If there is no back-up, the only way to deal with it is to input the lost data again In some cases this may not be possible.". Some companies do not, and believe that they are paying data storage companies to guarantee their safety."But there is a real risk of losing data. "Small and medium-sized businesses need to be more aware of how to protect themselves It's important to test back-up systems. But "one or two" companies had not taken out a business contingency service with Steria, which meant recovery of the information would take longer, he said.Lindsay Armstrong, a senior vice-president of the internet security and data management company Symantec, said there needed to be a change in the way the risk of technology failure was viewed at boardroom level."We need to learn from incidents like the attacks of 11 September in the US that no risk is too remote," she said. But a spokesman for the Energy Retail Association, which represents energy suppliers, said it was not aware of any customer records being lost as a result of the blaze.John Torrie, the chief executive of Steria, whose clients include the insurance market Lloyd's of London, said services had not been interrupted for customers, such as financial institutions, that run systems on which their businesses depend.No client information was lost as all data was stored off site. But Northgate is going to have a lot of work to do."Northgate also stores customer billing information for utility companies. Because the blaze happened at around 6am, before collection, a whole day's worth of data collected on behalf of clients was destroyed.A spokesman for Northgate conceded it might take another couple of weeks for all the data destroyed to be retrieved, but denied that any permanent harm had been done.

"No data has been lost for good as a result of the Buncefield explosion," he said.Haringey Council in London, a Northgate client, has not been able to accept council tax payments online since the fire.A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: "Haringey does not think it has lost any information. At around 7am every morning a courier would collect the data on disk to take off site for safe storage. Northgate duplicates its clients' information on computers at the site. It admitted in an announcement to the stock exchange the following day that its back-up systems were "rendered inoperable".

"Northgate's ability to service its customers has therefore been temporarily affected," it added.It has since emerged that the blaze could not have happened at a worse time for the company. Among the firms based in the park were Steria and Northgate Information Solutions, both of which store data on behalf of clients.Some companies whose data and systems were stored on the site have been complaining to the CBI that their operations are still being disrupted as a result of the 11 December fire.One City insider said that companies were having to rebuild their systems from scratch, as some of the information cannot be retrieved.Northgate, which has its headquarters at the site, suffered the worst damage from the blaze. Companies and organisations are still without valuable data destroyed in the Buncefield oil depot fire last month. The disruption caused to business is much worse than first thought, according to City insiders. In his New Year's message, Sir Digby Jones, the director-general of the CBI, will respond tomorrow by warning companies to be better prepared in future for emergencies such as the Hemel Hempstead blaze and the London terrorist attacks last July. Businesses need to look again at their contingency plans, many of which were shown to be inadequate last year, Sir Digby will say.The blaze destroyed large parts of a business park adjoining the depot site. Compass There is an old stock market adage that says: "Buy on bad news" So you should fill your boots with Compass.. A spokes-woman could not say this weekend when full production would resume at either site..

This is the great fear."Terra Nitrogen, a chemicals manufacturer listed on the New York Stock Exchange, announced at the end of November that it was suspending production of ammonia at its Teesside plant and reducing its production at another site in Bristol because of energy costs. Things are going to get sticky if we have a colder than average winter. "Everyone is on tenterhooks to see what the weather is going to be like this month and February. Fuel costs account for around a third of heavy industry's operating costs.He warned that there will be a gas shortage this year if there is an exceptionally cold winter, and that even companies such as Ineos Chlor, which have signed uninterruptible gas supply contracts, face being cut off to keep households connected."There is not enough gas to keep both households and industry going," Mr Waring said. This is still much lower than the spike in November, when prices soared above 150p per therm.

Forward gas prices are 50 per cent higher in the UK than in Europe, according to the Energy Intensive Users Group.Andy Waring, the energy purchasing manager of Ineos Chlor, a chemical manufacturer, said that the company's plants only operated at one quarter of their full capacity during November to save fuel and keep costs down. "In the new year, we will see another round of job cuts in industry if fuel costs do not come down."The Met Office says there is a two-in-three chance that this winter will be the coldest for the past 10 years.Gas prices started to rise again last week on the back of the colder weather, reaching 77p per therm on Friday, almost double the average for previous winters. British Glass, which represents glass manufacturers, said that 1,000 jobs were lost in the last three months of 2005 alone because of soaring costs and warned that more were likely to follow this year. David Workman, the director-general of British Glass, is meeting the Energy minister, Malcolm Wicks, later this month to tell him of the growing crisis faced by energy-intensive industries such as glass manufacturers, which alone employ around 15,000 workers in the UK."A number of our members are struggling," he said. If you had invested £100 in a fund tracking the FTSE All Share, you would have made £18.10 before tax - not a bad return at all. But had you chosen to invest £100 in our portfolio, you would have made £23.10.. Manufacturers are warning they will lay off more workers this year if, as forecast, the winter is colder than average and fuel costs are driven up as a result. In a bumper year for equities all round, the six-stock portfolio managed to outstrip the FTSE All Share Index.