Northern Financial Review

Private equity firms KKR and Stonepeak Partners on Wednesday raised their all-cash takeover offer for Altrincham-based healthcare real estate investment trust Assura to almost £1.7…

Harrogate-based equipment rental group Vp plc said its revenue increased 3.1% to £380 million and statutory profit before tax increased from £2.8 million to £21.7…

County Durham-based Filtronic plc, a designer and manufacturer of products for the aerospace, defence, space and telecoms infrastructure markets, said it has secured its largest order…

Shares of Newcastle-based house building giant Bellway rose as much as 7% after it published a trading update for the period from February 1 to June…

Sheffield-based green hydrogen and energy storage firm ITM Power announced the appointment of former Linde Engineering CEO Jürgen Nowicki, 61, as non-executive chair of the…

Sheffield-based Henry Boot announced that HBD, the group’s property investment and development arm, has completed the sale of TWO45, a multi-let industrial led business park with…

James Cropper plc, the Kendal-based Advanced Materials and Paper & Packaging group, announce that it has agreed revised terms with its lenders in relation to its principal…

Manchester United plc’s New York-listed shares rose almost 20% on Friday after the company announced financial results for the 2025 fiscal third quarter ended March 31,…

Manchester-based housing association Great Places Housing Group said Savills Financial Consultants has helped it agree new loans totalling £225 million with Nationwide, NatWest and Santander….

North East of England Mayor Kim McGuinness announced that the first new Metro line for 30 years will be built as part of a £1.85…

Ofwat said it has concluded its investigation into Northumbrian Water — securing an enforcement package of £15.7 million to be paid by the wastewater company and…

Henry Boot, the Sheffield-based property investment and development group, announced that Nick Duckworth will step down from his role as managing director of Hallam Land,…

Liverpool-based B&M European Value Retail said on Wednesday its profit before tax fell 13.2% to £431 million “impacted by increased interest and finance costs” in the…

Runcorn-based workwear and textile firm Johnson Service Group (JSG) confirmed on Wednesday a plan to move the listing of its shares from the junior AIM exchange to…

North Shields-based “delivered wholesale” business Kitwave Group plc has announced the appointment of Marnie Millard to its board as non-executive chair. Millard was CEO of Vimto…

Newcastle University spinout firm Literal Labs, the logic-based AI algorithm company led by ex-Arm VP Noel Hurley, announced that it has raised £4.6 million in pre-seed…

Newcastle-based NorthStandard, the global marine insurer, said escalating geopolitical instability and serious maritime incidents had brought the “first test” in its second full year after the…

Shares of Sheffield-based affordable house builder MJ Gleeson plc fell more than 20% after the firm published a trading update for the year ended June 30,…

The UK’s independent data protection and freedom of information regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), is to relocate its headquarters from Wilmslow to Manchester city…

Merseyside-based Applied Nutrition plc, the sports nutrition, health, and wellness brand, announced the appointments of ex-JD Sports Fashion executive chairman Peter Cowgill and current Epsilon,…

Manchester-based private equity firm Palatine said it has made its first investment from its recently-closed £254 million Buyout Fund V — taking a majority stake in…

Lancashire Cricket announced an operating profit of £4.7 million, after exceptional items, for the year ended December 31, 2024, a record for the club during…

Shares of York-based life sciences firm Aptamer Group plc rose about 6% after it announced the signing of a “second Optimer discovery and development programme with…

County Durham-based Filtronic plc, a designer and manufacturer of products for the aerospace, defence, space and telecoms infrastructure markets, announced a new contract win to supply high-performance…

Shares of Manchester-based FTSE 100 firm Auto Trader Group plc fell as much as 12% despite the firm announcing that revenue rose 5% to £601.1…

Aviva announced the completion of a £270 million bulk purchase annuity buy-in with the Morrisons Retirement Saver Plan – RSP Section. This is the third…

LBG Media plc, the Manchester-based online publisher of LADbible and other brands appealing to young readers, announced the appointment of media venture capital specialist Harry Stebbings as…

Wilmslow-based pet and vet retailer Pets at Home Group said its group statutory revenue for the 52 weeks to March 27, 2025, edged 0.1% higher…

Tycoon investor Zuber Issa has taken an undisclosed stake in Duckhams and plans to relaunch the 126-year-old motor oil brand on the forecourt market through…

Benchmark Holdings plc, the Sheffield headquartered aquaculture biotechnology firm, is planning to delist from the AIM stock market in London and Euronext Growth Oslo index to…

