Business Tips

Bay Area’s hefty share of mortgage settlement

February 10th, 2012

Tim Nonn of Occupy Petaluma, who lost his home to foreclosure, places a sign in a neighbor’s yard.

The Bay Area may be getting a decent chunk of the $26 billion mortgage settlement announced last week.

According to estimates from the California attorney general’s office, homeowners in the nine-county Bay Area are due to split $3.1 billion of the $18 billion to be distributed statewide. Alameda County is down to get the most – $757 million – followed by Contra Costa County and Santa Clara County .

San Francisco should be receiving $147 million, according to the attorney general’s spreadsheet.

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Tags: Bay, Bay Areas

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Thousands expected to attend Venturefest Yorkshire

February 5th, 2012

ORGANISERS of the science and technology exhibition Venturefest Yorkshire are expecting up to 2,000 investors, entrepreneurs and the businesses to attend

The one-day science, technology and intellectual property expo is on track for another successful year, despite the challenging economic climate, they said

Exhibition space has sold out for the event, which takes place on Wednesday, February 8 at York Racecourse, with high-profile speakers confirmed, and competition prizes totalling £41,000 worth of business support services secured

The Innovation Showcase exhibition will feature 31 of the region’s most innovative and dynamic young companies

Seminar and speaker highlights include a keynote address from entrepreneur and marketer as well as former managing director of York company CPP Nigel Botterill, and serial entrepreneur and best selling business author Mike Southon

The one-day expo has also attracted new exhibitors, including the involvement for the first time of The Technology Strategy Board, which works to help accelerate economic growth by stimulating business-led innovation

Chris Wilson, project manager at Venturefest Yorkshire, said: “This is one of the few events left in the region that gives genuine advice, support and information for science, technology and IP-based entrepreneurs

“With the demise of Business Link and Yorkshire Forward, an event such as Venturefest should be championed by the business community to encourage and harness the entrepreneurial spirit Yorkshire has to offer”

Registration for the free event closes on Friday at venturefestyorkshirenet

Tags: Venturefest Yorkshire, Yorkshire

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Payroll tax negotiations open amid optimism

January 18th, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) — Negotiations to renew a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and jobless benefits for millions more kicked off on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, with both sides optimistic of an agreement despite last year’s bitter battles over President Barack Obama’s jobs proposals.

The House-Senate talks will focus chiefly on finding ways to finance the $10 billion a month cost of a 2 percentage point cut in Social Security payroll taxes that awards a worker making a typical $50,000 salary a tax cut of about $20 a week. Lawmakers also need to pay for the $45 billion or so cost of renewing jobless benefits for people out of work for more than half a year and the $20 billion a year cost of making sure doctors aren’t hit with massive cuts to their Medicare payments.

Negotiators face a Feb. 2

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Tags: Payroll Tax, Tax

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Smaller retail sales increase projected for 2012

January 18th, 2012

New York —

The nation’s largest retail trade group expects a solid 3.4 percent increase in sales this year, below last year’s 4.7 percent increase as job woes weigh on shoppers.

Sales should reach $2.53 trillion in 2012, up from last year’s $2.45 trillion, boosted in part by higher prices across all goods, according to a report being released today from the National Retail Federation.

The 3.4 percent bump would still outpace the 10-year annual average increase of almost 3.1 percent and would also mark a third consecutive year of recovery for consumer spending. Sales slumped 3.5 percent in 2009 with the nation still deep in recession.

However, sales remain well below the more robust figures of 5.5 percent or more that the country would typically see in better economic times.

The retail sales forecast – which excludes sales of autos, gas and restaurants – was shaped by a variety of economic headwinds.

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Tags: Increase, Increase Projected

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Italian Bond Auction Pushes European Shares Higher

December 31st, 2011

The euro rose and European shares reversed earlier losses to gain for a third straight day on Tuesday, relieved by Italy’s success in selling 7.5 billion euros in bonds even if its cost of borrowing continues to soar.

Europe’s third-largest economy paid record yields of nearly 8 percent to sell three-year paper, a level that is likely to see its debt burden spiral out of control if sustained over time. It also sold a 10-year bond at a euro lifetime high of 7.56 percent, up from 6.06 percent at the end of October.

But the amount sold was close to the upper end of its target ahead of the sale, easing nerves among investors who had been worried by the prospect of limited demand or yields sharply higher than market levels.

“All in all … not bad at all,” said Marc Ostwald, strategist at Monument Securities. “They sold what they wanted to sell, and most importantly …

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Tags: European Shares, Shares

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Tissue Regenix to raise £25m for expansion

December 14th, 2011

TISSUE Regenix, the York healthcare company, is to raise £25 million through a conditional share placing to fund its expansion.

The proceeds from the placing of 181,818,182 new Ordinary Shares of 0.5p each is intended to fund development of the company’s products, including a vascular patch to repair badly damaged veins, and a porcine heart valve – tissues that can be transplanted into the human body and then is repopulated with the patient’s own cells and is adopted as a living part of their body.

The company said the funding would also enable it to move to new premises and create up to 30 new jobs in product development, quality assurance, regulatory affairs and manufacturing.

Managing director Antony Odell told The Press the company was looking at potential sites in York and Leeds to relocate to, and hoped to have identified a suitable site within six months.

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Tags: Expansion, Tissue Regenix

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