Innovative companies from Swindon and Wiltshire are being invited to pitch to investors for financial support from £100,000 up to £2m. PitchFest South West provides ambitious businesses with an intensive expert training and investment programme designed to help them become both pitch and investment ready. They then get to pitch to a group of...
The founder of specialty healthcare firm Alliance Pharma has stepped down from its board after more than 20 years, leaving it as a £353m international company. John Dawson, pictured, formed the Chippenham-headquartered firm 23 years ago. It has since then developed a strong track record of acquiring the rights to underperforming drugs brands and...
Global engineering giant Siemens is to relocate its software development department to newly refurbished office space in a move it says will improve teamwork and help it grow. The department, previously based on Chippenham’s Bumpers Farm business park, has moved to 4,300sq ft of prime office space on the first floor of the town’s...
The Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative has again called on Parliament to resolve Brexit and tackle the UK’s long-term economic challenges after new figures showed that stockpiling by manufacturers ahead of the UK leaving the EU had helped boost growth. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the economy expanded by 0.5% in...
Confidence levels among West of England firms have dropped significantly – with orders and sales also down – according to the latest survey by Business West, with the region’s largest business organisation blaming Brexit uncertainty for the slump. All measures in the survey of around 500 firms were in the red. Export sales and...
Specialist labels firm CCL Design UK is aiming to double its factory’s turnover and create up to 40 jobs as it seeks to build on its success since acquiring the site a year ago. CCL, the UK design arm of the world’s largest label maker CCL Industries, bought Chippenham-based Fascia Graphics last February in a...
More than 900 private firms in the South West have the potential to grow exponentially and create thousands of jobs, according to new research. These 937 businesses have generated £2.8bn of turnover growth and created nearly 13,500 jobs in the past three years, the report by investment group BGF shows. The research identified nearly...
Wiltshire specialist manufacturer Avon Rubber has secured a contract worth up to $246m (£187m) with the US Department of Defense (DoD) to supply its latest protective masks. Melksham-based Avon, which makes respirators for military, homeland security and first responder customers as well as rubber products for the dairy industry, has developed the M53A1 mask,...
Swindon’s best business leaders have just a few days left to enter the South West’s most prestigious awards for boardroom excellence and enterprise. The deadline for entries to the prestigious Institute of Directors’ (IoD) South West Director of the Year Awards is midnight this Sunday. With two new categories added this year – Young...
Business Showcase South West – the region’s largest event of its kind – returns in June with the promise of an unparalleled range of seminars, workshops, speeches and networking opportunities. The event, the ninth since it launched in 2014, again takes place in Bristol’s Ashton Gate Stadium and will celebrate the best of innovation,...
