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news opinion
Congratulations to Reading and Southampton for both gaining promotion to the Premiership – two great conurbations in the top flight of our national game
It would have been nice to write “two great cities“ but it appears that the office of the deputy prime minister prefers to give city status to an obscure settlement in the Welsh mountains, rather than properly acknowledging the success of a great commercial hub such as Reading.
Southampton and Reading will play the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea next season, and let’s hope they can both achieve the important goal of 2012/13 – namely to stay up.
As cities (in all but name) Reading and Southampton are respectively the centres of the Thames Valley and Solent regions and both have matured as commercial powerhouses in the past decade.
The regeneration of much of Southampton has been particularly impressive, and there are many more exciting developments on the drawing board. SeaCity and the Cultural Quarter and the ambitious Future Southampton scheme are all part of what is likely to be a further transformation of the city over the next 20 years.
There is less overt ambition at Reading, with much of the focus being on creating strategies for a sustainable community, but the town has changed markedly in the past decade and is now a much more pleasant place to work and live.
Infrastructure problems remain for both centres – but both Reading and Southampton have bright futures in the premiership of the UK economy.
David Murray Publisher
www.businessmag.co.uk
Double-dip in north-south
The UK economy has for the first time since the 1970s entered into a double dip recession, with the construction, retail and production sectors continuing to struggle.
But Thames Valley accountants and business advisers James Cowper believe that unlike the 1970s this double dip recession follows a north-south divide.
Sue Staunton, a partner in the business restructuring team of James Cowper, said: “A general observation based upon our clients and the local business community suggests that businesses in the south are, in the main, doing well. There is much more optimism in the market and less signs of a contracting local economy.”
James Cowper also believes that whilst the economy has fallen once again into recession there is unlikely to be any significant increase in business failures.
Staunton said: “This recession, unlike many earlier ones, has not seen the predicted increase in business failures. Whether this is set to change with the onset of a double dip will remain to be seen.
“Interest rates will play a critical role, with any increase almost certainly having an adverse effect of business earnings. Whatever the Bank of England does, the prospects for the economy remain uncertain. Businesses need to be prepared for this new reality - monitoring the credit ratings of key customers carefully, for instance, to look for early warning signs.”
Conversely, businesses facing financial difficulties of their own are more frequently finding their key creditors are taking a more sympathetic position and being co-operative in, for example, extending credit terms.
Staunton added: “Some
HMRC targets motors, markets and clothes
Newbury-based chartered certified accountancy firm Banks & Co is advising that the motor trade, market traders and clothing sellers are next on the list of sectors that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will target in its tax crackdown.
HMRC is launching 30 new taskforces in the 2012/13 tax year to target businesses suspected of tax evasion, including the above trades, and is already looking into the activities of restaurants and scrap metal dealers.
The existing 12 taskforces
launched in 2011/12 are expected to recover up to £50 million in unpaid tax, according to HMRC, with some taskforces achieving 100% ‘hit rates’ with 13 criminal investigations now under way.
Each taskforce will gather data using HMRC’s existing information powers, focusing on groups of up to 600 businesses in each location targeted.
Mark Taylor, director at Banks & Co, said: “Businesses which fail to co-operate could face a criminal investigation. If your business is targeted then you
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commentators have criticised the business community for driving the economy back into recession by sitting on cash piles and not investing. This is not entirely fair. Businesses will only invest if and when they feel sufficiently confident about earning a proper a return on that investment, and at the moment such confidence is simply not there.”
James Cowper says business nervousness may stem from any number of factors including the outlook for the euro area (our largest export market), continuing fall-out from the government spending review, anxiety about social or industrial unrest, or employment prospects and resulting consumer spending.
Mark Taylor
should seek professional advice at the earliest opportunity. The sooner you act, the more your advisers can do to help.”
In the June issue of The Business Magazine
• Corporate Finance • Legal Focus • Focus on Oxford
Details: 0118-9766411
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THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MAY 2012
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