 I hope you are all ready to get back to work after our relaxing and pleasant summer - if you like the heat, that is - and in particular support the DUCC by spending a little extra time to support the Chamber’s many activities this autumn and its new Council Members. Our strategy is unchanged, however to implement it - we need active members, not just on the Council but support for all the various activities we arrange. We must look to increase our networking to the Nordic countries and beyond. Mr Christian Winther from Goldman Sachs and Mr Niels Ladefoged, from Tulip Food Service have joined the DUCC Council in addition to Lars-Ove Filipson, SAS and Jorgen Hoholt, Nordea, who were both appointed at the last Annual General Meeting. We look forward to welcoming them to our organization.
We also look forward to welcoming HE Birger Riis-Joergensen, who was recently appointed Danish Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, and the new faces at the Embassy, as a result of the latest moves - that saw Ambassador Tom Risdahl Jensen and Mr Erik Ovesen, Head of Commercial Section, leaving for Stockholm and Hanoi respectively. We will be focusing on the globalisation issues primarily facing Denmark in October and November, and hope you will all join us on the 12th of October for our globalisation debate, with presentations by HE the Danish Ambassador and Morten Albaeck of Danske Bank. The flattening of the world is lifting millions of people out of poverty in China and India in particular. Free trade has proved a far greater liberator than any aid programme and in the West. It is lifting an educated elite to new heights of possibility but what is lacking is the unequivocal embrace of these possibilities in practice and a willingness to drop our protectionist approach and be truly flexible to the massive changes. British and Danish businesses are already out there, as they have been for hundreds of years learning and adapting, whereas the ideological politically based discussions on what we should do as nations is lacking urgency and dogged by lack of liberalism and willingness to drop the very elements that impede our competitiveness and innovation in how to cooperate and forge alliances for the future. The train has left the platform. So you could say the heat is on! I look forward to a lively and open dialogue on the most challenging time for our old world and its future. Best regards
Per Troen
Chairman
Christian started at the DUCC office 24 July and will stay untill February. Christian Meyn is originally from Odense, the home city of Hans Christian Andersen, but has lived in Aarhus the last 4 years, where he has been studying at Aarhus School of Business, also known as Handelshøjskolen. Last summer he graduated as a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. In August he entered the MSc program, specializing in International Business. Christian has during his Bachelor course been a summer intern at an Irish bank in Dublin, and has during his MSc course been a research assistant to a professor specializing in Danish IT-companies internationalisation.
Christian can be reachedon cm@ducc.co.uk
Lex Life & Pension S.A. is a Luxembourg life insurance company with Danish roots. We are market leaders in the development of life insurance products used as a wealth planning tool for private investors. Wealth planning is a complex issue. At Lex Life & Pension we have a great deal of experience with geographically mobile clients, expatriates, inheritance tax planning, pension planning and local and European fiscal regulations. In addition, we work closely with legal cabinets in each of the markets where we operate, to ensure that our solutions always comply with local laws and regulations. We operate in most European countries, but concentrate our efforts in Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Lex Life & Pension is delighted to be a member of the Danish-UK Chamber of Commerce and is looking forward to strengthening business ties between the two countries. For more information, please visit our web site: www.lexlife.lu or call Torben Maj on +352 021 21 71 31. Lex Life and Pension S.A.
2nd Floor 85-91 Route de Thionville
L-2611 Luxembourg
P.O. Box 1872
L-1018 Luxembourg
Tel: +352 26 89 49
Fax: +352 26 19 29 96
contact@lexlife.lu
With the very first Radisson SAS Hotel built in Copenhagen in 1960, the connections between the Radisson SAS Hotel in Manchester Airport and Scandinavia are very strong.
 With the objective of building solid relationships between the various Scandinavian companies based in the North West, we have recently joined together with the SAS Airlines to create the very first Nordic Networking event, to be held at our property the 14th September.
We have worked very closely together with the Danish-UK Chamber of Commerce, and we are proud to be invited to join as a new member, as well as receiving great support and cooperation regarding the Nordic Networking event.
As for our property, the Radisson SAS Hotel Manchester Airport is the only hotel directly linked to all 3 terminals, the train and coach stations, via the “Sky Link” an elevated passenger walkway. Located in the heart of Manchester Airport, this gives superb access to the motorway network system across the North West. Boasting 360 bedrooms and 32 meeting rooms we can ensure the perfect  environment for a successful and memorable business meeting or simply an overnight stay before an early flight.
Rachel Fitzpatrick, Director of Sales, will be the head contact person for the Danish-UK Chamber of Commerce. She can be reached at rachel.fitzpatrick@radissonSAS.com
Radisson SAS Hotel Manchester Airport
Chicago Avenue
Manchester
M90 3RA
Tel: 0161 490 5000
Fax: 0161 490 5100
www.radissonsas.com
Lawrence Graham is a leading London, full-service law firm, which was established over 200 years ago, and which has about 90 partners, 300 other lawyers and 500 staff in total.
 The main representative from LG at DUCC will be Martin Mankabady, however two of his partners, William Sturge and Colin Peck, may also attend some of DUCC's events.
