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Pound sinks to record low against the euro!

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Bad news for all the French, Italian and Spanish workers in London (who earn in pound and spend in euro): the pound has fallen to a new record low against the euro today. And also for English people this means problems and a growing fear about the strength of the British coin.

“The euro climbed to 87.79p against the pound on the currency markets, building on a previous high of 87.73p,” reports the Timesonline.co.uk. “At the same time, sterling hit $1.4765 against the dollar”.
The British pound has been weakening during the economic downturn: in the past 12 months the sterling has fallen 17.4% against the euro and 27.1% against the dollar. The pound is now almost euro parity… is it time to change and accept the euro?

Now £100 are changed for €114.13; amazing news for tourists in Europe!

The best 5 London Squares to feel Christmas

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15 days to Christmas! The countdown is running fast, so let’s see today where you can go to feel the real Christmas atmosphere in London:

1. The Bankside Winter Festival (www.visitsouthwark.com) – outside Tate Modern – will open with an atmospheric lantern parade on Friday and it will host a rich calendar of events. Perfect position to take a walk and get into the goodwill atmosphere of the season.

2. The Hyde Park Winter Wonderland (www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com) – in Hyde Park – is the biggest fair in town and offers free-to-enter events. Last year this winter park was a great success with more than 500,000 visitors. This time it has stalls, cafes, rides, a skating rink, a big wheel, helter-skelter and a 200ft toboggan snowslide.

3. The Tower of London Ice Rink (www.toweroflondonicerink.co.uk) is the perfect spot for people who work in the City and for the tourists who want to combine a skate with a visit to the Tower, Tower Bridge or the London Dungeons (just across the river). The ice rink will be open until Sunday 11th January (10am-10pm) – Prices: Adults £10 (£12 peak); Children £7.50 (£8 peak)

4. Trafalgar Square (www.london.gov.uk/trafalgarsquare/events/xmas_carols.jsp) from Monday 8th December to Friday 19th December (from 5pm until 9pm) plays host to groups performing Christmas carols in the square, next to the traditional Norwegian Christmas Tree.

5. Carnaby Street (www.carnaby.co.uk) can be better for shopping than Oxford Street at this time of year: less people and more decorations. The street is perfect to start your Christmas shopping!

Vat reduced to 15% to push our economy

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As you know the VAT rate has been reduced from 17.5% to 15%. The Change of Rate Order is valid from 1st December 2008 to 31st December 2009. The Chancellor announced this decision in the Pre-Budget Report on 24th November 2008 to cut the prices of any sales and services in an attempt to push the economy.

The proposal of cutting Value Added Tax comes from the European Commission to help the worldwide financial situation and promote the Internal Market (production and use of energy-saving materials and energy-efficient appliances and equipment) and UK government accepted a challenge that should positively impact all of us.

Services relating to many sectors (including housing construction, renovation, repair, maintenance, cultural heritage and historical monuments) will see their rates reduced. Only standard-rated sales are affected, so there are no changes to sales that are zero-rated or reduced-rated for VAT, similarly, there are no changes to the VAT exemptions. The 15% rate will remain until 31st December 2009, and from 1st January 2010 it will revert to 17.5%. Genuine commercial transactions should not be affected. All the details are in the written statement to be made by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 25th November 2008.

So enjoy the reduction and think positively and don’t forget to update the prices of your products and services.

Tesco on sale: good prices (and ideas) could help!

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Tesco, the British-based international supermarket chain has reported only a 2 per cent rise in like-for-like UK sales over the past three months, its worst performance since the 1990s. People are abandoning Britain’s biggest supermarket in favour of its rivals that offer cheaper prices.

Tesco has begun to cut its prices. The discount supermarket sector is growing because of the economic turmoil: the rising inflation push shoppers to buy food & drink, clothing and electronics in the stores that offer the best deals.
Even if inflation is now falling back, the Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates to encourage shoppers to spend in the run-up to Christmas. Overall, total UK sales grew 5.9 per cent and group revenue across Tesco rose by 11.7 per cent over the past 3 months.

In changing times, companies must be prepared to change too in order to adapt to the current economic climate.

BBC News Bites: mortgages, RBS, RyanAir and environment

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The Let’s start the last month of 2008 with a look at BBC Business News:

Mortgages: As they fall, so do house sales and prices. “Bank of England figures show that just 32,000 mortgages were approved, 1,000 fewer than in the previous month”. BBC.co.uk comments, “The number of mortgages approved, but not yet lent, is a good indicator of medium-term trends in lending”.

Banks: “the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has guaranteed not to repossess the properties of customers who fall behind on payments for at least six months. The bank, which owns NatWest, is Britain’s fifth largest mortgage lender with a 7% market share”. But the most important fact reading BBC.co.uk is that, “the government has bought a 58% stake in RBS as part of its recapitalisation plan for the banking sector.”

Companies: The Irish airline RyanAir has made a fresh takeover bid for the Irish flag-carrier Aer Lingus to the tune of €748 million. The article reports, “Ryanair’s previous offer for Aer Lingus, which valued it at €1.5 billion, was blocked by the European Commission on competition grounds”.

Environment: “Official advisers to the UK government have demanded Britain slash greenhouse gases by a fifth of current levels by 2020 – the toughest target so far”. The article reads, “The Committee on Climate Change said the cut (21% on 2005 levels) is needed for the UK to play its fair share in combating dangerous change. The independent committee recommends that by 2020 it should be made almost impossible to burn coal for electricity without technology to capture and store the carbon emissions”.

