Phil Smith, managing director of Business West, the organisation behind Bristol Chamber of Commerce and the Bristol Initiative, looks back at the past 12 months and considers why next year’s General Election is set to be one of the most important in recent memory. “The noise and glare of...
The amount of world-leading research carried out at UWE Bristol has soared by 170%, according to a major new national report. The results of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) show that 57 % of the research submitted by UWE was judged to be either world-leading or internationally excellent....
Estate agency and property group Andrews’ innovative use of social media and its pioneering website has helped it collect four awards at the prestigious Estate Agency of the Year Awards, including silver in the Best Large Estate Agency category for the second year running. The Keynsham-based firm, with offices...
Specialist IT group SciSys, which has a base in Bristol, is expanding into the retail industry following the acquisition of a small software application development firm. SciSys is paying a maximum of £3.2m for Leicester-based Xibis, which it expects to be immediately earnings-enhancing. SciSys, which works in sectors spanning...
A competition has been launched to find Bristol’s happiest workplace – and staff working for the city’s forward-looking employers are being urged to enter. The contest is being staged by Bristol-based workplace and interior design consultancy Wylde IA , which wants to know exactly what sets some of the...
Building a fairer and more sustainable society would create jobs and boost the economy, Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said on a visit to Bristol. Speaking to Bristol Business News, Ms Bennett, pictured, said it was a stereotype that her party was anti-business. But it wanted big businesses to...
Bristol’s innovation hub Engine Shed has celebrated its first year by revealing that it has created 128 jobs and contributed £8m to the West of England’s economy. The building, a unique collaboration between the University of Bristol, Bristol City Council and the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP),...
Integrated communications agency McCann Bristol has recruited Paul Cottrell, a former creative director from Ogilvy in Melbourne. Paul, pictured, joins the agency following a period of double digit growth and a doubling of the head count in 2014. His agency career spans 20 years and two continents. In that...
For the second year in a row Warmley-based Bath Ales has been shortlisted in prestigious national awards that recognise quality and innovation in the pub trade. The firm is a finalist in the Best Food Offer (2 – 50 sites) category in The Publican Morning Advertiser Awards, as well...
The annual search for the region’s best companies has started with the launch of accountants PwC’s widely-respected West of England Business of the Year Awards 2015. Now in their 27th year, the eagerly-contested awards are the most prestigious in the region by far – previous winners read like a...
Exports by South West firms have risen slightly over the past year despite turmoil in the key eurozone market, new figures show. And more companies are following the Government’s advice and selling overseas as a way of strengthening their business. Regional trade boss Russell Jones welcomed today’s figures with...
Mulberry, the luxury goods brand, has slumped into the red with a half-year loss of £1.1m after a disastrous attempt to go upmarket backfired. The firm, based at Chilcompton, suffered a 9% fall in sales to £45.1m in the six months to September 30 while wholesale revenues tumbled 31%...
Hi-tech start-ups incubated by SETsquared, the innovation hub backed by the University of Bristol, have created 9,000 jobs and contributed a staggering £3.8bn to the UK economy, research released today shows. The figures, which emerge from a study commissioned from Warwick Economics & Development, are based on the 1,041...
