Business Briefs - June 8

American manufacturing company Jabil is to invest £12.5m in its Scottish plant at Livingston.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made the announcement about the firm’s plans in New York during her state visit to America.

She said: “Ernst and Young’s latest survey showed that 2014 was Scotland’s most successful year in the past decade for attracting US investments and Jabel’s announcement is further evidence of this success.”

The investment will be supported by £450,000 of grant funding from the Scottish Government.

Scottish Enterprise chief executive Lena Wilson added: “We are pleased to be able to announce the expansion our long-standing Scotland site and leverage the tenured team to grow and expand our global processes and capabilities.”

SLI to oppose Sorrell’s 43% pay hike

Edinburgh-based wealth manager Standard Life Investments (SLI) is set to vote against advertising giant WPP’s £43 million pay package for chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell at the company’s shareholder AGM tomorrow.

Sorrell’s payout for 2014 would be 43 per cent up on his £30m payout in 2013.

Guy Jubb, SLI’S global head of governance, is expected to express SLI’s concern over the package and is likely to be joined by other institutional investors in a pay revolt similar to the 30 per cent of WPP shareholders who failed to back the remuneration report last year.

Lawyers issue warning over holiday pay

Scottish-based lawyers Law at Work have warned businesses that employ shift workers or staff on commission that they must take account of these in holiday pay calculations or risk hefty fines.

The firm issued the warning following a ruling by the European Court of Justice last year that employers could not decide staff would only be entitled to their basic salaries when taking their annual leave entitlement, no matter what type of work they were doing.

Law at Work said the change is likely to affect all types of workers who receive regular bonuses, allowances or commission payments and that these should be considered when calculating average pay levels.