SME

Companies 27th June 2012

Santander agrees to Seamill Hydro resort £3-million refinancing

LONDON | Ayrshire hotel and resort Seamill Hydro in Scotland will on Thursday be unveiling its new hospitality services after having secured capital support from Santander Corporate Banking. The refurbishment of the restaurant is part of the hotel's wider regeneration programme, backed by a new £3 million refinancing agreement with Santander Corporate Banking. The hotel has been owned and operated as a partnership by two generations of the Sweeney family since 1985….

Spanish economy 18th May 2012

Bureaucracy, taxes and regulation keep Spanish companies too small

By CaixaBank research team, in Barcelona | The average size of Spanish firms is smaller than that of other countries with a similar degree of development. According to the Central Company Directory, at 1 January 2011, out of the total 3.25 million firms in Spain, 99.9% were small and medium-sized enterprises; that is, they employed fewer than 250 salaried workers. Micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 salaried employees accounted for 95.2%…

In Europe 15th May 2012

Growth in UK economy depends on 5pc core small businesses

LONDON | Less than 5 percent of all small businesses play the biggest role in boosting the UK economy, a new report by Santander Corporate Banking has concluded. The study, released Tuesday, also indicated that this same small fraction of SMEs accounts for two-thirds of all private-sector employment. Santander analysts found that a very limited number of small businesses have a significantly higher economic impact than the rest of the UK small…

World economy 4th May 2012

China’s PMI: reading between the lines

BEIJING | The question on whether China’s economy is expanding or contracting is like answering whether the glass is half full or half empty. The positive official reading signals that there’s no need to worry. With its PMI index calculated after a sample of more than 800 big (and state-owned) companies, PMI is on the rise and above the 50% for the fifth consecutive month. Conversely, HSBC’s reading doesn’t seem to…

Markets 25th April 2012

Wednesday’s graph: the pain of Spanish SMEs spells pain in France, Germany

Although the difficulties that the Spanish small and medium sized companies experience to access finance showed signs of very soft relief, the figures were bad. The latest survey on SMEs in the euro zone offered a stark picture of small companies in Spain suffering the worse end of the credit crunch, as a consequence of a weak domestic market. In contrast, Spain’s corporations are able to weather the crisis thanks…

In Europe 17th April 2012

UK emerging SMEs to receive EU funds

LONDON | The UK’s Coalition government launched Tuesday a new joint enterprise capital fund that will invest at least £40 million in high-growth potential small and medium sized companies in the country. The fund is called Notion Capital and is the eleventh and largest finance support programme for SMEs in the European Union. According to the official press release, a total of £62.9m has already been committed to it from the…

Markets 16th March 2012

British SMEs better give up on expectations over bank finance and turn to bonds

LONDON | The capital stress levels that British banks suffer are regarded to be so dire not even a majority stakeholder like the UK’s government feels confident their credit tap should open. A Taskforce set up by the department of Business Innovation and Skills published Friday a report that recommends small and medium-size companies or SMEs to hunt for alternatives. The paper anticipates growth in demand for finance as the economy recovers…

World economy 7th March 2012

Wednesday’s graphic: the rat behind US employment numbers

Barclays analysts’ sent a warning about expectations over US employment data, which experts do not quite think are accurate. Ahead of the publication of official figures next Friday, here is a line we mustn’t forget: the white line depicting small and medium companies’ intentions of hiring. “Upcoming employment data could reveal the actual situation of the US economy,” the Barclays team said. “During February, we have noticed that employment numbers…

In Europe 6th February 2012

British SMEs feel down: they might be right

LONDON | Sentiment among the UK’s small and medium-sized manufacturers fell for the third quarter running in the three months to January, as output stagnated and orders decreased against a backdrop of heightened economic and political uncertainty, the CBI said. Of the 350 respondents to the CBI’s latest quarterly SME Trends Survey published on Monday, 26% said output rose while 25% said that it fell, and the resulting balance of +1%…

In Europe 14th December 2011

UK SMEs’ directors feel the pinch, inequality gap widens

LONDON | The average 2011 annual pay for directors of small companies, with a turnover of less than £5mn a year, has fallen by £5,000 from the levels of five years ago (£87,500 in 2007). In the last 12 months alone, their average pay has fallen by 15% or over £14,000 taking their total pay package to £82,500 (in 2010 it was £96,568). Directors of larger organisations, with a turnover of…

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