The Herald:

HELLO and welcome to the AM Business Briefing, as over-50s group Saga has revealed that bookings for cruises in 2022 are now ahead of levels seen before the pandemic struck.

The group said demand is "very strong" for departures over 2022-23 and ahead of the same point two years ago, with revenue and passenger days ahead by 58.9% and 39.6% respectively.

Also today, sales of Carex soap are still much higher than they were two years ago even as vaccines are rolled out across Europe and North America.

The maker of the soap, PZ Cussons, said on Wednesday that revenue from Carex is 40% higher than it was two years ago.

Elsewhere, a major Scottish renewables boost, a cloud services firm has hailed growth during lockdown, and Alison McRae, senior director of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, highlights how COP26 can harness the passion of the young in her Business Voices column.

Energy boost unveiled

A new renewable power business hopes to provide enough clean energy for two million homes within five years.

Edinburgh-based firm Renewco Power aims to accelerate the development of renewable energy projects, focusing on the rollout of large-scale solar and wind farms across the UK and Europe.

It already has a gigawatt of early stage projects in the pipeline across the UK and Europe.

The firm, which has received backing of £24 million from energy giants SSE plc, hopes to expand that so it has the capacity to provide more than 4GW (gigawatts) within five years - the equivalent to powering approximately two million households.

Renewco says its founders between them have some 100 years of experience in renewables development and investments.

Chief executive Gavin McCallum, who previously worked for BP Alternative Energy said: "There is a growing and urgent demand for utility-scale renewables projects across Europe, and we are excited about the potential we see for Renewco.

"Renewco has a unique blend of entrepreneurial talent with deep power sector and financial expertise which we will use to accelerate new developments across Europe. We will be growing our team over the coming months, adding further commercial expertise to accelerate the delivery of our strategy."

Martin Pibworth, SSE Group energy and commercial director said the new company had a "first class management team".

SSE expects to "generate strong returns" on its investment, he added, saying: "We see this as a complementary investment to SSE's own core renewables and distributed energy businesses and look forward to seeing Renewco deliver their ambitious plans."

Cloud services firm recruits 12 as demand soars

A Scottish cloud business software specialist has taken on a dozen new staff as demand for its services soared during the pandemic.

East Kilbride-based Eureka Solutions recorded an annual turnover of £4.5 million in its latest financial year, which was two per cent growth on the previous 12 month period. It also saw enquiries double and client numbers increase by 4%.

Alison McRae: COP26 can harness passion of the young

When it comes to young people and the climate crisis most people will think of Greta Thunberg. She has advocated that no one is too small to make a difference and has certainly captured the imagination of so many.

As host city for COP26, it is important that we harness the passion and interest of our young people into something which would actually serve a longer term purpose.

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