Search: financial focus

Lorraine Macphail The referendum on the UK's future in the European Union is damaging investment in Scotland's fragile property and construction sector, according to Grant Thornton.

The use of foodbanks in Scotland remains at record levels, figures published by The Trussell Trust have revealed. In the 2014/15 financial year, 133,726 emergency supply packages were given out to people in crisis by The Trussell Trust’s 51 food banks – an increase of 13% on the previous year.

Liz Cameron The Scottish Chambers of Commerce has today claimed that the Scottish economy is currently sitting on “a knife edge between growth and recession” as it revealed data showing a mixed start to the year for businesses north of the border.

Edinburgh-based insurance giant Standard Life has made a formal bid to acquire Axa’s Elevate platform, according to reports. Global financial news outlet Bloomberg said Standard Life is in talks for the business unit as the French insurer seeks to sell off its UK life insurance and wealth investme

Jeremy Lawson Standard Life Investments, the global asset management arm of Edinburgh-based insurance giant Standard Life, assesses whether the global economy is on course for recession and analyses the current stage of the business cycle.

Perth-based transport giant Stagecoach has placed orders for about 480 buses and coaches in deals worth a total of £97m. The firm said it was buying £82m worth of new vehicles for its regional networks in England, Scotland and Wales.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned former Royal Bank of Scotland LIBOR submitter Paul White from performing any function in relation to any regulated financial activity and publicly censured him. The FCA said that were it not for Mr White’s serious financial hardship, the City watchd

Glasgow-based global engineering giant, The Weir Group, has ended its 70-year relationship with EY and confirmed that ‘Big Four’ rival PwC is to take over as its new external auditor. PwC will begin audit and assurance services at Weir, which is one of Scotland’s biggest employers and operates

Kirsty Wells Kirsty Wells is head of HouseMark Scotland

A new strategic alliance between PwC and leading maritime fleet monitoring and risk management solution provider, Pole Star, has been announced that aims to help organisations involved in international trade to better manage their legal and regulatory obligations. PwC said it is working with Pole St

Petra Wetzel Petra Wetzel, the founder of independent Glasgow brewery WEST, has launched West Women, an investment fund to provide seed capital and other financial assistance to emerging female entrepreneurs operating within Scotland’s buoyant food and drink sector.

Andy Wightman Scotland is being marketed as a tax haven beside the likes of Panama, with Russian news websites hosting advertorials listing it alongside the phrase “offshore zones”, The Herald reports.

Atria One from Morrison Street The City of Edinburgh Council has today announced the sale of Atria, its award winning Grade A office development, to Deka Immobilien, a global real estate investment company based in Germany, for £105m.

Ken Patullo Financial distress across the leading football clubs in Scotland, which peaked in 2011 at almost 10% of all clubs, remains at a record low, according to football finance experts at Begbies Traynor following their analysis of key indicators of business distress in the sector.

Financial services firms received 2.11 million new complaints between July and December 2015, according to new complaints data published today by the Financial Conduct Authority. Overall, there was a decrease of 1.4 per cent in the number of complaints compared to the previous six months which was m