Experts believe the Bank will hold interest rates and Quantitative Easing again in August, but Governor Mervyn King recently laid bare the challenges facing its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

In a recent appearance in front of MPs on the Treasury Select Committee, the central bank boss warned a sustained recovery was still highly uncertain, despite the recent 1.1% surge in growth during the second quarter.

But he also cautioned inflation would remain high throughout 2010 and most of 2011 signalling more pain for households already under pressure from tough austerity measures.

Despite the inflation woes, his comments sent out a clear message that growth needed to be prioritised for some time yet - and that interest rates would likely remain low for many months.

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Helotes, TX (PRWEB) July 16, 2010

San Antonio-based Firstmark Credit Union (FMCU) was recognized at the first-annual, Hispanic Contractors Association de San Antonio (HCA de SA) “Excellence Through Diversity” Awards Gala, last night. The event was attended by 300 guests, including keynote speaker, Texas Secretary of State, Esperanza “Hope” Andrade and Bexar County Commissioner: Precinct 1, Sergio “Chico” Rodriguez.

FMCU was the recipient of an ”Excellence Through Diversity” award in the “Owner” category, competing against several other financial institutions. FMCU was commended for completing a construction project during calendar year 2008-2009, in which they demonstrated a good faith effort in utilizing Small, Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise firms and reflected a strong work ethic and positive relationship with subcontractors, treating them with respect and dignity.

“This award is a testament to our commitment not just to the general contractors of San Antonio but to the greater San Antonio economy,” said Brad Meley, Vice President of Commercial Lending. “Firstmark Credit Union will continue to invest in the local community by providing capital to meet the needs of the local business owner.”

“These awards were established as a way to bring the construction industry examples of how owners, general contractors and businesses can succeed by embracing small, minority, and woman-owned business partners,” said Tomas Larralde, executive director of the Hispanic Contractors Association de San Antonio. “Firstmark Credit Union was a top contender specifically because we believe their values are aligned with our goals. They have consistently supported the small contractor community and focused attention on partnering with these types of business whenever possible, and we applaud them.”

Nominations for the awards were based on merit and dedication to diversity and in helping contractors achieve projects awarded to them.

About Firstmark Credit Union
Firstmark Credit Union provides financial services to anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Bexar County; and education-related employees in Bexar County and the 12 surrounding counties; and their relatives. Established in 1932, the Credit Union serves over 90,000 members and manages more than $700 million in assets. For more information, go to www.firstmarkcu.org].

About the Hispanic Contractors Association de San Antonio
The Hispanic Contractors Association (HCA) is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization and was organized to promote and support the educational advancement and growth of the Small, Minority, Women-Owned contracting community. The HCA is committed to developing educational and training programs and facilitate resources needed to help its members reach their highest potential and is dedicated to the furtherance of educational opportunities for those who are interested in pursuing an education in the construction trades profession at any college of the Alamo Colleges.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebfirstmark_credit_union/excellence_diversity/prweb4268494.htm

Colchester, UK (PRWeb UK) 5 July 2010 — Access, the midmarket software, consulting and solutions provider, has been named ‘CRM partner of the Year’ at the FrontRange Solutions Partner Awards dinner 2010. The award recognises Access’ ongoing success with FrontRange’s Goldmine CRM. On collecting the award, Access’ CRM Division Manager Greg Dennick said, “We’re delighted to receive this award. Research we’ve undertaken shows just how important CRM is in helping to reduce ‘profit leaks’, especially as these losses and missed opportunities are mostly avoidable.”

A recent survey carried out by Access showed 60% of participants believed that lost sales opportunities was a major cause of profit loss. “With good CRM you can greatly reduce the amount of lost sales leads,” continued Greg. “GoldMine gives you the tools to improve customer service, have a better understanding of your customer, and ensure enquiries are followed up in the right way by the right person.”

Understanding your most important customer relationships, the amount of time spent with clients, and the life-cycle of each cus¬tomer are some of the most important aspects of business. Repeat customers can help produce consistent revenue streams and reduce profit leaks. By using effective CRM, businesses can view customer relationships, maintain account and contact history, and manage daily activities.

Chris Bayne, managing director of Access Solutions Division, commented, “A lot of money is spent on acquiring new customers. For example, an organisation might calculate that every sales meeting a staff member attends costs approximately £3,000. Just one missed sales opportunity would therefore have significant cost implications, as well as the impact on turnover of the lost sale.”

