General News

O2 has switched on its 5G network, the last of the UK’s mobile operators to do so. The network will initially be available in five cities for O2 customers – Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds and London – followed by a further 20 towns and cities before the end of the year. 

Following the drone attacks at the weekend in Saudi Arabia on their largest oil processing plants, oil prices initially surged 20% at the start of trading on Monday with the Brent Crude benchmark seeing its biggest jump in about 30 years.  

We were delighted to raise the grand total of £3,472.14 recently in support of Essex & Herts Air Ambulance and London’s Air Ambulance.

In June 2017 mobile roaming charges in EU countries were abolished and mobile phone users have since been able to use their minutes, texts and data on their mobile phone tariffs when travelling in most EU countries

We were delighted to raise funds to support our local community in November and recently donated £2,473 to Pinewood School, a state special school in Ware for children aged 11 to 16.

Purchase Direct recently attended ‘Management in Practice’, a series of events across four major cities for practice Managers, GPs and those involved in primary care business management. 

BT has announced its plan to completely shut down the ISDN network by 2025 so it is only a matter of time before businesses must upgrade their telecommunications and plan their move to SIP.

We were delighted to donate £2,112 to Herts Young Homeless, an independent charity supporting vulnerable people in Hertfordshire since 1998.

The Payment Services Directive (PSD2) will make it illegal for any business to charge extra for using a debit or credit card in the EU.

Purchase Direct has committed to make a fixed charitable donation each month to Save the Children and it’s the hard work from all our staff which enables us to make this contribution in the first place.

Mobile roaming charges in EU countries come to an end on 15 June 2017 but we still advise caution due to the possible application of fair use charges and the exclusion of certain European countries and Crown Dependencies, such as the Channel Islands, on some mobile tariffs from different networks.

New EU rules on debit card transactions, which came into force on 1 September, penalise automotive retailers and will have a significant impact on already squeezed used car margins.

Fix Auto UK has just appointed Purchase Direct to run their Fix Auto Cost Optimisation Programme. This is an important initiative as they seek to develop their longstanding ambition of building the most profitable bodyshop network in the UK.

It is possible to cut spending in practically every area of a business – marketing, stationery, courtesy vehicles, utilities etc. However there is a fine line between reducing operating costs to the point that it becomes inefficient and costly and ensuring a company is well resourced to deliver maximum profits.