Hello and welcome to our daily digest of business, financial and economic news from around Scotland.
1. Macfarlane Group is hopeful of concluding “two or three” acquisitions this year with talks at an advanced stage on some deals.
The packaging and manufacturing firm reported a 3 per cent drop in annual revenue for 2023 to £280.7 million largely as a result of weaker e-commerce markets in the UK and Ireland.
Pre-tax profit rose 2 per cent to £20.3 million and the annual dividend increased by 5 per cent to 3.59 pence per share.
A weaker domestic market was partially offset by new business wins, acquisitions and growth in its European operations.
Advertisement
Peter Atkinson, the chief executive, said there was an active pipeline of takeover targets the company was looking at in Europe and the UK.
2. Scotland has been named the best place for women to work in the UK.
The country moved up two places to the top spot in the Women in Work Index produced by PwC for the UK’s nations and regions.
The ranking looks at labour market outcomes and assesses progress made towards achieving gender equality.
Mairi McInnes, PwC Scotland’s place and purpose lead, said: “It’s heartening to see Scotland not only retain what has become its usual top-three spot, but rank first in terms of women’s employment outcomes.
Advertisement
“It is also particularly encouraging to see that the closure in the participation gap between men and women in Scotland is largely due to more women entering the workforce, as opposed to being a result of men exiting employment.”
3. More clarity is sought on a Holyrood bill aiming to address faulty cladding on buildings as MSPs warn that progress has been “concerningly slow”.
The local government, housing and planning committee said the proposed legislation needed to be clearer about how it would help secure remedies for affected sites.
Among the plans are powers for ministers to assess and remediate buildings in certain circumstances, and the creation of a cladding assurance register.
The committee’s report on the bill acknowledged skills shortages in areas, including fire inspectors and trades, which would be essential to delivering the aims.
Advertisement
There is also a lack of detail on how measures would be delivered while communication between government, developers and those affected needs to be improved.
Ariane Burgess, the committee convenor, said the bill is a “positive step in the right direction” but more works needs to be done to provide clarity on what happens next.
4. An initiative to improve female entrepreneurship has signed up its first members.
Pathways Forward is aiming to build on the proposals contained in a Scottish government backed report published by Ana Stewart and Mark Logan last year.
AccelerateHER, CivTech, CodeBase, Deloitte, Eos Advisory, Scottish EDGE, and the Scottish National Investment Bank are the first members to sign up to the Pathways Pledge.
Advertisement
That will involve things such as capturing and publishing enhanced gender data, greater diversity on selection panel, designing programmes with childcare options and providing evidence of increasing female participation.
Stewart said: “The severe gender imbalance in entrepreneurship and investment persists because the causes are structural and deep-rooted.
“We need to challenge the way we think about tackling this issue in order to drive meaningful change.”
5. A digital dashboard showcasing oil and gas decommissioning work in the North Sea has been re-launched.
The North Sea Transition Authority, the industry regulator, said the tool now has field specific information from 15 operators.
Advertisement
That compares to just three when the system was piloted towards the end of 2021.
The aim is to show suppliers there is a clear pipeline of work and the likely timeline for activity across the UK continental shelf.
It is hoped operating companies will also collaborate in areas such as well decommissioning to save on costs.
Alastair Bisset, the NSTA head of decommissioning, said it was clear suppliers need to know when work is coming “so that they can invest with confidence and plan effectively”.
6. The Scotland Food & Drink Partnership has appointed a University of St Andrews biology professor to chair its external advisory group on net zero.
Sir Ian Boyd, who also sits of the Scottish government’s environmental council, will be advising on how the industry can meet ambitions to reach net zero emissions by 2045.
The first meeting of the group is scheduled to take place next month.
Other members include professor Julie Fitzpatrick, the chief scientific advisor to the Scottish government, David Hay, the managing director of Compass Scotland and professor Wendy Russell from Aberdeen University.
