Search: financial focus

Steps to increase trade with Scotland’s third largest export market are to be pursued this week by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during a two-day visit to France. The First Minister will lead a delegation of technology companies who will showcase their products and services to French par

UK manufacturers say the lack of certainty ahead of the 29 March Brexit resolution deadline is severely impacting their ability to plan for the future. That’s according to the Annual Manufacturing Report 2019, published by Hennik Research and PwC.  The report warns that the

Still more than 60 per cent taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland has announced today it plans to pay embattled shareholders a special dividend as it posted a doubling of profits. The Edinburgh-based lender made the announcement as it revealed that operating profit rose 50 per cent to £3.

KPMG, administrators of Patisserie Holdings plc and its subsidiaries, has today announced that the businesses of Patisserie Valerie and Philpotts have been sold in two separate transactions, which collectively preserve all 117 stores and safeguard approximately 2000 jobs. A total of 96 Patisserie Va

The combination of Brexit uncertainty, lack of investment and stockpiling is putting increasing pressure on cash, but Scottish businesses could unlock access to credit through improving credit scores - counterbalancing this burden, accountancy firm RSM has said. Reviewing and improving credit scores

Francis Street Club & Institute Limited, a Wick-based social and sports club founded in the 1920’s, has been placed in liquidation. Francis Street Club started as a British Legion Club and has been a long-established social, entertainment and sporting venue in the Highlands that rose to pr

The UK property market has peaked, and average prices are falling, according to an Edinburgh property management firm. Apropos by DJ Alexander Ltd, one of the UK’s largest family-run property management businesses which is run jointly by brothers David and John Alexander, has an

Coast and Glen Limited, a Highlands-based seafood and game business that had grown rapidly in recent years, has been placed in liquidation. Founded 2011, the company supplied fresh fish and game to hotels and restaurants across the UK and had also been expanding direct sales to consumers.

Oil services giant Petrofac is facing the prospect of a £400 million legal claim after the firm’s former sales executive David Lufkin pleaded guilty last week in a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) case to handing out more than £39m in bribes to secure £3.4bn-worth of Mid

North Ayrshire-based Cunninghame Housing Association has secured a £30 million Private Placement Investment from insurance giant Canada Life to part fund its ongoing approved new build housing development programme. The £30m funding together with ongoing Scottish Gove

HFD Property Group has secured an £88.9 million development loan to progress its Bothwell Exchange office project in Glasgow. The four-year package from the Bank of Scotland real estate and housing team’s Green Lending Initiative provides the commercial property specialist

Latest industry data for January has indicated a renewed loss of momentum for the UK service sector amid Brexit uncertainty, with a decline in incoming new work reported for the first time since July 2016.

Grant Thornton has bolstered its Scottish leadership team with the appointment of two new partners. The promotions of Stuart Preston and Neil McInnes come as the business sets it sights on further growth this year in the Scottish marketplace.

A year on from the introduction of MiFID II, it appears that the burden of complying with the regulation is putting pressure on small broking firms, writes Emma MacArthur, Assistant Manager at accountants Scott Moncrieff  

Spanish-owned banking giant Santander UK, which this month announced that it is to close 140 of its British branches, has announced plans to compensate mistreated credit card customers to the tune of £58 million.