Tag: firms
Small firms were already struggling. Now AI search is draining their pipelines.
UK small businesses have spent two hard years battling rising costs and flat demand. Now a quieter shift is draining the one thing they cannot afford to lose: their pipeline of new enquiries. As customers swap search results for AI answers, the businesses that AI does not name simply stop being found. Strategic communications consultancy
Uzbek firms urged to use HK as springboard to mainland
Chief Executive John Lee appealed to Uzbek businesses on Wednesday to use Hong Kong as a springboard to expand their operations into the mainland. He made the remarks at a business forum attended by Uzbekistan Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, who is leading a delegation of senior officials and business leaders here for an official visit.
One in five UK construction firms never measure productivity, RICS survey shows
Construction companies in the UK are the least likely to measure productivity compared with their international counterparts, a survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has found. The RICS Construction Productivity Report 2026 reveals wide differences in productivity metrics and a persistent ‘optimism… The post One in five UK construction firms never measure
Nine firms fined almost £1m for employing illegal workers
Nine contractors have been issued a total of £950,000 in penalties for employing illegal workers, according to the latest government quarterly update. The firms were named in a Home Office list of companies penalised for employing people with no right to work in the UK… The post Nine firms fined almost £1m for employing illegal
Major Law Firms Seek Class Certification in Live Nation/Ticketmaster Suit; Companies ‘Used Their Decade-Plus Monopoly to Raise Prices’
Photo Credit: Kilian Seiler Major law firms are once again pushing for class certification in a high-stakes lawsuit centering on the alleged anticompetitive business practices of Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary. Attorneys with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan as well as Keller Postman just recently asked the court for class certification in the complaint
Q1 profits of TASI firms ex-Aramco up at SAR 40.2B
Tadawul trading screen Tadawul-listed companies, excluding Saudi Aramco, reported a 21% uptick in the Q1 2025 aggregate net profit to SAR 40.2 billion, primarily due to the positive results of the banking, real estate management & development, healthcare, and telecommunications sectors. Including Saudi Aramco, the first-quarter combined net profit showed a slight year-on-year (YoY) slip
Small firms to cut jobs amid cost woes and new worker rights, finds poll
A third of small businesses are planning to axe jobs amid worries over soaring staff costs, while new employment rights are also set to see firms rein in hiring and trim their workforces, according to new figures. A poll of nearly 1,400 firms by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in the final quarter of
CE urges firms to invest more on the mainland
Chief Executive John Lee on Friday called on businesses to contribute to the country's development by investing on the mainland. Speaking at a forum in Shenzhen on technological collaboration between the two places, the CE noted that firms can benefit from Beijing's new amendments to the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, or CEPA, which will take