Scottish Business Briefing - Friday 13 November, 2009

Published on Friday 13 November 2009 08:23

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.

BANKING & INSURANCE

Otto Thoresen remains upbeat despite Aegon's 11m loss

OTTO Thoresen, chief executive of life and pensions group Aegon UK, yesterday said there "signs of confidence" returning to the market as it reported mixed third-quarter results (Scotsman). While Dutch parent Aegon NV reported a profit for the third quarter, underlying earnings in its UK division fell compared with the same period last year to a loss of 11 million. This was mainly due to a one-off 38m charge spent to improve customer records. Otherwise, the group said, it had seen a "strong recovery" in earnings for the quarter to 27m, up 59 per cent on the previous quarter and in line with the same quarter last year, which was 28m.

Read all today's banking news from scotsman.com

ENERGY & UTILITIES

Anger as British Gas profits to soar by 43%

CONSUMER watchdogs have urged energy firms to make immediate price cuts after a second major supplier signalled soaring profits (Scotsman). Parent company Centrica yesterday said British Gas profits were expected to rocket by 43 per cent to 541 million this year. That equates to more than 1,000 a minute. However, British Gas, which supplies gas to nearly half of Britain's homes, has cut customer bills by only 10 per cent this year after wholesale costs plunged. It has also seen consumption fall by 7 per cent.

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

INDUSTRY

Property blow as bank pulls plug on Kenmore

SCOTLAND'S property sector was dealt a blow last night when Kenmore Property Group, a high-profile Edinburgh firm with 1 billion worth of holdings in the UK and Europe, was put into administration (Scotsman). The company's principle banker, Lloyds Banking Group, appointed Grant Thornton as administrator to 22 companies in the group, including the Kenmore Property Group, Kenmore Investments and Kenmore Private Equity.. Shares closed down 8.8 per cent to 31p.

Slump hits 260 bus builder jobs

The UK's biggest bus and coach builder, Alexander Dennis (ADL), has said 260 jobs at its Falkirk base are at risk (BBC). The firm, which employs about 900 workers in Camelon, Falkirk, has begun a 90-day consultation with unions. It has blamed a 50% decline in demand for new vehicles and warned the jobs could be gone by February. The news comes after the company said negotiations with the union to reduce the working week at the plant had so far proven unsuccessful.

Read all today's industry news from scotsman.com

TRANSPORT

BA agrees outline of deal to merge with Iberia

AGREEMENT on the much anticipated merger between British Airways and Spain's Iberia was confirmed last night, the British carrier announcing that the two airlines had agreed the basis for a proposed link-up expected to be completed in late 2010 (Scotsman). Sources said the deal – which will create the world's third-largest airline by revenue – will give BA shareholders 55 per cent of the combined venture and would ease pressure on both airlines as they cope with one of the industry's worst-ever downturns.

State taking over key rail route

One of Britain's key rail routes is to be taken into public hands later. National Express will hand back East Coast Mainline services between London and Edinburgh and the rest of the East Coast franchise just before midnight (BBC). Falling revenue and rising costs left it unable to meet a commitment to pay 1.4bn for the franchise until 2015. A government company, Directly Operated Railways, will run the franchise for at least 18 months. Ministers say staff and services will be unaffected. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has raised fears that services on the franchise's Glasgow branch, which provide 25,000 seats a week, will be scrapped by the end of next year.

Read all today's transport news from scotsman.com

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