Scottish Financial Review

M&G Real Estate is buying The Crown Estate’s 50% stake in Fort Kinnaird retail and leisure centre on the east side of Edinburgh for £167.25…

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said it appointed EU expert Dagmar Droogsma as its Director of Industry, based at the SWA’s London office. Scotch Whisky is…

London-based Ocean Outdoor Limited said it acquired Glasgow-based Forrest Media, the large-format outdoor media firm founded by major Celtic shareholder Chris Trainer. Trainer is Celtic’s…

The sixth annual Registers of Scotland’s Property Market Report shows that the total value of the residential sales market in Scotland from 2007-08 to 2017-18…

Glasgow-based fashion firm Quiz said its underlying profit before tax increased 20% to £9.8 million for the year ended March 31, 2018, as revenue grew 30%…

Baillie Gifford’s flagship £7 billion fund, the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust plc, said it has raised further borrowings of £170 million “to invest in additional future growth…

M&G Real Estate has acquired a four-acre site called The Haymarket in Edinburgh for £49.1 million. With a gross development value of about £280 million, the…

Shares of Johnston Press plunged 17% to a new record low after it said in an AGM trading update that no agreement has been reached with its bondholders…

UK Government Investments Limited (UKGI) announced the “successful disposal” of 7.7% of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc at 271p per share for proceeds of about…

UPDATE 3 — The UK government is to sell another 7.7% of its stake in Royal Bank of Scotland for about £2.6 billion. UK Government Investments Limited…

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank owner CYBG and Virgin Money confirmed on Monday morning that CYBG has made a revised proposal to acquire Virgin Money and…

Aberdeen-based bus and rail giant FirstGroup plc has announced the details of departing CEO Tim O’Toole’s “agreed termination arrangements” and the temporary remuneration increases for interim…

The Scottish Fiscal Commission has published its latest report ‘Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts – May 2018’ in which it describes the outlook for the…

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s capital backlog of £389 million is “insurmountable” without investment and changes to how the service operates, according to a report…

Scottish Rugby announced it has applied for planning permission to install a new playing venue in the grounds of BT Murrayfield with a capacity of…

Edinburgh-based travel search site Skyscanner said its co-founder and CEO Gareth Williams is to take up a new role as chair of the company. He…

The UK and Scottish Government are to invest more than £90 million in Stirling and Clackmannanshire via City Region Deal to drive economic growth in the…

UPDATE 2 — Aberdeen-based bus and rail giant FirstGroup plc — which recently rejected a takeover approach from US private equity firm Apollo Global Management — said…

Perth-based energy giant SSE said on Wednesday it would raise its standard electricity and gas prices — leading to a 6.7% increase on average to a…

Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE), is to build a subsea manufacturing campus at its existing location in Montrose to support the oil and gas…

Royal Bank of Scotland announced early Wednesday morning that Ewen Stevenson has resigned from his role as chief financial officer and executive director “to take up…

Royal Bank of Scotland said on Tuesday it will no longer provide project-specific finance to new coal fired power stations, new thermal coal mines, oil sands projects,…

UPDATE 2 — Standard Life Aberdeen said on Tuesday it plans to return up to £1.75 billion to shareholders once it closes the sale of…

The UK government is poised to resume selling down its remaining 70.5% stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) — perhaps as soon as this week…

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has gone to Brussels to meet the EU’s Chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. “The First Minister will continue to ensure…

An independent Scotland should keep the UK’s pound for an extended period before setting up its own currency, a report commissioned by the Scottish government…

Perth-based energy giant SSE said on Friday its adjusted profit before tax fell 6% to £1.45 billion for the year to March 31 amid “complex challenges” and…

The average price of a property in Scotland in March 2018 was £146,009 – an increase of 6.7% on March of the previous year, according to…

Paddy Power Betfair plc announced a definitive agreement to combine its US business Betfair US with fantasy sports firm FanDuel, which was founded in Edinburgh…

Provisional figures show that Scottish-registered fishing vessels landed 464,000 tonnes of sea fish and shellfish in 2017 with a value of £559 million. This represents…

Almost 80% of public sector contracts in Scotland are now awarded to small and medium businesses (SMEs) as a result of Scottish Government legislation. “In…

The UK’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) said on Wednesday it has offered for award 123 licences over 229 blocks or part-blocks to 61 companies…

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has released an analysis of the industry’s 2017 export performance that indicates the UK trade deficit would be almost 3%…

Edinburgh-based fund management firm Martin Currie, the active equity specialist that is part of the Legg Mason group, said it made a “key strategic hire”…

Scotland’s employment rate in 2017 was 74.3% — the highest on record. Last year, 2,618,100 people were in employment in Scotland — also the highest on record. The…

