In the past few weeks, UK Retailers have started to issue trading updates for the first time since last Christmas. Many have them not been as gloomy as we might expect given what is at best a fragile economic recovery. However, the most recent results from the most relevant trio of monthly surveys have certainly highlighted the weak state of consumer confidence which has been hammered by job security worries, high petrol prices and low wages growth

Read more

According to the Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for manufacturing, the sector grew at its fastest pace for 10 months during March with a reading of 52.1, up from 51.5 in February – a reading of anything above 50 implies growth.

After three years of recession and general economic gloominess this should be welcomed as good news, as a positive sign of further improvement to come, and I am not about to cast any doubt on that, but I will provide a health warning to accompany it.

Read more

In the Chinese zodiac the year of the Water Dragon is an incredibly positive sign – signifying strength, dominance and ambition. But it is perhaps the characteristics of uncertainty, transition and change, also associated with this sign, which managers will most recognise this business year. For many, 2012 will be about effective change management and keeping a steady nerve in what will be another turbulent year. 

Read more

A couple of weeks ago we hosted a roundtable, together with the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) UK, where we invited experts from the turnaround and private equity industry to discuss lessons from 2011 and predictions for 2012.

A few observations stood out and we thought these worth sharing:

Read more

We have witnessed the steady rise of the so-called zombie companies over the past two years. What comes through from this announcement, and when we talk to companies locked in this situation and potential funders, is the need for a strong, viable business plan.

Read more

I had the opportunity in two successive days this week to walk London’s West End and the centre of Bristol (certainly one of the UK’s more significant high streets). Whilst the comparison between the two will always be chalk and cheese, my Bristol experience was particularly illuminating.

Oxford Street was Oxford Street. Shoppers crowded onto the pavements and (particularly) the department stores packed out. Surprising or not surprising depending upon which way you look at things but certainly not likely to be a true barometer of Christmas 2011 on the high street.

Read more

"Something is getting in the way of the process of "creative destruction" usually associated with recessions – the natural market mechanisms that would allow one generation of companies to be replaced by another. Capital should get reallocated from non-traded goods and services to tradeables when the exchange rate falls as it has, but that's not happened.

"The fact that banks dare not recognise large tracts of what are effectively bad debts – this is especially the case in overborrowed commercial property – for fear of the damage it would inflict on solvency may help explain why things aren't changing more swiftly. Britain has become a zombie economy. Capital is no longer being allocated efficiently."

Read more

The key to selecting the right interim manager (IM) is to remain extremely focused on what the business objective is; the timescale in which it must be achieved and the knowledge base that the IM will need as a minimum to ensure it is fulfilled.

The short-term focus of an IM placement cannot be underestimated. Too often businesses choose IMs in the same way that they would recruit a permanent member of senior management. An IM is a different beast to a full time senior manager and the company must be geared up for that difference to get the most from the appointment...

Read more

The Agency Worker Regulations 2010 (AWR), which come into force on 1 October, give agency workers many of the same rights as directly engaged employees/workers. 
 

What rights will Agency workers have under the new law? 

Under the AWR from the first day of an assignment agency workers will be entitled to access collective facilities and amenities that are available to a hirer's comparable full time staff such as a staff canteen or crèche facilities. They will also be entitled to receive information about job vacancies. 

Read more

Interim management could be vastly more popular - if it wasn’t plagued with dramatic images of heroic-like managers being parachuted in to help businesses overcome challenges of epic proportions.

Too often people assume, firstly, that the challenge is a negative thing – so the interim manager becomes a resource that is only thought of during times of trouble – and secondly, that the interim manager is some sort of egomaniac convinced of their own super-human business acumen. It’s this image that is misleading and unhelpful, and in my view prevents many businesses and investors from tapping into an incredibly useful resource.

Read more

The last few weeks have seen publication of the latest monthly UK Retail surveys plus some significant individual trading updates.  What does this recent data tell us about the state of UK Retail?

1. The various UK Retail surveys are unusually uniform in painting a dark picture
   
   As the various key surveys are derived from completely different sources (and can even be extremely inconsistent month on month with both themselves and each other) it is significant how constantly downbeat the current surveys are:
   
   
   • “Retail sales volumes flat year on year in July 2011”; Office for National Statistics

Read more