Scottish Business Briefing - Monday 2 November, 2009

Published on Monday 2 November 2009 08:45

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

Scots businessmen in bid to resurrect TSB

A GROUP of Scottish businessmen is in talks to buy the TSB business from Lloyds Banking Group when it is sold as part of the planned break-up of the company (Scotsman). The Scotsman has learned that high-level talks are taking place between the businessmen, senior politicians, the Treasury and European Commission officials aimed at relaunching TSB Scotland as an independent Scottish bank. The development came as Chancellor Alistair Darling announced that the state-controlled banks would be broken up for sale in an effort to improve competition and recoup taxpayers' cash from the bail-out of the sector.

RBS nears toxic asset agreement

Royal Bank of Scotland has said it is close to an agreement with the Treasury about its participation in the government's asset protection scheme (BBC). The bank, which is 70% state-owned, would buy an insurance policy from the government to cover future losses from some of its more toxic investments. RBS said it would provide an update on the situation before its third quarter results on Friday.

Read all today's banking news from scotsman.com

ECONOMY

Confidence boost hints that worst of recession now over

CONSUMER confidence has hit an 18-month high and small businesses are at their most optimistic for two and a half years, providing two of the strongest signals yet that the worst of the recession has passed (Scotsman). The public are feeling more secure about finances and job prospects, according to today's consumer confidence report compiled by British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Nielson.Confidence had fallen to a record low during April, according to the index, and, although concerns still remain about employment, people are now more positive about spending on discretionary items.

Read all today's economics news from scotsman.com

RETAIL

Ikea assembles modest sales rise in 'tough' conditions

FLAT-PACK furniture giant Ikea has scraped out a modest rise in sales despite a "tough" economic backdrop (Scotsman). Results for the UK and Irish arm of the iconic Swedish firm reveal that turnover rose by 1.1 per cent to 1.2 billion in the year to 31 August. The break-out figure follows the recent news that annual sales at the wider Ikea group grew 1.4 per cent to 21.5bn (19.2bn). In terms of total sales, the UK is the fourth biggest country for the company, behind Germany, the United States and France.

Four outlets in store after supermarket chain launch

A NEW supermarket chain is launching in Scotland following the acquisition of four Central Belt stores being sold as part of the Co-op's takeover of Somerfield (Scotsman). . Haldanes Stores will run the outlets in Broxburn, Carluke, Prestonpans and Tranent – employing more than 190 full- and part-time staff – and also plans to expand south of the Border. The company signed a supply agreement with wholesaler Nisa Today's, which already distributes goods to dozens of smaller supermarket chains. Haldanes will be run by chief executive Graeme Hay, an Aberdeenshire-based businessman who worked with the William Low and Somerfield chains, and chairman Arthur Harris.

Read all today's retail news from scotsman.com

TRANSPORT

Ryanair may halt 'rapid growth'

Irish budget airline Ryanair has threatened to stop expanding into new routes if it does not get a better deal on new aircraft from Boeing (BBC). "If we cannot invest our surplus cash efficiently in new aircraft, then we should distribute it to shareholders," said Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary. The warning came with its six month results to the end of September.

Pre-tax profits came in at 419.4m euros ($619.4m;376.2m), up from 105.2m euros in the same period last year. Ryanair said that its results were distorted by a 42% fall in fuel costs, but added that its average fare had fallen by 17%.

Read all today's transport news from scotsman.com

Scotsman Business Club

Get to the heart of the issues affecting Scottish business at www.scotsman.com/businessclub. Features include blogs from The Scotsman's formidable team of business writers - including Bill Jamieson, Martin Flanagan, Peter MacMahon and Scott Reid, a diary of forthcoming company announcements and networking events and video interviews with leading business experts covering a wide range of useful topics."