Business News Round Up (20/09/2021)
Scottish tech start-ups raise £53 million so far this year
Scottish technology start-ups have raised £53.5m this year, including £35.9m for alternative protein company Enough and a seed round by the on-demand workspace platform Desana.io. The figures are from the UK’s Digital Economy Council, Tech Nation and Dealroom, which also revealed that the wider UK tech sector raised £13.5bn in the first six months of the year – almost three times more than the same period a year ago. This means the UK in on course to make 2021 the biggest year for tech investment ever. During the first six months of the year, the biggest fundraising rounds included Revolut raising £577m, Cinch with £1bn, Snyk raising £289m and Hopin banking £289m – to make it Europe’s fastest-growing tech company. The UK now has 105 unicorns – businesses worth more than $1bn dollars – with 20 created in the past six months alone, including Tractable, Zego and Depop. The UK also has 12 tech companies worth more than $10bn, with seven created this year alone.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/scottish-tech-start-ups-raise-25023949
Three quarters of UK business concerned about impact of labour shortages on competitiveness
The UK’s jobs outlook is strengthening, with a net balance of 50% of firms expecting to grow their workforce in the next year*. However, around three quarters (76%) of businesses are reporting access to labour as a threat to the UK’s labour market competitiveness – the highest proportion since the question was first asked in 2016. Supporting firms to plug the shortages gap in the immediate term is therefore vital. That’s according to the CBI and Pertemps Network annual survey – in its twenty-fourth year and with 422 responses. 87% of businesses are planning to recruit permanent roles this year, with nearly half of firms (46%) expecting higher levels of recruitment and only 9% expecting lower levels of recruitment for such roles compared to the past year. Access to skills (noted by 77% of companies) and the ability to move UK workers across the EU (69% of companies) also feature heavily in businesses’ list of current concerns. Asked for their top three factors vital to labour market competitiveness, 89% said finding enough people with the right skills, followed by a flexible labour market (47%) and a healthy workforce (35%).
Region’s manufacturers see buoyant growth, but supply chain disruption remain a challenge
North West manufacturers are seeing strong growth prospects as economies continue to open up and the economic recovery strengthens. According to a major survey published today by Make UK and business advisory firm BDO, the sector which saw a 10% decline in output in 2020 is now set to recover a significant amount of that loss in 2021, with forecasts suggesting it will have recovered the total loss from last year by the end of 2022. Make UK, added, however, supply chain disruptions and some labour shortages could hamper this improving picture in the final quarter of the year. Both UK orders and total orders were very strong for North West companies in the last quarter, while the output balance of +63 was the strongest of any UK region. The employment balance of +53% was also the highest of any UK region for the second quarter in succession, showing job prospects in North West manufacturers are improving dramatically as firms seek to meet demand. As a result of the robust growth prospects and increased business confidence, investment intentions have also increased substantially.
Shop sales fall for fourth month as more dine out
Retail sales in the UK fell for the fourth month in a row in August, but people spent more time eating and drinking in bars and restaurants. Sales fell by 0.9% in August, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, following a 2.8% fall in July. Food store sales fell by 1.2%, but the ONS said this was linked to the removal of restrictions on hospitality leading to more people eating out. Analysts said labour shortages and supply chain disruption had hurt sales. Sarah Coles, personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said shoppers and shops were “stymied by shortages in August”, but added people “rediscovered our passion for a big night out”. The share of online sales increased to 27.7% in August from 27.1% in July, the ONS said, substantially higher than the 19.7% share seen in February 2020 before the pandemic.