News | Page 19

Brighton & Hove City Council has revealed some very ambitious plans related to the area’s transport network, which involve setting aside no less than £9m for direct investments, a news report in the local business media has recently revealed.

Cherwell District Council’s planning committee has approved plans for two nursing and care facilities to be built in the area, that are likely to create 160 new jobs in the region, a news report in the local media has revealed. The planning permission applications were put forward by Leonard Cheshire Disability and Gracewell Properties and Care UK Community Partnerships respectively, and involve a 60-bed nursing home in Adderbury and a 73-bed home in Banbury.

Funds received from a £245m supply chain fund set up by the UK government in order to boost British manufacturing have managed to salvage more than 300 jobs in the Oxfordshire region, a news report in the local business media has recently revealed. The winners from the supply chain fund included Bicester-based Clearview Traffic Group and Crown Packaging, based in Didcot and Wantage.

A new multi-million pound hospice and between 150 and 180 new “high-quality” homes are set to be built in Southend following an agreement between housebuilder Bellway Homes and Havens Hospices, a news report in the local media has revealed.

A refurbishment scheme worth £287,000 for the Corpus Christi College at the University of Oxford was recently successfully completed by construction company Stepnell, a news report in the local business media can reveal.

Two well-known gym chains, Guildford-based The Gym Group and Pure Gym, will merge in order to take advantage of growing membership at fitness clubs and booming consumer demand for low-fee health and fitness club memberships, a news report in the local business media has revealed.

Over 100 jobs were saved as a geo-technical business Itmsoil was bought out of administration, following a few months of financial difficulties that brought it to the brink of closure, a news report in the local business media has revealed. The Itmsoil Group was headquartered in Uckfield, East Sussex, with its main area of expertise being the design, manufacture and installation of specialist geo-technical and structural monitoring instrumentation in the construction industry.

Two special enterprise zones in the South East have managed to secure a share of a £100m fund announced by the government to help stimulate growth, with the money going towards basic infrastructure that will turn dormant sites into prime economic land.

The level of optimism has surged among companies from the South East, on account on larger volume orders, a news report in the local business media has revealed. Findings from the Grant Thornton International Business Report showed that UK business optimism recorded an overall surge of 74 per cent over the past year – up from -3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012 to 71 per cent in the final quarter of last year.

Metro Bank, a South East and London high street bank, has revealed plans to open no less than 12 new branches over 2014 and hire 500 new staff in order to support its expanding store network, business banking services, contact centre, switching service and central teams. According to a media news report on the matter, the bank plans to open new stores in Epsom, Brighton and Milton Keynes, among other places.

Clean Linen Services, a commercial laundry business headquartered in Maidenhead, has secured the necessary financing for expanding further across the South East market, a new report in the local business media has revealed. The business, founded in 1886, is the second largest commercial laundry operator in the London hospitality market and in 2012 completed a contract to supply linen to for the athletes’ village at the London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Electronics company Armour, which supplies components to the home and in-car communication and entertainment markets, reported revenue of £32.1m for the year ended 31 August 2013, down from £34.4m last year, while also posting a pre-tax profit of £53,000 after reporting the deep losses in 2012.