Scottish Financial Review

Glasgow-based fashion firm Quiz plc published a trading update for December 2022 showing total group sales in the month increased 11% year on year to…

M&G plc, the international saving and investment business, announced the appointment of Joseph Pinto as its next chief executive officer of M&G Asset Management. Pinto…

Scottish Widows announced it is bolstering its pensions and savings leadership team with the appointment of Carolyn Jones as retirement director. Jones will join Scottish…

Scotland’s estimated employment rate — the proportion of people aged 16-64 in work — was at a record high of 76.1% in the September to November…

Heart of Midlothian Football Club chair Ann Budge is to retire as non-executive director of Linlithgow-based telecoms testing and measurement firm Calnex Solutions plc. Calnex announced the…

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) said 115 applications have been received for the UK’s 33rd offshore oil and gas licensing round. The bids are…

The Scottish Government announced that former DC Thomson Publishing CEO Ellis Watson has been appointed as Chief Business Advisor to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. The…

Edinburgh-based upmarket home builder Cala Group, currently owned by Legal & General, announced its revenue rose 9% to £1.36 billion in the year to December 31, 2022. Cala…

The latest Royal Bank of Scotland Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data showed that private sector activity fell “solidly” in Scotland during December. The Business Activity Index…

Scottish angel syndicate Equity Gap recorded another record year in 2022 as the total investments to date into portfolio companies by the group reached £200…

Unite, the UK’s largest offshore trade union, said over 200 of its members have accepted an improved wage offer at Petrofac Repsol installations in the North Sea. Unite…

Real estate investment firm Capreon announced it has acquired Edinburgh Quay, a city centre complex of three office buildings at the east end of Fountainbridge…

Forth Green Freeport and Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport have been jointly selected by the Scottish and UK governments to become Scotland’s first Green…

Edinburgh-based investment group Baillie Gifford has appointed Arthur Milson as a co-manager of its £631 million Baillie Gifford High Yield Bond Fund. Milson joins existing managers…

Foresight Group, a listed private equity and infrastructure investment manager, announced the launch of a new fund dedicated to investment in Scottish SMEs. Foresight said…

Scottish digital health company PneumoWave announced the closing of £7.5 million Series A financing. The firm said the financing will “enable clinical validation and regulatory…

Aberdeen-based global engineering and consulting giant John Wood Group said its revenue rose 3% to $5.4 billion and its order book stood at $6 billion…

IPO activity on the London stock markets fell 90% by proceeds and 62% by number of listings in 2022 when compared to the record highs…

The Scottish Government’s newly-published energy strategy has been branded a “breathtaking betrayal” of the oil and gas sector by Russell Borthwick, the chief executive of…

Starting salaries across Scotland rose at a much faster pace in December than that recorded at the UK level, according to the latest Royal Bank…

Perth-based transport giant Stagecoach, now owned by German asset manager DWS, has announced a “transition to a new management team as the business evolves and looks to…

Scottish fintechs attracted over £305 million in funding in the last 12 months, an increase of over 200% on the previous year. FinTech Scotland announced…

James Watt, CEO and co-founder of Aberdeenshire-based craft brewing firm BrewDog, said he has paid out almost £500,000 to winners of the company’s misleading “solid gold”…

Jedburgh-based IndiNature, the bio-based materials and construction products firm, has announced a follow-on investment of £2 million from existing major investor the Scottish National Investment Bank….

Edinburgh-based Capricorn Energy has arranged a general meeting of the company for February 1 that was requested by its third-biggest shareholder Palliser Capital to vote on…

An “unprecedented” shortage of skilled labour in Scotland’s financial services sector will be the defining issue of the coming year, according to an influential annual…

Glasgow-based Arnold Clark Automobiles, Scotland’s biggest privately-owned company, said it is recovering from a cyber attack just before Christmas. “Late on the evening of 23rd…

Edinburgh-based retirement adviser platform Nucleus Financial has agreed to buy Bristol-based SIPP provider Curtis Banks in a £242 million cash deal, taking Nucleus’ assets under administration to £80…

London-based Vesuvius plc, a molten metal flow engineering and technology firm, announced the appointment of Mark Collis of Aberdeen-based John Wood Group as Vesuvius chief financial officer. Collis…

Savings and investments firm M&G plc announced the appointment of two US-based thematic equity investment managers to develop the firm’s equity investment and research capabilities…

UK pension schemes’ funding positions improved by £400 billion over the year to December 20, 2022, equating to around 20% on a long-term target basis,…

The latest Fund Flow Index (FFI) report from global funds network Calastone revealed a “bad year for passive equity funds” as index funds fared worse…

Edinburgh-based Capricorn Energy on Thursday rejected a proposal by its third-biggest shareholder Palliser Capital to scrap the Scottish firm’s proposed merger with Israel’s NewMed Energy. Several…

The British Business Bank is inviting proposals from fund managers to operate the new £150 million Investment Fund for Scotland. The bank said it expects…

BlackRock and M&G are suspending redemptions from UK property funds managing around £8 billion of assets as some investors seek to exit the UK real estate market….

