As well as offering the free advertising space to UK firms, Sandberg revealed that Facebook has joined forces with the British Chamber of Commerce to run a series of events aimed at educating people with their own business on the importance of social media and how to build an effective Facebook page of their own.

The announcement came just as Deloitte was announcing the results of its own research into the impact that Facebook has had on UK business and society, including the creation of over 35,000 jobs and a £2 billion boost to the economy.

Speaking at the DND conference in Munich, Sandberg welcomed Deloitte’s findings, saying that it showed that Facebook could be a valuable business tool, able to support small companies that need all the help they cam get in the current economic climate.

Facebook has recently expanded its business support network, adding features such as Sponsored Stories and Facebook Places in an effort to encourage companies of all sizes to engage with their their consumers and users through the social media site. Free to use, Facebook relies on advertising to provide the bulk of its revenues.

Small companies which have already used Facebook to advertise their products or services were generally positive about the effect that social media campaigns can have on the bottom line.

Ryan O’Rorke, who founded the online business LoveOnlineDeals.com to allow users to search for the best bargains in their area, said that Facebook advertising had been more successful for them than other internet services, such as Google Adwords, as the social media site allows them to better target customers with the deals that are available in their local area.

While he was impressed with Facebook’s offer to provide $100 of advertising credit for European start-ups, he added that once firms had seen what the social media site could offer them in terms of increased revenue, it was likely that they would end up spending more money than they had budgeted for on further online ads.

However, blogger Adam Baker, who founded the journalism site Blottr.com, said that he felt Facebook advertising was very expensive compared to other online services. Adding that considering Facebook ads had a bounce rate of 70%, the number of people who leave a page as soon as they click-through to it, they were very expensive, especially when compared to other options.

With Facebook expected to sign up its one billionth user some time during the summer, there is no doubt that $100 of advertising will help small companies from across Europe reach more customers than they could have hoped to target on their own small budgets, despite any concerns about its effectiveness in the long term. 

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Treasury sources and the RBS defended the bonus as many people were quick to criticise the obscene amount of money. Chuka Umunna, the Shadow business secretary, stated in an interview that Hester should not be given the bonus because while he has done a good job that is what he is being paid to do and it is not an extraordinary feat.

He went on to explain that a bonus should only be given for something that is extraordinary and that most people get a base salary that is much lower without any hope of a bonus. Lord Adair Turner, the head of the financial watchdog organisation, stated that excessive bonuses that are given out to executives are not healthy for society.

Liberal Democrat foreign office minister Jeremy Browne also pointed out that even if Hester has a bonus opportunity written into his contract he is not obligated to actually take it.  Browne expanded to say that it only takes him three days to get paid what a soldier earns in a year fighting in Afghanistan, and as a public servant working at a bank owed by taxpayers he needs to think more like a public servant would.

Also adding pressure is the fact that Chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio of Lloyds Banking Group announced that he would not accept his bonus this year.

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The announcement of these plans comes right after an announcement by Royal Bank Of Scotland that they are going to be paying their bankers bonuses totalling £2.5 billion. This roughly equates to bonus figures of £140,000 per banker. This figure includes salaries as well as benefits and the individual bonus figure is expected to be about £500 million.

Over 80 percent of RBS is owned by theUKtaxpayer after it was bailed out in 2008 for a  figure of £45 billion. Investment bankers at the bank are paid less than their rivals but the large salaries are still an issue for ministers as well as the public. The Prime Minister as well as George Osborne have said that they want to see the financial services sector have some restraint when they are offering bonuses.

The Chief Executive of RBS’s Stephen Hester and he is expected to take a bonus of over £1 million. This year Mr Hester has managed asset disposals valued at nearly £5 billion and in the past has waived his large bonus.

Vince cable wants to introduce measures that will force companies to publish information about how much the Chief Executive is earning as a single figure, inclusive of bonuses and other additional pay.

