Standing view · business · Highland
improving, held with established confidence, formed on 31 August 2026 from movements in 2026-06.
Business deaths in Highland fell to 220 in the second quarter of 2025 and 190 in the fourth, and business births rose to 275 in the second quarter of 2026, above both closure figures. Fewer closures in successive readings, with formations running ahead of them, is a consistent picture across the two measures published. There were 120 businesses employing 50 to 99 people in 2025, and computer and household goods repair employed 75 people in 2024.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about Highland. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Business deaths | 2025-06 | improving |
| Business deaths | 2025-12 | improving |
| Business births | 2026-06 | improving |
These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.
| Measure | Period | Series |
|---|---|---|
| 95 : Repair of computers and personal and household goods | 2024 | — |
| Businesses employing 50 to 99 people | 2025 | — |