kbb Birmingham is here and it's huge!

Guest blog by Sam Cande, sales director, UBM Live.

Friends, colleagues and business associates, this is the last week before kbb Birmingham and if I told you I was eager to get there, that would be an understatement!

I have been ready for two years, waiting for this very week to happen and I can’t believe in two weeks time I like the rest of you am going to have to wait another two years to see the show again.

Forget what you may or may not have heard. It’s here, it’s happening, it’s huge and there will be so many exciting new products to see this year at kbb Birmingham that you will certainly be able to fill a whole day up, especially with the amazing seminar programme on offer.

It wouldn’t be fair for me to say who I’m looking forward to seeing the most, but this year we have over 320 exhibitors and just over 100 of those are companies that have never exhibited at the show before.

I know everyone is busier than ever, I’ve been trying to work out myself why I have to work till 10 o’clock at night, but think of it this way: if you learn new things, see new products and catch up with colleagues, you will probably end up saving a few weeks off your working year.

So if you haven’t registered yet it's not too late; just go to the website www.kbb.co.uk and hopefully I’ll get to see some of you there.

Lets face it, two years is a long time to wait to see everyone again…

Snaidero set to stun in Milan

Two of the four new Snaidero kitchens on display at Eurocucina in April will be by Pininfarina.

Paolo Pininfarina - one of the keynote speakers in the Seminar Programme at kbb Birmingham on 22nd March - is believed to be revisiting two of his design classics for Snaidero: Ola, launched in 1991 and Idea, first launched in 2000.

We are also promised a new Snaidero kitchen from architect Iosa Ghini that will continue the brand's theme of employing materials with a low environmental impact. (That sounds like wood to me.)

A new kitchen called Code will also be on display prior to its official launch. This is said to convey "maximum versatility" and a "creative and flexible layout" that may make it suitable for open-plan installations.

However, it looks like the centre of the Snaidero action is going to take place at Fuorisalone, the new Snaidero showroom in the historic centre of Milan that will officially open on 15 April.

A substantial section of the new venue will be taken up with a display of Orange (seen above). Its versatile nature, formal lightness and finely crafted structural details, is a refined industrial design solution and Snaidero's answer to recent market changes.

Snaidero at Eurocucina in Hall 15, Stand A19 - B 15.

HMRC Business Support hits £5billion

HM Revenue & Customs' Business Payment Support Service (BPSS) has helped over 160,000 businesses reschedule more than £5billion of tax in its first 15 months, new figures reveal today, 3 March 2010.

The BPSS gives viable businesses, experiencing temporary difficulties paying their taxes, the opportunity to reschedule their tax payments to a more affordable timetable, as part of a 'time to pay' arrangement. These arrangements can cover PAYE, National Insurance, VAT or any other HMRC taxes.

In total, around 300,000 time to pay arrangements worth £5.13billion have been agreed by HMRC since the launch of BPSS in November 2008 - an average of more than 4,500 every week.

Businesses from a wide range of different industries have arranged time to pay agreements through the BPSS - everything from retail, tourism, transport and leisure to farming, manufacturing, construction and engineering.

Welcoming the figures, Financial Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms said: "It is excellent news that the Business Payment Support Service continues to provide much needed help to UK businesses, with over £5billion now rescheduled and over 160,000 businesses helped and a very high level of payment, in line with the agreements reached.

"The scheme will remain in place as long as necessary, as we want to continue to help businesses through the difficulties they are facing, because small businesses are the backbone of the British economy and have a vital part to play in our economic recovery."

The BPSS helpline can be contacted on 0845 302 1435 from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, and from 8am to 4pm at weekends.

Major changes for VAT and PAYE

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has launched its first ever 'Super Podcast', to alert businesses to major changes in the way they file and pay VAT, PAYE and corporation tax.

The free, audio podcast highlights important VAT changes coming in on 1 April 2010, which mean VAT-registered traders with annual turnovers of £100,000 or more (excluding VAT) will have to file their VAT returns online and pay their VAT electronically, while all businesses registering for VAT from April will have to file their returns online and pay electronically.

The Super Podcast, featuring HMRC experts Stephen Banyard and Don Macarthur, also covers three other key areas: the need for all employers to file their Employer Annual Returns online from this spring; new penalties for late payment of PAYE being introduced in May; and key changes to corporation tax filing and payment coming in next year.

Stephen Banyard, Director of HMRC’s Business Customer Unit, said:

"Our Super Podcast is a great way for businesses to remind themselves about some of the major changes on the horizon affecting VAT, PAYE and corporation tax. So whether you’re a VAT-registered trader, employer or limited company, we’d urge you to take 15 minutes to download and listen to it, to help ensure you’re prepared for the changes."

The HMRC Super Podcast can be downloaded from HMRC’s podcast pages at www.hmrc.gov.uk/podcasts

When good enough is not enough

Is this the time to launch a high-end, high-spec, high-price range of appliances? V-ZUG of Switzerland must think so; it has just set up a UK company to do just that.

According to Brian Groom in the FT on 7th February, B&Q has benefited from middle-class customers spending £6,000 for an all-in kitchen with a marble worktop, rather than spending up to £15,000 at an independent vendor.

While Mr Groom's comments scream questions to me about what sort of quality of kitchen one gets from B&Q for an all-in price of six grand, complete with marble worktop, there is no doubt that Jo Public has become more cautious about their kitchen purchases.

And it is possible to get a kitchen with the look if not the longevity from a superstore at an apparent lower price than an independent retailer offers.

Of course, it pays to make sure that like is being compared with like in these arguments, as even with marble worktops the range of qualities available is considerable.

There is always a place for the less expensive version of a product. If there weren't we'd all be driving around in a Mercedes. But Mercedes still sell cars in respectable numbers to those who want to buy a quality vehicle and are prepared to pay a realistic price for one.

This is obviously where V-ZUG wants to fit in. With ambitions to set up a 30-strong showroom network in the UK, it is clearly going for quality rather than quantity. And to answer my original question, its timing could be perfect.

The middle market dominated by independent showrooms is in a bit of a fix at the moment, as the improving quality of entry-level kitchens makes it more difficult to justify the price-point it has traditionally charged.

Lower quality kitchens may be good enough for a lot of people, but when good enough is not enough, the only way is up.

The air may be thinner up at the top of the mountain, but with its Swiss heritage, V-ZUG could feel right at home up there.

V-ZUG is one of 300-plus exhibitors at kbb Birmingham 2010 taking place on 21-24 March at the NEC in Birmingham.