Tag Archive for SME finance

Hot Business News Today

5 steps to bolster your business finances

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By Mark Wright on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

In recent years, a number of large businesses have gone into administration, and this hasn’t resulted from lack of sales or custom, but rather a lack of control over finances, such as cashflow.

In fact, pre-pandemic, one in seven UK small business owners have been left unable to pay their employees on time due to finance and cashflow problems, while earlier this year 31 per cent of B2C firms reported that they will run out of cash within the next three months.

As we begin to emerge from Covid-19 restrictions, there are a number of key changes business owners can make to improve their business finances, and quickly.

#1 – Calculate your costs

It is vital to know your costs and one of the best cost-saving exercises is to regularly review your suppliers. As the famous 1980s story goes, Robert Crandall, the then head of America Airlines, calculated that if he just removed one olive from every salad served to passengers, no-one would notice and they would generate an annual cost saving of $100,000.

So, as a business owner, ask yourself this question: what is your one olive? We all

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Hot Business News Today

5 steps to bolster your business finances

by  •  • 0 Comments

By Mark Wright on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

In recent years, a number of large businesses have gone into administration, and this hasn’t resulted from lack of sales or custom, but rather a lack of control over finances, such as cashflow.

In fact, pre-pandemic, one in seven UK small business owners have been left unable to pay their employees on time due to finance and cashflow problems, while earlier this year 31 per cent of B2C firms reported that they will run out of cash within the next three months.

As we begin to emerge from Covid-19 restrictions, there are a number of key changes business owners can make to improve their business finances, and quickly.

#1 – Calculate your costs

It is vital to know your costs and one of the best cost-saving exercises is to regularly review your suppliers. As the famous 1980s story goes, Robert Crandall, the then head of America Airlines, calculated that if he just removed one olive from every salad served to passengers, no-one would notice and they would generate an annual cost saving of $100,000.

So, as a business owner, ask yourself this question: what is your one olive? We all

Read more...

Hot Business News Today

Pitalia Capital to invest £50m in small businesses

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By Timothy Adler on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

Pitalia Capital has launched a £50m equity fund to invest in small businesses across Britain.

The money will be used either to fund growth for early stage companies or to back management buyouts of mid-sized firms.

The fund can deploy up to £10m per transaction.

>See also: Forward Advances wants to lend £250m to small businesses by 2023

Pitalia Capital is part of the Pitalia group of companies and funded by entrepreneur Anil Pitalia.

John Davies, who has more than 20 years’ experience in venture capital, private equity and corporate finance, has been recruited from Seneca Partners as managing partner to spearhead this small business investment drive.

Davies was investment director at Seneca Partners for six years, where his deals included its exit from digital business communications specialist Mission Labs in a deal valued at £40m, giving Seneca a 4.2x return for investors.

>See also: How to win a £25,000 Business Boost grant for your small firm

He was also deeply involved in Seneca Partners’ investment in Manchester-based Wejo, the connected vehicle data company, which recently announced plans for a $1bn Nasdaq listing.

Davies said: “What makes Pitalia Capital different is our personal approach

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Hot Business News Today

Pitalia Capital to invest £50m in small businesses

by  •  • 0 Comments

By Timothy Adler on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

Pitalia Capital has launched a £50m equity fund to invest in small businesses across Britain.

The money will be used either to fund growth for early stage companies or to back management buyouts of mid-sized firms.

The fund can deploy up to £10m per transaction.

>See also: Forward Advances wants to lend £250m to small businesses by 2023

Pitalia Capital is part of the Pitalia group of companies and funded by entrepreneur Anil Pitalia.

John Davies, who has more than 20 years’ experience in venture capital, private equity and corporate finance, has been recruited from Seneca Partners as managing partner to spearhead this small business investment drive.

Davies was investment director at Seneca Partners for six years, where his deals included its exit from digital business communications specialist Mission Labs in a deal valued at £40m, giving Seneca a 4.2x return for investors.

>See also: How to win a £25,000 Business Boost grant for your small firm

He was also deeply involved in Seneca Partners’ investment in Manchester-based Wejo, the connected vehicle data company, which recently announced plans for a $1bn Nasdaq listing.

Davies said: “What makes Pitalia Capital different is our personal approach

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Hot Business News Today

One third of small businesses turn to Bank of Mum and Dad

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Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
One third of small businesses have turned to the Bank of Mum and Dad to help them get through the Covid crisis.
Faced with an emergency, more small business owners to turn to family ahead of banks for financial help. Forty-six per cent turn to family during the crisis compared to 40 per cent who turn to banks, according to a Liberis survey.
And over a third (35 per cent) said they turn to the Bank of Mum and Dad specifically, while one in five (19 per cent) said they turned to close friends.
>See also: Small businesses selling into EU face £180m in extra red tape costs
Four out of five small businesses have needed financial support during Covid – an estimated 4.9m of the country’s 6m SMEs — and over three quarters have sought commercial financing.
More than a third (37 per cent) of small business owners have taken on a second job to keep their businesses afloat, and more than a quarter (28 per cent) have considered doing this.
Going without food
Alarmingly, 6 per cent of SMEs surveyed said they were saving money on food, eating less and, occasionally, skipping meals to try and save money

