This Canadian engineering company is making its mark in the mining industry with a contribution to energy saving and the environment. Alan Swaby talks to co-CEOs Marc Boudreau and Denis Pitre and to the corporate services/sales & marketing manager Pat Dubreuil.

Aficionados of Doctor Who will be familiar with the Tardis concept – a deceptively small exterior encompassing a surprisingly large interior. In engineering terms, the Canadian company BESTECH is not dissimilar.

Google has been named as the company UK adults most want to work for—with rival Apple coming a close second.

In a survey carried out of more than 2,133 UK adults by research and consulting organisation YouGov for Croner, Google was named 81 times and Apple 80 times as the most desirable companies to work for.

High-profile UK companies also featuring in participants’ responses included John Lewis (72 mentions), Virgin (62 mentions) and the BBC (55 mentions). The NHS also featured high on the list.

US convenience retailer 7-Eleven announced completion today of its deal with ExxonMobil to acquire retail interests in 51 sites in North Texas.

The sites are all in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area and include two unused parcels of land.

The majority of locations will be rebranded as 7-Eleven stores, although they will retain the Exxon gasoline brand.

China Investment Corporation (CIC) has acquired an 8.68 per cent stake in Thames Water, the UK water and sewerage company.

The purchase is the Chinese sovereign wealth fund’s first in the UK, and comes after George Osborne's visit to China this week, where he urged China to invest in UK infrastructure projects.

The price CIC paid for the stake has not been disclosed.

CIC was set up in 2007 to make strategic investments using China’s £2 trillion of foreign exchange reserves.

A survey released today has revealed that despite falling business optimism, companies in the UK are spending more on their marketing activities in an effort to ward off competition.

The latest IPA Bellwether survey published today showed that marketing budgets were revised up in Q4 for a second successive quarter.

Trade intelligence company Zepol Corporation reports that US import shipment volume for December, measured in TEUs, decreased 8.2 percent from November, but increased 1.5 percent from December of 2010.

The total number of inbound shipments decreased 6.5 percent from November and increased 2.3 percent from December of last year. For the year 2011 as a whole, total TEUs are up 0.98 percent from 2010.

Netherlands-based construction and infrastructure specialist Ballast Nedam has won a €25 million contract for expansion works at a refinery in Suriname.

Expansion works to double the processing capacity at Tout Lui Faut Refinery to 15,000 barrels a day are due to commence in April. Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname, the state oil company of Suriname, has awarded Ballast Nedam the general civil and steel piling works contract for the project.

French electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company Asteelflash has announced the acquisition of the American EMS company, Catalyst Manufacturing Services Inc., based on the East Coast of the United States and in Mexico.

Asteelflash is already established on the west coast of the United States, and this acquisition extends its presence in North America, adding three production sites in Owego (New York), Raleigh (North Carolina) and Tijuana (Mexico).

Ensor Holdings has announced its acquisition of Technocover, the Wales-based manufacturer, supplier and installer of security products.

Technocover's products are used for the protection of critical national infrastructure assets operated by UK and European utility companies within the water, energy, communication and transportation sectors.

Ensor said it believes Technocover’s services to government-driven national security initiatives demonstrate resistance to recessionary pressures.