Business News Round Up (06/11/2023)
New UK Growth figures to ‘mark the start of a mild recession’
New figures out on Friday are expected to show that the economy contracted in the third quarter, raising the possibility that the UK is already in a recession. City economists expect that UK GDP shrunk by 0.1% in September, meaning that the economy will have contracted across Q3 by the same amount. This is a more pessimistic view than the Bank of England’s forecasts, released last week, which suggest the economy will be stagnant in the third quarter. Weaker household spending, lower business investment and falling government consumption will be “driving the drop in demand,” according to Sanjay Raja, chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank. He said that a worse performance in September could “spell some bad news” for the remainder of the year due to carry-over effects. This raises the risk that the UK will enter a technical recession when there are two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
Scotland boosts bio-based manufacturing with £75m fund
Scottish Enterprise and Innovate UK will deliver the Launchpad programme, designed to focus on Scotland’s strengths in the sector. The packages, ranging between £25,000 to £100,000 and £150,000 to £1m, are available to SMEs and larger businesses to drive the growth of the sector in Scotland. The Launchpads programme is funded by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation. It is designed to build on innovation clusters around the UK that have significant growth potential and to deliver jobs, growth, and higher productivity, supporting the UK Government’s levelling-up agenda.
Decade-low mortgage growth forecast into 2024, as high borrowing rates and low economic growth drive down demand
UK mortgage lending is expected to record decade-low growth in 2023 and 2024, according to the latest EY ITEM Club Outlook for Financial Services, asmortgage rates reach their highest since 2008, economic growth remains subdued and weakening housing market sentiment drives down demand. Overall, mortgage loans in 2023 are expected to rise just1.5% (net) and 2% (net) in 2024, representing the slowest growth in ten years. Across the UK economy, sustained headwinds from high interest rates and inflation, and a weaker-than-anticipated labour market are expected to continue driving sluggish GDP growth for the remainder of 2023 and into 2024. In addition, developments in the Middle East and the ongoing war in Ukraine present an ongoing downside risk to the forecast, with a very real potential of further falls in consumer and business confidence and appetite to borrow, at least in the short-term.
https://www.ey.com/en_uk/news/2023/11/decade-low-mortgage-growth-forecast
SME300 ranks region’s mid-market stars
The top mid-market companies in the North West have been ranked in Insider’s latest SME300, which features firms from across the region and from a diverse array of sectors. Using Insider and Experian data we rank the top mid-market companies in the region by turnover and then re-rank those companies by profit and present the average of the two tables as the SME300. Topping the table based on its most recently filed accounts at Companies House is Newton-le-Willows-based Datum Edge, Richard Ainscough’s holding company for property business Network Space Holdings and Bansco, a main contractor of commercial construction projects.
https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/sme300-ranks-regions-mid-market-stars