Here are the business stories making the local and national headlines this morning
Turnover up at Trump's Aberdeenshire golf course
Turnover at Trump International Golf Links at Balmedie has nearly doubled to £2.1million, according to new Companies House filings.
Losses have also narrowed at the site - its pre-tax loss for 2021 was £687,000, after a £1.3million loss for the previous 12 months.
Trump Turnberry, in South Ayrshire, was more than £3.7m in the red for the year as wage inflation and Brexit weighed on performance.
"Brexit has impacted our business as supply chains have been impacted by availability of drivers and staff, reducing deliveries and the availability of certain product lines," Donald Trump's son, Eric, said.
Shoppers give retailers new year cheer as footfall rises
Retail footfall rose more than 12% last month as Scots flocked to the shops in search of bargains.
The data from Sensormatic Solutions showed that there were 36.4% more visits to shopping centres compared with January 2022.
The Scottish Retail Consortium told The Times it was a positive start to the year but pointed out that footfall was still lower than in 2019.
Car insurance pushed up by paint and energy prices
Rising paint prices and higher energy costs were among the reasons for a leap in the cost of motor insurance late last year, a trade body has said.
The average price paid for cover rose by 8% in the final three months of the year, compared with the previous quarter, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said.
The typical premium of £470 was up 7% on the last three months of 2021. Repair and courtesy car costs were factors in the increase, the ABI told the BBC.
Britain’s workforce to shrink permanently in wake of pandemic
Britain’s workforce will be permanently smaller after the pandemic, the Bank of England has warned, putting the economy on a path of stagnation.
Bank officials cast doubt over the Government's ability to drive hundreds of thousands of people back to work, highlighting evidence of "increasing detachment" among people who had left their jobs or given up looking for work since 2020.
Increasing numbers of Baby Boomers reaching retirement age meant the number of Britons in the workforce was already "trending down", the Bank said.
Many early retirees were now also "unlikely to return" to the jobs market soon because they do not want to work, The Telegraph reports.
Jeremy Hunt to resist tax cut calls
Jeremy Hunt has pledged to resist calls to cut taxes as interest rates hit a 15-year high of 4%.
“We recognise it is very difficult for families, businesses, up and down the country when interest rates go up,” Hunt told The Times.
“But much harder for them would be if we didn’t take decisive steps to bring down inflation. That’s why the Bank of England is absolutely right to do what they’ve done today.
“And we in the government must make sure we support them in what I do in the budget, to make sure that we make it easier, not harder, for them to do what we all want to do, which is to halve inflation.”
Chip industry delays ‘pose national risk’
The lack of a national strategy to secure supply chains for semiconductors is “an act of national self-harm”, the chairman of the Commons’ business select committee has warned.
Darren Jones said the government had to act swiftly to keep up with the United States, the European Union and Japan, each of which is putting tens of billions of dollars into fostering homegrown supplies of the critical electronic components.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport was supposed to lay out a plan for the microchip industry last autumn. Publication of its proposals is long overdue and no date has been set. A source said that the delay in publication was because the Treasury was very unhappy with the first draft and had sent it back to the department for review.
Energy firms asked to suspend prepayment meter installs
Energy companies have been asked to suspend the forced installation of prepayment meters by the energy regulator Ofgem.
This comes after The Times found debt agents for British Gas had broken into vulnerable people's homes to fit meters.
Ofgem has asked all suppliers to review the use of court warrants to enter the homes of customers in arrears.
It said firms must get their "house in order".
Apple sales in biggest fall since 2019
Apple sales dropped at the end of 2022 as shoppers squeezed by the rising cost of living cut back their purchases.
Sales at the iPhone giant fell 5% in the three months to December compared with the same period in 2021.
It was the biggest decline since 2019 and worse than expected. The update came as many firms warn about a sharp economic slowdown, especially in the tech sector which boomed during the pandemic.