News

Stephen Welton The Business Growth Fund (BGF), an initiative designed to pick up the slack in funding for small firms since the financial crisis, has committed £100 million in Scotland, and a total of £500 million, since its inception four years ago.

Martin Darroch Law firm Harper Macleod has revealed plans for expansion after announcing that its fee income for the latest financial year hit £22 million.

Paul Hilton The average price of a house in Edinburgh, Fife and the Lothians has risen by 18 per cent in the last 12 months, while prices in the centre of Edinburgh rocketed by 26 per cent over the same period, according to the latest House Price Report from Capital estate agents ESPC.

Fife-based Glen Housing Association (GHA) has secured a £5.7 million loan from Triodos Bank. The finance package has enabled the housing association to purchase and develop 13 new properties in Leven, Fife, and will be used to facilitate more developments.

A new report by the Bank of Scotland shows growth in permanent jobs continuing in Scotland last month, but at the slowest rate for almost two years. The Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs found increased demand for staff and a continued rise in starting salaries. The most significant rise in demand for

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is expected to issue Barclays with its biggest-ever fine as part of the penalties meted out to banks involved in a currency rigging scandal. The fine will pale in value against the massive payments to be made to US institutions.

Former business banker Ian Donaldson has been appointed as client engagement manager dedicated to oil and gas at R&D tax relief specialist Jumpstart. Donaldson spent fourteen years with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank before going into the new Aberdeen-based role, which will see h

The Royal Bank of Scotland and James Donaldson & Sons Ltd (JDS) have forged a new banking relationship that will see RBS provide strategic funding services across the Fife-headquartered JDS Group. The agreement will benefit all four companies in the JDS Group: James Donaldson Timber Ltd, Donalds

Terra Firma Chambers has announced that Michael Howlin QC has joined the stable with immediate effect. Mr Howlin called to the bar of England & Wales in 1982, serving company-law and chancery pupillages in Lincoln's Inn before coming to practise in Scotland.

Rathbone Investment Management has announced the opening of a new office and "important hub" on Glasgow's Nelson Mandela Place. The provider of discretionary investment management services for private clients, charities and professional advisers has moved into new premises at The Athenaeum, 8 Nelson

Pre-tax profit at Clydesdale Bank increased 53 per cent to £133 million in the six months to March according to new figures released as the Glasgow-based bank searches for a new owner. The bank is to be demerged from its parent, the National Australia Bank (Nab), through a flotation on the London S

A Scottish brewery which is inviting its fans to become shareholders has been criticised for not providing an appropriate level of protection for its investors. Craft beer company BrewDog is currently trying to raise £25 million in capital through its fourth release of shares — an initiative it c

Markus Stadlmann Edinburgh-based Lloyds Banking Group has reported that UK household wealth has grown by £1.5 trillion or 19 per cent over the last year.

Gordon Matheson A procurement strategy has been agreed upon to take forward Glasgow’s £1.13 billion City Deal, paving the way for work to proceed on 20 ‘major infrastructure projects’ across the city region over the next 20 years.

Accountancy firm Baker Tilly, which has offices across Scotland, has won a major national award for services to small businesses.