The countdown is on for Export Week and West companies need to act fast to sign up to explore a world of trade opportunities on their doorstep. The Government’s trade promotion organisation UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is running a series of regional events during the week of November...
Bristol-based film maker Simon Bright, whose award-winning documentary Robert Mugabe, What Happened? won critical acclaim, has turned the spotlight on another autocratic southern African leader in his latest production. The King and the People, which has its world premiere at Bristol’s Afrika Eye film festival on November 9, explores...
Fast-growing specialist internet and digital media services provider CableCom is preparing for further expansion following its acquisition earlier this week. Independent private equity house Inflexion paid an undisclosed amount for the firm, based near Clevedon, providing an exit for owners ISIS Equity Partners and its management. They had acquired...
Business West managing director Phil Smith could never be accused of being a buttoned-up sort of boss. But when he came face to face with Sir Richard Branson recently he was lightheartedly given a dressing down by the Virgin founder – for dressing up. Laid back Sir Richard is...
Retailers in Bristol’s Broadmead shopping centre have voted in favour of a Business Improvement District (BID) scheme for a third time. Nearly three quarters of Broadmead businesses taking part in the ballot, including those in The Galleries shopping mall, approved the BID, which means paying an extra levy on...
Business West, the organisation that runs Bristol Chamber of Commerce, and the TUC have signed a joint declaration urging employers to pay their staff the Living Wage. The agreement was signed yesterday on board ss Great Britain by TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady and Phil Smith, managing director of...
Both of West accountants Bishop Fleming’s technical tax directors have been appointed as advisors to Chancellor George Osborne as part of his drive for tax simplification. Andy Richens has been engaged by the Chancellor’s Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) to advise on tax issues for small businesses, and is...
GKN Aerospace has received a second award for the wing section it makes for Airbus’s A350 XWB aircraft at its pioneering Severnside plant near Bristol. The 27m-long rear wing spar is manufactured in three sections using innovative, light-weight composite material and forms the structural heart of the A350 wing’s...
Bristol healthy fast food restaurant group Friska has secured a £65,000 funding deal with Santander to help finance further growth. Launched in 2009 by University of Bath economics graduates Griff Holland and Ed Brown, Friska has since grown from one to four restaurants around Bristol. The new finance agreement...
Karren Brady, Britain’s most powerful businesswoman and Lord Sugar’s right-hand woman on The Apprentice, has today been announced as the first keynote speaker for the Business Showcase South West 2014. The event will celebrate the best of the region’s commerce, innovation, creativity, enterprise and sustainability. It takes place at...
Paradigm Norton, the Bristol-based financial planning firm, has taken over one of its appointed representative businesses as it continues its strategy of growth through acquisition. Direction Financial Planning, founded by Jane Wheeler, teamed up with Paradigm Norton in June to sell its products and services to her clients. Now...
Major South West transport company Gregory Distribution has relocated its Bristol warehouse operations to a recently-refurbished industrial unit on the Patchway Trading Estate, north Bristol. In a move seen as further proof of market confidence, Devon-based Gregory has taken the 41,470 sq ft building – One Highwood Road –...
Some of the South West’s most illustrious chefs cooked together to produce a Michelin star-studded celebration in recognition of a successful second year for industry charity Hospitality Action. The six culinary superstars, all members of the Chef’s Forum, came together to conjure up the six-course lunch to showcase the...
