Scottish Financial Review

Commercial property investment volumes across Scotland slowed in 2023 “as high interest rates and falling capital values created a lack of viability for debt buyers”…

Scottish Forestry is investing £2 million towards timber transport projects across Scotland. “The funding will help decarbonise the forestry sector and reduce the impacts of…

Sales of Scottish homes for £1 million or more reached a new high of 506 transactions in 2023, up from 504 in 2022, according to property firm…

Forth Ports, the UK’s third largest port group, said it has placed an order for two new pilot boats to join its fleet working on…

Elgin-based Springfield Properties, which is building a number of new communities throughout Scotland, said it has signed an agreement for the sale of 11.2 acres of…

Edinburgh-based Artisanal Spirits Company plc (ASC), owner of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), has announced that SMWS membership growth increased significantly in the year…

By Mark McSherry Europe’s largest buyout firm CVC Capital Partners announced that Scotsman Donald Mackenzie, one of its co-founders and most successful dealmakers, is stepping…

Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, has concluded a £114 million Bulk Purchase Annuity (BPA) transaction covering 1,800 members of the Vector Pension Scheme, which…

NatWest Group plc — formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland — said its operating profit before tax rose 20% to £6.2 billion in 2023…

The board of NatWest Group plc — formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland — has confirmed the appointment of Paul Thwaite as group chief…

Scotland saw hotel transaction volumes — sales of £1 million+ —  reach £310 million in 2023, up 98% on 2022’s figure of £156 million, according…

Baillie Gifford’s £1 billion investment trust Scottish American Investment Company (SAINTS) reported that its share price total return was 8.2% and net asset value total return…

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said the value of Scotch exports topped £5.6 billion in 2023, down 9.5% on the record £6.2 billion of 2022, but up…

Chivas Brothers, the Scotch whisky business of Pernod Ricard, has announced its first-half (July 2023 – December 2023) financial results with organic net sales down 6%…

Proposals to build 50 new family homes in Colinsburgh in east Fife have been approved by Fife Council. The plans by based in Sauchen, Aberdeenshire-based…

Salmon Scotland chief executive Tavish Scott has attacked “the blurring of the lines between activism and journalism” and criticised “the desperate tactics of anti-salmon campaigners”…

Sales of Scottish salmon — the UK’s biggest food export — increased by 0.5% to £581 million in the 2023 calendar year, according to annual HMRC…

Homes for Scotland (HFS) has described new Scottish planning application statistics as “woeful” and “unacceptable.” HFS said the figures “highlight a 41 per cent drop…

John Wood Group, the Aberdeen-based global engineering and consulting giant, announced that Babcock International Group CEO David Lockwood will join the firm as a non-executive director…

The UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.3% in the fourth quarter, more than the 0.1% drop that economists had forecast, according to latest statistics from the…

The total value of all private housing in Scotland has risen by £97.7 billion or 25% since 2019 before the pandemic to £481 billion in…

The Hunter Foundation (THF) said it has launched the next phase of its ScaleUpScotland programme, recruiting for its fifth cohort of 12 scaling businesses. THF…

Virgin Money said on Wednesday it will purchase Abrdn’s 50% stake in their joint venture Virgin Money Investments “following the successful launches of its new…

Property consultancy Bidwells announced it has been successful in securing a further tenure as managing agents for Crown Estate Scotland’s coastal portfolio, following a full public procurement exercise….

Houston, Texas-based energy services firm Expro announced it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Aberdeen drilling tech company Coretrax from an investment group led…

Former RBS/NatWest Group CEO Ross McEwan is to join Farnborough-based QinetiQ, a global defence technology, as a non-executive director. McEwan will join the QinetiQ Board on…

Lothian Buses announced it has purchased East Lothian coach operator Eve Coaches. Lothian said it will acquire the touring operator, based in Dunbar, to expand…

HMRC estimates for January 2024 indicate that there were 2.46 million payrolled employees in Scotland — a record high number and up by 27,000 compared…

Scotland is experiencing a start-up boom, with over 40,000 new businesses setting up shop last year – an increase of 12% on the number of…

John Wood Group, the Aberdeen-based global engineering and consulting giant, said it has been selected as “owner’s engineer” on a major green hydrogen production project in…

Lothian Buses has announced its passenger numbers increased by more than 17% from 94 million in 2022 to 110 million in 2023. Edinburgh Trams, the…

Proposals have been detailed and submitted for a new community in west Edinburgh that promises 3,000 homes, office space to support more than 4,000 jobs,…

The latest Royal Bank of Scotland purchasing managers’ index (PMI) has revealed a renewed rise in business activity across the Scottish private sector at the…

Edinburgh investment giant Abrdn has confirmed it is trialling alternatives to Bloomberg terminals as part of a its recently-announced move to slash about £150 million in…

The International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), a group of international institutional investors with $77 trillion of assets, have warned that proposed reforms to company listing…