A “transformative” University of Sheffield development designed to attract investment, create high-quality jobs and accelerate economic growth has officially launched to industry. Runway Park, the…

Unilever has announced an £80 million investment to build in-house fragrance capabilities in the UK, including plans to build a new state-of-the-art fragrance facility in…

easyJet has announced further UK growth with plans to open a three-aircraft base at Newcastle Airport in March 2026, creating around 130 direct jobs for…

Begbies Traynor Group plc, the Manchester-based business recovery and financial advisory firm, said it expects its revenue to increase 12% to £153 million for the year…

Salford-based investment platform giant AJ Bell said on Friday it returned £64 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks in the six months to March…

North East of England Mayor Kim McGuinness has unveiled £14 billion of investment opportunities with the launch of the first North East Investment Prospectus. The…

Henry Boot, the Sheffield-based land promotion, property investment and development group, said in an AGM trading update that it has recently “seen strong demand for…

Bodycote, the Macclesfield-based heat treatment and thermal processing giant, has announced board changes. Lili Chahbazi has been appointed as senior independent director and Emmanuelle Dubu…

JD Sports Fashion plc, the Bury-based FTSE 100 retailer, said it increased dividends paid in the year to February 1, 2025, to £52 million, as…

Shares of Manchester industrial chain and power transmission firm Renold plc soared after the company confirmed it has received two separate “unsolicited and non-binding” cash takeover…

Hull-based meat processing giant Cranswick plc said its total revenue for the 52 weeks to March 29, 2025, was a record £2.723 billion, an increase…

Shares of Newcastle-based Greggs rose as much as 8% after it published a trading update for the first 20 weeks of 2025 showing total sales up…

Leeds-based Evri, one of the UK’s largest dedicated parcel delivery companies, and DHL eCommerce, the e-commerce logistics specialist of DHL Group, have announced a merger…

Skipton Group announced the appointment of Susan Fouquier as CEO its Channel Islands bank Skipton International, subject to regulatory approval. Fouquier will join the Guernsey-based bank…

Skipton Building Society has announced the appointment of Graham Lindsay as its new senior independent director, following Mark Lund’s retirement. Lindsay will sit on the Skipton Building…

Primary Health Properties (PHP) has offered to buy Altrincham-based healthcare real estate investment trust Assura for about £1.68 billion in shares and cash. Assura agreed to…

Manchester-based FTSE 100 firm Auto Trader Group plc announced the appointments of two independent non-executive directors to its board. “Megan Quinn and Adam Jay will join…

Greater Manchester Pension Fund and its development manager Bankfoot APAM have secured planning permission from Salford City Council for the £200 million Soapworks development on…

A phased plan to fix Yorkshire’s “broken” railways has been published by Lord David Blunkett. Blunkett’s review of rail connectivity has identified how “constrained and…

County Durham-based Filtronic plc, a designer and manufacturer of products for the aerospace, defence, space and telecoms infrastructure markets, announced a new contract win to develop and…

United Utilities, water supplier to the North West of England, said its profit before tax soared 109% to £355 million in the year to March…

Sage Group plc, the Newcastle-based FTSE 100 global software business, said it will extend its previously announced £400 million share buyback by up to £200 million,…

Liverpool-based B&M European Value Retail announced the appointment of Amsterdam-based Tjeerd Jegen as its chief executive officer.  B&M said it has applied for the necessary UK…

Leyland, Lancashire-based bathroom retailer Victorian Plumbing Group plc said its revenue rose 6% to £152.7 million in the six months ended March 31, 2025, and adjusted profit…

The UK government said that thousands of civil service jobs will be relocated to 13 towns and cities across the UK as part of its…

Gateshead-based Vertu Motors plc said its revenue rose 1.7% to £4.76 billion in the year ended February 28, 2025, with adjusted profit before tax falling 15.8%…

Northern Gritstone, the investment firm focused on life sciences and deeptech businesses in the North of England, has announced a multi-year partnership agreement with the…

A new railway connecting Liverpool and Manchester could kickstart a £90 billion economic transformation across the North West of England — and help reshape how…

York-based house building giant Persimmon plc announced the sale of FibreNest, its full fibre broadband service, to BUUK Infrastructure, subject to regulatory clearance. FibreNest will…

Marshalls plc, the Elland, West Yorkshire-based stone and landscaping firm, said it has made an encouraging start to 2025 with a return to group revenue growth…

Leeds-based engineering services and infrastructure group Renew Holdings plc said its “group order book development continues at record levels to £908m” as it reported that revenue increased…