Three-quarters of small and medium-sized companies are worried about the long-term impact the cost of living crisis, soaring energy bills and rising inflation will have on their business, a survey has found. Just over half (51%) of SMEs said they were concerned that rocketing prices would dent consumer spending, in response to Barclays’ SME Barometer, a quarterly survey of business sentiment conducted for the bank. – Guardian
The average price of a UK home has topped £250,000 for the first time, but the proportion of sellers reducing their asking price and the time taken to sell a home have both increased, according to Zoopla’s latest market index. The property company, which bases its monthly snapshot on a combination of sold prices, mortgage valuations and data for agreed sales, said the average cost of a home hit £250,200 in April, but that the pace of price growth was slowing. – Guardian
Boris Johnson’s plans for a nuclear energy revolution are facing a fresh hurdle after the Austrian government officially raised concerns about the safety of a new reactor design. In a letter to the Business Department, Austria’s energy ministry raised the spectre of “severe accidents with high releases” at the Sizewell C plant to be built in Suffolk. – Telegraph
Britain’s biggest privately owned financial services group is seeking to hire an investor relations team, a step usually seen as a prelude to a flotation. Revolut is searching for a head of investor relations with listed company experience and wants to hire one or two other IR professionals. The step closer to an initial public offering comes at a difficult time for financial technology businesses, with investor sentiment souring on the back of a technology sell-off on Wall Street. – The Times
Britain is monitoring hundreds of businesses that could be using havens offshore to lower their tax bills under a new system that requires authorities from the British Virgin Islands to the Caymans to share information. A Freedom of Information request by Pinsent Masons, the law firm, to HM Revenue & Customs found that the taxman had received 429 records relating to 277 UK taxpayers in the year to March 16 under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s “no or nominal tax jurisdiction” regime. It has been generating information to exchange since March last year. – The Times
