Bristol-based car and motor cycle dealers Drive Motor Retail have managed to stay in the fast lane despite the recession, pushing sales past the £200m mark in what they describe as a “difficult” year, notching up increases in new, fleet and used vehicle sales. The company was set by Paul Manning...
Shares in Hydro International plunged by a fifth earlier today after the water technology firm warned of lower first-half financial results. The shares rallied following its annual general meeting at lunchtime and were 12.5% lower by mid-afternoon. The Clevedon company, which has developed a range of technologies to control urban run...
Bristol’s bid to become 2014 European Green Capital has been boosted by local ethical business Natracare, which has pledged £1,000 sponsorship for a charity bike ride to the current Green Capital, Vittoria-Gasteiz in Spain. Making the 1,182 km trek will be Rollo Lewis, co-founder of Bedminster-based green design agency Green...
The UK slumped deeper into recession than initially thought in the first three months of this year as the construction industry continued to underperform, bleak figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed today. The ONS said the economy shrank by 0.3% between January and March, more than...
Bristol-based firework company Skyburst staged a spectacular display on Clifton Suspension Bridge as the Olympic flame crossed. The company, with bases in Upper Langford and Bedminster, fired red, white and blue streamers from the bridge as torchbearers Rebecca Pantaney and Tom Baker ran across. The show, which cost £7,500 to stage, was...
Bristol-based Milk Link, the UK’s leading dairy farmer co-operative, has announced a proposed merger with Arla Foods Amba, a giant European dairy co-operative owned by Danish, Swedish and German dairy farmers. If approved, the merger will create the UK dairy market’s largest player – processing more than 3bn litres...
Bristol’s International Balloon Fiesta won Bronze for Best Tourism Event of the Year at last night’s prestigious VisitEngland Awards for Excellence. The fiesta was shortlisted after scooping the award in the regional heats earlier this year. Now in its 34th year, the event generates £13m for the local economy...
Veteran Bristol oil industry entrepreneur David Bramhill has parted company with Wessex Exploration, the Bristol-based hydrocarbon prospecting company he helped float on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market last year. In a statement today Wessex said he had resigned as non-executive chairman with immediate effect, adding that it would “like...
Avonmouth’s newest big shed has been handed over to pallet distributors CHEP UK - the world’s leading provider of pallet and container pooling solutions. The 50,000 sq ft unit at Central Park is being fitted out for use as a pallet repair and distribution facility to service its South West customers. The external...
Accountancy firm Saffery Champness has appointed a new partner in its Bristol office. Chartered accountant and chartered tax advisor Michael Strong (pictured), 39, has worked at the firm’s Beaufort Road, Clifton, office for the past eight years as a senior manager in the business advisory group. He looks after clients across many sectors including IT, training,...
Bakers Dolphin has been awarded Coach Holiday Programme of the Year in the 2012 Coach Tourism Awards for its innovative and creative programme with a good mix of holiday destinations. The Weston-super-Mare-based company's sales and marketing director Amanda Harrington also won a Special Award in recognition of her outstanding...
Some of the West’s biggest corporate names are this week exhibiting at the annual North Somerset Business Show. The sell-out event takes place at the Winter Gardens in Weston-super-Mare on Wednesday between 2pm until 7pm. Among the exhibitors will be HSBC Business Banking, Old Mill Accountants and ASC Recruitment,...
Oil giant BP has awarded multi-million pound contracts for North Sea oil and gas metering systems and a 'slops' separation package to South Gloucestershire-based Alderley Systems. They will be installed on the BP Quad 204, a new floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit to replace an existing vessel...
