News

Around one in six Scottish shops are lying empty, one of the highest vacancy rates in the UK, according to new figures. A total of 16.4% of units were classed as vacant in Q3 2021, compared with 16.1% in the previous quarter, The Times reports.

A socialite's speeding fine has been halved to £50 after she requested special treatment due to “financial hardship”.

A sustainable Scottish distillery has secured £2.6 million from HSBC UK to support the building of its new visitor centre, creating around 30 new jobs in the Angus area.

Highland-based Reid & Fraser Chartered Accountants has become Scotland’s – and possibly the UK's – first employee-owned full-service accountancy firm. All shares in the company have been played into an employee ownership trust (EOT), marking a significant milestone within the s

Accountancy firm Grant Thornton has been slapped with a financial sanction of nearly £720,000 in connection with failings in its audits of Interserve. Interserve, a major outsourcing company, went into administration in 2019 after financial restructuring plans drawn up by the company’s l

Edinburgh-based Par Equity has achieved a major milestone with more than £100 million invested in high-growth technology businesses. The company, which backs emerging technology stars across the north of the UK, reached the milestone in mid-October.

Business confidence in Scotland fell eight points during October to 31%, according to the latest Business Barometer from Bank of Scotland Commercial Banking. Companies in Scotland reported lower confidence in their own business prospects month-on-month, down one point at 38%. When taken alongside th

The Energy Assets Group, with two Scottish offices in Livingston and Stirling, has completed a £690 million refinancing package, including £185 million of Capex facilities.

Chartered accountants Wylie & Bisset has warned the self-employed of a "tax grab" buried in the tax impact notes behind Chancellor Rishi Sunak's headline Budget measures last week. While the Budget speech itself was relatively quiet on taxation measures, background documents set out much more co

Asia Dragon Trust plc, managed by abrdn, saw its net asset value rise by 20.5% in the year ending 31 August 2021, according to its annual results. It outperformed its benchmark, the MSCI Asia ex Japan Index, which increased by 14.7% on a comparable basis over the reporting period.

Aberdeenshire-based STATS Group has established a new Australian entity and will invest up to $AUD 2 million (£1 million) in workshop facilities and intervention equipment to support its drive in the country’s pipeline integrity market. The pipeline technology specialist has been success

European patent and trade mark attorneys Murgitroyd has announced its acquisition of of UDL Intellectual Property (UDL), a UK-based IP practice. This follows its recent acquisition of Hanna Moore + Curley in Ireland. UDL, founded over 100 years ago, is headquartered in Leeds, with offices in Bristol

abrdn has announced the acquisition of investing insights platform Finimize. Finimize publishes a daily newsletter for retail investors with over one million subscribers and 40,000 premium subscribers, making investing accessible and digestible to clients.

Creative and market intelligence agency AstroAgency, which specialises in the business of space, plans to grow following a raft of client wins.

Lanarkshire-based Advanced Clothing Solutions (ACS) has received £950,000 Scottish Enterprise grant funding to make its innovative garment rental and re-sale business even more sustainable, create 147 new permanent jobs and accelerate its path to becoming a net zero company.