Trading Gossip: Cannes special

Mar 12 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL’S delegation to the MIPIM international property festival flew out to Cannes on Monday to be met by torrential rain on the Cote D’Azur. Let’s hope the deck on the yacht isn’t too slippery. This year, the city is sending its biggest-ever delegation.

“We simply can’t afford not to be there, old boy,” is the unified cry as another bottle of Champers is cracked open.

Biggest disappointment so far this year is the non-appearance of Tom Hicks, joint owner of Liverpool Football Club.

Hicks was due to be the keynote speaker at Liverpool City Council’s stand, so we believe, but clearly his intense discussions with Dubai International Capital have given him such an attack of the vapours that he will need time to recover.

But all was not lost, an official from Wirral Borough Council did a fine job as a substitute.

And those around the stand yesterday were left in no doubt about what Liverpool’s main selling point is when a chap from Nuremberg ran excitedly up to the display shouting: “Do you have The Beatles, do you have The Beatles?”

ALSO In Cannes this week is Paul Rice, chief executive of the Liverpool Commercial District Partnership (LCDP).

No doubt devoted Reds fan Paul, above, will be disap- pointed not to have had the chance to heckle Mr Hicks.

LCDP has been busy recruiting new members, but it is good to see the organisation is not wasting a single penny of their money.

One new member was sent an invoice, but had to pick it up from the Post Office and pay £1.10 as LCDP had only put a 32p stamp on it.

SOME things just make you cover your eyes in horror. Builder Rok reported record financial results last week with sterling help from the Liverpool office.

The company put out a picture to accompany the announcement which featured chief executive Garvis Snook and finance director Ashley Martin with their faces superimposed on a record (one of those black shiny vinyl discs we played in the old days).

Let’s just stick to the standard smiley pose in future, shall we?