How to use business spending data to inform your future budget
Every business owner is aware of the importance of keeping a close eye on your company’s spending throughout the year. It’s pretty easy to get overexcited, spend too much, and put your business’s future in jeopardy in no time. Coming up with a business plan for an annual budget is essential for any healthy business.
All companies need to make sure they plan for the future. Recent events have proved how vital it is that companies can adapt to get themselves through challenging times and unforeseen circumstances and events. To provide you with some planning advice for your business, we’ve come up with this piece on how to use business spending data to inform your future budget.
Analyse Your Income Sheet For The Previous Year Thoroughly
Your company’s income sheet for the previous year will provide you with detailed data on expenditures. This includes how much was spent on staff wages, the office space, work equipment, IT software, utility bills, insurance, repair costs, sales commissions, and so on.
However, what your business spends its money on really depends on the industry you are in and your size. Some enterprises that run complicated global operations are considerably more expensive than others and will inevitably have higher annual expenditures, such as major international car manufacturers.
To err is human, and many businesses and start-ups make mistakes and errors in their early days. Successful businesses need leaders who can identify areas where the company has overspent in the previous year by looking through the data and making changes such as lowering spending or reallocating funds to other areas. No business has endless pots of money, so spend carefully.
Stay Sensible With Your Spending When You’re Growing As A Business
It can be thrilling when you’re the new kid on the block and a new business that’s growing at a rapid rate. Perhaps you’ve founded a tech start-up and are confident that it will be a success? The best advice for owners of businesses that are expanding and scaling up extremely fast is not to get too carried away with it all.
Come up with reasonable and well-thought-out spending strategies for the upcoming year. Stay grounded, and don’t overspend on pointless things that won’t generate money or improve your business. Why not manage employee expenses more efficiently by getting your employees virtual cards for online payments? Check out https://payhawk.com/blog/ to learn more about how virtual cards are the way forward for your business in 2022.
Calculate How Much Your Business Will Spend At Different Times Of The Year
How much your business spends will fluctuate and vary at different times during the year. For instance, during the colder temperatures in the winter months, you may notice your firm’s utility bills shoot up as you spend more on energy bills to heat the office and make it nice and warm for employees working there.
Look into ways your business can save spending in times when utility bills tend to be higher, for instance, using energy-saving light bulbs in your company office. Little measures like buying energy-saving items for your office may sound trivial and insignificant. Still, when you take a look at the data of your company’s spending over the course of the year, you will quickly realise that everything adds up. At special times of the year, such as Christmas, your expenditure may also increase as you may decide to do things like treating your employees to a fun work party or getting them some silly festive gifts.
Plan What Your Business Will Spend Money On In The Next Year
Maybe your business is planning to do things differently next year. Perhaps you’re expanding rapidly and planning to take on hundreds of new recruits, opening new offices, and generally scaling up operations. The question is, what will you be spending your money on in the next year that you didn’t have to pay for in the previous year?
For instance, a whole new office will increase your company expenditure quite a lot. However, you also will be generating a lot more business income if you’ve gained a large number of new customers recently. Try and weigh everything up and avoid spending money your business doesn’t have. If you want help with planning your new spending strategy for the upcoming year, you may wish to employ the services of a reputable accountant or business strategist.
Learn Lessons On Spending From Successful Business Leaders
Analysing data is essential for informing your future budget, but you can also get ideas on spending from successful business leaders. Do you want to learn from the very best? Why not start listening to podcasts, radio and TV shows and listen to talks from well-respected business people and entrepreneurs?
Listening to their wealth of experience and understanding how they achieved their success will help you think about applying their attitudes to business to improve and grow your own business. Listen out for tips on how companies can spend smart. What are the dos and don’ts they mention? Business owners need to constantly learn and find new ways to improve and adapt their company.
Entrepreneur appeals to region’s businesses to help in COVID clinical trial
Entrepreneur Kavita Oberoi OBE is appealing to fellow regional businesses of all sizes to play their part in helping to find new early treatments for COVID-19.
The founder and Managing Director of Oberoi Consulting and Oberoi Business Hub in Pride Park, Derby, has been approached by Professor Mahendra Patel, one of the national leads for the Panoramic Trial at Oxford University.
She was asked to help in raising the profile of the clinical trial – the world’s first to be using new and licensed antiviral agents – and in recruiting volunteers needed in the search for the early treatment of COVID-19 and is asking the local business community for their support.
Panoramic (Platform adaptive trial of novel antivirals for early treatment of COVID-19 in the community) is a UK-wide clinical study sponsored by the University of Oxford and funded by the National Institute for Health Research to find out in which people new antiviral treatments for COVID-19 in the community reduce the need for hospital admission and recover sooner.
