The legal sector has seen a surge in interest from private equity (PE) firms, according to Kelvin Balmont, partner and chairman at national law firm Clarke Willmott LLP. The growing trend of PE-backed consolidations in the UK legal sector is driven by the desire to expand capabilities and market presence, with PE firms applying the same playbook used in other professional services sectors, such as accounting, to what has historically been a more conservative industry. In recent years Fletchers Group, backed by Sun European Partners, has acquired Scott Rees & Co and Shoosmiths’ serious injury practice; Adeptio (backed by Horizon…
Author: sme-admin
The idea of productivity is fairly simple: generate as much output as possible with minimum input. And yet for every single business, the idea of productivity, and specifically how to measure it, is much more complex and nuanced. It would be great if there was one metric which could be captured to definitively measure how productive each and every employee was, but this is rarely the case. We might be able to measure how many products are made each day in a factory, but that doesn’t tell us how well the marketing or finance teams are performing, for example. So,…
Leading plastics innovator recommends migration away from dangerous ecommerce packaging practices. As the world moves towards sustainable practices across all industries, retail and e-commerce businesses are under increasing pressure to reduce the volume of packaging and the environmental damage it creates. E-commerce, in particular, has experienced significant growth in the last decade, with an increasing number of customers opting for next-day packaged delivery rather than picking it up themselves. Without a sustainable solution, the packaging problem which this creates will continue to escalate. “The retail industry is constantly needing to innovate its packaging to meet demand, and to meet environmental…
This week, it has been reported by the ONS that the UK job market continues to weaken as job vacancies fall and the graduate job market specifically has hit its lowest level since 2018. As young people across the UK received their A-Level results last week, new research revealed 75% of 16-19 year olds have aspirations to start a business – with more than a third (36%) already making money from side hustles. Encouraging this entrepreneurial spirit and tackling the leading barriers to entry, Simply Business has partnered with entrepreneur, social mobility advocate and musician Stephen Manderson, better known as Professor Green, to launch the Young Entrepreneur Fund –…
Latest Home Office data analysed by the new global talent firm, Immpact, reveals that workers from India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ghana and Zimbabwe experienced the highest volume of work visa refusals over 12 months. Further analysis of nearly 500,000 work visa applications found that applicants from Bangladesh (75%), Ghana (77%), Pakistan (80%), Nigeria (80%), and Kenya (86%) had the lowest grant rates statistically for work visas by the Home Office in the year ending September 2024. The latest data* also shows that the Top 20 list of countries applying for UK work visas during this 12 month period includes the US…
With mandatory identity verification looming and awareness critically low, Umazi warns of disruption, confusion, and soaring fees. Millions of UK company directors could soon find themselves locked out of essential business services as sweeping new identity verification rules come into force, and the majority are still unaware the change is coming. Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, every UK company director and Person of Significant Control (PSC) will be required to verify their identity before they can continue performing their legal duties. The new reform, part of the government’s drive to combat fraud, increase corporate transparency, and restore trust in the…
The engineering market is expected to grow to $3.5 trillion in 2025 and grow to $5.8 trillion by 2034. With the need for skilled engineers growing, opportunities for jobseekers within the engineering field are set to follow – but which companies are the hardest to land a job with? To find out, precision components supplier Accu collated data from Glassdoor analysing over 100 engineering companies globally and their interview difficulty, as well as positive and negative experiences. Expert insight has also been provided by Patrick Faulkner, Lead Engineer at Accu. Key Findings: ASM International, Netherlands, has the most negative interview experiences. Four out…
London companies are using innovative incentives to get their employees back into the office – including allowing workers to bring their dogs to work. Other perks being offered to entice people to return include free artisan coffee and cookies, hair straighteners in bathrooms and being allowed to hang your own art in the office, according to commercial law firm Hamlins. Others offer running clubs with a coach, state of the art bike racks and discount deals for shops or restaurants in the office area. John Leasure, real estate partner at Hamlins, said: “It used to be that the premium you…
Microlise, a leading provider of innovative solutions for the transport sector, has announced the release of its brand-new Automate, Visualise and Deliver packages. Aimed at introducing scalable fleet management tools to thousands of small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the solutions help operators do more with less. The suite, which grows in capability at the same time as the operator’s business grows, offers real-time fleet visibility, allows for proactive system analysis and increases process efficiency in fleets of between 11 and 100 vehicles. It enables the operator to ‘Automate’ planning and optimisation processes, allowing them to take last-minute jobs on board – at…
Cyber insurance specialists, Towergate Insurance, are warning against the danger of your email address being hacked. Email addresses are commonly used for online banking, shopping, social media networking sites, file sharing platforms, business related account and/software. Unfortunately, this widespread usage can leave people vulnerable to cybercrime. A compromised email inbox is a jackpot for a cyber criminal. Marc Rocker, Head of Cyber at Towergate (soon to be Everywhen) commenting on what can happen if your email is hacked said: “After gaining access to your inbox, it’s easy for a cybercriminal to piece together a comprehensive picture of your life and…