Business News Round Up (05/03/2024)
Latest productivity index shows Scotland lagging behind the rest of the UK
The annual CBI-Fraser of Allander Scottish Productivity Index is published today with a call for businesses and the Scottish and UK governments to work together to unlock investment, build sustainable growth, and help Scottish firms achieve success globally. The index measures Scotland’s key productivity indicators against other parts of the UK, and international competitors, including business investment, exports, skill shortage vacancies and sickness absence and economic inactivity. The findings show Scotland’s productivity trailed in 10 of the 13 productivity indicators for which comparable data is available with the rest of the UK. Scotland’s percentage of economic inactivity due to long-term sickness also remains the highest of all the four nations at 37.1%. But it suggests cautious optimism for the Scottish economy as it continues to make a steady recovery from supply chain disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit.
UK retail sales rose at slowest pace since 2022 in February
UK retail sales and consumer spending rose at the slowest pace since 2022 in February, according to industry data published on Tuesday, spurred by bad weather and falling inflation. Total retail sales increased at an annual rate of 1.1% last month, down from 1.2% in January, said trade body the British Retail Consortium. This was below the three-month average of 1.4% and the 12-month average of 3.1%. The rate of growth was the lowest since August 2022 and was also below the 4% rate of consumer price inflation in January, indicating that the three-year run of falling sales volumes, especially for non-food items, continued last month. Non-food sales fell at an average annual pace of 2.5% between December and February, the largest three-month decline since 2022. Average food sales over the past three months rose by 6% year on year, down from 6.3% between November and January.
https://www.ft.com/content/6b9ab7e1-b9ad-4467-a97c-5a179be149b7
Accountancy figures find business confidence in Scotland falls below UK average
Business confidence in the UK improved marginally in Q4 2023, though this remains below the historic average, according to the most recent survey by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). Against a backdrop of easing inflation, with interest rates fixed at 5.25%, the findings from the ICAEW’s latest Business Confidence Survey put confidence at 4.2 on the index for Q4 2023, compared to 2.9 for the previous quarter and the pre-pandemic average of 7.2. Nationally, customer demand remains one of the most significant challenges, with 35% of those surveyed citing it as a growing concern, reflecting the continued cost of living squeeze and the impact of high interest rates. Regulatory requirements are another concern while financial challenges regarding tax burdens, bank charges, late payments, and access to capital are listed among the other factors businesses see as a growing challenge compared to the previous 12 months.
Taskforce calls for investment in women-led ventures for UK tech growth
A report by the Women-led High-Growth Enterprise Taskforce has called for more investment in female-led ventures to drive the UK’s ambitions to become a tech superpower by 2030. As part of the report, the Taskforce has identified just 18% of high-growth enterprises include one or more women on the founding team, while all-male founding teams make up 82% of high-growth enterprises. The Women-led High-Growth Enterprise Taskforce is chaired by the founder of Starling Bank, Anne Boden. Established in 2022, the Taskforce aims to identify areas for action to help increase the number of women setting up high-growth enterprises, particularly in regions outside of London. Boden said the UK’s ambition should be to put women ‘front and centre of the tech superpower aspiration’.