Bristol attracted 15 investment projects from overseas last year, new figures show, making it the seventh best performing regional location in the UK and underlining its growing reputation as an international business hub. The city’s strong performance was despite the South West as a whole suffering a 14% decline...
The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a severe blow to confidence levels among South West firms – with the region now the UK’s least optimistic, according to the gloomy results of another survey. Overall confidence slumped by 16 points during the past month to minus 51% – an unenviable record...
Bristol-headquartered law firm VWV has promoted solicitors Leila Goodarzi and Rebecca Fox to partners, taking the total number in its partnership to 86. Leila, pictured right, who joined the firm as a trainee in 2010, will now lead the firm’s estates tax and trust team in Bristol, working on...
A charity combatting hunger in Bristol with food that would otherwise have been thrown away has received £60,000 from the city office of national financial and professional services firm Smith & Williamson. FareShare, which has its regional centre in St. Jude’s, is part of a UK national network of...
A Bristol-based specialist investment programme launched by two of the UK’s leading recruitment industry entrepreneurs has helped launch a start-up targeting the renewable energy sector. Surya Recruitment has been founded by Alka Graham, who has worked in the energy industry for more than a decade. It aims to promote...
National financial and professional services group Smith & Williamson has made a number of strategic management changes in its Bristol office. Nigel Hardy becomes managing partner of the office’s professional services business in succession to Carl Deane, who has decided to stand down after three years in the role....
Business West, the region’s largest business organisation, is launching a series of expert webinars and virtual networking events to help small firms bounce back from the impact of the coronavirus crisis. The webinars will address key practical issues and challenges facing firms as lockdown measures are eased while the...
Up to 100 businesses in Bristol city centre – including high-profile bars and restaurants – are at risk of closure unless the government raises the threshold on one of its schemes to ease the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new campaign. Called #RaiseTheBar, the national...
The Bank of England’s role is to maintain UK monetary and financial stability by keeping inflation sustainably low and ensuring that the financial system can serve the people of the UK in bad times as well as good. To achieve these aims through the Covid-19 crisis we have put...
Bristol-based corporate finance boutique firm ICON has strengthened its team with two appointments. Thibault Dujardin, pictured right, becomes an analyst after successfully completing his internship. He previously gained experience working in mergers & acquisitions (M&A) and private equity in Belgium and as a corporate finance intern in San Francisco....
One of the government’s boldest and most effective interventions during the coronavirus has been the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (or furlough scheme). It is also, undoubtedly, one of the most important for businesses. Many businesses have suffered a massive shock to income, and furloughing has offered an ability to...
For the time being, many businesses are firefighting – deciding who to furlough, chasing debtors and shoring up cashflow by raising short-term funds. However, there will be a point at which business starts tentatively to adjust to a new normal. At that point, it may be worth reflecting how your...
Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s decision to extend the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to October will be a “huge relief” to firms in the West of England, according to the region’s largest business group. Business West, which runs Bristol Chamber of Commerce, said its research showed the scheme, launched by...
