Scottish Financial Review

Closed life and pension fund consolidator Phoenix Group Holdings plc, owner of Edinburgh-based Standard Life Assurance, announced on Monday that Jim McConville, group finance director…

Global stock markets tumbled on Monday as investors fled to bonds amid the economic shock of the coronavirus, while oil prices plunged about 25% after…

The ongoing shortage of suitable job candidates in Scotland contributed to permanent staff appointments declining for the first time in four months in February, according…

Fund management giant Schroders said it generated record net inflows of £43.4 billion in 2019, with positive net inflows across all asset classes as the first…

Dundee investment company Alliance Trust plc, which now uses external fund managers Willis Towers Watson (WTW), said on Friday its total shareholder return for 2019…

Shares of Edinburgh-based video security company IndigoVision rose about 16% on Thursday after it said its revenue rose 9.2% to $50.2 million in 2019 and…

The Investment Association (IA) — the powerful trade group for the Scottish and UK fund management industry — on Thursday outlined its expectations of companies on…

Regional airline Flybe — which connects all corners of the United Kingdom — said on Thursday it has entered administration after the UK Government walked away…

Shares of Glasgow-based sausage skin and collagen products firm Devro rose 7% on Wednesday after the firm announced results for the year ended December 31, 2019…

Montane, the Ashington-based mountain sports clothing and equipment company, said Edinburgh-based consumer brand investor Inverleith LLP has secured a majority stake in the company. Montane…

Edinburgh-based fund manager Martin Currie, the Legg Mason affiliate and active equity specialist with $17.2 billion of assets under management, has hired Yulia Hofstede as…

Analysis from Hymans Robertson has shown that the financial impact of the coronavirus contributed to the rise of UK Defined Benefit (DB) pension scheme deficits…

Edinburgh-based Craneware, a software firm that specializes in US healthcare, said on Tuesday its profit before tax increased 3% to $9.6 million on flat revenue of…

Shares of Glasgow-based Aggreko, the world’s largest temporary power firm, rose 5% on Tuesday after it said its profit before tax rose 9% to £199 million in…

Glasgow-based Beeks Financial Cloud Group, a connectivity provider for financial markets trading, said on Monday its revenues increased 23% to £4.29 million for the six months…

The coronavirus Covid-19 presents the global economy with its greatest danger since the financial crisis, according to the OECD’s latest Interim Economic Outlook. The Interim Outlook…

A patient has been diagnosed with coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland — the first case confirmed in the country. The patient is a resident of the…

The FTSE 100 index in London fell 11.1% this week – wiping £210.3 billion off the value of its constituent companies’ shares and marking its…

The economies of Edinburgh and Glasgow will grow faster than the UK’s annual average of 1.6% GVA between 2020 and 2024, according to the EY…

Glasgow-based packaging firm Macfarlane Group said on Thursday its 2019 sales rose 4% to £225.4 million and profit before tax rose 10% to £12 million….

Shares of Edinburgh-based aviation services company John Menzies plc fell about 4% on Thursday after it issued a trading update on the impact of coronavirus COVID-19 on…

Edinburgh-based asset management giant Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) said on Wednesday that Trainline chairman Brian McBride will be appointed as a non-executive director of SLA with…

Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) has informed its workforce across the UK that the equivalent of 780 full time staff will lose their jobs in the…

Virgin Money UK plc revealed on Wednesday that it will cut 500 jobs in the next stage of its integration programme to bring together the…

Edinburgh-based funds platform Nucleus Financial Group on Wednesday announced board changes that involved its major shareholder Sanlam Investments. Nucleus said Alfio Tagliabue has been appointed as…

Shares of Glasgow-based global engineering giant Weir Group rose about 7% on Wednesday after CEO Jon Stanton told investors the group plans to become “a mining…

Edinburgh-based fund management giant Aberdeen Standard Investments announced the promotion of Andrew Paisley to Head of Smaller Companies amid a number of changes ahead of the…

The UK’s blue chip index of big company shares has lost nearly £100 billion in the last two days amid fears about the spread of coronavirus….

Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership (DGHP) said on Tuesday it has followed up on a recent £114 million investment deal with M&G Investments with £35 million of private…

Elgin-based Springfield Properties, which is building a number of new communities throughout Scotland, said on Tuesday its revenue rose 5.4% to £79.8 million in the…

Edinburgh-based Craneware, a software firm that specializes in US healthcare, said on Monday it appointed David Kemp and Alistair Erskine to its board as independent non-executive…

Edinburgh BioQuarter has released the first images of the £750 million planned transformation it says which will create a new mixed-use community of more than…

SSE Renewables said it agreed to sell its 18.8MW Slieve Divena II Wind Farm in Northern Ireland to Greencoat UK Wind for £51 million. Slieve…

The City of Edinburgh Council has published a detailed £1.3 billion proposal to transform Edinburgh’s largest brownfield site at Granton Waterfront into a new coastal…

