Scottish Business Briefing - Wednesday 27 October, 2010

Published on Wednesday 27 October 2010 09:34

WELCOME to scotsman.com's Scottish Business Briefing. Every morning we bring you a comprehensive round-up of all news affecting business in Scotland today.

ENERGY & UTILITIES

Energy policy blow as wind turbine firm hits cash crisis

SCOTLAND'S renewable energy aspirations have been dealt a serious blow after the parent company of the country's largest wind turbine manufacturer filed for insolvency (Scotsman). The future of the Skykon factory near Campbeltown on the Mull of Kintyre is hanging in the balance after the Copen-hagen-based owner of the facility warned it was in a "very cash-strapped situation".

Cairn shares hit after drilling off Greenland strikes a blank

CAIRN Energy disappointed investors with a lacklustre report on its Greenland drilling project yesterday after it announced it had abandoned two of its three exploration wells at the end of the Arctic exploration season (Scotsman).

Read all today's energy and utilities news from scotsman.com

BANKING & INSURANCE

Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks see lending fall

Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks have seen their total lending fall over the past year. The Australian-owned lenders reduced their exposure to commercial property and unsecured loans, and increased their pricing in interest rates. Average gross loans and acceptances fell by 400m to just below 33bn during the year (BBC).

Read all today's banking news from scotsman.com

ECONOMY

Economic growth tops hopes but experts say risks remain

BRITAIN's economy grew faster than expected in the summer and early autumn, prompting hopes yesterday that the green shoots of recovery were emerging from last year's recession But analysts tempered suggestions that the UK was through the worst by warning that public- sector cuts and the continuing credit crunch would hold the economy back (Scotsman).

Read all today's economics news from scotsman.com

INDUSTRY

House builder shares route back to profit

FAMILY-owned housebuilder Mactaggart and Mickel hailed a return to profit by taking an opportunistic approach to sales and building projects. The Glasgow firm delivered a pre-tax profit of 3.9 million in the year to the end of April 2010, turning around a 3.9m loss the previous year. Turnover fell slightly from 41.7m to 40.3m (Scotsman).

Read all today's industry news from scotsman.com

TRANSPORT

BAA sees sharply reduced losses

Airport operator BAA has reported a significant reduction in losses for the nine months to the end of September and strong growth in passenger numbers (BBC). Pre-tax losses came in at 192.6m, down from 784.7m in the same period a year ago. Revenue was up 4.4% at 1.55bn. The company reported "record passenger traffic" between July and September.

Read all today's transport news from scotsman.com

Entrepreneur

Be inspired and communicate with other Scottish entrepreneursat http://entrepreneur.scotsman.com. Features includeupdates from The Scotsman's Executive Editor Bill Jamieson, a diary of forthcoming company announcements and networking events and videoadvice on how to succeed with your new business start-up.