Scottish business leaders have warned that access to investment capital is drying up.

That's according to Morton Fraser MacRoberts' biannual survey of Scottish business leaders, which found that almost half (48%) rate the availability of investment capital in Scotland as scarce or very scarce. Just 8% describe investment as readily available.

As a consequence, firms are concentrating on more defensive strategies in the months ahead, such as increasing revenue (79%) and improving operational efficiencies (65%), with little headroom for growth strategies such as entering new export markets (6%) or product diversification (22%).

A flat economic outlook is the primary barrier to growth, with two thirds (67%) identifying the uncertain economy as their biggest challenge, with more than a thir

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