Scottish Business Briefing - Monday 9 September, 2013
FINANCE
Challenger bank Shawbrook breaks £1bn loan barrier
Shawbrook, the “challenger” bank with a burgeoning Scottish presence, revealed today that it has passed the £1 billion lending milestone. The firm has lent £1.13bn since its launch in 2011, comprising £766 million to UK small and medium-sized businesses and £369m to individuals (Scotsman).
ECONOMY
Scottish economy: ‘Recovery needs more investment’
SCOTTISH businesses are landing new work at a record rate but need to increase investment to sustain any meaningful recovery, research out today suggests. There are also concerns that growth north of the Border is lagging the rest of the UK, despite a further upturn in output from both the manufacturing and service sectors (Scotsman).
City leader says Glasgow needs to rediscover identity
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Hide AdA LEADING figure in the City of London has called on Glasgow to rediscover its identity. Peter Rees, the City of London Corporation’s veteran chief planning officer, has seen a transformation of the Square Mile over the past quarter of a century. The man who has approved buildings such as the Gherkin and the Walkie-Talkie argues Scotland’s largest city needs a clearer “sense of purpose” to foster civic pride (Herald).
RETAIL
Consumer spending up 4.4% in August - report
THIS year is firmly established as “the year of recovery”, economists say, after a monthly financial analysis revealed a fourth straight month of increased consumer spending. The amount spent by consumers grew by 4.4 per cent UK-wide in August and is set to continue the upwards trend later in the year, Barclaycard said, as people relaxed their grip on household finances and splashed out on the high street – as well as restaurants, bars and other leisure venues (Scotsman).
MEDIA, TECH & LEISURE
Historic Scotland attractions welcome 1.7m people
THE warm weather and a boom in cruise ship numbers has helped Historic Scotland venues to attract a record 1.7 million visitors this summer, the agency revealed yesterday. Attractions such as Edinburgh Castle and Linlithgow Palace boosted the June to August total by 14.8 per cent, compared with last year. The Scottish Government agency, which is Scotland’s biggest operator of visitor attractions with 78 sites, clocked up Scotsman|scotsman})
Inoapps on acquisition trail with £10m funding
TECHNOLOGY company Inoapps is on the hunt for acquisitions after securing £10 million from the Business Growth Fund (BGF) – its largest investment in Scotland. Chief executive Andy Bird said the firm, which specialises in supplying Oracle software and hardware to clients across the oil and gas, construction and defence sectors, hopes to complete at least two deals before the end of the year (Scotsman).
(http://www.scotsman.com/business/food-drink-agriculture|Read all today’s food, drink and agriculture news from scotsman.com|Click here}