The research team need 10,600 volunteers who are aged 50 and over or aged 18 and over with underlying health conditions who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past five days and are experiencing symptoms.
Involvement in the study will include either receiving standard NHS care or a short course of a new licensed antiviral treatment to be taken by mouth. All information, including any treatment, is couriered directly to the patient’s home along with a symptom diary to record symptoms.
Mrs Oberoi said: “Derby is renowned as the City of Innovation and many local and regional businesses have been actively involved in the response to COVID-19. In the East Midlands we are also fortunate to have a wide range of major employers as well as a strong SME community with solid networks.
“Having been approached by the research team, I thought the business leaders and local employers could be an ideal communication vehicle to get behind this important work by sharing information with their colleagues, employees and contacts about the clinical trial and to encourage anyone eligible to volunteer.”
Professor Mahendra Patel, Pharmacy, Inclusion and Diversity Lead on the Panoramic Trial, added: “This is a government high priority UK-wide clinical trial to rapidly evaluate MHRA-licensed new antiviral treatments that could help clinically vulnerable people with COVID-19 recover sooner, prevent the need for hospital admission and ease the burden on the NHS.”
For further information, visit www.panoramictrial.org or call 08081 560017 and business leaders wanting information to share with their workforce, should email admin@oberoi-consulting.com
New faces join Next Generation Chamber committee
An organisation which supports more than 100 young entrepreneurs from across Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes has made three new appointments.
Next Generation Chamber was created in 2017 by Northamptonshire Chamber and Milton Keynes Chamber to help businesses support and nurture staff who are dedicated to advancing their careers.
Throughout the pandemic it has continued to provide vital personal development sessions and social opportunities to its members and has now welcomed Nina Gandy, Jamie Cochrane and Imran Ilias to its committee to help drive the organisation forward.
Cynthia Spencer Hospice corporate partnerships fundraiser Nina Gandy, 31, has been a member since 2019.
She said: “Next Generation Chamber encourages development and helps individuals to thrive, to share stories, ideas, passions and to be the best they can be. I want to understand what current members need from Next Generation Chamber and encourage new members to join.”
Imran Ilias, 25, joined the organisation last year and is a commercial litigation paralegal and future trainee solicitor at Wilson Browne Solicitors.
He said: “I really like the mix of people who attend Next Generation Chamber events – the future leaders of the county. I wanted to join the committee to create an impact by planning and promoting the events. I want to encourage more professionals of similar backgrounds to get involved.”
PBC Business Recovery & Insolvency associate Jamie Cochrane, 33, added: “I joined Next Generation Chamber shortly before the pandemic. I’ve seen the good work it does in terms of helping people with their continuing professional development and I’m keen to drive that forward.”
President Hannah Brady was thrilled to welcome the new committee members and said a heartfelt thank you to outgoing vice president Connor Slasberg, who was the organisation’s first president and hosted its inaugural Next Generation Business Awards.
Hannah said: “It’s brilliant to see Nina, Jamie and Imran joining the committee. I’m really looking forward to working together this year to strengthen Next Gen. I’d also like to thank Connor for his support and passion for Next Gen since it launched. We will certainly miss his enthusiasm and impressions in our committee meetings!”
BSP Consulting appointed to EEM Dynamic Purchasing System
East Midlands-based civil and structural engineering firm BSP Consulting has been appointed to the EEM (Efficiency East Midlands) Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS).
The Nottingham-based company, which also has offices in Derby, Leicester and Sheffield, has been accepted to provide consultancy services to members of the not-for-profit consortium which offers efficiency savings for the public sector.
This is the latest in a number of frameworks that BSP Consulting has been appointed on, including the recently announced Circle Health Group Professional Services Framework.
The EEM Ltd Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) runs for five years until December 2026 and marks the 21st framework that BSP is currently on – either on its own or collectively with industry partners.
BSP Managing Director Carl Hilton said: “We are very pleased to have secured a place on another framework. The EEM Ltd DPS shares with BSP Consulting a commitment to its local communities and economies that it serves.
“We look forward to offering our civil and structural engineering services to the public sector bodies that are members of the EEM consortium. It’s a sector that we have wide experience of working in, both in the East Midlands and beyond.”
EEM Ltd is a ‘not for profit’ consortium set up to generate cashable and non-cashable efficiencies for its membership through collaboration, aggregated volumes, quality products and high level of service delivery. Since 2010, EEM and its members have worked together to deliver comprehensive yet simplified procurement solutions, which offer a wide range of compliant, competitive and high-quality products and services.
