UK

GE Commercial Finance Ltd. (GECF), a leading UK provider of business finance solutions, today announced the appointment of Adam Wardle as regional director, London. Mr.

Small firms could miss out on financial savings because they are unaware of a new government tax incentive introduced this week.

Financial services companies' optimism increased between December and March by more than at any time for five years, as business volumes and profitability grew strongly for the fourth consecutive quarter.

According to Barclays' quarterly Start-ups and Closures report, 465,000 new companies were set up in 2003, the highest level since the bank's first report in 1988.

HSBC Invoice Finance (UK) Limited has reported profits before-tax of Ј59.69m for the year ending 31 December 2003, an increase of 12.32% compared to the previous year (Ј53.14m).

Receivers for Versailles have recovered only Ј550,000 of the Ј19m fortune siphoned from the collapsed trade finance house by disgraced finance director Fred Clough, it emerged on Tuesday.

The Ultimate Finance Group has released its interim results¹ for the six months ended 31 December 2003, which show a marked improvement over last year's interim performance.

Strengthened procedures to minimise the risk of bribery and corruption on business deals supported by the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) will come into force on 1 May 2004.

Thousands of small businesses could be entitled to free IT training following the expansion of a government-sponsored skills initiative announced in the Budget earlier this month.

Dynamic Commercial Finance plc (DCF) have released preliminary results for the year to 31 December 2003, reporting a first full year profit before tax of Ј206,000 compared to the 2002 loss of Ј96,000.