Business News

One of the West Midlands’ best kept manufacturing secrets has capped a record-breaking year by securing two major industrial awards last night.

Brandauer, which produces millions of high tolerance metal pressings/stampings every week for customers in 10 sectors and across 26 different countries, was named the Confederation of British Metalforming’s Company of the Year in front of 200 people at Birmingham’s Grand Hotel.

A trailblazing construction business well-known for creating better places for people to live and delivering positive social impact across the North-West is expanding into Cumbria.

Evolution, which takes pride in delivering quality private housing, social housing, and sheltered housing, is creating jobs for tradespeople to work on a scheme in Barrow.

Businesses across the UK can take advantage of the Chancellor’s capital allowances package from today as the new business tax year begins.

The package, announced at Spring Budget, comprises 100% full expensing and a 50% first-year allowance. It will mean the UK has the most generous capital allowance regime in the OECD worth £27 billion over the next three years, amounting to an effective £9 billion a year tax cut for companies.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd and Shell North America LNG LLC have announced the successful bunkering of the ZIM SAMMY OFER container vessel with LNG. This vessel was bunkered at Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) on 26 March 2023.

This was a milestone operation for a number of reasons:

Genialis, a computational precision medicine company unravelling complex biology to find new ways to address disease, have announced it raised more than $13 million in Series A financing to transform the way diseases are diagnosed and treatment decisions are made. Taiwania Capital and Debiopharm Innovation Fund co-led the round, with participation from previous investors First Star Ventures, Redalpine Venture Partners, and Pikas. Other new investors include P5 Health Ventures and several Angels. Ita Lu of Taiwania and Hamzeh Abdul-Hadi of Debiopharm will join Genialis' Board of Directors.

More than half (60%)* of landlords are unwilling commit to contributing more than £250 towards the costs of improving the energy efficiency of a rented property, the Social Market Foundation revealed.

The SMF, a cross-party think-tank, said that government targets to decarbonize homes are likely to fail if politicians cannot find ways to ensure private rented sector landlords do more to better insulate rented homes. Polling for the SMF asked landlords and homeowners how much they were willing to pay out of their own pockets towards a government-discounted insulation upgrade.

Plans to give workers more rights to request flexible working could impact on the way businesses operate, a leading employment lawyer has warned.

Joanne Stronach, Head of Employment Law and HR at Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors, said employers needed to be prepared for the new legislation which will give workers the right to request flexible working from the first day of their employment.

Swedish heat pump company Qvantum today received the German ISH Design Plus award for their brand-new apartment heat pump. The heat pump is so compact that it can be installed, for example, under a kitchen sink and will be able to replace the gas burners that are now to be phased out in the cities of Europe.

“It’s a fantastic acknowledgment for us to be awarded this prize”, says Qvantum CEO Fredrik Rosenqvist. The company has been producing heat pumps for more than 30 years and is currently in a rapid expansion phase.

Construction professionals spanning the Midlands' supply chains are set to gather today (Wednesday 22 Mar) in Birmingham for the latest Constructing Excellence event to discuss how the industry must commit more towards promoting social value and inclusion.

Presented by the CE Birmingham and Black Country Club of Constructing Excellence Midlands, the ‘Social Value and Inclusion... why it’s critical for your business’ conference will take place from 8:30am-10:30am at The Macdonald Burlington Hotel - with CE members and non-members encouraged to secure their ticket.

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has negotiated a new Deeper Devolution Deal securing wide ranging new powers and a budget windfall in excess of £1.5 billion to level up the region.

Under the Deeper Devolution Deal – announced by Government in yesterday’s Spring Budget – the WMCA has secured new and significant longer-term funding agreements including 100% business rates retention for 10 years, worth £450 million.

The developer of a £50m property scheme in the centre of Derby has appointed an East Midlands construction specialist to deliver the project over two years. Elevate Property Group, which is responsible for the iconic Trent Bridge Quays development in Nottingham, has selected Bode Contracting to build the 258 apartments that will offer high quality, affordable city centre living for young professionals, couples, and downsizers.

Midlands-based engineering business adi Group’s Environmental division has ramped up its capacity in response to the continued rise in demand for environmentally compliant solutions. Having delivered water treatment, air/steam quality and pre-treatment solutions to huge global brands including Müller, PepsiCo, Cadbury and Coca Cola, adi Environmental is already on a path of undeniable success.

The division’s team has increased from 12 to 18 skilled water treatment and air hygiene specialists in just 16 months, allowing the division to provide new key services and lay the foundation for continued growth.

Mark James Auctions, a leading auction house specializing in urban and contemporary art, announced unprecedented demand and record-breaking results in their online Street art auction schedule. The auction house has seen a surge in interest from collectors looking to acquire artwork from some of the leading names in the industry, including Banksy and many others.

With the Spring Budget due in just a few days’ time, rumours and predictions are circulating widely about what Chancellor Jeremy Hunt might include. One area attracting considerable interest is that of workers aged 50+.

Many older workers retired early during the pandemic, but there could be significant economic benefits from them returning to the labour force. Some have already done so, as part of the ‘great unretirement’.

Over four million families are set to save £45 a year on their energy bills from July as the Chancellor ends the prepayment premium.

Households on prepayment meters pay more on average compared to direct debit customers due to extra costs firms take on managing meters – such as supplying vouchers and collecting payments – being passed on to users.