Its members include housing associations, local authorities, education providers, NHS trusts, government agencies, emergency services and charities from across the UK.
A Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) is similar to a framework, except new providers can join at any time.
The framework position was secured by BSP business development manager Carrie Booth, who said: “This is great news for BSP Consulting and our associates. It’s also good news for our public sector clients who will be able to procure our services through the DPS.”
East Midlands distribution and manufacturing group steps towards sustainable success
A Northamptonshire-based business has increased its company-wide sustainable practices following financial support from NatWest to achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.
See Limited is one of six million SMEs that could help to achieve half of the UK’s decarbonisation goals, according to NatWest’s new Springboard to Sustainability Report.
The report has found that with the right funding, knowledge and training, SMEs could create up to 130,000 new jobs and produce around 30,000 new businesses, resulting in an estimated £160 billion opportunity for the UK economy.
See Limited is made up of a trio of businesses: Inspired Surfaces Limited, Rex Bousfield Limited and Performance Panels Limited; all of which are involved in the distribution and production of wood veneer and laminate surfaces.
The carbon footprint of the group is measured independently each year to identify areas of focus and drive new sustainable initiatives including the implementation of the company’s individual Carbon Management Programme.
The group has invested in carbon credits, which is an internationally recognised way for organisations to manage their carbon emissions. See Limited has invested in three years’ worth of carbon credits based on carbon emission generating activity, to futureproof its efforts and free up time needed to work on its carbon sequestration.
See Limited’s carbon credits have been used to support global projects including the development of wind farms in India and for the Kumasi Stoves project in Ghana, which replaces open fireplaces with improved cookstoves, reducing the rate of deforestation.
At its HQ in Corby, Northamptonshire, See Limited is reducing its carbon footprint generated through operational activities. This includes purchasing new machinery, switching to a greener energy provider, and introducing an electric company vehicle policy.
In December 2021, the business also launched a tree planting initiative for orders placed on its B2C product line. Partnering with MoreTrees, who work closely with tree planting companies across the world, See Limited’s commitment resulted in 102 trees being planted in its first week of launching. This will help the Group meet its first annual target of planting 2,500 trees, with the ambition to reach 10,000 over three years.
Robert Thompson, CEO of See Limited, said: “We’re proud to have made such significant progress with our decarbonisation plans in 2021 – it’s a true testament to our team for their ongoing commitment to adapting our way of working for the sake of the planet.
“We recognise that there is still further to go in our sustainability journey, but it’s important to acknowledge how small steps make a large and lasting impact. NatWest’s recent report shows the power that SMEs have in truly making a difference, and we’re fortunate to have a strong network of like-minded external partners, who are helping on our journey.”
Paul Marsden, relationship manager at NatWest, said: “Supporting businesses in their change strategies is a true passion for NatWest and we want to help companies reduce their carbon footprints and implement greener processes. See Limited have proven themselves to be industry leaders in this area, and it was great to play a small part in facilitating this progressive green agenda.”
Angel Trains acquires rail and infrastructure services provider
Angel Trains Ltd, which has offices in Derby, has acquired specialist rail and infrastructure services provider, Readypower Group, which has one of its six central hubs in Nottinghamshire.
Readypower provides specialised on-track plant equipment as well as civil engineering, drainage, haulage and operating services to the UK rail sector. It plays a critical role in helping to modernise the UK’s rail network as electrification and upgrades continue throughout the country.
The deal cements Angel Trains’ commitment to investing in rail assets in the UK. Readypower will continue to run as an independent business, with its brand and management team remaining in place.
Readypower is already supporting vital rail infrastructure improvement projects to help level up the country. These include the TransPennine route upgrades, Midland Mainline electrification and the Core Valley Lines transformation project in Wales.
Malcolm Brown, CEO of Angel Trains, said: “Angel Trains and Readypower are very complementary businesses with a singular focus on supporting the UK rail network. We are both committed to the success of the UK rail industry and by working together, we know we can make real progress in improving the system for passengers and freight across the country.
“We bring a wealth of understanding and experience of managing rail assets and believe we can help Readypower to realise its full potential in the years ahead.”
Angel Trains will support Readypower’s growth by investing in the latest machinery and technology to support critical rail assets, developing sustainable solutions for the future.
Russell Jack, CEO of Readypower Group, added: “Angel Trains is a very welcome partner for our business. They take a long-term view, which will bring stability and investment at just the right time. It is an excellent deal for the industry to see a company like Angel Trains looking to invest and diversify further into the UK rail market. I look forward to working with Angel Trains to continue to grow and expand the business.”
