Property firm’s swoop for office

5 things we learned yesterday

1 A property investment firm set up by former Utilitywise director Adam Thompson has snapped up a listed building on Newcastle’s Grey Street in a multimillion-pound deal.

Stessa Commercial Ltd has acquired 18-24 Grey Street – a prominent office building which is home to chartered surveyors Sanderson Weatherall – with help from the Hay & Kilner law firm.

Stessa Commercial forms one part of the Stessa group of companies set up by investor and entrepreneur Mr Thompson. 2 Membership of co-operatives has surged in the last year as the public demands better ways of doing business, a new report says.

The annual report by industry body Co-operatives UK has shown 700,000 people have joined co-operatives in the last year, following on from a similar rise in the year previously – bringing the total to more than 13.6m.

Turnover for the sector topped £36bn and it employed 226,000 people, with 6,815 companies now classifying themselves as co-operatives.

Co-operatives UK said there has also been a new trend for co-ops among young people in digital and creative industries, coinciding with polls showing that many people feel they have little control over how the economy is run. 3 A high-protein cookie company that launched in Whitley Bay less than two years ago is now exporting to more than 55 countries across the world.

Oatein Ltd bakes high-protein cookies, brownies, and flapjacks across the Gulf region, 400 stores and, in its first year, sold 1.2m in Australia, and thousands of gyms products. and health clubs across Europe. The firm’s snacks are now being

4 sold in Spar supermarkets in the A dedicated Newcastle UK and Ireland. However, Oatein is gymnastics coach has also sold in 125 LuLu hypermarkets sold off her own 5 Shares in Sainsbury’s rose yesterday after it emerged the supermarket has entered into exclusive talks to acquire convenience store operator Nisa.

The grocery giant is understood to have tabled a £130m bid for Nisa – whose 1,300 shopkeeper members run 3,000 stores, including dozens in the North East – as part of a response to Tesco’s £3.7bn merger with wholesaler Booker.

Nisa has been working with investment bank Lazard on a sale process and is thought to have received interest from several prospective buyers.

TEDCO business advisor Bill Hartshorne and Felicty Brown with some of her gymnasts possessions to help create a new business aimed at training up the next generation of Olympic medal-winners. When Felicity Brown launched Gymtopia two years ago she...