Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Small businesses should speak to their banks about their debt facilities now, ahead of a possible no-deal Brexit, advises KPMG.
Banks have been putting small businesses under the microscope, figuring out which ones would be most vulnerable if Britain were to crash out of the European Union without a deal.
SME lending could be tightened up as the shock of a no-deal Brexit reverberates around the economy.
“Credit could be a little squeezed in the interim. If you haven’t had that conversation with your high-street bank, best have it now,” said Richard Bernau, director at KPMG.
Small businesses should ensure that their working capital facility remains intact should the UK suffer a disorderly exit from the EU, check the employment status of European Union nationals, and make sure their international supply chains are robust.
Although the Bank of England believes the banking sector is well prepared for a no-deal Brexit, SMEs could still find their access to credit dry up in a sudden downturn.
“Any bad or malign economic impact will have an impact on their ability to lend and the terms they are prepared to do so,” Andrew Pilgrim at EY told the Daily Telegraph.
Bernau said that banks
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Labour small biz minister: ‘Boris just says whatever pops into his head’
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Bill Esterson, shadow minister for small business, arranges to meet me at Portcullis House, the ominous-looking building beside the Houses of Parliament.
Once past the beefed-up security (“It’s because of Brexit,” Esterson grumbles), it’s a jolt to see many of the faces you see on the nightly news: over in one corner sits Robert Peston, while Andrea Leadsom and Nicky Morgan sit at others and James Cleverly wanders through waving at people. Clearly, this is the beating heart of Government.
Esterson, 52, became an MP in 2010 having previously run a training consultancy with his wife. Their small business employed 14 people. Then the Financial Crisis of 2008 happened, and their bank called in its overdraft. The Estersons used their savings to repay the bank and pay staff salaries.
“It’s a story I hear again and again from businesses,” he says. “It’s absolutely essential that we put in support and advice and really back our small firms.”
Esterson, who became an MP in 2010 and has been shadow small business minister since 2016, is clearly what used to be known as “a red-hot Socialist” in the old parlance. Passionate about the problems facing small business, once he
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Lord Alan Sugar does not see how UK can leave EU on no-deal
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
Lord Alan Sugar, Britain’s most famous businessman, does not see how the UK can exit the European Union without a deal.
“I can’t see how you can leave without no deal,” Lord Sugar told the Climbcon business conference in London on Friday, June 28.
Lord Sugar described Brexit as a complex business negotiation, yet Prime Minister Theresa May disbanded the Government’s consultative committee of business people. His co-host on The Apprentice, Karren Brady, a Conservative peer herself, had told him she never had any approach from the Prime Minister either.
Fellow interviewee Piers Morgan, presenter of Good Morning Britain, said he doesn’t see how Brexit is deliverable, given that three quarters of MPs voted for remain. Parliament has been shameful in thwarting the result of the referendum, said Morgan, who predicted that the Government would lose a no-confidence vote to be followed by a general election.
“There’s no chance of Boris or Jeremy Hunt getting us a Brexit that works,” said Morgan.
Surprisingly, Lord Sugar still wants Boris Johnson to become Prime Minister, despite repeating that he lied during the referendum and should have gone to prison.
Sugar said: “He’s a serial liar, straight out of the Donald Trump
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CBI urges incoming Prime Minister to forge new partnership with business
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
The CBI has urged the next Tory Prime Minister to get behind UK business, singling out the importance of small business as well as corporations.
In a coded message to Boris Johnson – who infamously retorted “f*** business” when asked about big business concerns over Brexit – CBI president John Allan told business leaders in London today that the next Prime Minister needs to “back business” and repair the UK’s reputation with overseas investors.
Allan said: “It’s an opportunity for a new Prime Minister to set an unashamedly pro-enterprise course. To really bring back that feel-good factor. Whether you’re a small high-street retailer or a high-end manufacturer hoping to sell in markets here, Europe and all over the world… that feel-good factor has been absent for too long.
“If the Conservative party wants to claim the mantle of the party of business now is the time to show it. At such a decisive point in our country’s history, if not now then when?”
The employers’ organisation set out a three-point plan as to this new partnership between business and the next Prime Minister:
Repair the UK’s reputation – Allan said that international investors are spooked and are starting
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One third of SMEs delay growth and investment, citing Brexit uncertainty
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
More Brexit blues as the country dangles in the wind of uncertainty, I’m afraid. Over a third of business owners (35%) have delayed growth plans and investment in their SMEs, citing Brexit uncertainty as making it difficult to plan ahead. Eight per cent say they are already making redundancies to cut costs, double the percentage
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Nearly 60% of SMEs predict UK recession as Brexit bites
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
More than half (57 per cent) of SMEs believe the UK economy will fall into a Brexit recession this year, according to financial services provider Bibby Financial Services. Confidence among SMEs has declined by 5.6 points year-on-year, with UK businesses experiencing their least confident start to a new year since 2014. This has had a
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Brexit Bummer: Brits Banned From Amsterdam's Cannabis Coffee Shops
by Brendan Bures • • 0 Comments
Authorities are considering placing portable urinals alongside passport queues to drug test Brits when they enter and leave the EU.
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Barclays launches £15bn Brexit fund to help small business through Brexit
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Barclays has announced a £14.7 billion lending fund to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) negotiate Brexit and beyond. The Barclays Brexit fund, which is a three-year commitment, will offer the following: – Business loans, commercial mortgages and overdrafts up to £250,000 working capital – Cash flow funding for investment in growth, management buy-outs and
The post Barclays launches £15bn Brexit fund to help small business through Brexit appeared first on Small Business.
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Why SMEs are at risk of a downturn
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
The latest SME Confidence Tracker shows that SMEs are at risk of a downturn. Bibby Financial Services (BFS) says that its new data reveals challenges in the face of declining sales and increasing costs as the value of the pound lingers at historically low levels. The independent funder is calling on the government to reassure
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This is what you should do if you’re in tech and want a people’s vote on Brexit
by Michael Somerville • • 0 Comments
Lobbying group Tech For UK has garnered the support of nearly 100 tech business owners, many of them small businesses, in their call for a People’s Vote on Brexit. The group argues in a letter to MPs that the government’s draft “Withdrawal Agreement and political declaration on leaving the European Union” will not serve the
The post This is what you should do if you’re in tech and want a people’s vote on Brexit appeared first on Small Business.