BUSINESS support group Business Link Tees Valley has announced that it has exceeded its annual targets.

The organisation had already helped 8,700 business by last month.

Its target for the financial year was set at 7,437.

As part of a consortium that includes Business Links Tyne and Wear and Northumberland and the North East Chamber of Commerce, the organisation is waiting for the results of a bid to manage a region-wide business support service from April next year, with the campaign slogan, Coalition of Ambition.

Chief executive Malcolm Taylor said: "I'm very proud of the improvements put in place by Business Link since last April, which have meant that individuals and businesses have been ever better equipped to put their business ideas into practice and to make their already established businesses a success, in turn contributing to the growing culture of entrepreneurship in Tees Valley."