British micro-firms lose EU cash boost

Four European countries are blocking a proposal that could save Britain’s 1.6m smallest businesses as much as £400m a year

Disciplinary proceedings: The EC is to start proceedings against the UK for breaching budget rules

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Labour’s 3,000 ‘crimes’ to trap businesses

Labour established more than 3,000 new crimes to trap business people who should never have been treated as criminals, a scathing report has claimed

Judge

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Suleman drops out for online 99p store

Suleman, 21, abandoned his chemistry degree at Leicester University, to launch discount food website 99pshopper.com earlier this month

Suleman Sacranie

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Fabrics firm aims to fly the flag abroad

Fashionable fabrics company Designers Guild is expecting a sales surge as it prepares to open flagship stores in key overseas markets

Designers Guild

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Seaside towns fear turn of tide

The British seaside is back in fashion and much has been done to regenerate rundown resorts and support their small firms

Sonia Blizzard

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IT conversion leaves bosses on cloud nine

Small firms that convert to cloud computing systems have an advantage over their competitors who stick to traditional IT operations

Tom Ellis

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How to get a bank to give your business money

The debate over lending to small businesses shows no sign of
ending, with David Cameron last week announcing he would ‘force’ the banks to lend

A man walks past a facade of the Bank of England

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Small firms bled dry by the banks

The profit margin made by big banks on loans to small firms has risen by more than a third in the past two years

Branches of Halifax and Lloyds TSB

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Small firms’ growth hits a 15-year high

Growth from Britain’s small and medium-sized businesses was stronger than at any time since 1995, a quarterly survey from the CBI has revealed

Work colleagues discussing matters

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Race is on for contracts at the Olympics

With the 2012 Olympic Games just two years away, small firms are being urged to apply for millions of pounds of contracts still available

Gary Moore and Adam Cash

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