Scottish Business Briefing – Friday September 10th

Published on Friday 10 September 2010 09:47

WELCOME to scotsman.com's Scottish Business Briefing. Every morning we bring you a comprehensive round-up of all news affecting business in Scotland today.

ECONOMY

'Nightmare' of soaring unemployment if start-up rate doesn't bounce

A LACK of funding for start-ups could lead to a "nightmare" scenario of high unemployment, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) warned yesterday after figures showed an 8 per cent slump in the number of firms being launched.

Private sector must work with public as spending falls

Business leaders were last night urged to support the public sector in dealing with an "unprecedented" reduction in spending and an inevitable loss of jobs in Scotland.

In a hard-hitting speech to the CBI Scotland annual dinner, chairman Linda Urquhart also said the challenges facing public spending demanded a root and branch review of the number of publicly funded bodies.

British economy 'best in G7' but outlook is still gloomy

THE British economy is set to fare better than its rivals in the G7 nations in the third quarter of the financial year, international forecasters claimed yesterday. But the latest report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) painted a gloomy overall picture for the seven major economies and warned more central bank support may be needed.

Read all today's economics news from scotsman.com

INDUSTRY

Connaught sale to Morgan Sindall saves 2,500 jobs

Administrators KPMG will sell the bulk of Connaught's failed social housing group to building firm Morgan Sindall, saving 2,500 jobs. The unit employs around 4,400 people in total. The rest of Connaught's 10,000 workers are unaffected by proceedings.

Miller Group offers hope for flagging industry

Miller Group offered fresh hope for Britain's recovering housebuilding sector yesterday as it trimmed its losses, flagged potential acquisitions and talked of hiring staff again. But the Edinburgh-based company, which was forced to cut hundreds of jobs at the height of the recession, warned it was likely to remain in the red for some time amid "economic uncertainties".

Concern for Scots jobs as BAe wields axe

FEARS about the safety of thousands of Scottish defence jobs were heightened yesterday when BAe announced 1,000 redundancies in England. The job cuts come amid growing concerns over the 5 billion aircraft carrier project and with it the future of the ship building industry.

Read all today's industry news from scotsman.com

Entrepreneur

Be inspired and communicate with other Scottish entrepreneursat http://entrepreneur.scotsman.com. Features includeupdates from The Scotsman's Executive Editor Bill Jamieson, a diary of forthcoming company announcements and networking events and videoadvice on how to succeed with your new business start-up.