First fall in jobless total since 2007 January 20, 2010 THE number of people out of work in the UK has fallen for the first time in 18 months, official figures indicated yesterday. There were 2.46m unemployed people in November, down from 2.49m the previous month. This puts the unemployment rate at 7.8 per cent, down from 7.9 per cent, according to the Office of [...]
Surprise drop in unemployment figures January 20, 2010 THE number of people out of work in the UK has fallen for the first time in 18 months, official figures show today. There were 2.46m unemployed people in November, down from 2.49m the previous month. This puts the unemployment rate at 7.8 per cent, down from 7.9 per cent, according to the Office of [...]
Price of everything going up too fast January 19, 2010 BRITAIN has a credibility problem – and no, I’m not only talking about the government’s hypocritical and self-serving protectionist rhetoric on Cadbury. Yesterday’s inflation figures were even more damaging. The consumer price index (CPI) rate jumped to 2.9 per cent from 1.9 per cent in November; when the Vat hikes kick in, inflation is bound [...]
Insolvencies to peak in 2010 as state props are withdrawn January 18, 2010 THE rate of corporate failures will accelerate in the second half of 2010 as government stimulus measures are unwound, insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor warned yesterday. The firm said 140,000 British companies suffered significant financial problems in the fourth quarter despite measures such as quantitative easing and the 2.5 per cent VAT cut. Begbies Traynor executive [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 17, 2010 FINANCIAL SERVICES CITY’S ROLE AS FINANCIAL CENTRE SET FOR NEW BOOST, SAYS TOP HEDGE FUND London will thrive as a financial centre over the next decade by becoming the natural western hub for emerging market growth, according to one of the City’s best-known hedge funds. In stark contrast to bankers’ doom-laden predictions about the City’s [...]
If it’s control and independence you want, then boutique is best January 13, 2010 A GENERATION ago boutique financial firms were viewed with suspicion. Unless you were the owner, then if you were involved with a boutique firm you probably earned less, and had fewer career opportunities than your peers who worked for large, well-known institutions. But in the last decade boutiques have been revolutionised and the previous reasons [...]
Businesses are not out of the woods just yet January 13, 2010 DAVID HUDSON LONDON HEAD OF CORPORATE INSOLVENCY, BAKER TILLY WHILE businesses fail during recessions, many also fail coming out, having spent the cash reserves during the hard times that they so crucially need when they have to grow again to serve a more confident customer base, against revitalised competition. The underlying message of Baker Tilly’s [...]
Tories unveil plans to help small firms January 10, 2010 DAVID Cameron yesterday announced a raft of measures to help small businesses, as he attempted to portray the Tories as a party of entrepreneurship. He said a Tory government would end the “anti-aspiration” culture that had been fostered under Labour, by increasing the insolvency threshold and reducing the number of days it takes to get [...]
Winterhill set to raise £6m in Aim float January 10, 2010 INSOLVENCY services specialist Winterhill will today announce its intention to raise £6m through an initial public offering (IPO) on London’s Aim market, as it seeks to capitalise on the spate of corporate bankruptcies coming out of the recession. Directors Andrew and Neil Duckworth, who founded asset valuation and disposal firm Winterhill Asset in 1998, intend [...]
M&A activity prompts further flurry of delistings from London’s Aim market January 3, 2010 LONDON’s junior stock market saw the flood gates reopen in the final quarter of last year as the number of companies delisting rose almost 16 per cent, new research from law firm Trowers & Hamlins and accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young has shown. The unexpected jump in firms leaving the Aim market up to 73 [...]