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Cheshire-based telecoms company Chess has chalked up two more acquisitions to bring its total for the year to five. The latest deals, which have enabled the vendors to capitalise on their assets without exiting the market completely, involve taking on 800 business customers from Puma Telecom and Sunstone, based in Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes respectively. "We will continue to make the most of the increasing opportunity created by rapid market consolidation," said chief executive David Pollock. 
Redwood buys from US group Skelmersdale-based fabrics supplier Redwood Distribution has acquired the business and assets of textile distributors Edmund Bell & Co, which is a subsidiary of US Fortune 500 company Leggett & Platt. Founded in 1855, the Bradford-based company was a family-owned operation until its US takeover.
BBTA buys up broker Business broker Kings Business Transfer has been acquired by investment firm BBTA for an undisclosed sum. The Bury-based company was purchased along with Redwoods Dowling Kerr and Bruce & Co, which were the trading assets of the AIM-listed Dipford Group, which went into administration on 30 June. Last year the total value of transactions by the three companies was more than £150m. BBTA is backed by a group of entrepreneurs including former HBOS man Stuart Middleton and Ford Campbell founder Tony Ford. The group also owns rival firm Knightsbridge Business Sales based in Bolton.
Wigan-based Pasco Spices & Herbs, a producer of sauces, curry pastes, chutneys and pickles, has expanded into Portugal after two of the country's supermarket chains agreed to stock its products. The wins follow a successful UK Trade & Investment event at the British Embassy in Lisbon, where Pasco provided catering. Sales and marketing director Nina Khade said: "We are planning more development overseas and hope to increase our production capacity."
New support package for food industry Food Northwest, the food and drink industry promoter, has stepped in with a support package to help the region's food producers affected by the closure of North West Fine Foods (NWFF), which went into voluntary liquidation on 27 June. The organisation, in consultation with the Northwest Regional Development Agency, has launched a membership package as part of a newly-created special interest group called Fine Food Northwest. It is also in discussions with liquidators with a view to take over various aspects of NWFF's business.
CIDS goes live The Creative Industries Development Service (CIDS), which helps new and established creative businesses in Greater Manchester, has officially launched creativetimes.co.uk, a new website that brings its creative industries trade journal online. The site is dedicated to businesses in advertising, architecture, art, craft, design, fashion, film, TV and broadcast, gaming, literature and publishing, music, new media, photography and performing arts. It combines the Creative Times paper with a community-driven resource.
Vimto on the up, says Nichols Newton-le-Willows-based soft drinks group Nichols remains cautiously optimistic despite posting a 15.5 per cent increase in pre-tax profits for the six months to 30 June. The company, which sells the Vimto, Panda and Sunkist brands and runs a dispensed cold drinks business, said the increasing cost of raw materials, changing markets and weather had made trading challenging. But non-executive chairman John Nichols believes the core brand will remain strong. He said: "Our Vimto brand has continued to grow its market share, particularly in the carbonate and ready-to-drink sectors, and in new international markets." Group sales reached £29.2m up from £27.8m a year earlier, with pre-tax profits of £3.2m.
Professionals team up with Carbon Trust Accountancy Grant Thornton and law firm Mills and Reeve have joined forces with The Carbon Trust to provide corporate finance and legal advisory support to companies on its incubator scheme. The advice will include up to 17 hours of consultancy per company, valued at £200 to £300 per hour. A recent survey of incubator companies by The Carbon Trust found that early-stage companies typically spend around £20,000 on intellectual property and patent advice and around £15,000 on general legal advice alone.
Eazy does it Macclesfield-based Eazyfone Group, the online mobile phone recycler, has seen an 80 per cent surge in people exchanging unwanted mobile phones for cash since the beginning of the year, as the credit crunch and rising costs hit bank balances. The company's Envirofone scheme recycles reusable components or refurbishes them for distribution in developing countries. It is estimated that there are more than 80 million unwanted phones in the UK, with a value of £1.6bn.
A triumph for Stockport business Resin Surfaces, the Stockport-based resin floor maker, has completed a contract at the Hinckley production site of historic UK motorbike manufacturer Triumph Motorcycles. Triumph was rescued from insolvency by housebuilder John Bloor in the 1990s and has found success in the US market.
As work continues on the Trafford Park masterplan, Nick Mullins, investment director at CB Richard Ellis, has told Insider that the park will look to work with neighbouring areas like MediaCity and Old Trafford over the long term. “What’s important is how we relate,” he said. “As MediaCity grows, we see that end of the park as being able to provide space for related occupiers. We also need to bring up to date some of the older stock. Increasing rents, increasing occupiers and increasing the range of accommodation is what will inform the masterplan.”
CJ names Manchester date Carey Jones, the Leeds and London-based architect, is to open its Manchester office on 1 September. The practice will be taking space at ING's Royal Mills scheme on Redhill Street, just outside the Great Ancoats Street inner ring road. Simon Clarke, who has headed the firm's North West projects from Leeds, including Ask's Townside Fields in Bury and Church Wharf in Bolton, will head the studio.
Birchwood at the double Birchwood Park has done it again. Joint agents WHR and King Sturge have completed two deals at the park's Bridgewater Place scheme. Cash management company Vaultex UK has taken 10,496 sq ft for a new national support operation, while development consultancy Halcrow has signed up for 13,000 sq ft at 304 Bridgewater Place on a ten-year lease at £18 per sq ft.
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