Here are the business stories making the headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Aberdeen energy boss highlights need for North Sea investment to secure city HQ
The boss of energy services firm OEG has warned Aberdeen’s position as company headquarters should not be taken for granted.
OEG chief executive John Heiton said the business was committed to the Granite City “to a certain extent”, but questioned the logic of keeping its head office in the north-east if the local energy market continued to weaken.
His comments came as the company, which has around 300 staff based in Aberdeen, reported strong growth driven largely by international markets and its renewables division.
Read the P&J exclusive here.
Scotland's universities face 'bleak' future as £200m funding gap revealed
Scotland's universities face a funding gap of about £200m a year, according to major new report which warns it could increase in the future.
The picture is "bleak", the report's author Prof Sir Anton Muscatelli says, with total income no longer enough to sustain core activities such as teaching and research.
The report also spotlights the increasing dependence on fee-paying international students to cross-subsidise the tuition of Scottish undergraduates.
Read the full BBC article here.
UK business confidence highest since start of Iran war
British businesses have reported the highest levels of confidence since the early days of the US-Iran war, on optimism about the state of the economy and prices.
A measure of monthly sentiment compiled by Lloyds rose by four points in August to the highest level since March, shortly after the outbreak of the conflict on February 28. The barometer was pushed up by companies’ optimism over the economy, which has proved to be more resilient to higher oil prices and inflation than feared.
A measure of economic sentiment rose by seven points this month and has gained 18 points since June, according to Lloyds Business Barometer. The overall barometer is up to 53%, the highest since March’s 55% and above the 12-month average of 47%.
Read more in The Times.
Mike Ashley attacks Burnham plans as 'populist'
Billionaire Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley has criticised recent cost of living and retail policies from Andy Burnham as "populist reactions".
In a letter to the prime minister, the entrepreneur accused him of "jumping on 'everyday fixes' or bandwagons", while "disastrous" business rates policies and increases to the cost of employing workers were causing businesses to struggle.
He also described a previous proposal of increasing business rates on large warehouses to help reduce them for pubs and clubs as "delusional".
Read the full BBC story.
Junior staff ‘losing interpersonal skills’ by working from home
EY is urging its junior staff to get back into the office more often to improve their softer skills, which industry executives believe will become more important as the use of artificial intelligence grows.
The Big Four professional services firm has not made any formal changes to its working from home policy, but said it was reminding staff about “the importance of meaningful time spent together” in the office for their personal development.
The consensus in the industry is that interpersonal skills are becoming ever more important in a world where rival firms all produce a similar standard of technical work because of AI.
Read the full story in The Times.
Foresterhill multi-storey car park to close for three days
NHS Grampian is closing the multi-storey car park at Foresterhill to complete “essential maintenance”.
Lady Helen Parking Centre will be shut for a period of three days in September.
All vehicles must be removed from the site before 10pm on Thursday September 10.
Read more in The Press and Journal.
Time is running out for cyber security, warn top tech firms
A group of 100 firms, including Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI, have signed an open letter calling on countries and organisations around the world to beef up their cyber defences before AI grows powerful enough to override them.
The letter warns, external cyber-attacks which use AI will become both more widespread and more sophisticated in a matter of months as the technology rapidly improves.
The group says current "status quo" security measures "won't be enough" and criticises the "historic under-resourcing" of security around critical infrastructure.
Find out more on the BBC website.
Trump administration illegally retaliated against Anthropic, judge rules
A judge has ruled the US Department of Defense acted unlawfully when it designated artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic a supply chain risk, calling the move "illegal and baseless".
The company argued in the lawsuit that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority with the new designation. It followed Anthropic's refusal to allow the military to use its AI models for things that included surveillance or autonomous weapons.
US district judge Rita Lin said in the ruling that citing national security "is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics".
Read the BBC story here.
Britain’s 240 crypto millionaires revealed in official tax data
Hundreds of British crypto investors booked capital gains of more than £1million in the last tax year, new figures show, as the rally in digital assets helped to create a new wave of crypto millionaires.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said that total taxable capital gains from cryptoassets were £1.38billion in the year to April 2025 with the gains split across 17,600 individuals, while 240 investors, who gained more than a £1million, accounted for £717million of gains.
The HMRC data showed that 87% of the investors were male while more than half, 54%, were aged 25-44. Only 17% of capital gains taxpayers on other assets were in that age bracket.
Read The Times' article here.