55 Minutes the Chancellor took making his Budget speech today 5 It was Mr Obsorne’s fifth Budget since he became Chancellor in 2010 £2,000 The amount that working families will be able to claim to subsidise their childcare, announced yesterday ahead of the Budget £6.50 New rate for the...
Business West has called on Chancellor George Osborne to use today’s Budget to focus on youth employment, training and enterprise – all crucial to securing future growth and avoiding a ‘lost generation’ as the UK economy continues to recover, it says. In its 2014 Budget submission, the business support...
Directors in Bristol firms have less than two weeks to enter the region’s top business awards that recognise boardroom excellence and enterprise. The South West Institute of Directors (IoD) Awards 2014 are open to anyone working at director level in any type of business or organisation – they do...
The chairman of Bristol finance firm Clifton Asset Management has played the lead role in a unique collaboration launched this week between the UK’s main alternative business funders which aims to help small firms access funding. The web portal – alternativebusinessfunding.co.uk – is the result of a link-up between...
A fifty-six-year-old Bristol man is among 15 arrested across the country as part of an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigation into a suspected £30m VAT fraud linked to the electronic communications industry. HMRC officers made the arrests during raids yesterday morning in nine cities across the UK, including...
Exports by West firms are growing again after going into reverse last autumn in the midst of the euro crisis, new figures show. Total overseas sales shot up by 7.5% to £13.67bn in the year to December 2013 compared to 2012. Exports by value had dropped by 3.3% in...
A wish list of measures to help the West’s mid-sized businesses – regarded as the secret success story of the region’s economy – has been drawn up to further boost their growth. Research by accountants Grant Thornton, which compiled the recommendations, shows mid-tier firms are strongly outperforming both smaller...
Bristol-based student accommodation specialist Unite is to raise around £100m through new shares to speed up its development programme in key UK university cities. The firm said half the new funding would be used in this way to take advantage of cyclically-low development costs. The other half will be...
Bristol-based investment specialists Alpha Portfolio Management has recruited Mark Sevier in a move that re-unites him with ex-colleague and fellow Rowan Dartington co-founder Andrew Morris. Alpha was launched last year by Bristol investment management firm RC Brown as a third party discretionary service led by Andrew Morris, who has...
Increasing demand for outsourced services has fuelled expansion at accountants Smith & Williamson’s Bristol-based HR consulting team. The firm’s specialist team of HR consultants provides the full spectrum of people management services, from ‘pay-as-you-go’ advice and support to small and medium-sized businesses to working with boards and senior management...
Buying Fairtrade products can be a tiny decision for a business yet it can have a huge impact on people’s lives. This message was brought home to businesses this morning as Fairtrade Fortnight got underway with a launch breakfast at Bristol law firm Burges Salmon. Margarita Espinoza, a Fairtrade...
Bristol specialist insurance broker Brightside’s new chief executive took up his post today with a pledge to maintain the group’s rapid growth. Paul Williams joins from Towergate, Europe’s largest independently-owned insurance intermediary, where he was a director on its retail executive committee responsible for all insurer and market relationships...
Bristol businesses will next week get a rare chance to meet trade experts from the British Embassies in the US and Canada to explore transatlantic export opportunities on a one-to-one basis. The event, at the Mercure Holland House Hotel in Redcliffe Hill, on Wednesday, March 5, is the latest...
