Business

Savills plc, the international real estate advisor, has announced the proposed acquisition by Savills UK of Smiths Gore, provider of rural and residential property services.

Founded in 1847, Smiths Gore has operated as a partnership with 532 staff, across 31 UK offices and 14 estate offices, all of whom will transfer into Savills Rural Energy and Projects (REP) division or its Country Residential Agency business. Smiths Gore specialises in the management of rural property for private clients, institutions and the public sector. This complements Savills UK's existing rural business...

A family-run housebuilder is accelerating its land acquisition programme to enable it to expand its output of quality new homes after securing a £15million facility from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.

Cavanna Homes operates across the South West region, but its current sites are concentrated in desirable locations along the South Devon coast at Plymouth, Orestone, Dartington, Paignton, Dawlish and Budleigh Salterton. The sites offer homes from two to four bedrooms, some of which qualify for the Governments Help to Buy scheme which only requires a 5% deposit.

The new...

AnTech Ltd, based in Exeter has been shortlisted in the Technology Innovation of the Year Category for the fifth annual Private Business Awards, sponsored by PWC, in association with HSBC and The Supper Club.

The awards recognise the most successful companies and individuals in the private sector and this year has been an exceptional with a record number of 2,000 nominations being submitted. AnTech will represent the West and Wales region and is up against 3 other finalists within its category.

Established in 1992, AnTech has steadily grown its product portfolio and service...

Grants of between £2,000 and £10,000* are available for schools in Devon to develop creative and engaging learning experiences that will develop students' skills in enterprise and innovation.

Devon County Council's Enterprise in Schools Grant (EiSG) programme is open to state funded and primary schools benefitting Year 6 pupils and above.

Applications must be received by 12:00 noon on Friday 26 June 2015. Grant funds must be spent and claimed by 31 March 2016.

The programme is designed to help Devon’s schools create or expand educational opportunities within the...

Private sector activity in the South West continued to rise in May, according to the latest PMI® survey data.

The rate of expansion remained relatively strong but eased to the weakest since February, mainly reflecting the slowest growth of new business since April 2013. Charges for goods and services rose slightly, having declined in March and April, but overall inflationary pressures remained weak.

The seasonally adjusted Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking South West Business Activity Index fell for the second consecutive month to 55.1 in May, from 56.0 in April, indicating...

Exeter is experiencing an unprecedented demand for high quality office space that must be met to maximise growing interest from businesses looking to invest in the city, according to leading property consultancy JLL.

Speaking at Invest in Exeter’s launch tomorrow (June 4), the first event to be held at the new Exeter Science Park Centre, Andrew Pearce, director at JLL`s Exeter office agency team, will say that the city has good reason to be optimistic about the future.

However, he will say that with construction cost inflation at record levels rents need to rise to...

Innovative local digital startup Krowdthink and the Plymouth and Devon Chamber are partnering to make the networking opportunity at the Plymouth Business Show on Wednesday 17 June at Plymouth Pavilions, a fantastically enhanced digital experience for exhibitors and visitors.

The Krowd app is a new form of social network service for connecting people in places.

It helps users discover more people with shared interests in a crowd and connect with them. In addition it provides a location-based instant-on chat forum, so exhibitors and delegates can engage in a digital...