SME Business News

The Financial Times reports that chancellor Alistair Darling is set to introduce new measures aimed at helping small businesses secure finance during the economic downturn.
The report suggests that Darling is preparing measures that will underwrite  new loans to small business and by extending tax payer guarantees to the banks that lend money to SMEs.
Increased funding  [...]

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The Federation Of Small Businesses (FSB) has launched a new financial helpline to it’s members, the new service became available on 23 October.
FSB refers to the new service as a ‘vital lifeline’ for small business owners. The Federation already offers it’s members access to it’s 24 hour legal helpline, insurance services, business banking and finance [...]

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The Federation Of Small Businesses (FSB) have issued the following release of their proposal for a new £1bn Small Business Survival Fund To Save The UK Economy.
The FSB is calling on the Government to take emergency measures to save the millions of small businesses that drive the UK economy in the next two weeks as [...]

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Proposals by the government to help small businesses weather the financial crisis have been applauded by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) who consider the measures to “be along the right lines.”
The package unveiled yesterday includes an investment of £350million towards staff training for small businesses and new rules to make training grants more easily [...]

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Conservative leader David Cameron has continued the barrage of attacks mounted by the Tories over the way that Gordon Brown’s Labour Party have handled the current credit crisis.
In an article in the Observer, Cameron has called upon the government to offer help to small businesses by deferring payment of VAT for six months. The VAT [...]

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As if you needed telling, recent research has discovered that the costs of running a business has increased by twice the general rate of inflation over the last two years.
The Business Inflation Guide is produced by the insurance company More Than Business, it claims to measure twenty of the most important expenditure items for small [...]

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In the midst of the doom and gloom of recession it is refreshing to hear that Barclays Bank are predicting a brighter short term future for SMEs in the UK.
Nic Bayley head of product for Barclays Local Business made the startlingly optimistic claim at the annual conference of the National Federation Of Enterprise Agencies.
“We believe [...]

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The Forum Of Private Business (FPB) says that a recent survey reveals that late payment has become worse over the last year, with over 50% reporting that getting invoices paid on time has become increasingly harder.
As many as 88% of respondents claimed that receiving payments on time from larger organisations had become more problematic.
One in [...]

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The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has attacked large companies that delay invoice payment and impose new terms and settlement fees on small businesses.
The recent post about Alliance Boots has led to the FSB obtaining a copy of the letter that was sent out to the companies suppliers in June.
The letter states that as of [...]

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A small business that employs just two people has forced multinational retail store Alliance Boots into back tracking on its payment terms.
After receiving a letter from Alliance Boots that said that the company was changing it’s payment terms from 30 days to 75 days from receipt of invoice, the husband and wife team of training [...]

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