Here are the business stories making the headlines locally and across the UK this morning.
Council sharing ‘city centre vision’ to help entice buyers for flagship Aberdeen M&S building
Aberdeen leaders will attempt to help woo buyers for the city’s flagship Marks and Spencer building by showing off major regeneration efforts.
The St Nicholas Square store is just off a stretch of Union Street currently closed for expensive upgrades designed to entice more pedestrians and cyclists to the area.
It is also just yards from what will be the eye-catching entrance to the £40 million new food and drink market – which is also in the early stages of construction.
Aberdeen City Council has now voted to provide estate agents with more information on its “masterplan” aims, in the hopes this could lure in some interested parties and give the department store a fresh lease of life.
Norway confirms new safety regulations for S-92 after fatal crash
Norwegian authorities have confirmed new international safety regulations will be applied to the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter after a fatal crash off the coast of Norway in February.
61-year-old nurse and Equinor employee Reidun Hestetun died and five others were injured when the Sikorsky S-92 search and rescue (SAR) helicopter crashed during a training exercise.
Investigators later recovered the wreckage of the Bristow-operated helicopter, including its ‘black box’ flight recorder, from a depth of 220 metres after it sank to the sea floor.
In March, the Accident Investigation Board of Norway (AIBN) confirmed that despite the S-92 helicopter being equipped with floating batons, they did not deploy following the crash despite being armed for release.
On Monday, the AIBN confirmed new regulations will come into effect requiring all S-92 helicopters to undergo safety adaptations by August 2025.
Police ‘not interested’ in dealing with shoplifting, says M&S chairman
The chairman of Marks & Spencer has claimed police are “not interested” in dealing with shoplifting after figures showed the majority of store thefts in some crime hotspots were going unsolved.
Archie Norman said retailers were being forced to spend “a lot of money” on trying to keep crime rates down, including installing new camera systems and store detectives.
Mr Norman said while shoplifting rates in M&S stores were down, he added this was “mostly” because of work by the retailer to tackle offences.
Speaking on LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, he added: “We get very little help from the police. I think we have to accept that the police are not interested in this sort of crime anymore. Whether we like it or not, that’s the way it has gone.”
UK wage growth raises doubts about early interest rate cut
Wages accelerated faster than expected over the first quarter of the year, while unemployment ticked up slightly, casting doubt over how soon the Bank of England could cut interest rates for the first time in four years.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the annual rate of regular pay growth in the UK economy remained unchanged at 6% in the three months to March. City analysts had expected salaries to increase by 5.9%.
When including bonuses, wages rose by 5.7% on an annual basis compared to growth of 5.6% in the previous three months.
Private sector pay growth, which is closely watched by the Bank of England, fell to 5.9% from 6% in the previous quarter.