Business News Articles

High street sales suffer slight fall
Retail sales declined in August after two months of increases, according to data released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC). UK like-for-like sales - which do not include new stores - fell 0.1% compared with the same month last year. Sales rose by 1.8% in July and by 1.4% in June against a year earlier. "The strong figures of June and July haven't been sustained. It's clear the deceptiv... more

BCC: ‘economy will grow 1.1%’
The UK economy will bounce back strongly into growth next year, according to the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC). The BCC have predicted that the economy will increase 1.1% in 2010, almost double its previous forecast of 0.6% that it made in June. However, the BCC have also warned that sustaining the economic recovery will be difficult due to the high level of debt that the country has. "T... more

Small firm staff 'more flexible'
Employees working at smaller firms are more likely to adapt their working week to try and help their firms survive the recession, according to research conducted by Orange. The research revealed that over 65% of staff in companies with under ten employees are prepared to reduce their hours, put in extra unpaid time or accept a pay cut to help their employer in the economic downturn. In busin... more

Activity in service sector rises
Activity in Britain's services sector grew in August at the fastest rate for almost two years, according to data released by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing ansd Supply (CIPS). The CIPS/Markit services purchasing managers index rose to 54.1 from 53.2 in July, raising hopes that the UK will exit recession in the third quarter of this year. The rise came from solid gains in new business... more

Small firms shun gov finance scheme
Small companies are ignoring the government's Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme (EFG) with 93% of SMEs not seeing the point in the scheme, according to a survey by financial adviser Clifton Asset Management. The survey revealed that a third of small business owner-managers had never heard of the EFG and of those that had, 93% saw ‘little point' in applying for it. Of the small firms that ap... more

New cars sales rise 6%
New car sales in the UK increased by 6% in August compared to the same month a year ago, the second consecutive month of growth, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). The growth has been attributed to the affects of the government's car scrappage scheme, which provides a £2,000 discount when a new car is bought and a car over ten years old is e... more

Post Offices should be ‘business hubs’
Post offices should be transformed into small business hubs that offer services such as banking and advice, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). With a recent survey showing that almost 50% of small firms visit the Post Office several times a week the FSB have called on them to offer more to SMEs. The FSB want Post Offices to be able to offer advice on insurance and banking... more

UK economy to ‘shrink 4.7%’
The UK economy will contract 4.7% this year, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This figure is worse than the UK Treasury's prediction that the UK economy will decline by 3.5% this year. However, the OCED has said that it expects America and the eurozone to exit recession in the third quarter of the year. "We clearly have a recovery at hand tha... more

New small firm offer from Google and BT
BT Business and Google have announced that they are to offer digital marketing services to small businesses. Through BT Business becoming a Google AdWords Authorised Reseller small firms can now access Google's base of millions of UK users and receive professional, full-service AdWords account management through BT Business. "Small businesses are looking to the internet to compete and grow i... more

SMEs waiting 4 months for payment
Small and medium-sized firms are waiting up to four months to be paid, according to research from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The FSB revealed that around 4,000 businesses were forced to cease trading last year because of late payment. Several of the worst offenders are larger businesses, with delivery firm TNT, food producer Bernard Matthews and catering company the Compass Group... more