The Lloyds Banking Group has received a targeted appeal from the Shadow Minister for Small Business and Enterprise to improve its lending services to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) – particularly those with specific expansion plans.

Chuka Umunna wrote his appeal in a letter to the bank's chief executive, António Horta-Osório, that reached it just before the publication of the bank's strategic review, in which 15,000 job losses have been… Continue reading

Business secretary, Vince Cable, has heaped pressure on the UK's banks to increase their lending to small- and medium-sized businesses, after threatening them with new taxes on profits, bonuses and balance sheets if they miss lending targets.

Cable was telling MPs on the House of Commons Business and Skills Committee that the Government's Project Merlin deal with the banks was for one year only. He said that if targets were not… Continue reading

Small businesses in the UK have welcomed a decision made by the European Competitiveness Council (ECC) yesterday to advance a move that will reduce the financial reporting and red tape they have to face.

The proposal passed by the ECC states that so-called 'micro-entities' that meet two of three criteria – a balance sheet total under €250,000 (£200,000), net turnover below €500,000, and fewer than ten employees on average over… Continue reading

The new Experian Insolvency Index has shown a fall in the number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK that have collapsed.

The survey demonstrated the improving health of the UK's smaller businesses, with a 0.55 per cent year-on-year fall in the number of companies becoming insolvent. The fall was even greater among the very small businesses, with the number of failures among those employing… Continue reading

The extraordinarily high prices being achieved in social network flotations are flying in the face of discounted cash flow valuations and raise the question as to whether another tech bubble is imminent.

Just last week, Renren, the Chinese social network with 31 million users, floated on Nasdaq with a valuation of $6.7bn or roughly 80 times its annual sales. In order to justify this valuation using DCF, sales… Continue reading

New figures from an index on business distress has shown that one in four small businesses are concerned about their debt levels, with warnings coming that the next financial quarter could see a rise in administrations and insolvencies.

The quarterly Business Distress Index, published by insolvency trade body R3, showed that the proportion of businesses that were worrying about their debts had increase in the most recent quarter… Continue reading

Business Secretary Vince Cable has said that banks are misleading the public over exactly what they are lending to small businesses.

Cable said that, whilst banks insisted that they were lending to eight out of ten SMEs that approached them for loans, this was not taking into account the sheer number of small enterprises that had been discouraged from even applying for a loan in the first place… Continue reading

The production company founded by television hosts, Ant and Dec, could net them as much as £10 million if newly revealed moves to sell it off are successful.

Information emerged today about secret talks to sell Gallowgate Productions – possibly to ITV – which have apparently been going on "for months". The company holds the rights to a number of successful entertainment and game show formats, including Saturday Night Takeaway… Continue reading

Staff from the Business Sale Report joined some of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs last week to take part in the launch of StartUp Britain, a private sector campaign that has been put together in response to the Government's call for the nation's economic recovery to be 'enterprise-led.

While the initiative may be organised by the private sector, it has received the full support of the public sector, with… Continue reading

Should entrepreneurs and business owners around the UK expect more from the 2011 Budget than a reduction in red tape?

It certainly ought to deliver more for the business community to justify its ‘Budget for Growth’ moniker.

The final report of the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS), which reviewed the UK’s tax reliefs and allowances, concluded that ‘whole areas of tax law are particularly complicated’ and that ‘many areas… Continue reading