CHEMICAL transportation firm Interbulk has shaved a further £500,000 off its annual interest payments, on top of the £1.5 million it saved in October.
Under the latest deal, East Kilbride-based Interbulk – in which engineering tycoon Jim McColl holds a stake – refinanced some of its Bank of Scotland debt with Dutch lender Rabobank.
Scott Cunningham, group finance director at InterBulk, said: “We are pleased to announce a successful syndication of the Group’s debt which reduces further our cost of borrowing while widening the source of our funding.”
BlackRock buys into chip outfit Wolfson
Investment manager BlackRock has raised its holding in Wolfson Microelectronics, the Edinburgh-based chip developer which this week reported a surge in fourth-quarter revenues amid booming demand for smartphones and tablet computers.
Wolfson said yesterday that BlackRock had bought almost one million shares in the firm, lifting its stake to 10.4 per cent.
The audio chip specialist saw revenues jump 52 per cent to $56.1 million (£35.5m) for the final three months of 2012, although it warned of lower margins in the current quarter.
Weak spending hits McDonald’s chain
Fast food giant McDonald’s saw global sales fall 1.9 per cent last month, a steeper decline than expected amid fierce competition in the sector.
Sales in Europe, its biggest market, dropped by 2.1 per cent last month, with particular weakness in Germany and France.
The company had already flagged that it expected sales and profit growth to be under pressure in the near term as consumers spend cautiously amid weak economic growth in most major markets. The figures for January were also compared to strong results a year ago.
Co–founder Crabb sells Sigma holding
Neil Crabb, the co-founder of Sigma Capital, has sold his remaining stake in the Aim-quoted property investor.
Crabb is chief executive of Edinburgh-based Frontier IP, which was spun out of Sigma in 2009 and helps universities to commercialise their research. He reduced his stake in Sigma from 10.5 per cent to 8.3 per cent in December and has now sold all his remaining shares.
Sigma, in which Sir Tom Hunter holds a 22 per cent stake, also said four directors had bought nearly 700,000 shares between them for a total price of more than £41,000.