The West of England’s small and medium-sized firms are leading the UK for job creation with more than two thirds planning to recruit more staff and SME manufacturers are committed to investing in their workforce over the next 12 months, according to two new surveys. The upbeat findings, from...
A new £5m social investment fund has launched in Bristol to promote investment in charities, community interest companies and community benefit societies. The first of its kind in the UK, it has been developed and run by social impact investment company Resonance and sponsored by UBS Wealth Management. It...
Ethical investors will hear how they can make their money count at an event in Bristol next week hosted by a group of organisations based in the city. Rathbone Greenbank Investments has teamed up with Triodos Bank, the Bristol Fairtrade Network and Shared Interest to stage the session next...
Nicola Horlick, the fund manager once dubbed City Superwoman, has been appointed a non-executive director of Bristol-based pension-led funding specialists Clifton Asset Management. Horlick, pictured, who launched crowdfunding platform Money&Co. in April last year, will help to guide Clifton through its next phase of growth. The company facilitates investment...
The BBC must evolve to meet the challenges of an increasingly digital media landscape but must also be valued for future generations, one of its senior managers told West business leaders at the annual CBI regional dinner. Jenny Baxter, pictured, who as chief operating officer, BBC England, is in...
Construction has started on an £8.5m state-of-the-art asphalt plant at Avonmouth which will transform the fortunes of an historic Somerset firm. Aggregates firm Wainwright was founded in 1891 and now supplies high-quality stone, premium aggregates, asphalt and formation material from its quarry on the Mendips near Shepton Mallet. The plant...
The region covered by the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has been rated as the best of the 39 LEP areas across the country for its record on business start-ups. Research by information agency BankSearch shows 5.7% more businesses were launched in West of England during the...
Specialist lender Together, which provides growth finance to niche markets, has appointed a regional development director to help West of England businesses and entrepreneurs gain vital access to funding. Paul Chadney, pictured, has more than 27 years’ experience in the finance industry and will be based in Bristol to...
The Bristol office of accountancy and investment management group Smith & Williamson has hosted an exhibition of art shortlisted for the 28th annual Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2015 – the largest of its kind in the UK. This is the seventh year the firm has hosted the event. Clients...
Firms will want assurances that the business rates reform announced by the Chancellor this week will not more higher taxes. That’s the view of Business West, the region’s largest business organisation representing 16,000 firms and which runs the Bristol Chamber of Commerce and Bristol Initiative. George Osborne made the...
Smith & Williamson, the accountancy, investment management and tax group with a flagship office in Bristol, has achieved a double-digit increase in annual operating profits. Both its Investment Management and Banking division and the Tax and Business Services division reported strong growth in the year to April 30, helping...
Ryan Legge, an account handler at Bristol-based insurance broker Hayes Parsons, has won the title of Young Broker of the Year. The accolade, in the UK Broker Awards, follows on from Ryan, 22, being named as Bristol’s Achiever of the Year in March. Ryan, pictured, joined the industry three...
Confidence levels for firms across the West of England have fallen on the back of lower sales, fewer new jobs and worsening cashflow, according to the results of Business West’s latest survey. The figures, released today, showed how susceptible the region is to shifts in the world economy, said...
