Business News Round Up (13/03/2020)
Budget brings £640 million boost for Scottish Government
Scotland is to benefit from a £640 million to support its economic growth and allow the government to increase opportunities for it to deliver on the priorities of the Scottish people. The aims for the budget include a package of support for the Scotch whisky industry, a £1 million campaign to promote the Scottish food and drink sector, plans to rollout gigabit capable broadband to the hardest to reach areas of Scotland and increasing 4G coverage in Scotland from 42% to 74%, £10 million over 3 years for research and development to decarbonise UK distilleries, which includes Scotch whisky, and £5 million for trials of 5G in Scotland
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/budget-brings-640-million-boost-for-scottish-government
Challenger bank supports growth in Northern Powerhouse by lending £63m
Redwood Bank Warrington has provided vital support to the North West by lending £63 million to the region over a period of two and a half years. The money was lent to businesses, or to businesses with properties, based in the North West and represents more than 30% of the bank’s total lending. The Redwood Bank Warrington office has more than doubled the size of its premises in recent months, as well as making two high-profile staff appointments.
EICC gets green light for pioneering hotel and hotel school development
Plans for a hotel and hotel school development at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) have been approved. M&G Real Estate is funding the £350 million development in Haymarket Edinburgh. It will be developed by QMile Group and the completed hotel will be operated by EICC under a franchise agreement with Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Together, the hotel and hotel school are expected to provide significant job creation and economic benefit for the city.
Shopping centre giant Intu warns it could go bust
The owner of some of the UK’s biggest shopping centres has warned of a ‘material uncertainty’ about its ability to stay solvent as it reported a £2 billion loss, driven by a sharp decline in the value of its property portfolio in 2019. Intu Properties, which owns nine of the UK’s top 20 shopping centres, highlighted weakness in the retail sector as the cause for the fall in value. Intu needs cash to reduce its £4.5 billion of debts as it was at risk of breaching debt covenants after it was forced to abandon a £1.5 billion emergency fundraising this month after it failed to secure enough support from investors.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51851791