By way of background, Martin Mankabady is a partner in LG's corporate department, and specialises in mergers and acquisitions, with a particular focus on the insurance and financial services sectors. Martin Mankabady also has a growing Scandinavian practice (focussed mainly on Denmark). Martin Makabady can be reached at martin.mankabady@lawgram.com
Lawrence Graham LLP Solicitors
190 Strand
London
WC2R 1JN
Telephone +44 (0)20 7379 0000
Fax +44 (0)20 7379 6854
http://www.lawgram.com
This month the DUCC has the opportunity to invite members to particiapte in a competition. The two winners will receive two tickets to the opening Event of the new Danish film Allegro the 15th of September, starring Helena Christensen and Ulrich Thomsen. The Director, Christopher Boe will be present and answer questions from the audience and introduce the film.
To win these tickets all you need to do is answer the question below to info@ducc.co.uk before Monday the 11th of September. For those of you that do not win the tickets, but still want to see Allegro, more information can be found on the Institute of Contemporary Art's home, by clicking here
"When does the 2006 Energy Convention take place?"
 Leading up to this week's Energy Conference, Red Letter met with managing Director of DONG UK, Mr Brent Cheshire, to get his thoughts and perspectives on the Danish as well as the global energy strategy. Mr Brent Cheshire can be reached at brch@dong.dk
RL: Looking to the future, what are your views on the oil supply and demand balance?
Mr Cheshire: Question is if there is an imbalance at the moment. The overall long-term average price will shift to the level we see today but this is not a reflection on shortage in supply. Seen on the short to medium term no supply shortage will emerge.
RL: Is your company considering or investing in alternative energy, and what is your current involvement in these?
Mr Cheshire: DONG Energy is very active in alternative energy. We are active in Geothermal heating, bio-ethanol and wind. We operates and participate as partners in wind farms in Denmark, UK, Spain, Greece, Norway and Sweden. In March 2006 DONG started production in the UK as operator of Barrow wind farm.
RL: Do you see a change in the world's major sources of energy over the next 25 to 50 years?
Mr Cheshire: There will be an increasing demand for gas to fill a continuing rise in energy consumption but no significant changes will happen in the three most important sources. The three main energy sources will continue to be Coal, Gas and Oil.
RL: What do you expect the oil price (crude) pr barrel to be on the 4th of September 2010? 2030? 2060?
Mr Cheshire: With the changes in oil prices we have seen in the last teen years, I would refain from trying to predict the future.
RL: What trends do you see in environmental spending by industry and governments?
Mr Cheshire: An increase in subsidising research and development of alternative energy which of course will attract the industry and encourage creative solutions in the area of fuel and energy exploitation and production.
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By Arne Anders Lohmann Rasmussen
Senior Analyst
Danske Bank
arne.lohmann@danskebank.dk
The Bank of England (BoE) surprised the economic establishment when it decided to hike the base rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.75% on August 3. Most BoE watchers considered the June inflation rate of 2.5% – although above the 2.0% inflation target – a temporary phenomenon that the central bank would not react to. When volatile energy prices are stripped out, inflation is actually much more subdued and well below the 2.0% target.
Nevertheless the BoE did hike the base rate and the market became very bewildered about the future outlook for interest rates in the UK. The Inflation Report released a week after the monetary policy meeting indicated that the central bank expected inflation to go even higher during the autumn. In fact, the central bank governor, Mervyn King, warned that inflation might go as high as 3.0% by year-end. If this indeed panned out, the governor would have to write a letter to Chancellor Brown explaining or even excusing the high rate of inflation – a bitter pill to swallow. Hence, it was pretty obvious that the central bank had already planned new rate hikes later in the year and maybe into 2007.
However, we doubt there will be more than one further rate hike from the BoE in this cycle. The global economy is probably going to look weaker in 2007, and this will affect the UK economy. Furthermore, we expect UK inflation to fall somewhat in 2007 as the effect of the current high energy prices drops out of the inflation index. Hence UK interest rates will, in our opinion, peak at 5.0% in November.
We believe 5.0% is a level consistent with continued growth in the UK economy. Furthermore, it should not be so high as to endanger the new positive momentum seen in the UK housing market over the past three months. In contrast to the US and Danish housing markets, the UK housing market looks very strong at the moment. The RICS indicator, which tracks the optimism of real estate agents with regards to the price outlook, is at a very high level. The RICS indicator has historically been a very good pointer to future developments in UK housing prices. |
Jørgen Høholt, aged 47, has been in banking for more then 25 years. Most of the years has been spent within Corporate banking. Currently JH is heading International Network within Nordea. International Network covers Nordea's overseas activities excluding Markets which has been defined as homemarket for Nordea. At the same time Jørgen Høholt is general manager for Nordea's branch in London. Mr Høholt holds a Bachelor in communication from Copenhagen Business School.
Jørgen Høholt hopes that his experience in Corporate banking and his network in the Nordic countries could bring new ideas and new members to the Danish Chamber. Through his board membership he would like to see his UK network brought to a new and higher level.
Jørgen Høholtis reachable at jorgen.hoholt@nordea.com
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