ENTREPRENEURS NEWS | IN BRIEF August 7, 2011 BUSINESS CONFIDENCE FALLS BACK IN JULY Business confidence fell back in July after rebounding in June to a 13-month high, according to the Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Business Barometer. Less than half (46 per cent) of companies were more optimistic regarding economic prospects, a reduction from 51 per cent in June, while those that were [...]
There was some good news in this timid Budget but we need a strategy for growth March 21, 2012 IT’S hard to work out where George Osborne draws his lines in the sand. But, in so far as he draws them anywhere, yesterday’s Budget indicates he doesn’t always draw them in the right places. So, while there were some welcome steps in taxation policy, it seems nearly impossible to detect a coherent strategy. Initially, [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS September 9, 2010 RETIREMENT ADVICE MOST SOUGHT Almost half of all consumers seeking independent financial advice last month sought assistance with retirement planning, the professional advice website unbiased.co.uk said this week. Retirement planning has remained on an upward trend since May this year. Consumers are also increasingly looking for specialist guidance on investment and savings. Karen Barrett, chief [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS September 9, 2010 RETIREMENT ADVICE MOST SOUGHT Almost half of all consumers seeking independent financial advice last month sought assistance with retirement planning, the professional advice website unbiased.co.uk said this week. Retirement planning has remained on an upward trend since May this year. Consumers are also increasingly looking for specialist guidance on investment and savings. Karen Barrett, chief [...]
How to survive these taxing times January 29, 2012 AS THE dreaded 31 January rolls around for the self-employed – in fact, 1 February this year following planned industrial action – tax is once again top of the agenda. Nick Clegg, the deputy Prime Minister, has upped the ante by calling for the personal allowance to be raised to £10,000. In these taxing times, [...]
Cheaper long-term mortgages are back August 30, 2011 MORTGAGE rates are plummeting. Interest rates on gilts and swaps – those things that indicate the price of fixed-rate mortgages – have been heading downwards for some time and look to set to stay there. Now lenders seem to have caught on and have started dishing out the goods. Last week, Chelsea Building Society launched [...]
Truth about banker pay: It’s falling February 5, 2012 BRITISH investment bankers are braced for deep slashes to their pay packets after a slowdown in trading saw their US rivals cut bonuses by up to 30 per cent. Industry insiders say that UK bankers are looking at a pay cut of 20-50 per cent – in addition to thousands in job cuts – contrary [...]
Bridgepoint confirms deal to buy Quilter January 24, 2012 PRIVATE equity firm Bridgepoint yesterday signed its deal to buy Quilter, the wealth management business owned by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, for an undisclosed sum expected to be more than £170m. This comes just weeks after Bridgepoint bought online cycling shop Wiggle for €210m (£175.2m) in late 2011 – a year which saw the private [...]
The three frontrunners for France’s presidency will all lead down the wrong track March 14, 2012 THERE will be no winners in the French presidential election this April. One leading candidate is the unrepentant socialist Francois Hollande, who thinks 75 per cent is an optimal tax rate. The other is Nicolas Sarkozy, who has just managed to nudge himself into the lead with a desperate speech calling for two of the [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS September 2, 2010 LANDLORDS LACKING IN CONFIDENCE Confidence among landlords has dipped for the first time in almost two years. The latest National Landlord Association Optimism Index shows a drop from 51 to 47 points between the first and second quarter. The drop is believed to have been caused by falling house prices and cuts to housing benefits, [...]