Introduction According to recent research from Cornwall Insight’s Business Energy Cost Forecast electric bills for small industrial consumers, such as large retail, leisure units and small manufacturers are set to rise by over £200,000 more than pre-energy crisis levels by 2026. Energy bills are expected to hit £550,000 for the 2026-2027 year, which represents a … Read more
Introduction Barclays has launched a new Business Prosperity Index which tracks trends and data from its 1 million business customers alongside market research which gives a snapshot of the UK’s current business environment health. Those looking to start a business can get key insights from the index findings in order to identify potential issues they … Read more
Introduction According to the Confederation of British Industry’s latest growth indicator, a majority of businesses are expecting a decline in economic activity at the beginning of 2025 for the first quarter. This decrease in business confidence has followed a negative reaction to the Labour Government’s first Budget in power and also due to private sector … Read more
Introduction According to a recent research paper from the House of Lords, it is estimated that innovative science and technology activity contributed a total of £91.6bn to the UK economy in 2023. This breakdown includes £71bn for IT and other information service tech activities and £20.6bn for scientific research and development activities across other sectors. … Read more
Introduction According to the latest annual research survey by the Department for Business and Trade on exporting, 28% of UK businesses surveyed admitted that their exporting knowledge was very low, which is up from 24% in the previous year. Research has suggested that there is a growing knowledge gap among exporting businesses following Brexit and … Read more
Introduction According to recent data from Zoopla, the UK property market has seen sales levels reach its highest level in October 2024 since 2020. Sales figures have been recorded that have not been since the 2020 property boom spurred on by the pandemic. Sales of houses are up by 26% year-on-year and this also means … Read more
Introduction According to a 2024 survey by the British Business Bank, 70% of UK businesses stated that they have experienced cash flow problems and in many cases poor working capital management has been cited as a significant contribution to this. There are also other factors that affect why businesses have poor working capital, including the … Read more
Introduction According to a 2024 survey carried out by Manx Financial Group, 31% of UK SMEs questioned have had to stop or pause key business growth activities such as hiring new staff over the last few years due to a lack of finance. It is also the case that around 10% of SMEs who attempted … Read more
Despite the negative headlines around the £40bn increase in taxes with the burden falling on businesses, allied to low growth forecasts and higher interest rates, there are still reasons to be optimistic for ambitious business owners in the UK. Investment in innovation was mooted soon after the election so it was interesting to see things coming to … Read more
Introduction According to the latest Office for National Statistics Survey on Business Insights and Conditions for October 2024 it has been revealed that 22% of businesses who responded expected their business performance to increase over the next 12 months. This is a relatively modest figure compared with the 43% of respondents who expect business activity … Read more
