Scottish Financial Review

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has increased the required minimum level of capital that should be held by Aberdeen Asset Management for regulatory purposes. Aberdeen’s regulatory capital…

Venture capital firm Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has strengthened its investment and operational teams with three senior appointments. Tony Robison, who joined SEP in 2011…

Edinburgh Airport enjoyed an increase in passengers of 11.9% in August compared to the same month last year — with 1,296,189 people passing through the airport. The number…

Scotland’s private sector firms hired workers at the fastest rate for 17 months and put their prices up to a 25-month high in August, according to latest…

Shares of oil firm Hurricane Energy soared 53% after it said tests at the Lancaster field west of Shetland showed “a very significant hydrocarbon column.” Hurricane CEO…

Troubled Johnston Press, owner of The Scotsman, the i newspaper and the Yorkshire Post, is facing a showdown this coming week with an activist fund…

The value of rare collectable bottles of Scotch whisky sold at auction in the UK rose 25.4% in the first half of 2016 to a…

More than one million passenger journeys have been made on the Borders Railway between Edinburgh Waverley and Tweedbank near Melrose since it opened a year ago…

Shares of Glasgow-based travel and holiday firm Minoan Group fell 8% after it said in a trading update that its business had been hurt by Brexit vote,…

Up to three groups are expected to bid for Edinburgh-based UK Green Investment Bank by Monday’s deadline, according to Bloomberg News. Bloomberg said Sustainable Development Capital LLP is leading…

Statoil and Norwegian state-owned firm Statkraft have signed a letter of intent that Statoil takes over as operator of the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm…

The Scottish Government said more than 500,000 acres of land in Scotland are now in community ownership – passing the half way mark to the million acres…

Scottish law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn said its banking and finance practice — the largest in Scotland — reported its busiest ever 12 months and worked on deals worth…

North Sea exploration firm EnQuest said its pre-tax profit rose 51% to $149.7 million on revenue and other operating income down 12% to $391.3 million in the six…

Revenue Scotland, Scotland’s devolved tax authority, collected £572 million in its first full year of operation — well ahead of expectations. Revenue Scotland is responsible for the…

The Scottish Conservatives said the Scottish Government had not discussed its proposed £500 million Scottish Growth Scheme with the UK Treasury despite the plan requiring Treasury approval….

More than half of the independent shareholders of controversial retailer Sports Direct voted against re-electing Keith Hellawell as chairman at a stormy annual general meeting. Edinburgh-based fund…

The average selling price for houses in east central Scotland increased 6.2% to £224,782 over the last three months compared to the same period last year, according to latest report by…

The University of Edinburgh has placed 19th in the QS World University Rankings 2016/17, just ahead of Columbia University and King’s College London. The ranking…

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Tuesday unveiled a new £500 million package of financial support for private sector business investment as she set out plans…

Edinburgh-based Craneware, a software firm that specializes in the US healthcare market, said its revenue increased 11% to $49.8 million and profit before tax increased by 10% to…

German chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer said late on Monday it is in “advanced negotiations” to buy the world’s largest seed company Monsanto for more than $65 billion. A…

The value of construction work going through the Scotland-wide “hub” programme led by the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) has increased to more than £1 billion….

Thirteen of Scotland’s large business organisations have written a joint letter to the Scottish Government’s cabinet secretary for finance Derek Mackay seeking a reversal of the…

The Scottish Property Federation (SPF) has called for the 5% tax threshold of Scotland’s residential Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT)  to be raised from…

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is pushing for a coalition of like-minded UK government ministers to put pressure on UK Prime Minister Theresa May to preserve Britain’s access…

More than 100 new jobs will be created at Falkirk-based bus maker Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) thanks to Scotland’s largest ever research and development (R&D) grant….

Japan’s government has delivered a stark warning to the UK government that Japanese companies — especially financial and pharmaceutical firms — could leave the UK unless…

The annual turnover for Scotland’s food and drink industry reached a record £14.4 billion in 2014, the latest figures show. The Scottish Government said the numbers…

Think tank Reform Scotland has called for the devolution of VAT to the Scottish Government following the narrow UK vote to leave the EU. The…

Scotland’s financial sector needs to speed up its adoption of Financial Technology — or Fintech —  to avoid a future banking crisis and to create jobs, according…

The deficit of the UK’s 6,000 defined benefit (DB) pension funds grew by £100 billion in the last month alone, bringing the total deficit to £710…

Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh Business School has appointed international businesswoman, human resource specialist and journalist Heather McGregor to its top post. McGregor is perhaps best known…

Fishing and seafood industry groups across Scotland are set to benefit from £11.4 million of European funding to help deliver economic growth, said Rural Economy…

Edinburgh-based global fund manager Standard Life Investments (SLI), which manages assets of about £270 billion, has warned that growth in China could fall as low as…

