Here are the business stories making the headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Udny Arms Hotel and Trellis cafe ‘seeking new owner in bid to save as many jobs as possible’
The Udny Arms Hotel in Newburgh has entered administration with a new owner urgently sought “to save as many jobs as possible” at the venue.
In an effort to keep up to 40 full and part-time employees in work, the 19th century boutique hotel has been placed into administration by its directors. The family are also behind the popular Trellis cafe on the same site. They ploughed significant sums into reviving the derelict hotel just a few years ago.
But the Udny Arms Hotel Ltd firm had negative net assets of £734,000 in the year to August 2024, according to the Companies House website.
Considered by many, The Udny Arms Hotel claims to be the birthplace of the sticky toffee pudding, with its famous recipe dating back to the 1970s.
Inside the Trinity Centre turnaround as boss reveals how he’s filled up empty units
Trinity Centre bosses are celebrating a successful year after filling their empty units — and say “nothing is off the table” as they look to further boost its popularity in 2026.
Kenny Bruce has worked at the Aberdeen mall for 13 years, spending the last two of those as centre manager. In that time he’s seen “the highs and the lows”, with 37% of its units sitting empty just a few years ago.
But a takeover by new, locally based, owners in 2023 sparked something of a remarkable comeback.
Aberdeenshire firm hits £25m sales for 2025 goal after surge in overseas growth
Aberdeenshire oilfield equipment firm EnerQuip has achieved a record £25million turnover.
The company said “sustained international growth” has accelerated it beyond its original financial targets.
It had initially set a “25 by 25” goal, aiming to reach $25m turnover by 2025, but almost 70% growth in 2022/23 saw the milestone reached ahead of schedule.
Stop complaining about minimum wage rise, Lush founder tells bosses
Bosses should stop complaining about the growing cost of the minimum wage, the boss of Lush has said, even as youth unemployment surges in Britain.
Businesses are bracing for a fresh rise in costs after Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the minimum wage for 18 to 20-year-olds will increase by 8.5% from next April, from £10 to £10.85 an hour. The national living wage, paid to workers aged 21 and over, will increase from £12.21 to £12.71 an hour next April.
Mark Constantine, who founded the ethical cosmetics retailer in 1995, described the living wage as a “great idea” and hit out at criticism from other business owners.
Uber and Lyft announce plans to trial Chinese robotaxis in UK in 2026
Chinese robotaxis could be set to hit UK roads in 2026 as ride-sharing apps Uber and Lyft announce partnerships with Baidu to trial the tech.
The two companies are hoping to obtain approval from regulators to test the autonomous vehicles in London.
Baidu's Apollo Go driverless taxi service already operates in dozens of cities, mostly in China, and has accrued millions of rides without a human behind the wheel.
Alphabet to buy clean energy developer Intersect for $4.75bn
Google owner Alphabet has struck a $4.75billion cash deal for a clean energy start-up to develop on-site power generation and storage to fuel its power-hungry data centres across the US.
Google already owns a minority stake in Intersect from a 2024 funding round, and will acquire the energy and data centre projects already in development or under construction as part of the deal.
The announcement comes as American big tech giants ramp up investment in energy firms as traditional power grids struggle to keep pace with the soaring electricity demand of generative AI amid an intensifying race to capitalise on the booming technology.
Boiling live lobsters to be banned in Labour crackdown
Boiling live crab and lobster is to be banned as part of an animal rights crackdown by Labour.
In its long-awaited animal welfare strategy published on Monday, the Government said “live boiling is not an acceptable killing method” and pledged to publish guidance on approved practices.
It comes after laws introduced under the Tories in 2022 determined that decapods, which include crabs, lobsters and crayfish, and cephalopods, such as squid and octopuses, are sentient.
Amazon blocks 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents
A top Amazon executive has said the US technology giant has blocked more than 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents.
North Koreans tried to apply for remote working IT jobs using stolen or fake identities, Amazon's chief security officer Stephen Schmidt said in a LinkedIn post.
"Their objective is typically straightforward: get hired, get paid, and funnel wages back to fund the regime's weapons programs," he said, adding that this trend is likely to be happening at scale across the industry, especially in the US.