Virgin Trains’ Scotland-London business booms
Virgin Trains said it has witnessed an “historic shift” in travel patterns as more Scotland-London passengers “choose train over plane than at any time in…
Articles by Scottish Financial Review
Edinburgh’s Quartermile 2 sold for £28.5m
UBS Asset Management’s real estate and private markets business completed the acquisition of prime office building Quartermile 2 on the site of the former Edinburgh…
£220m Edinburgh Airport plan takes off
Work is under way on a three-storey extension to Edinburgh Airport’s terminal building — the start of a current £80 million investment plan to help…
RBS chief to tackle ‘too white, too male’ culture
Royal Bank of Scotland CEO Ross McEwan has pledged to help address a lack of diversity in British boardrooms by combating a “too white and…
Wheatley affordable housing funds up to £500m
Wheatley Group, Scotland’s biggest social landlord, said it secured a further £65 million of private investment and that it will return to the capital markets in the…
Whisky, salmon push UK exports to record £10.2bn
The UK’s Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said whisky, salmon and beer helped exports of all UK food and drink grow 8.5% to a record…
Royal London funds up 6% to £106bn
Royal London said its new life and pensions business rose 45% to just more than £6 billion in the first half of 2017, and funds…
Big changes as Macquarie seals Green Bank deal
Australia’s Macquarie Group said on Friday its consortium completed the acquisition of Edinburgh-based UK Green Investment Bank from the UK Government for £2.3 billion. Macquarie said…
RBS ‘close to selling £145m London office’
Royal Bank of Scotland has agreed to sell one of its London office buildings to a division of Quebec’s government pension manager for slightly less than the…
Scots employment hits record high
Scotland’s employment rate increased by 1.1 percentage points to a record high of 75.2% over the April to June quarter — meaning 30,000 more people…
Half of Scots ‘would decline cash-only purchase’
Research into payment trends carried out for business technology firm First Data has revealed that half of Scottish customers would walk away from a purchase if…
Green light for Scotland’s largest solar farm
Moray Council has granted planning permission for what will be Scotland’s largest solar farm. Councillors approved Elgin Energy’s development of the 47-hectare Speyslaw site near Urquhart,…
Union claims RBS to cut 880 tech jobs
The union Unite said Royal Bank of Scotland has told staff that it will cut a further 40% of permanent staff from its London IT…
Wood-Amec disposals may make merger ‘acceptable’
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Tuesday it is “considering proposals” to overcome its competition concerns about Aberdeen-based oil and gas services giant…
Menzies shares up amid positive outlook
Shares of Edinburgh-based aviation logistics and news distribution company John Menzies rose more than 3% on Tuesday morning after it said turnover increased 21% to £1.2 billion…
Scottish Widows ‘may buy Zurich platform’
Scottish Widows — part of Lloyds Banking Group — is considering buying Zurich’s platform, according to a report in Money Marketing. A deal would see Zurich…
Standard Life Aberdeen shares up on first day
UPDATE 2 — Shares of Standard Life Aberdeen edged 2% higher at the market open on Monday — the first day of trading for the…
STV hires ITV’s Simon Pitts as new CEO
Glasgow-based media firm STV Group said that Simon Pitts will join STV as chief executive officer on January 3, 2018. Pitts will join STV from ITV…
John Menzies and DX terminate merger plan
Edinburgh-based John Menzies said on Monday it terminated the merger talks between its distribution business and courier firm DX Group. “Notwithstanding the strong strategic and commercial benefits…
Scots salmon H1 exports leap 70% to record £346m
Scottish salmon exports reached a record £346 million in the first half of 2017 — a 70% increase on the same period last year, according…
Scots output growth surges to 33-month high
Scottish private sector output growth surged to a 33-month high in the third quarter of 2017, according to the latest Bank of Scotland PMI (purchasing managers’ index)…
£700m Cala sale talks may be revived – report
Edinburgh-based upmarket home builder Cala Group has engaged investment bank Lazard to revive talks about a potential £700 million sale of the firm just months after a takeover…
Busiest month ever at Edinburgh, Glasgow airports
Scotland two biggest airports had their business month ever in July with growth in international flights continuing to drive their expansion. Edinburgh Airport experienced the…
Prudential merges fund management, insurance
Prudential plc announced its intention to combine its asset manager M&G with insurance businesses Prudential UK & Europe (Prudential UK&E) to form M&G Prudential in…
