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British Business Bank given green light by European Commission

FOR BUYERS

The UK’s new business lender British Business Bank, created to support and encourage lending to SMEs, has been given the green light by the European Commission. The Commission confirmed that the bank, set to open before the...continue reading

Rising costs to SMEs stifling growth

FOR BUYERS

Running costs to small businesses are rising despite declining inflation, the Forum of Private Business (FPB) has revealed in its latest survey. Over half (63 per cent) of all British businesses have experienced an overall rise i...continue reading

Global M&As reach five-year high

FOR BUYERS

The number of worldwide business acquisitions in 2014 so far has topped the levels set in the past five years, with the M&A market now reaching pre-recession highs. According to data from Thomson Reuters, in the first nine months...continue reading

What’s behind the UK’s retail revival? How struggling retailers are being bought and turned around

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

The overalls can be taken off, the brooms stowed away; the clean-up job after the collapse of the retail sector is just about over, with life returning to Britain’s shops. When the credit crisis struck, there were few indus...continue reading

What makes a successful entrepreneur?

FOR BUYERS

What makes a successful entrepreneur? It is a question that has paved the way for millions of book sales and some very lucrative careers for keynote speakers. It is a very difficult question and naturally there is no one single c...continue reading

Dissecting opportunities from distressed retail businesses

The retail industry has arguably been one of the worst hit sectors by the global recession that has gripped the last six years. Essentially there has been an attack on two fronts; on the one hand the economic downturn has curtail...continue reading

The uncertain impact of Scottish independence on small businesses

FOR BUYERS

As voting on whether Scotland should gain independence from the UK takes place tomorrow, what would independence mean for small businesses? Many larger businesses, such as BP, Standard Life and John Lewis have come out in favour ...continue reading

Businesses: Evolve or become extinct!

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

Marc Benioff, the founder and CEO of Salesforce.com, once remarked: “You must always be able to predict what’s next and then have the flexibility to evolve.” It would be easy to dismiss this piece of advice as ov...continue reading

The 10 biggest business acquisitions of all time

FOR BUYERS

When Apple bought Dre Beats (Beats Electronics) for $3 billion it made the headlines. When Facebook bought Whatsapp for $19 billion it even sparked a little interest among those outside the technology sector. When Comcast bought T...continue reading

Accelerate growth - buy a business in distress

FOR BUYERS

Times are still tough for a lot of businesses. According to recent figures from The Insolvency Service, there were 5,055 liquidations in England and Wales in the second quarter of this year. This was a 39.1% increase on the same...continue reading