2016


New £100m storm tunnel making progress

The £100 million Shieldhall Tunnel between Queen’s Park and Govan — the biggest investment in waste water infrastructure in Glasgow for more than a century…


£200m Glasgow Subway contracts awarded

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) on Friday awarded £200 million of contracts to the Swiss-Italian consortium of Stadler Bussnang AG and Ansaldo STS Consortium for the supply…


Alliance Trust to address gender diversity

New Alliance Trust chairman Robert Smith on Friday vowed to address the lack of gender diversity on the Dundee-based investment firm’s plc board as he delivered his first…


UK starts sale of Green Investment Bank

The UK Government has started the process to sell off its Edinburgh-based Green Investment Bank (GIB), with analysts predicting it could eventually fetch a total price tag of…


Aggreko profit falls amid commodities slump

Glasgow-based mobile power provider Aggreko said its 2015 revenue fell 3% to £1.56 billion and pre-tax profit fell 13% to £252 million as low commodity prices affected…





Virgin Money profit jumps 53% to £160.3m

Edinburgh-based Virgin Money said on Wednesday it delivered a strong performance in its first full financial year since listing, with underlying profit before tax increasing by 53%…


Tourism industry calls for cut in VAT

The four tourism ministers for the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have joined forces to ask the UK Treasury to consider a reduction of VAT for businesses…


£20m PhD funding for seven Scots universities

Seven Scottish universities are to benefit from £20.2 million of UK Government funding which will give more students the opportunity to study for a PhD and give research projects…



Alexander joins Pinsent Masons as adviser

Former UK Government minister Douglas Alexander has joined international law firm Pinsent Masons as a strategic adviser. Alexander lost his Westminster seat in Paisley and Renfrewshire…



Three RBS bosses buy shares in firm for £1m

Royal Bank of Scotland said its three top bosses spent almost £1 million buying shares in the company just three days after it reported a 2015 loss of £1.98 billion, its eighth…


£50m fund to speed up home building

The Scottish Government has unveiled a package of measures including a new £50 million infrastructure fund to help speed up construction of thousands of homes. A flexible grant…


Cruachan hydro capacity ‘could be doubled’

ScottishPower said it would be possible to double the capacity of its Cruachan Pumped Storage hydro plant near Oban — with investment of £300 million to £400 million —…



Andy Murray invests in five start-up firms

World number two tennis player Andy Murray has made his first 2016 investments in start-up businesses on the crowdfunding platform Seedrs. Murray identified the five…



BPI profit up 7% to £28.6m as it looks to buy

Greenock-based packaging firm British Polythene Industries (BPI) said its operating profit rose 7% to £28.6 million in 2015 helped by the return to profit of its North American operations. BPI…


Moves to conserve crab and lobster stocks

The Scottish Government said new management measures for Scotland’s commercial crab and lobster stocks will be the focus of a new consultation just launched. The consultation proposals…


£64m investment in Dundee Waterfront

The Scottish Government said on Friday it will invest up to £63.8 million in Dundee’s Waterfront development as part of a package agreed by Deputy…



RBS shares fall 8% as it makes £2bn loss

Royal Bank of Scotland on Friday reported a 2015 loss of £1.98 billion, compared with a loss of £3.47 billion in 2014, as litigation and restructuring costs continued to…


Glasgow in £2.7bn housing deal with Wheatley

Glasgow City Council said a proposed new £2.7 billion partnership for 30 years between the local authority and Wheatley Group, the country’s biggest social landlord, would…


Edinburgh Council ‘closer to balancing books’

The City of Edinburgh Council has made “considerable progress” towards balancing its books, according to the Accounts Commission. The local authority watchdog raised significant concerns in…


Macfarlane sales hit £169m as profit soars 21%

Glasgow-based packaging firm Macfarlane Group said its sales rose 10% in 2015 to £169.1 million and profit before tax soared 21% to £6.8 million as recent acquisitions and success…


Mel Young new chair of sportscotland

Mel Young, founder of the Homeless World Cup and co-founder of The Big Issue in Scotland, has been promoted to be the new chair of sportscotland. Announcing…