“Not many organisations know what each lead costs to the business, but with marketing budgets limited and opportunities harder to come by, it’s important to make sure that every pound of spend counts. It also emphasises the importance of retaining existing customers as it’s much easier (and cheaper) to maintain an existing relationship than develop a new one,” said Chris.

FrontRange awarded Access ‘CRM Partner of the Year’ as they proved to have the highest license revenue of all, of which 56% was net new business. The award also recognises Access’ revenue generation, outstanding customer service and good practice in the use of GoldMine CRM. Access is one of the top 5 Goldmine resellers worldwide and a tier one CRM partner.

The profit leaks whitepaper can be downloaded from the Access website: http://www.theaccessgroup.com/downloads/info-guides/profitleaks.aspx
For further details on Access visit http://www.theaccessgroup.com or contact Matt Newman on 0845 345 3300. Alternatively, keep up-to-date by following Access on twitter, http://www.twitter.com/theaccessgroup.

About Access
• Access is a consulting, software and solutions provider, serving the mid-market
• The consulting services are backed by more than 65 accredited consultants, providing business software expertise. They operate nationally out of 10 offices in the UK and Ireland
• The software portfolio provides solutions to meet the needs of the whole organisation, helping to reduce complexity and increase efficiencies at every level. In addition to accounting and finance, Access also offers manufacturing software, professional services automation, and accounting for carbon emissions reporting. Other software solutions include distribution and warehousing, HR and payroll, document management, service and contract management and CRM and sales automation

Accreditations and memberships:
• Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
• Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
• Business Application Software Developers Association (BASDA)
• HM Revenue & Customs: Payroll Standards Scheme

Awards:
• FrontRange Partner Awards 2010 for ‘CRM Partner of the Year’
• Green IT Awards 2010 for ‘Environmental Accounting Software of the Year’
• SIFT Media Software Satisfaction Awards 2009 for ‘Green Software Provider of the Year’
• Manufacturer of the Year Awards 2009 for ‘IT in Manufacturing’, won by customer Renthal for its use of the Access Supply Chain solution
• Construction Computing Awards 2009, ‘Construction Accounting Software of the Year’ and shortlisted for ‘Environmental Product of the Year’
• Accountancy Age Award 2008 and 2009 for the best ‘Mid-tier Software Package’

About FrontRange Solutions
FrontRange Solutions develops software and services that growing mid-size firms and distributed enterprises rely on every day to build great customer relationships and deliver high-quality customer service. The company applies a unique combination of innovation and automation with a standards-based approach to simplify core business processes, including: sales force management , Customer Service, IT service management, and PC lifecycle management. More than 150,000 organizations, including some of the world’s best-known brands, use FrontRange offerings to quickly improve their interactions with external and internal clients and achieve better business results. For more information, call 01635 516700, visit www.frontrange.com or follow ‘FrontRangeSols’ on Twitter.

Media information:

Helen Carpenter
Head of Group PR
Access UK Ltd
T: +44 (0) 1206 322575 / 07833 936311
F: +44 (0) 1206 322956
E: helen(dot)carpenter(at)theaccessgroup(dot)com

Tim Cole
PR Executive
Access UK Ltd
T: +44 (0) 1206 322575
F: +44 (0) 1206 322956

Nicola Brown
Marketing Manager
T: +44 (0) 1635 516700
E: nicola(dot)brown(at)frontrange(dot)com
W: www.frontrange.co.uk

Access.050710.TC.CRMPartner

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://uk.prweb.com/releases/Access/FrontRange/prweb4223864.htm

(PRWeb UK) June 26, 2010 — The Big Appliances site is sensibly organised, with information given freely and easily – so finding and buying the right cooker is suddenly not just cost effective but a lot simpler than it used to be. A person looking for Falcon cookers on the Big Appliances site can find all items in the Falcon range with a single click – and further narrow their search according to colour, width, fuel type and number of ovens.

There’s been a long standing bugbear in the white goods industry. Customers who want the best items – super trendy http://www.bigappliances.co.uk/range-cookers/smeg[Smeg cookers; gorgeously coloured Falcon cookers; professional standard Belling cookers; and the industrial style power houses produced by the Stoves cookers brand – have been repeatedly penalised with huge delivery costs and hidden prices. Big Appliances has elected to do away with the common practice of submerging extra contracts (like enforced subscriptions to consumer magazines) in the price of Smeg cookers and their other brand counterparts, passing on a saving to customers that can register in the three figure range. That's in tandem with their free delivery charges – a stupendous saving across the board for fans of Belling cookers and co.

