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Aerospace investment
Wednesday 11 July 2012 8:00
Business secretary Vince Cable has announced plans to invest £120m in the UK aerospace industry, in a move to cement the UK’s position as leader in the industry. The investment will include a £40m investment steered by Rolls-Royce to develop greener aircraft engines, £15m in 11 R&D projects and £6m to educate aeronautical engineers to masters degree levels.
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Clydesdale to cut back
Wednesday 11 July 2012 7:00
Clydesdale Bank is reportedly set to axe more jobs in Scotland than it planned a few months ago, according to a source at the bank cited by the BBC. National Australia Bank (NAB), which runs Clydesdale, said in April that 60 jobs would go from Scotland, out of 1,400 roles to be shed by 2015.
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Sales growth slows for Burberry
Wednesday 11 July 2012 6:00
Luxury brand Burberry has seen a slight slowdown in quarterly sales growth as trading conditions worsened in its markets. The firm said revenue was £408m in the three months to the end of June, its fiscal first quarter, an increase of 11%.
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Unemployment to hit three million
Monday 9 July 2012 10:00
The number of permanent jobs filled in June fell for the first time in six months, KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said this morning. The number of jobless people totalled 2.61 million last month, an unemployment rate of 8.2%. "If this trend were to continue, there's a very real chance we could hit a three million unemployed figure in the UK in the not too distant future," said KPMG partner Bernard Brown.
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BMW investment
Monday 9 July 2012 8:00
BMW has announced plans to invest a further £250m in its three Mini factories in the UK in Oxford, Swindon and Hams Hall near Birmingham, in a move which will safeguard thousands of jobs.
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Scottish exports dip
Wednesday 4 July 2012 11:00
Export sales from Scotland fell in the last quarter but have increased overall in the last 12 months. Food and drink sales made the largest contribution to the full-year growth of 4.2%. The latest figures from the Scottish Index of Manufactured Exports showed a fall of 0.6% in real terms during the first quarter of 2012.
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Wear inn business
Wednesday 4 July 2012 8:00
Wear Inns, a company focused on acquiring and managing a chain of community pubs across the North of England, has purchased nine pubs from TCG Bars, bringing its pub estate to a total of 24 premises, with plans to acquire more in the near future. This acquisition comes two months after an injection of growth capital provided by NVM Private Equity and Business Growth Fund. The newly acquired premises include The Bedroom in Whitley Bay, Black Bull in Morpeth, Greens in Sunderland, Lambton Arms in Chester-le-Street, Ye Olde Lang Jack in Whickham, Ship and Royal in South Shields, Lloyds Arms in Grimsby, Porter Cottage in Sheffield and The White Bear in Barnsley.
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Yorkshire firms remain cautious
Wednesday 4 July 2012 8:00
Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce latest quarterly economic survey (QES) shows the region’s businesses are taking a cautious approach to growth in the second quarter of 2012. In quarter two of 2012 both manufacturing and service sectors reported a slowdown in domestic sales and orders and although both are still in positive territory they are highly reflective of the sluggishness of the UK economy. The surveywas conducted in partnership with Leeds University Business School and surveyed around 600 businesses.
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Mortgage jobs boost
Wednesday 4 July 2012 7:00
At least 80 new jobs are on their way to the North East of England after the area beat off competition from other regions to secure major new investment from the UK’s largest mortgage broker. London & Country Mortgages has announced that it has selected Tyne and Wear as the location for its new financial services sales office. The expansion represents L&C’s first move outside its existing headquarter base in Bath. The company looked at alternative sites in South Wales, the North West and the Midlands before deciding that the North East provided the best possible location for its new office. The specialist business support agency, Tyne and Wear Development Company, has worked closely with the company since details of the potential expansion first emerged and is currently helping L&C to finalise its short list of potential local office properties for the new venture.
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Voluntary rise to the fore
Wednesday 4 July 2012 7:00
Yorkshire businesses are almost twice as likely to encourage voluntary redundancies and outsource loss-making services during the next 12 months compared to two years ago – according to a report by Irwin Mitchell. The study of more than 320 senior business decision-makers, which was launched to investigate employee restructuring techniques, also found that over a third (37%) of companies had made compulsory redundancies in the last year, with 58% of those questioned also reporting to have used a range of alternative cost-saving techniques. As a result of the current economic uncertainly - highlighted by seven out of 10 firms in the region saying that they are ‘less confident’ or expect ‘no improvement’ in the UK economy in 2012 - 24% claimed they were under immediate pressure to reduce staff overheads in the next year.
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Persimmon makes strong start
Tuesday 3 July 2012 7:00
Housebuilder Persimmon this morning cheered a strong start to its new strategic plan by completing more new homes and selling them for a higher fee, giving it confidence for the full year. The group completed 4,712 new homes in the first half of 2012, up 6% on the corresponding period last year, lifting turnover up 13% to £805m.
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Hitachi appointment
Tuesday 3 July 2012 7:00
Cash flow specialist Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance has hired St John Emms as its new senior business development manager to initiate a £50m pound credit facility aimed at Yorkshire-based businesses.