STOCKTON NEWS
Growth - AbacusBean MD Bev Goodall .
Thornaby set for £ 23.9m from government ’ s Towns Fund
ACCOUNTANTS PAY IT FORWARD DURING CRISIS
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Teesside accountancy practice has enjoyed continued growth throughout the pandemic while strengthening its partnership by supporting struggling clients through the crisis .
AbacusBean enjoyed a hugely successful 2020 , culminating in its success as SME of the Year at the Tees Businesswomen Awards .
But the Stockton-based accountants didn ’ t revel in their glory – deciding instead to share their good fortune .
“ We realised that many firms were and still are suffering , so we agreed to help them as much as we could ,” said MD Bev Goodall .
AbacusBean charged only peppercorn fees to struggling businesses and helped hundreds more with furlough issues , applying for bounce back loans and generating cash flow forecasts .
“ We could have grown even more over the last 12 months , but our primary aim was
to enable people to keep their jobs ,” said Bev .
Putting the needs of the Tees region firmly at the heart of all the firm does , AbacusBean has also become a member of Teesside Philanthropic Foundation ’ s Infant Hercules Charity Club and a corporate supporter of My Sisters Place .
“ We ’ re proud to support these two amazing charities ,” said Bev , who admits that having a community heart may have helped her firm scoop the SME gong at the Businesswomen Awards .
With AbacusBean having recently become a gold partner with online accounting solution Xero , Bev intends to carry on the firm ’ s upward trajectory .
“ The partnership has great benefits ,” she said .
“ We have access to free e-learning and resources for our clients and are seamlessly able to collaborate with other businesses around the world . It ’ s a very exciting time .”
Thornaby is set to benefit from £ 23.9m from the government ’ s Towns Fund to boost regeneration as part of Stockton Council ’ s ongoing commitment to the development of its six town centres .
Heads of terms are now to be agreed between government representatives and the Town Deal Board after the first-stage application was submitted to enable new development and investment across Thornaby .
The Town Deal Board is made up of a range of public and private sector bodies that reflect the diversity of the town and the surrounding area .
Thornaby was announced as one of 45 Town Deals worth over £ 1bn in total announced in the Budget .
‘ ENCOURAGING ’ RESULTS FOR TEESSIDE- MADE VACCINE
Tees firm agrees global training deal
NEW LIDL STORE OPENS IN STOCKTON
A Teesside-based safety , training and competence specialist is set to roll out specialist training across the world with global engineering firm Sparrows Group .
Haverton Hill-based RelyOn Nutec , a global safety , training and competency organisation , has signed a memorandum of understanding with Sparrows Group , a specialist provider of engineering and maintenance services , to roll out specialist training across the world .
The global strategic partnership paves the way for RelyOn Nutec to launch Sparrows ’ 100-plus crane and lifting operation training courses across its worldwide training centres , a move that combines their joint expertise and will see multi-million-dollar investment in new training facilities and staff .
A new Lidl store has been praised as a “ huge vote of confidence in Stockton town centre ” as it opened its doors at the southern end of the High Street .
The demolition of existing buildings to make way for the popular retail brand was part of Stockton Council ’ s ongoing commitment to protect the town ’ s sustainable retail offering .
The new supermarket forms part of the company ’ s ongoing expansion and regeneration plans across Britain and has created up to 40 new jobs .
The store has a 1,381m 2 sales area and features facilities including an instore bakery , longer-style tills , customer toilet , baby changing and parking .
Trials have shown the new Teesside-made coronavirus vaccine offers 100 per cent protection against severe disease .
The Novavax vaccine , which is being made at Billingham-based Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies , has also been shown to be effective against variants identified within the UK and South Africa .
The vaccine will offer total protection against death and serious illness from the original strain of coronavirus .
Results from the latest trials of vaccine carried out in the UK also show it was 86 per cent effective in protecting against the more contagious variant first discovered in Kent , meaning it has a combined 90 per cent effectiveness rate overall .
The voice of business in the Tees region | 127