Business News Round Up (07/09/2021)
Scotland economy boost with Data Lab digital project
A new digital community will help strengthen Scotland’s economy after Covid-19 with increased digitalisation across the country. The Data Lab has launched a new ‘digital community’ which aims to contribute to the country’s economic and social recovery post-pandemic. Following a successful pilot programme, the community will provide a “much-needed online space” where students, leaders and professionals can “work together, connect, and collaborate,” as well as view the latest industry jobs. The Data Lab Community will also host events, online learning courses, and a mentoring programme to connect new data and AI industry entrants with professionals, looking to tackle the current IT skills gap across Scotland and the wider UK. Scotland’s economy will also see a boost, as the digital community looks to contribute towards social recovery following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic over the last 18 months. The project will allow people in the community to share ideas and best practice, enabling the businesses they work for to “accelerate their digital transformation journey”.
Confidence and resilience is driving region’s dealmaking activity
The resilience and the adaptability shown by businesses over the last 18 months is driving business performance and growth in the North West, according to experts in the region. A recent webinar in partnership with Clearwater International explored how deal making is shaping up in the region post-Covid. Companies in the North West have shown unprecedented level of resilience in the last 12 months and according to data from Experian, the region enjoyed an extremely strong start to M&A activity in the first six months of 2021. The success of the vaccine roll-out and a rapidly improving economic forecast means that business competence is high, with advisory firms reporting a real appetite for deal making. Discussing the opportunities and challenges for the region were Michael Loudon, partner, and International Head of Industrials and Chemicals at Clearwater International, Lizzy Tindall, partner at Eversheds, Peter Barkley, Investment Director at WestBridge PE and Rhys Davenport, Investment Director at BGF Manchester. Loudon said the M&A market has now found itself in a position of confidence in the region following a ‘painful’ few months when the country went into lockdown last year.
Research reveals emerging economic recovery in Highlands and Islands
More than half of businesses in the Highlands and Islands are now operating at pre-pandemic levels or beyond. The latest survey carried out by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) found that two-thirds of businesses expressed confidence in the region’s economic outlook for the next 12 months, up from just 37% in October 2020. Carried out in June by Ipsos MORI, the survey questioned more than 1,000 businesses, revealing that 93% were confident in their own ongoing viability, up from 84% at the start of the year, while 80% were optimistic about their prospects over the next 12 months – compared with 75% pre-pandemic. Almost all businesses were confident in their abilities to adapt to ongoing restrictions (93%), to changes in customer demands (95%), managing cash flow (90%) and remaining competitive (91%). Confidence was however lower in their abilities to recruit required skills (59%), access new markets (63%) and find external finance (66%). Almost 71% of surveyed businesses have changed their ways of working in responding to the pandemic. While 43% were keen to return to their previous ways, 28% had embraced the changes and wanted to maintain them.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/research-reveals-emerging-economic-recovery-24920647
UK faces labour shortage as CBI calls for immigration change
With the UK facing a drastic labour shortage in the wake of Covid-19, the UK’s representative body for industry has called on ministers to ease immigration controls. The group claimed such a move would help temporarily fill skill shortages in “key positions.” The UK’s economic recovery from the winter lockdown was being undermined by a lack of skills in key positions, with mounting risks that the problem would continue for some time, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). While the organisation agrees with the government’s ambition to make the British labour force more highly skilled and productive, it has warned that businesses can only train and hire more homegrown workers over time, and this cannot be achieved overnight – meaning the nation’s recovery could stall this autumn. The CBI is Britain’s leading business lobby group, representing 190,000 businesses, with more than 7 million employees collectively. The end of lockdown, and the UK’s furlough scheme, have long been treated by the government as a guaranteed solution to force workers to fill gaps in the labour market. However, according to the CBI, while this might play well to the government’s support-base, this is unlikely to provide a meaningful solution.
https://www.consultancy.uk/news/28899/uk-faces-labour-shortage-as-cbi-calls-for-immigration-change