IF you read my last entry on this blog then you would know I was supposed to interview Sir Terry Matthews last week, but woke up with what turned out to be tonsillitis and had to cancel.

But that didn't stop Sir Terry contacting me. There I was en route to the chemists from the doctors for a course of penicillin - which I later discovered I was allergic to - and my mobile phone went off.

I didn't recognise the number, but it turned out to one of Wales's most succesful ever entrepreneurs.

My colleague Aled Blake had taken my place at the court of King Terry at his Celtic Manor Resort.

He started off with: Sion why hasn't Aled got a business card? What sort of company are you these days Sion that you cannot afford business cards?"

There was much laughter in his court, including from Aled. Sir Terry was having fun. "What you want me to talk to Aled about Sion?"

With my voice as croaky as a frog I managed to rattle off the usual stuff: oh the prospects for the US,UK, global economies? How would you describe your leadership style? Investment sentiment in the technology sector?

"Gee Sion why not get Aled to ask me about the price of copper in the God damned Congo!"

Terry said he wanted to hook up soon so he could talk to me about a successful ecosystem he has developed for business. I will make sure I am well supplied with business cards.

I asked him how his golf was coming along, but he said I was breaking up. "Must be the satellite Sion."

Anyway, here is a little comedy audio sketch I did a while back about Sir Terry playing a round of golf with Rhodri Morgan [which I have to stress was not in my capacity as an employee of Media Wales!]

Click here to listen

I'm interviewing Sir Terry Matthews at his Celtic Manor Resort in Newport tomorrow. Have interviewed him on a number of occasions over the years and it's always been an interesting experience.

I have learned that the best thing is to let Terry do the talking... and boy can he talk!

Plan to ask him a number of questions though on the overall global economy, liquidity issues and the general state of the internet protocol-based technology sector.

However, if anyone has some other suggests please leave a comment and I'll endeavour to put it to Sir Terry on your behalf.

IN TERMS of well-executed business deals, the new Test arena for Glamorgan Cricket has to rank as an exemplar.

The £9.5m project is not only on budget it is also on time and will host its first game in May, but more importantly it will provide Wales with not only an excellent sporting venue but a new opportunity to market itself to the world – in particular India.
Cricket is that country’s national game and has been identified as a key destination for Welsh exports.

When England play Australia at the 17,000 venue in 2009 it will create great marketing opportunity for Cardiff and Wales, not only in Australia but also in India.
It is also hoped that the ground will host a Test match between England and India in 2011.
Under Glamorgan Cricket Club’s ambitious chairman Paul Russell, the stadium project has quickly moved from vision to reality.

Utility supplier Swalec recently announced a £1.5m naming rights deal on the ground which will now be known as the Swalec Stadium. The revenues that should be generated from having a Test-standard arena in Sophia Gardens will ensure the financial viability of the club.

While Mr Russell and his team have to be applauded for their business acumen, the success of the Glamorgan cricket side cannot be factored out of the equation.
It is hoped that the delivery of the new stadium and additional revenue generation will help to galvanise the team for the coming season and, in the longer term, financial success off the field will be matched on it.

IT has taken over a year to come to fruition, but a new approach to business support from the Welsh Assembly Government has to be welcomed.
However, the key factor in its success will be the competencies of the Assembly’s single point of contact customer relationship managers.
They have to be imaginative and have the confidence to say to businesses: “I hear what your are saying, but if you went for this support you would get a better return.”
The vast majority of businesses in Wales don’t need business support and have the ability to expand off their own balance sheets, or through private sector fundraising. The more companies that can do this then the better for the Welsh economy. It would also allow the Assembly Government to spend more in other areas like health and education.
However, for those seeking support what they want are simpler and quicker turnaround times in delivery.
The single investment approach in principle can provided this, but as always the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Biotechnology serial entrepreneur Sir Chirs Evans is arguably one of Wales' most successful entrepreneurs.

I have always found him a journalistic dream: never short of great comments, sometimes controversial, but always colourful.

As reported yesterday his latest venture has seen his Merlin Biosciences, which operates three investment funds, acquiring Dr Jeremy Stone's Cardiff-based investment vehicle Merchant Ventures.

The acquisition/merger has seen the creation of Excalibur [loving the Celtic link guys!], which has ambitious plans to launch a number of broad medical sciences sector investment funds. The Welsh business partners are also keen to back "business winners" in Wales,although they say that such funding will need significant support from the indigenous investor community, as well as the public sector.

Both have the ability to tell compiling stories: with their new focus very much on backing companies which are already [or are close to] generating revenues and profits.

Sir Chris said that Excalibur's investment strategy would not follow the model of Merlin''s first two funds. which in many cases has seen it play the role of seed funder.

The economic climate for funding raising is not great at the moment, but despite the flight to cash and certain commodities there are still huge money reserves globally... and it's not all held by sovereign wealth funds!

Hopefully Excalibur will generate a regular deal flow of investment and expertise into high growth potential Welsh companies, which can only be good for Wales plc.

So the Government says it had no alternative but to nationalise ailing bank Northern Rock.

But its temporary move will probably mean three years at the earliest before it can be sold off again to where to belongs - the private sector.

Much political capital is being made with the Tories today heaping more pressure on Chancellor Alistair Darling, who will present his maiden Budget on March 12.

