Business Briefs - May 20

The number of tourists visiting Scotland rose 5 per cent to more than 15 million last year, according to new figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Great Britain Tourism Survey.

The amount spent by visitors also increased to £4.7bn as Scotland hosted the Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup.

Overseas tourist numbers were up 11 per cent, while there was a 3 per cent rise in domestic visits to Scotland.

However, the amount spent by domestic tourists fell by 1 per cent.

VisitScotland said last year saw the highest spend by visitors in a decade.

The overseas figures were compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), while domestic tourism statistics were derived from the Great Britain Tourism Survey.

For the UK, there was a 5.2 per cent increase in visits by overseas residents, while spending reached a record £21.8bn.

But for Great Britain as a whole, domestic visits fell by 7 per cent, with expenditure dropping by 2 per cent.

Scottish Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing described the figures as “hugely encouraging”.

Tilney for Intermediaries’s model portfolios has been added to Standard Life Wrap’s one year-old wrap platform.

Tilney’s nine risk-based asset models have joined 11 other DFMs on the DFM Investment Hub, which Standard Life Wrap launched in March 2014.

The nine are Brewin Dolphin, Charles Stanley, Frontier Investment Management, Investec Wealth & Investment, Liontrust, Quilter Cheviot, Sarasin & Partners, Seven Investment Management, Standard Life Wealth and Vestra Wealth have been available on the wrap since April.

Tilney for Intermediaries chief Miles Robinson said: “We believe that there is a significant benefit for the end client in having the expertise of DFM, and for the adviser, in having oversight of their clients’ investments in one place.”

On the Standard Life Wrap DFM Investment Hub, the Tilney MPS have an annual management fee of 0.3 per cent plus VAT.

Dave King is free to take up the chairman’s role at Rangers Football Club after being passed “fit and proper” by the Scottish Football Association.

King, who owns 14.5 per cent of Rangers’ shares, led a successful bid to oust the previous board at Ibrox in March.

However, the governing body needed time to assess King’s suitability, given his tax convictions in South Africa.

The fact he sat on the Rangers board prior to administration and liquidation was taken into consideration.

Facilities management company Mitie has posted a steady rise in full-year revenues thanks it part to a string of new and extended Scottish contracts.

Shares in the firm have increased by nearly four per cent after it lifted underlying operating profit by 0.9 per cent to £128.6 million. Sales have risen by 5.8 per cent to £2.26 billion in the year to the end of March.

The profitable year saw Mitie, which employs more than 7,000 staff in Scotland, retain and extend deal to provide services to Edinburgh-based Standard Life Investments and secure a major three-year contract worth £10m with Larchwood Care Homes to provide technical facilities management services.

Meanwhile, an extension of the group’s partnership with Lloyds Banking Group will deliver facilities management across the lender’s entire UK branch and office network for a further seven years.

Oberlanders Architects have submitted a planning application on behalf of developers Balfour Beatty for a new student residence in central Glasgow.

The 520 bed facility on Kennedy Street will also include ground floor retail spaces and a student hub arranged around a landscaped courtyard.

Oberlanders said the design concept is inspired and informed by the industrial heritage of the once famous foundry formerly located on the site.