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Hot Business News Today

One third of small businesses turn to Bank of Mum and Dad

by  •  • 0 Comments

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
One third of small businesses have turned to the Bank of Mum and Dad to help them get through the Covid crisis.
Faced with an emergency, more small business owners to turn to family ahead of banks for financial help. Forty-six per cent turn to family during the crisis compared to 40 per cent who turn to banks, according to a Liberis survey.
And over a third (35 per cent) said they turn to the Bank of Mum and Dad specifically, while one in five (19 per cent) said they turned to close friends.
>See also: Small businesses selling into EU face £180m in extra red tape costs
Four out of five small businesses have needed financial support during Covid – an estimated 4.9m of the country’s 6m SMEs — and over three quarters have sought commercial financing.
More than a third (37 per cent) of small business owners have taken on a second job to keep their businesses afloat, and more than a quarter (28 per cent) have considered doing this.
Going without food
Alarmingly, 6 per cent of SMEs surveyed said they were saving money on food, eating less and, occasionally, skipping meals to try and save money

Read more...

Hot Business News Today

Small businesses blindsided by Growth Street demanding its money back

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Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Dozens of small businesses that borrowed money from peer-to-peer lending platform Growth Street have been told they must repay their loans.
Growth Street, which has lent £17.5m of investors’ money to 116 small businesses affected, is exiting the peer-to-peer market, giving them just three months’ notice to repay their debts.
The average amount owed is £148,122, with London and the South East accounting for 41 per cent of all borrowing, according to SME financier Rangewell.
>See also: HSBC handling of bounce-back loans branded ‘shambles’ by businesses
Loans repaid will be redistributed to Growth Street’s peer-to-peer investors in quarterly instalments, with any losses shared equally.
Astonishingly, not one of the affected businesses has missed a loan repayment to date.
A letter sent by Growth Street to borrowers, seen by the Times, concedes that the wind-down is “likely to be disruptive to your business”.
Back in March, Growth Street’s peer-to-peer investors panicked because of Covid-19 and extracted their cash from high-risk lending to small businesses as fast as possible. To try and stop the haemorrhage the investor stampede for the exit, Growth Street initiated a “liquidity event”, telling small business borrowers they had to repay their loans within three months.
>See also: 20%

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Hot Business News Today

Small businesses blindsided by Growth Street demanding its money back

by  •  • 0 Comments

Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Dozens of small businesses that borrowed money from peer-to-peer lending platform Growth Street have been told they must repay their loans.
Growth Street, which has lent £17.5m of investors’ money to 116 small businesses affected, is exiting the peer-to-peer market, giving them just three months’ notice to repay their debts.
The average amount owed is £148,122, with London and the South East accounting for 41 per cent of all borrowing, according to SME financier Rangewell.
>See also: HSBC handling of bounce-back loans branded ‘shambles’ by businesses
Loans repaid will be redistributed to Growth Street’s peer-to-peer investors in quarterly instalments, with any losses shared equally.
Astonishingly, not one of the affected businesses has missed a loan repayment to date.
A letter sent by Growth Street to borrowers, seen by the Times, concedes that the wind-down is “likely to be disruptive to your business”.
Back in March, Growth Street’s peer-to-peer investors panicked because of Covid-19 and extracted their cash from high-risk lending to small businesses as fast as possible. To try and stop the haemorrhage the investor stampede for the exit, Growth Street initiated a “liquidity event”, telling small business borrowers they had to repay their loans within three months.
>See also: 20%

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Hot Business News Today

Two out of five small businesses will run out of cash within six weeks

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Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Two out of five small businesses expect to run out of cash with six weeks, according to a new survey.
And one in five small businesses say they will run out of cash within three weeks.
Small business revenues are set to decline by an average 60 per cent in April, with 69 per cent of businesses in leisure and hospitality expecting revenue to totally disappear.
>See also: Nearly 1m businesses on brink of collapse, warn accountants
Three quarters of small business say that coronavirus has already badly affected their business, and this looks set to worsen in April. Eighty per cent say their income will continue to decline this month, with more than one in three (36 per cent) expecting income to crash by more than 90 per cent.
Retail is the second-most badly affected sector, with 38 per cent of small business retailers expecting their income to totally disappear.
Businesses in IT and telecoms expect to be least impacted, with just under a quarter (23 per cent) saying they don’t expect to see any decline in their revenue compared to April last year.
If small business revenue does decline overall by 57 per cent as expected, this equates

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Hot Business News Today

Two in five small businesses don’t have enough access to finance

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Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Two in five small businesses (42 per cent) say they don’t have enough access to finance to keep their companies going.
Over half (52 per cent) have no financing at for their businesses, despite the UK being a world leader in offering innovative finance solutions for small business.
Of the small businesses that do have access to finance, one fifth (19 per cent) rely on bank overdrafts to finance their business, rather than loans or other types of investment, according to new research. A business credit card is the second most popular choice (9 per cent) followed by loans (9 per cent).
>See also: What documents do you need when applying for a business loan?
At a time when every small business has to be, to an extent, a digital business, nearly half (47 per cent) of small businesses admit they do not think they have sufficient digital skills for their businesses.
And skills and staffing remain a key concern for Britain’s small businesses, with over a third (37 per cent) unhappy with their ability to maintain and recruit staff.
Yet nine out of ten small businesses (86 per cent) remain upbeat, saying that they are ambitious for their

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