Rural Business Category
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Global demand boosts UK wool exports
Cumbrian farmers look set to benefit from a boom in British wool with the value of UK exports reaching nearly £200 million in 2014, exports to China having doubled since 2013. Last year, around 800,000kg of high quality wool was shorn from Cumbrian breeds including Texel and Swaledale and the hardy Herdwick. According to Defra, UK exports of the fabric are now being shipped to 50 countries, including China and the United Arab Emirates. Over 1,000 new ...
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Three-quarters of SMEs experience cyber attacks
The cost of the most severe kind of cyber attack on small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) increased to £310,800 in 2015 - up from £115,000 in 2014. According to the Government's Information Security Breaches Survey 2015, the cost of online security breaches for big business are now likely to start at £1.46 million – up from £600,000 in 2014. However, more firms are taking action to tackle cyber threat, with a third of organisations ...
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CBI: UK growth accelerates to 12-month high
The CBI’s latest Growth Indicator shows UK growth quickeing in all three main sectors. The trend was modest in the manufacturing sector and strong in the retail sector, but business & professional services was the stand-out performer, recording its fastest growth in volumes since early 2006. The sector was the main driver of the overall acceleration in growth. The Growth Indicator reading of +33% for the three months to May was sharply up on the three ...
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Spending power confidence drops
The latest Lloyds Bank Spending Power Report shows overall consumer confidence taking a step backwards last month, after seeing an upward trend since the start of the year. Respondents' feelings about their current and future financial situations levelled off, with uncertainty in the run up to the General Election potentially restraining confidence towards personal finances (down 1%); household finances (down 1%); and the country's finances (down 5%). The data also shows a fall in essential spending in April (-0.8%) , ...
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British strawberries sweeter and juicer
British soft fruit growers believe that the short delay to the start of the season, caused by cooler weather, has resulted in stronger plants. This should help boost the size of the fruit and sugar levels, making British strawberries sweeter and juicer than normal. British Summer Fruits, which represents 85% of growers supplying berries to UK supermarkets, explains that the sweetness of strawberries is measured in degrees called Brix - the measure of sugar in a ...
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New online guide for credit insurance brokers
A new online guide to help credit insurance brokers access government-backed export insurance has been published by UK Export Finance (UKEF). The guide sets out how brokers can help firms insure their export contracts against non-payment, explaining each step of the application process for UKEF’s Export Insurance Policy (EXIP). The policy is available to companies that have been unable to secure insurance from the private sector and brokers can use the toolkit to reinforce their credentials ...
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Surge in commercial real estate demand
Demand for commercial property in the UK is growing close to its fastest pace since 1998, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). In Q1 2015 the UK saw its 10th consecutive quarterly acceleration of demand for commercial properties, with 46% more respondents seeing greater interest. In the investment market, enquiries also increased significantly with 49% more surveyors seeing more prospective investors – continuing the trend of rising demand which began towards the end of ...
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UK economic growth drops back
UK GDP, the main indicator of economic growth, rose by 0.3% in the first three months of 2015 compared with a rise of 0.6% between October and December 2014. According to the Office for National Statistics, output increased in services by 0.5% but the other three main industrial groupings within the economy decreased, with construction falling by 1.6%, production by 0.1% and agriculture by 0.2%. Year-on-year GDP was up 2.4% at the end of March although the ...
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Exports weigh on UK manufacturing growth
The recovery in British manufacturing continued in the three months to April but the pace of growth eased and growth in export orders remained sluggish, according to the latest CBI Quarterly Industrial Trends Survey. The survey of 468 firms reported an easing of growth in total new orders compared with the previous quarter. Domestic orders rose modestly, whilst exports growth remained sluggish. Meanwhile output growth fell to its lowest since January 2013, but above the long-run ...
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UK CEOs remain confident
PwC's latest Global CEO Survey shows that UK CEOs are more confident than their European peers, although the high levels of optimism seen last year have been tempered by concerns about access to key skills, disruptive trends and geopolitical uncertainty. Growth prospects are less bullish when it comes to the overall outlook for the global economy and when asked about the most important countries for company growth, 48% of UK respondents said the US, followed by ...
