North West business briefs: Essar UK; GoSimpleTax; Abbey Logistics Group; Firin; Jet2.com

Essar UK has struck a new sponsorship deal with Justin Sherwood and Team Parker Racing for the 2023 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Series in the AM Class, the UK’s premier single-manufacturer sports car competition. The company’s support coincides with Justin’s pursuit of his fifth Championship win.

As the Porsche Carrera Cup GB enters its 21st season in 2023, it is the perfect opportunity for ambitious drivers to prove themselves, within the world of motorsport and likewise Essar said it feels this is the perfect opportunity to remind drivers of its high-performance fuels.

Essar produces fuels for cars and aircraft at its Ellesmere Port site, the former Shell refinery, on the River Mersey. This sponsorship represents an association with Porsche which shares similar values of continuously striving for greater success with high performance fuels with low carbon ambitions. The one-year sponsorship agreement saw the Essar logo featured on Justin Sherwood’s 510bhp Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car when the new season got under way at Donington Park last weekend, April 22-23.

The oils refiner said its values are expertise, entrepreneurship and experience and all of these are demonstrated by Justin and the team as they begin this new season. Carlos Rojas, chief marketing officer at Essar UK, said: “We are really excited about this new sponsorship and its synergy with our brand values and huge commercial ambitions and growth plans.

“We are committed to growing our brand presence in the UK and have recently launched a new retail proposition for our forecourt business as we expand our geographic footprint across the country.”

Justin Sherwood has four Porsche Carrera Cup GB championship wins under his belt and said: “I am delighted that Essar UK has chosen to sponsor us this season. I look forward to working with them over this season’s racing as I focus on the challenge of once again retaining my Porsche Carrera Cup championship title.”

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Oldham-based GoSimpleTax is set to acquire London-based bookkeeping and accountant platform, Coconut, to create an end-to-end bookkeeping and filing solution for individuals and small businesses.

Director, James Cryne, said: “As GoSimpleTax grows we’re getting more customers needing regular bookkeeping support – the Coconut platform is the leading provider for our segment. Once combined tax return preparation will be even easier for both accountants and individuals, and the future transition to Making Tax Digital seamless.”

Coconut boss, Sam O’Connor, said: “The combination of GoSimpleTax and Coconut creates a formidable player in the accounting software space, filling the gap left by the traditional cloud players for a simple solution for self-employed people, landlords and micro businesses.”

GoSimpleTax said a deal is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

GoSimpleTax is a UK tax filing solution, providing 20,000 customers with self-assessment and VAT MTD filing. Coconut provides an innovative bookkeeping solution which has a growing number of self-employed people, landlords and accountants using the software. The combined business creates a new challenger in the UK cloud software space, with end-to-end bookkeeping, seamless bank account integration, through to filing for small businesses and their accountants.

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Abbey Logistics Group has extended its long standing ADM (Archer Daniel Midlands) Oil Seeds contract for a further three years, taking the relationship into its 30th year.

The contract involves the transportation of bulk oils and fats such as rapeseed and palm oil from the ADM sites in Erith and Purfleet to customers across the UK and Northern Europe. ADM is one of the world’s largest food companies supplying human and animal nutrition with sales in excess of $60bn.

Since 1996, Wirral-based Abbey has been the main haulier for ADM in Erith and Purfleet and operates the largest food grade tanker fleet in the UK for bulk food products. Contract manager, Nick Wheller, said: “ADM are a prestigious customer of Abbeys and a cornerstone in the company’s success and history. The two companies have worked closely together for a very long time and the relationship is going from strength to strength.”

Adam Spaull, commercial operations manager for ADM, said: “The supply chain for most companies has experienced significant disruption over the past few years due to COVID, driver shortage and high inflation so I am pleased to extend our long standing relationship with Abbey and offer our customers the continued stability in what has been a volatile market.

“We have also opted for a high proportion of the fleet to be dedicated to ADM which will increase the already strong service levels to our customers.”

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Turkish restaurant, Firin, is bringing a taste of the Eastern Mediterranean cuisine to jet setters and locals alike in Manchester.

Located inside the new Holiday Inn Manchester Airport, an IHG Hotel & Resort, situated within Terminal 2, food enthusiasts from the city and visitors from all around the world can experience its self-proclaimed elevated take on classic tastes of the Mediterranean.

The Turkish word firin translates as oven, and this implication of baked-in warmth flows throughout the Firin menu, which is augmented with authentic Ottoman dishes and sharing plates such as lentil soup, Choban Salad, grilled Ottoman classics that are the Chicken Shish, Lamb Tandir, and the Chargrilled Mediterranean Prawns and Calamari.

Concept creator, Daniele Pampagnin, said: “We are excited to delve into the world of authentic Middle Eastern cuisine with a twist at Firin at the vibrant Holiday Inn Manchester Airport. We have worked to transform the restaurant space of the airport’s latest hotel destination with a unique experience taking inspiration from the region of Bosphorus to the markets of modern Istanbul.”

Plans to launch a rooftop bar, Glow, on the top floor of the hotel are under way, set to open later this year.

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Vienna State Opera House

Jet2.com and Jet2CityBreaks is to launch flights and city breaks to Vienna from Manchester Airport for the full winter 23/24 season, increasing the number of city break destinations on sale this winter from the airport to nine.

Previously only available as a Christmas Market destination, the leisure airline and operator of European City Breaks has expanded its city breaks programme from Manchester Airport by introducing new services to Vienna.

Up to two weekly services (Monday and Friday) are available from September 29, 2023, to May 20, 2024. This means that Jet2.com and Jet2CityBreaks will operate to the city break favourite from Manchester Airport throughout the full winter 23/24 season.

Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, said: “We are seeing strong demand for city breaks this winter, with more people than ever in the North West wanting to visit their favourite city break destinations. As the largest operator of European city breaks, we know that these new services will be extremely popular, as people in the region look for a magical winter escape with a company they can rely on.”

Julian Jäger, joint CEO and COO of Vienna Airport, said: “The addition of Jet2.com at Vienna Airport throughout the whole of the winter season means that Northern England will be more easily accessible in the future, and I am pleased that we are able to expand our flight and destination offering from Vienna to this region. Manchester is an extremely attractive destination, especially for city trips, as it is shaped by British culture and embedded in the beautiful landscape of Northern England.”