AN award winning corporate finance team has helped seal deals worth more than £20m for clients across the country in a particularly busy seven week period.

Clive Owen Corporate Finance, headed by partner Angus Allan and associate director Ben Williamson, said it showed business owners are increasingly confident. The deals included the management buyout of Darlington-based Exis Technologies, a leading supplier of computerised systems for the management of dangerous goods in sea transport; fundraising work for Gateshead-based IT and telecoms provider Advantex Network Solutions; and Newton Aycliffe-based coffee company Beanies the Flavour Co.

Mr Williamson said: “Much is made of the divide between the North and the South and imbalance in the recovery, but our experience shows there is a vibrant deals market in the North East. Business owners are increasingly confident, and that is reflected both in the deals we have concluded and our current pipeline.”

The company has offices in Darlington, Durham and York.

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YORKSHIRE Generators has won a £43,000 contract from Hambleton District Council to supply and install a 275 kVA acoustic generator and associated switchgear to the Stone Cross Civic Centre in Northallerton.

One of a new breed of diesel power plants, it will provide standby power in the event of a mains failure. The company was established in 2006 by Richard Ogden and Steven Dresser and operates from sites in Boroughbridge and Thirsk. It hires, sells, installs, services and repairs a wide range of diesel generators and offers an emergency call-out service.

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HIGH-LEVEL work experts have won more specialist contracts for work on heritage and listed buildings.

Stone Technical Services (STS), based in Darlington, has completed a new project for St Paul’s Cathedral, where the company is already the approved contractor for lightning protection. It installed a new lightening protection system on the Chapter House, the main office for the cathedral, which was originally designed by Sir Christopher Wren in the 17th Century.

It has also restored decorative cupolas on Darlington's Grade II-listed library on Crown Street, carried out surveys and masonry repairs on Ripon Cathedral, and completed a special clean on the war memorial at Carlton Methodist Church, near Stockton, in time for Remembrance Day.

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A TRAINING company based at the Wilton Centre, Redcar, has created two unique education programmes for people in the science sector to qualify to access university.

LDR Squared has unveiled the part time Access to Higher Education (HE) Diplomas designed for people who missed out on university because they did not meet the entry requirements, or took an alternative vocational route to employment.

The Business Studies Diploma and Science Industries Diplom have been approved by official accreditation body One Awards and recognised by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA).

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THE North East Enterprise zone has created more than 1,000 jobs, attracted new companies to the region, and created a centre of excellence for the automotive, offshore energy and low carbon sectors, since it launched in April 2012.

Eric Pickles, Communities Secretary, said on Wednesday that the Government’s 24 enterprise zones have created 12,530 jobs, attracted 434 new businesses and generated over £2bn worth of private investment since opening.

He said the North East Zone was building on the innovation and manufacturing excellence the region is rightly famed for. "These are world-class sites that really are pushing the envelope when it comes to the automotive, offshore and low carbon sectors," he said, "These 1,000 jobs are just the start and proof our enterprise zone programme is on track, driving forward the economy and delivering benefits to local communities. “

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THE Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has announced a new opportunity for trade organisations to apply for funding towards promotion and information programmes for EU agricultural products.

Producers of a wide range of products, including fruit and vegetables, meat and eggs, can apply for up to half the cost of marketing their goods abroad in a scheme designed to raise awareness and increase sales of EU food products.

The maximum rises to 60 per cent for the promotion of fruit and vegetables intended specifically for EU schools.

The application process for the two schemes, one for internal markets (EU countries) and another for external markets (rest of the world), is combined. Applicants may apply under either or both promotions schemes but cannot submit a combined application covering both schemes. Applications can start at any time of the year. The next deadline is February 28, 2015.

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