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Top story
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Google boss in website drive
The managing director of Google UK has launched a drive to urge more West Midlands small businesses to get online. Matt Brittin told Insider that 100,000 of the region's 300,000 businesses to do not have a website and face being left behind in the digital "revolution".
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Deals
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Mount notes added value of Cooper bid
Cooper Controls has announced it intends to make an £19.2m offer for Mount Engineering, the parent company of West Midlands based Redapt Engineering Company and Raxton. However, Mount must wait for five days before it can make a formal recommendation.
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Law sector consolidation predicted
The Midlands legal sector could see “considerable consolidation” before the end of the year as it faces a major date in the calendar. Insolvency expert Matt Hardy, of Birmingham-based Poppleton & Appleby, believes small and medium-sized law firms could be absorbed by larger and more successful rivals.
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Business
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£63m refund from npower
Energy company npower is to pay a total of £63m in refunds to its customers. The decision follows "confusion and controversy" over a new payments system introduced in spring 2007.
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Olympics contracts won by 200 local companies
The number of West Midlands companies which have won business contracts linked to the London 2012 Olympics has now reached 200. Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands says £461m worth of business has been bagged by firms in nearly all of the region’s 59 parliamentary constituencies.
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Chamber: Tory conference good for region
The Conservative Party Conference will have a positive impact for the region, according to the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. The conference is taking place from Sunday to Wednesday at the ICC in Birmingham. The Hyatt Regency is the conference hotel.
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Personal Touch sees profits rise
Solihull-based financial products distributor Personal Touch Financial Services (PTFS) has seen pre-tax profits increase by 4 per cent to £2.6m in the year to 31 December 2009.
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Gascoigne bowls in at Warwick
Warwickshire County Cricket Club have appointed Norman Gascoigne as their new chairman. He will replace the retiring Neil Houghton.
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Property
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Bullwell Trailer parks in Lichfield
Trailer repair and maintenance specialist Bullwell Trailer Solutions has moved to new headquarters in Lichfield.
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Birmingham Business Park work gets go-ahead
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council has granted planning consent for further development at Birmingham Business Park. Goodman lodged the application for up to 370,000 sq ft of new industrial or warehouse space at the site.
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