Business and Financial News

Does your family have an economic disaster plan?  If not, why not?  By now, most people know that very hard economic times are coming.  No, America is not going to turn into a post-apocalyptic war zone where motorcycle gangs ravage the populace next week, but the truth is that it doesn’t take a genius to understand that the U.S. economic system (and indeed the entire world economic system) is in the process of dying.  For decades we have lived far beyond our means by borrowing insane amounts of money, but the party is ending and now many of us are going to get to experience what it means to live below our means.  The golden days of the U.S. economic m

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Technology firm ANS Group today said its £500,000 investment spree in staff and equipment last year was paying off with first quarter sales ’significantly ahead’ of 2009.

Its spending meant full-year profits were down but chairman Scott Fletcher said it had been necessary to facilitate growth over the coming years as it targets annual sales of £30m.

He also shrugged off the prospect of public sector spending cuts hitting ANS in the future.

ANS, which is listed on the PLUS market for smaller companies, derives 55 per cent of revenues from the public sector but Mr Fletcher said its hardware and software systems would help bodies such as the NHS to save money in the long run by reducing overall IT costs.

“They still have to renew equipment or buy new servers if they run out of space,” he said.

ANS provides and installs data centres, networks, servers and email systems to the public sector and private companies including Enterprise, BUPA and Interserve.

The group posted pre-tax profits of £1m for the 12 months to March 31 against £1.523m in 2009.

Revenues climbed £1.2m or 10 per cent to £13.3m and gross margins edged up from 27.9 per cent to 29.5 per cent.

A second interim dividend of 2.75p makes a total of 4p for the year, the same as 12 months earlier.

Cash balances rose to a record high of £4.3m, up by £1m, and ANS is debt-free.

ANS Group increased staffing levels by 20 per cent to 80 and expects to have a 100-strong workforce by the end of this financial year and the firm is seeking to take additional space at the Science Park to accommodate its growth plans.

Mr Fletcher said the group had decided to invest to ensure it could recruit talented specialists who had been made redundant elsewhere or were seeking a move to a more secure employer.

He also said the company, based at Manchester Science Park, remains on the takeover trail.

Mr Fletcher said: “The company has continued to grow despite the incredibly difficult market conditions. We chose to i

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Quick update, will probably be back here later tonight.

China econ data being released in 10mins (10pm EST)… should be significant for risk FX crosses, particularly those dependent on Chinese growth (AUD/USD I’m looking at you).

Retail sales came marginally below consensus while INTC blows up but earnings gap is faded heavily (following AA’s and CSX’s suit). What was thought to be THE catalyst for equity this week turned out to result in surprisingly low vol.

JPM numbers tomorrow should move markets. With rising hedgie redemptions, declining hedgie margin and trading volume, spiking capital market vol, and high intramarket corrs, principal & agency trading revs should come in with big declines and that will hurt fin EPSs. My gues

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This guest post is part of our ongoing Micro Business Experts series, and is written by Kai Rostcheck, Founder and Co-Creator of Free Marketing Made Easy.

Does this picture look familiar to you?

It should, if your business sells primarily to a local clientele. The illustration displays Google Local Search results.

“Local Search? What’s That?” You might ask. It would be a good question.

Local Search is a service that is common to the three most popular search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing). In the graphic above, notice how there are two results to the right of the map. (“A”

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Pawnbroking group H&T is looking to open up to a dozen shops across the north west over the next 18 months as it makes the region a key focus for its ambitious growth plans, its boss said today.

Chief executive John Nichols said AIM-listed H&T has identified a dozen sites in smaller towns and cities as it looks to invest up to £1.5m in the region over the period.

Each new outlet will generate around six jobs.

H&T already operates 24 stores across Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire, in addition to 12  units in shopping centres where consumers can sell unwanted gold.

Nationally, it has 128 shops and 57 ‘gold bars’. I

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