New Singapore team for Standard Life
Edinburgh-based global asset manager Standard Life Investments announced the appointment of a new team and CEO in Singapore, a big step in the firm’s global growth…
October 2016
Samsung scraps Galaxy Note 7 amid fire concerns
Samsung Electronics has scrapped its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone in what could become one of the most expensive product safety failures in history. Samsung had announced…
Virgin fibre optic for another 360,000 premises
Virgin Media said it plans to connect another 360,000 homes and businesses in Scotland to its fibre optic network by the end of 2019, as part…
Finance firms commit to women in senior roles
Standard Life, Royal Bank of Scotland, Aberdeen Asset Management, Lloyds Banking Group and Virgin Money are among the 72 firms who have signed the UK…
RBS admits it let small business customers down
Royal Bank of Scotland has admitted that its Global Restructuring Group (GRG) let down some of its small and medium enterprise (SME) business customers and “should have…
Private sector output growth at 14-month high
Scotland’s private sector output increased for the first time in three months in September — with the rate of expansion the fastest for 14 months as…
Scots Government supports Heathrow expansion
The Scottish Government has announced its support for a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport, saying it has secured key commitments that benefit Scotland. It said the Heathrow expansion…
UK to sell Lloyds stock to institutions – not public
UK finance minister Philip Hammond said the British government will withdraw a planned retail sale of cut-price shares in Lloyds Banking Group to the general public due…
Pound plunges amid hard Brexit fears for UK
Sterling fell to a 31-year-low early on Friday with some traders blaming a “flash crash” that was triggered by computer-generated trading. With fears growing that the UK Government will…
Brexit ‘could lead to 80,000 Scots job losses’
Brexit could lead to the loss of between 30,000 and 80,000 jobs in Scotland, according to a report by the Fraser of Allander Institute commissioned by…
Holyrood blocks underground coal gasification
The Scottish Government said it will not support underground coal gasification (UCG) developments in Scotland “following the publication of an independent report that highlights serious…
BrewDog founders change names to Elvis
James Watt and Martin Dickie, co-founders of Aberdeenshire-based craft beer firm BrewDog, said they have legally changed their names by deed poll to Elvis in…
First Scottish gold ‘to be sold by end of year’
Scotgold, the company behind the Cononish gold and silver mine near Tyndrum, said it is hoping to make its first sales of Scottish gold “at a premium to…
Standard Life beefs up in emerging market debt
Edinburgh-based global fund manager Standard Life Investments (SLI) has launched a new emerging market debt fund — and has added to its team of five emerging market debt…
Poor Scots cereal harvest predicted
Scotland’s 2016 cereal harvest is expected to fall 11% on 2015, with the country’s most important cereal crop Spring barley expected to fall 17% to 1.27…
$152 trillion debt could thwart recovery – IMF
Global debt reached an all-time high of $152 trillion in 2015 — about 225% of world gross domestic product — and could thwart the fragile recovery…
Drum plans £100m Aberdeen retail park
Drum Property Group said it has submitted plans to expand its Prime Four Business Park at Kingswells, Aberdeen, with a £100 million investment in a new…
Three Scottish scientists win Nobel Prizes
Professor Fraser Stoddart, a graduate of The University of Edinburgh, was on Wednesday awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Stoddart’s award came a day after two…
Aberdeen among potential bidders for Pioneer
Aberdeen Asset Management is among the four potential bidders still in the running to buy UniCredit’s fund management business Pioneer which has about $246 billion of assets under management,…
UK says Scotland’s share of tax receipts falls
The Scotland-generated share of UK tax receipts fell from 8.1% in 2014-15 to 7.7% in 2015-16, according to official statistics published by Her Majesty’s Revenue and…
Draft budget to be unveiled on December 15
Finance Secretary Derek Mackay told MSPs that, subject to parliamentary approval, the Scottish Government’s 2017-18 Draft Budget will be introduced to the Scottish Parliament on…
IMF says world economy has moved sideways
The International Monetary Fund warned that persistent stagnation could fuel populist calls for restrictions on trade and immigration that could hamper productivity, growth and innovation around the…
CKD Galbraith appoints Pam Over chief executive
Property consultants CKD Galbraith said Pam Over will succeed Tim Kirkwood as the firm’s chief executive officer from January 2017. Over is currently chief operating officer…
Weir appoints Heasley as chief financial officer
Glasgow-based engineering company Weir Group appointed John Heasley as chief financial officer with immediate effect. Heasley succeeds Jon Stanton who was appointed Weir Group chief executive on…
Cala revenue up 15% to £587m
Upmarket home builder Cala Group said its revenue rose 15% to £587.1 million and profit before tax — before exceptional items — jumped 18% £60.1 million in…
Highland Spring sales up 3% to £103m
Bottled water firm Highland Spring Group said sales increased 3% to £103 million and operating profit rose to £5 million in the year to December 31, 2015. Highland Spring chief executive…