Specialist pharmaceutical firm Vectura, which has its roots in a spin-out from the University of Bath, has agreed to be taken over by global private equity giant Carlyle for £958m. The approach by Carlyle has been approved by Vectura’s board. Chairman Bruno Angelici said while the firm’s directors remained confident in its long-term fundamentals,...
An art trail displaying paintings, sculptures and photography in empty shop windows on the theme of nature and climate change is to launch next week to coincide with World Environment Day. The Trowbridge Windows on Nature trail will highlight the devastating fact that a quarter of British mammals are at risk of extinction and 80%...
Bath accountancy firm Pearson May and Bath Business News team up with each week to bring you the top national finance stories. HMRC seeks to remove VAT repayment supplement Tax body warns of potentially ‘devastating’ impact on VAT-registered businesses’ cashflow. Click here for more information Employers told to issue childcare voucher reminder HMRC also implies working parents might be...
The opportunities for business growth and expansion through trade are huge. If you're thinking about trading with the EU and other markets, or want to continue trading, there are rules you need to follow for importing and exporting. It can be overwhelming, but the West of England Combined Authority’s Growth Hub is here to...
Businesses based at SETsquared, the acclaimed incubator backed by the University of Bath, raised record levels of investment last year despite the coronavirus pandemic’s huge impact on financial markets. Funding from private and public sources totalled £616m, up 40% on 2019. Private investment accounted for 90% of the total raised, with the remainder from...
Accountancy firm Purple Lime has worked with the shareholders of market-disrupting specialist software firm Terrafirma on its acquisition by an international sector leader. Terrafirma, whose proprietary workflow software and data insights have been critical at transforming how decisions are made in property transactions in the UK, was acquired by Dye & Durham Corporation, a...
Regional alternative finance lender SWIG Finance has bolstered its senior management team with two promotions. Nicola Mapp and Clare Lenihan-Thomas will fill the new roles, which have been created to support the business as it continues to grow. Both have extensive experience in SME lending in mainstream bank and community development financial institution (CDFI)...
Newly elected Labour West of England Metro Mayor Dan Norris has vowed to raise the profile of the region on the national and global stage while delivering a green recovery from the impact of the pandemic. Mr Norris, pictured, won on the second round of the election, beating Conservative candidate Samuel Williams by 125,482 to 85,389. The former MP for Wansdyke (now North...
Bath businesses are being urged to join hundreds of employers from across the UK by taking part in the country’s largest survey of race in the workplace. City-headquartered international engineering practice Buro Happold has already signed up to complete the survey, which is being staged by Business in the Community (BiTC), the organisation dedicated to...
The Covid-19 pandemic has been affecting us all for more than a year now. My fellow regional agents and I know that those businesses that rely heavily on being able to have customers visit them in person – for instance, the hospitality and tourism sectors right across the South West – have been particularly...