Seven projects benefit from £300,000 of LLEP digital poverty grants
- Reuse scheme will increase availability of IT equipment by recycling unwanted business kit for use by community groups
- Other innovative projects will create local digital hubs to increase access to training, aid education and develop digital skills
Revenue rises at Joules but sits behind expectations
Revenue at Joules, the Market Harborough-based lifestyle group, is behind expectations, despite rising.
Group revenue for the 9 weeks to 30 January 2022 was up 31% against FY21 and 19% against FY20, however, this performance, along with the Group’s PBT performance over the same period, is behind the Board’s expectations.
The company has noted that this reflects weaker than expected revenue in January, in part as a result of the negative impact of the Omicron variant on retail footfall.
Joules has also pointed to delays to new stock arrivals as a result of global supply chain challenges, resulting in a lower full price sales mix, in turn impacting revenue and gross margin, as well as lower than expected wholesale revenue due to delayed stock and customer cancellations.
It has also highlighted the continued impact on gross margin of increases in freight, duties and distribution costs, and continued operational disruption, lower productivity, and higher than expected costs within the third-party operated Distribution Centre (DC) with costs for December and January £1.2m above expectations.
The news follows financial results for the six months ended 28th November 2021, which saw revenues of £127.9m (H1 FY2021: £95.4m) and PBT pre-adjusting items of £2.6m (FY 2021: £3.7m).
Joules added in a statement to the London Stock Exchange: “The Board’s base case expectation is for trading for the balance of the year to recover in line with its previously stated expectations, supported by recovering footfall and an improved level of newness in the stock position.
“The wholesale orderbook for Spring / Summer 22 remains strong and the DC operation is normalising with delivery times back to standard service levels and productivity improved. Assuming the Board’s base case is met, adjusted PBT for the full year is not expected to be less than £5.0m (FY 2021: £6.1m).”
New senior technical leader joins WestBridge Group
WestBridge Group, which provides specialist tax advice and independent administration, consultancy, and trustee services for Small Self-Administered Pension Schemes (SSAS), has strengthened its technical team following the appointment of Janet Corbett as senior technical leader.
Janet has worked in the pensions industry for over 30 years and joins WestBridge SSAS having held senior pensions administration roles with Michael Ambrose Group and other leading SSAS providers.
Reporting to the head of pensions, Janet will be responsible for dealing with complex technical queries from account managers. She will also act as an interface with the compliance director to ensure the procedures are maintained and adhere to current and future legislation. Other aspects of her role include being responsible for supporting the competency and development of the SSAS account managers together with the administration of a small, dedicated SSAS portfolio.
Commenting on her appointment, David Santaney said: “Janet has built up an enviable reputation within the industry covering all areas of administration and technical support. She delivers a cradle to grave service to clients and will play a key technical and management role in the future growth of our business.”
Janet added: “Having previously worked with other members of the WestBridge SSAS team I am looking forward to helping the company build on its reputation as well as helping our account managers develop their competencies and manage their client portfolios in a way that is both customer focused and efficient.”
2022 Business Predictions: Julia Day, sales and development progression manager at KMRE Group Ltd
It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Julia Day, sales and development progression manager at KMRE Group Ltd.
Last year was unquestionably a challenging one for all industries – each come with their unpredictability but for the property market in particular, 2021 certainly kept us on our toes.
People have been on the hunt for larger homes, house prices have increased – and the stamp duty holiday meant that transaction levels were fluctuating constantly, with interest rates too at an all-time low. The number of buy-to-let mortgages are on the rise, as are – naturally – the number of people renting, and “staycations” are becoming ever more popular.
It was a reflective year for many and we’ve certainly seen a lot of people questioning and rethinking their living situations, not only from a financial and practical perspective, but from a lifestyle point of view too. Homeowners want more space, we are travelling abroad far less and we want security and stability.
Looking ahead to what 2022 will bring, we expect to see more and more people on the move as the demand in the property market remains high and relatively steady. Rental properties also stay in high demand, particularly apartments in central and accessible locations, so we expect to see these become more popular too.
The rise of living costs and the demand pressures may mean the tightening of belts for some and make it harder for first time buyers to get on the property ladder, but given the fluctuation that we saw through 2021, we don’t think this will be as dramatic in the new year, and a crash in the market following the housing boom which some have questioned we actually don’t expect to see any time soon.
We’re looking forward to progressing with and completing our latest residential developments in Nottingham and Leeds in 2022, as we remain committed to investing in cities that offer residents excellent locations and investment opportunities.
