Business News Round Up (08/03/2021)
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The Scottish economy still stuck in downturn last month
The Scottish economy remained stuck in a downturn during February, centred on the services sector, but with manufacturing output returning to growth. The seasonally adjusted headline figure of the Royal Bank of Scotland Business Activity Index – a measure of combined manufacturing and service sector output – remained well below the 50.0 mark. Having risen 33.3 in January, to 44.1 in February, the latest figure pointed to a slower pace of reduction, but one that was still sharp overall. Meanwhile, the figures for new business declined further amid reports that the continuing Covid-19 measures has stymied client demand. But on the upside, sentiment towards activity over the coming 12 months was the strongest on record, with hopes of looser restrictions and an economic recovery driving optimism. A sixth straight monthly reduction in the level of new business at Scottish private sector firms was recorded in February.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/scottish-economy-still-stuck-downturn-23623381
February sees marginal rise in activity after slump at start of January lockdown
Business activity across the North West private sector rose only fractionally in February, recovering very little of the ground lost at the beginning of the third national lockdown in January when output fell sharply, latest UK regional PMI data from NatWest showed. This was highlighted by the headline North West Business Activity Index – a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of the region’s manufacturing and service sectors – registering just above the 50.0 no-change level in February, at 50.3. It followed a reading of 37.1 in January. Lockdown measures continued to weigh on inflows of new business at firms in the North West during February. But having deteriorated sharply in January, the level of new business showed only a marginal decline in the latest survey period, matching the trend seen across the UK as a whole.
UK’s top female entrepreneurs backed by government to fire up economy through innovation
Visionary British female entrepreneurs are receiving government backing to drive forward their novel innovations and business ideas, as the UK builds back better from the COVID-19 pandemic and progresses its climate change ambitions. Announced by Science Minister Amanda Solloway to mark International Women’s Day, 40 of the country’s top female innovators will be awarded a cash injection of £50,000 each, as well as bespoke mentoring, to scale up and bring to market their disruptive business ideas, many of which have been borne out in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Business innovations receiving government backing include a company creating sustainable green interior furniture for the airline industry, an app to make emergency services more accessible for those suffering from domestic abuse and an innovative technology to help large organisations to manage and reduce their waste.
Manchester in a ‘unique’ position to recover from Covid and UK’s best placed city to ‘build back better’
Greater Manchester is in a “unique” position to recover from Covid-19 – and thanks to its makeup is the UK’s best placed city region to build back better from the crisis, a leading business figure has said. Lou Cordwell OBE, chair of the GM Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), is confident the region will get back to its thriving pre-pandemic state and more, adding that its businesses had responded with “tenacity and resilience”. Ms Cordwell, who is CEO of design studio Magnetic North, also gave her reaction to the Chancellor’s Budget announced earlier this week – warning despite policies like furlough being extended, the region may yet see further job cuts.