Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) invested more than £14.9m in businesses, communities and strategic projects across the Inner Moray Firth area during the 2025/26 financial year.
According to figures compiled by the agency, the investment is forecast to support 86 jobs in the area. It also backs enabling infrastructure intended to attract large-scale manufacturing in future years.
Much of the support went to improving business productivity and competitiveness. WoodblocX, John M Munro Ltd and ScotLive Shellfish were among the firms that received backing for production and automation projects. HIE said these projects would help them become more efficient, expand capacity and increase exports.
HIE supported 98 organisations to develop new products and services or adopt innovative systems. The examples it gives include fish farm harvest technology, digital health innovation, and research and commercialisation projects. HIE said this support helped bring 47 new products, processes or services to launch.
On net zero, HIE backed the Ardersier Energy Transition Facility and the Port of Inverness. It also invested in 23 businesses and social enterprises to improve energy efficiency and adopt renewable technology, and supported a further 21 organisations to develop or implement net zero action plans. The businesses named include Drum Hotel, Russwood Ltd, Proterra Energy, Highland Campervans, and J Scott and Partners, which used the support to bring green technologies into the newly established Shore Hotel in Balintore from the start.
Thirty-three community projects were supported, including the Bikezone Pump Track led by Strathpeffer Residents Association and Green Trail improvements by Laggan Forest Trust.
At Inverness Campus, HIE secured planning consent for the second and final phase. New businesses attracted include Global Energy Group, with its new multi-million pound headquarters, as part of the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport.
Audrey MacIver, HIE area manager for the Inner Moray Firth, said: “The scale and diversity of investment supported during 2025/26 reflects both the ambition of businesses and communities across the Inner Moray Firth and the significant opportunities emerging across the region.
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“The investments also demonstrate the growing role in Scotland’s energy transition, with major investments linked to offshore wind, low carbon infrastructure and business decarbonisation. Together the projects are helping to build a more productive, innovative, inclusive and sustainable economy today and for the future.”
The figures are forecast outturn for April 2025 to March 2026. They will be reviewed by Audit Scotland for inclusion in HIE’s annual report and accounts, which are due to be laid in the Scottish Parliament by the end of October.
