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Welsh businesses are extremely confident about their future and plan to either retain or increase their workforce over the course of the year, new market research carried out by the South Wales Chamber of Commerce has revealed. The survey suggests that 95 per cent of respondents planned to keep their current staff levels or take on additional staff over the next three months, which is the highest percentage reported for seven years.

Confidence levels among businesses based in Wales’ Swansea Bay area is rising at a very fast pace, the Swansea Bay Business Club’s business barometer for Q1, 2014, has just revealed.

Residential property developer Barratt Homes has submitted a planning application to Cardiff council for building a housing estate with 140 homes on an 8.5-acre plot near the city, a news report in the local business media has recently revealed.

Swallow Boats, a boat building company based in Cardigan, Wales, has managed to secure in excess of £90,000 from the Welsh Government’s Economic Growth Fund and plans to use the money in order to build a new, more modern workshop, a news report in the local business media has recently revealed.

Consumer electronics giant Sony has just announced plans to create 26 new permanent positions for the Sony UK Technology Centre (UKTEC) at Pencoed near Bridgend, a news report in the local business media has recently revealed. These new roles will support all aspects of camera manufacturing from logistics and assembly to testing and packaging, will also help with the delivery of third-party projects, advanced LED technology, medical devices and the Raspberry Pi computer.

The Aberystwyth Town FC football club has revealed plans to carry out a major refurbishment of its stadium, which includes a £13m development to build 80 flats on land near Park Avenue, a news report in the local business media has revealed.

Plans for building a new Metro system in Cardiff and the rest of the South Wales area are set to start with £18m worth of improvement works to transport links between Cardiff Bay and the city centre, a news report in the local media informs us. The Welsh Government confirmed plans to build an extensive South Wales Metro system back in October, with the estimate deadline being set for 2030 and the overall costs being forecast at around £4bn.

The B4265 between Gileston and Oldmill is set to undergo a major upgrade process worth £3m, in an attempt to make it safer for drivers and also attract more investment to the area, a brand-new report in the local media has revealed. The road-straightening project is being carried out by the Vale of Glamorgan Council on behalf of the Welsh Government, and should be completed by the end of the year, authorities claim.

Plans for building a new biomass plant at a chipboard factory in Chirk have been approved by councillors on the planning committee of Wrexham County Borough Council, securing 600 jobs as part of the project, a recent news report in the local business media has revealed. The new installation will generate 32MW of heat for the Kronospan plant in Chirk, with superheated steam then extracted to provide heat to the MDF manufacturing plant to use in board production.

Over 100 jobs are to be created in Bridgend over the next three years, as part of the launch of financial technology business Ideoba, a news report in the local business media has revealed. The company’s is set to develop an expert search engine for the financial investment sector, whose extensive data-mining and profiling technologies are touted as being capable to effectively provide a quantum leap in performance. According to its found

The Carmarthenshire Cheese Company has announced some very ambitious growth plans, which will see the firm relocate to larger premises and also create ten new jobs with Welsh Government support. According to a news report in the local business media, the first phase of the project would be the relocation to a purpose designed facility in Llanllwch, near Carmarthen, that will have the capacity to more than double production and create new jobs.

Moneypenny, a telephone answering specialist based on Wrexham Technology Park, has revealed plans to create more than 100 new jobs by the end of the year, a new report in the local business media has revealed.