New products and a drive into overseas markets helped lift annual pre-tax profits by 22 per cent at safety equipment maker Latchways. The Devizes-based firm, which traditionally relied heavily on the UK construction industry – for which it produces harnesses for those working at height – has over recent years increasingly moved into other...
Advertorial: In these difficult economic times, companies have enough worries without the disruption of having to relocate their office space at short notice. Through its prestigious Park House office complex, GWE can offer the long-term security these businesses need. Park House, a Grade II-listed building, combines period character with the latest technology, flexibility and...
Growth in the South West economy weakened last month to its lowest for nine months as businesses struggled against a near collapse in new orders, new research shows today. The gloomy data, from the Lloyds TSB South West Business Activity Index, follows similarly downbeat findings from the ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business Confidence Monitor released...
Swindon-based Lemon&Co Solicitors is one of the first law firms in Wiltshire to be awarded the Law Society’s new quality mark for conveyancing practices. The firm, which has one of the region’s most-respected property teams, obtained the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) status following a rigorous Law Society assessment. Membership of the CQS opened in...
Logistics group Wincanton is to sell some of its European operations to reduce its debts. The Chippenham-based group, which has reported a £25.9m pre-tax loss for the year to the end of March, said it had been hit by a slowdown in its British and French businesses. It will use the £41.2m from the...
The Bank of England has kept interest rates at their record low following a flurry of recent data showing the fragile nature of the UK's economic recovery, Rates have been pegged at 0.5% for 27 consecutive months despite spiraling inflation. The move will be welcomed by homeowners and small businesses. The Bank's rate-setting Monetary...
German motor giant BMW is to invest £500m in its UK car plants over the next three years to help fund production of the next generation MINI, it announced this morning. The investment will safeguard more than 5,000 jobs, including at its Swindon body panel plant where it employs around 1,200 people. The massive...
Swindon-based newspaper and magazine wholesaler Smiths News has taken over rival Dawson for £20m in a move that could see hundreds of the book distributor's staff relocating to Swindon. Smiths News, which split from the WH Smith retail group in 2006, said the acquisition would immediately boost its earnings even before duplication costs are...
Some 82% of wealthy individuals aged 45 or under deliberately avoid information about how the market or their portfolio is performing – that's one of the quirkier findings to emerge from Risk and Rules: The Role of Control in Financial Decision Making, a survey commissioned by Barclays Wealth of 400 high net worth individuals in...
Manufacturers in the South West have expanded output for six consecutive quarters on the back of export-led demand, it emerged today. Not only have output and order balances held up well in the past three months but companies have continued to recruit more staff, according to the second quarter 2011 Manufacturing Outlook survey compiled...
