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British Gas made operating profits of £585m for the first half of this year - an increase of 98%, according to data released by its parent company Centrica. British Gas supplies gas to more than half of the UK's households and saw gas use rise by 8% and added 223,000 residential customers. Ann Robinson, from the price comparison service, uSwitch, said that British Gas and its rival suppliers could cut prices still further. "Today's profits suggest that suppliers could actually afford to pass on even more benefit to consumers by cutting their prices again."

UK high street sales increased in July compared to the same month last year, according to the latest CBI Distributive Trades Survey. The survey revealed that 18% of retailers said that sales were lower than a year ago, 51% said they rose, giving a balance of +33%. This compares with an expected figure of +11% based on survey findings last month, and was the highest balance since April 2007 (+44%). "High street sales have performed well this month, with growth better than retailers predicted. Annual summer discounts and warm weather helped lift sales of clothing, while grocers and durable household goods retailers appear to have benefited from a World Cup boost to sales of food, drink and new televisions," said Lai Wah Co of the CBI. "Retailers are optimistic that strong sales growth will continue next month, which is promising. We still expect the recovery in overall consumer spending to be fairly restrained, however, given concerns about the impact of public spending cuts and weak prospects for real take-home pay in the coming year."

The Bank of England will have to keep interest rates at their current record low of 0.5% until 2014, according to economic forecaster the Ernst & Young Item Club. The forecaster has said that the rates would need to be kept low to balance the coalition government's spending cuts. "A base rate of 0.5% will begin to look like the new normal," said Professor Peter Spencer from the Item Club. "To prevent CPI inflation moving below 1% it will be necessary keep the Bank base rate low at 0.5% for much longer than the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and the markets have anticipated." The OBR has said that it expects rates to start to rise next year. Interest rates have stood at their current record low of 0.5% since March 2009.

Small businesses in the UK are increasingly confident about their prospects, according to a survey by Bibby Financial Services. Almost 75% of respondents feel positive regarding economic conditions in the last quarter, compared to 63% who felt this way at the start of the year. One in six small firms said that the recession had benefited their turnover athough 20% said they were only just keeping afloat.

Business Secretary Vince Cable has once again pressurised the UK's banks to increase their lending to small and medium-sized businesses. In a Sunday Times interview, Mr Cable said: "We are very worried about the behaviour of the banks. The banks are not acting in the national interest. I don't think they get it." The Business Secretary is due to unveil a joint consultation paper with the Treasury later containing options to improve cash flow to businesses. Under the proposals banks could be made to sign up to the same type of lending agreements that have been placed on the part-nationalised RBS and Lloyds.

UK car production has risen by 28% in June compared to the same month last year, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). This is the eight successive month that car production has risen, but is a slower increase than the 54% rise seen in May. Continued investment in new products and technology is helping to sustain growth for the sector," said Paul Everitt, the SMMT's chief executive.

British Airways cabin crew have rejected the airline's ‘final' pay offer of a 2.9% rose next year and 3% the year after. Almost half the 11,000 affected Unite union members rejected the proposal by, 3419 votes to 1,686. The no vote increases the chances of more strike action. However, BA have said they are encouraged by the result as the number of votes cast - just over 5,000 - represented less than half of the unionised cabin crew and was well below previous ballots that saw more than 70% of them express their views. Since March, the union has taken strike action on 22 days in a bitter industrial dispute over job cuts and working conditions that has cost BA more than £150m.

Chancellor George Osborne has said that he will simply the "spaghetti bowl" of UK tax law to cut the burden on businesses and attract foreign investment. Osborne is setting up an Office for Tax Simplification to streamline the 11,000-page tax code and is calling for a permanent body to ease the complication of taxes and make life easier for firms. The new body will initially conduct two reviews - streamlining 400 tax reliefs, allowances and exemptions and simplifying the tax system for small businesses, including a simpler alternative to the controversial IR35 code. It will advise ministers where the tax system is too complex but it will not look at tax credits, which Mr Osborne said he considered part of the benefits system. The Chancellor said that Britain had "one of the most complex and opaque tax codes in the world".

Dragons' Den star and serial entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne has been accused of abandoning a television seaside regeneration project. The Scottish entrepreneur's show on Virgin 1, Duncan Bannatyne's Seaside Rescue, saw the Dragon attempt to revive struggling UK seaside resorts. However, one of the businesses featured in the show has called on Baanatyne to return to the town and prove that the show was not simply a "TV vanity project". "Mr Bannatyne needs to prove it wasn't just a made-for-television vanity project and continue helping Britain's struggling seaside towns," said Charlie Mullen, owner of Manning's Amusement Park in Felixstone. According to Mullen, Bannatyne made a "fleeting visit" to Felixstowe last month but not to advise or offer any further marketing advice to the traders of Felixstowe, but instead "to receive free ice cream and rides for his wife and child".

Small and medium-sized businesses are more successfully utilising social media to generate revenue than larger companies, according to research conducted by Regus. The data has revealed that 44% of SMEs have acquired new customers using networking sites compared with 28% of large firms. While some businesses were initially slow to fully embrace social media there are now 700,000 small businesses with fan pages on Facebook. With tangible return on investment becoming visible 28% of small firms are now even dedicating marketing budget to social media. "Our survey has revealed that social networking has finally become an effective business tool and SMEs are leading the way in this. Whilst the most popular function of these networks remains that of keeping in touch with contacts, small businesses are also successfully acquiring new customers, supporting their retention efforts and interacting with customer groups," said Mark Dixon, CEO of Regus.