The definitive business advent calendar: 9 December – UK ranks ninth for…
The UK, it seems, ranks ninth in the world for quite a few things, including its competitiveness and the performance of its economy.
UK economic growth may soon be hampered by lack of management and entrepreneurial skills in SMEs
The UK economy may be growing faster than any "advanced nation", but productivity is a problem with output per hour worked still two per cent below its pre-crisis level, according to the Office of National Statistics. Professor James Hayton believes that growth is being hampered by a lack of management skills.
Queen’s Awards for Enterprise: A look at those celebrating the best of British business
The winners of The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise have just been announced for this year. Regarded as the highest official UK awards for British businesses, they are bestowed upon organisations which excel at international trade, innovation or sustainable development.
UK election sparring begins in earnest, but the real issue is tackling productivity
The UK's general election campaign officially kicked off last week and it is no surprise that markets woke up to the ensuing political discourse: the UK equity market underperformed the major markets, losing 0.7 per cent. The decline came in spite of relatively sanguine economic reports, including a modest upward revision to fourth quarter GDP, consumer confidence reaching its highest level for almost 13 years and solid manufacturing data.
London firms more pessimistic about future prospects
Business in London are significantly less confident about the economy compared with the rest of the UK.
If we can remove SME fear of funding rejection, we can release the brakes on the UK economy
Issued on 22 January, the latest Bank of England ‘Trends in Lending' report clearly showed the divide that still exists between large and small companies when it comes to borrowing money. But according to FundingKnight CEO Graeme Marshall, years of being turned down for finance has resulted in the hesitancy of smaller companies to borrow money. This seems to holding back the UK economy.
Lack of engineering talent could cost Britain £27bn a year
Engineering sectors contributed £455.6bn to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014, 27.1 per cent of the total. But imagine how much more could be accomplished if they had a greater amount of skilled workers?
UK could become Europe’s top economy in 2030
The latest edition of Cebr Global’s World Economic League Table (WELT) for 2015, which is set to track different economies over the next ten years in order to forecast future change in 2030, has seen Britain rise to become Europe's top economy.
Universities’ contribution to UK economy soars to £73bn
UK universities now generate £73bn in output, up 24 per cent from 2009, according to new figures.
2nd of April is the most popular day to start a business in the UK
Analysing data from Companies House, O2 Business established that last year more businesses in the UK were started on this day than any other, with a total of 1,679 businesses being created.
UK is fastest-growing economy in G7
The UK is set to be the fastest-growing economy, with a projected 3.3 per cent growth rate both this quarter and next, outstripping the US and Germany, according to new figures.