Redundancy is complicated. There are so many questions you ask yourself when you first start hearing the dreaded 'R' word being bounded about: -
Can they do this to me?
What notice must i be given?
What are my rights?
What pay am i entitled to?
Well, rather than go into the subject on this one blog, i have included a link below which can talk you through all the above points and more. It also has more links to organisations which can help you.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/RedundancyAndLeavingYourJob/DG_10026616
Should you unfortunately be one of the thousands of people facing redundancy, or are just looking for a new role within the IT and Information Management sector, well then please do visit our website or contact us to see how we can help.
Remember, every cloud has a silver lining. By the end of the last recession there were more millionaires than before.
Showing posts with label Recession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recession. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Recruitment firm Hays has a job on its hands
Last year, 80,000 people took the next step in their careers thanks to Hays. Alistair Cox was one of them. An industry outsider, he arrived to become chief executive of the specialist recruiter exactly 12 months ago and so far the civil engineer has made a rather good fist of it.
Yesterday's results were a record and were higher than the City had been expecting. Yet to his credit, Cox made no attempt to deny the simple facts that the trends are not moving in Hays' favour.
The UK, despite moves to expand geographically, still accounts for more than half of revenues and the signs are not good. Demand for temporary contracts are flat at best, while permanent placements are falling. In Australia, too, the markets are softening.
Unemployment has so far proved the dog that didn't bark during the current slowdown, but the beast is now clearing its throat. The most bearish economists are now predicting a jobless total of up to 2.5m (compared with around 1.6m now) if the UK slides into a serious recession.
The difficulty for Hays is that with visibility of barely six weeks ahead, it finds it very difficult to predict where its markets are going. The only thing it knows for sure is that they aren't getting any better - particularly in its largest specialities of accounting and finance, and construction and property.
Some analysts moved to downgrade their forecasts yesterday on the expectation of contracting margins, while less buy-back activity may act as a drag on the share price.
For investors, it is not all bad news; Hays has a strong management team and good track record and boasts fantastic cash conversion. It also carries an attractive yield and a strong balance sheet that contains minimal debt.
For Citigroup, for instance, it means the fall in the share price to under 94p places the stock far below the 110p it believes should be a theoretical trough.
However, on balance, the company is more likely to see bad news rather than good in the months to come, and investors are likely to find better value elsewhere. Sell.
* - Article from the telegraph
Yesterday's results were a record and were higher than the City had been expecting. Yet to his credit, Cox made no attempt to deny the simple facts that the trends are not moving in Hays' favour.
The UK, despite moves to expand geographically, still accounts for more than half of revenues and the signs are not good. Demand for temporary contracts are flat at best, while permanent placements are falling. In Australia, too, the markets are softening.
Unemployment has so far proved the dog that didn't bark during the current slowdown, but the beast is now clearing its throat. The most bearish economists are now predicting a jobless total of up to 2.5m (compared with around 1.6m now) if the UK slides into a serious recession.
The difficulty for Hays is that with visibility of barely six weeks ahead, it finds it very difficult to predict where its markets are going. The only thing it knows for sure is that they aren't getting any better - particularly in its largest specialities of accounting and finance, and construction and property.
Some analysts moved to downgrade their forecasts yesterday on the expectation of contracting margins, while less buy-back activity may act as a drag on the share price.
For investors, it is not all bad news; Hays has a strong management team and good track record and boasts fantastic cash conversion. It also carries an attractive yield and a strong balance sheet that contains minimal debt.
For Citigroup, for instance, it means the fall in the share price to under 94p places the stock far below the 110p it believes should be a theoretical trough.
However, on balance, the company is more likely to see bad news rather than good in the months to come, and investors are likely to find better value elsewhere. Sell.
* - Article from the telegraph
Hays Profit Rises on Growth in International Business
By Lenka Ponikelska
Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Hays Plc, Britain's largest recruitment company, said full-year profit rose 13 percent as international business growth in Germany and Asia helped to offset a slowdown in the U.K. and Ireland.
Net income for the 12 months ended June 30 was 188.2 million pounds ($337 million),or 13.33 pence a share, compared with 166.5 million pounds, or 11.39 pence a year earlier, London-based Hays said in a statement distributed by PR Newswire today. That beat the 170 million-pound median estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Revenue rose 20 percent to 2.54 billion pounds.
Demand for permanent placements in the U.K. and Australia declined, said the London-based recruiter. Hays, which gets about two thirds of revenue from the U.K., has sought to expand in faster-growing markets outside its home country. Hays said in April it plans to boost net fee income from international business to 70 percent within the next 10 years compared with about 42 percent today.
