Small businesses across the UK were given a boost recently, as the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) announced it would provide over £700m of funding to nearly 3,000 small firms through participating national banks.

The effectiveness of the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) recent announcement is yet to be seen and its questioned how many UK businesses will actually gain access tot he funding.

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Together with a range of other measures being implemented by the government to support UK businesses, this scheme is designed to ensure that small businesses in the UK continue to have access to the best support available. However, the number of firms that will actually be successful in accessing these funds remains questionable.

One issue is that the funding is given on a matched basis,  which means  they will have to dig into their own reserves and as we know, cash is not easy to come by at present.

For more information on how Enable Business Finance can help your business succeed and attain the correct business finance your company needs please contact Phillip Evans.

The rate of insolvencies fell to 0.07% in January 2010, with seven in every 10,000 businesses going under. This compares to an insolvency rate of 0.09% in January 2009 and 0.11% in December 2009.

Yorkshire, with 0.13%, witnessed the highest rate of failures in January, while Scotland, the only region to see a year-on-year increase in insolvencies, was beaten by Wales to having the lowest rate of business failures in January (0.06%).

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Businesses in Greater London saw the highest year-on-year improvement in their financial health (from 77.85 to 80.02). However, they also had the lowest overall financial strength score of any region.

The highest insolvency rates during January 2010 were among businesses with 11 to 100 employees (0.19%). One to two employee firms had the lowest rate of insolvencies (0.04%)

Its still a very common factor customers are asking for longer time to pay and yet trade suppliers are asking you to pay more quickly, giving you a massive cash flow squeeze.

One in 10 companies are increasingly using accounting tricks and bizarre excuses to force suppliers to bill them again in an effort to hold on to money for longer.

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The survey of 1,000 businesses showed that 96 per cent of firms surveyed have been forced to reissue invoices to their customers in the last 12 months. More than one in 10 suppliers has been forced to reissue at least 20 per cent of client invoices in the last 12 months. And during the same period, one in five companies has had to reissue between 10 and 20 per cent of invoices.

Half of the businesses surveyed that accept cheques for payment said customers were making deliberate mistakes, such as failing to sign the cheque or writing the incorrect amount or date, to stall payments.

Late payment of invoices prevents the efficient flow of cash through the supply chain, which is vital if businesses are to maintain their liquidity during a time when bank lending is restricted. There is a better way. Enable Finance have a suite of products and solutions that will resolve creditor pressure, increase working capital and thus resolve cash flow problems.

If you are fed up with your customers not paying on time and your now suffering from creditor pressure Enable Business Finance have a better way.

To find out specifically how Enable Finance can help your individual business please call Phillip Evans on: 0797 0500 425

The MPC is engaged in a difficult juggling act. On the one hand  GDP and money supply figures argue that quantitative easing should be extended, but on the other hand the increase in inflation has exceeded expectations and suggests a need for caution. Our view remains that until money supply growth strengthens further, sustainable recovery will be in doubt.

A double dip or even triple tumble recession remains a serious possibility. We’ve experienced a very abnormal recession and we shouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if the recovery is abnormal as well.

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The business finance team at Enable Finance are still concerned that 2010 will be a bumpy ride form many small to medium sized businesses and agree that economic recovery is still fragile.

The overall picture of finance being accessed by businesses has also changed over the past few years. IoD data from 2001 showed that 45% of IoD members were financing their businesses through bank loans and 40% through overdrafts. Today, only 28% are doing so via bank loans, 36% through overdrafts with a further 20% financing their business to some degree through credit cards.

Enable Business Finance would agree that there is a large gap between what the traditional banks are saying they are lending to actual what’s actually happening within the small to medium enterprise market.

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It would appear that despite all the noise about banks lending to businesses its still not actually happening.

Net trading prospects remain virtually unchanged with a gain of just two points between the third and fourth quarters of 2009 (22 compared with 24). By contrast, in the fourth quarter, confidence in the general economy began to fall and lost 13 points in the three months to December, down from 34 in September to 21 at the close of the year. Whereas confidence in own trading prospects has continued to rise since the October high in the third quarter of 2009, after three quarters of increased optimism, confidence in the general economic situation is now on the turn. These results suggest that although many are now calling the end of the recession, a large majority of the UK’s business community are yet to be convinced that good times are around the corner.

