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Steven Cunningham Steven Cunningham is a partner in Alexander Sloan Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers.

While this summer’s weather has left the country largely underwhelmed, two separate reports published today have described a Scottish economy that is looking bright. The Bank of Scotland’s latest Private Market Index report has revealed private sector companies reported further growth of output

Edinburgh-based Royal Bank of Scotland has sold a 51 per cent stake in Cairn Capital to Mediobanca. The deal includes the provision for the Italian bank to acquire the remaining 49pc of the Knightsbridge-based asset manager in three years’ time.

Business minister Fergus Ewing The number of Scottish corporate insolvencies in the first quarter of the year is 21.2 per cent lower than over the same time last year, according to new Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) data.

PwC has announced the appointment of three new partners and six directors across its Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh offices. The global firm said that the move is part of its continuing investment in its Scottish team that will also see 140 graduates and work experience interns joining its Scottish

New rules governing bankers pay have been unveiled by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which the UK Governement has said constitute the toughest such laws of anywhere in the world. The new regime follows a year-long consultation by the City regulators a

Back from left –Sandra Sutherland, Thorntons partner, Aileen Hunter, Watts partner, Anne McKeown, Thorntons partnerFront from left –Jack Robertson, Thorntons chairman, Hamish Watt, Watts partner A Dundee-based law firm, with local offices across the East of Scotland, has announced plans to merge

Martin Gilbert Martin Gilbert, chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management has submitted plans for the first phase of housing at a former Angus prison.

Hazlehead Park Councillors have backed plans to build a 200-bedroom hotel on green belt land in Aberdeen.

Shareholders who gathered at Dundee’s Gardyne Theatre for Alliance Trust’s much anticipated AGM yesterday let out a collective gasp as it was revealed that the board’s protracted - but ultimately doomed - battle with an activist investor had cost the firm £3 million. The company spent a simil

Baker Tilly has strengthened its restructuring and recovery practice in Scotland with three senior hires poached from Begbies Traynor. Paul Dounis joins as a partner and Kevin Lamb as a director, both of whom will be based in Edinburgh, while John MacLean joins the Glasgow office as director.

Just under half (48 per cent) of British men fail to support any good causes or get involved in social action in a typical month, according to figures released today by the Charities Aid Foundation. The agency found that the nation’s men are much less likely than women to be involved in supporting

Sir George Mathewson  

Aviva is trading near 52-week highs ahead of its first-half results, as all eyes are on chief executive Amanda Blanc following its multi-billion pound turnaround. Analysts are expecting profits for the first half of the year to rise by roughly 17.5% year-on-year to £1.3 billion.  A s

Hampden Bank chief executive Tracey Davidson's bet on riding out two years of falling profit is starting to pay off, with the private bank reporting a 91% jump in first-half earnings. Profit before tax for the six months to 30 June 2026 came in at £4.7 million in its unaudited accounts against