Business News.
18th April 2017.
Harold Tillman calls for US-style insolvency procedures
The Telegraph’s Ashley Armstrong interviews former Jaeger owner Harold Tillman over the loss of his business in 2012 and the UK’s insolvency rules, which he says need reform. Mr Tillman says the UK needs US-style Chapter 11 insolvency procedures that allow creditors to take a share of the business, rather than lose their money, whilst giving a company breathing space from its commitments. He claims Lloyds Bank and Jon Moulton’s Better Capital worked to oust him from Jaeger despite him having a sound refinancing plan. He adds that taking his grievance to Sir Win Bischoff, Lloyds’ former chairman, and former chancellor George Osborne, came to nothing: “You come away feeling like you have been patted on the head,” he says.
Business groups call for wider distribution of growth
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and the Engineering Employers’ Federation (EFF) have called on the government to tackle inequality across the country as part of a “bold, focused and specific” industrial strategy. The CBI proposed a pledge to reduce the gap in productivity between the richest and poorest regions by 15 percentage points by 2030 while the EEF said that spreading new technologies across the country is crucial to reducing imbalances. Dr Adam Marshall, director general of the BCC, outlines his proposals for a new industrial strategy in a piece for the Telegraph.
The Daily Telegraph, Business, Page: 3 The Daily Telegraph, Business, Page: 2 Daily Mail, Page: 68 The Independent, Page: 64 Yorkshire Post, Page: 4, 15 The Press and Journal, Page: 35
Business can no longer absorb increase in costs
The ICAEW is warning consumers to expect steeper price rises after a survey found 82% of UK businesses plan to pass rising input costs on to customers or find cheaper suppliers, as absorbing higher costs themselves becomes unsustainable. Its poll found raising prices was now the only way to avoid curbing investment or cutting jobs.
The Daily Telegraph, Business, Page: 1
HMRC gets tough on online traders
Analysis by Moore Stephens indicates HMRC is fining small online traders an average of 59% of the tax owed when they are caught underpaying. HMRC has called these small-scale online sellers “deliberate defaulters”, Moore Stephens said, and they therefore faced higher fines than the 35 to 50% typically imposed on people who should be filing self-assessment claims. The firm added that the fines suggested that HMRC was no longer cutting internet traders any slack after it gained new capabilities last month to obtain debit and credit card data.
The Times, Page: 38 Independent i, Page: 42
Big companies pay large chunk of disputed tax after Revenue campaign
Figures obtained by Pinsent Masons show HMRC collected £943m from large businesses using APNs in the year to April 2016, nearly 40% of the total disputed tax collected during the period.
Financial Times, Page: 2
he Daily Telegraph, Business, Page: 3 The Daily Telegraph, Business, Page: 2 Daily Mail, Page: 68 The Independent, Page: 64 Yorkshire Post, Page: 4, 15 The Press and Journal, Page: 35