Scotland’s companies are still as eager as ever to raise capital, but recruiters say the hiring emphasis is shifting to old hands who can work a difficult market.

In London, the value of IPOs fell 90% in the first quarter.

But if the UK market’s dropped off the edge of a cliff, no one seems to have told Scotland’s corporates.

John Llewellyn-Lloyd, head of corporate finance at Edinburgh’s Noble Group, recently boasted to the Scotsman that he’s got a list of 30 clients waiting in the wings to raise cash.

Karyn Lamont, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Edinburgh, confirms Scotland is still powering ahead. Lamont says she expects a lot of M&A activity: “It will be a tougher environment with more disposals as people move out of sectors that have not performed well.”

She adds, “There will be real focus on efficient use of capital and on risk management. This will require a different mix of skills that will create new opportunities.”

Joanna Black, partner at Black Appointments, tells us that with any change in the economic climate, companies look at whether they have the right people for the job. “They are used to a bull market. Now, in a bear market some disciplines will need changes at the top.”

David Hill, of recruiters Nelson Scott, says if there’s any hiring to be done for Scotland’s capital markets in the next 12 months, it will be of bankers who’ve worked through testing markets in the past: “Corporate finance teams need more experience, they need people to have been through it before and know how to come out the other side.”