BGN Entrepreneur

According to a new report, it is shown that the online shoppers spent 13% more in Feburary than they did last year.
The IMRG Campgemini e-Retail Sales Index, it is claimed that an estimated £4.1bn was spent online in a month compared with the 2009’s figure of £3.6bn.
But online sales for Feburary were 4% down on the January figures as New Year promotions ended. Sales of health and beauty products were nearly a third higher than the same time last year. Beer, wine and spirits sales were up by 20%, followed by the increase of 17% in clothing, footwear and accessories.
High street stores with online shopping channel were up by 24% year-on-year, whereas online-only sales increased by 4%.
Valentine’s Day boosted the online sector, with online shoppers turning away from flowers and hampers in favour of underwear and perfume.

Construction is going green and the UK’s eco-building boom is well on its way. More than 1000 exhibitors indicated their wares at Ecobuild held at London’s Earls Court, which is the world’s biggest event for sustainable design and construction.
UK’s commitment to make a transitioin to a low-carbon economy is the greatest opportunity for the construction sector to come up with a new approach to buidling design and re-engineer the existing stock of some 28 million buildings across the country.
In spite of the economic climate, sustainability has remained high on the agenda of the construction industry as increasing number of people are looking to lead more energy-efficient lives. Experts in green building is going to be a major plus for the young people who are looking to get into the construction industry as the sector grows.

It is forecasted that following the sharp falls over the past two years, the rental values will grow by the end of the year in central London.
Derwent London plans to spend more than £260m on new projects in central London after identifying an improvement in demand from businesses for new space.
The FTSE 250 property company, which specilizes in redeveloping and refurbishing offices in West End locations, unveiled the plans as it reported a sharp narrowing in annual pre-tax losses for 2009.
The capital value of Derwent’s property rose in the second half of 2009, following the fall in the first half. This improvement meant pre-tax losses narrowed.

Clothing retailer Monsoon has produced an eight-fold rise in profits during the past year. The group defied the economic recession to make pre-tax profits of £32.96 million during the previous 12 month.
The group’s fortunes were boosted by a strong overseas performance. Monsoon has stores in 50 countries and plans to expand into China, North America and Latin America later this year. It already has more than 1000 outlets worldwide, 425 of which are in the UK.
The company proposes to open an additional 140 in the next 12 months. The figures are the first to be filed ever since the group’s founder, Peter Simon, agree a deal to take the business private after it had been listed on the stock exchange.

According to some reports, it is announced that New Look, the fashion chain, is considering restructuring its stock market flotation, just one month after it pulled plans for a listing.
The directors of the high street company will meet to talk about reviving the £650 million move.
New Look cancelled its plans to list last month, blaming recent stock market volatility, but City sources said that the listing was always merely postponed.

The British Governemnt is eager to boost the hi-tech industrial sector as part of its plan to rebalance the nation’s eonomy from its reliance on financial service.
Recently, Sheffield Forgemasters has been given a Governemnt loan of £80 million to build parts for nuclear power stations in a move designed to create jobs and boost UK’s low-carbon energy plans.
The Government help completes a long-awaited £170 million funding package for Sheffield Forgemasters, helping it become the world leader in the forgings industry, only second to a Japanese company in the world. The historic South Yorkshire company will use the money to build a 15000 tonne press to make large forgings used in modern nuclear reactors.

The privately owned chemicals and pharmaceutical company—Ineos Group, plans to refinance around €1bn of its senior-term debt via issuing senior secured notes and term loans with a maturity of at least five years.
The refinancing depends on the agreement of the company’s senior lenders and holders of high-yield bonds, and represents just under 15pc of Ineos’ net debt. This copmany said that it is looking at options to strengthen its balance sheet earlier this week. The company announced that the refinancing will place it in a stronger position as trading improves.