Scottish Financial Review

Glasgow-based pensions and benefits consultant Hymans Robertson said it appointed Barry McKay as Head of Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Actuarial, working alongside David Walker as Head…

The UK’s Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and sportscotland announced a £15 million ‎joint-funding agreement to start in 2017 to “capitalise on the Andy and Jamie Murray…

Convenience retailer McColl’s Retail Group said the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) gave final and unconditional approval for McColl’s £117 million acquisition of 298 stores from the Co-operative Group…

STV Group said it reached agreement with the trustees of the company’s defined benefits pension schemes — the Scottish & Grampian Television Retirement Benefits Scheme and…

Research and development (R&D) employment in Scottish businesses reached its highest level on record in 2015 with about 11,000 jobs — but R&D spending fell slightly during that year…

Regional airline Flybe said it will soon offer more than 40 scheduled flights a week from Aberdeen and Edinburgh to London Heathrow. Flybe also said it hired Christine Ourmieres-Widener as…

Aberdeen-based Faroe Petroleum said it signed two banking facilities for almost £300 million “which will provide substantial finance to underpin the company’s growth plans.” Faroe is an independent oil and…

A £350 million expansion of Aberdeen Harbour has been sanctioned by the harbour’s board and the construction contract with preferred bidder Dragados UK is due to be formalised on…

Lloyds Banking Group — owner of the Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows and Halifax brands — said it agreed to acquire UK consumer credit card business MBNA from a subsidiary…

The Cayzer family’s Caledonia Investments said it agreed terms for the sale of Park Holidays UK, the UK’s third largest holiday park operator, to Tiger Bidco…

The Shetland Fishermen group said Shetland’s whitefish market had its biggest yearly landings since 1987. More than 357,000 boxes were brought ashore and sold. Shetland is the second…

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will face “significant challenges” administering the new Scottish rate of income tax, according to a report by the National Audit…

Shares of Hurricane Energy soared more than 12% after it announced a “significant” oil find at the Lincoln Well west of Shetland. Hurricane CEO Robert Trice said: “I…

Shares of Glasgow-based Collagen Solutions, a manufacturer of medical grade collagen biomaterials, fell about 12% after it said its revenue and other income increased by 30% to…

Liberty House and SIMEC, members of the GFG Alliance, said they completed a £330 million deal with Rio Tinto to buy Britain’s last remaining aluminium smelter at Fort…

Edinburgh hotels sold 80.8% of their rooms during November, a slight rise on the same month of 2015, and grew their average room rate (ARR) from £84.75 in…

Johnston Press — owner of The Scotsman, the i newspaper and the Yorkshire Post — announced the proposed disposal of 13 titles and associated websites in East…

Scotland-headquartered commercial property consultant Ryden has agreed a merger with London investment agents Mason Philips. The merged firms will operate under the Ryden name with…

Dundee-based investment firm Alliance Trust has announced a radical strategic plan that includes the outsourcing of equity portfolio management and the sale of investment division Alliance Trust Investments to Liontrust…

Denmark’s Dong Energy said South Korea’s CS Wind will build a new offshore tower manufacturing facility in Campbeltown, Scotland as a result of a multi-million…

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox said it reached an agreement with Sky plc to buy the 61% of the British pay-TV firm it doesn’t already own for £10.75 a share — or roughly £11.7…

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Thursday that Edinburgh-based John Menzies’ acquisition of ASIG may give rise to competition concerns over ground handling services at…

The UK’s Secretary of State for Scotland, David Mundell, urged the Scottish Government to use the economic levers under its control to “shape and strengthen”…

Aberdeen Asset Management said it made a number of appointments to strengthen its global distribution platform, including former Scottish Financial Enterprise chairman John Campbell. Campbell will join Aberdeen…

Scotland’s 2016 cereal harvest is estimated to have fallen 11% on 2015, according to the Scottish Government’s Chief Statistician. Final estimates show Scottish farms produced 2.8…

Shares of Aberdeen-based oil and gas services giant Wood Group rose about 2.5% after it said it expects its 2016 financial performance to be in line…

Edinburgh-based accounting software firm FreeAgent — which floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange last month — said its revenue increased by 36%…

Annual negotiations in Brussels resulted in increased fish quotas for 16 out of 23 key Scottish stocks and “additional fishing opportunities” worth around £47 million, said Fisheries…

Perth-based energy giant SSE and Dixons Carphone, Europe’s largest electrical goods and phones retailer, said they have formed a strategic partnership to provide “connected home” services to…

There were 15,991 new build homes completed in Scotland in the 12 months to June 2016, an increase of 591 homes, or 4%, on the…

Edinburgh-based fund management giant Standard Life Investments said it appointed Archie Struthers to the role of head of investments. Struthers will join Standard Life Investments — which manages…

Workforce experts ManpowerGroup said Scotland’s “Net Employment Outlook” has risen an impressive seven points to +8%, its highest level in more than two years. Manpower…

Dundee-based mobile games developer Outplay Entertainment has acquired Derby-based Eight Pixels Square, adding a team of more than 40 industry veterans to increase its headcount to 190…

Edinburgh has been ranked number one in the 2016/17 “Global Cities of the Future” for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Strategy by the fDi Intelligence publication, a division of the…

A 20% increase in international passengers helped Edinburgh Airport achieve the busiest ever November for a Scottish Airport. Edinburgh Airport, owned by Global Infrastructre Partners…

Scottish renewable energy businesses are now working in more than 40 countries around the world, new research by industry body Scottish Renewables has found. Projects…

Oil prices rose on Monday to their highest levels in about 18 months after OPEC and non-OPEC producers agreed to cut oil output to ease…

Edinburgh-based fund manager Standard Life Investments argued on Monday that Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox is not offering enough for British pay-TV firm Sky Plc and questioned the independence of…

The health of Scotland’s private sector worsened slightly during November, as companies reported the first contraction of output for three months, according to the Bank of Scotland PMI….

