Covid-19

Derek Forsyth and Blair Milne, partners with Campbell Dallas, have been appointed joint administrators of the largest construction business in Oban, Neil McGougan Limited. Founded in 1986, the family-owned business provided a wide range of building and construction-related services to a substantial

Chartered accountants Wylie & Bisset has appointed Laura Smith to the newly-created position of Xero lead to promote the benefits of digital book-keeping to SMEs. Ms Smith, director and head of healthcare at the firm, notes that recent weeks have seen many SMEs adopt digital book-keeping systems

Private sector activity in Scotland fell at an unparalleled rate during April, according to the latest Royal Bank of Scotland PMI. Inflows of new business declined the most on record, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to clatter the private sector economy. As was the case in March, services recorde

Perth-based insurance broker Jelf Clark Thomson has completed its rebranding exercise as it strives for further growth under the new Marsh Commercial name.  Scottish Financial News reported in February that the firm, which was obtained by Jelf in May 2018, saw its profits more than double

Glasgow-based tour operator Macs Adventure has received a £1 million Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBIL) from Barclays to safeguard the future of the business. The company specialises in self-guided, tailor-made walking and cycling holidays across 40 destinations, 90% of wh

Donald MacKinnon, group legal director at employment law and HR firm Law At Work, advises on the steps businesses can take to limit losing staff and lays out the considerations which must be made if employers are forced into the last resort. The announcement by British Airways that it will cut

In the first quarter of 2020, there was a 3.5% decrease in house prices in Aberdeen city and its suburbs, according to the latest research from ASPC.

Simply Solutions (Europe) Ltd, an international facility management firm, has secured a quarter of a million-pound CBIL loan from Bank of Scotland to help continue its operations during the COVID-19 outbreak.

A fund launched last week by the Scottish Government to provide grants for small and medium-sized businesses affected by coronavirus is to be doubled from £45 million to £90m. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the increase in the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund to help meet exi

Company executives should expect to “share the pain” of COVID-19 market turbulence and avoid awarding themselves substantial bonuses or share awards. The warning from remuneration expert and solicitor at Pinsent Masons James Sullivan-Tailyour, comes after The Investment Association (IA),

Economy secretary Fiona Hyslop and finance secretary Kate Forbes have written to the UK Government to call for assurances that Scottish companies and workers will not be disadvantaged when decisions are made about scaling back the UK-wide Job Retention Scheme. The letter to Chancellor Rishi Sun

David Duffy, the owner of Clydesdale Bank, has halted plans to change bank branch names to Virgin Money as it made provisions for higher losses on loans in light of the coronavirus outbreak.  The swift change in plans and allocation of coronavirus safety-net funds has caused the lender's first-

A managing partner of Anderson Anderson & Brown (AAB) has urged more businesses to apply for the government COVID-19 loan schemes with the aim of positioning themselves strongly for the ‘new normal’. Lyn Calder, who is also the firm’s head of deals for the Central Belt, said th

Craig Baker, chairman of the Alliance Trust investment committee and Global CIO at Willis Towers Watson, discusses what the financial sector can learn from past economic crises.  Alliance Trust was founded in 1888 and been tested before in many major crises before the COVID-

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in Scotland has highlighted that figures released by the Scottish Government have revealed that the volume of cash reaching firms is slowing. The Scottish Government figures indicate that £621 million of coronavirus grant funding has been rele