UK and euro - Business Business chief set to urge referendum Sir Niall Fitzgerald, chairman of Unilever will urge Tony Blair to move towards a firm date for a referendum |  Read UK business support for euro soars Support for British membership of the European single currency among top business people has soared over the past year, reversing a substantial decline in the previous two years, according to a survey by MORI, the polling organisation. The proportion who disagreed fell by nearly 20 per cent to 36 per cent, producing a majority of three to two in favour of membership. |  Read Siemens chief says Britain must join euro soon The chief executive of Siemens - Europe's biggest electrical goods company - has said Britain will make a big mistake if it does not enter the euro soon. |  Read Few customers proffer euros in UK British businesses have taken almost no euro notes and coins since the European single currency was launched a week ago. |  Read Steel town aims to be at cutting edge To outsiders, Rotherham looks more isolationist than cosmopolitan. So why is the South Yorkshire steel town the only place in Britain where people will be spending euros in the shops this week? |  Read Cumbria starts self-help scheme One of Britain's most popular tourist destinations has launched its own form of euro-trading to encourage local businesses to accept the new currency. |  Read Euro preparations step up in UK commuter belt Billericay, a commuter town east of London, may not be the most obvious place to find preparations gearing up for the euro. But the Essex town is not just home to commuter traffic. Each year about 50m coins from the eurozone and beyond are sorted, counted and shipped out of the local currency-sorting factory. |  Read The road to the single currency The Staffordshire headquarters of JCB may seem a long way from the cash machines and shop tills of Paris or Milan, but the introduction of the euro has already had a profound effect on British businesses such as this. |  Read Exporters favour US dollar British exporters last year used the US dollar for invoicing more than the euro and other European currencies put together, according to a recent survey by Customs & Excise. |  Read UK company leads way with euro machines A Lancashire-based engineering company has grabbed 25 per cent of the "euro bubble" market in equipment that recognises euro coins and notes in readiness for the currency's introduction in January. |  Read UK's investment fall 'linked to euro exclusion' Pro-euro campaigners claimed that exclusion from the single currency was beginning to hit the economy as Britain's share of European inward investment projects fell sharply to 21 per cent in the first half of this year. |  Read London remains dominant financial centre London has retained its dominance as a global financial centre despite the introduction of the euro, according to the Bank for International Settlements. The data, drawing on research by 48 central banks, showed that more than 30 per cent of spot foreign exchange turnover is dealt in London. |  Read Currency sellers to be hard hit Travelex, the world's biggest operator of bureaux d'echanges, has warned that the foreign exchange retail sector will be hit hard by the introduction of the euro. |  Read