Business News Round Up (29/11/2024)
Manchester to retain UK title amid influx of innovators
Manchester’s bid to fulfil expectations that it will be the fastest growing UK city in 2024 have been handed a boost with 142 high-growth businesses announcing office and lab openings or expansions in innovation hubs across both the city and in Cheshire this year. Earlier this year, EY ITEM Club projected that Manchester would become the UK’s fastest growing city, with an expected GVA uptick of 1.8%, citing the region’s focus on attracting talent to value-add. The coming years are also projected to see the city and surrounding region continue their strong growth trajectory, with GVA in 2026 expected to be £2 billion higher than it was in 2022. Growth in the number of innovative and R&D intensive businesses choosing the city and surrounding region as their home or base for expansion is set to continue cementing the region’s status as a leading employment hub.
https://businesscloud.co.uk/news/manchester-city-to-retain-uk-title-amid-influx-of-innovators
Edinburgh-based businesses secure the third most UK funding rounds in 2024
New research reveals that Edinburgh-based businesses have secured 2.7% of UK funding rounds in Q1 to Q2 of 2024, however have seen a 17% decline from the same period last year, as the global investment market cooling amid broader market uncertainties. The ‘Global Investment Report’, by sharetech platform Vestd, analysed Crunchbase data to assess the scale of global investment in 2024 and identify trends in the private equity sector across a range of regions and industries. Businesses in Edinburgh secured 65 funding rounds between Q1 and Q3 of 2024, a 17% decline from the same period in 2023, signalling a tougher environment for startups. As the capital and main business hub, it is unsurprising that London still leads UK investments, despite a decline since Q1, however outside of London there have been spikes in funding rounds this year, with Cumbria and Liverpool reporting a 85.7% jump and 70.6% rise respectively.
Scottish engineering exports and order intakes fall
Optimism across Scotland’s engineering and manufacturing sector appears to have evaporated, according to the latest quarterly survey. With 31% of Scottish Engineering’s members responding, 2024’s final scorecard shows all key indices have fallen. Overall order intake turned further negative, along with output volume. The four-year run of a positive intent to increase staffing also came to a halt during the quarter. Those within the industry have repeatedly stated that for the necessary actions to address the UK’s debt crisis, that burden cannot be shifted to employers without that impacting on employees. The latest report stated that the recent budget increases for National Insurance, National Living Wage and an absence of broader incentives to build business growth have two impacts. The first is that companies shift to recovery mode as they look for savings that will protect from these increases, while the second is that they impact on already fragile confidence.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/scottish-engineering-exports-order-intakes-34205297
9-in-10 SMEs report poor internet connectivity and frequent outages
A recent study has revealed that 94% of small businesses in the UK experience poor internet connection while 91% encounter internet outages; a staggering quarter of businesses don’t have any backup in place if internet connection goes down. The survey by Zen, which included responses from 500 SME decision-makers across the UK, highlighted several key findings: While seven in 10 (72%) of SMEs agreed that having failover internet connectivity is critical to business operations, nearly a quarter (23%) don’t have any backup in place to support continued operations during an internet outage. Having no back up in place rises to two fifths (38%) in businesses between one and nine employees, leaving these companies more susceptible to the productivity challenges and hidden costs that come with an internet outage. On average, SMEs could be losing up to three hours per month in productivity due to internet outages or poor internet connection.