Scottish Financial Review

Workloads for small and medium firms (SMEs) in Scottish construction rose faster in the first quarter of 2017 than at any time since the 2007 financial…

The Auditor General for Scotland, Caroline Gardner, has sent a report to the Scottish Parliament on the “financial sustainability” of three colleges — Edinburgh College,…

Shares of East Kilbride-based Goals Soccer Centres rose about 6% after it confirmed it was in “preliminary discussions” about a merger with rival firm Powerleague. “The board…

The economic value of golf tourism and events to Scotland has increased to £286 million a year, according to a study commissioned by VisitScotland and Scottish…

Scotmid Co-operative said it made a trading profit of £5.3 million for the year ended January 28 – down from £5.7 million in same period…

An estimated 530,000 jobs in Scotland depend on demand for Scotland’s goods and services from the rest of the UK, according to research by the University of Strathclyde’s Fraser…

Aberdeen Asset Management CEO Martin Gilbert said in an interview that bigger distribution in the United States would be a key ambiton of the combined Standard Life-Aberdeen…

The UK government said it agreed to sell its Edinburgh-based UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) to Macquarie Group of Australia for a total of £2.3 billion. The…

Edinburgh-based industrial testing firm Exova Group has agreed to a £620 million cash takeover offer from Element Materials Technology Group, the companies said on Wednesday. Element is…

Scotch and spirits firm William Grant & Sons said it acquired Hudson Valley, New York-based Tuthilltown Spirits to expand its reach into craft American whiskey distilling for the first…

UK chancellor Philip Hammond has conceded that the British government may be forced to sell the UK taxpayer’s stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) at a loss….

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has announced plans to call a snap general election on June 8 — having decided she needs to win support for…

Scottish food and drink exports to Asia grew by £72 million or 7% in 2016 to just over £1 billion, the Scottish Government said. Latest statistics…

Scotland’s official unemployment level fell by 15,000 in the most recent quarter to 123,000, with the rate down 0.5 percentage points to 4.5% — below the…

CYBG, owner of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks, said it will make a minimum of £6 billion of lending available from 2017 to 2019 to help fuel…

UK Business Secretary Greg Clark announced £29 million of funding for the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute — birthplace of Dolly the Sheep, the first mammal to…

UPDATE 2 — ShareSoc, the UK Individual Shareholders Society, recommended that investors vote against the re-election of Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Howard Davies at the bank’s…

Strong growth in international flights helped Edinburgh and Glasgow airports to their busiest March ever last month. Edinburgh Airport said it had more than 956,000 passengers last…

A downturn in Scotland’s big services sector offset strong manufacturing production growth in March as the Bank of Scotland Regional Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) report showed Scotland’s…

Aberdeenshire-based craft beer company BrewDog said San Francisco private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners acquired 22% of BrewDog in a transaction that values BrewDog at roughly £1 billion. According to…

Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) recorded a 15.4% increase in passenger numbers — reaching a record breaking 1,658,423 customers — at its 11 airports…

Baillie Gifford’s flagship £5 billion fund, the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust plc — which recently entered the FTSE 100 index for the first time in its…

Hurricane Energy said on Friday it tripled its estimate of recoverable oil from its Lancaster field in the North Sea. The announcement came a few days after Hurricane announced…

Lloyds Banking Group said it expects compensation for “economic losses, distress and inconvenience” related to the HBoS Reading scandal will be about £100 million and that a provision for that…

Local authorities in Scotland made a £40.3 million profit on £79.3 million of income from their car parking charges and penalties in 2015-16, according to research by the…

Marriott International plans to open seven new hotels in Scotland over the next four years “due to their confidence in Scotland’s strong economy and tourism sectors,”…

Shares of Aberdeen-based oil and gas services company Wood Group rose after it said its expected annual cost synergies from its proposed £2.2 billion deal…

Scottish gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.4% over the year of 2016 but contracted 0.2% in the fourth quarter compared to the previous three months, according to Scotland’s…

Edinburgh-based venture capital firm Par Equity is to open its first US office in San Francisco and launch a $125 million fund, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon…

BT said it signed a new power purchase agreement (PPA) worth £185 million over 15 years with the Stroupster Wind Farm in Caithness, Scotland, which is…

Aberdeen-based independent oil and gas firm Parkmead said it nearly doubled its stake in the major Sanda North and Sanda South structures in the West of…

Edinburgh-based oil and gas firm Bowleven said on Tuesday it concluded its strategic review and it “is not in active discussions with any third party in relation…

The European Commission said on Tuesday it opened an “in-depth investigation” to assess whether an alternative package proposed by UK authorities “is an appropriate replacement for…

Wind turbines in Scotland set a new March record for the total amount of power sent to the UK National Grid since records began, according…

Edinburgh-based oil and gas firm Bowleven said on Monday that Eli Chahin — a nominee of activist investors Crown Ocean Capital — has been appointed acting…

