On demand beauty service Milk Beauty raises more than £225,000 on Seedrs crowdfund December 22, 2015 Hackney-based Milk Beauty, the start-up which comes to your home or office to provide beauty treatments on demand, has raised £225,983 in the first 10 days of its crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. Milk has reached 75 per cent of its investment target of £300,000, for which it is offering an 18.76 per cent stake in [...]
The great liquidity squeeze: How to get SMEs to market December 17, 2015 Asset Match’s Stuart Lucas explains why investors must put pressure on firms when it comes to exit plans. Investors in private businesses – whether they are angels, high net worth individuals, institutions or even sophisticated retail investors – are always, ultimately, looking towards the potential payout that an exit (traditionally an IPO or trade [...]
UK Pensions: ICAEW warns that the secondary annuity market could leave pensioners worse off December 16, 2015 The government's newly-unveiled secondary annuity market may only benefit a handful of people and could leave many pensioners worse off, an industry body for accountants has warned today. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) also cautioned that the plans, which were announced by the Treasury yesterday, were likely to be expensive to implement. John [...]
Crowdcube and Deliveroo join Tech City UK’s rising stars in the Future Fifty programme December 16, 2015 London-based restaurant delivery app Deliveroo is among the 15 new entrants to the Tech City UK Future Fifty programme. The Future Fifty, part of UK Trade and Investment, celebrates, and supports, 50 of the UK's rising tech stars, and this year's entrants are a testament to the growing force of e-commerce. Also joining Deliveroo on [...]
UK pensions: Industry experts react to the Treasury’s secondary annuity market plans announcement, cautioning that people should seek advice and not rush decisions December 15, 2015 That’s not festive spirit in the air you’re sensing – people are getting pretty excited about the Treasury’s announcement this morning of plans to create the long-awaited secondary annuity market. However, pensions industry figures are urging the five million people currently receiving income from an annuity not to get too carried away. The changes are [...]
Treasury reveals details of its plan to extend pension freedoms as economic secretary Harriett Baldwin unveils plans to create “new secondary annuity market” December 15, 2015 The Treasury has revealed details of its plans to extend pension freedoms to more than five million people as part of a move to create a secondary annuity market. Economic secretary to the Treasury Harriett Baldwin said this morning the tax restrictions will be removed from 6 April 2017, making it easier for people to sell their annuity for an [...]
Almost half of pensions industry professionals believe pensions will become a less important part of benefits in the future December 14, 2015 Today's businesses might be able to use a generous pension package as a key selling point for top talent, but will that ring true in the future? A survey released today by Aon Hewitt has discovered that 42 per cent of pensions professionals believe pensions will form a less integral part of benefits in the [...]
Defined benefit pension schemes becoming less and less popular with FTSE 100 companies, as contributions for their provision falls by 13pc in a year December 14, 2015 Defined benefit (DB) pension schemes have fallen further out of favour among FTSE 100 companies, as payments for their provision have tapered off. Research released today by JLT Employee Benefits has revealed that ongoing DB pension provisions among FTSE 100 firms fell 13 per cent in real terms to about £7.2bn in the 12 months [...]
Shh … one in 10 people aged over-40 hide savings from their partner December 11, 2015 One in 10 people over the age of 40 have confessed to secretly hiving off cash and investments without their partner's knowledge, new research from insurer Prudential has shown. The annual survey found 10 per cent have secret savings, investments and/or pensions, each with an average value of £30,300. Perhaps more worryingly, 15 per cent admitted to having hidden debts, averaging [...]
I’ll drink to that: London start-up Taste Cocktails beats investment target on crowdfunding site Crowdcube December 10, 2015 If you don't fancy braving the wind and rain this December, new start up Taste Cocktails may have the answer. A subscription service, Taste delivers monthly boxes to your door with premium ingredients to mix bar-quality cocktails. Taste has now beaten its £60,000 crowdfunding target on Crowdcube with five days to go. The company has raised £63,620. It [...]