Green power supplier Good Energy looks to have repelled the latest takeover approach from arch-rival Ecotricity after it emerged that holders of just 1.8% of its shares have accepted the offer. Ecotricity already had 4,169,948 shares in Chippenham-headquartered Good Energy - equivalent to a 25.1% stake – before pouncing for a fourth time in...
Directors in the Swindon area are being invited to enter the top regional awards scheme recognising excellence and enterprise in the boardroom. The annual Institute of Directors’ Director of the Year Awards seek to champion outstanding leaders and entrepreneurs in both the public and private sectors. Award nominations are open to anyone working at director level in...
The takeover battle between renewable power providers Good Energy and Ecotricity became a war of words this week as the arch-rivals became locked in heated exchanges over the merits of the move. Chippenham-headquartered Good Energy has repeatedly rejected Ecotricity’s advances – the latest valuing it at £59.6m. But yesterday Good Energy chair Will Whitehorn...
The Covid-19 pandemic prompted a wave of innovation among businesses in Swindon and across the South West, with nearly half saying they pivoted their operations to survive. According to a new Lloyds Bank survey, 46% of firms in the region they were forced to become more creative and innovative in finding new areas of growth. ...
The government’s long-awaited strategy for the UK’s burgeoning hydrogen sector – which it says could create thousands of sustainable jobs and unlock billions of pounds of investment – has been welcomed by the region’s largest business group. Business West, which runs the Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative, believes the West of England can be a...
Low-cost airline easyJet has teamed up with Bristol Airport to use it as a test-bed to trial ways of decarbonising its operations and reduce waste. The airline, the airport’s largest operator accounting for about half of all its flights, said the partnership would involve a series of trials using the latest cutting-edge technology and...
Nearly 70% of South West firms see climate change as a core business factor for them, according to a landmark survey of companies’ attitudes to the key issue – but, alarmingly, 21% have so far taken no action despite mounting concern over its impact. Just under half (46%) of the businesses that consider climate...
Swindon’s food businesses are being urged not to bin their surplus produce but to redirect it to FareShare Southwest, the region’s largest food redistribution charity, as it gears up to prevent children going hungry during the school holidays. The food will help the charity, whose mission is to fight hunger while tackling food waste,...
Bristol Airport has said it will become carbon neutral later this year by hitting targets it originally expected to reach in 2025 – setting it up to gain the title of the UK’s first net zero airport by 2030. Bosses said three key commitments to be a net zero airfield, with net zero buildings...
Investment by foreign businesses into the South West rose last year despite the pandemic in contrast to a fall for the UK as a whole. According to a new report by accountancy group EY, the South West achieved a 6.7% increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects in 2020 – up by two to...
