Brent Hoberman, Lastminute.com founder, investor and UK Government advisor has announced he is stepping down from PROfounders Capital, the London-based investment firm he set up in 2009
Category: News
The latest news affecting small and medium sized (SME) businesses in the UK
Peer-to-peer lending hits £3bn as alternative finance goes mainstream
Peer-to-peer financing has soared over 50 per cent on last year, as alternative finance continues to shake up the lending world to really begin hitting the mainstream.
Britain’s businesses are stockpiling cash in case of a Brexit
Britain’s SMEs are stockpiling cash to mitigate risks from the potential seismic shift in the economy if UK leaves the European Union — a Brexit.
MPs to probe impact of new rules that force SMEs to enrol workers into a pension
MPs are set to probe the impact of new rules that force SMEs to enrol workers into a pension.
Export Commission needed to raise UKs export performance
An independent, national Exports Commission must be set up if the UK is serious about turning its export performance around in a meaningful way, according to a new CBI report.
1 in 5 Brits will start their Christmas shopping in the January sales
1 in 5 Brits say they will be buying their 2016 Christmas presents in the January sales – despite growing concerns surrounding deceptive deals.
SMEs must join forces to tackle a rocky start to 2016
1.45 million UK SMEs seeking growth overseas, but two-thirds say a possible UK exit from the EU is affecting long-term growth plans
Job creation is up but skills shortage & rising costs are starting to bite UK business
Skills shortages are continuing to bite with firms identifying this as the top threat to the UK’s attractiveness as a place to do business for the second year running. That’s according to the latest CBI/Accenture Employment Trends Survey.
Pressurised SMEs fight back over tax changes which will add huge administrative burden
Business leaders are calling for the taxman to spend more on helping companies cope with its own red tape and have warned that plans to make small firms use online tax returns could create more bureaucracy, not less.
Bibby Financial Services pledges over £770m in funding for SMEs
The UK’s largest independently owned invoice finance provider, Bibby Financial Services (“BFS”), has committed to increase its total funding for UK SMEs by over £290m.
Poor business planning ‘will lose SMEs £25 billion’ in extra revenue in 2016
Poor business planning could mean that the UKs small businesses will lose out on £25 billion in extra revenue in 2016, according to new research.
Advertising tears don’t translate into sales at Christmas
UK marketers have potentially misspent a large portion of the millions invested on Christmas campaigns as new data from SurveyMonkey reveals that while emotionally-charged ads create brand awareness, that affinity often doesn’t translate into sales.
Christmas cancelled for nearly half of SMEs
Despite being a national holiday, nearly one in five SME decision makers have had to go into work on Christmas Day, and nearly a third have sacrificed the festivities to check and send work emails.
Employers urged to act to meet 21 December deadline for advising HMRC about payrolling benefits in kind
Employers considering payrolling benefits need to tell HMRC by 21 December if they intend to make the switch in April 2016, to minimise the problems on switching from the existing system to the new process.
Over half a million youngsters entered British higher education in 2015
A new educational record was set in 2015 as 532,000 young people were accepted into British universities and colleges, according to UCAS, a 3.1 per cent increase on 2014.
