SOUTHAMPTON International Boat Show is the latest organisation to sign up as a member of development group Business Southampton.

The major event is part of the latest tranche of six businesses to enlist as "city champions", taking the number of companies on board to well over 50.

Other new firms handing over between £3,000 and £30,000 include accountants Tenon, Deloitte and Smith & Williamson. Law firm Blake Lapthorne Tarlo Lyons and printers Technart have also joined.

Greg Palfrey of Smith & Williamson has joined the board of Business Southampton.

In the three months since it was launched, the group - which aims to promote Southampton as the best place in the south to do business - has begun a raft of initiatives. Chief among them is the Cruise Partnership, which is tasked with encouraging passengers to use Southampton as a stopover and not just at the beginning or end of the holiday.

Business Southampton bosses are also putting the finishing touches to a website to make accessing the city easier. Called Discover Southampton, it will offer everything from historical facts to cinema times to shipping information and will be launched in June.

A spokesman said: "Business Southampton has been working to ensure the business community is united in having its say as to what they feel Southampton is lacking or what they feel its strengths are."