Thorntons has reported a healthy rise in profits for the 28 weeks to 9 January 2010. In results released this morning, the East Midlands-based chocolate maker reported a rise in profits of 24.6 per cent to £9.1m. Revenues dipped slightly to £127.4m, a drop of 0.7 per cent. Thorntons puts the encouraging results down to a decision not to cut prices in its stores. Net debt was reduced by £1.7m to £14.6m. Mike Davies, Thorntons chief executive, said: “Although the sales volume recorded from our shops suffered a slight decline, sales of Thorntons’ branded products across all channels, excluding private label products, increased by 5.5 per cent. We are in the process of adding several products to our offering and have just launched the new Easter range in our stores. Going forward, we will continue to focus on reducing our dependency on Christmas by investing in products that drive sales in the traditionally quieter summer months. We therefore expect to be able to continue to improve our performance in the second half, which is historically loss-making.”

Orbis Partners has completed its third deal of the year, putting together the multimillion-pound management buyout of Elite Creations, one of Europe’s leading suppliers and distributors of fast fashion accessories. The deal was arranged by Gary Ecob at Birmingham-based Orbis Partners LLP, with legal advice from Lee Clifford and Tom Brown at Freeth Cartwright. Funding was provided by HSBC bank and HSBC Invoice finance. Elite Creations has a turnover of up to £20m and supplies more than 30 UK retail groups, as well as exporting to customers in Spain, Germany, Scandinavia and the Middle East. The management buyout team is headed by Nitesh Sakhrani, who has been chief executive for ten years. He will be supported by Lavesh Sakhrani, sales director. For Insider comment, click here.

Lincolnshire firm Wilkin Chapman and Grimsby’s Grange Wintringham are set to merge later this year, creating a firm with a combined turnover of £15m. The merger will take effect on 1 August, creating a firm with 12 offices across Lincolnshire and eastern Yorkshire and a total staff headcount of 351 – the biggest in the region. The new firm will be known as Wilkin Chapman Grange in Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Louth, Horncastle, Sutton-on-Sea, Mablethorpe, Alford and Market Rasen. In Lincoln, the firm will go by the name Wilkin Chapman Epton Blades, and Cooper Wilkin Chapman in Beverley. Wilkin Chapman’s senior partner Philip Day, who specialises in agriculture and commercial property, will continue in his role at the new firm, as will the firm’s chief executive Julia Whittaker. Grange Wintringham senior partner Stephen Savage will join the new firm’s strategy committee.

FG Skerritt, the Nottingham building firm owned by Nat Puri, has gone into administration with the loss of 130 jobs. The company stopped trading on 11 February after it revealed poor trading results, which resulted in subsequent cashflow difficulties. Despite a slight recovery in first two months of this year, the situation was exacerbated by deteriorating trading conditions in the industry, said administrators from RSM Tenon. Dilip Dattani of RSM Tenon said: “We are pleased to announce that we have found buyer for the major contracts, and the purchaser plans to recruit staff immediately in order to meet customer requirements. I would also like to thank Nat Puri, who came out of retirement to help us find the buyer, as time was of essence to avoid loss of contracts and customer confidence.”

Umeco, the Leamington Spa supplier to the aerospace industry, has revealed that revenue in the four months to 31 January 2010 was slightly below that achieved in the equivalent period in 2009. However, better news came in the shape of an increased order book, which at 31 January 2010 stood at £225.1m – up from £213m in 2009. Umeco said this increase was due to additional parts responsibility taken on under supply chain contracts.

New data from the Institute of Directors (IoD) shows that nearly 60 per cent of East Midlands businesses seeking bank finance in 2009/10 were rejected by their bank, and that 20 per cent are financing their businesses to some extent with credit cards. According to the IoD, this evidence challenges a central claim made by some UK banks in the wake of the Public Accounts Committee report that where demand exists for bank finance, the majority of that demand was being met. Ron Lynch, IoD East Midlands regional director, said: “At a time when we are hoping to see signs of recovery, this is another barrier to businesses trying to grow.”

Midlands law firm Flint Bishop has been recognised for its commitment to inclusivity after reaching the top three in three separate categories in the 2009 Diversity League Table, which looks at the diversity charters of some of the UK’s leading firms. Flint Bishop ranked first for the number of female associates (75 per cent), second in the number of its ethnic minority trainees (33.33 per cent) and third for the proportion of female partners that it employs (36.36 per cent).