Business confidence has bounced back stronger in the South West than any other part of the UK, according to a new survey – but many firms remain gloomy and one in 10 expects to stay closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The monthly Business Barometer from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking had shown a huge...
Regional law firm Thrings has appointed two senior associates - succession and tax expert Gavin Smith and commercial property specialist Natalie Day – to advise the firm’s fast-growing portfolio of land development and private wealth clients. Gavin, who joins Thrings’ Bath office, advises on all aspects of private client law, including succession and estate planning, tax,...
Bath’s small businesses are being offered the chance to get free help to manage their finances in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic thanks to a new programme launched by West of England Mayor Tim Bowles. The accountancy support programme is being delivered in partnership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and...
Bath’s four-star Lansdown Grove Hotel has been put on the market with a £8m-plus price tag just over a month after its parent group went into administration. The 61-room hotel, pictured, on Lansdown Road was part of the Country Living Hotel group, whose overall owner the Specialist Leisure Group, which ceased trading in May...
Integrating a spate of acquisitions over recent years helped push annual profits at Chase de Vere, the national independent financial advice firm with an office in Bath, to a record high. Profits came in 23% up at £13.03m for 2019 – its sixth consecutive year of profitability – on a 5.8% sales increase to...
Clean energy group Good Energy has taken effective control of Zap-Map, the popular app for the UK’s 300,000 electric vehicle (EV) drivers in which it bought a minority stake last year. Chippenham-based Good Energy snapped up a 12.9% share in Zap-Map’s parent company Next Green Car in March last year for just over £1m...
Each week Bath accountancy firm Pearson May and Bath Business News team up to bring you the top national finance stories. Could the Chancellor cut taxes for businesses? Temporary measures set to be announced in early July ‘fiscal event’. Click here to find out more What to expect from a tax investigation As HMRC...
An online service promising impartial financial advice for Bath firms on funding options has been launched by Business West, the region’s largest business organisation. According to Business West, which runs Bath Chamber of Commerce, its Finance Hub will be free from confusing jargon or any hard sell, enabling businesses to decide what sort of...
Business groups have cautiously backed the reduction of many coronavirus lockdown restrictions announced earlier this week by the Prime Minister. But they also warned that other measures to boost the economy were still needed to avoid widespread business failures and job losses. In a major boost to the West of England’s vital tourism and...
A surprise fall in the number of corporate insolvencies could herald the ‘calm before the storm’, the South West branch of insolvency and restructuring trade body R3 has warned. Figures published by the Insolvency Service show a 30% drop in companies going bust at the height of the coronavirus crisis in May compared to...
