GLASGOW ranked third in a league table of UK local authority areas with the most start up businesses last year while Edinburgh came fifth, The Sunday Times reports.

It said StartUp Britain found the Glasgow City Council area had 7,845 start ups. The City of Edinburgh area had 6,635.

Birmingham was top with17,473.

StartUp Britain compiled the rankings, which cover authorities outside London, using data from Companies House.

John McFarlane, the Scot who chairs Barclays and lobby group TheCityUK, told the paper European Union leaders may be prepared to grant London financial services firms access to the EU market after Brexit even if valued passporting rights are lost.

Investment business Sustainable Development Capital has emerged as a late challenger to Australia’s Macquarie to take control of the Edinburgh-based Green Investment Bank, which the UK government is privatising.

The Sunday Telegraph reckons the Burberry fashion business will this week report that its sales have risen, following a surge in demand from Chinese shoppers. Burberry boosted its profile in China by appointing pop star Kris Wu as a brand ambassador.

The Betfred bookmaking business owned by founder Fred Done and his family paid £10.2m dividends in the latest year, the Mail on Sunday notes.

The group made £32m profit after losing £88m last time amid increases in UK gaming taxes and a fall in online margins.

The amount wagered with the group rose to £10.8bn in the latest year, from £10.4bn.