Credit crunch causes surge in business closures

Official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) demonstrate the effects that the credit crunch had on businesses.

The statistics show that the number of business deaths rose by 20,000 (7.4 per cent) between 2009 and 2010.

Since 2009 the UK and global economies have been hit by turmoil and the UK has been through a recession.

This is also reflected in the decline in the number of business start-ups during this period - a fall of 42,000 (1.8 per cent) between 2009 and 2010.

Businesses that saw the highest start-up rate during this period were in the information and communication industry, while business administration, accommodation and food services saw the biggest level of closures.

Unsurprisingly, London had the highest business birth and death rates, while Northern Ireland had the lowest.

The business birth and death scale was tipped during the credit crunch, as figures for 2007 show that business births out-stripped business deaths by nearly 60,000.

(Source – Gibson Hewitt)

Britons will spend £13.4bn in cyber shops this Christmas.

Internet users are expected spend more than 350 million hours shopping online for Christmas presents during December 2011 with purchases made from a mobile phone accounting for at least 12 per cent of online spending.

"Lego" is expected to be the most searched for toy product throughout the country during the festive period.

December 19, a Monday, is expected to be the busiest day for online food sales as people scramble to do some last minute grocery shopping before Christmas Day.

Social media usage, in the lead up to and on the day of Christmas, is expected to be the highest yet, with British web users expected to spend more than 25 million hours online on December 25 alone.

Action Comics No. 1 sells for record $2.16m

A rare copy of the first issue of Action Comics, famed for the first appearance of Superman, has been sold for a record $2.16 million (£1.4m).The issue, graded at 9.0, was auctioned starting Nov. 11 online at www.comicconnect.com. The starting bid was just $1 but there was a reserve price of $900,000. Neither the name of the buyer nor seller was disclosed.

The previous record set in March 2010 was followed by the sale of another copy for $1 million. But neither of those issues was in as good a condition as the issue that sold on Wednesday, though it's pedigree of setting records was already documented. Twice before it set the record for the most expensive book ever, selling for $86,000 in 1992 and $150,000 in 1997.

But in 2000, it was stolen and thought lost until it was recovered in a storage shed in California in April this year

Autumn Statement is a step in the right direction for small businesses

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) welcomes the Chancellor's Autumn Statement saying that it is a step in the right direction to help small firms that are central to economic growth and job creation in the UK.

The FSB is pleased that the Government has enhanced the seed enterprise investment scheme which will offer greater reliefs on capital gains and income tax for people investing in small businesses. This will give start-ups and fledgling businesses the chance to by-pass the high street banks and find alternative sources of finance.

Extra funds for small businesses through the credit easing scheme is also to be welcomed. It should help to decrease the cost of finance for small firms and will hopefully increase the amount of lending to small businesses – especially with today's figures from the Bank of England showing that lending fell in the last three months.

However, the FSB has concerns that guaranteeing the loan books of existing high street banks may serve to reinforce their market position. The Government must therefore go further to promote the emergence of alternative forms of finance and greater competition in the banking sector.

Measures that will reduce the risk of taking on new staff and increase job creation are welcomed and an overhaul of the employment tribunal system is also a step in the right direction. But with youth unemployment rising to record levels, the Chancellor needs to be more ambitious in incentivising job creation by extending schemes like Work Trials to prevent unemployment becoming entrenched.

The FSB welcomes attempts to tackle firms' rising overheads. Based on September's inflation figure, businesses would have seen a 10 per cent increase in their business rates over the last two years. An extension to small business rates relief will be welcomed by many small high street businesses as a way to help manage their overheads.

Deferring January's fuel duty increase is welcome too but a 3p rise is still coming and will hit small firms and households in August. The FSB is calling for a longer-term solution that not only takes the volatility out of fuel prices but the politics as well. Small businesses need to be able to know what their overheads will be in six months time and that is why the FSB is calling for a true fuel duty stabiliser mechanism.

Plans to improve the country's transport network are welcome. While these improvements will help small businesses, it is also vital that small firms are given the chance to win these contracts and other public procurement contracts.

