Here are the stories making the business headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Sharp rise in UK firms at risk of going bust, insolvency data shows
There has been a sharp rise in the number of UK companies at risk of going bust, data seen by the BBC suggests.
The number of firms in "critical financial distress" jumped by 25% in the last three months, according to insolvency experts Begbies Traynor.
They are defined as having county court judgments exceeding £5,000 against them - often a precursor to going under.
Government data out later is likely to confirm the bleak picture as firms battle higher prices and lower demand.
These official insolvency figures are expected to reveal that 2023 is on course to see the highest number of company failures since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009.
Shop price inflation falls to lowest in 14-months
Inflation across Britain’s shops has fallen to a 14-month low as supermarkets slashed the price of homegrown fruit.
Price rises dropped to 5.2% in October, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said, down from 6.2% a month prior.
This comes as established supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s lower prices to compete with discounters Aldi and Lidl.
The latest drop in shop inflation was driven by food price growth falling from 9.9% to 8.8%, fuelled by reductions in domestic fruit, such as strawberries, pomegranates and grapes.
Kingswells House: Aberdeen mansion once used ‘to contact the dead’ could become workplace
Legend has it King Charles II stopped for a drink from the well at the front door, thereby giving the Kingswells area to the west of the city its name.
And in recent decades it has been used by spiritualists, with its own dedicated seance room used to reach people on “the other side”.
The new owner is Andrew Mosley, the boss of offshore engineering firm AS Mosley.
The mechanical engineer founded the firm in 1997, and it has worked with oil and gas firms across the world.
Mr Mosley is now seeking permission from Aberdeen City Council for some changes, as he plans to relocate his business there from Oyne.
Fourteen million UK adults used buy now pay later in six months, the FCA says
There has been a "significant increase" in the number of people using Buy Now Pay Later options to purchase items, with those frequently using the service more likely to be in financial difficulty, the finance regulator has said.
Roughly 14million people, 27% of UK adults, used Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) to purchase something in the six months to January 2023, according to analysis by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
This is up from 17% of UK adults who reported using it in the preceding 12 months to May 2022.
BNPL is a way in which goods can be bought on credit, paid back in interest-free instalments. Popular providers include PayPal and Klarna.