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The swine flu outbreak is benefiting Manchester-based based Byotrol, which makes a biocide product that helps to prevent the spread of infections such as MRSA. Its share price climbed by 61 per cent to 14.5p, increasing its market cap to more than £11.5m as investors believed the pandemic would spark a rush in sales.

Similarly, Stockport-based PZ Cussons said sales of its Carex range of antibacterial hand wash and hand gel products had climbed by 400 per cent since the outbreak was announced. “All of my team are slightly nervy about seeming to profit from misfortune but we have a real sense at the moment that we can make a difference,” said Byotrol's sales director Stephen Falder. “Even if (and I hope it is) the current alarm turns out to be an epidemic that never fully took hold, the behaviour of taking hand hygiene seriously, without developing an obsessive compulsive disorder, is a good life habit.”

- Jerrold Holdings, the Manchester-based loan broker which owns the Blemain Finance, Bridging Finance and Cheshire Mortgage Corporation brands, grew pre-tax profits by 21 per cent to £68.8m in the year ended June 30, 2008, on a 4 per cent increase in revenues to £166m. The business, which makes short-term bridging loans secured against properties, also saw the value of its loan book increase by 13.4 per cent to just over £1bn. The company is majority-owned by its founder Henry Moser, but the Manchester office of Barclays Private Equity bought 30 per cent of the business for £113.5m in September 2006.

During the year, the firm managed to arrange a new £900m banking facility by securitising £500m worth of loans and arranging a new £400m banking facility. It said the funding had provided the group with sufficient headroom to continue its development plans.

- Neptune Innovations, a Canadian-owned outsourcing business, is relocating its UK headquarters to Manchester in a move which is expected to create up to 130 jobs. The company is to open its new base at Towers Business Park in Didsbury having outgrown existing sites at Glasgow and Basingstoke. Its managing director, Mike McKenzie, said that the site was chosen because of the strength of the talent pool within the city.

“We've invested in a showcase site that's a step above the average contact centre and boasts excellent public transport connections. I'm confident that we'll be able to recruit a strong team with the right skills and flexibility by tapping into the diverse workforce in and around south Manchester.” The firm was advised on its move by inward investment agency Midas.

- Runcorn-based airport ground handling agent Servisair said it was assessing the impact of Ryanair's decision to close check-in desks at Manchester and other airports. Servisair has a total of 350 check-in staff at Manchester and provides all check-in staff for Ryanair across the country. Spokesman Tony Brunskill said the impact on staff at Manchester was as yet unclear.

He said: “It may have an effect, it might not. We have just heard as well. We are just assessing at the moment.” Ryanair said the decision to close all desks by October would save it £44.7m annually and stressed that 75 per cent of its customers checked in online already. Only a small number of “drop desks” will be left open to process larger luggage.

- Irish outsourcing firm Agilisys Contact Services is to close its base in Shannon and transfer its operations to the UK, including a site in Rochdale. The company, which provides contact centre services to UK public and private sector organisations, employed 71 permanent staff, who have been offered the chance to relocate to either Rochdale or another site in Barrow-in-Furness.

Kay Andrews, Agilisys chief executive, said: “This decision has been driven by the current economic conditions, with the strength of the euro against the pound meaning that overhead costs in Shannon are proving to be uneconomic. We hope that some staff will take the opportunity to join one of our contact centres in the UK. We also hope that economic circumstances will revert and we can return to Shannon in the near future.” The company is also in consultation with workers over redundancies.

- Manchester-based law firm Halliwells has been appointed to the general legal panel of the region's only FTSE 100 company, United Utilities. The two firms already have an established relationship, and Halliwells has advised its Insurance, commercial litigation, intellectual property commerce, debt recovery and property litigation departments, but the appointment to United Utilities' overall panel “paves the way for a broader service offering”, according to Halliwells. “This is a major appointment for the firm,” said managing partner Ian Austin.

- The new Ramada Manchester Salford Quays hotel has been granted four-star status by the UK's official tourism agency Visit Britain. The 142-bedroom hotel, recently passed an inspection by the organisation which measured standards of cleanliness as well as its accommodation and conferencing facility. “Four-star status shows we mean business and think very highly of our customers,” said general manager Paul Gallon. “We welcome our new status and regard it as the ideal way to round off a fantastic first year for the team at the hotel.”

- Manchester-based Indigo Planning has secured planning permission for a proposed 165-bedroom Hilton Garden Inn hotel at Kings Reach, Stockport. The scheme will deliver a new landmark building at the King's Reach business park, near Stockport town centre. The hotel will include a restaurant, bar and gym as well as meeting and conference rooms and could create around 50 jobs. Grapevine Developments and Seddon Developments will renovate the site in partnership with the Hilton chain.

- Knight Frank has promoted Richard Walters, based in its Manchester office, to regional head of planning. Aged 34, he joined in February 2008 as head of Manchester's planning team from Gerald Eve, where he led the firm's regional planning and development team.

- Ivan Heywood, chief executive of Legal & General Ventures (LGV), has resigned as a director of Wilmslow-based gyms chain Total Fitness. Heywood, who had sat on Total Fitness's board since LGV took a majority stake in the business as part of an £80m buyout in 2004, became chief executive of LGV in 2008 last year and will focus on its strategy. LGV's Zoe Clements has replaced Heywood as the investment director responsible for Total Fitness.

- Bury-based ventilation products firm Senior Hargreaves has won a second major contract from Costain, via the Highways Agency, to provide equipment for tunnels at Bell Common on the M25. The firm installed similar systems at Holmesdale Tunnels, also on the M25, in 2007.