Edinburgh-based industrial testing firm Exova Group said its adjusted revenue rose 13% to £160.9 million and statutory profit before tax rose 53% to £15.3 million in…

In its plan to complete devolution of Scotland’s £1 billion forestry sector, the Scottish Government is seeking views on its proposals “to keep Scotland’s forests in…

A 24-point action plan aimed at revitalising Scotland’s £200 million-a-year sheep sector has been unveiled by a group of industry experts. The recommendations are contained in the…

Leading Scots law firm Burness Paull said it has experienced a 48% increase in contentious intellectual property (IP) work over the last two years. The firm said it…

Orkney Islands Council has given a demolition company the opportunity to investigate the potential of Lyness near Scapa Flow as a potential as a base for North Sea…

The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) has appointed former RBS and Standard Life exective David Page as Police Scotland’s first director of corporate services, strategy and…

A study by a team of University of Edinburgh scientists has shown that vast quantities of gold could be salvaged from old mobile phones and other electronic goods using…

Oil and gas services company Petrofac said it secured $500 million of new contracts and extensions in the UK North Sea in the six months to June 30…

Scotland’s household wealth grew the fastest in the UK over the past year, according to the latest Barclays UK Prosperity Map. Household wealth in Scotland rose by 13%…

Scotland’s 10% tax on home purchases of more than £325,000 — a rate that applies to purchases over £925,000 in England — is having a detrimental effect in “the middle to higher…

The story of the meteoric rise of Edinburgh and Manhattan-based fantasy sports operator FanDuel and its controversial rivalry with DraftKings is set to be told in…

Edinburgh-based Nova Innovation said its offshore tidal turbine “array” system in Shetland has become the first in the world to deliver electricity to the grid. The tidal…

Parents of British private school leavers in 2016 who started Primary 1 in 2004 will have paid an average of £128,529 in fees, according to…

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said funds coming to Scotland from the UK Government’s apprenticeship levy should be spent on vocational skills academies. Such a move…

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Michael Russell has been appointed as the Scottish government’s new minister with responsibility for Brexit negotiations with the UK government….

Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) chief executive David Frost said the industry and the UK government now need to focus on pursuing an ambitious set of new…

Glasgow-based media company STV Group said revenue rose 5% to £56.2 million and pre-tax profit rose 50% to £10.2 million in the six months to June 30 as digital…

Glasgow-based mobile power firm Aggreko said it won the bid to provide temporary power for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018). The contract includes power for…

Glasgow-based packaging firm Macfarlane Group said revenue in the six months to June 30 rose 3.7% to £81.5 million and profit before tax rose 8.1% to just over £2 million…

Oriam, Scotland’s new £33 million world-class sports performance centre, is ready to open its doors on Monday August 29. The performance centre is located at Heriot-Watt University on the…

The Scottish Salmon Company said its second quarter net operating revenues were £28.5 million, down from £31.2 million in the same quarter last year, as…

Home buyers in Scotland borrowed £2.2 billion for house purchases in the second quarter, up 23% on the first quarter but down 1% on the same period last…

Henry Boot Developments said it concluded unconditional agreements with Aberdeen City Council for its new £333 million Aberdeen Exhibition & Conference Centre (AECC). Boot has appointed Stirling-based…

Scotland had a public sector deficit of £14.8 billion for 2015-16 — about 9.5% of its gross domestic product (GDP) —   amid plummeting North Sea…

Shares of Jersey Oil & Gas soared about 18% after Norwegian multinational Statoil agreed to acquire 70% of a licence in the Outer Moray Firth from Jersey and its…

The Scottish Government said on Tuesday that leaving the European Union could cost the Scottish economy up to £11.2 billion a year and Scottish public finances up…

Fantasy sports operator FanDuel — based in Edinburgh and Manhattan — said the New York Gaming Commission approved the firm’s temporary operating license in New York. “We want to…

Singapore Exchange (SGX) said it agreed terms to buy The Baltic Exchange in London in a recommended £87 million offer after a period of extensive consultation with Baltic’s…

Dividends paid out by British companies rose 7.7% on a headline basis to $33.7 billion in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, according…

PwC said its UK Risk Assurance practice will recruit more than 1,000 technology specialists over the next four years to meet “increasing client demand for digital, regulatory…

The chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland has urged UK Prime Minister Theresa May to increase spending on infrastructure to help prevent a post-Brexit vote slump. Howard Davies…

Pfizer said it agreed to acquire cancer drug firm Medivation for about $14 billion in a move to boost its oncology portfolio. Medivation is best known for…

Up to 70 investment banking customers of Royal Bank of Scotland will have to pay to hold deposits with RBS from Monday when it will become the first UK bank…

Audit Scotland said the Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) are making good progress in widening access to high-speed broadband — but that…

The Scottish Government said a record number of Scottish students have secured a place at university and that successful applications by students from the country’s most deprived areas…