``A number of markets are becoming more difficult,'' Chief Executive Officer Alistair Cox said on a conference call with reporters today. ``We paused investments in one or two places but we have a diversification in 27 countries in broad sectors and there are significant opportunities to grow the business.''
Hays fell 0.75 pence, or 0.8 percent, to 93.5 pence in London, valuing the company at 1.29 billion pounds.
Temporary and permanent placements in the U.K. continue to decline and Hays reduced its workforce in the country by 7 percent in the second half to cut costs, Cox said. Hays expects to reduce its U.K. staff numbers further, he said.
`Clear Signs'
``There are clear signs that the U.K. is heading for recession,'' ING analyst Marc Zwartsenburg said by phone today from Amsterdam. ``They already said the U.K. was deteriorating in the trading statement and today they highlighted it again. There's no real trigger that things will get better.'' Zwartsenburg is reviewing his ``buy'' recommendation on the stock.
In Australia, demand among employers for temporary posts has been ``good,'' while demand for permanent placements is flat and Hays has halted further investment in the country, Cox said.
Net fees, or payments from clients minus payroll costs of workers, advanced 24 percent to 786.8 million pounds, said the company. Fees advanced 9 percent in the U.K. and Ireland to 452.9 million pounds. Net fees in Asia Pacific rose 55 percent to 176.2 million pounds. Germany, which accounts for 40 percent of European revenue, boosted net fees 43 percent.
Hays, which has a workforce of 8,872 people in 27 countries, opened 17 new offices in Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Canada and Brazil in the year while closing two sites in the U.K. and Ireland, said the company.
Hays increased its dividend to 5.8 pence, from 5 pence a year earlier.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lenka Ponikelska in London lponikelska1@bloomberg.net
Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Hays Plc, Britain's largest recruitment company, said full-year profit rose 13 percent as international business growth in Germany and Asia helped to offset a slowdown in the U.K. and Ireland.
Net income for the 12 months ended June 30 was 188.2 million pounds ($337 million),or 13.33 pence a share, compared with 166.5 million pounds, or 11.39 pence a year earlier, London-based Hays said in a statement distributed by PR Newswire today. That beat the 170 million-pound median estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Revenue rose 20 percent to 2.54 billion pounds.
Demand for permanent placements in the U.K. and Australia declined, said the London-based recruiter. Hays, which gets about two thirds of revenue from the U.K., has sought to expand in faster-growing markets outside its home country. Hays said in April it plans to boost net fee income from international business to 70 percent within the next 10 years compared with about 42 percent today.
``A number of markets are becoming more difficult,'' Chief Executive Officer Alistair Cox said on a conference call with reporters today. ``We paused investments in one or two places but we have a diversification in 27 countries in broad sectors and there are significant opportunities to grow the business.''
Hays fell 0.75 pence, or 0.8 percent, to 93.5 pence in London, valuing the company at 1.29 billion pounds.
Temporary and permanent placements in the U.K. continue to decline and Hays reduced its workforce in the country by 7 percent in the second half to cut costs, Cox said. Hays expects to reduce its U.K. staff numbers further, he said.
`Clear Signs'
``There are clear signs that the U.K. is heading for recession,'' ING analyst Marc Zwartsenburg said by phone today from Amsterdam. ``They already said the U.K. was deteriorating in the trading statement and today they highlighted it again. There's no real trigger that things will get better.'' Zwartsenburg is reviewing his ``buy'' recommendation on the stock.
In Australia, demand among employers for temporary posts has been ``good,'' while demand for permanent placements is flat and Hays has halted further investment in the country, Cox said.
Net fees, or payments from clients minus payroll costs of workers, advanced 24 percent to 786.8 million pounds, said the company. Fees advanced 9 percent in the U.K. and Ireland to 452.9 million pounds. Net fees in Asia Pacific rose 55 percent to 176.2 million pounds. Germany, which accounts for 40 percent of European revenue, boosted net fees 43 percent.
Hays, which has a workforce of 8,872 people in 27 countries, opened 17 new offices in Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Canada and Brazil in the year while closing two sites in the U.K. and Ireland, said the company.
Hays increased its dividend to 5.8 pence, from 5 pence a year earlier.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lenka Ponikelska in London lponikelska1@bloomberg.net
Monday, August 18, 2008
Recession in UK 'is months away'
The BCC says there is still time for the UK to avoid a recession
Recession looms in the UK in the next six to nine months as firms face "a difficult and risky climate", the British Chambers of Commerce warns. UK growth will be slightly negative or zero in the next two or three quarters, but a major recession is unlikely, the BCC says in its latest forecast.
