Public entries for this year’s Bath Half Marathon may have sold out but one charity in the city is still looking for runners and sponsors to support its life-changing work with young people. Bath Rugby Foundation, which helps thousands of vulnerable youngsters through inspiring programmes that focus on health, education and employability, has signed...
Alliance Pharma, the international healthcare group, has appointed a key figure in the global consumer healthcare sector as its new chair. Camillo Pane takes up the post on Monday, replacing Jo LeCouilliard, who has been in the role for five years and who the Chippenham-headquartered firm has accredited with transforming it from a business...
The South West’s small firms are the least confident in the UK about their prospects for this year as they continue to struggle against the state of the economy, high labour costs and the lack of available staff. Worryingly, one in five say they may have to cut their workforce to stay in business...
The South West office of growth finance group invested nearly £70m in small and mid-sized businesses in 2023, taking its total for the past three years to £190m. The long-term investor, which makes initial investments of between £1m to £20m for a minority equity stake, said it backed businesses across a wide range of...
The Bath area’s disused coal mines, which have been sealed up for more than 50 years, could be repurposed to supply clean energy to around 100,000 homes across the region. A major study will look at bringing many of the area’s 100-plus collieries back to life by harnessing their potential as sites for heat...
Private equity and investment firm Maven Capital Partners has strengthened its presence in the region to support its delivery of the £200m South West Investment Fund (SWIF). Launched last July by the British Business Bank, WIF aims to boost the supply of finance to small and medium-sized businesses across the South West. Maven manages...
The brewery behind some of Bath’s best-loved beers has installed hundreds more solar panels on its roof to harness as much renewable energy as possible for production. Bath Ales’ Hare Brewery at Warmley will now be able to generate an additional 230,511kWh electricity a year by adding the 608 new panels to its existing 892...
Defence manufacturer Avon Protection has secured its second multi-million pound deal in as many weeks with an order from US military chiefs for its state-of-the-art helmets. The Melksham-based group, which specialises in protective gear, masks and breathing equipment for the military and first-responder markets, is to supply the US Defense Logistics Agency with another...
Nine in 10 mid-sized firms based in the South West shrugged off the national economic gloom last year to achieve their forecasted growth, according to a new survey. Now nearly a third plan to launch new products or services to continue to expand this year, despite challenges linked to the ongoing cost of living...
Pre-Christmas sales at iconic Somerset-based fashion business Mulberry tumbled by more than 8% as the cost of living crisis forced shoppers to cut back on luxury spending. Mulberry, best known for its top-of-the-range handbags, also blamed what it described as “challenging macro-economic backdrop” for the sales decline. The firm, which has manufacturing sites at...
