The Recent release of the Chancellor’s budget for 2016 has us thinking about the impact on small businesses for the coming year. With features such as Business rates, Corporation tax, Capital Gains Tax, Fuel Duty, and Stamp Duty, this no doubt is going to interest and engage the future of small business.
The change to business rates will increase the threshold for claiming small business relief from £6,000 to £15,000 from April 2017. This would indicate that an estimated 600,000 small firms would not have to pay business rate, and then that a further 25,000 will only need to pay reduced rates as of April 2017. Along with the main rate of Corporation tax being reduced to 17% from the current 20% as of 1 April 2020, this is surely good news for SMEs.
finance
Last week saw the annual Finance & Leasing Association’s Dinner hosted at Grosvenor House, and hosted by guests John Hymphrys and Gabby Logan.
The annual dinner is always a favourite of the finance and leasing industries, and gathers together members and non-members to celebrate the industry’s progress and successes from the year. There were over 100 companies represented, and guest speakers Robert Peston and Adam Hills kept the group informed and entertained!
We know all too well that the ‘New Year, New You’ attitude often falls short of our expectations- especially during those tricky winter months. The gym can feel like a harsh replacement to a cosy bed on cold mornings, motivational mantras on our social media feeds can be guilt-inducing and although you might intend to snack on almonds at work, the chocolate is always the more tempting option…
At Scunthorpe’s Elite Fitness, however, the team have been helping members blast through the winter blues and offset their fitness regimes with helpful guidance, a huge range of equipment and enough of a reason to keep returning!
With email addresses, Dropbox, Google Drives, an overabundance of passwords and endless files to juggle, your IT system at work can understandably seem a little overwhelming. By simplifying and integrating business networks, Staffordshire-based ITP Group aim to replace computing chaos with their entrepreneurial ‘Inner Circles’ software. Sharing files with colleagues, scheduling appointments, managing invoices and recording your billable hours from your desk or on your smart phone are just a few of the useful features it offers.
“Most small businesses are stuck with old IT systems that are struggling to cope with the demands of customers and the needs of the business. Information technology is the engine room of all modern successful businesses.” –ITP Group
Martin Brennan has 30 years of experience in the networking industry, working at various fibre-splicing companies until he set up his own business, Kent-based Brennan Communications Ltd. in 1999. The small business now runs a team of eight employees, and specialises in communication rollout across the UK. The fibre-optic cables deliver a faster broadband, which can reach speeds of up to 300mbps – that’s megabits per second.
The company have lucrative long-term contracts with a number of telecommunication and broadband services, including BT, Kelly’s and KMCO. However, although fibre-optic cables are more efficient, if they are ‘pulled’ into place like the copper cables used for telephone line and mobile networks, they will snap. Therefore, a blowing machine is required, to let the fibre through the exchange to the required location- “to the kerb” and “to the premises”.
Steve and Cheryl Cosgrove are a model for many in the leisure industry. As entrepreneurs, they have an established Soft Play Centre that Johnson Reed helped to set up over 6 years ago. Back then, they saw a gap in the market for a new Trampoline Centre – which was a new concept in the UK with only a hand full of locations at the time.
Now, 6 years later, they are looking to expand into a prime spot in the centre of Widnes with the new trampoline club called Velocity Leisure. We’re delighted to say they came back to Johnson Reed for their finance needs!
After having made a name for himself in Los Angeles, the founder of LA Fitness – Fred Turok – and business partner David Stalker (formerly of UK Active) have opened their first indoor trampoline park in west London. Their name? Appropriately, Oxygen Freejumping.
This new start trampoline park harnesses the massive expertise of both Fred and David, as well as nearly £10 million in investment and fundraising, to create an ambitious plan to have 14 new clubs within the next 24 months. Their ultimate goal – after raising £15 million over the next 2 years – is to be the big name in indoor trampolining.
On the 8th July, Chancellor George Osborne gave his 7th budget, and his first as part of the majority Conservative government.
In this budget we saw a large number of shakeups, not least in the economy and business portions, as well as in personal tax & pay, and the ongoing battle with our national deficit.
Overlooking Collywell Bay, in the little town of Seaton Sluice (just outside Newcastle, for the uninitiated), there is a lovely restaurant called Harbour View Fisheries.
Owned by husband and wife duo Lakhver and Harjit Gill, the restaurant has been established for over 13 years, although the couple have had over 30 years experience in the trade. The restaurant itself seats 48 inside, with plenty of outdoor seats, and caters for takeaways also. And in case dinner leaves you still a little hungry, there is an ice cream parlour nextdoor also owned by Lakhver.
The Ainscow Hotel is a 62-room hotel, restaurant, and spa situated on the border between Salford and Manchester. It is an informal retreat for people wanting to relax whist in the city.
The hotel it is situated in is the historic Browns Brothers building that was original constructed in 1878 as a brewery but has housed many businesses until it fell into disrepair in 1986. The current owners decided to restore this landmark back to its former glory and convert the building into the hotel and spa, naming it The Ainscow after local entrepreneur Carol Ainscow.