'Survival Paramount' for British SMEs

Small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) are most worried about broader economic issues such as the global economy (84%), cheaper competition (70%), and currency volatility (65%), according to the latest data from the Travelex Confidence Index.

The findings also revealed that 59% of SMEs had little to no confidence in the current economic climate, representing a 32% drop from June and the lowest level of confidence since the TCI began in March 2010.

Top 10 concerns for SMEs

1) Overall health of the economy (84%)
2) Cheaper overseas competition (70%)
3) Currency volatility (65%)
4) Reduced budgets (64%)
5) International regulation/compliance (44%)
6) Credit availability (43%)
7) Efficiency of international payments (39%)
8) Political influence (36%)
9) Reduced sales (30%)
10) Customer loss (27%)

Although credit availability came in at no. 6, SME awareness of Project Merlin is extremely low; 62% had not heard of Project Merlin and of those who had, only one in 20 believed it has helped them obtain credit.

Equally worrying ahead of the Autumn Statement is the fact that 66% of SMEs don't believe the government's efforts to drive an export-led recovery have affected their business, with 48% thinking an export-led recovery unlikely despite policy-makers'
sustained campaign to depreciate the pound. With sterling fluctuating amidst an uncertain global outlook, external risks seem to have reduced the efficacy of the Coalition's current policies.

Free database search for slow, late and bad payers offer closed. Searches to cost 99p from November 2011

For over two years we have been offering our clients free database searches and completely free debt collection but, unfortunately, all good things must come to and end.

As from November 2011 searching our online database of slow, late and bad payers will cost 99p per search. Still an absolutely amazing deal.

Place a debt with us for collection and payment within the first 7-days will be charged at low rate commission. Collection after 7-days costs absolutely nothing!. Once our collection service starts it does not stop until the debt is paid in full.

With no membership, subscription or annual fee, no contract and no prepayment on debt collection, we guarantee you won't find a better B2B & B2C debt collection deal anywhere in Britain and Ireland today.

Now let's tell you what these great products are and how they work and continue working to stamp out bad debt and give ALL companies a stronger cash flow platform to trade from.

DebtorsDatabase is an electronic recording of debts due by companies and individuals, which are outside the payment terms agreed with suppliers of goods and services. There is NO private debt and the database is only open to verified companies and businesses. Individuals may not access DebtorsDatabase.

Who's on DebtorsDatabase?

Credit account customers who have not paid one of your suppliers invoice and so they have passed the account to DebtorsDatabase for collection. DebtorsDatabase is a fully searchable Internet database of debtors who have chosen publication on the fully searchable electronic database rather than pay their supplier what they owe them. Companies and individuals, with aa record of slow, late or bad payment,that choose to be published on DebtorsDatabase may find it difficult to get credit under normal credit terms and they may also find some of their existing lines of credit reduced or withdrawn.

Who can view a published entry on DebtorsDatabase?

Companies are granted verified access to DebtorsDatabase to help them access new trade account applicants and existing customer who may now present too greater risk to continue extending credit terms. After all a new customer for one company may well be an old debtor of another. DebtorsDatabase does not opinionate on the credit worthiness of any company or individual appearing on the database and has no control over what credit control policies any searcher may employ.

How does published data get removed from DebtorsDatabase?

If you settle the account placed for collection in the 7-days allowed from the time DebtorsDatabase first notify you that the debt has been placed for collection, then the overdue account will not go live DebtorsDatabase and all references to the debt will be removed but if you pay after the allowed time the search data will be updated to reflect the fact that you have now paid but the record will remain on the Internet Database for a period of up to 6 years months from the date of first placement with DebtorsDatabase. The only way to stop publication on DebtorsDatabase or to be removed from the database and all records and data destroyed is to pay in full, together with any charges or fees that may apply after the 7-days time allowed to pay has expired.

Get paid fast, before anybody else and before it gets too late...starting using DebtorsDatabase's fabulous debt collection and database searches TODAY

Rock Star Grounded by Airline Collapse

The news that British airline Astraeus Airlines has been placed into administration means that Iron Maiden rocker Bruce Dickinson, who currently works as a senior pilot and marketing director for the company, may be forced to return to his music day job.

