Business News Articles

BMI axe routes and reduces capacity
BMI British Midland has announced that it is cutting two of its mainline services from Heathrow and Leeds Bradford and Durham Tees Valley, reducing the number of daily flights from these airports by seven. BMI, the second largest airline operating from Heathrow airport, will also reduce the number of daily services from Heathrow to Dublin and Amsterdam and will use small planes, thus cutting ca... more

Over 40,000 home repossessions in 2008
The number of homes in the UK repossessed by lenders last year increased by 54% to 40,000, according to figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). With cash-flow tight many small business owners have been forced to re-mortgage their homes to keep their business afloat. The CML have urged any home owners who are struggling to maintain payments to contact their lender as early ... more

New scheme to provide entrepreneurs with valuable experience
UK Entrepreneurs have the opportunity of increasing their business experience and knowledge by spending six months working with an established businessperson in Europe. Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs will give 800 entrepreneurs the chance to be placed alongside a successful businessperson across all 27 European Union member states. The new exchange programme is financed by the European Unio... more

Free IT conference for small businesses
A free IT conference for small businesses with seminars from Dell, Microsoft and Samsung is to be hosted in London on the 24th of February. The national event will take place at the Vinopolis wine museum and runs from 10:00am till 4:00pm. The event is hosted by Equanet and will inform small business owners how they can reduce their IT costs. Recent research by Equanet has found that over 40%... more

Railway workers in London to vote on strike action
Small business owners in London have been warned that their commute to work could be disrupted, as rail workers on some of the capital's busiest routes prepare to vote on strike action. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) are holding a strike ballot of more than 3,500 workers at South West Trains, First Capital Connect and National Express East Anglia over plans to axe over 1,000 jobs.... more

Small firms turning to family and friends as bank credit dries up
Over 500,000 small and medium-sized companies are being forced to turn to family and friends for finance as bank loans dry up, according to research from Close Invoice Finance. The survey of over 500 SMEs discovered that less than 6% of respondents are confident that their bank would provide them credit this year - compared to 73% in last years poll. 540,000 SMEs are being forced to use pers... more

Google offer free internet marketing advice
Small businesses wanting to enter the Google News index through news items posted on their site have been offered free internet marketing tips by the search engine. In a post on the Google News Blog, Abe Epton of Google's news online operations team advised that all news stories should have an article body free of ads, tags and sidebars. All URL's should be unique and images are best displayed ... more

Over 30% of staff admit to 'stretching the truth' on CV
More than a third of people have lied or embellished their CV's to increase their chances of getting a job, according a survey from the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors. With the latest unemployment figures showing that the amount of people out of work in the UK is almost 2m, it is likely that the temptation to exaggerate on a CV will be even greater. Small business owners have b... more

Business owners urged to innovate to keep sackings to a minimum
Small business owners have been urged to explore different options rather than cutting staff by the Chartered Institute of Personal and Development and the arbitration and conciliation service (Acas). With cash flow tight for many small firms cutting costs by loosing staff can seem like the best option, but businesses that cut too many staff have been warned that they will damage staff morale a... more

UK train fares 50% more expensive than European average
Rail fares in the UK are on average 50% higher than in the rest of Europe, according to a study by consumer watchdog Passenger Focus. The study, the first ever to compare commuting and long-distance travel in Europe, found that UK annual season tickets for middle-distance commuters are almost double the price of France, the second most expensive country in Europe. The majority of rail compan... more