First Minister Humza Yousaf has appointed Màiri McAllan as Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy. Setting out portfolio changes to the Scottish…

NatWest Group has announced the appointment of wealth management executive Emma Crystal as the new CEO of its wealth businesses, including the Coutts private bank,…

Rod Ashley has announced he will be stepping down as CEO of Glasgow-based Alba Bank after six years. Alba Bank is the UK’s newest challenger bank…

Edinburgh-based Tesco Bank is to be bought by Barclays Bank UK in a deal worth about £600 million. Barclays announced it entered into an agreement with…

SSE plc, the Perth-based electricity infrastructure giant, said on Thursday that SSE Renewables’ output over the first three quarters of the year was around 15%…

The latest Royal Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs survey has reported yet another “deterioration in permanent candidate availability” as it confirmed a drop in…

The Scottish Government’s 10-year economic strategy “currently lacks collective political leadership and clear targets” according to a new report from Audit Scotland. The Scottish Government…

Parabola, developer and owner of Edinburgh Park, has agreed a deal with Edinburgh-based S1 Developments to create housing for sale at the 42 acre site on the…

The Scottish economy is expected to improve in 2024 after little growth over the course of 2023, according to the latest quarterly Economic Commentary from…

Leaders of UK Government Investments (UKGI) told the UK parliament’s cross-party Treasury Committee on Tuesday that the process to sell more of the British taxpayer’s remaining…

Crosswind Developments, the team behind a proposed development that promises 3,000 new homes near Edinburgh Airport, has appointed former Scottish Enterprise CEO Steve Dunlop as…

MHA, the UK independent member firm of Baker Tilly International, has announced a merger with Edinburgh-based accountancy firm Geoghegans. This is MHA’s second merger in…

The EY ITEM Club Scottish Winter Forecast has predicted that Scotland’s economy is set to gain momentum this year with the prospect of interest rate cuts…

Elgin-based Springfield Properties, which is building a number of new communities throughout Scotland, said it has signed a new contract worth £15.3 million with Inverness-based Highland…

Shares of Beeks Financial Cloud Group plc, the Glasgow-based cloud computing and connectivity provider for financial markets, rose as much as 30% after it announced new contract…

John Wood Group, the Aberdeen-based global engineering and consulting giant, has secured an $80 million contract extension with Equinor to deliver maintenance and modification solutions…

Shell has joined the Renewables for Subsea Power (RSP) collaborative project which is currently powering subsea equipment off the coast of Orkney through a combination…

Business and financial adviser Grant Thornton UK LLP has announced changes to its leadership team in Scotland, with Stuart Preston appointed new practice leader and three…

Aberdeen-based independent oil and gas firm Parkmead Group announced it has been provisionally awarded three new offshore blocks by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) in…

The Scottish Government has announced the appointment of a new chair and two new members to the board of the Scottish Land Commission. Michael Russell…

Scottish Water has announced that average weekly household water bills in Scotland will rise by £35.95 a year — or just under 70p a week —…

Phoenix Group Holdings plc, owner of Standard Life, said it experienced new business net fund flows of £7 billion in 2023, an 80% year-on-year increase….

Edinburgh investment giant Baillie Gifford announced that it has created a dedicated China equities investment team “to better serve existing and potential clients.” Linda Lin,…

The UK central bank kept interest rates at a nearly 16-year high of 5.25% on Thursday — but opened up the possibility of cutting them as…

TSB has reported a statutory profit before tax of £237.2 million for 2023 — an increase of £53.7 million or 29.3% on 2022 – and…

A.G. Barr, the Cumbernauld-based maker of Irn-Bru, Rubicon energy drinks, Funkin cocktail mixers and MOMA foods, announced the appointment of Euan Sutherland as its new…

M Core, the commercial property and investment collective, said it has acquired the Princes Square retail development in Glasgow city centre. M Core said that Princes…

Public sector procurement specialist SCAPE Scotland has launched a £1 billion “Utilities Works and Services Framework.” SCAPE said the framework is designed to “empower utility…

Gordon Humphries has been elected as chair of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) and Sapna Shah has been elected as deputy chair with immediate effect….

Glasgow-based media firm STV Group said its STV Studios business has increased its 25% equity stake in Belfast-based drama production company Two Cities Television to a…

The number of first-time buyers fell in Scotland by 10% to 27,339 last year — the smallest fall in the UK — compared to 2022,…

Bond dealers have told the UK’s Debt Management Office (DMO) that the UK government should reduce sales of long-dated government debt (bonds) in the financial…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned the UK’s Conservative government on Tuesday not to cut taxes in the run-up to the UK general election that…

Amazon announced that it has signed a corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) with ENGIE to increase its share of output from Ocean Winds’ Moray West…

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has lost 25% of its companies in the past decade, according to a Bloomberg report. In 2023, total listings on…