Excluding London it has been found that Milton Keynes is the most expensive place to operate a small business, this according to the Alliance and Leicester Business Banking unit.
It has found that the property rental costs, the price of labour and also transportation are higher here, meaning small businesses have to deal with higher operating costs before they can begin to make any profit. The Alliance and Leicester found Milton Keynes to be the most expensive place to rent retail space and also the eighth best place for wages.
One of the good things about this Alliance and Leicester survey is that high business costs are also associated with businesses doing well. Therefore there are opportunities for new businesses to succeed in Milton Keynes.
Northern Rock has named a new chief executive to lead the government funded bank forwards.
Gary Hoffman, previously the vice chairman at Barclays has taken on the role, replacing Andy Kuipers who had been at the bank for the last 20 years. Mr Hoffman will officially take over at the end of August and is very excited to be given the task of heading up Northern Rock.
When Mr Kuipers, the last person from the previous board remaining, leaves it will signify a new start for the Northern Rock, bringing an optimism for customers, staff and investors that the future will be better than the recent past.
Alliance and Leicester shares leapt by almost 50 percent today as news of an agreement regarding the takeover of the bank by Santander was announced.
At a price of 317 pence per share the Alliance and Leicester is being valued at GBP1.33 billion, a price that the Spanish based buyer is happy to pay. The deal is based on trading one Santander share for three Alliance and Leicester ones, making it a very attractive proposition for shareholders and stimulating such fierce trading in them today.
The offer cannot go through without agreement by at least 75 percent of the Alliance and Leicester shareholders, though this is not expected to be an issue. If successful the bid would give Santander, with its other existing UK holdings, a share of the UK savings and unsecured personal loan markets in excess of 8 percent.
