This symbol & is called an ampersand. Please don't use an ampersand instead of the word "and". If you are writing about a firm called Smith & Jones Pty Ltd and this firm uses an ampersand in its name, then you too must use an ampersand in your article. This is just like getting the spelling of a brand name correct. But in journalism don't ever substitute an ampersand for the ordinary word "and". It's like contracting the word Christmas to Xmas. We just don't do it in good journalism. And to get into the habit, don't use the ampersand in anything else you write, please.
The rule behind the rule is simple: in a brand or a company name, you copy exactly what the owner uses, and everywhere else you write the plain word "and". The ampersand is a piece of someone's logo, not a general substitute for a perfectly good English word.
So you would write that Marks & Spencer opened a store, because that is the registered name, but you would never write "bread & milk" or "the police & the crowd" in your own sentences. You also keep the ampersand for a few set names that have always carried it, such as a law firm styled Jones & Associates, or a show billed as a double act. When in doubt, check how the name is officially written and match it letter for letter.
The same care applies to all the little shortcuts that creep in from texting and signs: the plus sign for "and", the number "4" for "for", "u" for "you", the at-sign dropped into the middle of a sentence. None of them belong in your copy. They look cheap, and cheap is the one thing a professional writer can never afford to look.
Write the word out. It is three letters. It has never once let a writer down.