Research has shown that fast-growing, innovative businesses are responsible for the lion's share of economic growth but it is hard to expand a business without access to finance. And despite various government projects, the banks just don’t seem to want to lend to small business.
This new idea for accessing finance was suggested by MP Sam Gyimah, a former investment banker and recruitment entrepreneur, who is leading a joint initiative with business and innovation think tank NESTA, which he said will produce “evidence-based, thoroughly worked through proposals” to the Treasury to improve access to finance for growing companies.
Mr Gyimah said a retail bond market would create competition for small companies’ debt at a time when banks are adopting a “take it or leave it approach” to lending.
A small firms’ bond market would also produce a new asset class for both retail and institutional investors, he said. Individual firms’ bond issues would probably need to be 'rolled up’ with other companies of a similar profile so investors’ risk is diversified, Mr Gyimah added.
Mr Gyimah, Conservative MP for East Surrey, said the bond proposal was just one idea that would be examined and the consultation would consider “many possible solutions”, including lobbying for tax efficient EIS investments to be applicable for debt as well as equity.
“There was a time when we didn’t have 3i and widespread venture capital and AIM wasn’t started until 1995,” he said. “A new wave of financial innovation could come out of the financial crisis.”
Also as an alternative to the High Street, new banks are entering the UK market, such as Sweden's Handelsbanken and start ups such as Funding Circle, so options for small businesses appear to be widening.
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According to research by Birmingham University for the official Workplace Employment Relations Survey, family-run businesses have happier and more loyal staff than their private and public sector counterparts, despite working longer hours.
The finding of the survey of 2,000 workplaces and 20,000 staff will be presented today at the leading labour economics forum, the Work Pensions and Labour Economics Study Group annual conference.
The research found that people valued the sense of job security that is associated with long-term ownership and responded positively when managers reinforced this impression. They also favoured benign leadership from a family figurehead and the more informal management practices seen in family firms, particularly around training.
In the UK, family-run businesses tend to be smaller than their professional managed peers and focus in sectors like manufacturing, construction and retail.
The research found that staff responded positively to companies that provided training, ranking employers that did so more highly in terms of their feelings of job security and loyalty.
Surprisingly, however, high wages relative to peers and “innovative” people management methods had the opposite effect. “Both these practices make workers feel stressed, even if they are working harder,” the report found.
Roger Pedder, chairman of the Unquoted Companies Group, which commissioned the research, said: “Family businesses think long term. Investment can be over generations and the owners are committed to the business rather than simply providing short-term risk capital.”
“The UK should encourage much longer term thinking, much more private investment and greater entrepreneurship if we are to avoid lurching from crisis to crisis. This not only has clear economic advantages, but the social benefits for workers’ wellbeing are indisputable too,” Mr Pedder added.
Stanley Siebert, professor of labour economics at Birmingham University, said: “Family businesses tend to treat employees much more transparently and consistently than other employers. The closer relationship between bosses and staff makes workers feel much more included.”
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Interest rates may rise by a quarter of a point as early as November, according to predictions from the Ernst & Young ITEM club.
Going against popular opinion amongst analysts, Peter Spencer, ITEM's chief economic adviser, has said that, as long as European and US policymakers can allay sovereign debt concerns and calm the bond markets, "things should turn out OK".
The ITEM Club is the only non-governmental economic forecasting group to use the HM Treasury model of the UK economy and Mr Spencer used to be a Treasury adviser, so his prediction is a significant departure from recent thinking.
Until recently Mr Spencer has consistently argued that the Bank of England should "hold its nerve" and leave rates unchanged until there is compelling evidence that the country is coping with austerity.
His reasoning now is that inflation will start to fall in January and that there are signs of a stronger economic recovery. "The Bank has a window of opportunity to start to normalise rates in the New Year," he said.
"In January, VAT and last year's commodity price rises drop out. As inflation comes down, so does pressure on household budgets. So the Bank can raise rates without squeezing people too badly”, he added.
Inflation is currently running at 4.2 per cent but is expected to drop automatically to around 3 per cent at the start of 2012.
General opinion holds that the Bank needs to start "normalising" rates, which is generally interpreted as beginning the process of increasing them from the current historic low of 0.5 per cent back to around 5 per cent.
However, despite his surprise prediction, the ITEM club has concluded that the economy will grow by just 1.4 per cent this year, a lower revised estimate than the 1.8 per cent it predicted in April, as business confidence has been dented by Europe’s debt crisis.
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156 of Britain’s most enterprising and talented individuals gathered at Buckingham Palace last night to meet the Queen and other members of the Royal Family.
The attendees were announced as this year’s winners of the Queen’s Award For Enterprise 2011 and are people who have played an outstanding and significant role in promoting the growth of business enterprise and entrepreneurial skills and attitudes in others.
Before the reception, Business Secretary Vince Cable presented those present with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion, as the Government is keen to promote a culture of enterprise and entrepreneurship, to make sure Britain’s businesses are able to drive forward the economic recovery.
The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion is one of four awards under the umbrella title of The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. There are three awards for outstanding achievement by businesses in the categories of Innovation, International Trade and Sustainable Development.
Dr Cable said: “It’s wonderful to see that, even with a difficult economic climate, individuals continue to find enterprising ways of working and helping others to establish their businesses.”
Recipients received an engraved chalice and a Grant of Appointment, as well as the honour of the award and of attending the Royal event. Representatives from each winning business also attended the reception.
The Business Secretary went on to say: “It’s important we create the right conditions for Britain’s new and up-and-coming entrepreneurs to succeed and I strongly encourage businesses to start thinking about nominations for next year.”
The awards are made annually by The Queen and are only given for the highest levels of excellence demonstrated in each category. They are judged to a demanding level and winners receive a number of benefits and worldwide recognition.
Previous winners of the Innovation, International Trade and Sustainable Development awards have come from a diverse selection of business sectors, including large and small businesses.
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The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published figures yesterday showing that the UK's total liability for funding public sector pensions has reached £1.13 trillion.
Ministers are expected to use the data to reinforce their argument that pensions must be reformed, as a massive £22bn tax rise would be needed on top of the current austerity push to shrink it to its pre-crisis level.
“On current policy we would eventually expect to see public sector net debt on a continuously rising trajectory as a share of GDP," the OBR said in its report. "This would clearly be unsustainable." The "main lesson" of its analysis is that future governments are likely to have to undertake some additional fiscal tightening beyond the current parliament, it said.
Most public servants, with the exception of local government staff and university lecturers, are members of unfunded pension schemes in which the pensions are paid for out of general taxation.
The OBR's figure for pension liabilities is an estimate of the stock of assets the government would need now, if an investment fund had to be established to generate the cash to make all the future public sector pension payments.
The report makes the point that its calculation of the taxpayers’ total liability to pay public sector pensions "had nothing to do with changes in the size of prospective pension payments".
It also points out that if future pension payments are compared to the size of the UK's total economic output (gross domestic product) the cash value of public sector pensions will probably fall from 2 per cent of GDP in 2015-16 to 1.4 per cent in 2060-61.
"Our report should not be taken to imply that the consolidation already in the pipeline for the next four years should be made even bigger," the OBR added.
"That said, policymakers and would-be policymakers should certainly think carefully about the long-term consequences of any policies they introduce in the short term ... once the challenge of the current consolidation has passed."
For more information, please visit www.milsted-langdon.co.uk
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