Specialist manufacturer Avon Rubber has sold its US-based hovercraft skirt and bulk liquid storage tank business, for $9.25m (£6.58m). Melksham-based Avon, which makes respirators for military, homeland security and first responder customers as well as rubber products for the dairy industry, said it had been reviewing strategic options for Avon Engineered Fabrications (AEF) –...
The hunt is on to find the individuals and businesses that are helping maintain the West of England aerospace sector’s position as one of the world’s largest and most innovative. Nominations have opened for its the second annual West of England Aerospace Forum’s (WEAF) coveted annual Aerospace Ambassador Awards. Following last year’s success, a...
Confidence among small business owners in the South West has bounced back thanks to lower inflation, progress on Brexit talks and the Chancellor’s positive Spring Statement, according to a survey published this week. The report by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) – Britain’s biggest business representation group – also reveals a two-year high...
Entrepreneurs have until tomorrow to enter the prestigious Institute of Directors South West Director of the Year Awards, the region’s top accolades for boardroom excellence. Three new categories have been added this year, taking the total to nine and giving directors more chance to claim one of the top awards. The new categories are...
Expert insights into sales and marketing, team engagement and building a business into a saleable asset will this Friday show how to take their business to the next level at an event aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises. The South West Business Growth Summit is being staged by ActionCOACH, the world’s number one business...
Hundreds of Bath businesses were beating path to the city’s Assembly Rooms today as the Bath Business Expo got under way. More than 600 people registered to attend the high-profile event - one of the biggest of its kind between Bristol and Swindon. Organisers expect today’s expo to be bigger and better than...
Steel stockist and supplier Avon Steel, which was rescued from a cashflow crisis four months ago, has secured a £2m invoice finance facility as it looks to take advantage of an expected resurgence for the industry. Demand for UK steel is forecast to grow in the face of rising import prices. The government’s Industrial Strategy...
Bath business experts have been reacting to Tuesday’s Spring Statement, with most pointing to what Chancellor Philip Hammond failed to deliver rather than what he said. The city’s largest accountancy practice Bishop Fleming was particularly hard-hitting in its comments, calling it a “missed opportunity to be bold, imaginative and transformative”, especially as the...
Business West, the region’s largest business organisation, welcomed Chancellor Philip Hammond’s assertion in his Spring Statement that he would continue to “support British businesses” – but it insisted that his actions had to speak louder than words. The £80m pledge to help small firms take on apprentices and the opening up of the construction...
CBI chief economist Rain Newton-Smith said the Chancellor was rightly backing British business to secure the UK’s future prosperity in a new economy. “It’s great to see an upgrade in the state of our public finances and rightly sensible to set more aside for a rainy day with Brexit uncertainty still weighing on the...
