Business News Articles

Foreign firm investment in UK halves
Foreign investment into the UK reduced by half last year as the recession led to foreign firms pulling out of the UK, according to a survey by the UN. The world investor flow survey from the UN revealed that overseas investment fell by half to £97bn as Britain was hit harder by the global recession than almost any other nation. For over a decade the UK topped EU tables for foreign investmen... more

Public sector borrowing rises
The total net borrowing by the UK's public sector totalled £16bn last month, according to figurers released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is a large rise from the same figure in August last year, which was just under £10bn, and this increase takes net borrowing for the five months of the financial year to £65bn. "The scale of the challenge facing the country is huge, a... more

Late payment biggest concern for SMEs
Cash flow issues caused as a result of late payments are the largest problems faced by small businesses, according to a survey carried out by the Forum of Private Business (FPB). Almost a quarter of respondents to the survey selected late payment and, subsequently, poor cash flow as their ‘key issue'. The second largest concern was lack of sales with 20% of respondents selecting this, followe... more

Manufacturing optimism grows
Optimism is growing among Britain's manufacturers but conditions in the sector remain difficult, according to the latest Industrial Trends Survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The survey revealed 27% of companies expected production to fall during the coming quarter, while 25% said that they expected their output to rise. This produced a reading of -2%, up from August's readin... more

Retail growth stalls
UK retail sales were unchanged in August compared with July, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figures - combined with yesterday's announcement that unemployment has reached a 14-year - have cast doubts on the strength of the economic recovery. All non-food sectors, apart from household goods, suffered declines in sales. The worst hit were textile... more

James Caan launches housing loan scheme
Dragons' Den entrepreneur James Caan is fronting a scheme which offers interest-free loans to cover stamp duty and solicitors' fees to homebuyers. Anyone buying a property advertised on Look4aProperty.com - a website part owned by Caan - will be offered a loan of up to £50,000 from a £1bn fund. The loans can be taken out over a two- to three-year period and will need to be paid back in monthl... more

FPB launch employment law guide
A guide to help small businesses comply with upcoming changes to employment law has been launched by the Forum of Private Business (FPB). From the 1st of October business owners will be expected to cope with a raft of legal changes, including those related to employment such as increases in the National Minimum Wage and an increase in the cost of redundancy. According to the recent FPB surve... more

New maternity right for fathers
Small business owners have been warned that new government rules on maternity and paternity leave will allow fathers to take up to six months off. Under the current law mothers can take up to a year away from work on maternity leave and the new scheme will allow up to six months to be transferred to the father, which can be taken once the other parent has returned to work. The changes will be i... more

Unemployment rises to 2.4m
Unemployment in the UK has increased by 210,000 to reach 2.47m - the highest level in 14 years - according to the Office for National Statistics. According to official figures the jobless rate now stands at 7.9% and claims for unemployment benefit in August grew by 24,400 from July to reach 1.6m, the highest since May 1997. The number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work rose from 928,000 to 94... more

Economic growth has 'resumed'
There are positive signs that the UK economy is growing again, but banks must increase lending to small businesses or risk harming the econmic recovery, according Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England. "Following a precipitate fall in economic activity at the end of last year and the start of this, there are now signs that growth has resumed in the third quarter. Conditions for big compa... more