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Top story
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Wolseley back in black
Wolseley has returned to profit after posting pre-tax profits of £195m for the six months to 31 January 2011. This is up from a loss of £261m in the corresponding period last year. Revenue was up five per cent year-on-year to £6.6bn at the Leamington Spa company, which is the world's largest supplier of heating and plumbing products by market value.
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Deals
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MTH snaps up Pallet Systems
Fradley-based logistics business MTH Express Services has bought Wednesbury-based Pallet Systems for an undisclosed sum. David Hughes and Stuart Downes, of FBC Manby Bowdler in Wolverhampton, advised on the deal.
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Liquid dips into merger
Birmingham-based Liquid Public Relations has merged with Channel Islands agency One Strategic Marketing. The merged business will be known as Liquid and operate from its four offices in Birmingham, London, Jersey and Guernsey.
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Funding brings home the bacon for Molls Meats
Molls Meats is to create nine new jobs after winning funding from NatWest Commercial Banking and Lombard. The Birmingham-based family meat supply and distribution company, which trades as Molls Bacon, has also purchased a freehold unit on the Formans Trading Estate in Sparkhill and a new bacon slicing machine.
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Property
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Stock Exchange sold for £7.95m
The Stock Exchange building in Birmingham has been sold for £7.95m. Allsop advised Stoford Ventures on the sale of the 1920s site, representing a net initial yield of 6.4 per cent.
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Deeley wins £1.7m Oxford work
Coventry-based Deeley Construction has won a £1.7m contract to refurbish an apartment building in Oxford. The business, which is part of the Deeley Group, is working on Castle Mill House for Lucy Properties.
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Business
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Harris quits as Emprima chairman
Dereck Harris is to step down as chairman of Solihull-based economic regeneration consultancy Emprima. Harris, who has several non-executive directorships with companies in the region, said he was resigning to avoid a "conflict of interest".
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PM launches StartUp Britain
David Cameron has launched StartUp Britain, a campaign which aims to help new entrepreneurs. More than 60 brands have pledged millions of pounds to support the project which is offering backing worth about £1,500 in areas including IT training and internet advertising.
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Budget won't boost small businesses, says FSB
The Budget did no harm but won't help small businesses, according to a survey by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
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The Top 500 Companies marketing database
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Community
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In Focus: Access some areas
Andy Coyne discusses why work needs to be done to rebuild relationships between banks and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
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Talking Point: Getting in the zone
RSM Tenon’s Carol Barrie defends the track record of Midlands enterprise zones, such as the one that created Merry Hill.
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