Business News Round Up (14/05/2021)
Post-Brexit bounce back for exports continues as optimism grows over UK’s economic recovery
Goods exports to the EU rose again in March to bring them almost back to pre-Brexit levels, data from the Office for National Statistics has shown. Trade into the EU grew for a second consecutive month following the historic plunge in exports of more than 40% in January. March exports to the EU rose by 8.6% to £12.7bn compared to figures for February and are now almost level with December’s figure of £13.7bn, according to the Times. Imports also climbed by £800 million in March after sinking by £6.6 billion in January and partially recovering by £1.2 billion in February. Exports to the EU are still down 80% for the first quarter of 2021 compared with Q4 of 2020, however. In a sign of the shift in commercial links away from Europe, imports of goods from the rest of the world were higher than EU imports for the first time since the ONS began collecting data in 1997. Exports to the non-EU markets increased by 0.4% in Q1.
Edinburgh named top Scottish city for UK residential investment opportunities
Edinburgh is the only Scottish city to make it into the top 10 in a new report on residential investment opportunities from Colliers, and it achieved second ranking for the UK as a whole. The Top UK Residential Investment Cities report from global commercial real estate advisers Colliers, placed Edinburgh just behind Cambridge, which took top spot. The Scottish capital was ahead of Bristol and London in third and fourth place, respectively. The report recognised Edinburgh’s strong economic fundamentals, high quality universities and solid house price growth. On top of that Edinburgh took the top spot in the UK on economics thanks to its performance and demographics, with the city’s population forecast to grow at an average rate of 1.2% each year between 2020 and 2030. Its economy grew at an average annual rate of 1.8% between 2010 and 2020 and is expected to expand at 2.3% per annum between 2021 and 2025.
Capabilities could bridge the skills gap for UK business
Businesses that had previously invested in employee development, however, were somewhat protected from the worst effects of the pandemic: of those surveyed, 71% that saw growth over the last year had increased their training budget. Among businesses that saw a decline, 61% said they did not have a training strategy or that their strategy was not fit for purpose. This research comes at a pivotal moment as the government announces a new skills loan, giving all adults the equal opportunity to upskill and retrain in future. The research surveyed over 1,000 executive leaders and senior HR staff from progressive UK and Asia Pacific (APAC) organisations. The research was further analysed by ambassador Miatta Fahnbulleh, Chief Executive of the New Economics Foundation. More than three-fifths of business leaders revealed that the events of 2020 had widened the skills gap to a capability chasm in 2020, with the majority feeling they had been unable to manage the issue. Over-reliance on traditional skill sets and recruiting to plug capability gaps at the expense of staff development were also shown to have negatively impacted business growth.
https://londonlovesbusiness.com/capabilities-could-bridge-the-skills-gap-for-uk-business/
UK exports to China resume high growth trend in Q1 2021, after plunging in 2020
UK companies are seeing a significant rise in exports of goods and services to China, in spite of the ongoing deterioration in political relations between the two governments. Indeed, China as a trading partner for the UK, overall, in terms of both imports and exports of goods and services is showing signs of reaching new highs, in 2021, after a hiatus last year. By contrast, over 2020, UK exports to China fell by a precipitous 37.7%, to £13.8 billion (US$18.6 billion) from £22.9 billion (US$30.1 billion) in the previous year. The bulk of the decline was made up of goods exports which decreased by 42%, while services exports fell by 16%. According to recently released data by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the first quarter of this year, the UK’s exports to China were up by 6.2% at £3.9 billion (US$5.5 billion), versus £3.6 billion (US$5.1 billion) in Q1 2020. This made China the seventh largest market for UK exports in that period.