Businesses with a turnover of between £250K and £500K were the most gloomy about the economic outlook with optimism plunging some 23 points since the third quarter of 2009. By contrast businesses with a turnover of between £50K and £100K dropped seven points, those turning over £100K-£250K dipped by 13 points while those at the upper end of the sample slipped down nine points.

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Confidence amongst manufacturers has continued to increase and businesses in this sector are now the most optimistic compared to businesses in other sectors. In contrast to the big name high street retailers who have reported strong sales this week, SMEs in retail and distribution are much less confident about their fortunes. After reaching a high of 35 points in September, confidence has plummeted 14 points leaving those in retail and distribution lagging some way behind those in services and manufacturing.

Shiona Davies, director at Continental Research said: “These results show that in terms of their own trading prospects, small businesses are looking ahead to better times in the new year. The slight dip in confidence in the state of the general economy is a cause for concern and indicates that SME businesses believe it is still very early days to start talking about a recovery.

Confidence about own trading prospects and the general economic outlook are currently very closely linked. Last year the Continental Research Business Omnibus showed a convergence of economic optimism and trading prospects for the first time but at present the two have separated again. The big test will come in the coming months when we discover if confidence in the general economic situation will improve to match SMEs’ current optimism of their prospects.”

For further information on how Enable Invoice Finance can help fund your company please contact Phillip Evans

Virgin Money will be injecting £37.3 million of new capital into Church House Trust and will be utilised as a platform to move into deposits and mortgages and boost the scale of the business through further deals.

Virgin Money applied for their Banking licence in October and The Financial Services Authority have cleared Virgin Money’s acquisition Church House Trust.

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Church House Trust is based in Somerset and traces its routes back to 1792 and boasts 3,000 private customers, £50 million on deposit and a £25 million loan book.

Enable Finance Ltd have worked with Church House Trust for many years and would like to wish them all the best for the future with their new owners Virgin Money.

Enable Finance would like to wish all our friends a Happy Christmas & A Fantastic New Year.

Please note our offices will be closed from the 23rd December and normal business hours will resume on Monday the 4th of January 2010.

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Mortgage Times have today announced that it will no longer be able to conduct regulated business. In an email from the board of Director to all appointed representatives of the mortgage network the following was stated.

"It is with great regret that The Mortgage Times Group Limited, as the authorised person, has applied for a variation of the current permission granted to TMTG pursuant to Part IV of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

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"The variation of permission requested is the addition of a requirement that with effect from 21 December 2009, the Mortgage Times Group Limited may not carry on any of the regulated activities in the permission.

"This means as appointed representatives of The Mortgage Times Group Limited you are no longer permitted to conduct regulated activities under our FSA number 303007 as from today’s date.

"As you will all be aware 2009 has been an extremely turbulent year for TMTG and we have been vigorously attempting to secure investment into the business from strategic business partners to allow us to continue to trade solvently in to 2010.

"We are extremely saddened that at the 11th hour a potential major investor has made the decision not to proceed and we have been left with no alternative but to cease trading.

"We would like to thank all our ARs for their loyalty over the last five years and apologise profusely that we have not been able to continue to provide a platform for you all to continue to trade.

"We assure you that we have left no stone unturned in an attempt to find a solution to our recent difficulties but ultimately have been left with no other options going forward.

"We would like to give you our best wishes for success in the future when this marketplace eventually returns to normality."

The on line channel is becoming increasingly important for borrowing-related activity, such as searching for suitable deals. Across nearly all markets, consumers are more likely to take out loans on line direct from a provider rather than use an aggregation site.

Continuing concerns over on line security are a worry for consumers, which may become more of an issue as dependence on this channel rises. Among those who have never bought financial products on line, there is considerable doubt as to the safety of borrowing on line.

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Web 2.0 technologies and the emergence of social networking give banks greater scope to engage with their borrowing customers, and enable them to target their loan offerings more effectively. Blogs, video content and personalized recommendations can all help to strengthen relationships and build loyalty.