Chippenham-based specialty pharmaceutical firm Alliance Parma has appointed Andrew Franklin as finance director. Andrew, pictured, joins the company in September 28 from Panasonic Europe, where he was general manager, European tax and accounting. From 2010 to 2012 he was finance director and company secretary of Genzyme Therapeutics, the UK & Ireland subsidiary of Genzyme...
Before the Budget Business West – the organisation that runs the Swindon and Wiltshire Initiative – called for a focus on infrastructure, exports and the skills gap. Managing director Phil Smith said: “Our nation’s roads and apprentices got a cordial mention , international trade was almost utterly absent. “Also missing was a...
The CBI described the Budget as double-edged for business and branded the Chancellor’s flagship introduction of a National Living Wage of £7.20 next April as “a big gamble”. It also called the apprentice levy “a blunt tool” to force more businesses to take on trainees. Director-general John Cridland said: “Firms will welcome measures to...
Many of the measures in Chancellor George Osborne’s Summer Budget received a warm welcome from Swindon experts – but there was concern over the impact of his flagship National Living Wage. Dominic Bourquin, corporate tax partner at Swindon accountancy firm Monahans, said the Budget had been good for business and had taken away some...
Confidence among Swindon and Wiltshire firms has fallen with fewer expecting to increase sales or take on more staff compared to a year ago, according to the latest survey by Business West. The organisation, which runs the Initiative in Swindon & Wiltshire, described the indicators as a “cause for concern” after the local economy...
Production at Honda’s recession-hit Swindon plant is slowly rising again, bosses said yesterday as they unveiled its latest model, the high-performance Civic Type R. Described as the fastest front-wheel drive car on the planet, Honda said the launch of the Type R had created “a halo effect” around the plant with a new sense...
Business West, the organisation behind the Initiative in Swindon and Wiltshire, has called on the Chancellor to strike a balance between eliminating the deficit and stimulating growth in next week’s Budget. And while George Osborne is likely to focus on the cuts and reform, he must also concentrate on infrastructure, boosting exports and tackling...
The economy has just enjoyed “almost a golden week” with falling unemployment, rising wage increases and low inflation, Swindon business leaders heard at an Economic Question Time hosted by law firm Withy King. But HSBC head of economics Mark Berrisford-Smith told the event that while the UK was performing markedly better than virtually all...
The first production model of Japanese car giant Honda’s new Civic Type-R hot hatch will roll off its Swindon assembly line next week – giving the plant another boost after several years of job losses and cutbacks. A ceremony on Thursday to mark the start of production of the hotly anticipated car, pictured, will...
Specialist drug development group Vectura has appointed a senior director of pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca as it new chief executive, replacing Chris Blackwell, who steps down next week after 12 years in the role. James Ward-Lilley joins Chippenham-based Vectura, which licences its innovative technology for the treatment of airways diseases to other pharmaceutical companies, on...
