With 31 December 2020 marking the end of 48 years of the UK membership of the European Union, the largest trading block in the world, it would be unrealistic to believe 1st January 2021 was going to be business as usual. Throw in the worst international pandemic for a century, and businesses are reassessing what the new, post-Brexit, post Covid-19 world will look like.  What does the real landscape for UK businesses, and companies trading between the UK and the EU look like?  Let’s consider the evidence so far and try and come up with some lessons we can learn…

84% of large businesses and organisations in the UK have lost working days due to a lack of effective contact tracing, according to a new study. The resulting lost productivity is estimated to have cost the country’s economy over £11b in the last 12 months, equivalent to 4.3 million working days. The study, which looked at 500 UK companies employing over 100 staff, found an average cost of £660,193 per business due to absent workers isolating and waiting for test results, following potential contact with COVID-19. This includes time off for those who thought they might have been in close…

Constant restrictions and national lockdowns in most countries have made it almost impossible for many businesses to stay afloat – and that does not factor in other political changes that have caused great cost and impact, such as Brexit. Loans, whether it was government support schemes or conventional consumer credits, have been the only way out of what seemed like a hopeless situation for many. Our recent study across seven European markets showed that more than half (52%) of SMEs had to apply for a loan of some sort to survive 2020. The number of SMEs that needed loans to…

MultiPay Group is bringing its experience and ability to accept any payment, anywhere, to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). The launch of MultiPay Merchant Services will enable SMEs to benefit from the same quality of service, level of expertise and innovative payment technology that is already helping businesses in the retail, hospitality, travel, and tourism sectors thrive and grow. The pandemic effect The last 12 months have been some of the hardest trading conditions UK SMEs have ever faced. A combination of lockdowns, restricted trading hours and new social distancing measures have impacted SMEs across the board and resulted in an estimated 234,000 small businesses permanently closing. With…

Berlin, 15 April 2021 – Seven Senders, Europe’s leading delivery platform for parcel shipping, can look back on a successful 2020 which has concluded in a series C financing round of $40 million. As with previous funding rounds, the lead investor is Digital+Partners, which, together with btov, covers the investment needs of the Berlin scale-up. Seven Senders will use this flow of capital for further technical expansion and the advancement of its internationalisation strategy. This will include the introduction of central service hubs to support the European business activities of Chinese and US online retailers. With its focus on cross-border…

Knowing what customers want is the key to success for any business but do you apply this when it comes to the content on your website? Too often, businesses get caught up sharing their own business news or sales messages and ultimately miss out on capturing potential customers through the topics they genuinely care about. Here at React & Share, we asked 2,000 UK consumers about their online habits. Our research, carried out by YouGov, discovered the most searched topics over the last year and how search habits have been affected due to the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic. Since…

Metro Bank has launched new invoicing technology for business customers using its mobile app. The new invoicing features offer a range of benefits for the bank’s business customers, including the ability to create, track and manage branded invoices directly from their Metro Bank accounts. Metro Bank customers can quickly create invoices on the go via the mobile app, accessing lists of their previously saved clients as well as products and services they provide. They will then be able to manage their cash flows more effectively, with the app showing the payment status of each invoice and automatically reconciling their invoices with payments that…

Carbon offsetting is a robust, immediate and measurable way for SMEs to take responsibility for their current carbon footprint now, whilst on their journey to Net Zero. Yet many businesses (both large and small) are still reluctant to offset their carbon emissions. Why? Largely because of the many misconceptions that are out there around offsetting.  In this article we aim to bust seven myths that are currently out there regarding carbon offsetting so that we can give your small business the facts it needs as it journeys towards Net Zero.  1. SMEs are too small to offset It’s not the…

Cheshire based recruitment agency, Zoek UK is celebrating being shortlisted in the Recruiter Awards 2021 for the ‘Most Effective Recruitment Marketing Campaign’. Zoek are among five brands being considered for the award. They were shortlisted for their ‘truck CV’ where they worked with Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Ed Hollands of Driven Media to put a giant CV on the back of a truck for lucky job seeker James Pemblington. The story was picked up by the media, locally, nationally and internationally and James secured a role in 72 hours. Established in 2002, the Recruiter Awards is the UK’s largest event for…

Working while parenting has always been a balancing act, but the pandemic has led to any existing structures and routines being abandoned as people adapt to working from home. The majority of businesses have also had to adopt online working where possible, and it is expected that many will continue to use this even after lockdown has finished and normal working environments are able to resume. However, a recent ONS study found that parents were nearly twice as likely to be furloughed (13.6 per cent) as those without children (7.2 per cent). This is because for many parents, working from…

Douglas Grant, Managing Director of Conister, part of AIM listed Manx Financial Group PLC (AIM: MFX) provides a guide identifying and protecting a resilient business. The last year has shone a spotlight on the long-term future of the UK’s business sector, its reliance on people and the need for business resilience. It was crucial to protect the financial security of consumers so that they could continue to conduct business with each other, and that was understandably Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s priority, with the unprecedented introduction of Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and furlough…

The dashboard and analytics company ‘Statistics 24’ has grown considerably over the lockdown period as educational institutions and businesses needed a way to check online attendance and work taking place at home, but say the journey of online learning and working is really just beginning. Back in 2016, the company was started by Jamie Smith and Neil King while they were working in education themselves. They found that there was a gap in the ability to check the attendance of online learning sessions and work that was taking place both inside and outside of the classroom, so they built Statistics…

Life science companies can now apply to the new £20 million fund to expand manufacturing in the UK, Minister Nadhim Zahawi has announced. Announced last November by the Prime Minister and now open for applications, the Medicines and Diagnostics Manufacturing Transformation Fund is designed to boost the country’s ability to respond to future pandemics and put UK companies ahead of global competitors. With two-thirds of life science manufacturing jobs outside London and the South East, the new £20 million fund will also open up economic and investment opportunities for manufacturers across the whole of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales,…

Significant parts of the indoor economy and further outdoor settings will reopen from 12th April, after data confirmed the government’s ‘four tests’ for easing Covid restrictions had been met. Outdoor hospitality will be among those reopening in England next week after the Prime Minister confirmed the roadmap is on track and planned easements can go ahead. However, he continued to urge caution, with no changes to social contact rules and many restrictions still in place. Outdoor gatherings must still be limited to 6 people or 2 households, and you must not socialise indoors with anyone you do not live with…

Hundreds of young students across Swindon are being invited to take part in a competition with cash prizes to celebrate their talent. Four business owners from Swindon and the Cotswolds have raised thousands of pounds in sponsorship to launch the contest aimed at young people who would have been taking their GCSEs, A Levels or equivalent examinations in 2021. At the beginning of the first lockdown in March last year, a team of self-employed professionals: Nigel Chute (Chute Design), Allison Murray (Allison Murray Design), Chris Roberts (Chris Roberts MBE PR), and Fiona Scott (Scott Media), founded The Cotswold Challenge to…

The leading global customer experience (CX) and business solutions provider, Webhelp has announced the expansion of its program, The Nest by Webhelp, across Europe which aims to support startups and scaleups to provide the best-in-class customer experience. The Nest enables fast-growing companies across all sectors to grow exponentially by offering a unique, tailor-made outsourced CX proposition.   This news comes at a time when many young companies are facing multiple challenges due to the pandemic and are requiring flexibility and ROI optimization while uncertainly prevails in their business environments.  Chloe de Mont-Serrat, Head of The Nest, said: “We’re delighted to expand our offering to companies across Europe. Thriving startups have…