The 53-year-old musician learnt to fly back in the 1990s and has flown all around the world with the airline, which has now been ordered to cease operations with immediate effect. He was flying 250 customers from Jeddah International Airport in Saudi Arabia to Manchester, in what turned out to be the airline’s last flight, when he was informed of his employer’s administration.

Statistics

• There are 4.5 million small businesses in the UK
• SMEs account for 99% of all enterprise in the UK, 58.8% of private sector employment and 48.8% of private sector turnover.
• SMEs employed an estimated 13.8 million people and had an estimated combined annual turnover of £1,500 billion
• Businesses with employees account for a quarter of all enterprises - a fall of 29,000 since 2010
• There are 876,000 businesses in construction - a fifth of all UK enterprises
• London has 748,000 enterprises - more than any other region
• The South East has the second largest number of enterprises with 745,000. Combined with London a third of all businesses are based here
• 45.3% of businesses are registered for VAT and/or PAYE
• The number of sole proprietorships increased by 87,000 in 2010 and the number of companies, 6,000

Micro business: 0-9 employees. Small Businesses: 10-50 employees. Medium Businesses: 50-249 employees

(Updated November 2011)

Figures obtained from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. Home working figures courtesy of Enterprise Nation.

Participate in Our Contest

Contest: Christmas Free Draw

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(Contest Ends: Dec 24 2011)

Search a Database of Published Debtors Details

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The winner of our previous contest, ‘Summer Free Draw’ is Dave Roach

Congratulations...Dave Roach

As economic indicators continue to paint a gloomy picture for the UK’s recovery, businesses are reversing their priorities and are putting cashflow before customer relationships to keep afloat and bad debt at bay. Following news this week that SMEs are owed £33.6bn in late payments, the latest figures show that businesses are getting tougher on customers who pay late and were chasing overdue invoices sooner. 2011 figures, compared to the same quarter in 2010 saw average time from invoicing to a Letter Before Action improve from 72 days to 68 days.

This is quite a reversal on 2010 when businesses were giving customers much longer to pay before action was threatened, in a bid to maintain good relationships.

There is still much more room for businesses to sharpen up their debt management strategies and show customers they mean business when it comes to late payment. It’s all well and good threatening legal action but firms need to demonstrate they will pursue a claim through the legal system or they are in danger of crying wolf. Businesses should not let their fear of losing customers or damaging relationships get in the way of taking a hard line on overdue invoices.

SMEs 'owed £33.6bn in late payments'

SMEs are owed an average of £39,000 and are waiting up to two months to get paid, claims the report. It added that half of all UK SMEs - 861,000 firms – are currently experiencing late payments. Mike Hutchinson, head of martketing at Bacs said, “The issue of late payment is continuing to get worse for SMEs in the UK at a time when they need to be able to plan ahead for growth and ensure a strong cash flow. The worst offenders for paying late, according to the research, are large companies which are behind 48% of SME late payment debt, followed by the public/private companies at 20%. Government and not-for-profit organisations are among the best payers with just 9% of SMEs experiencing overdue payments from this sector.

(Source – BBC)

Using the Wrong Debt Collection Agency Often Results in Non-Recovery

The success of any business relies on timely payments of clients and the ability to stay in control of your sales and, in turn, your cash flow. We all know what happens when a once trusted customer quickly becomes a ‘hard core’ debtor. It happens quickly and far too frequently nowadays and less latitude on agreed payment terms is and will become, an essential part of every micro, small, SME and large/public companies credit control/management and general trading policies and so it should

Taking on the task of debt recovery yourself is often a recipe for disaster and can result in the recovery costing more than the debt itself. You can’t simply choose just any third party to recover the debt for you.

“Every debt is different, and the hard task is to find the company best suited to recover debt Creditors need to find the right Debt Collection Agency to take the reins and handle customer slow, late and bad payment for you.” In short you need a debt collection agency to get you paid fast, before everybody else and before it gets too late and that’s where DebtorsDatabase comes in. “Our collection rates are, quite understandably, incredible. Start placing your overdue customer accounts with DebtorsDatabase and you’ll be amazed by the phenominal upsurge in customer payment,” Collections Manager Dave Williams forecast.

