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DELIVERING BUSINESS GROWTH THROUGH ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL & GOVERNANCE FACTORS
Business growth has historically been driven from a focus on financial factors such as stable revenues, high margins, and market share. Here at Bishop Fleming, we have actively observed the correlation between business growth and companies who consider non-financial factors such as Environmental, Social & Governance factors (ESG) in their business strategy. This is because investors and other stakeholders value companies that actively make decisions to monitor their impact and who make changes to their policies and practices to address the findings. Through meeting high ESG standards and having accountability, businesses can achieve ESG accreditations such as B Corp and SEDEX certification. Communicating these certifications to stakeholders increases value through motivated employees, increased customer loyalty, higher levels of innovation, and market leadership. A focus on ESG factors can include a review of how a business impacts its local society in terms of meeting the needs of workers, communities and supporting other local businesses to create shared value. It can also include a review of their supply chain to ensure a focus on sustainability through understanding the environmental impact of procurement.
mwilliams2@bishopfleming.co.uk 01905 732116
Marcus Williams, Executive, Bishop Fleming
CHOOSING THE RIGHT SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS FOR YOUR BUSINESS
In today’s digital world, businesses widely understand the necessity of a strong social media presence. However, with what feels like an endless choice of social media platforms, it’s a challenge to understand which ones your business should focus on. Yet the choice can be very simple. Only focus on the platforms where your audience are. If your audience mostly use LinkedIn, focus on building a following there. If your audience mostly engage with educational video content, start creating your own. There’s no point spending valuable time and resources creating videos for TikTok just because it’s a popular platform. Overall: Facebook, Instagram and TikTok can work wonders for a B2C e-commerce business while LinkedIn can be perfect for B2B.
It’s important that you focus on the right platforms for your business, making sure that the platforms you use will have the biggest impact on business growth and provide the best ROI.
www.shootingreels.com
2022 IS THE RIGHT TIME TO GAIN EXPERT ADVICE
With cost of living on the increase, including a rapid rise in gas prices and a rental price jump, now is the right time to look at cost savings and gain expert advice. Jake Mountford, Director at Hazelton Mountford, explains: “Hazelton Mountford have secured more business in various sectors due to a thorough review, making client cost-savings and, in some cases, increased cover. For the same, sometimes less, cost.” More recently Hazelton Mountford acquired a new client after conducting a full review and re-market of their portfolio of insurances, which hadn’t been done by their current broker in the previous year. Our work and recommendations resulted in them saving over £40,000 (around 35%) on their premiums from the previous year. We were able to identify areas of duplication of cover as well as ways to run their insurances more economically. Asking a professional broker like Hazelton Mountford to look at your specific needs can help you gain the safety and security you require when it comes to insurance cover. Hazelton Mountford are the only Independent Chartered Insurance Brokers in Worcester, and it sets them apart from the other brokers and companies within the area. The Chartered status means that they demonstrate a high level of expertise throughout every level of their business. Jake continues “With our experience and due diligence, we can offer the right cover at the right price. Now is a great time to review your insurance cover so, when it’s up for renewal, please make a call to the team and see if we can make cost-savings for you too.” Call 01905 611951 to chat about your review now.
www.hazeltonmountford.co.uk
For you and your business
SMES MUST BE CLEAR ON HOW THEY TREAT DIFFERENT CLASSES OF SHARES
We work with many small and medium-sized companies that are owner managed, and often see various owners spending differing amounts of time in the day-to-day running of the business.
We also often see senior employees at SMEs incentivised with shares so that they can receive dividends that are linked to their contribution to the company’s success.
These arrangements mean that the shares held by an SME’s various shareholders are split into what are described as ‘alphabet’ shares. This means you have A shares, B shares, C shares, and so on, where dividend amounts are varied between these shares to reflect varying contributions made by the shareholders. For example, the A shareholder may be an investor shareholder and not work in the company, and so would receive a basic dividend each year. In contrast, the B Shareholder may be a major shareholder who also works full-time, and so would receive a larger dividend per share. And then the C shareholder may be a minority employee shareholder who will receive varying dividends based on their performance each year. In each case the dividends are proposed by the SME’s board of directors using their discretion and the shares are treated as different classes of shares. However, this treatment of the A, B and C shares as different classes may not be correct and, if that is the case, it leaves the dividend payments open to challenge. Quite often, we have seen that the only description of the rights attaching to the varying shares are those detailed in the statements of capital lodged at Companies House. In many cases, these make no mention of differing shares in the Articles of Association. What this means is that even though each of the A, B and C shares are described as though they are separate classes, the rights each has will be stated as identical in each case.
Therefore, each of the A, B and C shareholders will be described as having a right to attend and vote at company meetings, a right to participate in dividends and a right to participate on a winding up or return of capital. In such cases, if the Articles of Association of the company fails to state more explicitly that each of the A, B and C shares constitute separate classes which differ for the purposes of dividends, companies could be challenged over their dividend payments. This is because the much overlooked section 629(1) of the Companies Act 2006 provides that shares are of one class if the rights attached to them are in all respects uniform. This means that the A, B and C shares are not different classes of shares but merely differing name designations within the same class of shares.
Crucially, this would technically mean that A, B and C shares should have identical dividends paid on them, which took place in the recent Routledge v Skerritt (2019) case. This potential banana skin could have serious and costly consequences for any SME. But fear not: such disasters can be easily avoided by ensuring appropriate provisions are included within the Articles of Association of the company and by having a properly adopted dividend policy.
