The UK remains the top spot for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), but Brexit uncertainty continues to lessen its lead, according to newly released figures. Last year the UK attracted 6 per cent more FDI developments than 2016, according to figures collated by EY in a survey of 450 global investors. After London, Scotland proved the most attractive location for foreign investment, with a marked rise in particular with respect to research and development projects in the region. A 70 per cent increase revealed Scotland as the best-performing part of the UK, with Scotland’s share comprising 24 percent of the UK overall. However, the UK fell behind France, which grew by 3 per cent, overall lagging behind the European average growth rate of 10 per cent. According to EY’s figures, the UK’s market share fell for the second consecutive year in 2017, and is likely to suffer further falls. As a result, the data revealed that investors were leaning towards Germany for future projects. France followed in second place boosted by the election of pro-business Macron, with the UK coming in at third. Whilst Britain welcome a 22 per cent bolster in foreign investment into digital enterprises, this compared to an average 33 per cent rise recorded across Europe. Investor anxiety with respect to economic uncertainty relating to Brexit was particularly evident in sectors such as financial services, with the number of firms opening headquarters in the UK on the decline. EY senior partner in Scotland, Mark Harvey, said: “Scotland has demonstrated an outstanding ability to attract and drive sustained growth of FDI. “However, the performance of the UK as a whole within Europe is a signal that competition for FDI projects is intensifying and our previous levels of attractiveness are not guaranteed to continue.” He added: “Economic growth (in Scotland) is positive, but sluggish, and access to labour is a recurring challenge that makes it more difficult to expand operations. “Scotland must work increasingly hard, with private and public sectors in partnership, to ensure the pipeline of talent, skills and experience is strong enough to drive business and economic growth in the future.”    

Troubled retailer Poundworld has appointed administrators after rescue talks failed to progress. the discount shop was forced into administration this week after talks with potential buyer, R Capital, collapsed. The unravelling of the chain, which operates some 355 stores across the country, means over 5,000 jobs are at risk. Deloitte, the administrators, have insisted that Poundworld will continue to operate as usual with no redundancies as of yet. It said in a statement: “Like many high street retailers, Poundworld has suffered from high product cost inflation, decreasing footfall, weaker consumer confidence and an increasingly competitive discount retail market.” A spokesperson from TPG, the owner behind the group, said: “This was a difficult decision for every party involved. We invested in Poundworld because of our belief in how the company serves its customers and the strength of its employees. “Despite investing resources to strengthen the business, the decline in UK retail and changing consumer behaviour affected Poundworld significantly.” News of Poundworld’s impending collapse first began circulating last week when another potential buyer, Alteri Investors, pulled out from negotiations. The discount retailer is the latest in a series of UK retailers grappling with an increasingly challenging trading environment. New Look, Marks & Spencer’s, Carpetright and House of Fraser have all announced store closures in recent weeks, prompting concerns about the death of the UK high street as we know it.  

The price of Bitcoin plummeted substantially on Monday morning, after the market reacted to the news of the hacking of South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, Coinrail. A tweet from Coinrail confirming the hack sent the price of Bitcoin down 10 percent on Sunday, loosing $500 (£372) an hour. Some sources have speculated that Coinrail lost cryptocurrencies totaling as much as $40 million in the cyber attack. According to its website, the exchange has already suspended services after the “cyber intrusion,” which led to a number of ERC-20 based tokens being stolen. In a statement, Coinrail said: “70% of total coin and token reserves have been confirmed to be safely stored and moved to a cold wallet [not connected to the internet]. Two-thirds of stolen cryptocurrencies were withdrawn or frozen in partnership with related exchanges and coin companies. For the rest, we are looking into it with an investigative agency, related exchanges and coin developers.” Bitcoin is currently trading at $6783.31, down from its Christmas peak of nearly $20,000. The cyber attack adds to concerns over the vulnerability of said unregulated currencies, in light of weak regulation. Cryptocurrencies remain controversial, with many governments across the globe calling for greater regulation across the market. Back in March, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney spoke out against Bitcoin, calling for a crackdown on deregulated currencies. “The time has come to hold the crypto-asset ecosystem to the same standards as the rest of the financial system,” said Carney at the Scottish Economics Conference in Edinburgh. “Being part of the financial system brings enormous privileges, but with them great responsibilities. In this spirit, the EU and the US are requiring crypto exchanges to meet the same anti-money laundering and counter the financing of terrorism standards as other financial institutions. “In my view, holding crypto-asset exchanges to the same rigorous standards as those that trade securities would address a major underlap in the regulatory approach.”

