Search: financial focus

In this edition of our Just A Minute Q&A series, we speak to Tony Cochrane, VAT director at Glasgow-based VITA – VAT & Indirect Tax Advisors. I started working at HMRC’s Glasgow VAT office in 2006. I received offers for generic finance graduate roles in London, but my heart wasn&

Inverness-based investment group Envoy has announced a majority investment in Ecosystems Technologies, an award-winning business which designs and manufactures sustainable timber-based modular buildings. The deal marks Envoy’s 30th investment since its inception in 2019, and was announced at t

A global study of venture capital investors and tech developers active in the low-carbon space found that 99% of UK respondents have invested in or already developed a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project, with 79% saying they plan to do so in the next year. The research conducted by Pinsent Mas

Corporate finance advisory firm HNH Partners has reported a record year across its Edinburgh and Belfast offices, completing 40 transactions worth in excess of £525m over the past 12 months despite persistent headwinds in the broader deal market. The mergers and acquisitions specialist has acc

Lanarkshire-based Accountants Plus has reached a major milestone with the establishment of a new headquarters building in Motherwell’s Airbles Road. The move follows a period of growth, with annual fee income increasing almost four‑fold in seven years from around £750,000 in 2019 to &p

Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals increased to £6.2 billion in March, from £5.2bn in February, above the previous 6-month average of £4.9bn, according to The Bank of England's latest Money and Credit release covering March 2026 The data points to a pickup in lending act

HSBC has reported a small drop in first-quarter profit after a sharp rise in credit charges, driven by a fraud-related exposure in its UK investment banking arm and the fallout from the conflict in the Middle East, overshadowed solid revenue growth across the lender's wealth and interest income busi

Scottish jam and marmalade maker Mackays has narrowed its annual losses, with the Arbroath-based business reporting a pre-tax loss of £958,455 for the year ended 31 December 2025, compared to a restated loss of £1.22 million in the prior year – a reduction of around 22%. Turnover r

An Italian national who attempted to defraud a Singapore watch retailer has been sentenced to seven months in prison, in a case that hinged on one extraordinary irony: the watch he believed to be counterfeit was entirely genuine. Singh Deepak, 24, had purchased a Rolex GMT Saru from an acquaintance

The Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust (EWIT) is faced with a significant boardroom overhaul as the New York-based activist investor Saba Capital Management seizes control. At the trust's AGM, which took place today, Saba won the vote to appoint three directors to the trust’s board. With fiv

Restructuring, turnaround and insolvency trade association, R3, has appointed Sonia Jordan, a solicitor and partner at Knights, with more than 30 years’ experience advising on corporate restructuring and recovery, as president. Ms Jordan has been actively involved with R3 for many years, most

Lloyds Banking Group has posted a 33% rise in statutory profit before tax to £2.0 billion, for the first quarter of 2026, but has shared concerns over the economic impact of the Middle East conflict. The Bank of Scotland-owner's Q1 growth was underpinned by an 8% rise in underlying net interes

The Housing Finance Corporation has pledged £550 million in funding to support the delivery of affordable housing across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Global sport is powered not just by competition, but innovation – and World IP Day highlights the critical need to protect the talent, entrepreneurship and technology behind all of that work, writes Alastair Smith Fine margins are everything in elite sport. We will see that on the global stage

UK taxpayers have handed over £938.8 billion in tax in 2024/25, a 9.3% rise on the previous year, according to HMRC's annual bulletin, as frozen thresholds and rising asset values are quietly eroding household wealth. Inheritance tax receipts reached a new record high of just under £8.5b