News

Britain’s biggest bank, HSBC, has announced plans to pump more money into Scotland’s small and medium-sized enterprise sector. The lender said that it is increasing the size of its loan fund for SMEs from £300m to £400m this year.

John Scott Scottish Mortgage, the £3.3 billion flagship fund run by Edinburgh-based investment house Baillie Gifford is proposing to dip into its reserves to pay this year’s final dividend of 1.55p per share.

A financial worker at one of Scotland’s top legal firms has been jailed for 21 months after embezzling almost £180,000. Teresa Kidd, 44, a purchase ledger clerk at Maclay Murray and Spens LLP (MMS) took thousands from her employers between October 2006 and November 2011.

Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp New CBI Scotland director Hugh Aitken’s calls for austerity to be a priority for the new SNP MPs have been criticised by Business for Scotland.

Martin Gill The new government has inherited a confident business community but underlying fragility is a cause for concern, according to the latest Business Trends Report by accountants and business advisers BDO in Scotland.

Alastair Christmas New research carried out by Glasgow-based Clydesdale Bank suggests that the majority of small and medium-sized businesses in Scotland are underestimating their true worth by not taking into account the value of assets such as trademarks, patents and intellectual property.

Edinburgh-based challenger bank Virgin Money has reported a 34 per cent jump in lending in the first quarter of the year as it continued to increase its share of the mortgage market. The lender’s latest data for the first three months of the year showed that the group captured an estimated 3.6 per

George Osborne Chancellor George Osborne may be set to sell-off 81 per cent state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland this year, even if it means the UK taxpayer taxing a hit on the deal.

The Bank of Scotland’s latest PMI survey data has indicated a return to growth for Scottish business activity during April. The seasonally-adjusted headline Bank of Scotland PMI – a single-figure measure of the month-on-month change in combined manufacturing and services output – improved to 5

UK house prices rose 1.6 per cent last month, according to the latest survey from the Halifax. The bank also recorded an annual rate of increase rising slightly to 8.5 per cent.

The Law Society of Scotland’s financial benchmarking report shows improving fortunes for smaller law firms. The annual survey of law firms’ financial performance in 2013-14 has shown an overall increase from £64,000 to £69,000 in profits per equity partners. (Profits per equity partner are bef

Alastair Rae Scottish hotel revenue and occupancy rose slightly in February despite a slip in Aberdeen, according to the latest report by accountants and business advisers BDO.

John Cairns John Cairns is a tax partner at French Duncan Chartered Accountants

David Melhuish The value of commercial property sales in Scotland dropped by a third in the first quarter of 2015.

Douglas Robertson New car sales in Scotland dipped three per cent in last month ending more than two years of near continuous growth, according to latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).