Business News Round Up (04/11/2022)
Business confidence plummets among North West SMEs
Business confidence in the North West is at its lowest since the pandemic outbreak, the latest research by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) shows. The region suffered a second successive quarterly sharp decline in confidence as the quarterly Small Business Index (SBI) – which measures business confidence – clearly demonstrates the negative sentiment felt by business owners across the region. Confidence levels fell from -27%% in the second quarter of 2022 to -37% in the third quarter. In the first quarter of 2022 confidence was at +4%. With the exception of a dramatic decline throughout the pandemic, the new figures show business confidence in the region is at its lowest since the quarterly survey began. The challenging economic environment, against a backdrop of surging operating costs, a high tax burden, and a significant labour shortage, is devastating the small business community, threatening the futures of hundreds of thousands of small firms and sole traders.
Scottish footfall figures look ‘slightly more chipper’ in October
Scottish footfall decreased by 12% in October versus pre-pandemic figures but was up by 1.4% on September. The latest Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) and Sensormatic IQ data showed that shopping centre footfall declined by 18.6% in October – an improvement on the decline of 19.7% in September. In October, footfall in Glasgow decreased by 9.1% compared to the same period in 2019, which was 1.3 percentage points better than September. On a year-on-year basis, total Scottish footfall increased by 5.8%, with Scottish shopping centres up by 7.1% and footfall in Glasgow rising by 10.1%. David Lonsdale, director of the SRC, said: “This is a modest, but nonetheless slightly more chipper, set of results for shopper footfall in the early part of what is the critical ‘golden quarter’ of festive trading. Scottish footfall recorded its second-best monthly performance of the year so far during October, albeit still down an eighth on pre-pandemic levels. The trick as ever for retailers is converting this uptick into actual sales at the tills and sustaining the improvement against a backdrop in which concerns over the cost of living and disruption on the railways show little sign of abating.”
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/scottish-footfall-figures-look-slightly-28399470
£95m funding to support super-materials development
Funding of £95m has been awarded to support the development of the super-materials of the future at a facility in Manchester. Business secretary Grant Shapps announced the funding yesterday (3 November 2022) to support research and innovation in advanced materials at the Henry Royce Institute, based at The University of Manchester. Shapps visited the Royce Institute yesterday, in what was his first official trip since assuming the role at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. He emphasised his belief that R&D investment is an important way in which to turbocharge UK economic growth, as well as celebrating Manchester’s position as an industrial powerhouse in the north of England. The funding, awarded via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), follows an initial £258m government investment made over the course of five years. Activities supported by Royce and backed by government funding, have included 3D bioprinting for healthcare uses such as tissue engineering in regenerative medicine, turning waste materials into sustainable plastics, and new materials to enable quantum technologies.
https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/95m-funding-to-support-super-materials-development
Construction sector activity ‘deteriorating’
The marked slowdown in the Scottish construction market continued in the latest quarter, with surveyors now pointing to the weakest period of growth since the beginning of last year. A net balance of +10% of Scottish respondents said that workloads grew, compared to +19% in Q2 and +39% just five quarters ago, according to the RICS Construction & Infrastructure Monitor for Q3. This trend of a slowdown in activity corresponds with a deterioration in the outlook too. Expectations for the year ahead fell to their lowest level since the beginning of the pandemic as issues with skills, costs and credit conditions weigh on firms. All sub-sectors other than private commercial saw growth in Q3. However, the growth that is being reported is slower. In private housing workloads, a net balance of +15% said that there was a rise in Q3, but this was down from +18% in Q2 and +37% at the end of last year. The major challenges facing firms at present continue to be material shortages / costs and labour shortages. 60% of respondents reported shortages of quantity surveyors, 62% reported shortages of other professionals, and 59% reported shortages of bricklayers.