Responding to the latest ONS Retail Sales Index figures which showed a 4.1% increase in overall sales (retail sales excluding fuel: J3L2), Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: “It is clear that the retail industry is entering a period of fragile recovery, with August showing the third consecutive month of growth. […]
A new investment of £3m has been announced to help boost innovation and entrepreneurship in Greater Manchester. The funding has been awarded by Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to the Growth Company’s GC Angels, an investment service formed to support businesses seeking access to early-stage capital. The investment, […]
Overall, recovery in activity among the UK’s small businesses stalled in August as growth slowed according to the latest edition of the NatWest UK Small Business PMI® report. The Headline All-Sector Small Business Activity Index slipped to 50.6, down from a two-year high of 53.3 in July. Worryingly just above the 50.0 level that separates […]
Ahead of the ONS retail sales release for August, Yolt, the smart-thinking money app, has revealed new data which demonstrates that, when compared to February before the pandemic was declared, spending on shopping went up 36% in August. The data also revealed that users had been spending more, but less often, when compared to February, […]
Experienced business professionals, Anthony Lewis and Jonathan Burgoyne, have recently purchased Bloomsbury Guest House in York, with funding successfully secured by specialist commercial finance broker, Christie Finance. Bloomsbury Guest House, long-established and located in a popular area of York, has been owned by the previous owners since 2009 and has been operated as a lifestyle […]
The extension of the rent holiday for commercial properties is a disaster for landlords throughout the country who have been unable to force businesses who are open and making sales to pay rent since March, say leading tax and advisory firm Blick Rothenberg. Heather Powell, a partner at the firm and head of property said: […]
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed that so far in 2020 no criminal prosecutions under the current anti-money laundering legislation have been made, despite its stated intention in 2019 to do so. The revelation came from a Freedom of Information request, which also said it has discontinued half of its 14 investigations into possible […]
West One is making a series of further significant enhancements to its residential and buy-to-let second charge product ranges. This follows the expansion of their product range last month which saw the reintroduction of its ‘Prime Plan’ with rates starting from 3.99%. This latest set of changes is designed to target underserved areas of the […]
Business owners have been the target of a new email phishing scam purporting to be from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). The scam, which was uncovered by accountancy outsourcing specialists Lanop Outsourcing, uses official HMRC branding and graphics to convince victims that their VAT deferral application has been rejected. At least 100 company owners have […]
Business bank, Allica Bank, is launching a £100m funding round to help it meet the current high levels of demand for finance it is experiencing from British businesses, and continue broadening services and product lines. The bank, which received full UK banking authorisation in late 2019, has had over £1bn of enquiries from businesses in […]
