Author: Rhys Gregory

Vision Blue, the leading provider of compliant software solutions for the Credit and Debt Recovery sectors, has acquired Cardiff-based fast growth fintech company SamePage Group, a pioneer in fully-digital Loan Origination software platforms, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition of SamePage by Vision Blue comes after the success of a recent strategic partnership which saw both companies deliver a full lifecycle Loan Origination and Account Management System (LMS) for the Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC). Since it was established in 2017, SamePage has quickly made a name for its dynamic, cloud-deployed loan origination platform which is transforming the consumer lending…

Fasteners and tools company Spotnails Ltd has new owners after the Development Bank of Wales supported a management buyout (MBO) of the business with a multi-million pound equity investment. [aoa id=”1″] Spotnails, based in Bedwas, Caerphilly is a long-standing independent distributor of tools and fastener products to the UK building industry with more than 60 years trading history. It has a national salesforce as well as a manufacturing base with servicing and repair facilities at the Caerphilly headquarters. Funding for the buyout was provided by Development Bank of Wales via their Wales Management Succession Fund. The £25 million fund enables…

A North Wales-based tech company has achieved a prestigious industry certification. [aoa id=”1″] St Asaph-headquartered Pinacl has become the first Cisco Premier Partner operating in the SME space to achieve the Cisco IoT Authorization certification that was launched earlier this year. The Cisco IoT Authorization accreditation is for partners who have demonstrated their capabilities in Internet of Things (IoT) deployments. [/aoa] It follows on from the company’s successful Smart City deployments in York, Aberdeen and Newport. Pinacl’s IoT technical team and pre-sales team were required to attend an IoT training course and complete exams to demonstrate Pinacl’s capability in deploying…

Online shopping giant Amazon has been flooded with fake five-start reviews according to consumer group Which? [aoa id=”1″] The consumer group probed popular items such as headphones, smart watches and other technology, noting that the 14 categories that it looked at were dominated largely by unknown brands – defined as non household name brands. When searching the headphones category, Which? reported of the 12,000 reviews from the first page results, 87% were from unverified purchases. A potential telltale sign of illegitimate reviews. [/aoa] In one of the examples for headphones, an unknown brand called Celebrat had 439 reviews, all of…

A sentencing hearing was held on 10 April at Aberystwyth Magistrates Court to consider the guilty pleas submitted by Mrs. Margaret Cooper, 80 yrs old and Mr. Norman Richard Cooper, 55 yrs old. of Gilfachwith Farm, Bangor Teifi, in relation to the death and serious neglect of 84 cattle. The prosecution follows an investigation by Ceredigion County Council Animal Health Officers, who visited the farm in May 2018 together with officials from the Animal and Plant Health Agency. The Officers encountered scenes of utter devastation with dead cattle decaying in the livestock sheds. There were surviving cattle housed with these…

To celebrate the opening of its brand new training centre, Wales’ leading first aid charity, St John Cymru, is giving people the opportunity to win free first aid training. [aoa id=”1″] The competition, which runs for two weeks, will see 12 winners selected at random to win a place on one of its Emergency First Aid at Work courses, worth £99 +VAT. Situated on North Wales Business Park, Abergele, the new training centre will be ideally located and help to support local communities and businesses across North Wales. [/aoa] The 1,130 sq. ft. space will also allow the first aid…

Ceredigion Youth Service has achieved the prestigious Gold Quality Mark for Youth Work in Wales. The Gold Quality Mark of Youth Work in Wales has only been achieved by two other Local Authority Youth Services to date. In 2017, Ceredigion Youth Service was awarded the Bronze Award. At the beginning of 2019, the Service progressed in achieving the Silver Quality Mark. Soon after, the Service was assessed again and awarded the Gold Award. Lead Assessor and Director of Atkin Associates, Louise Atkin, said how she was “particularly impressed with the way in which the Youth Service has grown and developed…

A campaign led by the British Science Association to inspire Swansea pupils to embrace STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects in the classroom was given a boost by the local Amazon team this week. [aoa id=”1″] The fulfilment centre in Swansea made a £2,000 donation to help fund new science equipment for Bishop Gore School. Bishop Gore welcomed the donation as part of the “Amazon in the Community” programme, whereby the company supports communities in and around where it operates in the UK. [/aoa] To mark the donation, team members from the Amazon fulfilment centre in Swansea visited Bishop…

A Cardiff Met lecturer has been invited to attend the prestigious Micius Forum hosted by the University of Technology and Science of China (UTSC) and present his research into robotics and real-time motion planning. The global event will take place from 18-21 April in Hefei. Running in its third year, Micius has become a prominent event for anyone working in the technology and science sector, attracting hundreds of young scientists and established scholars from all over the world each year. Dr Pengcheng Liu, a senior lecturer in Engineering and Design Technology at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cardiff School of Technologies was…

A Cardiff resident is getting ready to take on his first ever marathon in support of LGBTQ+ communities across Wales.  On Sunday 28 April, Craig Michael, 48, will hit the starting line at this year’s Virgin Money London Marathon, hoping to raise significant funds for Pride Cymru. The Welsh-based charity was nominated as a regional charity to enter the UK’s most popular marathon by the Virgin Money Lounge in Cardiff. As one of the charity’s event directors, Craig is responsible for organising the renowned Pride Cymru Big Weekend, which last year attracted between 40,000 and 50,000 people from all over…