Business Feeds

A council leader has pledged to listen to the views of the business community. Brighton and Hove City Council leader Bill Randall said the new Green administration needs a new, coherent and robust economic strategy to take the city forward.

He said: “To achieve this we will need to sit down with the local business community and listen to their views.

“The city council must do everything it can to help new ventures, retain and develop existing businesses and create more jobs and prosperity, and it must work in partnership with the local business community and other stakeholders.”

But the Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce said the economic strategy for Brighton and Hove is creaking with old age. Chamb Read more…

On Thursday Google held the second quarter 2011 earnings conference call revealing that the company has surpassed Wall Street forecasts and reached a new record for quarterly revenue. The search giant earned $9.3 billion for the second quarter, up by 32% from the same period last year.

Operating income was 32% of the revenues or $2.88 billion. Google’s net income for the quarter was $2.51 billion up from $1.84 billion in 2010 Q2. 69% of the search company’s revenue came from Google-owned sites that generated $6.23 billion in revenues, a 39% increase over a year period.

AdSense generated $2.48 billion, accounting for 28% of Google’s revenue. International revenues totaled $4.87 billion, representing 54% of total revenues. Non-G

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Did you know that many small businesses receive a major portion of their start-up costs from small business grants?

I’m sure you may hear grants being referred to as “free money” but it’s not. Grants

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In what some may consider interesting franchising news, Subway announced this week that a Toledo, Ohio, location inside of a Chrysler and Jeep assembly plant is the companys 8,000th non-traditional location.

“Non-traditional Subway restaurants come in all shapes and sizes and can be found just about anywhere,” said Don Fertman, chief development officer for Subway chains. He said because of the companys flexible floor plan and minimum need for space, they are suited to being in special sites.

Other notable non-traditional Subway locations include the True Bethel Baptist Church in Buffalo, New York, a new car showroom in California, a high school in Detroit and other locations.

An article publsihed on the Haynes and Boon website by Joyce G.

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It’s official – there is no apostrophe in Harveys.

Campaigners are calling for the brewery, based in Cliffe High Street, Lewes, to spell its name consistently across the brand.

Brighton-based Jonathan Cook at the Apostrophe Protection Society has launched a Facebook campaign called ‘Campaign for Harvey(‘)s Brewery’s apostrophe consistency’.

He has posted pictures of pumps at the Poet’s Corner pub in Montgomery Street, Hove, which shows an aberrant apostrophe in Harveys Best Bitter.

He said: “It looks like the proof reader has got it wrong.”

Mr Cook claimed there are examples of other pubs where the spelling of the brand is contradictory.

Another member of the Facebook group said the campaign ought to win the backing of CAMRA – the Campaign for the Right Apostrophe.

Bill Inman, marketing boss at Harveys, said he was not aware of the Facebook campaign and insisted there are no plans to change the spelling of the company name.

He said: “There is no apostrophe in Harveys. If one appears Read more…

In franchising news, a California Mexican restaurant with just about 20 locations in Southern California and Arizona will look to branch out and is seeking new franchisees through their national program.

“Outside of San Diego … no one does Mexican food like we do,” said Javier Correa, vice president of the company. “We want people outside of Southern California to experience what we do best: Serve San Diego-style, fresh and authentic Mexican dishes in a clean and welcoming environment.”

The company said there are varied franchise options open to business owners who want to take advantage, from gas stations to traditional drive-thru locations.

Locations of the restaurant, which has been open since the 1960s, typically open early and close late. M

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While deal sites have brought mixed news for small businesses, a new survey from PriceGrabber, a part of Experian, shows that 59 percent of consumers use a daily deal site for holiday or special occasion gifts.

About 60 percent of respondents said they use the sites to buy gifts for Christmas or Hanukkah, while 59 percent said they use the sites to buy a gift for birthdays. An additional 23 percent said they plan to purchase anniversary gifts using daily deal sites.

PriceGrabber survey results found that 31 percent of consumers purchase one to four deals per month and 15 percent buy one or more per week. About 63 percent of consumers polled in the survey said they spend 30 minutes or less sifting through local deal sites.

Shoppers surveyed said they want to see savings, but 37 percent said they dont have a specific savings requirement.

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Office of Utility Consumer Counselor says Duke has not demonstrated any budgetary constraints on the southwest Indiana project. The Indianapolis Business Journal reports that the agency says there “appears to be a lack of responsibility or accountability on the part of those causing these multimillion-dollar cost overruns.” The agency argues that escalating costs have been borne by ratepayers with benefits going to Duke shareholders.

Duke has not formally replied to the office’s testimony. But Duke spokeswoman Angeline Protogere told the Indianapolis Business Journal on Friday that Duke has “prudently and diligently” managed plant costs.

The state agency representing utility ratepayers is blasting Duke Energy Corp. f

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Berkery Noyes, the independent investment bank specializing in the information content and technology industries, today released its Half Year Mergers and Acquisitions Trends Report for the Online & Mobile Industry.

The report analyzes merger and acquisition activity in the segment across 1st Half 2011 and compares it with activity for the four previous sixth-month periods from 2009-2010.

According to Berkery Noyes research, the Online & Mobile Industry’s robust growth over the past two and a half years continued across the last six months. Total volume in 1st Half 2011 increased by 23 percent over the previous six-month period, from 643 transactions to 788. T

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