Today, the company owns and runs two of the Island’s most iconic and recognisable tourist attractions: Blackgang Chine, which is the UK’s oldest theme park, and Robin Hill Adventure Park and Gardens, site of the famous Bestival music festival and winner of the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce “Tourism & Leisure Business Awards for Excellence” and the coveted “Island Business of the Year Award“ in 2008/2009.
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Left to right:Rob Holgate, Financial Director, Vectis Ventures: Auditel Consultants, Steve Ray and Keith Marsh.

Employing over 120 staff during peak season and attracting over 300,000 visitors across both sites each year, plus a further 55,000 festivalgoers, Vectis Ventures is one of the Islands most successful and important tourism businesses and is considered to be a flagship business that helps form the identity of the Island to a national and international audience.

Like all successful businesses, however, one of the biggest challenges Vectis face is staying on top of overheads, particularly utility costs, which require time and expertise to manage effectively. So, when Auditel Consultants Steve Ray and Keith Marsh approached them in 2008 with a view to providing cost and purchase management services, the Group’s Financial Controller, Rob Holgate, agreed to meet and find out more.

As Rob says, “From our point of view there didn’t seem to be anything to lose by engaging Keith and Steve to manage our gas and electricity costs and two years down the line I’m very happy with that decision. As a family business we re-invest our profits heavily in developing attractions at both of our sites so any reduction in expenditure that can go towards this growth and development of the business is worthwhile, however it’s on the management side that I believe we’ve benefited most from working with Auditel.”

Through these renegotiations Keith and Steve have implemented savings of 50% at the Blackgang Hotel, plus a further 22% and 20% respectively across the Blackgang and Robin Hill theme park site, but, more significantly, they have also overseen the fitting of new meters at both sites and sorted out a number of contract and meter reading issues.

“One of the new meters installed is what is known as a ‘times ten’ meter, which the supplier evidently forgot, so when the first bill turned up it was ten times higher than it should have been. Thankfully, Keith was able to negotiate with the supplier on our behalf to get the bill corrected, saving me hours of work and the company a lot of money! Also, just before engaging Auditel, we tried to change to a new electricity supplier but our incumbent supplier told us we’d left it too late to give them notice which forced us to stay with them and pay higher prices than necessary. However, once Auditel got involved they were able to negotiate much better prices and I know that next time we’ll be in a position to give notice in plenty of time to take advantage of the best deal for our needs. From my point of view it’s a great relief to know that I’ve got access to expertise when I need it and that any problems or issues will be dealt with quickly, without the need for me to get involved directly.”

Savings Breakdown:

Gas and Electricity Costs
-Blackgang Hotel (Office Site) 50%
-Blackgang Theme Park Site 22%
-Robin Hill Theme Park Site 20%
plus rebate from Robin Hill of 25%

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Roast is dedicated to traditional British cooking using fresh seasonal produce sourced entirely in the UK.

It has seating for 110 on two levels, and currently caters for between 2,500 and 3,500 customers per week, depending on the time of year. Since opening in 2006, Roast have added two takeaway outlets to their flagship restaurant: Roast to Go in Borough Market and Roast Westfield in Shepherd’s Bush.

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Left to right: Sergei Gubars, General Manager and Wine Buyer at Roast and Auditel Consultants Claire Power-Browne and Ravi Khakhria

Auditel first met Iqbal Wahhab, founder of Roast Restaurant, at an IoD event. He was impressed by Auditel’s service offering and appointed them to run the rule over Roast’s business costs.

Sergei Gubars, Roast’s General Manager and Wine Buyer, takes up the story. “Roast has been a success from day one. We are very busy and the restaurant is full. But, I felt that we could probably increase our net profits by taking a closer look at our expenses.”

Sergei liked the fact that Auditel did much more than talk a good game. “I was pleasantly surprised by Auditel’s approach. It was not at all aggressive. It was clear that they were experts at what they said they could do and weren’t afraid to go the extra mile.”

