The lack of tech knowledge among UK venture capitalists is costing the country dearly, according to a report by RealBusiness. Insufficient tech knowledge means venture capitalists in the UK are far more risk adverse and not prepared to offer money to tech businesses that they perceive to be risky, just because they don’t really understand…
The last four years have been a difficult time for many small businesses. One group of people that gets to see firsthand evidence of the effect of the recession on businesses are accountants. The global body for professional accountants ACCA has put together the interesting infographic below showing how the global recovery has looked to…
The International Monetary Fund – who seem to have been delivering us nothing but bad news for the past four years – has lowered their growth forecast for most developed countries, including the UK. Six months ago they predicted that worldwide growth would be 3.5% but yesterday they announced it would be lowered to 3.3%.…
Despite the expected retail boost of an early Easter the dreadful weather over the holiday meant that retail sales slowed in March, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The BBC reports that although like-for-like sales are actually up by 1.9% over the same period in 2012, this was down from the 2.7% rise that…
Some great news for anyone thinking about starting their own business now: the number of insolvencies in the first quarter of 2013 have fallen to their lowest level since 2005 according to a study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. There were 3,285 insolvencies in the first three months of this year, a big drop from the same period…
New reports today suggest that unemployment in the UK has once again increased. More than one in five people aged 16-24 are now out of work, according to the Daily Mirror. Do you believe that last week’s Budget will finally turn things around for the UK or do you fear that things will only get…
The UK economy grew by 0.5% in Q1 of 2011 – apparently reducing the risk of a double-dip recession. Different sectors have grown at different speeds, the manufacturing sector is doing very well, while others are struggling to make any gains. Bank lending to the SME sector has fallen again, which makes you wonder. Manufacturing…
