July 3, 2010
Filed under: CBI — Alan @ 6:53 pm
Confederation of British Industry (CBI) director general, Richard Lambert, announced this week that he will be standing down from his position.
Lambert plans to leave in 2011 after spending five years in charge of the business lobby group. In his issued statement he said that he has not yet decided on any firm plans for his future.
Before taking the position, Lambert was a member of the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) and is the Financial Times former editor.
In his statement Lambert said that it is the right time in the economic and political cycle for him to hand over his position as director general to a new candidate adding that with the new policies enacted by the Government will come greater and new challenges for the CBI.
He continued to say that the economy is moving into a phase in which the engines of recovery will become trade and business.
The CBI has not announced who will replace Lambert, but the lobby group has already appointed the head-hunters firm Saxton Bampfylde to search for potential candidates.
May 7, 2010
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 2:31 am
Exports from SMEs in Britain have increased to their highest levels over the past two and a half years, according to new data from the CBI.
The CBI’s newest SME trends survey reported that 36% of SMEs had an increase in their orders during the first three months previous to April.
Also good news was the fact that while 26% of all the firms reported orders were still down, the 10% positive balance shows that there has been some movement of growth since January of 2008.
Manufactures stated that due to the fallen value of sterling export orders increased over what most observers expected.
About a third of the firms included in the survey also said that their export order volumes rose although ten percent reported they had decreased. This 18% balance is the best growth that has been seen since July of 1995 with domestic orders showing a marginal ride.
Chairman of the CBI’s SME Council, Russell Griggs, stated that smaller manufacturers within the UK are starting to see their hard works pay off along with the weak currency. He continued to say that domestic demand and production are starting to stabilize, exports are continuing to grow, and firms are starting to feel better about their overall prospects.
Griggs even added that since the demand is expected to increase over the next few months some manufacturers are going so far as to consider hiring extra staff to meet the increased demand over the next three months.
March 26, 2010
Filed under: CBI — Alan @ 2:36 am
The CBI announced today that Britain’s struggling manufacturers are able to compensate for the lack of demand in the domestic market due to the fact that the export books are the strongest that they have been over the last 18 months.
The organization stated that overall the growth of output is slowly fading, which is making many start to doubt how strong the economy recovery will actually will be.
Over a quarter of firms report that they will increase their production within the next three months while a fifth of the firms plan to reduce their overall output. This creates a +5 balance of percentage points compared to February’s balance of +7.
Due to the fact that UK overseas good sales have strengthened due to the weak pound, the CBI reported that the order books were starting to look better with 22% of firms back at normal and only 40% stating they were below normal. This balance of -18 points is the best it has been since August of 2008.
Despite the good news, the total order books were still unchanged with over half of manufacturers in the UK reporting they are below normal and a small 14% reporting their order books at normal.
CBI chief economic adviser, Ian McCafferty, stated that the survey shows that the export orders from the UK are starting to gain momentum as the international demand is starting to grow. He added that demand at home however is still very low which may impair the manufacturing output growth for some time.
March 6, 2010
Filed under: CBI — Alan @ 3:43 am
The CBI business group has just issued a new warning that the recovery may be more drawn out than anticipated after a recent survey showed that UK services firms are rebounding in a varied fashion.
According to the survey results, business volumes have been able to stabilize for most of the sector in the past three months, but other consumer firms such as restaurants, bars, and hotels are still performing better than professional and business services companies.
Ian McCafferty, the chief economic adviser of the CBI, stated that the figures show that the economy is slowly started to recover overall but that there will still be a significant time period before growth starts to increase substantially.
One of the critical areas that will underpin the recovery is the fortunes of the powerhouse services in the UK since they account for around three quarters of the country’s output.
Figures from last Friday show good news for that sector as output from the last quarter of 2009 was reported to have risen from .1% up to .5%.
The highest business volumes were found by the CBI survey in the consumer services sector with 7% of all companies reporting that they have experienced an increase in revenues.
However, most professional and business services reported that their volumes have continued to fall instead of slowly starting to rise.
Yet, according to the survey most firms are still more positive about future prospects than they were last quarter even if profits have been a bit tighter due to inflation.
January 29, 2010
Filed under: CBI — Alan @ 4:40 am
Director General of the business group, the CBI, Richard Lambert, stated that the county is overall 10pc poorer than it was expected to be before the recession hit. In order to make up for this discrepancy the director stated that the UK will need to work hard to grow as much as possible in the next five years.
Lambert warned last night that if such growth does not occur the upcoming life chances of the new generation of young people will be significantly impaired. Among the results will be an unemployment rate that stays high and lower standards of living.
His comments came directly before the GDP data is delivered today by the Office for National Statistics, which is expected to reveal that economy finally started to repair itself throughout the final quarter of 2009.
Predictions include a .4pc rise by economists in the GDP, which will finally mark the end of the recession officially after six quarters of a consistently decreasing GDP. According to Lambert, Britain has had a slower recovery than the other major economies which have already shown signs of recovery.
Lambert continued to say that growth will come mostly from the trade and private sector investment since the public sector will need all of its resources as it tries to get the finances of the nation back in order.
However, he did state that for the moment most businesses are still attempting to conserve their cash out of fear, which means it will take a while before the market starts to actively come alive again.