Assets up to £151bn at Edinburgh’s Aegon UK
Edinburgh-based pensions, investment and insurance firm Aegon UK said on Thursday its “platform” assets reached £107 billion and total assets under administration hit £151 billion…
Co-op Bank sheds 25k customers amid £135m loss
Co-operative Bank said on Thursday its losses before tax narrowed to £135.2 million in the six months to June 30, 2017, from £177 million in…
Edinburgh trams may get £165m Newhaven extension
Councillors in Edinburgh are set to consider further the feasibility of extending Edinburgh Trams from York Place to Newhaven via Leith Walk. A report will…
Johnston Press, Trinity Mirror extend print contract
Johnston Press — the embattled owner of The Scotsman, the i newspaper and about 200 local newspapers and websites — jointly announced with Trinity Mirror an extension…
Stan Life H1 profit +6% to £362m ahead of merger
Edinburgh-based investment and insurance group Standard Life said its first-half operating profit before tax rose 6% to £362 million and assets under administration rose 1% to…
ScottishPower approved for mega offshore windfarm
ScottishPower Renewables said it received planning approval from the UK’s Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Greg Clark MP, for the East…
Netflix buys Scots comic book firm Millarworld
By Mark McSherry UPDATE 2 — Netflix Inc. said it acquired Millarworld, the comic book publishing firm run by Scottish writer Mark Millar and his…
Builders ‘struggle to meet affordable homes target’
Scotland’s housebuilding sector is performing well — but may struggle to meet the Scottish Government’s ambitious target of achieving 50,000 affordable homes by 2021, according to…
Craft brewer Innis & Gunn turnover +22% to £14.3m
Scottish independent craft brewer Innis & Gunn said its turnover rose 22% to more than £14.3 million in 2016. The Edinburgh-based brewer said it also…
RBS makes £939m H1 profit; plans Netherlands move
UPDATE 1 — Shares of Royal Bank of Scotland rose on Friday after it posted an attributable profit of £939 million for the first half…
Swiss private bank Julius Baer to open in Glasgow
Swiss private bank Julius Baer said it is opening new offices in Glasgow, Manchester and Leeds and it has hired a number of experienced relationship…
Walking tourism makes £1.26bn for Scots economy
New research by VisitScotland has revealed that walking tourism generates up to £1.26 billion for the Scottish economy. The research found that in 2015, four…
UK vows it will work to reduce Scotch Whisky tariffs
The UK government said it will work to reduce export tariffs on Scotch Whisky and other Scottish produce as the UK prepares to leave the…
Devro H1 revenue rises to £125m, but profit slips
Glasgow-based sausage skin and collagen products firm Devro said its revenue rose 11% to £125.2 million in the six months to June 30 but underlying profit before…
Bridgepoint confirms £655m deal for Miller Homes
Private equity firm Bridgepoint confirmed it will buy Edinburgh-based Miller Homes in a transaction totalling £655 million from funds managed by GSO Capital Partners, a division of Blackstone….
Wood-Amec deal creates ‘competition concerns’
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it has found that Wood Group’s purchase of Amec Foster Wheeler “gives rise to competition concerns.” The CMA said…
Johnston Press: ‘digital growth offsets print decline’
Johnston Press — owner of The Scotsman, the i newspaper and about 200 local newspapers and websites — said growth in its digital revenues and at the…
Aggreko H1 revenue rises to £792m, but profit slips
Glasgow-based Aggreko, the world’s largest temporary power firm, said its half year revenue rose 16% to £792 million but profit before tax and exceptional items fell…
Barr expects first-half revenue up 8% at £136m
Cumbernauld-based Irn-Bru maker A.G. Barr said in a trading update its revenue for the 26 weeks ended July 29, 2017, is expected to be £136 million,…
Berlin’s Leonardo buys Edinburgh’s Portland Hotels
Berlin-based Leonardo Hotels said it acquired Edinburgh-based Portland Hotels, giving it five properties in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and Aberdeen and increasing its UK portfolio to…
Bridgepoint ‘close to £655m deal for Miller Homes’
Private equity firm Bridgepoint is close to finalising a £655 million deal to acquire Edinburgh-based Miller Homes, according to a report in the Financial Times. Meanwhile,…
Clydesdale shares soar after trading update
UPDATE 2 — Shares of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank owner CYBG rose about 9% after it announced a positive trading update for the three months…
Dunfermline ‘has highest house price growth’
Dunfermline has seen the highest house price growth in Scotland on a per square metre basis over the past five years — a roughly 20%…