Crown Estate Scotland on Monday unveiled proposals to lease seabed to encourage a new generation of offshore wind projects in Scotland’s waters. A Crown Estate…

The Scottish government’s culture secretary Fiona Hyslop has written to Ofcom expressing her regret over the planned loss of STV News Tonight “and the potential…

Edinburgh-based aviation logistics and news distribution company John Menzies plc said on Friday the planned sale of its distribution business is taking longer than anticipated. Menzies has undergone…

The amount of organic farmland in Scotland rose slightly in 2017, the first increase since 2008, the Scottish Government said. There was also an increase…

Irish bookie Paddy Power Betfair plc has confirmed it is in discussions to merge its US operations with fantasy sports company FanDuel. “Paddy Power Betfair plc notes…

The UK’s East Coast rail service between Edinburgh and London will be temporarily taken back under public control after UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said he…

Glasgow-based media firm STV Group plc said on Wednesday it will close its loss-making STV2 channel with the loss of 25 jobs and also cut 34…

Shares of Glasgow-based packaging firm Macfarlane Group rose more than 3% after it said in an AGM statement that group profit for the year to date “is…

Shares of Edinburgh-based international oil and gas company Cairn Energy rose about 3% after the firm made a bullish statement at its AGM. Cairn CEO…

The Scottish parliament voted on Tuesday to refuse consent to the UK’s Brexit legislation. The vote increases constitutional uncertainty over how the UK’s exit from…

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said it appointed Gerry McFall as its director of strategy and communication. Most recently, McFall has been the director of…

Shares of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank owner CYBG fell more than 5% on Tuesday as the bank reported a statutory first-half loss of £76 million…

Output across the Scottish private sector increased at the fastest pace since October 2017 at the beginning of the second quarter, according to the latest IHS…

A total of 1,206,540 passengers passed through Edinburgh Airport last month, making it the busiest April on record at Scotland’s busiest airport. The total number…

Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) said it invested more than £44 million in two strategic transactions that increase its total residential assets under management in the…

Clyde Valley Housing Association (CVHA) has arranged a £70 million private placement deal with Canada Life to support the delivery of 700 new homes across…

Shares of Aberdeen-based oil and engineering giant Wood plc soared 9% on Friday after it reported good trading momentum in the first quarter at its…

A new report into the workforce dynamics of the UK oil and gas workforce indicates that more than 40,000 new people will need to be…

Shares of East Kilbride-based Goals Soccer Centres fell about 6% after it said ahead of its AGM that bad weather in March reduced its sales by £500,000. Goals…

Aberdeen-based oil and engineering giant Wood plc said it won a contract to help expand the Tasiast gold mine in Mauritania, West Africa. Wood said…

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) has reached “an agreement in principle” and agreed to pay $4.9 billion to resolve a US Department of…

The UK leads the planned projects count in the North Sea to 2025, according to a new report from data and analytics company GlobalData. A…

Leeds-based engineering services group Renew Holdings said it will acquire QTS Group, a specialist independent rail contractor based in Strathaven, Scotland, for £80 million in cash….

Ellon, Aberdeenshire-based craft brewing firm BrewDog said it appointed Jason Marshall to the newly created role of chief financial officer. “Jason brings a great wealth…

The UK’s Oil and Gas Authority said production efficiency (PE) on the UK Continental Shelf has risen for a fifth consecutive year — increasing to 74% in 2017….

Shares of Aberdeen-based bus and rail giant FirstGroup fell about 14% after US private equity firm Apollo Global Management said it dropped plans to make…

Edinburgh-based fund management giant Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) has launched a contract dispute process against Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) over LBG’s decision to cancel a £109 billion…

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it has referred the proposed merger of Perth-based SSE Retail and Npower for an in-depth investigation “after…

UPDATE 2 — Edinburgh and Newcastle-based challenger bank Virgin Money Holdings (UK) Plc said on Monday it received a preliminary and conditional all-share takeover offer from CYBG…

The executive who has spent the last two years managing UK taxpayers’ stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) could be set to join RBS…

Aberdeen Standard Investments said its infrastructure team has made a second investment in a gas pipeline and processing system. The team has acquired the InfraVia…

North Sea oilfields connected to the Brent oil pipeline have stopped production due to a shutdown at Shetland’s Sullom Voe oil terminal to fix a “minor…

France’s EDF Group said it bought the controversial 450 megawatt Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm off the coast of Fife. EDF said the total investment…

Scotch Whisky Association CEO Karen Betts warned on Thursday that Brexit is likely to be “disruptive” for the industry and that the loss of certain…

Standard Life Aberdeen plc said on Thursday it is “considering the potential for a substantial return of capital to shareholders” after it completes a deal to…