The first project they were asked to work on was the gas supply. This has now been completed and, as a result of their expert analysis, Auditel have delivered savings for Roast of a massive 52%.

Sergei and Iqbal Wahhab were delighted. Not just because of the savings, but also by the way Auditel worked with them.

Sergei continues, ”Working with Auditel is very easy. They are always on the case and ready and willing to provide feedback and follow-ups when asked. The money they have saved us so far is great news and will be used directly to improve the customer experience, allowing us to add improvements to our interior design and air conditioning.”

With a new kitchen suite about to be fitted, Auditel are now carrying out an examination of the electricity supply as well as following up concerns about the level of Roast’s water bills. The latter has led to a survey carried out by Auditel and further investigative work in conjunction with Borough Market to see what can be done.

They are also engaged in looking at Roast’s print costs and are working hard to ensure that the ethical and green buying policy of Roast is upheld throughout the process. And they have also been asked to look at the management and hosting of Roast’s website.

Sergei concludes,”I really like working with Auditel, they do a great job and I look forward to continuing working with them in the future.”

Savings Breakdown:

Gas 52%

Other costs planned for 2012:
Electricity, Water, Printing and Website Management

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A very special thank you also goes to one of our clients, Iqbal Wahhab, who has not only made a very generous donation but has extended the offer of a free meal for two at his fantastic restaurant Roast http://www.roast-restaurant.com/ for the highest single donation towards our fundraising effort.

Follow TeamAuditel on twitter at http://twitter.com/teamauditel

All donations gratefully received at  http://www.justgiving.com/teams/Team-Auditel

With regard to the other part of the title, I would like to “thank” the impatient driver that knocked Claire off of her bike yesterday and proceeded to drive-on, hopefully he managed to get to work on time. Thankfully Claire was un-hurt, some scrapes to the bike unfortunately. Not all *!*!holes though and for that a special thanks goes to the driver of the following car who stopped to assist.

Anyway that’s the negatives out of the way. The positives:-

• The Auditel team have had a very good start to the shirt sponsorship with a couple of significant companies agreeing to support us.
• More training miles behind us.
• The new saddle is much more comfortable.
• Claire advised me that raising my handlebars may alleviate my neck pain. Great suggestion Claire, perhaps one of the men on the team could make it……..light blue touch paper and retire!

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Left to right: Ravi Khakhria and Denis Brennan, Auditel Consultants; Chris Jones, Finance and Administration Manager and Tessa Norgrove, Bursar of Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls; Claire Power-Browne and Steve Ray, Auditel Consultants

Auditel’s analysis has already saved 22% on utilities costs for Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls by ensuring they are on the most appropriate contracts and tariffs.

Tessa Norgrove, the School’s Bursar, was first introduced to Auditel by Claire Power-Browne and her Business Partner Steve Ray. Tessa and colleague Chris Jones have now been working with them and other Auditel consultants brought on board, since late 2009.

“We had worked with brokers and other consultants in the past and have always been very happy to meet with people who can help us improve our efficiency and effectiveness,” says Tessa.

Shortly after the working relationship started Claire and Steve invited their Auditel colleague Ravi Khakhria to assist them. Steve Ray commented, “having worked alongside Ravi for many other projects Claire and I had no hesitation in asking him to join us. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the initial areas that the school invited us to review”.

Chris, who is the School’s Finance and Administration Manager, continues, “I’ve had a lot of direct contact with the Auditel team over the past year and am very pleased with the service they’ve provided. Everybody we deal with is very professional and a delight to work with.”

So far, Auditel have reviewed the School’s gas, electricity, landline and mobile communications expenditures and have found savings up to 22% in these areas by moving the School onto more appropriate contracts and tariffs. In addition, they have recovered over £43,000 of incorrectly applied electricity charges.

