Shares in AIM-listed steam-cleaning and coatings company Proventec were this morning suspended pending clarification of the company's financial position. Earlier today, the board of the Liverpool-headquartered business issued a statement to the Stock Exchange saying it was “actively negotiating to secure the necessary funding” for an interest payment on its £14.6m loan notes. The £600,000 interest payment is due at the end of the month and the board said it “remains confident that it will be able to reach agreement on the terms of such funding shortly”.

The joint administrators of Liverpool-headquartered department store owner Vergo Retail have closed five of the company’s stores. Sarah Bell, partner at insolvency specialist MCR, said the closure of the stores was inevitable following a lack of suitable offers. However, she added: “I must reiterate that negotiations are still in progress on a number of stores still operating and cannot rule out a sale of the stores until all avenues have been exhausted.” A total of 482 employees have been made redundant while nine stores have been closed. Ten stores are still trading.

More than 125,000 visitors have now visited the Liverpool Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai, according to the organisers behind the city’s presence at the event. The city is now the most popular pavilion in the Urban Best Practice Area. Oliver Hayakawa from The Liverpool Shanghai Partnership said: “It’s a fantastic achievement to hit the 100,000th visitor mark only five weeks into World Expo. The pavilion is attracting around 3,000 visitors per day, which is far more than other city pavilions in the Urban Best Practice Area.”

Liverpool-based TJ Morris, which trades as Home Bargains, was last week named Discount Retailer of the Year at the annual Grocer Gold Award. Operations director Joe Morris said the win capped an “outstanding year”. He added: “After an incredibly successful year, we're confident that Home Bargains will continue to go from strength to strength. We have a number of exciting plans in the pipeline – including opening 40-50 stores and recruiting up to 2,000 more staff.”

Business confidence in the North West has fallen to the lowest level since the third quarter of 2009, according to a new survey published today by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. The institute’s Business Confidence Monitor recorded a confidence index score of 14.4 in the second quarter of the year, down from 24.3 in the first quarter. The fall was the sharpest for any region in the UK. However, North West companies predict that turnover will rise 5.4 per cent over the next 12 months.

Paula Cain, the former chief executive of the Knowsley Chamber of Commerce, has been appointed manager of the Halton Chamber. She will take over the day-to-day management from Eric Hudson who will step down to concentrate on his other business interests. However, he will retain his connections with the Chamber as vice chairman. Last month Knowsley Chamber replaced Cain with Lesley Martin-Wright, the former head of marketing and business development at Liverpool commercial law firm JST Lawyers.

The board of North West logistics giant Stobart Group said the company has made a “solid” start to the year, boosted by a string of new contract wins. In a trading update following Friday’s annual meeting, the company said performance of the business is ahead of the same period last year despite challenging market conditions. Earlier this year Stobart secured a £100m ten-year loan from M&G Investments, received planning permission for the extension of Southend Airport and started a £25m-a-year distribution contract with Tesco.