Perhaps the Government should have acted more swiftly in bringing Northern Rock in-house, but the demise of the Newcastle headquartered financial institution had nothing do with Mr Darling and his friends at the Treasury. Its problems stemmed from the US subprime mortgage fuelled credit crunch.

And with taxpayers' money involved it had to give the private sector time and the option of putting rescue bids together for the bank.

Unlike the models of mutuals, like the Principality here in Wales, Northern Rock was heavily reliant on the money markets to finance its mortgage book - with only a minority set against its saving deposits.

It effectively borrowed short to lend long and got its fingers serious burnt when its lenders opted not to lend, as many turned to asssess their own exposure levels to the subprime debacle.

But what of Northern Rock shareholders, many of whom have contacted me over the last few days? While what they will be paid will be the subject of an independent evaluation, it really is a case of don't hold your breath.

Those who bought during the glory days of Northern Rock's share price, will be hurt. However, if the Government and the Bank of England had not intervened shareholders faced the prospect of losing everything.

But more importantly, it is hoped that the UK economy can emerge relatively unscathed from a slowdown in the economy this year.

If so the Government's [and our] £100bn exposure in guarantees and emergency lending to Northern Rock should be repaid overtime with interest.

And even if default levels on mortgages increase, the Government will be able to fall back of properties for collateral.

So the Government says it had no alternative but to nationalise ailing bank Northern Rock.

But its temporary move will probably mean three years at the earliest before it can be sold off again to where it belongs - the private sector.

Much political capital is being made with the Tories who today heaped more pressure on Chancellor Alistair Darling, who will present his maiden Budget on March 12.

Perhaps the Government should have acted more swiftly in bringing Northern Rock in-house, but the demise of the Newcastle headquartered financial institution had nothing do with Mr Darling and his friends at the Treasury. Its problems stemmed from the US subprime mortgage fuelled credit crunch.

And with taxpayers' money involved it had to give the private sector the option of putting rescue bids together for the bank.

Unlike the models of mutuals, like the Principality here in Wales, Northern Rock was heavily reliant on the money markets to finance its mortgage book lending - with only a minority set against its saving deposits.

It effectively borrowed short to lend long and got its fingers seriously burnt when its lenders opted not to lend, as many turned to asssess their own exposure levels to the subprime debacle.

But what of Northern Rock shareholders, many who have contacted me over the last few days? While, what they will be paid will be the subject of an independent evaluation, it really is a case of don't hold your breath.

Those who bought during the glory days of Northern Rock's share price, will be hurt. However, if the Government and the Bank of England had not intervened shareholders faced the prospect of losing everything.

But more importantly, it is hoped that the UK economy can emerge relatively unscathed from a slowdown in the economy this year.

If so the Government's [and our] £100bn exposure in guarantees and emergency lending to Northern Rock should be repaid overtime with interest.

And even if default levels on mortgages increase, the Government will be able to fall back on repossessed properties for collateral... although it is hoped that such instances are the exception rather than the rule

You might have read online or in today's Western Mail about the decision to pull the plug on a mobile phone recycling operation in South Wales.

Well to cut a long story short the man behind the shelved project, Mike Bandeira, is blaming his decision on the Welsh Assembly Government

He circulated a letter he sent to First Minister Rhodri Morgan to all AMs in which he effectively lambasts Mr Morgan's administration and in particular the RSA team. He went on to describe its commercial acumen as "Third World."
From China today Mike has been back on the offensive with a fresh series of e-mails to AMs.

At time of writing I had counted four additonal e-mails, which I have been copied in on, which are all pretty scathing of the Assembly Government

One entitled the "Real Wales," had no text and just four attached images, which included a picture of myself

Oh dear! oh dear!

PRAISE the chartered surveying Gods! At last a £20 a square foot deal for grade A office space in Cardiff has finally been struck.

And it was a nice touch when one of the first tenants at the latest speculative office scheme at Callaghan Square happened to be a firm of chartered surveyors! Now the MEPC/Rightacres development has a £22.50 a square foot deal firmly its sights, so come on Knight Frank, DTZ, Cooke & Arkwright, King Sturge, Fletcher Morgan and friends.

Taking the wider picture investor activity in the property market is weakening with improving yields denting capital values.
Economic growth is estimated to slow this year, although recession [two consecutive quarters of a falling GDP] is unlikely even when accounting for the fragility of the US economy.
However, it could be a tougher year for the property sector, which has not been helped by the ending of empty relief from this April.

There are still considerable levels of unoccupied stock in Wales, including that owned by the Assembly.The ending of relief will mean that most landlords, who would like nothing better than have fully let premises, will be penalised financially.

For speculative developers could it potentially jeopardise future projects, or possibly result in scaled down plans? Well time will tell.
However, the likelihood is that they will be looking to pay less for land and development sites

My wish list for 2008:

More merging of local authority back office functions and at least a discussion about whether a country with a population of 3 million really needs 22 unitary authorities.

Greater collaboration between universities and further education establishments in Wales on the commercialisation of intellectual property.

To all businesses looking for growth capital, remember that the City of London in global terms is only down the road.

A continuation of the recent trend of Welsh companies floating on the London Stock Exchange.

Investment by the Assembly into
clean coal technology.

More young entrepreneurs driving wealth creation.

Cardiff International Airport securing a scheduled route to North America.

War declared on litter. Who is going to invest in Wales when they see our cities and towns blighted by rubbish?

HAPPY NEW YEAR