Grangemouth refinery operator Ineos said it agreed to acquire the important Forties Pipeline System (FPS) and associated pipelines and facilities in the North Sea from BP…

Glasgow-based cloud computing firm iomart said in a trading statement that for the year to March 31, 2017, it expects to show revenue growth of 17%…

Powers over the revenue and management of Crown Estate resources in Scotland have been transferred to the Scottish Government. From April 1, Scottish Ministers will…

UPDATE 4 — Edinburgh-based John Menzies said it was in discussions over the potential sale of its distribution arm to much smaller delivery firm DX Group in a…

UPDATED — Scotland’s gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) rose 1.1% or £23 million in 2015 to £2.15 billion, according to a report from Scotland’s chief statistician. Scottish GERD…

Royal London said its 2016 operating profit before tax rose 16% to £282 million as its new life and pensions business rose 28% to £8.7 billion on a present…

Monaco-based activist shareholder Crown Ocean Capital (COC) has completed its boardroom clear-out at Edinburgh-based oil and gas firm Bowleven with the resignation of chairman Billy Allan and departures…

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the triggering of Article 50 to start negotiations for a UK withdrawal from the European Union was was a “leap in the…

Edinburgh Trams recorded its busiest day yet when more than 28,000 passenger journeys were made on the day of Scotland’s rugby match against Wales at Murrayfield Stadium in…

Edinburgh-based Standard Life plc said terms have been agreed to sell its Hong Kong insurance business Standard Life Asia to Standard Life’s Chinese joint venture insurance business…

Shares of Johnston Press — owner of The Scotsman, the i newspaper and the Yorkshire Post — fell another 10% after it reported a statutory…

The bid by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to stage a second referendum on Scottish independence was formally backed by the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday. MSPs voted 69 to 59…

Shares of Cumbernauld-based Irn-Bru maker A.G. Barr rose after it said its statutory profit before tax increased 4.4% to £43.1 million on revenue down 0.6% to £257.1 million in the 52 weeks…

Aberdeen-based Wood Group said it was awarded a $50 million contract with Premier Oil to deliver topside operations and maintenance services to the Balmoral floating production…

Aberdeen-based FirstGroup and joint venture partner MTR Corporation have been awarded the UK’s new South Western rail franchise, taking it away from Perth-based Stagecoach which has operated the…

Hurricane Energy on Monday confirmed weekend reports that it made a further, important oil discovery west of Shetland, calling the find “the largest undeveloped discovery…

Edinburgh-based industrial testing firm Exova Group said on Monday it has received proposals for three possible cash offers for the company. It said the proposals were from Dutch…

Hurricane Energy is set to announce it has made a further, important oil discovery west of Shetland, according to the Financial Times. The news comes…

Dundee-based investment firm Alliance Trust on Friday announced its 2016 results, saying its share price rose 23% over the year, total shareholder return rose from 10.7% to 26.4%, and…

The UK’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) said it awarded 25 licences to 17 companies in the 29th Offshore Licensing Round to enable further exploration and production…

Royal Bank of Scotland is planning to close almost 160 RBS and NatWest bank branches throughout the UK, putting hundreds of jobs at risk. RBS, still more than 70% owned by…

A new report by Savills and Scottish Woodlands said more than 18,300 hectares of forestry were sold across Britain last year at a cumulative value of £83 million…

Edinburgh-based oil and gas firm Bowleven — which last week had most of its board ousted by Monaco-based activist shareholder Crown Ocean Capital (COC) — said it is launching…

Infrastructure investment manager Ancala Partners LLP said it raised £51 million of debt facilities for Green Highland Hydro (GHH), the asset ownership vehicle for hydroelectric power…

North Sea exploration firm EnQuest, which recently went through a complex financial restructuring, said on Tuesday its 2016 gross profit rose 13.22% to $196.1 million despite…

Glasgow-based Smart Metering Systems (SMS) said its 2016 revenue increased 25% to £67.2 million and profit before tax rose 4% to £18.2 million as it completed three acquisitions ahead…

Shares of East Kilbride-based Goals Soccer Centres rose about 8% after it said 2016 sales edged up 1.6% to £33.5 million amid an investment programme and it…

The UK government said on Monday it intends on March 29 to formally trigger the long negotiations for the UK to leave the EU. “The UK’s Permanent…

Lloyds Banking Group — which owns Halifax and Bank of Scotland — said on Monday it appointed Professor Russel Griggs to review the cases of firms affected in…

Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management on Monday outlined the allocation of responsibilities between co-chief executives Keith Skeoch and Martin Gilbert after the companies complete their…

Food and drink exports from Scotland grew by £421 million or 8% in 2016 to a record £5.5 billion — with exports to EU countries…

Amec Foster Wheeler — which on Monday agreed to be bought by Aberdeen-based Wood Group for about £2.2 billion — said it won a contract with the US…

Shares of Edinburgh-based tidal power company Atlantis Resources rose 3% after it announced its intention to enter the French tidal power market through a cooperation…