Northern Financial Review

British Gas owner Centrica said it would close its ageing Rough facility off the Yorkshire coast, the UK’s largest natural gas storage site. Analysts said the…

Shares of Manchester-based fashion retailer N Brown Group rose about 8% after it said in a trading statement its product revenue rose 10.2% in the…

Manchester-based Co-operative Bank on Monday confirmed that it is in “advanced discussions with a group of existing investors with a view to a prospective equity…

Wakefield-based Bonmarché, the discount fashion retailer aimed at women over 50, said pre-tax profit fell 39.4% to £5.8 million in the 53 weeks to April…

IFM Investors, the Australian pension fund-owned investment manager, said it acquired a controlling majority stake in the outstanding commercial debt of the UK’s M6 toll…

Shares of Newcastle-based house builder Bellway plc rose on Wednesday after it issued a trading statement saying it enjoyed a 13% increase in its reservation rate…

Thirsk, North Yorkshire-based steel group Severfield said its profit before tax nearly doubled to £18.1 million on revenue up 10% to £262.2 million in the…

The fall of the pound helped the value of exported goods by companies in the North West of England rise 21% to £8 billion in the three months…

Manchester-based fashion giant Boohoo.com said that after four years with the company Stephen Morana will step down as a non-executive director on July 1, 2017….

Birkenhead-based prepaid gift, reward and savings card firm Park Group said it achieved a 5.1% advance in billings to £404.5 million in the year to…

Manchester-based specialist fit fashion retailer N Brown Group — whose brands include JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo — said its chairman Andrew Higginson intends to step down…

Scunthorpe-based Nisa Retail, the member-owned convenience store group, is exploring a sale, according to a report on Sky News. The report said bankers from Lazard have…

Manchester-based online fashion retailer Boohoo.com said its revenue soared 106% to £120.1 million in the three months to May 31, 2017. The company said it now expects revenue growth of…

Manchester-based print and web design company Grafenia, owner of Nettl web studios, is finding things tough. The company said it had a pre-tax loss of £990,000 in…

Harrogate-based specialist equipment rental group Vp plc said revenue grew 19% to £248.7 million and statutory profit before tax rose to £30.3 million from £27.5 million in the…

Chester-based identity data company GB Group said its revenue grew 19.2% to £87.5 million and profit before tax rose 8.2% to £10.1 million in the year ended March 31,…

Leeds-based WYG, the AIM-listed project management consultancy, announced the appointment of a new chief executive as it unveiled results for the year to March 31, 2017, showing revenue up 14% to…

Shares of Bolton-based online electrical retailer AO World fell about 11% after it reported an operating loss of £12 million for the year to March 31 and warned of a “challenging…

Leeds-based private equity investor Endless said it acquired CER Staffing Solutions Limited, trading as Affinity Workforce, from Capita plc for an undisclosed price. With revenues of £140…

Edinburgh-based pensions and investment giant Standard Life said it has fully integrated its auto enrolment offering with Newcastle-based software giant Sage Group, the UK’s largest tech company. Standard…

Cumbria and the Lake District attracted more than 45 million visitors in 2016 — and the visitors injected £2.72 billion into the region’s economy and provided employment for 36,240…

Warrington-based United Utilities, the UK’s largest listed water company, said underlying operating profit rose £19 million to £623 million on revenue down £26 million to £1.704 billion in the year to March 31….

Sheffield-based construction group Henry Boot plc said in an update for its AGM that its property trading and development activity levels since the beginning of 2017…

Private equity firm Primary Capital Partners announced the completion of a £62 million management buyout of Lancaster-based sign vinyl and digital print media firm Metamark (UK) Limited…

Leeds Law Society and Leeds City Council have organized a top level conference to promote the city as “the UK centre of excellence for legal services…

Newcastle-based bakery and “food-on-the-go” retailer Greggs said its total sales were up 7.5% in first 19 weeks of 2017, compared to a 5.7% rise for the…

Manchester United plc announced financial results for its 2017 fiscal third quarter and raised its revenue and profit guidance for the year. For fiscal 2017, Manchester United now…

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank owner CYBG said on Tuesday its underlying profit rose 15% to £123 million in the six months to March 31 and that it remained on…

Blackpool-based polymer company Victrex said its revenue rose 12% to £130.9 million and profit before tax climbed 5% to £50.1 million in the six months ended March 31. Victrex shares slipped…

The North West Business Leadership Team (NWBLT) has joined business chiefs from around the UK in calling for greater devolution to British cities and regions as the…

