Business News Round Up (23/08/2021)
UK economic growth slowed again in August as post-lockdown shortages bite – PMI
Britain’s post-lockdown economic bounce-back slowed sharply in August as companies struggled with unprecedented shortages of staff and materials, but strong inflation pressures cooled a bit, a survey showed on Monday. The IHS Markit/CIPS flash composite PMI dropped for the third month in a row, sinking to 55.3 from 59.2 in July, its lowest since February and a sharper fall than a median forecast of 58.4 in a Reuters poll of economists. The pace of growth was slightly above the pre-pandemic average but “there are clear signs of the recovery losing momentum in the third quarter after a buoyant second quarter”, said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit.
New report claims only half of Scottish businesses have a net zero strategy
A new report has revealed that only half of Scottish Businesses have set a net zero strategy ahead of COP26, according to accountancy firm Grant Thornton. The company surveyed 601 senior decision makers in UK mid-market businesses, defined as £50m to £500m turnover, between 21 July – 5 August 2021.. It claimed that almost a third of respondents said they had not calculated their carbon emissions for the last year while 44% of businesses were found to have reported their carbon emissions externally. More than 94% of Scottish businesses said that environmental, social and governance strategy (ESG) was important to the Scottish mid-market and was a significant factor in their overall value creation, ability to obtain funding and attractiveness to investors. The research found the main barrier holding back the mid-market from progressing the ESG agenda was lack of senior management support with a lack of understanding of what is required and lack of resources following behind. Mid-market leaders broadly agreed that demonstrating evidence of environmental and social impact directly affects business performance.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/new-report-claims-only-half-24815650
Manchester and Liverpool could become post-Covid employment ‘hotspots’ after ‘extremely strong’ market growth
A top HSBC boss has predicted that Manchester and Liverpool could become employment “hotspots” in our post-pandemic recovery – after the market saw “extremely strong” growth. Ben Andrews, managing director and head of corporate banking north, Scotland and Northern Ireland, has spoken to BusinessLive about the prospects for the two North West cities following the economic devastation caused by Covid – and is adamant that there is “some positive news”. According to research by Centre for Cities, which was commissioned by HSBC UK to understand how local business communities would respond, the Covid pandemic caused unemployment to increase by 1.3m people up to the end of last year. In Manchester and Liverpool, that picture was no different, with unemployment rates around 3% and 7% respectively.
https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/manchester-liverpool-could-become-post-21359640
Seven Dynamic Fintechs making waves in Scotland right now
Scotland’s fintech sector is booming. We list seven small dynamic firms that are beating the pandemic and seen strong growth over the last five years. From cryptocurrency and digital assistants to AI and cybersecurity, hundreds of Scottish fintech firms have found a home here. Our country has nurtured an environment of innovation and opportunity, and Scottish fintech has been accelerating to provide services in every sector imaginable. Scottish fintech is going from strength to strength, with the pandemic accentuating the need to have access to digital finances to shop online during nationwide lockdowns. As a result, fintech companies of all sizes in Scotland are flourishing, and the sector shows no signs of slowing down as we enter the latter stages of 2021 and into 2022. In signs of growing interest and faith in Scottish fintech, the University of Edinburgh, the Financial Data and Technology Association, and Fintech Scotland have been awarded £22.5m in UK Government funding to boost the use of financial data in Britain.