2016


RBS offers to buy back £5.2bn of debt

Royal Bank of Scotland announced plans on Wednesday to buy back £5.2 billion pounds ($7.5 billion) worth of bonds to lower its interest payments and meet regulatory…



Scots recruitment firm conquers New York

MJ Boyd Consulting, a Manhattan-based recruitment firm owned and run by Scots, has become one of the leading boutique recruitment firms for the financial sector in…


International expansion for Copylab

Scottish investment writing, copywriting and marketing communications company Copylab is to expand internationally by opening an office in Boston, Massachusetts to serve the asset management industry in…



Lan Tu joins Standard Life as strategy director

Edinburgh-based investment and insurance giant Standard Life has appointed former American Express and McKinsey executive Lan Tu as its strategy director. She will report directly to…



Skye site preferred for £80m fish feed plant

Salmon farming and seafood company Marine Harvest Scotland has chosen the Altanavaig quarry at Kyleakin on Skye as its preferred site for a new £80 million fish feed plant…



Barr moves to low sugar to avoid levy

Cumbernauld-based Irn Bru maker A.G. Barr on Tuesday unveiled the moves it is making to protect its profits following UK finance minister George Osborne’s announcement of a proposed…


Shell mulls sale of North Sea assets

Royal Dutch Shell is considering the sale of some of its North Sea operations following its £35 billion takeover of rival oil and gas producer BG Group. Shell has…





New power plant approved for Grangemouth

The Scottish Government has granted consent for the construction and operation of a gas fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant at BP Kinneil Terminal in…


RBS provides £45m debt for Borders wind farm

Dublin-based renewable energy firm NTR said it secured a £44.9 million debt facility with Royal Bank of Scotland for its 27 megawatt Quixwood Moor wind farm in East Berwickshire, Scotland….


Ex-Standard Life chief Nish joins HSBC board

Global banking and financial services giant HSBC Holdings said it appointed former Standard Life chief executive David Nish, 55, to its board as an independent non-executive…



Scots farm incomes halved in four years

The incomes of commercial farms in Scotland are estimated to have halved over the four years to 2014, according to the Scottish Government. Estimates from…



Stan Life AGM outside of Scotland for first time

Edinburgh-based investment, pensions and insurance group Standard Life is to hold its annual general meeting outside of Scotland for the first time in its history. This year’s Standard…


RBS repays £1.2bn, now plans dividends

Royal Bank of Scotland said on Tuesday it reached a milestone in its plan to resume dividends to shareholders when it repaid a final £1.193 billion to the UK Treasury to…


£315m ‘City Deal’ investment for Inverness

Inverness and the wider Highland region is to benefit from a £315 million “City Deal” investment package over 10 years to improve the area’s infrastructure including transport and…


Johnston Press profit up 22.6% to £31.5m

Regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press, owner of The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post, said on Tuesday its adjusted profit before tax rose 22.6% to £31.5 million in…


FanDuel stops taking bets in New York

Edinburgh-based fantasy sports operator FanDuel will stop taking bets in the state of New York as part of a settlement reached with the Attorney General Eric Schneiderman “on certain aspects…



Standard Life’s 1825 to buy Munro Partnership

Standard Life’s financial planning business 1825 said on Monday it agreed to acquire financial advisory firm Munro Partnership Limited, which has offices in Ayr, Hamilton and Glasgow and has…


New £17m ‘urban quarter’ plan for Falkirk

Falkirk Council has unveiled plans to create a new, environmentally friendly urban quarter at the eastern entrance to Falkirk under its multi-million pound Tax Incremental Finance…



Extra £1m for Gaelic broadcaster MG ALBA

The Scottish Government has announced that Gaelic broadcaster MG ALBA will receive an additional £1 million of investment this year. Minister for Scotland’s Languages Alasdair…



