Business News Round Up (23/03/2023)
£100m boost for biggest UK hydro scheme in decades
A giant hydro scheme which would double the UK’s ability to store energy for long periods is taking a leap forward with a £100m investment by SSE. The proposed 92m-high dam and two reservoirs at Coire Glas in the Highlands would be Britain’s biggest hydroelectric project for 40 years. Scottish ministers approved the 1.5GW pumped storage facility in 2020. But power giant SSE wants assurances from the UK government before finally signing it off. A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said it was “committed to supporting the low carbon hydro sector, including hydro storage”. Perth-based SSE says the £1.5bn scheme would help tackle climate change and improve UK energy security. The concept of Coire Glas is simple. It involves two reservoirs at different heights in the Great Glen, the geological fault which slices through Scotland between Inverness and Fort William. When power is plentiful and cheap, water would be pumped 500 metres uphill for storage in an upper reservoir with the capacity of 11,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. When supply is tight and prices high, it would be released, using gravity to generate electricity by spinning four turbines way below on the banks of Loch Lochy, before flowing into the lower reservoir.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-65015217
Ten-year high for manufacturing M&A activity
North West-based manufacturing businesses were the subject of more mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in 2022 than at any point in the last ten years, according to law firm Irwin Mitchell. Irwin Mitchell has analysed Experian’s Market IQ database and revealed that 163 North West manufacturing businesses were the target of M&A activity in 2022. This compares to 116 in 2021 and 112 in 2020. In 2022, most manufacturing related transactions (67 per cent) were categorised as acquisitions while less than 2 per cent of deals were restructuring transactions compared to 9 per cent in 2020. According to Irwin Mitchell, overseas bidders continue to have a big impact on UK M&A in the manufacturing sector. Last year 29 per cent of deals with a North West-based target business involved an overseas bidder with the US being the most active, accounting for 7 per cent of the cross-border deals into the region. Private equity or venture capital played a big part in manufacturing related deals in 2022 with 303 (22.6 per cent) of transactions being backed in this way.
https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/ten-year-high-for-manufacturing-ma-activity
Half of British workers now reject office working
More than half of UK workers (56%) have rejected the idea of working in an office again, and a third (32%) would quit their job if their employer did not allow them to work from home. Older workers (77%) are the most resistant to returning to office life, according to research conducted to mark the third anniversary of the UK entering Covid-19 lockdown. However, those under 45 were more likely to leave their jobs if they would not work from home and about 40% of all respondents even said they would retrain to do a job that enables them to work remotely. The data has emerged from a UK-wide national survey commissioned by video interview platform Willo to gauge how working habits in the UK have changed since the first lockdown was introduced on 23 March 2020. Aside from revealing the changes in attitudes to work, the data will add to uncertainty over demand for offices with property agents insisting that demand remains high, although in many cases it is from firms downsizing.
https://dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/2023/03/half-of-british-workers-now-reject-office-working/
North West leads Q4 office sector resurgence, Big Nine report reveals
The Liverpool office market outperformed the rest of the country in the fourth quarter, according to Avison Young’s Big Nine report. And the momentum is predicted to continue into the current year. The final quarter of 2022 saw the highest take-up of office space the city has seen since 2019, totalling 189,601 sq ft, 45% up on 10-year average levels, and ending 2022 as the most active city across the UK’s Big Nine markets. Liverpool’s annual take-up totalled 510,552 sq ft. This is despite Q3 figures previously being nine per cent down on Q2 and 12% down on the 10-year quarterly average. End-of-year deals, including Firesprite’s 54,121 sq ft deal at Duke & Parr, which was the city’s largest of the year, as well as Green Switch Capital at Exchange Station, Wealth at Work at 1 St Paul’s Square, and Direct Line at 5 St Paul’s Square, all contributed to ending the year on a high. Prime rents were also up 16% at £25.50 per sq ft. Despite these figures, the city is still facing availability shortages with historic low levels at 5.4%, a further 16% drop from the previous quarter. However, Avison Young predicts that this will change.