "artisan" and "craft" are two words the put me off when I see them. I actually like going to independent cafes, coffee shops etc.. but the fact people fall for this marketing B*llsh*t is just depressing. Add either of these words and you can charge a hefty mark-up.

On a different note - why did Finance Wales support the launch of a coffee shop? I thought Finance Wales was there to fill a gap in the market, funding businesses with high risk but potentially high reward, that today's more risk-averse banks might be reluctant to touch. A coffee shop doesn't seem like such a venture. There was something similar with a bar a few years ago (in the old County Club on Westgate street).

Finance Wales should focus its resources on risky investments in high value added sectors. Not coffee shops, ice cream parlours and burger bars!

I'm thinking that was the old owners of The Buffalo Bar and Ten Feet Tall, cash for refurbishing the old Glamorganshire County Club. This, after they'd already been resposnisible for suddenly closing down one of their other establishments in Woodville Road with no notice (IIRC the staff weren't even aware). Do they vet candidates at all? What criteria do they use?

Question 1. Have you recently opened up a similar business, brazenly walked away from it when it started to fail, and would prefer to let the tax payer cover your risk this time?

http://www.financewales.co.uk/performan ... mance.aspx

I'm not an accountant nor an investment manager, but take a look at the link above. Its titled "investment performance". I can see how much they have invested. I can see some measures of the jobs and additional associated private sector investment. But I can't see anything about actual investment performance. Whether their investments are actually making money. That doesn't seem like a very informative way of measuring "investment performance". In fact, it seems a major omission given that this is money from Welsh (and other British) taxpayers.

Is this indicative of a slapdash approach to risk, return, and due diligence? Is it indicative of the fact that they fundamentally see their aims in social terms as opposed to financial ones?

There can be a role for state-backed finance for high-risk high-reward areas that may offer opportunities for long-term growth and big spillovers on the wider economy. New areas of tech, or IT etc. Infant-industry style arguments.

There can also be a role for state-backed finance for genuinely social enterprise which fulfills social goals - like offering employment to the disabled, or former prisoners, say. Or provides services to help poor families, or improve the environment. Social benefits that a private financier might not take into account.

There isn't a role for state-backed soft finance for shops, cafes, bars and othe businesses that don't have either these economic or social spill-over effects.

Although things could get worse:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/b ... y-10729145

Looks like Plaid's plan for boosting growth by "1.5% per annum", is to:
- Try to do more off balance sheet borrowing to fund infrastructure. Now I'm quite sure extra infrastructure investment would be beneficial but PFI shows that when you do this off balance sheet the bill still comes to bite you in the end, and you can overspend as you're not subject to the same fiscal constraints as with on balance sheet borrowing. So a recipe for disaster down the line?
- Recreate the WDA brand - but isn't that too late?
- Spend money on trying to push investment in to "all parts of Wales" rather than allowing it to naturally gravitate to more economically productive areas like N.E Wales, the M4 Corridor, and especially Cardiff
- Get the public sector to increase procurement from local businesses. Because yes, if we traded less with each other, we'd all be better off wouldn't we?
- Either convert Finance Wales into a National Bank for Wales, or set up a new institution. So more public money potentially being directed willy-nilly to businesses that if they have a sensible plan should be able to raise money privately.

What we really need in Wales is a country that is even more clientalist and even more reliant on the public sector!

Although things could get worse:
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/b ... y-10729145

Looks like Plaid's plan for boosting growth by "1.5% per annum", is to:
- Try to do more off balance sheet borrowing to fund infrastructure. Now I'm quite sure extra infrastructure investment would be beneficial but PFI shows that when you do this off balance sheet the bill still comes to bite you in the end, and you can overspend as you're not subject to the same fiscal constraints as with on balance sheet borrowing. So a recipe for disaster down the line?
- Recreate the WDA brand - but isn't that too late?
- Spend money on trying to push investment in to "all parts of Wales" rather than allowing it to naturally gravitate to more economically productive areas like N.E Wales, the M4 Corridor, and especially Cardiff
- Get the public sector to increase procurement from local businesses. Because yes, if we traded less with each other, we'd all be better off wouldn't we?
- Either convert Finance Wales into a National Bank for Wales, or set up a new institution. So more public money potentially being directed willy-nilly to businesses that if they have a sensible plan should be able to raise money privately.

What we really need in Wales is a country that is even more clientalist and even more reliant on the public sector!

If what they're suggesting is something along the lines of the German Landesbanken that seems fairly sensible to me as does trying to encourage local businesses to bid for public sector contracts.