Small and micro-cap listed companies are increasingly re-assessing whether the listed market is the right venue to grow, according to a new report on mergers…

New analysis of FTSE 100 pension positions by occupational pensions consultancy LCP (Lane Clark & Peacock) shows that the combined estimated IAS19 surplus — the…

Legal & General Capital announced that it committed around £5 billion towards “levelling up” the UK’s towns and cities across 2022, driving regional economic growth,…

Wealth management firm Quilter plc announced “with great sadness” the death of its commercial and propositions director David Tiller at the age of 56. Tiller…

Occupational pensions consultancy LCP (Lane Clark & Peacock) has predicted that 2023 will be a record breaking one in the de-risking market, with record volumes of…

Home REIT plc, which invests in accommodation for homeless people across the UK, has announced a temporary suspension to the listing of the company’s ordinary shares….

The “full pain” of the conditions that roiled global markets in 2022 will only be felt in 2023, with significantly slower GDP growth, while in…

Veteran Scottish fund manager Martin Gilbert has predicted that 2023 “will prove to be the beginning of a renaissance” for active fund managers. Gilbert said…

Scottish house prices rose an average of £23,814 (10.9%) to £242,213 in the 12 months to November 2022, according to the latest Bank of Scotland data….

Glasgow-based mobile power giant Aggreko plc — bought in 2021 by private equity firms TDR Capital LLP and I Squared Capital — said on Wednesday it agreed…

Activist investor Crystal Amber Fund Ltd on Friday requisitioned a general meeting to remove six directors of West of Shetland oil and gas explorer Hurricane…

Edinburgh-based investment group Abrdn plc confirmed its chief financial officer (CFO) Stephanie Bruce is planning to leave in the coming months. Bruce has been CFO of Abrdn…

The UK government’s Public Accounts Committee has warned that Cabinet Office plans for managing central government’s extensive property estate portfolio — valued at £158 billion…

A total of nine clubs in Scotland (12.5%) are showing signs of financial distress, three more than in March 2022 and one more than in…

The Scottish Government said Scotland’s onshore wind capacity will more than double by 2030. The finalised Onshore Wind Policy Statement confirmed the Scottish Government’s ambitions…

Brexit has damaged the ability of UK companies to compete in the European Union, according to a survey from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC)….

The Royal Scottish Academy announced it has received a significant bequest from the estate of artist Elizabeth Blackadder RSA RA (1931-2021). The RSA said that…

Shares of Scotgold Resources Limited, the Australia-based gold exploration firm that owns the Cononish Gold and Silver Mine near Tyndrum, fell about 9% on Wednesday after…

The UK government’s borrowing soared to £22 billion in November 2022 — £13.9 billion more than in November 2021 — according to the UK’s Office for National…

Bank of Scotland has revealed Scotland’s 25 most expensive streets, with Ann Street in the Stockbridge area of central Edinburgh taking the top spot. The…

Isle of Harris Distillers has secured a £10 million funding package from HSBC UK as it sets its sights on further international expansion.   The funding…

Bath Rugby has confirmed the signing of Scotland fly-half Finn Russell, who will join the English club following the 2023 Rugby World Cup after four…

Scottish employers are increasingly taking on graduate apprentices to secure new talent, according to the latest annual progress report for graduate apprenticeships, published by Skills…

Edinburgh-based Artisanal Spirits Company plc (ASC), owner of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), said the society has signed a new partnership agreement in Malaysia, by…

A.G. Barr, the Cumbernauld-based maker of Irn-Bru, Rubicon energy drinks and Funkin cocktail mixers, announced it has acquired the remaining 38.2% equity stake in MOMA Foods…

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) have fined TSB Bank plc a total of £48.6 million for operational risk…

Glasgow-based DeepMatter Group plc, the AIM-listed digital chemistry data and software company, announced on Monday that its shareholders have approved its plan to to leave…

Edinburgh-based Capricorn Energy announced that its third-biggest shareholder Palliser Capital has called for a general meeting of the firm to set a vote on removing seven Capricorn…

SSE Thermal announced it is developing a “first-of-a-kind” project in the Humber area of North East England which would unite hydrogen production, storage and power…

Assets managed by the investment trust industry have slipped about 3% in 2022 — standing at £268.5 billion as of December 9 — according to…

Stewart Milne Group has put the sale process of its housebuilding business “on hold for now” due to the “current uncertainty” in the housing market….

Aberdeen-based transport giant FirstGroup plc announced it has completed the sale of all but two of its remaining Greyhound US properties to an affiliate of Twenty Lake…

Figures from the Scottish Funding Council show that 91% of those completing college courses and leaving the college sector in 2020-2021 were in positive destinations,…

Halifax said on Friday it expects UK house prices to fall next year by around 8% as rising interest rates push up mortgage costs and…

NatWest Group plc announced that Stuart Lewis will be appointed as an independent non-executive director and member of its group board risk committee on April…