Business News

Latest Business news from around the world:

 

SCOTTISH SMEs OUTLOOK IMPROVES

 

Confidence has risen among Scottish small businesses despite rising costs and weak trading conditions, according to a new survey. Research by the Federation of Small Businesses suggested more firms planned to invest over the next 12 months.

 

Companies were also "substantially more confident" in the last quarter of 2012 compared to 2010 and 2011. This was despite firms reporting rising fuel and utility costs were making it more expensive to run a business.

 

LG TO INCREASE INVESTMENT

South Korea's LG Group has announced plans to increase investment, in an attempt to boost its market share amid strong competition.

 

The firm said it would invest 20tn won ($19bn; £12bn) in various subsidiaries, including LG Electronics, in 2013. The investment will be used to boost production facilities and fund research and development of products. They recently announced plans for the new OLED TV.

 

FRANCE MAY LOWER TAX RATE

France's socialist government has hinted that a replacement for its controversial 75 per cent income tax bracket, struck down late last month by the country's constitutional council, may be at a lower rate but imposed for the rest of its five-year mandate, not just two years as previously proposed.

 

It is also to divert €2bn in extra funds into state-backed job creation schemes in a bid to meet President François Hollande's bold promise to reverse a trend of fast-rising unemployment by the end of this year. Mr Hollande and other ministers have so far pointedly avoided specifying what rate would be set for a revamped supertax, leading to speculation that it might be watered down.

 

 

Sources: BBC Business News, CNN