Stan Life votes against PwC as Vodafone auditor
Edinburgh-based Standard Life Investments said it voted its clients’ 465 million shares in Vodafone against Vodafone’s resolution to reappoint PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as Vodafone’s auditors and against…
£5bn Scotch industry needs ‘robust legal protection’
The Scottish Government and the Scotch Whisky Association have urged the UK Government to mount a “robust legal protection” of the £5 billion Scotch whisky industry…
Aberdeen bond helps Brodies to record revenues
Scottish law firm Brodies LLP said its revenues grew 2.4% to a record £66.7 million in its financial year to April 30, 2017. Over the same…
Alliance Trust ‘encouraged’ by external manager start
Dundee-based investment firm Alliance Trust announced results for the six months to June 30 as it makes a transition to its new investment approach with…
Weir H1 revenue tops £1bn amid North America boost
Glasgow-based engineering giant Weir Group said its revenue rose 26% to £1.09 billion in the six months to June 30, 2017, “reflecting both the recovery in…
Aberdeen, Edinburgh to be hardest hit by Brexit
Aberdeen would be the British city hardest hit by Brexit, with Edinburgh not far behind, according to a new study by the think tank Centre…
£835m deal with EU settles RBS state aid issues
The UK Treasury said the European Commission has accepted in principle the British government’s plans to free Royal Bank of Scotland from an obligation to…
Highland firms want single market, free movement
More than two-thirds of businesses across the Highlands and Islands believe membership of the European single market and free movement of people are important to…
UK financial regulator increases Scotland presence
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced the appointment of Edinburgh pensions and insurance veteran Maggie Craig as the Head of Department, Scotland — a…
Stan Life-Aberdeen merger approved by regulators
Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management said the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority “have confirmed their approval to enable the merger between…
Oil & Gas Authority launches 30th licensing round
The UK’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has launched the 30th Offshore Licensing Round with 813 blocks or part blocks on offer in mature areas…
Goals in North America venture with Man City owner
East Kilbride-based Goals Soccer Centres said it agreed a strategic 50:50 joint venture with City Football Group, which owns a number of football clubs including Manchester City, New…
Scots manufacturing orders hit 44 year high – CBI
Manufacturers in Scotland reported that new orders rose at the fastest pace in more than 40 years in the quarter to July, driven by record…
Slower decision times on major Scots developments
The average decision time in Scotland for major developments in 2016-17 was 37 weeks, six weeks slower than the average of 31 weeks in the…
Board moves as Virgin Money H1 profit hits £128m
UPDATE 1 — Edinburgh and Newcastle-based challenger bank Virgin Money Holdings on Tuesday announced changes to its board and said underlying profit before tax rose 26%…
Co-op deal helps McColl’s revenue up to £505m
Convenience retailers McColl’s said its revenue rose 7.6% to £504.8 million in the 26 weeks to May 28, 2017, helped by stores acquired from the Co-op. However, profit…
‘Alpha male culture contributed to RBS demise’
Virgin Money CEO Jayne-Anne Gadhia — a former leading executive at Royal Bank of Scotland — said in an interview that the “alpha male” culture…
Miller Homes could be sold for £600m – report
Edinburgh-based Miller Homes is closing in on a sale valuing it at more than £600 million, according to a Sky News report. The report said…
Law firm Maclay combines with global giant Dentons
Leading Scottish law firm Maclay Murray & Spens announced on Friday it is to combine with Dentons, the world’s largest law firm. The combination, expected…
£1bn Edinburgh City Deal to create 21,000 jobs
The £1 billion Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal has finally been agreed, with the Scottish and UK governments investing £300 million each in…
Article 50 author Kerr joins call to stop Brexit
More than 60 leading public figures in Scotland — including Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, the Scottish peer who wrote Article 50 — have published an open letter…
UK firms pay record £33bn dividends in Q2
UK companies distributed an all-time record £33.3 billion in dividends in the second quarter, beating the previous record of £29.1 billion set in Q2 last…
Grayling: ‘high speed rail benefits Scotland’
The UK government’s Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said Britain’s new high speed rail lines (HS2) between London and the North-West of England will also benefit Scotland….