Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Eight out of ten (79%) small business owners surveyed are regularly losing sleep due to worries about the impact Covid-19 continues to have on their businesses, according to new research by Business Debtline. The Building back business: tackling small business debt in the wake of Covid-19 report indicates that many self-employed people and small businesses are…
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A third of UK small businesses are planning to make staff redundant over the next few months, rising to more than four in 10 in London, according to a new survey analysis by Moore UK. The research found that 33% of owner-managed businesses in the UK are planning to make redundancies now the safety net…
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UK net business borrowing is on course to fall sharply over 2021 as firms pay down existing debt far faster than predicted, according to the latest EY ITEM Club for Financial Services Forecast. The forecast estimates that net bank lending to UK businesses will fall to minus £1.6bn over 2021, following £35.5bn net being lent in 2020,…
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Research by PwC and Local Data Company shows that over one in ten (11%) of chain shops in Scotland failed to reopen after the lockdown in the first months of this year. The overall picture showed that there were 99 units, 4.7% of the total, that closed permanently while a further 143, or 6.8%, did…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that total asset finance new business (primarily leasing and hire purchase) fell by 7% in October 2021 compared with the same month in 2020. In the ten months to October 2021, new business was 17% higher than in the same period in 2020. The…
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New research commissioned by Dun & Bradstreet has found that over half (52%) of European businesses surveyed don’t think they will survive without relevant, up-to-date and compliant business data. The findings, of the ‘The Future of Data’ report, revealed that two-thirds of business leaders agree that data is the most useful tool for their organisation…
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A report from the National Audit Office (NAO) says the Government only put basic anti-fraud checks on the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) for small firms once more than £28 billion had already been paid out. The British Business Bank stepped up to deliver the Bounce Back Loan Scheme on behalf of Government to ensure…
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Scotland lost almost 20,000 small businesses during a single year of the covid crisis, according to official statistics. As a consequence of this dramatic fall in business numbers, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is urging the Scottish Government to outline new measures to aid the recovery of local businesses in the budget next week.…
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Almost a fifth (18%) of small business owners have identified late payments as the key barrier to their growth, behind only competition as the biggest barrier, according to new research by Superscript. The research, part of a report titled ‘Supercharging small business growth, highlights the struggles that small businesses face with late payments’ found that…
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A new report by Atradius for Eastern Europe indicates a promising future for businesses that have maintained the status-quo, despite the challenges faced during the second year of the pandemic. Key metrics, including the percentage of write-offs and total volume of overdue Business to Business (B2B) invoices, show little year-on-year change. Write-offs averaged 5% of…
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A report from the National Audit Office (NAO) says the Government only put basic anti-fraud checks on the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) for small firms once more than £28 billion had already been paid out. Checks to ensure that a company was not applying for more than one bounce back loan were not put…
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Despite lingering anxieties about the pandemic and a variety of economic and commercial issues, the majority of SMEs believe it is now imperative to begin building back from the crisis. They are ready to step up their business investment, with ambitious plans for recruitment, renewal of equipment and machinery, and both domestic and international expansion…
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New analysis from Lloyds Bank has indicated that business confidence dipped by three points to 40% in November, although it remains above the annual average. Nine out of the 12 UK regions and nations saw confidence decline, with Wales, the South East and East of England the only places to register an increase in confidence. The…
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