April saw worst month for UK manufacturing in over five years, with a 1.4 percent fall in factory production. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), April was the steepest fall since October 2012 and marked the third consecutive fall. “Manufacturing fell in the three months to April with electrical machinery and steel for infrastructure projects seeing reduced production,” said Rob Kent-Smith, the ONS’ head of national accounts. “International demand continued to slow and the domestic market remained subdued. However, oil and gas production grew strongly in the aftermath of the Forties pipeline closure at the end of last year.” The poor results led to the fall in the pound, which slipped 0.35 percent against the dollar to $1.3368. Construction was also weaker than expected for April and grew just 2.3 percent in May. Suren Thiru of the British Chambers of Commerce said: “It is possible that the UK is now moving past the recent sweet spot for exporters, with growth in key markets moderating and the impact of the post-EU referendum slump in sterling, which has helped some exporters, subsiding. The possibility of an escalating trade war has added to the downside risks for exporters.” GDP growth in the first quarter of the year slumped to 0.1 percent. The Bank of England held off from increasing interest rates in May and remains optimistic for positive results. “The very poor set of April industrial production, construction output and trade data can only fuel Bank of England concerns and uncertainties over the economy and there can be no doubt that the [Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee] will leave interest rates unchanged at their June meeting next week,” said Howard Archer of the EY Item Club. “The data also make an August interest rate hike by the Bank of England look a lot more questionable,” he added. The UK trade deficit was also seen to increase to £5.3 billion in April. This is the largest amount since September 2016.  

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has committed to UK expansion, despite uncertainty surrounding Brexit. The retail giant has said it will create over 2,500 jobs in the UK this year including 650 head office roles. Doug Gurr, the company’s UK and Ireland boss, said: “The UK is a fantastic place to do business.” “We are trying to make sure all the businesses that work with us can continue to operate effectively … We don’t yet know exactly what the rules [on trading after Brexit] are going to be. We will wait and see what happens and adapt as necessary,” he added. The group employed about 24,000 at the end of last year but hopes to increase this number to 27,500 by the end of 2018. Building several new warehouses in the UK, the group hopes to employ experts in speech science and machine learning in order to develop its smart speakers and the Alexa personal assistant. Amazon has invested £9.3 billion in the UK since 2010 and has created thousands of jobs. This is unlike retailers including Tesco (LON: TSCO) and Sainsbury’s (LON: SBRY), which have both cut thousands of jobs this year amid the Brexit uncertainty. CEO Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan (LON: JMC) said that the group may cut over 4,000 jobs in the UK if a suitable Brexit deal isn’t reached. Amazon is currently facing legal dispute over employment rights of delivery drivers. The group has also been criticised over the conditions for workers in warehouses. Gurr has said he is “proud of working conditions across all parts of our business” and said the group runs public tours of warehouses and the public are able to see the facilities for themselves. The Amazon boss has not commented on whether the group plan to buy Waitrose (LON: JLH) in order to expand the business.  

The London Stock Exchange has been accused of bending corporate governance rules in order to attract the huge Saudi Aramco listing, allowing the group to float 5 percent of the company instead of the 25 percent usually asked for. Both London and New York have been competing to nab the listing, which could bu the largest in history. For London, it would underscore its reputation as a centre of global finance despite the uncertainty of Brexit. In order to do so, the LSE has relaxed its requirements for admittance onto the stock exchange, with the FCA confirming that a new category will allow a smaller float for sovereign-controlled companies. Saudi Aramco is Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company. However, the Institute of Directors criticised the decision, saying it would put the “UK’s global reputation as a leader in good governance” at risk. It added that it was “deeply disappointed”, and would lead to “a reduction in standards”. Aramco has still not confirmed where it will float its shares, or even if it will do so at all.

Drinks brand owner Distil (LON:DIS) saw shares rise over 13 percent on Friday morning, after reporting a jump in both profits and turnover. The brand, who own Blavod Black Vodka, Blackwoods Vintage Gin and RedLeg Spiced Rum, saw operating profit jump to £0.16 million in the year to end of March, up from £0.01m the previous year. Turnover jumped 23 percent to £1.2 million, with margins unchanged at 58 percent. “We are pleased to have delivered a strong set of results with significant growth in volumes, revenue and profits, supported by investment in our brands,” said Executive Chairman Don Goulding. “We look forward to building on this success though further investment in our key brands in the coming year.” Net operating cash inflow rose to £1.03 million, from £0.91 million the previous the year. Growth was driven largely by strong performances from Distil’s RedLeg spiced rum and Blackwoods Vintage gin, after launching new packaging for the Blackwoods 2017 Vintage gin in the final quarter of the year. Shares in Distil are currently trading up 13.64 percent at 2.50 (1107GMT).

MPs have pushed for TSB chief executive Paul Pester to quit over his handling of the bank’s recent IT meltdown. Earlier this week the Treasury select committee advised the bank’s board to give“serious consideration as to whether his position was sustainable”, adding that his comments at the time had been “complacent and misleading”. The comments were made in a letter from Nicky Morgan, the committee’s chair, to TSB chair Richard Meddings. However, the bank’s board said Pester had their complete support, despite consistent calls for him to step down. TSB suffered a major IT meltdown six weeks ago, with some customers still facing disruption. Fraudsters also took advantage of the problems, stealing money from teh accounts of 1300 customers. In her letter, Nicky Morgan said: “This tone has been set from the top – by Paul Pester – and whether intentionally or not he has not been straight with the committee and TSB customers. Dr Pester’s statements that “everything is running smoothly for the vast majority of our … customers” and that “there will be no barriers” to customers switching accounts, and his denial that there were problems on TSB’s fraud reporting line, are all examples of this. “The Treasury committee, therefore, has lost confidence in Dr Pester’s position as chief executive of TSB, and considers that the TSB board should give serious consideration as to whether his position is sustainable.” The bank’s response underlined their confidence in Pester’s leadership, saying that the improvements had been made “under the leadership of Paul Pester, who continues to have the full support of the TSB board.”