Business News Round Up (16/12/2022)
Scottish Enterprise forecasts £700m of innovation spending
More than £700 million of innovation expenditure will be leveraged on the back of support from Scotland’s main public economic development agency, it has been forecast. Scottish Enterprise has approved £120m in grant funding and equity investment for innovation activities in the 2021-22 financial year, with a total of 260 projects supported. And the agency declared this investment has been calculated to deliver a further £502m of investment from the private sector, in addition to £86m from public sector partners. Scottish Enterprise said its funding this financial year has supported private firms developing solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges, spinouts from leading universities, and investment in infrastructure at Scottish innovation centres. The agency noted it had contributed to £9m of growth funding raised by University of Edinburgh life sciences spin-out Kynos Therapeutics, which is developing a treatment to help regulate the immune system and protect patients against tissue damage caused by a mitochondrial enzyme known as KMO. And it awarded a grant of £2.5m to North British Distillery in Edinburgh, which makes grain spirit for blended whisky, to help it develop and deliver a modernised distilling process, with the aim of significantly reducing its carbon footprint.
UK consumer confidence at its lowest sustained level for nearly 50 years
UK consumer confidence is at its lowest sustained level in almost 50 years, as the country braces for a prolonged recession, according to a closely watched survey. The consumer confidence index, a measure of how people view their personal finances and wider economic prospects, edged up only two points to minus 42 in December compared with the previous month, said research group GfK on Friday. The average since the index started is minus 10. Over the past year, Britons have been hit by soaring prices that are stretching household budgets across the country. Energy prices jumped after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February and many consumers have been left with little money after paying for energy and food bills. Since the survey began in 1974, the index had never fallen below minus 40 until May 2022, with the onset of double digit inflation. It has remained below that level, marking the most prolonged period of low confidence in almost half a century. Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, warned “of a tough road ahead” because of the UK’s gloomy economic outlook. “Real wages are falling as inflation continues to bite hard, further straining the discretionary budget of many households as we enter the last few shopping days before Christmas,” he added.
https://www.ft.com/content/d074c31c-1f14-43c1-9ae4-320fa7b854f8
Successful year at Hillington Park as modernisation programme brings properties back to market
The latest project in an extensive and planned refurbishment programme at Hillington Park has been completed bringing the total invested by Frasers Property in modernising existing buildings to over £3m in the last twelve months. Timing has been critical as demand for industrial, trade-counter and warehouse property on Hillington Park continued to be strong with 23 new lease agreements completed during 2022, generating over £1m of new contracted headline rent. The £320,000 refurbishment of 16-18 Earl Haig Road included significant external and internal improvements including new roof sheets and roof lights, overcladding elevations as well as new roller shutter and entrance doors. Internal improvements including new LED lights throughout, new energy-efficient electric heating and full office and facilities upgrade that has resulted in the EPC of the 10,000 sq ft building improving from E to C. Grant Edmondson, commercial director at Hillington Park said: “Our experience has been that businesses want high quality industrial space which is available for immediate accommodation so they can start trading as soon as possible. Frasers Property’s strategy of investing in both new build developments and upgrading existing Hillington Park stock has delivered supply that the market has been calling for and consequently has been letting up quickly.”
Insolvencies rise as creditors pursue unpaid debts
The number of corporate insolvencies has continued to rise, driven in part by the rise in winding-up petitions as HMRC and other creditors pursue unpaid debts. The latest government figures show that there were 2,029 corporate insolvencies in November in England and Wales, which was 4% higher than the previous month and 21% higher than November last year. It was also 35% higher than in November 2019. The rise was mainly driven by an increase in compulsory liquidations, partly due to a rise in winding up petitions from HMRC, while creditor voluntary liquidations (CVLS) – where directors close their companies voluntarily – and administration numbers have also increased. Allan Cadman, who is North West chair of the insolvency and restructuring trade body R3, said: “Increases in CVLs and compulsory liquidations are the key drivers of the increase from this time last year and from three years ago. What we’re seeing here is a perfect storm of creditors pursuing unpaid debts and directors choosing to close down their businesses – either before this choice is taken away from them or because they have simply run out of road. An increasing number of businesses are buckling under the strain of more than two and half years of economic turmoil. Companies have been battered by the pandemic, rising costs, reduced spending and increasing inflation, and a growing number are now turning to an insolvency process to resolve their financial distress.”