News

The FTSE 100 Index climbed above the 7,000 mark on Friday for the first time in its history. It came as world markets were buoyed by a small recovery in the price of oil as well as hopeful signs over the Greek debt crisis.

Elliott Advisors, the US hedge fund group agitating for board changes at Alliance Trust has rebutted claims from the Dundee-based firm that its intentions are a threat to the company’s very existence. That claim was made on Friday by the 127 year-old Trust in a statement issued in response to Elli

The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced that it intends to sell part of its shareholding in its American subsidiary Citizens in an underwritten public follow-on offering. The Offering is expected to comprise 115 million shares of Citizens’ common stock, equivalent to 21 per cent of CFG’s common

KPMG has made a number of senior external appointments across its Scottish offices. Russell Irwin has joined KPMG’s Edinburgh office as a director supporting Sam Subesinghe leading the IT advisory and technology risk team in Scotland, as part of KPMG’s management consulting function.

Scots are increasingly more confident about their ability to repay debts according to PwC’s latest report on the consumer credit industry. The ‘big four’ firm’s ‘Precious Plastic: How Britons fell back in love with borrowing’ report found that only just over one in ten are worried about

Flaws in the insolvency system have been exposed by the collapse of delivery firm City Link, according to two groups of MPs. A joint report from two parliamentary committees has concluded that the current system is too heavily skewed in favour of investors over workers.

The Edinburgh-based Green Investment Bank (GIB) has announced plans to co-fund a £111 million recycling and waste-to-energy plant in South Lanarkshire despite protests from environmental campaigners. The government-funded bank said it had invested more than £28m in the new facility at Forth, due t

The head of the Church of Scotland has called for a debate on the creation of a new system of credit to help those unable to access regular loans. The Rt Rev John Chalmers said the poorest are "most badly served and most easily exploited" by the credit market.

The Scottish Loan Fund (SLF) has announced that it has committed £700,000 of funding to the event services and management business, ExecSpace, to support its businesses growth strategy. The investment will provide a significant boost to the business as it looks to widen its geographic reach into Lo

Britain's public finances improved in February leaving government borrowing down a third on a year earlier. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed tax receipts from self-assessment were £4.2bn, up £1.8bn on last February.

Charter flights from Switzerland's largest city to Inverness are set to make a return. Swiss-based Falcon Travel is to operate weekly charter flights from Zurich from May.

George Osborne has delivered his sixth Budget as chancellor, and the last of the current Parliament. Below is a summary of the key points announced as compiled by Edinburgh-based accountants Chien + Tait:

Chancellor George Osborne yesterday finally responded to months of appeals from industry leaders to slash North Sea oil and gas taxes by announcing in his Budget statement that Petroleum Revenue Tax (PRT) would be cut from 50 per cent to 35 per cent. The existing supplementary charge for oil compani

The Scotch Whisky Association has welcomed Chancellor George Osborne’sannouncement yesterday to cut the duty paid on spirits by 2 per cent -the first cut in spirits duty for 20 years. The industry body, which has spent months lobbying for the break, said the move will benefit both producers and co

The annual tax to be raised from the value of all the debts in UK banks is to be raised from 0.156 per cent to 0.21 per cent following yesterday’s budget announcement. It is the ninth rise since the tax was first introduced in 2011 at a rate of 0.05 per cent.