Digital growth as STV increases profit

Glasgow-based media company STV said 2015 revenue fell 3% to £116.5 million but pre-tax profit rose 10% to £19.1 million as an increase in “non-broadcast” earnings including…



Whitehorn new Stagecoach deputy chairman

Perth-based bus and rail giant Stagecoach said on Tuesday that Garry Watts intends to step down as the company’s deputy chairman and senior independent director on April…


Investor team Archangels pass £200m mark

Edinburgh-based Archangels, the business angel syndicate that specializes in early stage investing, said on Tuesday that total investment capital arranged by the syndicate since its inception…





Oxford’s Mapstone graduates to St Andrews

Professor Sally Mapstone, the pro-vice-chancellor for education at the University of Oxford, is to be the next principal of the University of St Andrews. Mapstone, 58,…


EU Bank outlines investments for Scotland

Senior executives from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the world’s largest international public bank, are in Scotland this week to outline new financing opportunities for Scottish businesses and unveil…


Major UK cities ‘fight to stay in EU’

Ten major UK cities outside of London including Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham and Cardiff will join forces and fight to keep the UK in the EU, according to a…




Scotch Whisky calls for 2% excise duty cut

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has called for a further 2% cut in excise duty in next month’s budget, stressing the industry’s importance to the Scottish…



Wood Group cuts rates for contractors

Aberdeen-based Wood Group PSN said it plans to reduce the rates paid to a third of its UK-based limited company contractors by an average of 9 per…


Skyscanner revenue up 28% to £120m

Edinburgh-based travel search engine Skyscanner said on Friday its revenue rose 28% to £120 million in 2015 as mobile platform bookings helped it continue its global growth. Skyscanner…


Standard Life operating profit up 9% to £665m

Edinburgh-based Standard Life said on Friday its operating profit before tax rose 9% to £665 million in 2015 — beating analysts’ forecasts of £616 million — as the investment, pensions…



BrewDog turnover jumps 52% to £45m

Ellon, Aberdeenshire-based craft beer company BrewDog on Thursday announced “draft” 2015 business results, reporting a 52% increase in annual turnover to £45 million. The company said BrewDog is now the number one…




Scottish soccer grows international audience

Scottish league football is being screened in more than 100 countries for the first time after a number of new international broadcast deals were struck in territories around the…


Forth Ports in major Dundee investment

Forth Ports said it plans to make the “largest investment in the history of the Port of Dundee” by investing more than £10 million to create a new…


Scots employment ‘highest on record’

Scotland’s employment rate increased to 74.8% in the third quarter of 2015 — outperforming the UK — and the Scottish employment level of 2.636 million was…




Wood enters new market with Valero refinery

Aberdeen-based energy services giant Wood Group has signed a five year contract with Valero Energy that marks an important expansion for Wood into the UK petrochemical sector….




HSBC keeps HQ in London – but focus on Asia

HSBC said on Monday that while Asia is at the heart of the banking group’s strategy, it had decided to remain headquartered in London after an “exhaustive” review. “Having our…


Garrett-Cox to leave Alliance Trust

Dundee-based investment trust company Alliance Trust said on Monday that Katherine Garrett-Cox, CEO of its subsidiary Alliance Trust Investments (ATI), would stand down as chief executive of ATI on March…


Celtic revenue £31m; Europe causes frustration

Celtic plc said its revenue increased 0.3% to £31.4 million and profit before tax rose from £6.6 million to £11.7 million in the six months ended December 31, 2015. However,…




New CEO at RBS private banks Coutts, Adam

Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed Peter Flavel as chief executive of private banking, responsible for Coutts & Co and Adam & Company. Flavel (pictured) joins…


EU delay means ‘£440m due to Scots farmers’

Delays to the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) new payments system have left cash flows for Scottish farmers “under severe pressure” with around £440 million still outstanding,…


Robertson chosen for Dundee Waterfront role

Robertson has been selected as preferred developer for the £40 million development of apartments, office space and a hotel next to the new V&A Museum in the Dundee…


34,711 Scots companies formed in 2015

There were 34,711 companies formed in Scotland in 2015 — and 19,772 businesses dissolved — according to research by Inform Direct. That took the total number…