Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, the division that supports mid-market businesses and large corporates, has further strengthened its West operation with the appointment of Daniel Tregunna as relationship director. Daniel will be part of the bank’s 25-strong mid-markets team, which supports a wide network of businesses with annual turnover in excess of £25m, providing financial...
Innovative businesses in the Bath area working on pioneering research and development projects can apply for financial help through a £4m innovation fund launched today by the University of the West of England (UWE). Grants of between £25,000 and £150,000 will be available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as large companies...
Accountants and financial planners Old Mill have recruited their first IT director in a move that reflects the firm’s significant on-going investment in its IT systems and infrastructure. Highly-experienced IT specialist James, pictured, will head Old Mill’s existing three-man IT team across its five West Country offices, including Wells and Melksham. The 41-year-old previously...
Six Bath hi-tech firms have received investment totalling nearly £400,000 from a regional growth fund to help them develop their pioneering products. The businesses – Neighbourly, Clean Energy, Citeab, Tivarri, Envolve Technologies and CloudFind – are based at the city’s SETsquared centre, which supports small, fast-growing innovative businesses, mainly in the hi-tech sector. Centre...
Nearly two thirds of West firms plan to increase wages this year as the region’s economy bounces back from recession, new research shows. This is despite half of the businesses taking part in the Barclays Employers Survey 2014 saying wage pressure from employees was not an issue. However, some 29% said it is a...
Calls for a full-scale shake-up of business rates continued unabated today despite the Government pledging a £415m package of relief for small firms. The West of England’s largest business group Business West, which runs the Bath Chamber of Commerce, said while it welcomed the announcement, it amounted to little more than “a sticking plaster”...
Accountants Grant Thornton have been appointed to deliver the Investors In People (IIP) standard across the South of England following a competitive tender process. Grant Thornton, which covers the West region from its office in Bristol, will hold the licence from April 1 for a three-year period. This appointment is a key part of...
Accountants PwC have launched their annual search for the region’s best companies with the 2014 West of England Business of the Year Awards – the region’s most prestigious business accolades. Previous winners of the awards, now in their 26th year, read like a who’s who of the West’s most-respected companies, including Dyson, MITIE and...
Business West, the organisation behind Bath Chamber of Commerce, has called on the Bank of England not to raise interest rates despite a further fall in unemployment across the UK. Welcoming the latest labour market figures – which show the national unemployment rate has fallen to 7.1%, its lowest level since April 2009 –...
Profits have soared by 84% at 1pm, the Bath-based firm providing finance to small and medium-sized businesses, after it signed up a record number of new customers. Total revenue for the six months to November 30 rose by 37% to £1.95m compared with the same period last year with pre-profits reaching £609,000. The firm,...
