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Engineering businesses sold

Precision Technologies Group (PTG) has sold four of its Rochdale-based businesses to a company listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange as part of a £20m deal.

Date published: 16/03/2010

Co-op profits boosted by Somerfield and Britannia

The Co-operative Group has reported "record sales and profits" for 2009 after buying Somerfield and merging with the Britannia building society.
Boosted by the merger and acquisition, the company's first annual results for the group as a whole show a pre-tax profit of £402m and revenue of £13.7bn. ...

Date published: 18/03/2010

Cutting costs and red tape for businesses

10,000 fewer planning applications in the system and cash for councils to help deliver homes.

Housing and Planning Minister John Healey today confirmed further reforms to the planning system, removing around 10,000 full applications to cut costs and red tape for businesses, saving up to £43 million a year. ...

Date published: 16/03/2010

High security firm with global reach relocates to Middleton

A company that produces entrance control systems used around the world, including high security anti-terrorist products, has signed a deal for new premises at Stakehill Industrial Estate, Middleton.
...

Date published: 16/03/2010

Zen Internet gains ISO certification

Rochdale based Zen Internet, one of the UK’s leading Internet Service Providers (ISPs), has been awarded ISO 14001:2004 certification. ISO 14001:2004 is the internationally recognised standard for an organisation’s Environmental Management System. ...

Date published: 15/03/2010

New business support leaflet for struggling market stalls

A new advice leaflet for market traders offers stall owners free business ‘health checks’ to help them beat economic challenges and increased competition.
The leaflet: ‘Growing Markets: Championing the Market Stall’, will be distributed widely across the country to 35,000 market traders and managers to throw a spotlight on the free support available to make sure local markets...

Date published: 15/03/2010

HMRC gearing up to name and shame tax evaders

H M Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has confirmed that from 1 April 2010 it will start naming and shaming serial tax evaders. North West businesses are being warned that from this date, individuals and companies which have deliberately evaded tax of more than £25,000 will have their name, address and details of their evasion published on the HMRC website....

Date published: 14/03/2010

Reduce death and injury in the workplace

Bosses are being encouraged to get their employees more involved in health and safety in a bid to reduce injury and ill health.
The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) new campaign ‘do your bit’ is in response to workplace research which provides evidence to suggest that involving workers has a positive effect on health and safety performance. ...

Date published: 14/03/2010

Royal visitor to Rochdale company

His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent visited Rochdale to review Wireless CCTV's Queen's Award-winning technology and meet employees of the Rochdale based market leader in mobile surveillance solutions. ...

Date published: 12/03/2010

Williams Rochdale best in the country

Williams Rochdale has been recently recognised as the best BMW Approved Used Car Dealer in the country by BMW UK.
The dealership, on Gorrels Way, Rochdale, has been awarded the Approved Used Car Award 2009 beating 145 other authorised BMW dealerships in the UK. ...

Date published: 12/03/2010

EU help for small businesses

MEP Chris Davies is calling for small businesses to be freed from the bureaucratic burden of having to produce annual accounts.

Mr Davies says the requirement serves no good purpose and its removal will have no effect upon the tax that must be paid. ...

Date published: 10/03/2010

Planning reform to help developers

Businesses that need to extend existing planning permissions to allow more time to build new developments will now pay significantly lower fees which, along with other measures to improve the flexibility of planning permissions, will help save up to £69m a year, giving a valuable cash boost for developers so they can keep investing in new projects. ...

Date published: 04/03/2010

Zen win ninth Which? award

Rochdale based Zen Internet, one of the UK’s leading Internet Service Providers (ISP), has been awarded its ninth Which? Best Buy for Broadband, topping the satisfaction tables for the fifth year running. ...

Date published: 03/03/2010

Potential entertainment tax bonus

Businesses in the Borough of Rochdale could line themselves up for a windfall VAT rebate following findings by the EU Advocate General, which could entitle businesses in the UK to retrospectively claim back on VAT payments on entertainment expenses, according to RSM Tenon. ...

Date published: 03/03/2010

Carcraft open new Motorstore

The Mayor of Rochdale, Councillor Keith Swift, officially opened the new Motorstore from Carcraft today (Monday 1 March).
Since 1966, Motorstore has been serving the people of Rochdale and the surrounding areas with everything from auto-parts to bicycles, as well as just about everything in between. ...

Date published: 01/03/2010

Pre Budget thoughts

Once upon a time – and no, this isn’t the start of a fairy story – Budgets were all about dramatic announcements of changes in the rates of income tax. These days the element of surprise has largely disappeared because rates and allowances are now announced in advance. So we already know that from 6 April there will be a new top rate of income tax of 50% and that personal...

Date published: 01/03/2010

Preferred bidder deselected on streetlight PFI

Rochdale Borough and Oldham Councils have taken the decision to deselect the Community Lighting Partnership (CLP) as preferred bidder on its jointly procured streetlighting project. ...

Date published: 23/02/2010

Retail sales figures

Reacting to last week's retail sales figures, Dr Brian Sloan, Head of Business and Economic Policy at Greater Manchester Chamber, said: "The poor retail sales figures for January released today by the Office of National Statistics indicate there is a serious risk of a double-dip recession....

Date published: 22/02/2010

Public finance debate

Reacting to the debate on public finances, Dr Brian Sloan, Head of Business and Economic Policy at Greater Manchester Chamber, said: "Last week's public finance figures and the ongoing debate over dealing with public debt highlight the urgent need for the Government to spell out exactly how it intends to deal with the deficit. Britain's recovery lies in the balance,...

Date published: 22/02/2010

New bus operator on pennines route

There is a new bus operator on service 528, Rochdale - Ripponden - Halifax, a route with a long history going back to 1926. This is now operated by Huddersfield Bus Company, part of Centrebus Holdings, which is jointly owned by Centrebus and Arriva.
...

Date published: 19/02/2010

GMWDA Award

European Waste Deal of the Year 2009 has been awarded to Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) and the consortium who completed the Greater Manchester waste financing deal last year. The Project Finance awards by the Project Finance and Infrastructure magazine were the first of this type in the industry and have been running for eleven years. ...

Date published: 19/02/2010

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