April 2016



Tesco plans to sell Dobbies – report

Tesco is drawing up plans to sell loss-making businesses including Midlothian-based Dobbies Garden Centres in order to focus on core operations, according to Sky News. Sky News said…


International passengers up 37.6% at Edinburgh

A 37.6% increase in international passenger numbers helped Edinburgh Airport have its busiest March ever. International passenger soared from 358,450 in March last year to 493,200 last…


Stagecoach orders £97m of new buses

Perth-based transport giant Stagecoach Group on Monday announced new vehicle orders worth £97 million. A new fleet of 480 vehicles, many equipped with free wifi, will…



Rothesay buys £6bn Scottish Equitable annuities

Goldman Sachs-backed pension buyout specialist Rothesay Life has agreed to buy £6 billion of annuities from Scottish Equitable plc, the UK subsidiary of Dutch insurance and investment giant Aegon…


Petra Wetzel launches female entrepreneur fund

Glasgow-based brewery and restaurant entrepreneur Petra Wetzel has launched an investment fund called West Women to provide seed capital and financial assistance to emerging female…



Össur of Iceland buys Livingston’s Touch Bionics

Livingston-based prosthetic technologies firm Touch Bionics has been bought for £27.5 million by Icelandic company Össur. Touch Bionics has more than 120 employees at its operations in Scotland,…






Wood Group buys Houston-based Ingenious

Aberdeen-based oil and gas services giant Wood Group has made its second acquisition this week by buying Houston, Texas-based Ingenious Inc., a supplier of software…


Glasgow University links up with Smithsonian

The University of Glasgow has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC to formalise a relationship that goes back more than…



3i stake values Wireless Infrastructure at £300m

Bellshill-based Wireless Infrastructure Group (WIG ) has announced a £75 million investment from 3i Infrastructure that values WIG at £300 million. WIG builds and operates communication towers…


Innis & Gunn buys Inveralmond Brewery for £3.1m

Edinburgh-based beer company Innis & Gunn is buying Perth-based Inveralmond Brewery with the acquisition entirely funded by £3.1 million of capital raised through the Innis & Gunn BeerBond…





Higher education helps R&D hit £2.22bn

Gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) in Scotland was £2.22 billion in 2014, down 0.6% on 2013, according to Scotland’s chief statistician. The gap in GERD as a percentage of…



Cummings appointed Investment Association chief

The Investment Association (IA) — the trade group for the UK fund management industry — said it appointed Chris Cummings as chief executive. Cummings joins the IA, whose members…


Parsons Peebles buys Taylor & Goodman

Rosyth-based Parsons Peebles Group, a Clyde Blowers Capital company, said it acquired Reading-based Taylor & Goodman, a fast-growing provider of electromechanical services to the water sector. The acquisition…





Macfarlane Group buys Colton Packaging Teesside

Glasgow-based packaging firm Macfarlane Group said it acquired Colton Packaging Teesside as part of its strategy “to develop its packaging distribution business in the UK protective packaging…


Tidal power firm Atlantis signs deal with Equitix

Edinburgh-based tidal power company Atlantis said it has entered into a partnership agreement with Equitix, an infrastructure developer, investor and fund manager with more than £1.7 billion of funds…


Motherwell-based MB Aerospace buys Centrax

Motherwell-based engineering group MB Aerospace has completed the acquisition of Centrax Turbine Components based in Devon, England. It is the first acquisition for MB Aerospace following…




Korean firm acquires Wind Towers Scotland

Perth-based energy giant SSE said it closed a deal to transfer its 80% ownership stake in the Machrihanish-based Wind Towers Scotland (WTS) factory to CS Wind,…