Business News Round Up (28/07/2025)
Scottish businesses seeing escalating early financial distress
As the UK economy struggles to find growth in the face of ongoing global turmoil, the latest data from independent business rescue and recovery specialist Begbies Traynor shows that in the second quarter of 2025, the levels of Scottish businesses experiencing the first signs of financial distress rose – both since the previous quarter and also compared with the same period the previous year.Providing a quarterly snapshot of Britain’s corporate health, the Red Flag Alert data for Q2 2025 revealed that instances of early or ‘significant’ business distress in Scotland had grown by 9.1% since the first three months of the year and by 2.7% since Q2 2024.With 31,251 Scottish firms now affected, signs of early-stage financial problems also rose across the UK as a whole, increasing by 15.1% quarter-on-quarter and by 10.8% year-on-year with a national total of 666,876 businesses feeling its impact.
https://www.digit.fyi/scottish-businesses-seeing-escalating-early-financial-distress
More than £270m secured by North West firms under the Growth Guarantee Scheme
More than £270m of lending has been provided to smaller businesses in the North West under the British Business Bank’s Growth Guarantee Scheme over the last 12 months. The North West has received £272m across 1,495 facilities. A total of 69 per cent of lending has been provided to businesses outside London and the South East. The North West (12 per cent), alongside the West Midlands (10 per cent), saw the highest levels of investment outside of London and the South East. Nationally, the British Business Bank has injected more than £2.5bn under the Growth Guarantee Scheme, with £633.69m (27 per cent) of lending provided to firms under five years old. A range of industry sectors have been supported through the scheme. This includes in excess of £368m for manufacturing, over £366m to wholesale and retail, and more than £234m to the construction sector.
US and EU agree to cut tariffs in new trade deal
The US and EU have reached agreement on a trade deal that will end a long standoff between two of the world’s key economic powers. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen were able to settle on a new tariff during their meeting in Turnberry, Scotland. The pair agreed on a US tariff on all EU goods of 15% – half the 30% import tax rate which Mr Trump had threatened to implement from this Friday. In return the 27-member bloc will open its markets to US exporters with 0% tariffs on certain products. Ms Von der Leyen said the deal would bring stability for both allies, who together account for almost a third of global trade. Mr Trump said the EU would boost its investment in the US by $600bn (£446bn), purchase hundreds of billions of dollars of American military equipment and spend $750bn on energy.
Rise in companies facing ‘significant’ or ‘critical’ financial distress
More UK companies are in financial distress, according to the latest Begbies Traynor Red Flag alert, with the North West the fourth worst affected. During Q2 of 2025, to June 30, 49,309 businesses were in ‘critical’ financial distress, a 21.4% increase on Q2 2024 and an 8.6% increase on Q1 2025. London led the UK regions for both ‘significant’ and ‘critical’ distress levels, followed by the South East and Midlands, with the North West recording 69,565 ‘significant’ cases and 5,270 ‘critical’ firms. The rise in ‘critical’ financial distress was felt in every corner of the UK economy with all 22 sectors covered by Red Flag Alert experiencing an increase over the past 12 months. The latest research shows that the challenges currently being navigated by businesses are triggering concerning increases in ‘critical’ financial distress in consumer-facing sectors, including Bars & Restaurants (+41.7%), Travel & Tourism (+39.0%) and General Retailers (+17.8%).