June 3, 2010
Filed under: Business Tools — Alan @ 11:04 am
The Government must make increasing basic broadband speeds an obligation in order to help SMES sustain recovery as they grow according to the FSB (Federation of Small Business).
The FSB positively received efforts by the Government to note the importance of broadband by tackling the problem of missing broadband in areas where customers and small businesses could benefit. In order to address the problem, the Government has appointed a new Broadband Minister.
However, in a new report by the FSB titled ‘Broadband: Steps for an Incoming Government’ the FSB states that SMEs are not able to trade as efficiently online as they could due to the lack of reliable and fast speed broadband and are urging the new Broadband Minister, Ed Vaizey, to put measures into place that will confront this problem.
Rural area small firms are not receiving the services they are promised by their broadband providers according to research from the FSB that shows almost 33% of all SMEs are told they will receive internet speeds of 2Mbps to 4Mbps with an incredible 94% claiming that they did not receive these speeds.
The slow broadband speed reduces the overall productivity of SMEs but reliable and fast broadband speed in the future could help SMEs strength their economic growth and business reach creating up to 60,000 new jobs and adding an additional £18b to the GDP in the UK.
In order to meet this goal, the FSB is asking that reliable and fast broadband is immediately put into place across the UK by the Broadband Minister.
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.
April 23, 2010
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 6:19 pm
Owners of SMEs are asking for the new Government that comes out of the General Election to make taxation easier.
The software company Sage conducted a survey that asked 2,000 SMEs what the largest barriers to starting up were, to which about 72% stated that the complexity of HMRC rules is a large problem, while another 76% felt they were missing tax breaks they were eligible for due to the fact that the system was too hard to properly navigate.
MD of direct marketing company, The Data Partnership, Victoria Pooley stated that there is currently too much red tape and thresholds surrounding the taxation laws that make it hard for a company to grow in particularly with offshore call centres.
The Sage survey also found that when offered a chance to make one change to the way the tax system is set up 36% of all SMEs would like it to be simpler, while the next largest group at 26% reported they would freeze the VAT at about 18%. A small portion of 6% responded that they would like to see the 50p income tax rate for high earners scrapped.
Tax specialist for the accountant firm RSM Tenon, Andrew Hubbard, stated that for the most part all business owners simply want to be left unbothered and most the time when a change is made to simplify the process of taxes it only incurs more problems and costs.
MD of Sage’s accountants division, Jayne Archbold, stated that when the economy is shaky being aware of the tax breaks available to a company can mean the difference between failure and success.
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 6:16 pm
The Information Security Forum (ISF) which is a security trade group that in the past only catered to large corporations is now attempting to gain the input of small businesses.
The ISF will now allow companies that have a turnover of under £100m per year to apply for an SME membership according to an announcement made by the group this week.
The ISF is a non-profit international organization that offers guidance to members on information security issues and best practice solutions. Notable member organizations include British Airways, GlaxoSmithKline, Barclays, and Prudential.
Service director for IT analyst firm Freeform Dynamics, Andrew Buss, stated that opening up the ISF to SME membership is a good idea because all companies regardless of size can benefit from third party guidance and information when it comes to security.
The new ISF SME membership will allow businesses to access over 400 reports on information security as well as online discussion groups that allow companies to exchange their methodologies and access to the web based ISF Security Healthcheck tool.
While it does offer these perks, a SME membership is restricted compared to a full membership, with SME members unable to access the full range of provided benchmarking services and security tools and not invited to attend the ISF world congress event held every year.
Buss stated that the most likely SMEs to sign up for a membership will be those that are on the larger side themselves.
April 17, 2010
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 2:33 am
Almost three out of every four SMEs has been affected by late payments that occurred over the course of 2009, but less than half of them have actually taken any steps to reduce the pressure of their occurrence, according to research from NatWest and its parent company the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The research included numbers from 500 companies, out of which, there are a total of £15.7b of invoices that are over 120 days in arrears. Banks estimate that 235,000 of SMEs are still wasting their time chasing invoices that are overdue, which is the largest problem for wholesalers; out of which 93% have faced lengthy delays. Retailers on the other hand have had a better outlook with only 66% faced with late payments.
Additional Barclay’s research that is based on data compiled from 1,000 companies suggests that some SMEs are taking active steps in order to reduce the cash flow pressure by writing off large amounts of debts. In fact, about 720,000 SMEs wrote off on average about £2,529 in debts in 2009 which is almost double than the amount that was written off in 2008.
The two companies also estimate that fewer than half of all SMEs have actually taken action to combat the debt with only about 11% choosing to hire an in-house credit controller, 8% factoring, and 9% to start using invoice discounting in order to each the pressure from cash flow problems that are caused by owed debts.
April 10, 2010
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 5:38 pm
The Enterprise Tsar of the Government is set to lead a three member team that will advise ministers on how to make sure that all SMEs receive proper and fair treatment when seeking loans or credit from banks.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson expects the group to help create a path that will lead to the appointment of a SBCA or Small Business Credit Adjudicator whose responsibility it will be to referee any disputes although the position will not be enacted until after the General Election.
