Business News Articles

Small firms owed over £25bn in late payments
Overdue payments to small and medium-sized businesses in the UK increased by over 40% last year, taking the total that SMEs are owed to over £25bn, according to research by Bacs Payment Schemes Limited. The number of SMEs owed money across the UK increased from 51% in 2007 to 57% in 2008, and the national average of outstanding payments owed to small firms increased to £38,000 - up £8,000 fr... more

Cost of running a small business declines 3%
The cost of running a small business has fallen for the first time in several years as deflation begins to have a significant impact on prices, according to new data published by More Than Businesses. The data revealed that costs for SMEs fell by 2.9% in the final quarter of last year, mainly due to the decline in the price of fuel and raw materials. Energy prices dropped over 18% and raw mater... more

Santander to provide over £100m of new funding to SMEs
Santander, the owners of Abbey and Alliance & Leicester, have announced that its UK banks will provide over £100m of lending to small and medium-sized businesses. Alliance & Leicester will join the government's Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme - which provides guarantees of 75% on loans made to SMEs with a turnover of no more than £25m. Abbey has applied to participate in the European I... more

Eight out of ten SMEs use home not business broadband
Eight out of ten small and medium-sized companies use their home broadband connection for business use, according to new research by Redshift Research for Pipex. The study of 900 SMEs found that 79% use their home broadand internet connection for work more regularly than any other mode of connection. The survey also revealed that a good internet connection has become key to SME working pract... more

Small companies could be forced to pay £350 per parking space
Small business have called on the government to scrap legislation that would allow local authorities to charge firms that provide private parking spaces for their employees. The Department for Transport (DfT) last week finished consulting on proposals that will allow local councils to raise extra money through the workplace parking levy scheme. A number of local authorities are awaiting appr... more

Small firms missing out on business by not using social networking sites
Small and medium-sized companies are in danger of loosing business and wasting money on unproductive communication methods, according to research conducted by BT Business. Almost 30% of managers surveyed revealed that they fear their firm will lose customers if they do not get better at using technology to communicate with them. Although an increasing amount of staff are now communicating wi... more

BCC warn that unemployment could 'reach over 3m'
Unemployment in the UK could reach 3.2m by the second half of next year as public borrowing reaches £158bn, according to a report by the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC). If the BCC's figures were accurate then it would mean that GDP would decline 3.7% across the next five quarters and public borrowing would be over 10% of GDP. Director general of the BCC, David Frost, has called on chance... more

HSBC offer £25,000 award to best new start-up business
British entrepreneurs have the chance to win £25,000 as the search for Britain's best new start-up business gets under way. HSBC's Start-Up Stars Awards will award the winning entrepreneur £25,000 for the best new business less than three years old. £10,000 will also be awarded to the best new green business putting the environment, the best new business set up by a graduate, and the best... more

Small businesses call for utlites watchdog
Over 60% of small and medium-sized businesses believe that there should be a dedicated watchdog for utilities, according to research by the Forum of Private Business (FPB). A poll of over 1,7000 FPB members revealed that almost 75% have experienced problems with their utilites supplier and for 59% of firms the situation has declined over the last six months. "It's about time that the whole t... more

Bank of England cuts interest rate by half a point to 0.5%
The Bank of England has cut interest rates from 1% to 0.5%, the lowest in the Bank’s history, in a bid to stimulate the ailing UK economy. This is the sixth time since October that interest rates have been reduced and the bank also announced that it would increase the amount of money in the economy by £75bn to try and boost bank lending by using quantitative easing. Quantitative easing â€... more