Business News Round Up (25/11/2025)
More targeted R&D investment towards driving UK growth and jobs unveiled by Technology Secretary
UKRI will deploy significant taxpayer backing to support government priorities, investing billions in UK expertise and innovation for growth and renewal. UKRI will deploy a significant portion of £38.6 billion in taxpayer backing to support government priorities, investing billions in UK expertise and innovation for growth and national renewal, Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall says. UKRI to invest £8 billion for specific government priorities and £7 billion for innovative company growth, to build and keep titans of future industries like quantum based in UK, building strong foundations for our economy.
Colliers: Investment across Scotland tops £460m in Q3 as residential and PBSA drives appetite this year
Investment into Scottish commercial property reached £460 million in Q3, up on the £430m recorded in the second quarter, Colliers’ latest Scotland Snapshot has revealed. The report highlights that year to date, investment into Scotland’s commercial real estate market has reached £1.4 billion, slightly ahead of the corresponding 2024 figure of £1.3bn and in line with the five-year average. In the first three quarters of the year, the residential and PBSA sector has led the charge for investment, accounting for 25% of volumes at £350m. The office sector followed, with 22% of volumes (£320m) and hotels at 21% (£300m). Retail investment accounted for a 15% market share while industrial and senior living were at 7% each (£100m).
£14.5 million for Grangemouth in Autumn Budget
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to announce up to £14.5 million in new funding for Grangemouth when she delivers the UK Government’s Autumn Budget on 26 November, marking the latest installment in a multi-layered public funding strategy aimed at transforming Scotland’s sole, and now shuttered, oil refinery into a clean energy cluster. The additional capital will support the site’s transition away from fossil fuel refining toward low-carbon manufacturing and green energy infrastructure. The funds are intended to complement—not replace—earlier commitments, including a £200 million pledge from the National Wealth Fund announced by in February 2025. Yet the announcement comes amid growing frustration from unions, local politicians, and displaced workers that the larger NWF allocation has yet to materialise, eight months after it was first promised.
SRC: rates inaction risks Scottish high streets
Retailers are warning of the risks and consequences for Scotland’s high streets from inaction on business rates as other parts of the UK press ahead with permanent rates reductions for shops from April. Both the UK and Welsh governments have recognised retailers pay a disproportionate amount in business rates and are introducing permanent rates reductions for shops from April 2026. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is expected to confirm in her UK Budget this week the size of reduction in the business rate that will apply to retailers in England in the coming financial year. The Welsh Government has also announced it will reduce rates for shops from April. The Scottish Retail Consortium is calling on policymakers to ensure all retailers in Scotland also benefit from a permanent reduction in business rates. Scotland’s shopkeepers contribute about a fifth of all business rates.
https://www.scottishfinancialnews.com/articles/src-rates-inaction-risks-scottish-high-streets