2012: the numbers game

Peter Ranscombe takes a numerical look back at the highs and the lows of the past year

5 The number of Scottish companies that left the stock market, with cashmere maker Dawson International going into administration, Deo Petroleum being snapped up by fellow Aberdeen-based driller Parkmead, oil firm Melrose Resources being taken over by Petroceltic, Lees Foods being taken private by its managers and Robert Wiseman Dairies being swallowed by German giant Müller.

£1.5bn worth of investment is likely to have been made in the alternative energy industry, according to trade body Scottish Renewables.

20 staff died at work in Scotland last year, six more than in the previous 12 months, according to the Health & Safety Executive.

£1.5bn The combined turnover of Irn-Bru maker AG Barr and Pepsi bottler Britvic following their proposed merger.

4 The tally of Scots firms floating, with oil driller Bridge Energy, Nigeria-focused Eland Oil & Gas, gas meter supplier Energy Assets and the reincarnated Rangers all making their stock market debuts.

10,000 The number of companies that Scottish Enterprise aims to help grow their exports over the next three years.

78% The increase in turnover unveiled by publicity-shy micro-brewer BrewDog.

£375bn The total spent by the Bank of England buying government gilts in its Quantitative Easing programme.

£14.13m was pocketed by members of Aberdeen Asset Management’s board as they cemented their position as Scotland’s top-paid PLC team and entered the FTSE 100 index.

£7.1bn is the export target for Scotland’s food and drink sector for 2017 after the industry broke through the previous £5bn target five years earlier than planned.

£11bn The value of two blockbuster international deals involving two state-owned Chinese oil companies, which gave the country control over Buzzard, the biggest oil field in the North Sea.

£874,000 The annual pay package for incoming Bank of England governor Mark Carney, three times the level for his predecessor.

7.6% Scotland’s unemployment rate fell between August and October, dipping below the 7.8 per cent rate for the UK as a whole.

£1.8bn Scotland’s whisky exports flatlined in the opening six months of the year due to tax hikes in France and the Eurozone debt crisis.

750 The number of jobs that French firm Areva and Spanish peer Gamesa each expect to create when they open offshore wind turbine factories in Scotland.

£16.5bn The estimated economic impact of the 2012 London Olympic Games on the UK economy by 2017, according to figures from Lloyds TSB.

0.9% was the increase in the UK’s economic output during the three months to 30 September, lifting Britain out of its longest double-dip recession since the Second World War.

1,009 The number of breweries in the UK, a post-war high according to the Campaign for Real Ale.

3m fewer people are visiting pubs since the beer duty escalator was introduced in 2008, leading to the closure of 5,800 bars, according to the Campaign for Real Ale.

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