Beverley Ramsay, the CEO of DebtorsDatabase, went on to explain. “We offer creditors incentive based debt collection the like of which has never been seen before. We are so good at what we do and confident that collection by us will be so fast, that we offer all our clients a 7-day payment deal. When a debt is passed to us for recovery the DebtorsDatabase collection service starts and it doesn’t stop until the debt is paid in full. However, we only charge low and very competitive commission on debts paid in 7-days. Every debt we collect after 7-days costs the client (nor the debtor) ABSOLUTELY NOTHING,”

Beverley went on to say, “I’m proud to announce that we’ve opened up the service further and our database of debtors can be searched by our clients at any time for an incredible 99p fee. We don’t ask for or require any upfront payments, subscription or membership fees and there are no contracts to sign. You don’t have to place debts to search the database and the whole business will certainly help put the creditor back in control. Finding out exactly what we can do for your company is as simple as clicking here to visit our website. The rest is easy and the results will be just what credit managers/controllers have been/are looking for.”

“If you are a micro or small company, with less than 100 customers our associate company, Credit Minder is exactly what you need. DebtorsDatabase has teamed up with Credit Minder to give small companies the solution to thier invoicing, credit control and debt collection problems and for a pre-paid fee of less than £1 a day you get everything done from invoicing to putting the cash in your bank super-fast.”

"We've put together a solution for small businesses which will save them valuable time, money and stress and give them the solid cash flow platform to enable them to succeed and grow and all for under £1 a day!" Beverley Ramsay confidently claimed. Find out more

65% of Credit Professionals want Government to protect SMEs from late payments

Survey of members of Institute of Credit Management reveals late payments still a major issue as an increase in use of credit data is revealed

The latest survey of credit management professionals, conducted jointly by the Institute of Credit Management (ICM) and business information provider, reveals a huge increase in the use of credit data compared to 2010, as businesses look to reduce their risk of bad debt. In the survey of ICM members, 86% said they use credit and business data checks for new customers and suppliers, compared to just 37% last year. And 85% use data for ongoing monitoring, but only 41% said the same a year ago.

In 2010, 59% reported an increase in late payments that year, but this is down slightly to 52% in 2011. Over a third (36%) are chasing late payments up to 3 days sooner than they were a year ago, up slightly on 2010. And 20% are chasing four days sooner, compared to 29% twelve months ago. Late payments remain a major issue for businesses, which accounts for the sharp increase in the use of data checks and ongoing monitoring, as firms keep a closer eye on new and existing customers and suppliers.

The survey shows that the current market conditions continue to put a strain on businesses, with 65% saying the Government should offer more support to protect small businesses from the negative impact of late payments. This is down on the 77% who said the same last year, but clearly shows a significant level of dissatisfaction.

Key findings of the survey show that the threat of redundancy has decreased. In 2010 63% of those surveyed said their company had made redundancies, but this figure has dropped to 44% in 2011. With a focus on credit management, these roles remain key for many businesses with 77% saying their department was not affected by redundancies, up 5% on the previous year.

“It’s interesting to see that the use of credit and business data checks has soared in the last 12 months, illustrating its value in managing risk and reducing bad debt,” says Mark Nuttall, Director. “The use of new customer checks and ongoing monitoring has more than doubled. And over half (50.5%) use data for verification when chasing debt, as firms continue to clamp down on late payments.

“Quality business and credit data is clearly more important than ever to businesses, as they struggle to operate in an uncertain economy. Ongoing monitoring and robust checks continue to offer the best protection from bad debt, helping companies continue to make informed business decisions and operate with confidence.”

Philip King, Chief Executive of the ICM, adds, “Late payments continue to put businesses under added strain, in an already fragile economy. The survey shows that businesses are struggling to tackle late payments and the majority would like Government support, but it is also up to professional credit managers, and specifically members of the ICM, to take the lead in reducing the impact of bad debt and improving levels of best practice.”