Finance News

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This year’s Budget came with it’s own slogan: If you’re a maker, a doer or a saver: this Budget is for you.

The Chancellor’s budget speech on Wednesday was an interesting one, with a few surprises (for pensions) and some big bonuses for UK businesses.

The changes benefitting SMEs will include:

The Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) is going to be increased to £500,000 until the end of December 2015, meaning businesses which purchase plant and machinery (but not cars) equipment will be able to take advantage of a 100% deduction of the cost up to that limit.

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Time is running out for businesses who operate in the consumer credit industry to make the switch from their old Office of Fair Trading (OFT) license to the new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) interim permission.

The handover from the OFT to the FCA (the industry’s new governing body) will take place on 1st April, and any companies with old OFT licenses will find that they are no longer able to trade in this industry.

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It’s good news for the British public. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) lobby group has said that it believes the UK economy to return to the pre-recession peak by summer of this year. It claims that by April, the GDP will rise to the level of the start of 2008.

The BCC believes that the economic growth this year will be 2.8%, revised upwards by 0.1% from a previous estimate given. They also believe that the growth for 2015 will rise from 2.4% to 2.5%, and a growth in 2016 expected to be 2.5% also. The change is reported to be due to upward revisions to back data by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

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Last month, the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) released a statement claiming that the business lending channels were “damaged”, amidst reports that the net business lending fell by almost £2bn in December 2013, and drew stark comparison to the difference in interest rates offered to big corporations and small businesses.

Net lending to non-financial firms declined £1.9bn in December, following an even larger drop of £4.6bn in November, which happened to be the largest fall since records were kept in 2011. The lending to SMEs fared nearly as badly, by dropping £1.2bn.

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The UK’s small and medium businesses are expected to benefit after the Bank of England’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) has been extended to help aid business in 2014.

The FLS has seen a successful eighteen months since its launch in July 2012, and has reached its target of reducing the cost of bank funding. Credit conditions for households have also seen an improvement, although conditions for businesses have seen a more modest improvement.

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At Johnson Reed, we are always active in the business and social marketing fields. After all, networking in the right quarters can be the source of much needed new contacts and business wins. So we’re pleased to report that we have recently teamed up with two associations in the catering world. We are now full … Read more

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There are in the region of 20 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the European Economic Area. They are all recognised as being a major source of employment and innovation, and their collective contribution to a country’s GDP cannot be underestimated. But what exactly is an SME? According to EU law, SME stands for … Read more

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In a further attempt to help boost the trading environment still being experienced by beleaguered small companies in the UK, the European Investment Fund (EIF), the SME credit provider established by the European Union, has issued a new fact sheet in conjunction with Leaseurope. It explains how lessors can use the EIF organisation to channel … Read more

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Despite the well-documented attempts by the government to inject more impetus into the bank lending scenario, it’s just been announced that lending to UK businesses between December and February has dramatically fallen by nearly £5bn. This is an indication that the Funding for Lending scheme (FLS) is still not working as hoped for, and it’s … Read more

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Payday can always be a busy time for the smaller employer. That time of the week or month when employees are expecting prompt payment for their efforts can mean that other tasks – like actually making money for the company – can slip, which is not good for business. Now however, HMRC have announced that … Read more