The British Chambers of Commerce’s Quarterly Economic Survey reveals that the UK ended 2019 in stagnation, amid long term uncertainty, rising business costs and a slowing global economy. The latest results of the survey – which is the largest of its kind in the UK and a leading indicator of GDP growth – found protracted […]
The December figures are positively distorted by the late timing of Black Friday, which occurred in December 2019 as opposed to November in 2018. The 3-month and 12-month averages are not distorted. We have calculated 2-month average figures in order to correct for this distorting effect and, therefore, represent a clear picture of the festive […]
Santander UK has today launched its largest ever programme to bolster its support for businesswomen across the UK – the ‘Women Business Leaders’ mentoring programme. Designed to support women in business across the UK, the mentoring programme pairs budding female entrepreneurs with established business leaders across all sectors, business sizes and geographies. The bank is […]
With a little over three weeks until the Self Assessment deadline, over 5 million taxpayers are yet to submit their tax return for tax year 2018/19. With many of those taxpayers classed as self-employed, there are a wide range of commonly-forgotten business expenses which can be claimed as tax relief but are often missed due […]
IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) has warned that the government’s review into the new off-payroll working rules does not go far enough, and will not allay freelancers’ fears about the changes to IR35. The Association notes that the government has not paused the roll-out of the changes, has not said the […]
Hickory’s Smokehouse has received a £13m funding package from leading alternative lender ThinCats to help accelerate its active roll out of restaurants. The first Hickory’s Smokehouse opened in Chester in 2010 following founder Neil McDonnell’s extensive research into the American BBQ and smokehouse sector. The team behind Hickory’s has been operating in Chester for 20 […]
Research from Nucleus Commercial Finance, an alternative finance provider, found that the majority of businesses have performed better than expected in 2019. Despite ongoing political and economic uncertainty, 55% of UK SMEs said that their business performed better in 2019 than 2018. This success was most prominent among young business owners (aged 18-34), with nearly […]
Despite reported ‘downturns’ and a reputed seizing-up of the new car scene in light of political and economic problems, states Iain Robertson, scanning the SMMT figures for 2019 reveals more of a levelling-off situation, rather than one of despair. The key issue related to reported facts and marketing-orientated ‘fake’ news is that no matter how […]
B-North, the Manchester-based firm building an SME lending bank for the UK, has secured in excess of £2m of fund raising from new and existing investors through equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube and Growthfunders, adding to the £4.2m it has raised in previous rounds. The news follows the announcement in December that B-North has selected Newcastle […]
Overall business confidence rose for the fourth consecutive month in December, according to the latest findings from the Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking Business Barometer. The survey, taken before the general election results was known, shows the one point increase took business confidence to 10%, driven by an improvement in businesses optimism about their own trading […]
