News & press releases

Business Growth Fund: the new giant on the block

The recent launch of the Business Growth Fund (BGF) could be big and very welcome news for UK entrepreneurs. Many see it as a much-needed return to the availability of long-term growth capital, which hasn’t been seen by an entire generation of entrepreneurs.

Half of UK’s law firms look to de-equitise partners

Half of the UK’s top thirty law firms are either de-equitising partners or considering this for the current financial year, according to new research by Smith & Williamson, the accountancy and investment management group.

Smith & Williamson wins three more top awards for investment performance

At the 2011 Citywire Wealth Manager Investment Performance Awards, Smith & Williamson won the top prize for investment performance in the category of Best Large Firm. It was also the winner in the Balanced Portfolio and Aggressive Portfolio categories and was shortlisted for its Steady Growth Portfolio.

Where we are on RDR – the VAT issues explained

Implementation of the Retail Distribution Review (“RDR”) proposals is just over a year away and the debate on the VAT impact of the new rules shows no sign of cooling down.  Senior policy advisers at HMRC, having initially been taken aback by all the fuss, have been meeting with trade bodies and tax advisers to work through the concerns, and have now released draft guidance, inviting comments by 31 December.

Since writing this article there have been further developments and an update will follow.

Smith & Williamson Transaction Services provides due diligence to Statesman Travel in second deal from Business Growth Fund

A Transaction Services team led by Philip Quigley and Daisy Meakin of Smith & Williamson, the accountancy and investment management group, has provided financial due diligence support to Statesman Travel Group (Statesman) for their strategic acquisition of Commodore International Travel (Commodore).  The new combined entity will be one of the top 10 UK travel management companies in terms of transactional volume, with revenues approaching £100 million. Statesman is an independent travel management company providing a comprehensive service to blue chip corporate and private clients.

Pension alert for high earners

Time is running out for higher earners whose pension savings could eventually exceed the £1.5m lifetime allowance to register for ‘fixed protection’ and avoid a 55% tax charge. High earners in their 30s and 40s could be particularly at risk.

How to retain your best people

If you think finding the right people is demanding, then holding on to them can be even more challenging. Keeping your good people is essential — it reduces the disruption and costs associated with staff turnover and provides the foundations on which to build your future business.

Stimulate to innovate – empowering and motivating your staff

All growing companies want to improve performance, productivity and efficiency. With the right motivation you can achieve all three, yet many companies lack an explicit reward strategy and haven’t considered which incentives their employees respond to best.

Salary sacrifice rewards you and your staff

As an entrepreneur or owner of a growing business you will always be looking for ways to cut costs. With your wage bill likely to be the biggest drain on your resources, salary sacrifice can be an attractive way to reduce it.

20,000 businesses to get record check from HMRC over next 12 months

From this autumn, HMRC is gearing up its business record checking programme and plans to visit 200,000 SMEs over the next four years