Business Briefs - May 8

The bank also recorded an annual rate of increase rising slightly to 8.5 per cent.

The increase means the average house price has risen to £196,412.

The Halifax said demand for housing was being supported by several factors, including the improving economy, rising employment and low mortgage rates.

At the same time, it said supply remained “very tight” with a general shortage of properties for sale.

The number of bricks produced in the UK is up by five per cent, according to latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

A provisional number of 464 million bricks were produced during the first quarter of 2015, a rise 22 million bricks from the same period in 2014.

The figure follows a rise of 17 per cent during 2014 (to 1.8 billion bricks) compared to 2013 and demonstrates how the brick industry has reacted strongly to meet increased demand from housebuilders.

Four previously mothballed brick manufacturing plants were brought back into use during 2014 in Ewhurst, Accrington, Hartlebury, Claughton with a new manufacturing plant also opened in Chesterton.

As the impact of this additional capacity reaches the market the Brick Development Association (BDA) – representing 99 per cent of the UK brick manufacturers – estimates that output numbers will rise to 2 billion bricks in 2015.

BG Group reported a 63 per cent drop in profits in the first quarter as the collapse in the oil price at the start of the year continued to hurt earnings.

The oil and gas major reported a pre-tax profit of $715m (£460m), from $1.9bn a year earlier.

However, on an adjusted net income basis, profit was $565m compared with $1.15bn a year earlier, beating the $305m forecast by analysts.

Shell agreed to buy BG Group last month in a £47bn deal that could be one of the biggest of the year if approved by shareholders and regulators.

BG has recommended that investors approve the takeover, which represents a 50 per cent premium to its closing price before it was announced.

BG’s shares have increased 29per cent to 1,174p in London trading since the announcement. The stock fell 33 per cent last year.

East Kilbride-based Goals Soccer Centres is to step up its US expansion plans with the appointment of a new development director to advance

Speaking to shareholders at the company’s annual meeting in south-east London, chairman Keith Edelman said that the group had opened new centres in Manchester and Doncaster and was on track to open another UK centre this year.

Shareholders heard that sales growth had strengthened over the past five weeks after a challenging comparatives at the start of the year.

Mr Edelman said: “We are making good progress in the US and are in advanced discussions on several sites within the Los Angeles metropolitan area. We have so far agreed heads of terms on two of these.

“As a result of the progress made to date and the scale of the opportunity we have decided to appoint an experienced development director.” There would be an ongoing additional annual cost of £300,000.

Aberdeenshire-based Ecosse Subsea Systems has bought engineering business MASfab, for an undisclosed sum.

County Durham-based MASfab provides services such as fabrication and welding to the oil and gas and renewable energy sectors.

It has 22 employees and will manufacture the latest version of Ecosse Subsea’s SCAR plough used in seabed excavation, trenching and boulder clearance.

Ecosse Subsea said the purchase would add to its capabilities.

Independent Glasgow brewer West will today open a second bar in the city.

The 120-seater ‘West on the Corner’, on the site of the well-known Halt Bar in Woodlands Road in Glasgow’s west end will serve at least ten of the brewer’s German-style beers.

I will also include a restaurant.

Founder Petra Wetzel said she was “thrilled” to be opening the second bar in the road she lived in when she was a student at Glasgow University.

West, the trading name of Noah Beers, is adding a £4 million state-of-the-art brewery at its Glasgow Green base in the former Templeton’s Carpet Factory, which will increase capacity ten-fold when it opens in the autumn.

Last year, West secured a listing for its flagship St Mungo beer in 83 Tesco stores around Scotland. It already supplies St Mungo to Waitrose in Scotland, and venues such as Turnberry and Gleneagles.