December 21, 2009
Filed under: CBI — Alan @ 8:57 am
Even though the British economy is thought to have made it out of the recession during the last quarter of 2009, it still will not reach the GDP of pre-recession before the close of 2011, according to a new report by the Confederation of British Industry.
The CBI predicts that even though Q4 of 2009 saw a .5% growth it is likely that in the first half of 2011 there will only be a .3% increase. This will likely be followed by a meagre .5-.7% increase by the end of 2011 making any growth fragile according to the deputy general of CBI, John Cridland.
Cridland added that to think that Britain will be out of the recession before 2011 would just be ‘kidding ourselves.’
The CBI also stated that in 2011 the UK GDP growth will only be about 2.5% following its prediction of 1.2% in 2010.
Cridland also stated that households and businesses will continue to struggle in the next two years and that it will be especially hard during the beginning of 2010 since several stimulus plans such as the scrappage scheme and VAT cut will end. He stated that with these factors in mind the CBI is not as upbeat about the growth rate of the GDP as the Chancellor is.
Alistair Darling stated in his pre-budget report that the GDP may grow as much as 3.5% in 2011 which the CBI counters by stating their main wish of the New Year was to get a better grip on the state of public finances.
December 7, 2009
Filed under: CBI — Alan @ 4:25 am
A new report released by the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) warns that thousands of employees in the private sector that have been contributing to the final salary pension schemes may soon be forced to change their pensions into defined contribution plans.
As increasing deficits are hindering competitiveness, directors of eight out of ten companies told the CBI that their final salary schemes are going to come to an end.
The official report from the CBI said that as firms are starting to restructure to get ready for recovery from the poor economy the attention is turning to widening pension deficits since they are impairing recovery efforts.
Most of the final salary pension schemes do not accept new members with membership closed earlier in the decade, but now even those who are already existing members may see a change in their terms.
The CBI reports that 73% of businesses in the UK are fearful that they will need to increase payments in order to continue funding the schemes already in place.
Deputy General of the CBI, John Cridland, stated that firms are not ignoring their obligations to those who are enrolled in pension schemes, but that the firms need to get themselves back into a fit shape in order to take an active role in the economic recovery.
Cridland added that the cost of running such pensions is damaging the UK business’s ability to compete in the market and that the cost of continuing to run final salary pensions is unpredictable and high.
November 2, 2009
Filed under: CBI — Alan @ 8:38 am
When asked by the Government how to increase the capital funding of SME’s, Chris Rowlands stated that any measures will need to be taken on a large and significant scale.
According to Rowlands, who is the former chairman of the Asian operation of 3i, in order to fix the market failure of SMEs the industry will need to complete a massive overhaul.
Rowlands was appointed in the summer of 2009 to look into how government intervention could help provide more funding options for SMEs, which are currently having problems receiving finance options for growth.
The finished review is expected to be released by Chancellor Alistair Darling during November, or at the latest in December during the Pre-Budget Report. In particular the report is focused on companies that are seeking finance to grow their businesses in the bracket of £2m to £10m.
In order to back the report Rowlands has worked with large bodies such as the British Venture Capital Association and the CBI, as well as funding agents like Finance Wales and SMEs.
Rowlands reported that during the recession it is easy to see that SMEs have a much harder time finding financing, and added that there is a general consensus that when the recession ends SMEs will still have trouble initially receiving finance.
October 9, 2009
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 1:45 am
The Conservative party has initiated a new ‘Get Britain Working’ campaign that is meeting wide approval from business leaders across the UK, at least according to the Shadow Chancellor.
The campaign is aimed at giving businesses a break on national insurance on the first ten new employees that they hire, in order to encourage businesses to take on new employees. Ordinarily businesses must pay a tax of 12.8pc for each worker’s wages.
The Shadow Chancellor estimates that the campaign could lead to over 60,000 new jobs, which would drastically help lower the unemployment rate that is steadily increasing in the UK.
Deputy Director General of CBI, John Cridland stated that there are many business people who refrain from hiring an employee because of how much red tape and taxes surround the process. However, with the aid of the proposal the process needed to hire employees will become simpler, which will help entrepreneurs in the UK hire employees, and grow their businesses.
The idea is that small business owners will see Britain as a place where they can invest, and set up a business, without high start up costs, which will lead to an influx of small business, and employment opportunities.
September 28, 2009
Filed under: CBI — Alan @ 8:51 am
The CBI will release a new manifesto for business that outlines what the group believes the governments priorities should be after the election is over, regardless of which party ends up with in power.
The CBI outlines in its 12 point plan the need to take action against youth unemployment, further stabilization of the banking sector, and a new plan that is more coherent to address the way that Britain’s public finances are handled.
Additionally, other areas that need addressed are public sector pension reform, energy security, and a better focus on becoming a low carbon economy.
Outside of these areas, the CBI also stated that the government needs to quickly address these issues by creating timetables that will deal with each of the priorities stated by the CBI within the first 100 days following the election, when the new people in power take over.
CBI deputy director general, John Cridland, said the economy is still the biggest priority of the incoming government power. He stated that although every new government has a lot to get done in its first few days in office, the economy needs to be considered every step of the way in particular with the global recession, and the current state of public finances.
