As always when a new budget is unveiled, businesses pay close attention to see how they will benefit from the changes. At a time when the UK economy has started to turn the corner, many were hoping for further stimulus in the budget to cement the move into positive territory. So what Does The March 2014 Budget Mean For Business?

Key points for business in the March 2014 budget

• Doubling the corporate investment allowance to £500,000, to the end of 2015, at a cost of £2bn in the short-term;

• A £7bn package to cut energy bills for British manufacturers, including capping the carbon price floor from 2016/17 until the end of the decade;

• Doubling the UK Export Finance loan scheme to £3bn;

• Raising the rate of the research and development tax credit for loss-making small businesses;

• £500m of finance to small housebuilders and a further £150m to fund the Right to Build scheme:

• The introduction of tax credits for the social investment industry;

• The introduction of a new allowance to support billions of pounds of investment in difficult-to-drill oil fields in the North Sea.

Budget Commentators

Early commentators on the 19th March included John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce who said, “Osborne’s focus on investment, exports, house-building and economic resilience passes the business test. By making a better business environment his top priority, the Chancellor has recognised that successful and confident companies are the key to transforming Britain’s growing economic recovery into one that is felt in homes and on high streets.”

Specifically he said about business measures, ““Consistent allowances help companies invest with confidence. Given that business investment remains far below its pre-recession level, it is fantastic that the Chancellor has responded to our call to extend the Annual Investment Allowance, and that he has doubled the amount covered to £500,000 from 2015. That will give many growing and medium-sized companies the confidence to push ahead with investments they’ve long wanted to get off the drawing board.”

Meanwhile John Cridland, director-general of the CBI, said the Budget would put “the wind in the sails of business investment.”

“The doubling and extension of the annual Investment Allowance, together with making the seed enterprise investment scheme permanent, will be a shot in the arm for many medium-sized businesses,” Mr Cridland continued.

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