Business News Round Up (12/10/2023)


UK economy returns to growth in August

The UK economy grew in August following a sharper fall in July as the education sector recovered from strike action, according to official figures. The Office for National Statistics said the economy expanded by 0.2% in August, in line with forecasts. Updated figures showed that July performed worse than originally thought. But despite this, the ONS said overall the economy had grown “modestly” over the past three months. Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said that over the longer-term the economy had been boosted by car manufacturing and sales as well as construction. But in August, the services sector was the main contributor to the 0.2% growth, the ONS said. This, said Mr Morgan, was because it was a comparatively quiet month compared to previous periods. He told the BBC’s Today programme: “Compared with previous months where there’s been a lot of significant factors impacting on the economy both in terms of adding to and reducing growth like the additional bank holiday for the King’s Coronation, large number of working days lost because of industrial action and extreme weather – sunshine and rain – August was relatively quiet in that sense.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67084533

Edinburgh ‘top for innovation’ in the UK beyond the Golden Triangle

Edinburgh and its surrounding area has emerged as the UK’s top innovation-led cluster for equity deals outside of the ‘Golden Triangle’ of Greater London, Oxford, and Cambridge. That’s according to a new report launched today by the British Business Bank. The Nations and Regions Tracker found there were 475 equity deals, worth a combined £710m, involving technology and intellectual property-related businesses in Edinburgh, Fife, Midlothian, and West Lothian between 2011 and the second quarter of 2023. While the Greater Glasgow area was third, with 257 technology and IP-related deals overall and £427m, it ranked second only to Oxford for its share of deals involving academic spin-outs. Nearly half (47%) of equity transactions over the past 12 years have included a spin-outs from universities in the city and beyond, attracting £214m of investment. Glasgow was closely followed by Aberdeen, where 46% of technology and IP-related equity transactions over the same period involved a spin-out, placing it third in the UK. Of the 24 spin-out equity deals in the city, 21 were from the University of Aberdeen, including three transactions worth more than £10m related to therapeutics company TauRx. Although Aberdeen is best known for its oil and gas industry, life sciences was the dominant sector, accounting for 81% of technology and IP-related spin-outs involved in equity deals in the city. In fact, the life sciences industry was the largest sub-sector across all four of the nation’s innovation clusters – Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee – both in terms of deal numbers and investment value.

https://www.insider.co.uk/news/edinburgh-top-innovation-beyond-golden-31160688

Greater Manchester innovation-led cluster boosts NW equity activity

The North West experienced a drop in equity deal quantity and investment value in 2022, according to new research by the British Business Bank. But academic spinouts were identified as making a large contribution to equity activity, with Greater Manchester emerging as one of the leading innovation-led clusters outside of the Golden Triangle. According to the bank’s third annual Nations and Regions Tracker, there are 33 innovation-led clusters covering 196 local authority districts across the UK, with each cluster marking a key driver of growth and technological progress in advanced economies. Across the North West, 45 per cent of firms are innovation active according to the latest UK Innovation Survey (2021), up 9 percentage points on 2019. Of the North West’s 162 equity deals worth £0.69bn in 2022, 13 deals worth £95m involved spinouts. Greater Manchester leads the charge in the region and was identified as the second most active innovation-led cluster outside of the Golden Triangle. The report looked at equity activity since 2011 and identified 342 Technology/IP-related deals worth £1.1bn that had been generated in Greater Manchester up to the first half of 2023. In terms of deal quantity, medical technology dominates the Greater Manchester’s spinout ecosystem, while life sciences takes the lead when it comes to deal value. The region is also home to a further three innovation-led clusters located in Liverpool and Chester, Lancashire and Cheshire East.

https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/greater-manchester-innovation-led-cluster-boosts-nw-equity-activity

Edinburgh office take-up moving in positive direction – Knight Frank

Edinburgh’s office market is ‘moving in a positive direction’, despite a dip in take-up during the summer, as more organisations realise the benefits of having a hub for staff post-Covid-19 pandemic, according to Knight Frank. The independent commercial property consultancy found there was 103,409 sq. ft. of office space taken up in Edinburgh city centre during the third quarter of 2023 – down14.7% on the same period last year. Take-up for 2023 so far has reached 431,407 sq. ft., with another 331,500 sq. ft. of requirements still on the market. There is currently no new Grade A space available for occupiers in Edinburgh city centre, with 30 Semple Street – which will be Edinburgh’s greenest office building – the only Grade A scheme currently on site and not set to complete until Q3 2024. There was a strong level of activity in the energy and technology, media, & telecommunications (TMT) sectors, representing 30% and 17% of activity respectively. Energy company Enoda secured 14,641 sq. ft. at Quartermile 3, while software developer Addepar took 9,180sq. ft. at Quartermile 1 in two of the biggest deals of the quarter.