Confidence in a Double-Dip Recession 27 Apr 2012
This week we had the news that the UK has entered a much-feared Double-Dip Recession.
The news came out in the official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), stating that the economy shrank by 0.2% in the first three months of 2012, having declined by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Looking Beneath the Surface 20 Apr 2012
Credit Reference Agencies are helpful because they look at all the circumstances of a company in order to assess credit risk. It would be impossible for individuals to keep track of all these circumstances, and gauge the effect of them all, so it is very useful to be able to obtain credit ratings which take all these factors into account. Credit ratings change in response to changing events and circumstances. It is valuable therefore to have up-to-date credit ratings, as credit ratings which are not current will not take into account present circumstances. Credit ratings reveal if there are problems beneath the surface that may not be immediately obvious. They therefore are essential information for investors, to help measure the degree of risk of an investment, and whether the likely return is worth the risk involved.
Seeing the Bigger Picture 12 Apr 2012
It can often be helpful to see the ‘bigger picture’ of a company’s financial status. Knowing how large a company is, in terms of its turnover, profits, assets and liabilities, is very useful information in terms of knowing how the company is likely to behave, how substantial its assets are, how good an investment its shares are, how likely it is to be able to afford a service offered, and how well it can afford to pay its debts.
A number of dramatic examples have appeared in the news in recent weeks of how the sheer size of some companies can affect their activities in unusual ways:
Patent Wars
Following from the huge increase in popularity of smartphones and tablet computers, the biggest companies in the industry have fought one another in the courts over patent rights. Building a smartphone involves technologies which make use of thousands of patents, and it is only the largest companies which can afford to contest these patents in court.
Apple led the initial recent growth in smartphones with the iPhone. This was followed by the Android operating system developed by Google. Steve Jobs of Apple felt that Android phones represented a huge theft of ideas from Apple, and resolved to fight the other smartphone companies in the courts, even using all of Apple’s huge cash reserves if necessary, which were recently shown to be greater than those of the US Government. Apple launched legal proceedings against HTC and Samsung, in some cases preventing sale of Android devices. These companies have fought back by launching counter-attack lawsuits against Apple, and also by purchasing ‘armouries’ of large numbers of patents of their own.
Flotations
In recent years, Facebook has come to dominate the online social networking scene, acquiring hundreds of millions of users, and displacing rivals such as MySpace and Bebo. Having successfully developed substantial revenue, largely through advertising, they have recently been planning for a public flotation, an Initial Public Offering (IPO), in which they are seeking to raise $5bn of their estimated $100bn value.
Once Facebook’s value became apparent, Yahoo launched a patent lawsuit against it, which was followed by a patent counter-lawsuit by Facebook against Yahoo. Facebook has also acquired 750 patents from IBM to help it with patent disputes.
Acquisitions
In the run-up to Facebook’s flotation, it has acquired the mobile photo-sharing social network Instagram for $1bn. This places a very high value on Instagram, which as yet has no means of earning revenue, which has led some to question whether it was really worth the amount paid by Facebook. Facebook was seeking to bolster its mobile presence, a hugely growing sector, whereas its own strength was considered to be its use on desktop computers.
Prospecting for Business
But what about how this affects more everyday business, that is, “Business as Usual”?
When seeking to approach potential customers or business partners, it is very important to know how big the company is, and how realistic a prospect it is to try to do business with it.
This is one example of where information on a company’s size and financial situation can play a key role in business decision making.
bizzy® shows you the Bigger Picture
In addition to providing information on companies’ creditworthiness, bizzy.co.uk has launched new features for showing the financial status of companies, as well as new pricing.
New Pricing
Bizzy has introduced new lower pricing both for individual Companies House documents and for a bizzy PLUS subscription.
Pay-as-you-go Companies House document images - 79p. We've reduced our prices on Companies House documents right down to 79p. At 95p including VAT we're now cheaper than Companies House itself!!!
We have lowered the price of a bizzy PLUS subscription from £99 to an extremely affordable £19.99.
Unlimited access to Companies House documents + credit scores for only £19.99 / year +VAT!
New Features of bizzy PLUS
For the remarkable price of just £19.99 / year +VAT for a bizzy PLUS subscription, you get all these new features which reveal the ‘bigger picture’ of the financial status of companies you deal with:
Charts showing Net Worth, Cash at Bank, Current Assets & Current Liabilities on active UK companies.
bizzy PLUS gives you more Financials! Turnover and Profit figures on active UK companies for the last 5 years.
Unlimited access to documents filed at Companies House.
New countries added! Welcome to Norway and Sweden. Two more will be boarding soon. That means 50 million companies are now in sight!
Only £19.95 + VAT for comprehensive credit reports on 14 European countries! Instant download.
Remember, you get all this wealth of information as part of your bizzy PLUS subscription, all for just £19.99 / year +VAT.
To sign up for a bizzy PLUS subscription with all these amazing features, click here.
Before you make business decisions both big and small, let bizzy put you in the picture about the financial standing of the companies you are dealing with.
bizzy® - showing you the Bigger Picture!
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