Lord Sugar has already had a row with task force member John Wright the former chairman of the FSB. Wright called for his resignation in November of 2009 when the new Business Tsar said that companies that are struggling are comparable to those who moan even though they live in a ‘Disney World.’
He also stated that 85pc of SMEs that want bank loans should instead be seeking the advice of a bankruptcy adviser adding that most of the companies that are complaining are those that he would not even consider lending a penny to.
Currently, Mr. Wright and Lord Sugar are understood to be on good terms, but the decision to make an Ombudsman type complaints body announced as part of the Budget last week has already caused one political row with the CBI director general, Richard Lambert, stating that the proposal will never actually come about because it is ‘pure political rhetoric’ that will never work.
In response, Lord Mandelson stated that Lambert is siding with the bullying banks and betraying SMEs.
April 2, 2010
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 1:45 am
Wales SMEs are facing a mixture of fear about business and consumer spending, but at the same time they are attempting to deal with the high cost of materials according to a new report published by GE Capital.
The report is composed of interviews that were held with 500 UK SME owners during the month of March and found that 40% of all Welch companies listed inventory costs and the high raw materials costs as one of their chief concerns in terms of their future success.
In fact, the worry over the rising costs was almost as high as the fear of how much UK spending will be focused on business and consumer spending which was identified as a worry by 42% of SMEs.
Regional director of GE Capital, Paul Emeades, stated that as the country is on the cusp of an economic turnaround the Government is going to have to match the budget to support the Wales SMEs if it does not want to halt their recovery.
Emeades continued to say that Wales SMEs should not be left behind because with over 52,000 firms worried that their numbers will decrease this year the Government needs to take note and focus on keeping conditions right to foster growth.
He also stated that in order to aid the SME’s the Government should consider reducing the cost of the new regulation, reduce the potential impact of high fuel costs which continue to rise, and rethink the proposal to increase the fuel duty later in 2010.
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 1:42 am
Chancellor Alistair Darling offered the last Budget of the current administration before the General Election takes place taking care to outline many attempts by the Government to balance the books while still putting forth funds to help stimulate the economic recovery.
Darling did not mention what the Labour plans spending cuts would affect in terms of education and health but instead said that the settlement after the election will be one of the hardest in the last few decades.
There were a few smaller cuts announced that affected the NHS IT system which he confirmed will go ahead as scheduled.
A few other budget points mentioned include the award of 15% of all central government contracts to SMEs which could bring in £15b worth of new business in the public sector.
Also announced was the UK Finance for Growth Investment Corporation which will be used to improve and streamline the way the government is able to offer aid to SMEs.
Other budget measures addressed was the implementation of the new Growth Capital Fund which will offer firms that are currently growing private capital eventually offering around £500m in finance.
By the end of 2010 the Government also plans to publish all contracts in the public sector online if they are worth over £20,000.
Darling also estimated to the House of Commons that the economy will continue to grow anywhere from 1% to 1.5%this year with a larger growth ration in 2011 of somewhere between 3% and 3.5%.
February 3, 2010
Filed under: Business Finance — Alan @ 5:29 am
New research shows that small companies are now using their own resources to fund their organizations since they no longer are able to secure decent credit from banking institutions.
In a survey completed by the Scotland Federation of Small Businesses over a fifth of bosses were forced to turn to their own savings to make it through 2009. Also shown in the survey was the fact that only a third of the SMEs actually used a bank overdraft in order to continue to finance their activities.
The FBS concluded from their study that Scottish firms needed better access to flexible and affordable bank credit.
Out of the 1,200 firms that were surveyed between the months of last September and October, about ten percent said they used personal credit, including credit cards, company credit, or a bank loan but over half of them did actually use these lines of credit during the month of October, which is when the base rate of the Bank of England fell to its lowest point ever.
About 33% reported that bank facilities had changed their interest rates with only about one out of six actually lowering their interest.
Out of the firms included in the FBS survey, only 30% saw an increase in their profits while 47% reported they saw their overall profits plummet.
In terms of expansion, 47% also reported that they planned to keep their business its current size until the recession passed with 32% stating that they planned on about a fifth of future expansion.
January 5, 2010
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 6:55 am
Leaders of many of Britain’s small companies have stated that the national insurance rate increase attacks jobs and will hinder the growth rate of Britain as it comes out of the recession.
The FSB or Federation of Small Businesses stated that Chancellor Alistair Darling has effectively taken away with the same hand he gave out after he deferred a one pence increase on SMEs corporate tax, but then hiked the contributions of small businesses to national insurance by about half a percent.
The move to defer the corporation tax will help out about 850,000 SMEs, but the move to increase national insurance will hurt companies and increase the rate of unemployment since companies will not be able to afford new or possibly current employees.
Chairman of the FSB, John Wright, stated that the new tax will hurt the UK’s employment rate and that since the unemployment is on the rise it is not excusable for the government to use national insurance tax hikes as a way to get revenue. Instead, Wright stated that SMEs should have been rewarded for hiring new employees to encourage job creation.
The new point hike is on top of a previous rate increase from 2008 that affects all SMEs, their staff, and those who are self employed in Britain. Workers who earn less than twenty thousand pounds a year will be exempt from the tax hike however.
Darling also announced in his pre-Budget report that the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme will be offered for another year.
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