Company News Archive

A SCHEME to hand the Government's stake in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group to the public has received a boost with news of the involvement of heavyweight investment bankers at Barclays.

FORTH Ports is facing pressure to invest in the £100 million-plus upgrade of Leith docks after it emerged that comparable work in the north of England is being funded entirely with private money.

THERE was no sign of investor anger about executive pay at John Menzies' general meeting when shareholders gave almost 100% backing to the Edinburgh-based company's remuneration report.

TRADE union Unite says there is "no chance" it will "instantly sign off" on more than 80 white-collar redundancies at ClydeUnion Pumps' plant at Cathcart in Glasgow, which were signalled by the operation's new US owner this week.

JOHNSTON Press, owner of The Scotsman and Yorkshire Post newspapers, has had a tough start to 2012, revealing that advertising revenues for the 18 weeks to May 7 were down 9.1% on a year ago.

CAIRN Energy suffered a humiliating 67% vote against its directors' remuneration report as it became the latest victim of the shareholder spring investor discontent about spiralling executive pay.

ABERDEEN-based oil services company Wood Group last night lifted the prestigious annual Scottish Engineering Award.

IT EMERGED last night that Martin Currie toughened up rules allowing it to buy the shares of an employee it deems to have brought it into disrepute, days before the Edinburgh investment house was hit with £8.6 million of penalties for failing to manage a conflict of interest between two clients.

SCOTTISH Enterprise has launched a campaign to encourage companies to invest in growth to help get the economy moving and has held out the prospect of funding for firms that rise to the challenge.

CAIRN Energy is facing fresh controversy about executive pay after a corporate governance specialist voiced renewed criticisms of the oil and gas firm's executive pay policies.

BABCOCK International, the defence services group that operates Faslane and Rosyth naval bases, unveiled a 26% rise in pre-tax profit to a record £274 million, and said it could benefit from further outsourcing driven by Government efficiency measures.

F&C Asset Management's Edinburgh office has been positioned at the heart of a fightback by the troubled fund manager as it vowed to expand its investment trust business and increase its direct sales.

DUNDEE-based CarieScan's dental imaging device is to be sold in North Africa, the Middle East and Turkey after its parent company 3D Diagnostic Imaging signed a set of new distribution deals.

AquaPHarm, the Scottish biotechnology firm, has joined forces with the Medical Research Council's human nutrition research unit in Cambridge to evaluate the potential of a new approach to digestive health.