Greggs to ramp up investment following dip in profits
Bakery chain Greggs is to increase its investment in existing stores and slow its rate of expansion after announcing a 2.2 per cent dip in profits for 2012.The group spent £46.9 million last year as it...
View ArticleAsos reveals jump in first-half sales
Online fashion retailer Asos has reported a 34 per cent jump in sales for the first half of the year, boosted by a leap in demand in the US.In a trading update ahead of its interim results, the firm...
View ArticleScottish Business Briefing - Wednesday 20 March, 2013
WELCOME to scotsman.com’s Scottish Business Briefing. Every morning we bring you a comprehensive round-up of all news affecting business in Scotland today. ENERGY & UTILITIESCairn focus on Atlantic...
View ArticleKing outvoted again in call for more QE
The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) remained split over the prospect of more money printing earlier this month, with governor Sir Mervyn King outvoted again in pressing for a £25...
View ArticleOptos shares slump after warning of ‘softer’ sales
Shares in Optos plunged more than 13 per cent today after the retinal scanning firm said sales of its Daytona devices were “softer” than it had expected.The Dunfermline-based company said in January...
View ArticleEdinburgh’s Sigma sign Liverpool redevelopment deal
SIGMA Capital, the Edinburgh-based property investment vehicle in which Sir Tom Hunter holds a 22 per cent stake, yesterday sealed a development deal with Liverpool City Council.Under the contract,...
View ArticlePete Martin: Drop George, let’s try Ozzy instead
A CHANGE of Osbourne may sound crazy, but something radical has to change if the UK is to grow again, writes Pete MartinI’M SITTING in the lobby of the Ace Hotel on 29th and Broadway in New York,...
View ArticleUK Budget: Housebuilders’ shares jump on loan news
LONDON’S listed housebuilders were the main winners from yesterday’s Budget, with shares jumping at the prospect of a huge taxpayer injection into the mortgage market.Barratt Developments and Taylor...
View ArticleCountrywide shares soar on stock market return
THE UK’s biggest estate agency chain was yesterday valued at more than £800 million on its return to the London market after a six-year absence.Countrywide, which has 931 branches and trades through...
View ArticleBusiness in brief: Cairn | Stagecoach | Boeing
BOSSES at Edinburgh-based oil explorer Cairn Energy have pocketed nearly £7.9 million-worth of shares under the company’s 2009 long-term incentive plan.Chief executive Simon Thomson was awarded 565,732...
View ArticleBarclays defends share windfalls for bank chiefs
BARCLAYS investment banking chief Rich Ricci picked up a £17.6 million windfall yesterday after the bank handed out huge share awards to executives.In total, some £38.5m of shares were awarded to nine...
View ArticleBranson believed to be among RBS branch bidders
SIR Richard Branson’s Virgin Money, a consortium of City investors and some private equity bidders are understood to have put in bids yesterday for the 316 branches Royal Bank of Scotland has to divest...
View ArticleAirline profits heading high as Europeans struggle
GLOBAL airline profits could touch £7 billion this year, higher than previously forecast – though European carriers will only just break even.The collective post-tax profit that the International Air...
View ArticleBudget 2013: Surprise corporation tax cut welcomed
THE surprise further 1p cut in corporation tax to 20p from 2015 and the abolition of stamp duty on Alternative Investment Market (Aim) transactions for small companies were hailed as big Budget...
View ArticleComment: Budget leaves Osborne no wiggle room
Measures to help small firms a highlight, writes Business Editor Terry Murden, but Osborne found himself in a straitjacket of his own choosing.IT WAS, said the Chancellor, a Budget for an “aspiration...
View ArticleBudget 2013: Opportunity missed to sort out finances
ECONOMISTS described the Chancellor’s new remit for the Bank of England as a missed opportunity, unlikely to herald a radical shift in monetary policy.George Osborne had been expected to use his Budget...
View ArticleBudget 2013: Corporation tax cut to boost UK competition
Slashing an extra 1 per cent from the corporation tax rate – now expected to be 20 per cent in 2015 – will give the UK the lowest business tax in the G20. The Chancellor’s most significant supply-side...
View ArticleBudget 2013: National Insurance cut Osborne’s big gift
THE Chancellor’s “rabbit out the hat” was largely seen to be the introduction of a £2,000 employment allowance, effectively a cut in national insurance contributions (NIC).Employers’ NICs have often...
View ArticleBudget 2013: Stamp duty cut and other measures
THE cut in stamp duty reserve tax on growth shares was welcomed by stockbrokers and advisers, although there seemed more enthusiasm for plans to allow investors to tuck Alternative Investment Market...
View ArticleBudget 2013: Schedule 19 consigned to obscurity
Edinburgh had a name check from the Chancellor when he mentioned the abolition of an obscure tax that will benefit asset managers to the tune of £600 million over the next five years.Schedule 19 was a...
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