Business Briefs - June 10

Official new data has revealed that the UK’s trade gap fell to £1.2 billion in April from the £3.1bn recorded in March.

According to the the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the trade deficit had narrowed, leading some economists to speculate that the better-than-expected numbers may help to boost GDP growth in the second quarter of the year.

Sturgeon welcomes further jobs boost from US import

American headquartered satellite-powered data company Spire has announced plans to open a European headquarters at Skypark in the city’s west end which will create 50 new jobs.

The setting up of a design, manufacturing and data facility for the San Francisco-based firm will be backed by £1.9 million of public grant funding.

Speaking at an US investor event in New York, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the announcement and addressed an audience of senior business people to promote ongoing opportunities for US firms to take advantage of Scotland’s competitive business environment and talent pool.

Menzies snaps up Highland parcel firm in £7.5m deal

Distribution firm John Menzies has bought Inverness-based AJG Parcels for £7.5million.

The acquisition will see the company able to run distribution vans extensively in daylight hours for the first time and allow it to enter the growing e-commerce parcel market by acting as a partner for the major parcel carriers in hard-to-reach areas.

Menzies says the acquisition is an important step towards “unlocking the potential of the business in daylight hours”.

Step up by Adrian Gray 16 years ago, AJG Parcels began delivering 20 parcels a day round Inverness, but now makes around 9,000 deliveries and 800 pick-ups daily, with 140 staff and a fleet of more than 100 GPS-equipped vehicles.

Its 13 depots include outposts in Orkney, Lewis and North Uist.

In the year to June 2014 the business turned over £8.75m, slightly down on the previous year, and posted a pre-tax profit of £1.65m, some 20 per cent below the 2013 figure.

Iomart posts 11 per cent profit boost

Glasgow-based cloud computing company Iomart has reported a rise in revenue of 18 per cent, to £66m.

The firm’s final results for the year ended 31 March 2015 also show a rise in pre-tax profit by 11 per cent to £10.8m.

Without one-off costs, adjusted profit rose to £16.6m.

Iomart listed its “highlights” as “strengthened relationships” “with major vendors such as Microsoft and EMC” and better “opportunities from the market for Hybrid Cloud solutions”.

A hybrid cloud is where some resources and provided and managed in-house where others are sourced externally.

Iomart said it had benefited from the increasing complexity of a hybrid cloud.

Brightwork Group appoints new business development director

Scottish recruitment specialist The Brightwork Group has appointed a group business development director as it continues to profit from an ongoing period of rapid expansion.

The company has named respected recruitment professional Shan Saba in a role which will see him seek to maximise opportunities for existing clients, attract new clients and expand the group’s geographic and sector presence.

The group-wide responsibility follows Mr Saba’s successful tenure as a director in Brightwork Specialist Recruitment, the professional, technical and managerial division which has contributed handsomely to Brightwork’s current turnover of £32.65 million.