Ex-RBS chief to lead business rates review

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that former chair of RBS Scotland, Ken Barclay, will lead the Scottish Government’s review of business rates. Sturgeon also committed to retaining…



£70m funding for West Calder Wind Farm

The Harburnhead wind farm development south of West Calder has secured £70 million of funding from Barclays and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ to deliver the final…


V&A’s extra £5m extends community reach

The UK Government’s extra £5 million of funding for the new V&A Dundee will contribute towards the capital costs of the museum’s building and for programmes that extend the reach…


Scottish FE lecturers go on strike

Further education lecturers at colleges across Scotland went on strike on Thursday as a campaign by union EIS “for fair pay and pay equality” in Scotland’s colleges escalated….


Menzies appoints dealmaker Baines to board

Edinburgh-based airport logistics and news distribution company John Menzies — under shareholder pressure to split into two companies — has appointed corporate dealmaker Paul Baines as a non-executive director….


Oil and whisky welcome budget tax breaks

Oil & Gas UK and the Scotch Whisky Association, representing two of Scotland’s most important industries, both welcomed moves on taxation by UK finance minister George…





Scottish unemployment rises to 6.1%

Scotland’s unemployment rate rose by 0.5% to 6.1% — up by 16,000 to 171,000 — in the three months to January 31, according to the Office for National…



Standard Life’s 1825 to buy Almary Green

Standard Life’s financial planning business 1825 said on Tuesday it agreed to acquire Norwich-based independent financial advisers Almary Green, which has assets under advice of around £400 million….


2016 infrastructure projects total £6bn

Infrastructure projects worth almost £6 billion will be under construction throughout Scotland during 2016, and more Scottish employers than before are winning public contracts, the Scottish Government said. Holyrood is…





Miller Homes revenue £500m; profit up 91%

Edinburgh-based Miller Homes said its 2015 revenue rose 29% to £500 million and profit before tax soared 91% to £62 million as low interest rates, improving mortgage availability…


JB Equity backs new animal science company

A new company has been created to maximise the commercial impact of the University of Edinburgh’s pioneering animal science research. The company, Roslin Technologies Ltd, has been…



SSE sells Clyde Wind Farm stake for £355m

Perth-based energy giant SSE said on Monday it agreed to sell 49.9% of its current Clyde Wind Farm in South Lanarkshire to pension fund investors Greencoat UK Wind (UKW)…



Export growth at centre of new trade strategy

The Scottish Government and the country’s enterprise agencies have announced a new “Global Scotland Trade and Investment Strategy 2016-2021” that will focus on “new regional export…


Foreign flights help Scots airports hit record

Edinburgh and Glasgow airports both reported their busiest February on record as international flight traffic in and out of Scotland’s central belt continues to rise. Edinburgh Airport said 770,265…



Nimmo promoted to UK role at KPMG

Prominent Scottish business advisor Blair Nimmo has been promoted to UK Head of Restructuring at KPMG following the departure of Mark Firmin. Nimmo was previously head of…



Holyrood summit to save dairy industry

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead will chair a Holyrood summit of leading figures on Tuesday to address the challenges facing Scotland’s dairy industry. Representatives from the Scottish Government,…



Cairn shares up 9% after Senegal well test

Shares of Edinburgh-based oil and gas company Cairn Energy rose at least 9% on Wednesday after it announced the successful testing of its SNE-3 appraisal well offshore Senegal. …





Jann Brown takes on senior role at Wood Group

Aberdeen-based energy services giant Wood Group said Jann Brown — former chief financial officer of Cairn Energy and president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland…



Menzies profit falls in turbulent year

Edinburgh-based aviation logistics and news distribution company John Menzies said on Tuesday its reported pre-tax profit fell to £18.2 million in 2015 from £25.7 million the year before amid a turbulent…



Thurso new chair of VisitScotland

John Thurso, former Liberal Democrat Westminster MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, has been appointed the new chair of VisitScotland. VisitScotland has a budget of around…