Business Money – Finance and Banking for Business

Business bank charges 1993-2008
April 2008

Business bank charges have long been a source of contention, though often more so with people who have nothing to do with business. The Cruickshank report was a classic example of how governments tilt at windmills in this regard. Not only was the exercise a complete waste of time in that it revealed little, it also gave us a chilling foretaste as to the commercial ineptitude of Gordon Brown.

Global CEO survey
February 2008

CEOs’ confidence about prospects for business declined for the first time since 2003 and fear of a global recession emerged as the major threat to growth in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ eleventh Annual Global CEO Survey. Compared to last year, possible economic downturn is the only risk factor to increase in concern among CEOs. All other risks to growth, including energy supply, global climate change and terrorism, declined as business threats. Over-regulation and availability of talent were also top CEO concerns.

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The scandal of our SME sector
January 2008

Abominable, cynical treatment by an ignorant, grasping government that depends upon it for so much of our national wealth – it needs good bankers, and now. Our annual review of business banking looks at its target market.

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Worldwide factoring report
December 2007

We asked our friends in International Factors Group to let us have their thoughts on progress made through 2007 and the prospects
for 2008

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Christmas box

December 2007

What would managing directors like for Christmas for their business?

Most managing directors would be delighted to have the chance to sit on Santa’s knee and give him a list of things to courier over by reindeer express on Christmas morning for their business. So what would they hope to find in their Christmas stocking? Bonnie Yuill went to find out.

Undisclosed commission payments at the end of the road

The recent ruling by the Court of Appeal in Wilson v Hurstanger Limited finally shines some bright, and irresistible, light into the murky area of undisclosed commission to intermediaries. If 15 years ago this was the norm, sums even changing hands in cash in brown envelopes passed on in motorway service area car parks, the regulatory mood of the day now calls for complete transparency.
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Cashflow Partners in receivership
A sad end for a Scottish family firm
October 2007

There are many reasons why I pick up the pen to write this tale with a heavy heart.
The first is that I have known the Russell family, father and son, David and Robin, for most of the time I have been publishing Business Money. They are people whose company I enjoy and, notwithstanding a natural reserve when we first appeared in 1993 and sought information some might regard as privy to the directors, they have always been hospitable and forthcoming.

Home-working
A license to loaf?
September 2007

Working from home may just sound like a license to loaf, but for many large and successful businesses it’s not only employee-friendly but earns valuable brownie points for green awareness. It also means that recruitment for any post can be countrywide. Could it be the way forward for modern businesses? I went to find out.

Breaking up is hard to do…
Resolving failing business partnerships
August 2007

When friends, family or colleagues decide to set up in business together, they might think it’s a case of til retirement do us part, but it’s not just reaching for the pension book that can spell the end of a commercial partnership. Many businesses fail long before the partners reach the age of 60, yet few new start-ups even consider putting in place procedures to deal with the dissolution, or change of their business if things should go wrong. Here, John McBride, location director of Vantis McBrides looks at some of the routes to resolving failing business partnerships.

Factoring in Russia
The factoring market potential in world’s largest
country is huge

July 2007

Although factoring has only been available in the Russian market since about 1998, it has already grown to about $10bn per year in value of invoices assignments, representing about 1% of GDP at the end of 2006. Many banks have started to invest in factoring operations in the last two to three years but just the top six factoring companies and banks account for some 80% of the factoring business. The top two account for 50% of the factoring business in Russia, these are Eurokommerz and NFC (National Factoring Company). NFC is a licensed bank whilst Eurokommerz is completely independent.
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Commercial Property Credit Insurance
Safeguarding income and financial obligations
June 2007

The UK property market is expected to continue with its increase in activity. Growth is being enjoyed nationally, primarily through the London market driving rental increases. Many regional areas like Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester are benefiting from this. Rental increases last year grew by 24% in the City and 12% in the West End of London. Many analysts in the property world believe that office space in the City will continue its upward advance and we could see space being leased for more than £70 per square foot.
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Credit and debit card factoring hits Europe
Merchant Cash Express Limited
May 2007

A fresh source of capital is now available to businesses where a high proportion of their settlements are received through card channels. The model is well established in America, this is, as far as I am aware, its first application in Europe.
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Working smart
Turnover in the UK’s recruitment industry has recently hit the highest levels on record but the challenge of recruiting quality staff seems to show no signs of abating
April 2007

So what are the pressures on the recruitment companies to keep up with the changes? “The fortunes of our industry are inextricably linked to the overall health of the UK economy GDP,” reported Marcia Roberts, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s friendly new CEO. “Most other economic indicators remained relatively strong for the period of the survey and this year’s annual turnover report reflects this picture.”
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Paper tiger to roaring dragon
Jonathan Wooller has spent 15 years doing business in China –
he has seen many changes
March 2007

It has taken a mere 15 years – a blink of an eye – to see the paper tiger transform itself into the roaring dragon that is the new China. Innovation and manufacturing capacity has always been the mainstay of the country with its competitive edge in the world riding on the back of its low cost economy and vast labour force. But beware, because this dragon has real teeth, and the transformation in the technology offering, quality and inward investment has left other more established economies green with envy, with a flood of new businesses fighting to establish themselves on the Chinese mainland.
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SET and the City
The financial community needs to be aware of the opportunities available for wealth creation from science, engineering and technology if it wants to stay competitive in global markets
February 2007

Gordon Brown is on record as saying “Britain will only have a competitive edge if we develop world leadership in the most technologically intensive and science-based industries and services.”
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The Competition Commission enquiry
Unsurprisingly few surprises
February 2007
The Competition Commission’s inquiry into the UK grocery market has so far smacked of anti-climax. The growing band of vociferous journalists, lobbyists, “think tanks” and quangos ganging up on the major grocery retailers were left disappointed that the “Emerging Thinking” document published in early January did not signal any major criticism or clampdown on their objects of ire. In fact, the whole document was much softer in tone than the press had led us to believe it might be.
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40 years in the life of Brian
Brian Sumner, managing director of Ultimate Finance, reflects on his
40 years in the invoice discounting and factoring industry, and looks
to the future.
January 2007
My introduction to the invoice finance market came at the tender age of 19, when I joined the cash department of Goode Durrant and Murray Ltd, where they were pioneering a particular form of selective invoice discounting. Over the next two years I rose through the ranks until I reached the elevated position of sales representative with a car and a whole country to sell a product that no one had heard of. They hadn’t heard of factoring either at that time I might add!