Essex based importer of American style white goods is bringing a whole new way of buying the best brand cookers to the UK market. Customers looking for Smeg cookers, http://www.bigappliances.co.uk/range-cookers/stoves[Stoves cookers, Belling cookers and Falcon cookers have previously been hampered by complicated web sites and frankly unfair pricing structures. Big Appliances is putting its "family run store" ethos out on the Net with a perfect, professional site; a clear search facility; and a pricing commitment that includes free mainland UK delivery for all items.

http://www.bigappliances.co.uk/range-cookers/belling[Belling cookers, Smeg cookers, Stoves cookers and Falcon cookers represent just some of the brands Big Appliances supply – all of which run models that accept either gas, electricity or both.

On the Big Appliances site, those fuel distinctions are easy to observe and understand – which means people no longer run the risk of paying for an expensive white goods unit, only to find that it doesn't work the way they thought it would. Gas hobs are widely thought to be better at even heating than their slower-working electric counterparts: with Belling cookers, http://www.bigappliances.co.uk/range-cookers/falcon[Falcon cookers, Smeg cookers and Stoves cookers offering both types of fuel, often in tandem with either gas or electric ovens, customers run a pretty big risk of being confused into buying the wrong unit. The Big Appliances site has a drop down filter that removes single or dual-fuel appliances according to search terms – and that means customers are always sure to find the right one.

Big Appliances is an Essex based supplier of white goods, still going strong after 46 years in the business.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://uk.prweb.com/releases/belling-range-cookers/stoves-range-cookers/prweb4151404.htm

Equity analysts and asset managers identified 10 reasons why Jupiter needed to be cautious in its pricing, offering its equities at 165p a share. The first three are to do with the market.

1. Equity markets have become volatile

2. Investors are taking their money out of the equity markets

3. There is scepticism about asset managers in general

Citigroup has just downgraded rival Schroders from buy to sell on the back of concern over retail demand for funds. But Nitin Arora, an equity analyst at broker Execution Noble, which is not advising on the flotation, said: “I think the reason for Jupiter pricing at the lower end is purely market-driven, most of the people I’ve spoken to believe it’s a rock solid business. Potential shareholders are nervous because it is one of very few IPOs in London this year, others have been pulled or delayed, people have bad memories of Gartmore’s flotation six months ago and May was a bad month, so I think being oversubscribed by two to two-and-a-half times is pretty decent.”

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The Bank of Spain said on Saturday it had taken over the running of CajaSur following the failure of its planned merger with another regional lender. [ID:nLDE64L007] The move highlighted the weakness of the banking sectors of some euro zone members, already suffering from fiscal problems and struggling to bring down their budget deficits.

The news also wiped out last week’s short-covering rally in the euro spurred by fears European monetary officials may intervene to prop up the beleaguered single currency.

“We did have news about the Spanish bailout of a bank. But that’s only part of the story,” said Matthew Strauss, senior currency strategist, at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.

“What we saw last week was a short-squeeze rally on the euro and that was short-lived. Overall, the underlying theme is still one of risk aversion.”

In early New York trading, the euro EUR= was down 1.6 percent on the day at $1.2369. It fell 1.3 percent versus the yen EURJPY=R.

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Public sector net borrowing was £9.95 billion last month — the highest level in any April since records began, but below the £11 billion expected by economists.

A surge in tax receipts at the end of the tax year also prompted the Office for National Statistics to revise down borrowing for 2009-10 by £7.5 billion, or nearly 0.6 per cent of national income, to £145.3 billion. This is more than £10 billion less than the £156 billion forecast on this gauge of borrowing in the Budget in March and £20 billion lower than the forecast in last year’s Pre-Budget Report.

Neville Hill, economist for Credit Suisse, said: “An improving trend is becoming increasingly apparent.”

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Plano, TX (Vocus) May 22, 2010 — Odyssey Pictures Corporation (OPIX: OTCQB) (Odyssey), a media/marketing company, hosted two of the most popular and influential networking parties at the Cannes Film Market at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (Festival de Cannes, May 12 – 23). Odyssey’s strong presence at Cannes is in conjunction with the company’s strategic financial advisor, Siguiente Capital (Siguiente), a European-based venture capital firm with a focus on emerging media and online marketing technologies.

