Scottish Financial Review

Weir Group, the Glasgow-based global mining and engineering FTSE 100 firm, announced that National Grid CFO Andy Agg has been appointed to the Weir board as an…

Abrdn plc announced that Catherine Bradley will not seek re-election at the company’s Annual General Meeting on April 24, 2024, and will stand down as…

Edinburgh-based investment giant Abrdn plc announced its 2023 results on Tuesday, saying its work to achieve at least £150 million of annualised cost savings “is now…

Edinburgh-based green energy integrator Logan Energy said it has secured £5 million of investment to develop its systems-led approach in the emerging hydrogen power sector….

Hammerson has announced the exchange of an unconditional contract for the sale of Union Square, the 52,000m shopping centre in Aberdeen, to an affiliate of US-based…

By Mark McSherry Apple shareholders Abrdn and Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) are planning to challenge the tech giant’s disclosure practices regarding artificial intelligence (AI)…

By Mark McSherry The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has published a comprehensive report on the ownership of investment trust shares as at December 31,…

Purchases of investment trusts on adviser platforms fell 28% to £948 million in 2023, down from 2022’s record high of £1.3 billion, according to data…

Celtic plc announced that its revenue increased 11% to £85.2 million in the six months to December 31, 2023, while profit before taxation slipped to…

The Scottish Government has launched its first Techscaler hub in San Francisco to help startups from Scotland build contacts with international investors and customers. The…

Loganair announced it has appointed Luke Farajallah as its new CEO, effective March 4. “He has extensive experience in the UK regional airline sector, holding…

A funding package has been agreed to secure an estimated £350 million inward investment project for Cromarty in the Scottish Highlands from Sumitomo Electric UK…

Baillie Gifford’s £2.7 billion Monks Investment Trust plc announced the appointments of Randeep Singh Grewal and Stacey Parrinder-Johnson as non-executive directors of the company, both with effect…

Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, has appointed former Hymans Robertson executive Mike Ambery in the new role of Retirement Savings Director. “In this role,…

Significant changes are required to ensure the financial sustainability of Scotland’s health service, according to a report from Audit Scotland. The report said the Scottish…

AI-driven drug discovery firm Exscientia said in a US regulatory filing that it terminated the employment of CEO Andrew Hopkins “following an investigation which found…

By Mark McSherry UK central government borrowing in the financial year-to-January 2024 was £96.6 billion, £3.1 billion less than in the same 10-month period a…

Urban Logistics REIT plc may have started a bidding war for Abrdn Property Income Trust Limited (API) with a rival “indicative” all-share offer a month after API…

AEG Europe, owner of The O2 venue in London, said it has submitted a planning application to City of Edinburgh Council for its proposed 8,500-capacity arena in…

Alliance Trust plc, the £3.4 billion Dundee-headquartered fund, has declared a fourth interim dividend of 6.34p per share, up 5.7% on the equivalent dividend of 6p…

Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) has reported record revenue of £12.8 million for the year to December 31, 2023 (2022: £11.8m), along with a record…

J.P. Morgan Private Bank said it will expand its operations in Scotland with the addition of a new team of dedicated advisors in Edinburgh. The…

Parabola, the developer and owner of Edinburgh Park, has confirmed that Sainsbury’s Bank has agreed terms for the whole of the fourth floor of 1…

Elgin-based house builder Springfield Properties said its revenue fell 25% to £121.7 million and statutory profit before tax fell 80% to £1.2 million in the six…

Commercial property investment volumes across Scotland slowed in 2023 “as high interest rates and falling capital values created a lack of viability for debt buyers”…

Scottish Forestry is investing £2 million towards timber transport projects across Scotland. “The funding will help decarbonise the forestry sector and reduce the impacts of…

Sales of Scottish homes for £1 million or more reached a new high of 506 transactions in 2023, up from 504 in 2022, according to property firm…

Forth Ports, the UK’s third largest port group, said it has placed an order for two new pilot boats to join its fleet working on…

Elgin-based Springfield Properties, which is building a number of new communities throughout Scotland, said it has signed an agreement for the sale of 11.2 acres of…

Edinburgh-based Artisanal Spirits Company plc (ASC), owner of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), has announced that SMWS membership growth increased significantly in the year…

By Mark McSherry Europe’s largest buyout firm CVC Capital Partners announced that Scotsman Donald Mackenzie, one of its co-founders and most successful dealmakers, is stepping…

Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, has concluded a £114 million Bulk Purchase Annuity (BPA) transaction covering 1,800 members of the Vector Pension Scheme, which…

NatWest Group plc — formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland — said its operating profit before tax rose 20% to £6.2 billion in 2023…

The board of NatWest Group plc — formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland — has confirmed the appointment of Paul Thwaite as group chief…

Scotland saw hotel transaction volumes — sales of £1 million+ —  reach £310 million in 2023, up 98% on 2022’s figure of £156 million, according…