Christmas is coming: it’s time to think how to send Cards & Presents!

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Christmas is coming. London starts to be decoreted and people are ready for the long month of advent.
During this period the economic problems will be pushed to the back of people’s minds by the organisation of Christmas details: buying presents and sending cards, attending parties and organising dinners, choosing the tree and finding the decorations.

Sometimes gifts and cards have to be sent far; so here some indication and links to organise your Christmas Mail:

Royal Mail – This year Royal Mail wants to make things a little easier extending enquiry office opening hours between the 15th December until Christmas. To make sure that people receive all their packages they have introduced new evening deliveries on Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd December and redeliveries on Sunday 21st December. Here more about prices.

DHL – DHL is the global market leader of the international express and logistics industry, combining with worldwide coverage and an in-depth understanding of local markets. This international network links more than 220 countries and territories worldwide.

City Link – The English company provides services in UK, Ireland and around the world and plans extended hours and special prices to satisfy its customers during the Christmas period.

FedEx – Fed Express offers special holiday shipping, including exceptions money-back guarantee.

Timing and prices depends from destination, size and weight. Don’t wait too long to be sure that your family and friends will receive your Christmas Gifts in time.

Interest rates, taxes, mortgages and the new Budget…

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…the four key words of today. Everyday we receive new dark reports from the economic world about the imminent financial crisis in Uk. For example? The Guardian underlines again: “Britain will be one of the developed countries worst affected by the severest recession to hit the global economy since the early 1980s. The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said it expected unemployment across its 30 rich-country members to rise by 8 million to 42 million by 2010 as all parts of the West felt the effects of the financial crisis”. “Britain’s economy may not begin to grow again until the end of next year”, – explains The Timesonline.co.uk agreeing with most international opinion.

The Guardian goes on to say that the Governor of the Bank of England may work on the interest rates: “Interest rates may have to be cut more aggressively to ensure that businesses and consumers benefit from cheaper borrowing”. The Timesonline.co.uk states: “mortgage lending slipped back towards a record low in October, as consumers turned to their deposits to fund other spending”. In the meantime “Prime Minister Gordon Brown swept aside three decades of economic orthodoxy with tax increases on the rich” and plans that, Bloomberg says, “will double Britain’s national debt”.

BBC.co.uk publishes all the documents about the Pre-Budget Report: the latest tax and economic forecasts and future departmental spending plans. Have a look at them and let’s see what they will mean for us.

Some more about the Director

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The Director requirement has changed! To follow the new legislation every UK company is required to have at least one natural director.

Obviously this presents a problem for all the old companies that were not set up with a person as Director and for all the new ones that would prefer to have a company as Director.

Making the right change is possible with Companies House or even easier if you incorporated your company with Companies Made Simple!

If you incorporated your company with CMS it is possible to change the current director in less than 5 minutes, just login to your personal account and make the update. The update will be sent electronically to Companies House.

Companies Made Simple also offers the option of a nominee director. This can be purchased from the website

All you need to know about the Director’s Role

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What are the main responsibilities of a Company Director? Here is a list of the 5 primary duties:

1. Act in accordance with the company’s constitution
2. Exercise independent judgement
3. Avoid conflicts of interest
4. Not accept benefit from third parties
5. Keep other directors updated about transactions or arrangements

The general duties of directors were previously contained in case law, you can find more about this topic on www.berr.gov.uk, the Department of Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform website.

Can anyone be a director? Yes, of course. Companies House lists only two restrictions, (unless given special permission from the court):
a) The Director must not have been disqualified from acting as a company director
b) They must not be an undercharged bankrupt

Since 1st October 2008 there are no longer any directors under the age of 16; any person who has not reached the age of 16 will cease to be a Director – Companies House will put a notice on the public register to show that the appointment has ceased. The company will have to amend its register of directors’ to show that the appointment has ceased. Consequently, if the company is left without an eligible director it will be in default and will need to appoint at least one director.

What responsibilities does a director have towards Companies House?
Every company director has a personal responsibility to deliver statutory documents to Companies House as and when required by the Companies Acts. These include: accounts, annual returns and notice of change of directors or secretaries or in their personal details.

Today News from the Financial Times

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Good afternoon. London Presence is back today, flipping through the pages of the Financial Times- the UK’s best business newspaper.
Founded in 1888 by James Sheridan and his brother, the Financial Times has specialised in reporting business and financial news while maintaining an independent editorial outlook.
Printed as a broadsheet on distinctive light salmon-coloured paper, the FT is the only paper in the UK providing full daily reports on the London Stock Exchange and world markets.

Let’s see the 3 main news stories of today:
The main UK headline reads, “Inflation falls for first time in 15 months”. The article reads, “Consumer prices tumbled in October, justifying the Bank of England’s dramatic 1.5 percentage point interest rate cut earlier this month and opening the door for further reductions in the costs of borrowing, according to economists.”
We find another newspaper in more business news of the day;

“The Independent to shed quarter of journalists”. Reading on, “The Independent newspaper and its Sunday sister title will cut up to a quarter of their editorial staff in one of the most savage cuts to hit the UK newspaper industry in recent years as management seeks £10m of savings, the company said on Tuesday.”

From Business Life – “Epicentres of new austerity”. The article begins, “The party is over and the hangover has kicked in. In economies all over the western world, corporate executives and the rising stars of finance are beginning to think that this downturn could be different.”