Business News Round Up (13/05/2024)
Recovery in NW economy gains momentum in April, but cost pressures remain an issue
The North West private sector showed solid growth in April, the latest Regional PMI survey data from NatWest has revealed. Firms in the region reported a strengthening of demand and were optimistic about growth prospects in the coming year. Employment, meanwhile, fell slightly and for the first time in four months as businesses faced an increase in cost pressures. The headline North West PMI Business Activity Index registered above the 50.0 no-change threshold for the fourth month running in April. At 54.0, up from March’s 52.7, the latest reading indicated a solid and accelerated rate of growth that was the quickest seen for two years. In a sign of demand conditions continuing to improve across the North West private sector, firms in the region recorded a fourth straight monthly rise in new business in April. Furthermore, the rate of growth accelerated to the quickest in nearly two years.
Leading tech firms invest over £2b in the UK in one week
Over £2 billion has been invested by leading tech companies in the UK this week, including in data centres and superconducting magnets manufacturing. Supporting more than 1,300 jobs, Siemens Healthineers have announced that they are investing £250 million to design and manufacture superconducting magnets for MRI scanners at a new Siemens Healthineers facility in North Oxfordshire. The UK tech investment comes as AI firm CoreWeave are also investing £1 billion in the UK, as well as confirming their new European Headquarters will be based in the capital. These two UK data centres will be opened in 2024, with a further expansion planned in 2025, helping secure the necessary processing power for machine learning and AI, graphics and rendering, life sciences and real-time streaming. This £2 billion UK tech investment also follows Scale AI, the data infrastructure company for AI, selecting London as the location for its first European headquarters.
https://www.digit.fyi/leading-tech-firms-invest-over-2b-in-the-uk-in-one-week/
Scotland’s private sector sees sharpest output rise for a year
April saw Scotland’s private sector enjoy its sharpest rise in output for 12 months, according to the RBS latest PMI report. Growth in new business was heavily reliant on the service sector, where firms reported new contract wins and increased investment. This contrasts with a sharp and deepening downturn in manufacturing because of another drop in new orders, with the two sectors now seeing one of the largest divergences in output in more than 26 years of data collection. The headline Business Activity Index showed that overall output in the service and manufacturing sectors rose from 53.6 points in March 2024 to 53.8 points in April, indicating the sharpest increase in output since April 2023, when it stood at 54.3 points. Scottish firms also saw input costs rise at the fastest rate in eight months, likely due to growing salaries and increases in the prices of utilities and raw materials.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/scotlands-private-sector-sees-sharpest-32794118
Retail to the fore in list of largest employers
Insider has ranked the largest employers in the North West, with the list revealing a different story to the spin about the death of traditional industries. Of the top ten employers in the North West, seven of them operate in the retail sector, employing more than a quarter of a million people in the North West. Names like the Co-op, JD Sports, Home Bargains and Matalan dominate the list of top employers. Collating the biggest employers from our database of top companies, Insider found that the biggest employer among the North West’s top companies is the Co-op Group. The group, based at Angel Square in Manchester employs almost 60,000 people. It is followed by Blackburn-based EG Group (Euro Garages) the forecourt retailer that is part of the same group as Asda. Run by the Issa brothers, EG Group employs more than 55,000 people.
https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/retail-to-the-fore-in-list-of-largest-employers