This will make the figure easy to understand by people who do not know how to read financial reports. Plans also previously included the appointment of an employee of the company to sit on the company’s board however this initiative has been postponed despite an appeal from trade unions to have it implemented.

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Global news

The first type of news that often comes to mind when thinking about forex trading is that of global news. Anything to do with the state of a country’s economy or changes to its government or politics are likely to affect its forex market. This is because these changes will have an impact on their economy and therefore on the value of their currency.

Other world events, such as natural disasters, will have a similar affect and therefore it is important that traders keep up to date on the latest news updates from various countries – especially those which they intend to trade between.

Economic news

Following on from the above, any news which specifically relates to the economy of a country is vital for forex traders. This means that any updates on the state of the stock market, the rise and fall of shares and other news relating to national economies will be of importance.

Knowledge of these events will require traders to monitor the activities and events of countries which they intend to trade within whilst also keeping an eye on the global economic situation. This is because some events can affect certain nations even if they are not directly involved.

For example, the recent debt crisis faced by Greece had a negative impact on the Euro Zone which meant a number of other nations were affected as a result. Identifying the potential for this outcome by monitoring the situation carefully would have allowed forex traders to make wise decisions concerning their investments, helping them to attain successful trading results.

Trading news

Lastly, any general news over trading and the actions of other traders will be useful for both new and experienced forex traders. Nowadays, the trading world has entered the digital age and gives individuals the chance to become copy traders or social traders.

Copy or social trading is a process through which individuals are able to monitor the actions of traders and then choose to “copy” them. This allows them to make quick and informed decisions based on the trading news which they have to hand, being able to clearly identify trends by looking at what other traders are doing.

Of course, successful trading will rely on a thorough knowledge of all of the above and this is something forex traders do not always have the time to accrue. It is therefore recommendable that traders use an official broker or trading service to help them gain access to this news with as little disruption as possible.

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Though Ofgem’s chief executive, Alistair Buchanan, said that there is “a need for a radical break with the past”, many observers are wondering why he seems to be just now noticing the steadily rising prices.  Labour leader Ed Miliband made several statements indicating that his party would crack down on greedy power companies, and said the companies should use that extra profit to “stop crippling price rises”.

The likelihood of the Big Six or any other company willingly giving up profits is rather far-fetched.  Granted, they do not have control over global energy prices, and the government’s ‘green’ initiatives have also contributed to some cost increases for the energy companies.  However, this is no comfort to hundreds of thousands of UK residents who are facing another long cold winter.

The green organisation ‘Friends of the Earth’ just published a report showing that average household energy costs could go up by £300 per year if the Big Six go forward with a reported plan for huge investments in gas-fired power stations.  Andy Atkins, ‘Friends’ executive director, said that the investments should instead be in sustainable energy and reduction of energy waste.

The general opinion seems to be that big oil and gas companies have a stranglehold on British consumers and on the price of fuel, and the government is going to have to finally step in on the side of the people instead of the powerful.  Government spokespersons are saying that’s their intent, but if something definitive isn’t done now, there may be a lot more deaths from hypothermia this winter.

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Finance Director Paul Hollingworth said that “constructive talks” are in progress with the company’s lending banks, and he expects to reach an agreement that will allow some manoeuvring room, but that no dividends will be paid in the short term.  He also said that a new Chief Executive will probably not be instated this year.

Thomas Cook’s CEO Manny Fontenia-Novoa, who has held the position for four years, was forced to step down as of August, after the third profit warning the of year.  Reasons given for the poor performance included disruption due to the volcanic ash cloud, but for the most part the problems have been laid on the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, and on the dreary economic climate in Britain.

In a recent statement the company said that though profits were mostly in line with expectations during July and August, September showed an unwelcome drop from projected earnings, and they are reviewing strategies and options to bolster an iffy outlook.  The intent is to reduce the company’s debt by a very substantial amount over the next year or two.