Stockport-based beach holiday online retailer On the Beach Group said its revenue increased 7.3% to £38.1 million and profit before tax soared 33.8% to £9.9 million in the…

Legal & General said it bought a Build To Rent (BTR) site at Mustard Wharf in the centre of Leeds from regeneration property developer U+I and expects to be…

Chester-based identity data company GB Group said it conditionally agreed to acquire address validation firm PCA Predict for a total of £73.85 million. “The £73,852,423 total consideration…

Shares of York-based Gear4music, the online retailer of musical instruments and equipment, rose 4.55% after it said revenue jumped 58% to more than £56 million and underlying operating profit soared…

Virgin Media Business said its ultrafast Voom Fibre connectivity — which offers download speeds of up to 350Mbps — is now available in Manchester city centre. Virgin…

Work has begun on Virgin Trains’ new Azuma (Class 800) fleet of trains — built using Japanese bullet train technology — which are due to run on the…

Centrica said it will secure 350 jobs after announcing a £60 million investment in its operations offshore in Morecambe Bay. The project to refurbish two…

Bradford-based supermarket group Morrisons said its group like-for-like sales excluding fuel were up 3.4% in the 13 weeks to April 30. “There was some inflation during the…

Newcastle-based software giant Sage Group, the UK’s largest tech company, said its revenue rose 22.7% to £840 million and profit before tax jumped 41.1% to £180 million in…

Liberty House said it would create around 300 new steel jobs in South Yorkshire and make multi-million pound investments to secure the future of five sites across…

York-based housebuilder Persimmon said in a trading update its total forward sales revenue was currently £2.56 billion, up 11% on last year. “We have 8,928 new homes sold…

Far East Consortium International Limited (FEC) said it has been selected to work with the Manchester City Council to deliver the “Northern Gateway” — possibly the largest residential regeneration project ever…

Manchester-based specialist fit fashion retailer N Brown Group — whose brands include JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo — said its group revenue rose 4% to £900.7 million in the 53 weeks…

Manchester-based online fashion retailer boohoo.com said its revenue rose 51% to £294.6 million and profit before tax soared 97% to £30.9 million in the year to February 28,…

Stagecoach Group and Virgin Group announced they are joining forces with French high speed rail operator SNCF to bid for the UK’s West Coast Partnership…

Newcastle and Edinburgh-based challenger bank Virgin Money insisted it had maintained a “strong focus on asset quality” as its credit card balances grew about 8% to £2.7 billion in the…

Rotherham-based fishing tackle retailer Fishing Republic, which had an IPO in 2015, said its revenue rose 41% to £5.8 million and profit before tax and exceptional items climbed 32%…

Leeds is set to benefit from a £173.5 million UK government funding package that will provide high frequency busways, improved park and ride facilities and better stops…

Private equity firm Phoenix Equity Partners agreed the sale of Preston-based Key Retirement Group (KRG), a provider of financial products for retirees, to funds managed or…

English Premier League clubs’ aggregate revenues increased 9% to a record of £3.6 billion in 2015-16 — but the clubs made combined pre-tax losses of…

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has announced plans to call a snap general election on June 8 — having decided she needs to win support for…

Manchester Airport continued its period of double-digit growth with 1.9 million passengers flying through the airport’s three terminals in March — 10.1% more than the same…

Shares of Bury-based JD Sports Fashion soared to new highs after it said its profit before tax increased 81% to £238.4 million on revenue up 31% to £2.38 billion for…

CYBG, owner of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks, said it will make a minimum of £6 billion of lending available from 2017 to 2019 to help fuel…

Skipton Building Society said its subsidiaries Amber Homeloans Limited and North Yorkshire Mortgages Limited agreed the sale of a £220 million portfolio of mortgage loans to…

Manchester’s up-for-sale Co-operative Bank said on Friday it received a number of “non-binding proposals from strategic and financial parties” and that it selected several to go forward to…

The Co-op Group, based in Manchester, said its operating profit rose 32% to £148 million on revenues up 3% to £9.5 billion in the year to December 31. However, the mutual recorded a…

Leeds-based leisure and logistics firm Dart Group, owner of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, said in a trading update it expects underlying profit before taxation for the year ended March 31, 2017, to…

Shares of Newcastle-based utility consultancy Utilitywise fell more than 11% after it said executive chairman and founder Geoff Thompson would become non-executive chairman with immediate effect and…

Manchester-based cyber security company NCC Group said on Monday it appointed Chris Stone as executive chairman with effect from April 6, 2017. “It is intended that he will…