Shares in Chippenham-based logistics group Wincanton soared by just under 14% this morning after it said it was benefiting from the major switch to home shopping caused by Covid-19 restrictions as well as from moving coronavirus testing kits around the country. The group is also working with the government to provide logistics services at some...
Business West, the region’s largest business group, has broken with its traditional method of recruiting for its board to take on three new non-executive directors. The £10m turnover group, which runs the Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative, said the move was designed to access a wider talent pool that represented the full range of the...
Malachy McReynolds, the chair of regional alternative finance lender SWIG Finance, is to step down in March after five years in the role. He will be replaced by Christine Allison, a former lead economist for the World Bank, who has been a non-executive director of SWIG Finance for the past three-and-a-half years. During that...
The latest lockdown will be another “body blow” to Swindon firms, coming after the uncertainty caused by Brexit and lost trade in the run-up to Christmas, the region’s biggest business group warned today. Business West, which runs the Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative, said firms that had survived so far with Covid-related support from the...
Business West, the region’s largest business organisation, is aiming to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and has introduced three new steps to help it – and firms across the South West – reach the ambitious target. The organisation, which runs the Swindon and Wiltshire Initiative and represents 23,000 businesses across the region,...
More than two-thirds of high-growth firms in the South West plan to continue to expand next year after adapting for a post-Covid world, new research shows. According to the first survey to chart these businesses during the coronavirus pandemic it has created significant barriers to growth for 58% of South West firms, with operational...
West of England Firms have slammed government financial support for businesses forced to close during the most recent lockdown as grossly inadequate. Some 54% of businesses that were shuttered during November – including restaurants, cafes and non-essential retailers – said the financial assistance covered less than a quarter of their overheads, a new survey...
Chippenham-based logistics group Wincanton’s focus on the eCommerce market has landed it another major contract with a multi-channel retailer – the UK’s largest garden centre operator Dobbies. The Scottish firm, which has 68 stores across the UK, is the latest in a stream of retailers to sign up with Wincanton since it adopted a...
A third of South West firms still do not know if they will be impacted by Brexit with less than four weeks to go to the end of the UK-EU transition period, according to a new survey. At the same time 46% are worried that Brexit could have a bigger impact on them than...
The award-winning Trading Through Brexit service run by Business West has been relaunched to help companies make crucial last-minute adjustments to the way they operate ahead of the end of the UK-EU transition period. Regardless of whether or not a deal is reached between UK and EU negotiators ahead of deadline on December 31,...
