News
Election Fears Stifle Property Market
10/03/2010
By Bob Northgate The upturn in the UK’s [b]property market[/b] slowed in February as buyers and vendors adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach in the run up to the general election. 14% less estate agents reported a rise in property prices to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors last month than... read more
Disappointing Manufacturing Figures Renew ‘Double Dip’ Whispers
10/03/2010
By Bob Northgate The UK economy, it seems, can’t catch a break. Data released this morning has shown a sharp fall in output for UK [b]manufacturing[/b]. Figures revealed a 0.9% drop in production in January, against expectations of a 0.3% rise. It also marks a stark difference from December’s data, which... read more
Gender Barriers Closing For Entrepreneurs
10/03/2010
By Bob Northgate - Focus on service helps put women entrepreneurs on more level footing [b]Gender barriers[/b] are narrowing amongst the UK’s entrepreneurs, according to a major poll from Business Link. Small businesses headed by women focussed heavily on improving their service levels through the recession. As the nation emerges from the... read more
Britain’s Got Ambition
10/03/2010
By Bob Northgate - Virgin Media & Enterprise UK team up to unlock the UK’s [b]entrepreneurial spirit[/b] As the country rides the recession wave, research from Virgin Media has found that a quarter (24 per cent) of young Britons say their dream job would be to run their own business, but... read more
British Manufacturing Struggling To Enter A Sustainable Recovery
10/03/2010
By Bob Northgate Commenting on the [b]manufacturing output[/b] figures for January 2010, David Kern, Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: “The new figures were worse than expected, even after making allowances for the adverse effect of January’s bad weather. There is now a serious possibility that GDP in... read more
Aer Lingus Plans To Cut Nearly 700 Jobs
10/03/2010
By Bob Northgate [b]Aer Lingus[/b] plans to cut 670 jobs in a bid to save 97m Euros (£88m) after reporting losses of 66.2m Euros (£60m) for 2009. Despite increases in passenger numbers to 10.4m, the airline has decided it will lay off nearly a quarter of its cabin crew. 230 cabin... read more
Online Job-Related Searches Down 5 Million
10/03/2010
By Bob Northgate The number of [b]job-related searches[/b] conducted [b]online[/b] by UK consumers dropped by over 5 million between October and December 2009, reveals a new report by Greenlight, the UK’s leading independent search marketing agency. 8.4 million job-related searches were made online in December, a considerable decrease on 13.8... read more
UK Employer Demand Rose In February But Active Job-Seekers Increased Faster
10/03/2010
By Bob Northgate - Job vacancies up one per cent, average salaries up five per cent - Active job-seekers up 50 per cent this year to reach record highs Demand from [b]UK employers[/b] for new workers rose steadily upwards in February. The number of [b]new job opportunities[/b] increased by one per cent... read more
Northern Rock Sees Losses Shrinking And Gives Staff £15m Bonus
10/03/2010
By Bob Northgate The state-owned [b]Northern Rock[/b] has managed to shrink its losses from £1.36bn in 2008, to £257.4m in 2009. [b]Northern Rock[/b] explained they made “good progress” but "recovery is going to be uncertain and will take some time" said Chief Executive Gary Hoffman. The bank, bailed out with £26bn... read more
Recession-Fighting Firms Focusing On Sales And Marketing, Survey Finds
09/03/2010
By Bob Northgate Small businesses are hoping to beat the recession by stepping up their [b]sales[/b] and [b]marketing strategies[/b], a new survey has revealed. After cutting operating costs to the bare minimum, many smaller firms are hiring sales staff, improving their websites and boosting marketing activities in an effort to... read more
