AWARD-winning businesswoman Fiona Morton has made a ­corporate comeback by becoming managing director of Millar & Bryce.

Ms Morton, who stepped down as chairman of surveyor and property consultant Ryden in October, has taken up the role as part of her new employer's strategy to drive investment and growth.

Her appointment comes after Millar & Bryce, part of Decision Insight Information Group (Europe), was acquired by DMG Information (dmgi) in November.

That deal effectively means Millar & Bryce, which employs about 90 staff at its Edinburgh, base, belongs to a global business-to-business information provider with combined revenues of more than £290 million.

Ms Morton, who made the conscious decision to take a break from the business world when she left Ryden, felt the "role description could have been written for me" when a head hunter alerted her to the position.

Noting that until now the managing director post at Millar & Bryce included responsibility for the firm's sister operation in Ireland, she said: "What attracts me to it is an opportunity to take a business that's been a bit neglected over a few years from the point of view of management and investment and to actually make a difference, improve the customer service."

Millar & Bryce, which can trace its roots back to 1875, seeks to provide clarity to decision makers on buying, selling, conveyancing and financing property.

As well as operating in residential and commercial property sectors, it advises on infrastructure projects, covering road and rail schemes, pipelines and renewables.

The firm's 1,000-plus customer base includes lawyers, accountants, banks, government departments and local authorities.

Ms Morton was managing partner at Ryden between 2005 and 2011, having joined the firm as an investment associate in Edinburgh in 1989. She rose to become a partner in 1995, and was later seconded to Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in a property finance role from May 1998 to May 1999.

Asked what excited her most about her new role, Ms Morton said: "I'm pretty keen to get back into the world of business and to take on a new challenge.

"It appeals to me that there is autonomy in this role for a Scottish business, but you have also got the support of a strong group behind you, and the challenge that comes from that group.

"That's a new thing for me, having come from a partnership background, which I'm really looking forward to."

Ms Morton says she has taken up her new role at an exciting time for the property sector in Scotland, adding: "Obviously we've got a number of things going on at the moment, but the situation generally I guess is that the economy in the UK is improving and the economy in Scotland is improving from where it was.

"There is a lot of ground to be made back up in terms of activity in the market, but I generally take the view there is more activity and prices are firming and improving.

"There will be challenges ahead of us - there always are - but I think we can expect a better period than the one we all lived through from 2007 to 2012. Those were five lean years."

Former Millar & Bryce head Roy Arnott, who now leads the Irish arm of the business, described Ms Morton as a "great addition to the leadership team".