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Total boost
Friday 10 February 2012 14:00
France-headquartered oil firm Total has reported a 7% rise in quarterly profit, driven largely by soaring oil prices. Brent crude rose 26% in the three months to the end of December compared with 2010.
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Green centre announced
Friday 10 February 2012 9:00
The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) has announced a new £50m project which aims to bolster the offshore renewable energy sector. The UK-wide consortium which brings together the Carbon Trust, National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) and Ocean Energy Innovation has been selected to play a pivotal role in setting up the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult at sites in Blyth, Northumberland and in Glasgow city centre next to the University of Strathclyde. It will receive up to £10m per annum over five years from the TSB and open this summer.
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Properties in danger, warns report
Friday 10 February 2012 8:00
As much as a fifth of Scotland’s commercial buildings could become virtually unlettable within six years if landlords don’t act now, a new report has warned. According to Cushman & Wakefield, the Energy Act of 2011 proposes to make it unlawful to let properties rated as F or G on their Energy Performance Certificate after April 2018. And with many high street shops and historic office buildings falling far short of the energy efficiency standards required to achieve an E rating, landlords could be facing a real time bomb, the firm said.
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Barclays sees profits fall
Friday 10 February 2012 7:00
Barclays has suffered a 3% dip in profits to £5.9bn for 2011, hit by a slowdown in investment banking. The group also said the bonus pool at the investment banking division was down 32% to £1.5bn in 2011. Chief executive Bob Diamond declined to discuss his own bonus during a news conference, the BBC reported.
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Funding secured
Friday 10 February 2012 7:00
Digital firm MymCart, which enables small businesses to create their own mobile websites and apps, has secured a £475k investment to help its expansion. The majority of the funding came from the Finance for Business North East Technology Fund, with £125,000 coming from a group of private angel investors.
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BAM bid wins
Friday 10 February 2012 7:00
BAM Properties has been awarded planning permission by Glasgow City Council to build a £70m office building in the heart of Glasgow City Centre. The company is currently seeking pre-lets for the building which could be ready for occupation in 2014 and will offer both high quality Grade A office accommodation along with four retail units.
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Abbeycrest in administration
Tuesday 7 February 2012 13:00
Leeds-headquartered jeweller Abbeycrest has been placed into administration while its subsidiary Brown & Newirth has been rescued through a management buy-out. The closure of its Leeds office and a bid to sell off its Thailand division failed to save the business and now it has entered into a pre-pack administration.
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Funding heads south
Tuesday 7 February 2012 12:00
Entertainment industry body Screen Yorkshire will spend nearly half of a £15m fund for creative businesses in South Yorkshire, it said last night. The body, which supports television, film, computer game and digital content projects across the region, will allocate 45% of the £15m Yorkshire Content Fund pot to the south of the county.
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Top level appointments
Tuesday 7 February 2012 11:00
Subsea engineering firm DeepOcean Group has appointed Frank Eggink as its new CFO, with Liz Collins also joining the firm as group controller.
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Accountancy events
Tuesday 7 February 2012 11:00
The largest independent accounting firm in Scotland, Johnston Carmichael, is running a series of free seminars highlighting recent and forthcoming changes in EIS legislation. Click here for details of the event.
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Law firm merger
Tuesday 7 February 2012 11:00
One of Scotland’s oldest and biggest names in the legal sector is set to disappear following the decision to merge McGrigors with London practice Pinsent Masons. The combined group will employ more than 2,500 staff in total including 1,500 lawyers and use the name of its larger partner, Pinsent, which is far better known in the wider international market.
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Bank review
Tuesday 7 February 2012 11:00
The parent company of Glasgow-headquartered Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank is to carry out a review of its UK businesses as conditions continue to deteriorate in the UK. In a Q1 trading update today, National Australia Bank reportedly said operating conditions in the UK deteriorated during the quarter resulting in lower earnings.