Around 300 businesses attended events across the South West last week to learn about international business opportunities and the support available to reach new customers around the world. A series of nine UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) events were held across the region as part of Export Week....
Mulberry, the West fashion brand best known for its upmarket bags, today warned its profits will be hit hard as it introduces new lower-price products. The firm, whose iconic bags often sell for upwards of £1,000, also said it was scaling back its new store opening programme as it...
Rob Law, the Bristol-based inventor of child’s ride-on suitcase Trunki, heads up the M4 next month to be keynote speaker at this year’s Business Show Swindon The entrepreneur, innovator and ‘dragon-slayer’ – he was famously turned down by Dragons’ Den – will speak about the setbacks and learnings of...
Bristol-based Imperial Tobacco Group is to close its cigarette factory in Nottingham with the loss of all 540 jobs, it announced this week. The group, whose brands include JPS, Lambert & Butler and Gauloises, blamed falling sales of cigarettes and tougher anti-smoking regulations in Europe. A plant in Nantes,...
Shares in SciSys, the specialist software and IT group SciSys with a base in Bristol, climbed by nearly 3% this morning after it announced it had secured a €1.8m (£1.48m), six-year contract to work on Europe’s most advanced geostationary weather satellite. The firm, whose roots are in the European...
Industrial giant Siemens is to open a tidal turbine blade factory in Bristol, creating 49 jobs and boosting the city’s growing reputation as a centre for low-carbon technology and innovation. The German group made the announcement yesterday when Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey visited its Marine Current...
Bristol can be a showcase for zero-emission bus technology as part of its year as European Green Capital, Mayor George Ferguson has said. He challenged the motor industry and low-carbon sector to invest in Bristol and help it become a centre for innovation in public transport. He was speaking...
TDC Systems, the Weston-super-Mare-based specialist in advanced transport systems, has been acquired by Norwegian electronic toll collection business Q-Free. The deal, overseen by Bristol law firm Temple Bright, is expected to be worth £10m, if performance targets for 2014 and 2015 are hit. The initial consideration is £5m –...
The West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has appointed Adam Powell as its new director of skills. In his new role Adam, pictured, will deliver the LEP’s vision of developing a well-educated and well-motivated workforce to meet the needs of business across the area which includes Bristol, North...
Two Export Week events will help female business owners expand or launch in new overseas markets and explain how a range of businesses can unlock the potential of South East Asian markets. Export Week aims to encourage firms to consider trading internationally or, for existing exporters, to look at...
More than three-quarters of West firms want the UK to stay in the European Union with half saying membership has a positive impact on their business, according to a major survey of business opinion in the region. However, 16% of firms believe membership is bad for their business and...
The West’s small to medium-sized manufacturers are set to go on an investment spree to meet the expected increase in demand sparked by the economic recovery, a new survey shows. Four in five firms in the sector plan to buy new capital equipment over the next year, with the...
Manufacturers from Bristol and across the West of England are being urged to have their say on the highly-topical issue of European Union reform. EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, has set out some radical plans for the EU which keeps Britain at the heart of Europe – something it says...