Odyssey’s two networking parties were held on Sunday, May 16th and Monday, May 17th at the elegant Villa Milroses, Odyssey’s corporate accommodations at Cannes. Among the notable industry guests were action star Don “The Dragon” Wilson; Thai film star Rahayu Saraswati, whose latest film “Red and White” premiered at Cannes this year; Grahame Duffield and Roland Willcock, Principals at Turn of the Century Productions, LTD; Julia Lidner and Rani Isaksen, Principals at GrassTable Productions and Dominique Mougenot, Principal of DPM, Paris

“We are thrilled that our receptions were so well received and well attended,” states Odyssey’s President/CEO John Foster. “We had many more industry executives than we expected and very robust environments for deal making and relationship building”

Odyssey is exhibiting at two locations: Palais Niveau 01 – 24.11. at the Palais des Festivals, which is the center of the Film Market and the main screening area for the Film Festival, as well as at Riviera H.14, a large and well appointed ‘Producer’s Booth’ the company is co-hosting with strategic partner Veland Films to provide a forum for film producers to present international co-production projects.

Odyssey is actively looking to make content acquisitions and licensing deals to add to Odyssey’s growing library of children’s and general interest programming. Siguiente is working closely with Odyssey to review and analyze specific terms regarding any potential involvement by Odyssey in co-production and international licensing and rights acquisition deals.

About Odyssey - Odyssey Pictures Corporation was founded in 1989 as a publicly traded entertainment company specializing in the financing and distribution of motion pictures. Texas based Odyssey has re-strategized over the past two years and adopted a more diversified business model including branding and marketing services targeting key clients in e-commerce, search engine positioning and online lead generation. The company is also engaged in content acquisition, multi-platform distribution, new media technology and corporate finance.

Forward Looking Statements - Certain statements contained herein are forward looking. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results to differ significantly from these statements, including our history of operating losses, our need for additional financing, a failure of our products to perform as expected, introduction of competing products by other companies, pressures on prices from competitors and/or customers, regulatory obstacles to new product introductions, lack of acceptance of our products and technology changes. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions are detailed in documents filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not exclusive. Any forward-looking statements are made as of the date of the document in which they appear. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company.

Media and Investor relations contact: Dan Spelling at Spelling Communications
213/415-7400 dspelling(at)spellcom(dot)com

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/05/prweb4036654.htm

London, United Kingdom (PRWEB) May 21, 2010 — The deVere Group, the world’s largest independent financial consultancy group announced today the opening of a new office in Zambia to service the growing demand for independent financial advice in Southern Africa. This brings the total number of deVere offices in the region to seven, and signifies the company’s major commitment to this expanding market.

Zambia saw its financial situation grow in the last few years in large part due to the commodities boom, combined with debt relief and increased foreign aid. Furthermore, after little activity in the Copperbelt for many years, copper output has increased steadily since 2004, thanks to higher copper prices and the opening of new mines.

Craig Featherby, deVere’s Regional Manager said, “The country’s recent stability is enabling the broadening and diversification of the economy and as a result more people are moving to this area. They require financial advice that will enable them to prosper in that region and our local knowledge of the market enables us to provide the appropriate service”.

deVere & Partners Investment Services (Zambia) is the latest addition to the company’s growing number of offices worldwide. As more people turn to online platforms to manage their investments, deVere recently announced that it would continue to give emphasis to its online fund platform which clients can benefit from in conjunction with local assistance from a deVere adviser.

About the deVere Group
The deVere Group is the world’s largest independent international financial consultancy group. International investors and expatriates employ us to find financial services products that suit their medium to long term requirements for investments, savings and pensions. With in excess of US$7 billion of funds under administration and management, deVere has more than fifty thousand clients in over a hundred countries. Our independence and ability to offer financial products that are tailor-made to fit an individual’s needs are behind our success. As a result we now have offices in over forty countries. You can find us in Abu Dhabi, Brussels, Dubai, Geneva, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Moscow, Sao Paolo, Shanghai, Tokyo and Zurich, amongst others. Please visit https://www.devere-group.com for more information about the deVere Group.

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/deVere_Group/Zambia/prweb3918094.htm