Barclays and Co-op lead £200m social home funding

Barclays and the Co-operative Bank have backed £200m of investment in the social housing sector in Wales. Linc-Cymru, the housing association based in Cardiff, has raised £10m from the Co-operative Bank towards a £74m package to help it build 500 homes. And Barclays Corporate led a syndicate backing the £125m transfer of 6,200 properties across Blaenau Gwent into Tai Calon Community Housing.

Lenstec buy provides London vision

Lenstec Optical Laboratories, a spectacle lens glazer based near Caerphilly, has acquired Tant Laboratories, a Hertfordshire company in the same sector. The purchase give Lenstec a greater share of the London market, turnover of more than £10m, and more than 100 employees.

Walker 'bids for Iceland'

Malcolm Walker, the founder and chief executive of frozen food retailer Iceland, is understood to have had a £1bn bid for the company turned down by Icelandic shareholders Landsbanki and Glitnir. The rejection is reported to have come after an investment fund offered up to £1.4bn for the Flintshire group.

Fusion writes off Demasq investment

Fusion IP, the company which commercialises Cardiff Unversity research, has written off its investment in Demasq, a medical imaging technology company. Fusion said Cardiff-based Demasq had its patent and CE mark approval withdrawn after hitting “significant technical and operational issues”.

White Dove profits fly

Motor and finance group White Dove Securities made a record pre-tax profit of £733,966 in the year to December 2009, despite a 9 per cent drop in turnover. Increased gross margins and a drop in operating costs were highlighted as the main drivers of this performance by the Cardiff-based business.

Artenius hit by material price changes

Container maker Artenius PET Packaging UK suffered a £5m drop in pre-tax profit to £9m for the year to December. Revenue at the business also fell, from £162.8m in 2008 to £135.1m. Wrexham-based Artenius highlighted that its revenue was linked to and affected by the price of its primary raw material, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which fluctuated in value.

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Cuts will hit Valleys hardest, says Experian

Public sector cuts will hit former industrial areas of Wales such as the Valleys harder than rural areas, a report by research firm Experian has found. It said Monmouthshire, Powys, Ceredigion and the Vale of Glamorgan were the areas most able to deal with cuts. Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil and Neath Port Talbot were the most vulnerable areas.

Limit on local cash for companies doubled

The Welsh Assembly Government has doubled the maximum funding available to companies through the Local Investment Fund to £10,000. The cash, administered by councils in West Wales and the Valleys, is intended to meet up to 40 per cent of the cost of capital investments such as buying new equipment or extending business premises.

Hugh James goes public with Jamieson

Hugh James, the law firm, has poached partner Shaun Jamieson from Cardiff rival M&A Solictors. Jamieson, a public sector and projects specialist, will join the property team at Hugh James.

Ask the Expert: Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships

More businesses are turning to the vast resource offered by universities. Dr David Joyner, director of business partnership and engagement at Bangor University, explains why.

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