The Scottish government’s fisheries secretary Fergus Ewing has urged the UK government “to stop fish quotas from being traded away unnecessarily” during crucial EU fisheries negotiations…

The Scottish Council for Development & Industry (SCDI) said its chief executive Ross Martin is to stand down from the organisation after three years “to…

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox confirmed it reached an agreement in principle to buy the 61% of British pay-TV firm Sky Plc it does not already own for around $14 billion. 21st…

Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) said it has made “one of the most successful exits for a UK venture capital backed business in the emerging digital…

Allia Impact Finance, part of the Allia charitable organisation, said it allocated further funding from its charitable bond programme for Scotland which will allow 80 affordable homes…

Film and TV producers spent a record £52.7 million shooting in Scotland in 2015, Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop revealed. The Scottish Government said it has worked through…

Baillie Gifford’s £1.3 billion Monks Investment Trust said the consequences of the Brexit vote had been very good news for the closed-end fund in the short term…

Aberdeen-based Faroe Petroleum, the independent oil and gas company, said it completed the previously announced acquisition of interests in five Norwegian North Sea producing oil and…

The Scottish Government said it declared a Scotland-wide Avian Influenza Prevention Zone for 30 days requiring that all poultry and captive birds must be kept indoors “or…

Edinburgh-based tidal power company Atlantis Resources said the first turbine installed at the MeyGen site in the Pentland Firth between Thurso and Orkney is now operating at…

Edinburgh-based aviation logistics and news distribution firm John Menzies announced that Greg Michael will assume the role of Managing Director, Menzies Distribution, on January 1, 2017….

Perth-based rail and bus giant Stagecoach Group said its revenue rose to just over £2 billion in the half-year ended October 29 from £1.97 billion for the same…

Edinburgh-based industrial testing firm Exova Group said it acquired South Yorkshire-based Insight NDT Limited (Insight) and completed the sale in Canada of its Environmental East business to…

Aberdeen-based oil and gas services giant Wood Group said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Netherlands-based Heerema Fabrication Group (HFG) to offer wellhead platform development to…

Shares of Glasgow-based cloud computing firm iomart group rose about 3.5% after it said its revenue grew 16% to £42.1 million and adjusted profit before tax rose…

Royal Bank of Scotland said it agreed a “full and final settlement” with three out of the five shareholder groups involved in the litigation surrounding the bank’s ill-fated £12 billion…

The Scottish Government’s Fisheries Secretary Fergus Ewing lamented the “disappointing” outcome of the fisheries negotiations between the EU and Norway that concluded in Bergen at the weekend….

Forth Ports said the Port of Grangemouth, Scotland’s largest container facility, had one of its busiest ever seasons with more than 50,000 TEUs (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units)…

Statoil said production drilling has started on the massive Mariner field on the East Shetland Platform of the UK North Sea about 95 miles east of the…

The latest quarterly review from Scottish Engineeering showed an improvement in orders, output and staffing in the final quarter of 2016, after seven quarters of negative results….

Johnston Press — owner of The Scotsman, the i newspaper and the Yorkshire Post — said its chairman Ian Russell decided to step down due to an acute…

US financial services giant State Street is “lining up” 1-7 Exchange Crescent on Conference Square in Edinburgh’s central financial district for its new 60,000 sq ft European…

The North Sea oil and gas industry gave a cautious welcome to news that some of the world’s biggest producers agreed a deal to curb production for the…

The Scottish Government said legislation which will give the Scottish Parliament further powers over income tax will be laid on Wednesday. The regulations means that from…

Royal Bank of Scotland said it agreed a revised capital plan with the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to address the shortfall identified by the Bank of England’s 2016 stress…

Free high-speed internet is now available in Edinburgh city centre. The outdoor public wifi service EdiFreeWiFi has gone live. The City of Edinburgh Council signed a 10-year concession contract…

Scotgold Resources said it held a successful auction in Edinburgh of Scottish gold mined and processed at its Cononish Gold and Silver Mine near Tyndrum — the…

Grant Thornton has warned that fluctuating currency conditions and uncertainty over potential future trade tariffs could damage Scotland’s £14.4 billion food and drink industry that employs more than…

Two out of three oil and gas firms believe the sector has already reached the bottom of the current cycle or will do so within the…

The Scottish Government said latest figures from the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that low carbon industries in Scotland generated £10.7 billion in turnover…

The partners of international law firm Addleshaw Goddard and Scottish legal firm HBJ have voted “by an overwhelming majority” to merge their businesses and create…