George Osborne delivers a decent deal for aspirant and established businesses March 25, 2012 THE men and women busy building Britain’s future economic wealth broadly welcomed last week’s Budget. Although lacking a radical strategy for growth, the coalition has gone some way in oiling the wheels of entrepreneurship. Richard Marsh explains how reforms to the Enterprise Investment Scheme has allowed the creation of the first angel co-investment fund in [...]
Fears of slowdown in China see miners and FTSE tumble March 22, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index fell yesterday, heading for its biggest weekly loss so far this year as signs of slower growth in China, the world’s second-largest economy, weighed on cyclical stocks. Heavyweight mining shares fell 3.2 per cent after data showed industrial activity in China, the world’s largest consumer of metals, shrank for a fifth [...]
Investors unnerved by poor factory data March 22, 2012 CYCLICAL sectors led US stocks lower yesterday, setting the S&P 500 up for its first negative week in six, after factory data showed a slowdown in both the Eurozone and China. The weak data is hardly a surprise for markets, as many analysts have already factored in a recession in the Eurozon and early this [...]
FTSE 100 ticks higher as boost for Vodafone helps counter commodity drag March 21, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index posted a fractional gain yesterday after a volatile session as strength in market heavyweight Vodafone countered weaker commodity stocks hit by below par US data that revived concerns over demand for metals. The UK blue chip index closed up 0.54 points, or 0.01 per cent, at 5,891.95, surrendering a 0.3 per [...]
Tech shares keep S&P at 4-year high March 21, 2012 US stocks mostly fell yesterday, weighed by the energy services sector, but gains in technology shares buoyed the Nasdaq and helped keep the S&P 500 near four-year highs. The benchmark S&P 500 index, up 11.6 per cent so far this quarter, found buyers at the 1,400 level, which has been held for five straight days. [...]
50p rate taxpayers should utilise their fleeting allowance March 21, 2012 BUDGETS are rarely driven by economic sense. More often than not politics triumphs over clarity. And the coalition, like all previous governments, tried to manage expectations – threatening in the lead up to yesterday to tinker with the rules on additional rate taxpayers’ relief on pensions, only to leave the rules unchanged. As such, no [...]
London will be hit hardest by levy increase March 21, 2012 IN YESTERDAY’S budget, chancellor George Osborne increased the stamp duty land tax rate to 7 per cent for residential properties over £2m as well as introducing a stamp duty land tax of 15 per cent for residential properties worth more than £2m purchased by companies and other entities. As Paul Emery, PwC tax director, points [...]
Compliance isn’t the easy path to fortune March 21, 2012 A RECENT Thomson Reuters survey of 500 compliance officers at financial services firms emphasised two things about the extraordinary growth in the importance of the profession in today’s job market. Firstly, it showed how lucrative compliance roles have become – 70 per cent expected the cost of senior compliance staff to be higher in 2012. [...]
MBA alumni networks can boost your career March 21, 2012 FOLLOWING a Masters of Business degree (MBA), graduates might be forgiven for forgetting their school and forging headlong into the workplace. The promises made for MBA study are career progression and increased earnings and students will want to take their new skills directly into a job and see rapid return from their significant financial investment. [...]