But prospects will be worse if interest rates are not cut soon, it adds. The BCC predicts UK unemployment will rise by between 250,000 and 300,000 in the next 18 months to two years.
That could take the jobless total to more than two million for the first time since Labour came to power in 1997.
'Bigger danger'
"Over the next two or three quarters, we expect UK GDP growth to be slightly negative or zero, satisfying the conditions of technical recession," the BCC says.
"But the bigger danger of a major UK recession can and must be prevented," it adds.
"Our central scenario envisages that UK Bank Rate would be cut to 4.75% in [the fourth quarter of] 2008, followed by an additional cut to 4.5% in [the first quarter of] 2009.
"But if [the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee] decides not to cut rates in the next three to six months, growth prospects would be worse."
BCC director general David Frost told the BBC that the "full impact of going into a major recession as we did in the early 1990s could be avoided now".
Mr Frost said the UK needed "to get back to a a path of steady growth" as nobody wanted to experience the "major dislocation and major problems emerging from a deep recession".
Confidence falling
Whatever happens to interest rates, the BCC says, "a marked slowdown in UK activity is highly likely over the next 18 months".
This would be mainly caused by "a very sharp deceleration in consumer spending growth, in reaction to falling house prices and the acute squeeze on household disposable incomes".
At the same time, a new survey of 200 firms by Lloyds TSB bank indicates that nearly two out of three companies are more pessimistic about the state of the economy than they were three months ago.
One in five of them predicted that the level of activity in their business would decline during the next 12 months.
And the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has added to the gathering economic gloom with a survey showing another sharp fall in business confidence.
Its Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) index, covering the period from 24 April to 24 July, produced a reading of -25.7, compared with -19.7 in the previous three months.
WHAT IS A RECESSION?
There are a number of definitions of a recession.
The most commonly used one is when there are two quarters in a row of economic contraction, or negative growth.
But it is quite possible to have two quarters of negative growth and another couple of quarters of decent growth - so the economy actually grows year on year, despite going through a technical recession.
Recession looms in the UK in the next six to nine months as firms face "a difficult and risky climate", the British Chambers of Commerce warns. UK growth will be slightly negative or zero in the next two or three quarters, but a major recession is unlikely, the BCC says in its latest forecast.
But prospects will be worse if interest rates are not cut soon, it adds. The BCC predicts UK unemployment will rise by between 250,000 and 300,000 in the next 18 months to two years.
That could take the jobless total to more than two million for the first time since Labour came to power in 1997.
'Bigger danger'
"Over the next two or three quarters, we expect UK GDP growth to be slightly negative or zero, satisfying the conditions of technical recession," the BCC says.
"But the bigger danger of a major UK recession can and must be prevented," it adds.
"Our central scenario envisages that UK Bank Rate would be cut to 4.75% in [the fourth quarter of] 2008, followed by an additional cut to 4.5% in [the first quarter of] 2009.
"But if [the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee] decides not to cut rates in the next three to six months, growth prospects would be worse."
BCC director general David Frost told the BBC that the "full impact of going into a major recession as we did in the early 1990s could be avoided now".
Mr Frost said the UK needed "to get back to a a path of steady growth" as nobody wanted to experience the "major dislocation and major problems emerging from a deep recession".
Confidence falling
Whatever happens to interest rates, the BCC says, "a marked slowdown in UK activity is highly likely over the next 18 months".
This would be mainly caused by "a very sharp deceleration in consumer spending growth, in reaction to falling house prices and the acute squeeze on household disposable incomes".
At the same time, a new survey of 200 firms by Lloyds TSB bank indicates that nearly two out of three companies are more pessimistic about the state of the economy than they were three months ago.
One in five of them predicted that the level of activity in their business would decline during the next 12 months.
And the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has added to the gathering economic gloom with a survey showing another sharp fall in business confidence.
Its Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) index, covering the period from 24 April to 24 July, produced a reading of -25.7, compared with -19.7 in the previous three months.
WHAT IS A RECESSION?
There are a number of definitions of a recession.
The most commonly used one is when there are two quarters in a row of economic contraction, or negative growth.
But it is quite possible to have two quarters of negative growth and another couple of quarters of decent growth - so the economy actually grows year on year, despite going through a technical recession.
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