The UK manufacturing sector remained solid at the end of the first quarter of 2017, with the Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index. recording 54.2 in March (54.5 in February) having remained above the neutral mark of 50.0 for the eighth successive month. The latest PMI reading compared favourably to its long-run trend (51.6) although sector data…
A significant proportion of small businesses across the UK are preparing to reduce investment and staff costs once business rates rise next month, according to a new survey from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The research finds that more than a third of small firms expect to see their business rates increase from 1st…
New research from Begbies Traynor shows that more than 275,000 companies were showing signs of “significant” financial distress at the close of 2016, representing the thirteenth consecutive quarter that corporate stress has risen on a year-on-year basis. According to the recovery specialist’s Red Flag Alert data, 276,518 businesses were experiencing “Significant” financial distress at the…
UK SMEs are owed more than £586 billion in outstanding invoices according to recent figures from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. The average small business is owed more than £108,000 in unpaid invoices, an increase of 8% since January 2016, with almost a third of firms citing late payments as the biggest cause of cash flow…
The amount of finance advanced to the UK’s smallest businesses through invoice finance jumped by over 60% in the last year to £711 million, according to the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA), the body representing the invoice finance and asset based lending industry in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The amount of finance…
CMM managing director, Graham Allen, recently featured in the “member spotlight” section of The Ingenuity Network’s newsletter. Nottingham University’s Ingenuity programme launched 10 years ago and has since grown into a thriving community of over 1,800 individuals, all of whom benefit from networking opportunities and wide ranging input aimed at supporting SMEs. Summing up his…