Here are the stories making the business headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Hunt urged to slash tax and red tape to fix ‘worse system than China’
Factory chiefs have urged Jeremy Hunt to slash taxes on businesses and cut red tape to boost growth, claiming the current system is “not fit for purpose”.
The Telegraph report that nearly half of manufacturing companies say tax and regulation is unfavourable, according to a survey by trade body Make UK and RSM. More than a quarter of surveyed bosses said that tax and regulation in Britain was worse than China.
Fhaheen Khan, senior economist at Make UK, called for an “urgent MOT” of tax and red tape.
Mr Khan said: “Manufacturers are clear that many aspects of the current tax and regulatory system are not fit for purpose and are failing to promote vital investment in skills, capital and green growth.”
Manufacturers also urged the Chancellor to scrap his Spring Budget to stop government “flip-flopping” on business policy.
Broadford Works housing plans dead as A-listed Aberdeen mill faces uncertain future
The future of Broadford Works has been hurled into uncertainty – as Aberdeen planners call time on a multi-million-pound housing scheme at the historic site.
Plans to redevelop the iconic former Richards textiles factory as hundreds of homes have unravelled, The Press and Journal reveal.
New ideas for the derelict A-listed complex have been promised in “due course”.
But for now the crumbling industrial monument, closed in 2004, lies in wait.
Scarred by fire-raisers and a haven for urban explorers, the 19th century plant remains the largest collection of at-risk listed buildings in Scotland.
Could AI finally end the scourge of sea-lice and help reduce the price of our supermarket salmon?
That may be the outcome for consumers if new research successfully tackles a problem that has plagued fish farmers throughout the Highlands and Islands for years, sea-lice.
Aberdeen University and the Oban-based Scottish Association for Marine Science (Sams) have teamed up for the innovative acquaculture project, which uses underwater holographic imaging technology.
Electronics firm Hi-Z 3D, seafood giant Mowi, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Government’s marine directorate are also supporting the project.
It is hoped it will lead to the early detection of sea-lice in waters around salmon farms.
Read more in today's Press and Journal.
EY global finance chief Jamie Miller quits after six months
An executive who was appointed as global chief financial officer at EY at the start of this year has left after a plan to break up the group collapsed, as reported in The Times.
Jamie Miller, who was poached in January from Cargill, the commodities trading company, was due to become finance chief of EY’s consulting business if the firm’s plan to split itself in two by demerging the unit had gone ahead.
Her resignation in June, first reported by the Financial Times, came shortly after the spin-off plan was called off.
Alisdair Mann, a London-based vice-chairman, has resumed his role of global finance chief since Miller’s departure.