As Chris says, “This is a very nice saving to have and as well as improving our cash position, means the impact of rising energy prices over the past few months has been mitigated.”

Going forward, Auditel have been invited to review additional categories, including Stationery and IT consumables as well as Janitorial Supplies.

A major strength of the Auditel approach is the collaborative working which allows teams to be formed of affiliates with expertise across a broad spectrum of specialist disciplines. It was this “virtual corporate structure” approach which led to Auditel colleague Denis Brennan being asked to help Tessa review the IT provision across the three Monmouth School sites.

“This project is in the very early stages (December 2010) but is going very well so far,” says Tessa. “We’re not just looking at cost on this project but at the IT management structure and service provision across the three sites so it’s quite complex. Even so, Denis expects to get an initial report to me by the end of the year.”

Savings Breakdown:

Electricity – 15% Saving
Gas – 16% Saving
Landline and Mobile Communications – 22% Saving
Plus electricity rebate of over £43,000 from a review of the supply criteria

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Are you ready for the 2.5% increase in VAT in January? For most UK business to business operations the impact of the increase in VAT in January will be one that is largely just an administrative exercise.

If however you are an organisation that is not VAT registered then the new year is going to bring with it an increase of 2.12% on just about everything you purchase. Put simply you can neither claim it back or pass it on, unless you are able to convince your customers to accept it. That’s always assuming you are able to charge for the services you deliver, simply not the case for many charities.

Whilst Auditel can not reduce the VAT rate you pay (actually we can in certain areas), we can certainly find savings in your cost base that would more than compensate for the impending VAT increase.

Auditel has had many successes in reducing the overhead costs within the charity sector – see our testimonial page for just one example. Because of our results based fee structure it would cost you nothing to find out how we can help.

Left to Right: Adrian Burton, Chris Bridge, Laurence Fitch (team captain – because he’s done it before), Ed Brewer, Claire Power-Browne, Steve Ray, Denis Brennan

That was a shock! I guess that means that we get to dance again next week!

In the words of the panel of judges from our Winchester Head Office “just good people, real givers to the network, great business partnership, solid, honest, full of integrity, caring”.

It’s fair to say that we are genuinely thrilled to get the award if somewhat humbled by it.

We were presented with the award by Sir Bernard Ingham at the Auditel National Conference on Friday 29^th October.  This is an event we look forward to a great deal as it gives us an excellent opportunity to catch up with the majority of our 170 Auditel colleagues. The day was filled with excellent workshops and speakers, not least a very powerful and moving keynote speech from Col Stuart Tootal about his experiences in Afghanistan.  The days agenda complete we then took advantage of the short break before the evening dinner, award ceremony and charity raffle. A special thank you should go to all the donators of raffle prizes and auction items without whom it would not have been possible to have raised in excess of £3000 for Help for Heroes.

We would like to pass on our congratulations to all of the evenings award winners, particularly Denis Brennan (Consultants Consultant 2010) and Laurence Fitch & Ruth Dawe (Franchisee of the Year 2010).

Pete Arundale (Business Phones & Networks), Claire Power-Browne, Steve Ray, Sir Bernard Ingham

On Friday Auditel held their annual conference followed by an awards ceremony and fund raising event in the evening. One of the items up for auction was the Arsenal shirt worn by Alan Sunderland during the 1979 FA Cup Final. I was bidding against Laurence for a while but could see his determination – he finally got his prize for the sum of £1300.

I spoke to Laurence after the auction and was genuinely surprised by his passion for anything Arsenal. Apparently the 1979 FA Cup final had a very special sentimental place in his heart – “It was the first FA Cup final that I went to and I can still picture the goal that Alan Sunderland scored to win the game in the last minute. He has been my sporting hero since that day and when I heard the shirt was part of the auction I just had to have it. I come from a family of Arsenal supporters and can’t wait to tell them all. It will take pride of place in my house”

Congratulations Laurence, in my opinion you thoroughly deserved to get it!!

Steve