Reports are that Thomas Cook can raise a quick £300m by scrapping dividends, cutting some low-profit flights and closing down some of their least profitable branch offices.  Further reports indicate that most of the cut-backs will be in the U.K., where travellers are staying home in droves.

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The consumer part of the media group as said that they have seen a three percent drop in revenues since this time last year. Martin Morgan is the chief executive of the group and has said, “We continue to focus on being as efficient as possible, the problem is that we simply do not have the advertising revenue that we have seen in previous years. This is why we are going to see lower profits this year.”

The group has had some good news though as its business to business publications have done better than the same period last year. An example of the publications that they produce for this market include DMG Events, the success of these publications helped the group to an overall growth of 1%. Analysts are expecting the profit of the group to fall by £10 million for the whole year compared with last year where profits were at £303 million.

The group, in an effort to combat the increasing price of news print decided to raise the cost of the Daily Mail by 5p. The group has said that weakened circulation as well as the increasing cost of newsprint is affecting the profits for the entire group. The largest advertising categories for the group have reduced by around 5%.

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Mr Sharp has said, “Our decision to maximise our profits has been very successful and because of this we fully expect our profit figures to be ahead of what analysts are currently predicting.” The company has recently gained fifty basis points in its market share after it launched its summer sale five days earlier than normal.

The announcement was also made that the Jane Norman brand will be being replaced with new ranges by some of the people designing for Debenhams. One of the lines will include H!, by Henry Holland. Jane Norman was listed for sale back in June.

Debenhams has announced a plan to move its headquarters to a new location and is currently renovating six of its stores. It has also recently announced that it will be refitting its main store on Oxford Street in 2013.

Seymour Pierce retail analyst Katie Calvert has said, “These revised figures are making us recalculate our figures for what we estimate the profit from the company to be. We expect it to be around five to seven million pounds higher than previously estimated.” Analysts have also changed the company’s net debt figure, reducing it by £130 million.

Mr Sharp commented, “We are being cautious because we know that consumer confidence is low because of the state of the economy. That said however we are focusing on the retail basics and offering customers some great products.”

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This is a drop of nearly 20% when you compare it with the profits of the year before. Charlie Mayfield is the chairman of John Lewis and has said, “We are seeing these drops because we are continuing to offer great value to our consumers, and we are sticking with our pledge. The highly competitive environment we are seeing has led to a drop in profits.”

The report has also stated that the supermarket Waitrose has managed to absorb the inflation impact and is even taking on retail giant Tesco with its ‘brand price match.’ The drop in profits was announced at the same time as John Lewis and Waitrose announced that sales figures were up. This really shows how competitive pricing in the market is right now.

Mayfield has also said, “Sales wise, we have seen a strong growth in the first half of the year. We have continued with our ambitious growth plans and this, combined with the competitive market, has meant that we are seeing an expected fall in profits.” These growth plans have seen a large amount of capital put into them and the new shopping location near the site for the Olympic Games is an example of this.

The John Lewis group has always taken a long term outlook, rather than just focusing on short term profit maximisation. This is something that has benefited the business in the long term, according to its current chairman.

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BRC says that retail sales for August were down by 0.6% from last year, though the same like-for-like sales showed a rise of 0.6% in July, amounting to a flat line for current sales.  Those figures exclude stores that opened or closed during the year; overall, with new stores included, sales rose by 2.5% on the year in July and only 1.5% in August.

Analysts believe that the slump is due to a combination of factors, with lack of confidence being the most crucial.  According to a poll from research firm GfK NOP, consumer confidence fell to a four-month low in August, indicating fears of another recession.  General factors include global financial worries, a high inflation rate, stagnant wages and fiscal belt-tightening, all of which lead to curtailed spending.

The only retail sector that didn’t show a decrease last month was the food industry, i.e. supermarkets and convenience stores etc.  That may simply indicate that most of people’s available cash is going towards the essential and relatively cheaper products on the market, like food.

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