With eight North West football clubs competing in the FA Premier League in the 2009/2010 season, the onus is once again upon the financial stability of football's business model. In the weekly look at trends in corporate finance Michael Taylor looks at the status of proposed deals to change ownership for the region's clubs. Click here to read more.

Intertek, provider of quality, testing and safety services, is merging its two key facilities in the North West to create a European Analytical Testing Centre of Excellence in Manchester. The resources and expertise of Intertek's North West Technology Centre at Bebington on the Wirral and the Analytical Sciences Group laboratory in Manchester will combine to offer an extended range of analytical services, delivered from one centre at Intertek's current location in Manchester.

Regional businesses are showing signs of confidence again, according to the latest Business in Britain survey from Lloyds TSB Commercial. The balance of firms expecting an upturn in sales has increased by 5 per cent compared to six months ago, with 33 per cent anticipating a rise and 28 per cent braced for a fall, which is ahead of the national average. There is also some improvement in the number of companies expecting to increase staffing levels, with 11 per cent planning to recruit before the end of 2009. But the survey also warned that profits would remain under pressure. Thirty-seven per cent of the 500 northern companies questioned expect profits to fall.

The regional housing market showed signs of recovery in June, according to the RICS UK housing market survey. The net balance of surveyors expecting price increases rose for the first time since May 2007, which has reportedly been driven by the continuing up-turn in buyer enquiries and falling levels of fresh supply. RICS' regional spokesperson John Halman, from Gascoigne Halman, said activity levels had risen to an 18-month high and that the industry was "cautiously optimistic".