TWO prominent figures on the Scottish business landscape have been recognised in the

latest batch of New Year Honours with knighthoods.

Peter Burt - who retires next week from his post as deputy chairman of HBOS - and John Ward, chairman of Glasgow-based packaging group Macfarlane, were among the four Scots granted the Knights Bachelor title. Burt was recognised for services to banking, while Ward was recognised for services to public life in Scotland.

Burt, 58, announced earlier this year that his 28-year career with Bank of Scotland would come to a close on January 6. As chief executive of the Edinburgh-headquartered bank, he led it through the 2001 merger with Halifax to create HBOS, and then took the role of deputy chairman of the combined operation.

The merger enhanced Burt's reputation as a pragmatist, for he believed BoS had no future as a stand-alone institution in its limited market. This realisation led him initially to court NatWest, but that prize was lost to the Royal Bank of Scotland, leaving BoS to eventually hammer out a deal with the Halifax building society out of Yorkshire.

''This honour is a reflection of the importance of the role that Bank of Scotland has played not only in the financial world, but also in the wider community as a whole,'' Burt said yesterday.

''I am proud to receive this honour, and see it as recognition of the fantastic job my colleagues at all levels of the bank have done over the years.'' Ward spent 29 years with IBM, becoming the US computer giant's resident director for Scotland and northern England in 1991. He retired from the company four years later at the age of 55, but has continued to serve as a non-executive on a number of boards.

He has in the past served as chairman of CBI Scotland and the Scottish Electronics Forum, and has also been a non-executive on the board of the Post Office. He was recently appointed non-executive chairman of Dunfermline Building Society, and continues to serve as non-exec chairman of both the Scottish Qualifications Authority and Macfarlane.

Ward joined Macfarlane as a non-executive director in 1995, and took over the chairman's role when its eponymous founder retired in 1998. The company has since struggled as one of its main areas of business, the electronics sector, has dramatically scaled back its presence in Scotland.

Other prominent business names on the New Year Honours list include 55-year-old Jim Forbes, who retired earlier this year as chief executive of Perth-based power business Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE). He was awarded a CBE for services to the electricity industry.

Forbes - who led the creation of SSE through the 1998 merger of Scottish Hydro-

Electric with Southern Electricity - was joined on the list by Vera Gairns, a customer service advisor for SSE in Perth. She was awarded an MBE for services to the British electricity industry.

A further well-known name on the CBE list was that of Ian Ritchie, the 52-year-old technology entrepreneur who got his start in business in 1984 as a co-founder of Office Workstations Ltd (OWL).

Edinburgh-based OWL, which pioneered the use of hypertext in document management, was sold to Japan's Matsushita in a deal that eventually gave Ritchie the time to get involved in a string of other tech-based businesses. His CBE - for services to enterprise and learning - follows involvement in a string of companies such as Voxar, Orbital and Digital Bridges, as well as his work as a board member of Scottish Enterprise.

Other names of note include: David Chalmers, deputy chief executive of Dunfermline Building Society, for services to housing (OBE); Michael Laing, managing director of Laing the Jeweller, for services to the Incorporation of Goldsmiths of the City of Edinburgh (OBE); Melfort Campbell of Aberdeen, for services to industry (OBE); and Conrad Grant, managing director of Mackays, for services to industry (MBE).