Leeds-based private equity investor Endless LLP said on Wednesday it acquired Earlston-based BSW Timber Limited and all its associated subsidiaries. BSW is the UK’s largest…

The Scottish Government’s Migration Minister Ben Macpherson said on Wednesday the UK Government’s new immigration proposals are “an insult to Scotland.” The UK Government said…

Scotland’s unemployment rate was 3.5% in the October to December 2019 period, compared to 3.8% for the UK as a whole. Among men, the unemployment…

HSBC Holdings said on Tuesday it plans to cut about 35,000 jobs over three years and shed about $100 billion in assets in a drastic…

Asset management giant Franklin Templeton said on Monday it agreed to acquire rival Legg Mason — which includes Edinburgh-based affiliate Martin Currie — for $4.5…

Global company dividends rose to a new record of $1.43 trillion in 2019, up 3.5% on a headline basis, according to the latest Janus Henderson…

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Monday unveiled new appointments to the Scottish Government and cabinet. Following her delivery of the Scottish Budget, Kate Forbes…

Scotland’s residential property sales totalled just under £18.7 billion in 2019 — up £550 million on 2018 — helped by a late surge in sales…

The United States Trade Representative has issued a tariff notification which maintains the 25% tariff on Single Malt Scotch Whisky and Scotch Whisky Liqueurs that…

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc said on Friday it plans to rename itself NatWest Group plc later this year. The news came as…

Edinburgh-based Aegon UK — owned by Dutch investment giant Aegon NV — said on Thursday it delivered underlying earnings of £61 million in the second half…

Standard Life Aberdeen CEO Keith Skeoch has been appointed chair of the Investment Association (IA) board. The IA champions the UK asset management industry. Its…

The Famous Grouse whisky enjoyed a strong Christmas in the UK off-trade, with sales topping £71 million – making it now the number one whisky…

Sajid Javid has resigned as the UK Government’s Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s first big cabinet reshuffle went spectacularly wrong. Bloomberg…

Edinburgh-based Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising university intellectual property, said on Wednesday it raised its equity stake in portfolio company Celerum Limited from 10%…

Glasgow-based DeepMatter Group plc, the AIM-listed company focusing on digitizing chemistry, and the Institute of Process Research and Development (iPRD) at the University of Leeds,…

Glasgow-based global engineering giant Weir Group said on Wednesday its chairman Charles Berry “is undertaking a short leave of absence as a result of a medical…

Scotch Whisky exports grew 4.4% to a record £4.91 billion in 2019, with 1.3 billion bottles exported to 180 markets, according to the latest figures…

Glasgow has been ranked first out of all “large European cities” for FDI Strategy (foreign direct investment) in a new report by fDi Intelligence. The…

Scottish salmon exports rose 22% in 2019 to a record high of £618 million, according to official statistics released by the UK Government’s HMRC. The…

Global institutional pension fund assets in the 22 largest major markets — the so-called P22 — bounced back in 2019, soaring by 15% to $46.7…

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was in Brussels on Monday for a series of engagements talking about Scotland’s future relationship with the EU. Speaking to…

Scotland’s private sector recorded a modest increase in business activity during January, with the headline Business Activity Index reaching a 14-month high, driven partly by…

The Brexit deal being pursued by the UK Government is likely to place “huge unnecessary burdens” on the UK’s biggest food export — Scottish salmon…

Permanent staff appointments in Scotland continued to rise during January — with the latest surge the sharpest seen for eight months — according to the…

Celtic plc said on Friday its revenue increased 6.6% to £53.3 million and profit before taxation rose almost 30% to £24.4 million in the six…

Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership (DGHP) has secured £114 million of financing with M&G Investments as it plans its future as part of Wheatley Group…

Edinburgh-based asset management giant Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) has joined the growing number of investment firms supporting a campaign for shorter trading hours at the…

Swedish energy giant Vattenfall said it signed a 10-year electricity supply contract with Cumbernauld-based Irn-Bru maker A.G. Barr to introduce 100% renewable electricity across all Barr’s…

The Scottish Government’s finance secretary Derek Mackay has resigned following allegations in a tabloid newspaper that he sent 270 online messages on social media to…

Aberdeen-based global engineering and oil services giant Wood plc on Wednesday announced the sale of its industrial services business to technical services provider Kaefer. The sale…

The latest data from Mercer’s Pensions Risk Survey has revealed that the accounting deficit of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes for the UK’s 350 largest…

V&A Dundee said on Tuesday it has welcomed its one millionth visitor just over 500 days after it first opened. Seven-year-old Nalani Becker from Berlin…

The GMB union has called for an end to the US whisky tariffs that it says threaten 22,000 whisky and spirit industry jobs. GMB said…

Scottish Widows said it has facilitated a longevity swap between the Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Limited and Pacific Life Re Limited. “The transaction transferred…

Edinburgh-based digital service business xDesign said on Monday it acquired Scottish mobile and web agency Bemo. “xDesign will acquire the assets, people, and customer contracts…