Business and Economics

By Nathan Lee, TLE Correspondent  Second quarter figures released today have revealed notions of a 'Northern Powerhouse' could soon become reality with job growth rates in many of the UK’s northern cities soaring ahead of the south. Whilst London still held a 17.02 per cent share of the nation's 391,811 jobs last quarter, active job growth across the UK's top cities paints a very different picture. Despite Edinburgh only attributing a 0.62 per cent share of the UK's jobs, it ranks...

By Shahin Shamsabadi, Head of Business Intelligence MENA at The Risk Advisory Group We are perhaps only days away from a deal that could open up a country that has been shunned for nearly four decades.  This is a country that in spite of crippling sanctions boasts an established banking sector, infrastructural foundations in the transport, aviation and energy industries and a sophisticated consumer market.  A large, well-educated workforce, an abundance of natural resources, as well as more than 20 free...

By Roy Russell, Founder and CEO, Ascertus Limited The motivation for entrepreneurs to sell their businesses can be many. Mine was to grow my already successful, 12 year old document management solutions firm by being a part of a larger corporation. The notion of leveraging the support of the parent company to improve the offering and catapult the prospects – not simply of the business, but also of the staff – was appealing. At the time, the sale had all...

By Nathan Lee, TLE Correspondent  Amidst the financial blackmail orchestrated by the European Union, the Central Bank and the IMF (i.e, the German government), there is a new people-led movement under way with a remit of saving the country without bankrupting it at the same time. Greece needs a €1.6 billion bailout, without which the government will default on its debts, a Grexit will be on the cards and all havoc will ensue. As things stand its only option is to turn...

So Sir Howard’s Commission has returned its recommendation. After two and a half years of deliberation, pie-in-the-sky proposals, costly marketing campaigns and self-centred political lobbying we have come to the conclusion that you simply can’t move a hub with deliverable expansion proposals. It is the worst recommendation, except for all the others. The economic benefits for Heathrow expansion are obvious. Generating up to £147 billion for the economy over 60 years and 70,000 new jobs by 2050 it separates the...

By Melanie Powell, Senior Lecturer Economics University of Derby, Derby Business School Deflation is the latest worry. Japan has it, Europe has it, but do we? No. Not yet. But we are on the brink with the announcement that the UK inflation rate is zero. Will we catch it? Should we be worried? Surely inflation was the problem and so deflation must be good? It all depends. Most of us have got our heads round inflation – rising prices, and...

By Jamie Viggiano, VP of marketing at TaskRabbit Over the last few years, there has been a surge of app-based services that enable people to share anything from their homes, to their cars to their time. These companies are part of the “Sharing Economy,” which is poised to become a nine billion pound industry by 2025. According to research by PwC, young adults (aged 18 to 24) are now more interested in “experiencing” things versus owning things - in other...

By Andy Thompson, Director of Operational Policy and Research Wealth Management Association On 10 June 2015 the Government raised another £750 million from the sale of half of its remaining 30 per cent stake in Royal Mail. But why were private investors not given the opportunity to participate as they had been in the Initial Public Offering in 2013? Ultimately it is for the Government and its advisers to answer that question but in the absence of anything definitive perhaps...

By Jacqueline de Rojas, area vice president, Northern Europe at Citrix Tackling the shortfall of highly skilled workers is an increasingly important concern for safeguarding the future of British industry. Recent research from the CBI found that nearly 40 per cent of companies looking for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professionals are struggling to recruit and around half believe the situation will just get worse. If the UK wishes to be global leader in these fields, a significant investment...