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Top story
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Business community lines up behind Insider campaign
Faster and more reliable trans-Pennine rail links would encourage more business travellers to use the service, according to an exclusive Insider survey. The survey provides further support for Insider’s Back the Bid rail campaign. We are calling for investment in the track and station infrastructure across the north of England, proposed in Network Rail’s £530m Northern Hub plan.
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Deals
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Insider's April Deal of the Month revealed
Outdoor retailer GO Outdoors’ sale of a £28m minority stake to private equity investor 3i has been named as Insider’s Deal of the Month for April. It is expected to herald a further phase of expansion for the Sheffield-based business, which is the UK’s largest specialist retailer of camping equipment, tents, outdoor clothing and footwear.
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Fenner in £7m Singapore deal
Fenner has bought a business in Singapore for £7m. The Hessle-based company said its subsidiary Fenner Singapore has acquired Multiseals for $14.4m (Singapore dollars), of which $3.6m (£1.75m) will be made by issuing 480,367 shares in the company.
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Plastech opens in Doncaster
Plastics business Plastech has set up a Doncaster sales and distribution base after receiving support from Invest in Doncaster. Invest in Doncaster helped the North West-headquartered business find a suitable location for the depot and introduced it to potential partners.
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Property
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Clarion to relocate HQ after JF Finnegan acquisition
Law firm Clarion is to relocate its headquarters to Elizabeth House in Queen Street, Leeds. Clarion has agreed a 15-year lease for 15,000 sq ft at the building after it was bought by JF Finnegan. The premises are to undergo a Grade A refurbishment programme.
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Merchant Gate secures first commercial tenant
Albemarle and Bond, one of the UK's biggest pawnbrokers and jewellers, has become the first commercial tenant at the £140m Merchant Gate development in Wakefield.
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Thetford agrees deal for 83,000 sq ft at Brookfields
US-founded engineering company Thetford has signed a 17-year lease for an 83,000 sq ft pre-let industrial unit at the 85-acre Brookfields scheme in Rotherham.
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Business
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Morrisons grows market share as discounters boom
Yorkshire supermarket giant Morrisons was the only one of the top four supermarket chains to outperform the market in the start of 2011, according to the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel. The report also highlighted the rise of discount retailers with German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl achieving record market shares of grocery shopping.
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Consumer confidence falls
Consumer confidence fell sharply in April dealing a blow to UK recovery hopes. That is according to research from GfK National Opinion Polls (GfK NOP).
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Big ticket item boost but weak growth - survey
Consumer demand for big ticket leisure items such as caravans, sailing boats and leisure motorcycles improved in the first quarter of 2011. But growth remained extremely weak for the second successive quarter. That's according to data released by GE Capital.
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