Are sale and leasebacks a sign of trouble or good financial planning? Liza Helps investigates.

Nippon Express (UK) has secured a 15-year lease on a 124,800 sq ft warehouse in Hayes close to Heathrow.

Paul Carvell, has become chief executive of Business Direct. Carvell has been the non-executive chairman since June 2006. He is replacing Tim Houstoun, who will remain on the board as an executive director.

Charlie Jacoby heads west down the M4 but he reckons that the fabulous rents around the airport make Heathrow a contender for top warehouse location.

Available industrial floorspace rose by 4.3 per cent between December 2005 and June 2006, according to King Sturge ‘s latest UK Industrial & Distribution Floorspace report.

Volvo has given operators a first view on its whole new range at the Hanover Show.

Babcock & Brown Infrastructure, which owns PD Ports, has bought 51 per cent of Water Container Transport (WCT), the second largest inland (canal based) container port in Europe by volume.

Walkers Midshire Foods has installed the new Toshiba B-SA4 industrial bar code printer to meet its growing demand for increased label production.

Amtrak has extended its delivery network worldwide through a strategic alliance with SkyNet Worldwide Express.

Clipper Secure Logistics has consolidated its tobacco and bonded operations at its Rotherham shared-user facility and doubled the workforce on site to 90.