Economy to grow faster from 2018 after Brexit divorce deal

Berenberg Bank has forecast that the economy will grow faster in 2018 and 2019 as the expected agreement of a Brexit divorce bill should inspire more business and household confidence.

It has raised its GDP forecasts by 0.1% in each of the next 2 years. The Pound climbed to its highest level for almost 2 months against the Dollar yesterday as hopes rose that progress on the settlement with the EU would pave the way for the start of trade talks – The Daily Telegraph – The Guardian – Financial Times – The Times

UK is top tech destination

The UK has remained Europes top destination for technology investment and talent this year, according to data compiled by Atomico. So far in 2017, UK technology businesses have attracted $5.4bn in investment, compared with $2.5bn for Germany and $2.1bn in France.  London was the top city for technology talent in Europe andthe number one hub for start ups & innovation.

Tech City aka Silicon Roundabout is the third largest tech start- up cluster in the world, after San Francisco & New York – The Times – Financial Times – IT Pro Portal

Brexit could bring £65 billion windfall

A paper produced by the Economists for Free Trade Group says Britain could gain a £ 65bn windfall from Brexit if the chancellor seizes its `economic opportunities`. The Group said its own modelling showed `long run gains` including a fall in prices after abandoning EU tariffs on goods outside of Europe, `improved export performance`, less red tape, and `an end to the annual EU subscription of £10bn. The Group believes this would combine to `push growth up to nearly 3% per annum by the mid-2020s` – The Sunday Telegraph – The Sun – Sunday Express

Small business optimistic for 2018

Research conducted by Small Business Saturday shows 78 % of small firms are optimistic for the future of their business in 2018. Meanwhile the JVP Group`s latest business barometer reveals 9 out of 10 SMEs in North Wales and the North West will take on new staff in 2018. When asked about their confidence going forward, 68% of companies said they were confident about their own prospects and 16% said they felt extremely confident. – BQ Live – Business Matters

Rise of the self-employed

figures from the Office of National Statistics show that 4.86 million people work for themselves, an increase of 70,000 from the same period last year. Self-employed people now account for 15.1 % of all people in work – Manchester Evening News

UK diesel car sales fall by nearly a third in October

sales of diesel cars fell by nearly a third in October compared to last year, with overall vehicle sales falling by 12 % – BBC News, The Independent, The Times

UK Service Sector sees best results for 6 months

the UK Service Sector saw its best results for six months in October with the latest PMI increasing from 53.6 to 55.6 after a disappointing month in September.

This comes after the UK manufacturing sector beat expectations with its growth results earlier this week, and UK construction, while still struggling, showed improvement on last month

The latest services figures  demonstrate the fastest rate of growth since April 2017, with improved  orders and continued customer demand. Input inflation costs also slowed to the lowest for just over a year. This marks a positive move in the right direction and along with other encoraging sector data, perhaps offers additional confidence in the UK economy.

New orders continued to increase at a robust pace and new work has grown at the quickest rate for six months, thanks to improving demand domestically and new product launches in the sector.

  • Halo Financial – London loves Business