Edinburgh lauded for best UK economic performance outside London

Hello and welcome to our daily digest of business, financial and economic news from around Scotland.

1. Edinburgh has been named as the best UK city outside of London for growth and economic performance.

The Scottish capital stood out for its high levels of productivity, income, employment and health although it also had high house prices and office rental charges.

Researchers from OCO Global looked at 37 data points across 11 places in the UK.

Edinburgh, which was the only Scottish location monitored, came out ahead of the likes of Belfast, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds and Newcastle.

The researchers found Edinburgh was first for gross disposable income per head of population, at £24,161, and also had the highest percentage of citizens in good health at 86 per cent.

2. James Watt, the Brewdog co-founder, has added a star of the Dragons’ Den to his new venture.

James Watt, the Brewdog founder, will invest in Social Tip, a paid-promotion social media company

PA

Steven Bartlett, an entrepreneur and podcaster who has acted as a panellist on the BBC television show, has become an investor in Social Tip and will also act as an adviser to the business.

Watt also confirmed the business, which aims to pay consumers who post on social media about their purchases from certain brands, will launch a crowdfunding effort in the coming weeks.

Watt announced in May he planned to step down as chief executive of Brewdog, the brewer and pubs group he started in 2007.

3. Land reform plans will not encourage more new tenant farmers but will offer only “palliative care for a decaying sector”, MSPs have been told.

Edward Mountain, the Conservative MSP, asked industry representatives appearing at Holyrood’s net zero, energy and transport committee if they felt the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill would create more agricultural tenants.

None of those appearing felt the legislation would help to open up new parcels of land for farming.

Jeremy Moody, secretary for the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers Scotland, said: “The only hope for the bill is if something stronger and more positive were done with the land-use tenancy to create a new start for lettings, otherwise it is just palliative care for a decaying sector.”

Jackie McCreery, legal adviser for landlord organisation Scottish Land & Estates, said: “It will strengthen the cocoon for the existing tenancies but it won’t facilitate new tenancies.”

Julia Maguire will become Pinsent Mason’s global head of energy

PINSENT MASONS

4. Law firm Pinsent Masons has appointed two Scottish partners to run global parts of its practice.

Julia Maguire, who is based in Edinburgh, moves from head of client relationships in energy to become the firm’s global head of energy.

John Maciver, formerly head of banking for Scotland and Northern Ireland and also based in Edinburgh, has been named as the global head of financial services.

Katharine Hardie, chairwoman of Pinsent Masons in Scotland, said: “The appointments of Julia and John to these globally significant leadership roles demonstrate the quality of legal expertise we have in Scotland and a deep sector knowledge and understanding of the markets they operate in.

“Both have made enormous contributions to our practice over many years and I have no doubt they will be a great success in helping drive our global offering in energy and financial services respectively.”

Pinsent Masons employs about 550 people across its offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow with a further 2,800 around the world.

5. Salvesen Mindroom Centre has appointed an investment managers to take over from an accountant on its board of trustees.

Edward Troughton is becoming chairman at the neurodiversity charity in Edinburgh.

The former army officer moved into financial services with Barings before stints at Alliance Trust and Blackrock.

Sandy Manson, who was managing partner at accountancy firm Johnston Carmichael, is stepping down from the charity after four years as its chairman.

“Neurodiversity affects us all in so many different ways, whether it be directly or indirectly, within our families or at our workplace,” Trougton said.

“Mindroom has already helped so many individuals and families but there is so much more that can be done.”

6. A land sale and growing tidal energy generation have helped Simec Atlantis Energy post a stronger profit for last year.

The AIM-listed company noted its Meygen tidal project off the Caithness coast produced for 11.9 gigawatt hours across 2023, up from 8.7.

Alongside that it benefited from the sale of land at its Uskmouth battery energy storage project in Wales.

Revenue increased by more than 200 per cent to £15.3 million. The pre-tax profit was £22.8 million, compared with a loss of £11.1 million in the previous year, although that was helped by a £28.2 million positive revaluation of the company’s investment property.