Business News Round Up (15/10/2020)
Scottish companies outperform UK shares over last quarter
Scottish companies listed on the London Stock Exchange have outperformed other UK markets over the last quarter, with smaller firms leading the charge. Scottish AIM listed firms boasted a strong recovery during the last three months, according to analysis by wealth management firm Brewin Dolphin. The data found that Scottish firms listed on the AIM index saw their average share price jump by 18.72% between July and September. Overall AIM listed firms only saw their share price increase by 8.69% on average during the same period. Scottish companies on AIM are now up +16.22% on average for the first nine months of 2020, compared to a +0.15% gain for the junior market.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/scottish-companies-out-perform-uk-22843196
Online shopping sparks North West logistics boom
A boom in internet shopping due to the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed demand for logistics space in the North West to record levels. According to data published by Cushman & Wakefield, take up of logistics space in the North West in the third quarter of 2020 reached 1.41m sq ft. This takes the total in the region so far this year to 3.51m sq ft. This is up 55% on last year. Logistics has enjoyed growth for a number of years thanks to the rise of online retailers such as Amazon. Before than pandemic around 18% of UK retail sales were made online. During lockdown this rocketed to more than 30%.
https://lbndaily.co.uk/online-shopping-sparks-north-west-logistics-boom/
Scottish economic outlook ‘incredibly challenging’ as jobless claimant count doubles in a year
Scotland faces an “incredibly challenging” economic outlook, a leading thinktank has warned, as new figures showed the jobless claimant count has doubled in 12 months. The Fraser of Allander Institute said the impact of coronavirus also included a sharp fall in the number of hours worked in Scotland, down 6.7 million over the last year. Redundancies were now rising dramatically as job vacancies got scarcer, it added. The Institute also warned against putting too much faith in the relatively healthy employment rate, which include furloughed staff, as it masked the size of the problems ahead.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18791025.gg/
Greater Manchester business organisations call for greater clarity on three-tier system to ‘keep economy moving’
Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, CBI and Marketing Manchester are among of a handful of business organisations calling for clarity on the three-tier system of restrictions. The organisations, representing more than 30,000 businesses across Greater Manchester, have asked the government to set out a number of requirements to ‘keep the economy moving’. It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday that pubs, bars, gyms, betting shops, casinos, and adult gaming centres in Liverpool City Region are to shut from Wednesday under a new three-tier ‘traffic light system’. The group of organisations also includes the Federation of Small Businesses, Manchester Hoteliers Association, Growth Company, North West Business Leadership Team and ICAEW.