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Top story
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Baskerville developer hits out at bank
Targetfollow, the property developer behind Birmingham's £30m Baskerville House development and the Baskerville Wharf project, is facing a battle to avoid administration. Its founder Ardeshir Naghshineh told Insider that it is "expected to pay" £200m to Lloyds TSB and hit out at the bank, claiming it has been charging 6 per cent on its loans - 5.5 per cent more than the Bank of England base rate.
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Deals
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Phoenix rises with £1.5m investment
Wednesbury-based Phoenix Vehicle Hire has secured a £1.5m confidential invoice discounting facility from asset based lending specialist, Leumi ABL. The working capital facility has supported the company in its acquisition of some of the trade and assets of PFB Self Drive.
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Property
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£3.5m housing development unveiled
A new affordable housing scheme has been completed in Burton-on-Trent. Charrington House, which holds 34 apartments, was officially opened on the site of the town’s former Trading Standards offices.
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Century Lighting buys second unit
Lighting specialist Century Lighting has purchased a second warehouse and distribution unit on the £12m Target Park development in Redditch. The move comes following a major contract win to provide energy-efficient lighting to NHS hospitals nationwide.
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Business
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Shropshire enterprise fund to bid for ERDF funding
Shropshire Council has awarded more than £223,000 to 114 fledgling businesses through its business enterprise fund. Mark Pembleton, head of economic development at the council, told Insider the council would apply for £750,000 of European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) to continue the programme for the next three years, after funds from its two initial sponsor schemes became obsolete following government spending cuts.
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Chamberlin trading well
Walsall-based specialist engineering group Chamberlin says the company has "traded profitably in the first half of the current financial year", in its pre-close trading update. It adds that recovery in production volumes across the specialist foundry business, which produces "technically demanding castings", is now "firmly established".
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ZF Lemforder extends Land Rover contract
Automotive plant ZF Lemforder, based in Wednesbury, has won a contract with Jaguar Land Rover to work on the next generation of Land Rover models. The new contract extends its existing six-year partnership into 2020 and aims to safeguard jobs at its plants in Solihull and Darlaston.
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Midlands employers urged to hire ex-offenders
Employers in the Midlands are being encouraged to take on people with a criminal record. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is urging employers to take on offenders to reduce crime which costs businesses an estimated £12bn each year.
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Holland & Barratt breaches ASA rules
Nuneaton-based vitamin manufacturer and retailer Holland & Barratt has been forced to remove an advert which breached a "truthfulness" clause. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said a voucher promising money off additional purchases “must not appear again in its current form”.
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Meaty deal for Telford farmer
A farmer from Telford has won a contract to begin stocking his handmade sausages in the Wolverhampton branch of supermarket Waitrose. The deal comes hot on the heels of David Haighton’s contract wins with several local pubs and Waitrose in Shropshire.
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John Mortimer, co-founder and CEO of the Angela Mortimer Group, believes that computers do not help businesses find the right talent, with the human touch still all-important. Find out why.