Baillie Gifford’s £1 billion investment trust Scottish American Investment Company (SAINTS) reported that its share price total return was 8.2% and net asset value total return…

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said the value of Scotch exports topped £5.6 billion in 2023, down 9.5% on the record £6.2 billion of 2022, but up…

Chivas Brothers, the Scotch whisky business of Pernod Ricard, has announced its first-half (July 2023 – December 2023) financial results with organic net sales down 6%…

Proposals to build 50 new family homes in Colinsburgh in east Fife have been approved by Fife Council. The plans by based in Sauchen, Aberdeenshire-based…

Salmon Scotland chief executive Tavish Scott has attacked “the blurring of the lines between activism and journalism” and criticised “the desperate tactics of anti-salmon campaigners”…

Sales of Scottish salmon — the UK’s biggest food export — increased by 0.5% to £581 million in the 2023 calendar year, according to annual HMRC…

Homes for Scotland (HFS) has described new Scottish planning application statistics as “woeful” and “unacceptable.” HFS said the figures “highlight a 41 per cent drop…

John Wood Group, the Aberdeen-based global engineering and consulting giant, announced that Babcock International Group CEO David Lockwood will join the firm as a non-executive director…

The UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.3% in the fourth quarter, more than the 0.1% drop that economists had forecast, according to latest statistics from the…

The total value of all private housing in Scotland has risen by £97.7 billion or 25% since 2019 before the pandemic to £481 billion in…

The Hunter Foundation (THF) said it has launched the next phase of its ScaleUpScotland programme, recruiting for its fifth cohort of 12 scaling businesses. THF…

Virgin Money said on Wednesday it will purchase Abrdn’s 50% stake in their joint venture Virgin Money Investments “following the successful launches of its new…

Property consultancy Bidwells announced it has been successful in securing a further tenure as managing agents for Crown Estate Scotland’s coastal portfolio, following a full public procurement exercise….

Houston, Texas-based energy services firm Expro announced it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Aberdeen drilling tech company Coretrax from an investment group led…

Former RBS/NatWest Group CEO Ross McEwan is to join Farnborough-based QinetiQ, a global defence technology, as a non-executive director. McEwan will join the QinetiQ Board on…

Lothian Buses announced it has purchased East Lothian coach operator Eve Coaches. Lothian said it will acquire the touring operator, based in Dunbar, to expand…

HMRC estimates for January 2024 indicate that there were 2.46 million payrolled employees in Scotland — a record high number and up by 27,000 compared…

Scotland is experiencing a start-up boom, with over 40,000 new businesses setting up shop last year – an increase of 12% on the number of…

John Wood Group, the Aberdeen-based global engineering and consulting giant, said it has been selected as “owner’s engineer” on a major green hydrogen production project in…

Lothian Buses has announced its passenger numbers increased by more than 17% from 94 million in 2022 to 110 million in 2023. Edinburgh Trams, the…

Proposals have been detailed and submitted for a new community in west Edinburgh that promises 3,000 homes, office space to support more than 4,000 jobs,…

The latest Royal Bank of Scotland purchasing managers’ index (PMI) has revealed a renewed rise in business activity across the Scottish private sector at the…

Edinburgh investment giant Abrdn has confirmed it is trialling alternatives to Bloomberg terminals as part of a its recently-announced move to slash about £150 million in…

The International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), a group of international institutional investors with $77 trillion of assets, have warned that proposed reforms to company listing…

First Minister Humza Yousaf has appointed Màiri McAllan as Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy. Setting out portfolio changes to the Scottish…

NatWest Group has announced the appointment of wealth management executive Emma Crystal as the new CEO of its wealth businesses, including the Coutts private bank,…

Rod Ashley has announced he will be stepping down as CEO of Glasgow-based Alba Bank after six years. Alba Bank is the UK’s newest challenger bank…

Edinburgh-based Tesco Bank is to be bought by Barclays Bank UK in a deal worth about £600 million. Barclays announced it entered into an agreement with…

SSE plc, the Perth-based electricity infrastructure giant, said on Thursday that SSE Renewables’ output over the first three quarters of the year was around 15%…

The latest Royal Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs survey has reported yet another “deterioration in permanent candidate availability” as it confirmed a drop in…

The Scottish Government’s 10-year economic strategy “currently lacks collective political leadership and clear targets” according to a new report from Audit Scotland. The Scottish Government…

Parabola, developer and owner of Edinburgh Park, has agreed a deal with Edinburgh-based S1 Developments to create housing for sale at the 42 acre site on the…

The Scottish economy is expected to improve in 2024 after little growth over the course of 2023, according to the latest quarterly Economic Commentary from…

Leaders of UK Government Investments (UKGI) told the UK parliament’s cross-party Treasury Committee on Tuesday that the process to sell more of the British taxpayer’s remaining…

Crosswind Developments, the team behind a proposed development that promises 3,000 new homes near Edinburgh Airport, has appointed former Scottish Enterprise CEO Steve Dunlop as…