Business News Round Up (27/02/2023)
Digital skills investment could boost UK GDP
Investing in digital skills and improving the digital literacy of the workforce could raise the annual gross domestic product (GDP) in the UK by £67.8bn, according to a new report by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Gallup. The report revealed 11% of UK workers have advanced digital skills, with 72% of businesses having an open vacancy for workers with those skills. The findings come from a survey of 30,000 workers and 9,300 hiring managers in 19 countries including the UK, combined with Lightcast data on all advertised job vacancies in 33 countries between May 2021 and May 2022. Despite a downturn in the economy, the number of job vacancies in tech, particularly for advanced digital skills including around cloud and cybersecurity, are rising. More than two-thirds of businesses find it challenging to hire the digital workers they need, and 45% say this is due to a shortage of qualified applicants. The authors found that organisations able to integrate advanced digital skills, digital technologies and cloud computing power into their business or workflow realise rates of revenue growth notably higher than those not employing those solutions.
London to see shallowest downturn of any region in 2023 says report
London’s economy is forecast to ride out the downturn better than any other region with the smallest fall in output this year before springing back with the fastest growth over the following two years. Today’s predictions from economists at consultants EY sees the capital holding on to its spot at the top of the UK’s growth leader board after being hit harder than any other part of the UK during the pandemic. EY’s latest Regional Economic Forecast projects London’s economy – as measured by gross value added – shrinking only 0.2% this year compared with 0.6% for the UK as a whole. That is in line with the Bank of England’s current official forecast of a 0.5% fall over 2023 and a shorter, shallower recession than previously feared for the UK. London is estimated to have had GVA growth of 5.5% last year, the fastest in the UK, ahead of Scotland (5.3%) and the East of England (4.3%). The report says the capital’s economy will be shielded from the worst of the national slump by its “knowledge based sectors” such as professional and financial services less directly exposed to the squeeze on consumer spending. The analysis also notes that people in London and the south east have more capacity to absorb rising prices than counterparts elsewhere, with the two regions the only areas in the UK with mean weekly incomes above the national average (£621).
Most UK businesses optimistic about medium-term economic growth, survey shows
More than 60% of British businesses are optimistic about the country’s economic growth in the medium term and their own revenues in the next few years, a survey showed on Monday, challenging some of the gloomy forecasts for the UK economy. About 61% of over 1,500 business leaders expect economic growth to be “somewhat or significantly better” in 2025, according to the Boston Consulting Group Centre for Growth’s inaugural business survey. The Bank of England said this month that Britain’s weak productivity growth means the economy can probably only grow by about 0.7% a year in 2024 and 2025 without generating inflationary heat. It also forecast a recession starting in early 2023 and lasting into early 2024. “It is easy to get downbeat about the UK’s prospects both in the short and medium term but those running our businesses tend to be more optimistic,” Raoul Ruparel, director for the BCG Centre for Growth, said. “UK businesses are undoubtedly feeling squeezed, but they’re still standing.”
List ranks largest manufacturers in LCR
The biggest manufacturers in the Liverpool City Region (LCR) have been unveiled in new Insider research. The list includes prominent global brands and firms operating in a diverse range of areas. Ranked by turnover, the Liverpool City Region’s biggest manufacturer is Runcorn-based Inovyn Europe with a turnover of more than £3.3bn and a profit of £316.2m. Inovyn, a part of Ineos which produces chemicals from its Runcorn base, has long used electrolysis to produce chlorine and hydrogen and plans to fuel the UK’s hydrogen transport economy. Last year Ineos announced a £2bn investment in green hydrogen. The second biggest manufacturer is Princes, with a turnover of £1.4bn. The company was founded in Liverpool as a fish importing business in 1880. It has been owned by the Japanese Mitsubishi Corporation since 1989. Princes’ brands include Aqua Pura mineral water, Branston, Crisp ‘n Dry oil, Flora sunflower oil, Olivio cooking oil and Princes canned fish. Within the Cunard Building, one of Liverpool’s Three Graces, is the third biggest manufacturer in the region, Smurfit Kappa Group, which manufactures and sells paper-based packaging products.
https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/list-ranks-largest-manufacturers-in-lcr