Care home market review
With an aging population, rising fees and buoyant occupancy levels, there will be few sectors able to match the returns offered by the care home market over the next decade.
November / December 2006

The number of elderly (85+) will more than double over the next 25 years (the period which is relevant to most commercial mortgages), as can be seen from table 1. This rise in the number of very elderly will generate significant increased demand for health and social care, particularly as rates of disability and dependency increase with age. Laing and Buisson estimate for instance that the risk of living in a care home or long stay hospital rises from 4.1% for those aged 75-84 up to 17.5% for those aged 85+.

Buy-to-let 10 years on
Amazingly the buy-to-let market is only 10 years old but it demonstrates a maturity that belies its young age
October 2006

As buy-to-let celebrates its tenth birthday amidst an avalanche of positive national media coverage, readers of this publication might be forgiven for adopting a more cynical observation that this is only residential investment property re-marketed under a new brand. But what a re-branding achievement by Andrew Reeves of ARLA and those early lenders including The Woolwich, Paragon and Mortgage Express – something that John Heron of Paragon describes as “a hallelujah moment” when the idea was first put to him.

The US is big, but the world is bigger

There is so much corporate activity in the UK, continental Europe and the rest of the world that London lawyers specialising in this practice area do not have to rely on the US to make their fortunes.
September 2006
Mergers and acquisitions activity is booming. Globally, the number and size of deals this year is heading toward record levels, with cross-border deals taking centre stage as companies take advantage of cheap financing, according to a just published survey by Accenture and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Property Development

Lenders take action on contaminated land and environmental risks
August 2006

In a hot property market it isn’t usually the environmental issues that keep bankers lying awake at night. However, it appears that environmental risk has been creating enough disturbed sleep for several major banks to change their practices in order to protect clients, protect the bank’s reputation and ultimately avoid contaminating their loan book.

For what we are about to receive…

The law setting out the duties of receivers and mortgagees to companies and their guarantors and reports on the recent case of Barclays Bank plc v Kingston and others
June 2006

Lenders to small or medium sized companies will normally take security over their main assets, such as a fixed charge over its real property and a floating charge over its business, and then top this up by taking personal guarantees from its directors. If it goes wrong, the lender will wish to extract itself and enforce all of its security with the minimum amount of hassle and expense.

Overheated investment

Are lending institutions driving the current commercial property market?

May 2006

With only marginal evidence for rental growth, why are such unprecedented prices being paid for commercial property across the country? Generally, such sharp yields should correlate with anticipation of something happening in the market in the future, ie. as the result of clear evidence of rental growth.
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Consolidation and the rise of the east

Issues facing the motor industry
April 2006

The high cost of car showrooms, the increasing dominance of large dealerships within car retailing and the failure of car manufacturers to adapt to consumer demand is changing the face of the motor industry as we know it, and the future does not look rosy for the car forecourt nor the previously leading car manufacturers. Read More.

Factoring UK

Fit for business, fit for Bibby – Bob Lefroy, group editor, Business Money talks to Stuart Wilkinson
March 2006

Bob: Stuart, we have known each other for longer than either of us cares to remember. The news of the Bibby acquisition came as a surprise. When did Bibby first approach you? Read More.

VAT carousels – relief for innocent traders

February 2006

Bond House was a dealer in computer components. A significant part of its business comprised the purchasing of CPUs from traders registered for VAT in the UK and the selling of CPUs to traders registered for VAT in other member states. Read More.

Factoring in change

A Demica research study on the evolving factoring and invoice discounting market in northern Europe and its technology requirements

Factoring and invoice discounting companies across Europe now turnover in the region of 612bn and the market continues to grow. Read more.

The long-term future of long-term care

Richard Smith, chief operating officer, Taylors Business Surveyors & Valuers

Can it be sustained? After more than two years of increasingly frantic activity in the care sector, that is the question once again exercising the minds of those with an interest in reading the market. Read more.

Commercial Finance Brokers Survey

Your industry journal has built its successful reputation by telling many prospective advertisers that their promotions will not be seen by their future customers. But they will be seen by the people who will advise those future customers to buy their products. Read more.

Self-regulation in commercial finance

The debate over just how much regulation is needed in life will run forever. There will always be those who wish to micro manage the lives of others, sadly, and all too often, the very last ones who should be allowed so to do. But a totally unregulated environment sees exploitation of the weak and the stupid. Read more.

Invoice finance - the final decision

DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary's Global Services Bulletin looks at the UK's House of Lords ruling on book debts

The UK’s House of Lords has held that a charge on book debts cannot be characterised as fixed where the company granting the security can freely draw on the proceeds of the book debts. The Lords declined the banks’ invitation to apply their judgment prospectively only. The decision will therefore apply to all past and future cases where a bank has purported to take a ﬁxed charge over book debts but failed to exercise control over their proceeds. Read more.

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