2020-03-01 Business Insider

14 INSIDER March 2020 http://www.insider.co.uk

VITAL:STATISTICS

The UK Government needs to provide clarity on where UK regulation will diverge from EU regulation to

ensure trade is not disrupted. The call came from the Scottish Chambers of Commerce today as it published

its Quarterly Economic Indicator which shows business in a period of stasis with subdued levels of investment.

The survey for Q4 2019 shows that despite signs of resilience, business confidence levels remain weak relative

to their long-term norms, with manufacturing, retail and tourism in negative territory. It said that business

investment levels remain weal and subdued across all sectors. This has been a continuing trend as global and

domestic uncertainty continues to take its toll on business communities. It said that this is likely to impact on the

growth and competitiveness of Scotland’s economy in the coming quarters. Source: Scottish Chamber of Commerce

Business optimism

UK tech investment

Retail Sales

Ranked by profit before tax

IN FOCUS

Business statistics in Scotland compiled by Steven Wilson

Top companies in KA postcode

0

10

20

30

40

50

Construction Financial & Business

Services

Manufacturing Retail Tourism

%

number of cumulative unicorns created

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

-4.00%

-2.00%

0.00%

2.00%

4.00%

6.00%

US Dollar (1.29) Euro (1.18) Australian Dollar (1.93) Swiss Franc (1.26) Chinese Yuan (9.03) Croatian Kuna (8.78)

-0.77%

-1.53%

0.00%

3.51%

5.46%

1.05%

-3.08%-1.56%

3.20%

-0.99%

3.78%

0.00%

Name Profit before tax (£m)

Spirit AeroSystems (Europe) Ltd 49.

GE Caledonian Ltd 45.

Rohr Aero Services Ltd 16.

UPM-Kymmene (UK) Ltd 9.

Emergency One UK Ltd 5.

Hillhouse Estates Ltd 5.

Billy Bowie Special Projects Ltd 3.

Maxi Caledonian Ltd 2.

JC Peacock & Co Ltd 1.

W&J Knox Ltd 1.

% Change Food Non-Food All Sales

Dec-19 1.8 -0.8 0.

3m Average 2.3 -2.4 -0.

12m Average 2.4 -2.4 -0.

Scotland’s high streets experienced a “bleak midwinter”

in December as festive shoppers failed to boost sales

significantly, according to a survey. The SRC-KPMG

retail sales monitor found total sales rose by 0.4%,

compared with the same month in 2018. But the figures

were skewed by Black Friday, which was included in

December figures for 2019 as opposed to November

the previous year. Looking at the two months

combined, sales were down year-on-year by 0.9%.

When adjusted for deflation, the real-term decline for

November and December was 0.5%.

Source: Scottish Retail Consortium/KPMG

EXCHANGE RATES VS GBP – % Change

Global tech investors are increasingly pumping large sums of money into European tech companies, with 2019

representing a record year for venture capital funding across the continent. According to research prepared for

London & Partners and Tech Nation by Dealroom.co, London has led from the front, with the UK capital’s tech

companies attracting $9.7bn in funding last year – more than any other European city. Since 2014, the UK has

produced more than twice the total number of $1bn tech companies than any other country in Europe, and sits

behind only the US and China when it comes to building the world’s fastest-growing firms. In 2019, eight British

companies reached this unicorn status meaning the UK is now home to 77 billion-dollar businesses, double the

total number in Germany and almost four times as many as Israel. Source: London & Partners/Tech Nation

Up Down Level

This month’s exchange rates (seen in brackets above) recorded on 7th February 2020.

Scottish Government funding

to farmers to tackle

climate change

£40m

%
Change

£3.32m

Amount raised by Innis & Gunn in

their latest crowdfunding round