Fiona Boxwell
Fiona Boxwell
Associate Director, Corporate Law Team
info@thursfields.co.uk 0345 20 73 72 8
Tel: 0345 20 73 72 8 | info@thursfields.co.uk | www.thursfields.co.uk
How to protect your business against zero-day cyber attacks
Did you know that 4 malware attacks happen every minute in the UK and out of these, a huge 96% of them are zero-day attacks? Let’s take a look at the steps you can take to help protect your business.
What is a zero-day threat?
A zero-day threat is a malware threat that hasn’t been seen before and doesn’t match any known malware signatures which means that it can’t be detected by traditional cyber security software. This threat might exploit an unknown software vulnerability.
A zero-day exploit is when hackers take advantage of a zero-day vulnerability to carry out a cyber attack. When a zero-day attack is detected, it must be mitigated as quickly as possible as software developers have no patch to fix it.
Why you should be concerned about zero-day threats?
Cyber attacks are becoming more and more prevalent and new zero-day threats are originating at an alarming rate. In order to protect your network, applications and data, it is vital to have an advanced threat prevention system in place.
How can you protect your business against zero-day attacks?
Although the nature of zero-day malware threats mean that we cannot see them coming, there are still various ways you can help to protect your business. 1. Keep your software up to date to ensure that security patches are inplace and reduce the risk of malware infection 2. Use a firewall to monitor and block suspicious activity 3. Use an antivirus software to protect you against known and unknown threats 4. Ensure your team is educated on zero-day threats and seek out solutions when zero-day vulnerabilities are discovered 5. Limit the amount of applications you use, as the less you download, the less data you are putting at risk
Advanced Security Protection
In today’s climate, a basic firewall is no longer enough to protect your business against cyber security threats; you need a full set of scanning engines to safeguard your network against viruses, spyware, malicious apps and data leaks.
What should your security protection include?
Cloud Sandboxing: Organisations of all sizes are falling victim to sophisticated cyber attacks. Cloud sandboxes simulate physical hardware, exposing malware which is designed to recognise and evade traditional network security defenses. AI-Powered Anti-Malware: Signature-based anti-virus solutions are only able to detect known threats, whereas AI-powered anti-malware uses a machine-learning engine which can predict threats. As modern malware mutates at an incredible rate, human produced signature-based virus detection is rapidly becoming obsolete.
DNS Filtering: Hackers rely on DNS to carry out cyber attacks. DNS filtering detects and blocks potentially dangerous sites, protecting your network and team from damaging malware infections. Cloud-based DNS filtering services are efficient and save your business time and money.
Network and Endpoint Threat Correlation: In order to manage security across your organisation, it is extremely important to have visibility into your network and endpoint event data. Threat correlation allows your IT team to respond to threats quickly and confidently, ensuring that you stop malware attacks before they have time to infect your entire organisation
How can EBC Group help?
EBC Group offer the most advanced cyber security solutions to provide your business with the maximum possible protection against cyber attacks. Contact us online, call us on 0121 3680119 or email us at hello@ebcgroup.co.uk to find out more.
The simplicity of one Managed Service Provider for all your technology needs
DELIVERING HR CONSULTANCY ACROSS THE UK
WHY OUTSOURCE YOUR HR?
There are 4 main reasons that you may consider outsourcing your HR if you are a company looking to grow; Ensuring your business is compliant, Improving your employee experience, Offering better benefits to your staff and reducing costs. We understand that you built your business to do the thing you love and are good at - not necessarily managing people. That is where Clover HR come in. We are committed to providing quality and trusted advice and support that you can rely on. Opting for an outsourced HR service helps you reply to employee requests much quicker and in turn creating a happy and balanced work environment for your team and the business owner.
Our sole purpose is to add value by supporting you to get the very best out of your team so you can drive the business forward and grow. Our mantra of ‘do the right thing’ drives us to excellence, to exceed expectation and to never settle for second best. All of our consultants have been hand picked for their specialisms in their particular field so we can meet the huge variety of complex employment challenges faced by business owners.
Our ambition is to build a HR company that offers an unrivalled level of service that puts people - and not processes - at the heart of all it does.
WHERE WE PRIDE OURSELVES
OUR CORE SERVICES
Working with SME businesses who have between 10 to 400 employees, we strive to take the strain of your HR troubles so you can continue to live a comfortable life. Our mission is to be outstanding, trusted advisors and partners to business everyday.
W: WWW.CLOVERHR.CO.UK | E: INFO@CLOVERHR.CO.UK | T: 0330 175 6601
Ladies Day
Tuesday 2nd August • Worcestershire County Cricket Club Royal London Cup Fixture • Worcestershire Rapids vs. Kent
Sponsored by Anja Potze Fine Jewellery and Russell Meers & Gill Insurance Brokers
Situated in the Chestnut Marquee, with picturesque views
The day’s cricket is complemented by top-class hospitality
Guests will be treated to: VIP match admission • Reserved place in the Chestnut Marquee Drinks reception • Two-course lunch • Traditional afternoon tea Private pitch-side seating area, match begins at 11am Select local businesses exhibiting clothing and fashion accessories
A table for 10 people £400 or individual places for £45 per person
You can book online, email our Ticket Office at tickets@wccc.co.uk or telephone: 01905 337912
