Scottish Business Briefing - Monday June 22, 2009

Published on Monday 22 June 2009 08:36

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.

ECONOMY

Executive confidence at highest level for a year

CONFIDENCE among British businesses is running at its highest level for a year, according to a survey published today. More than half of business leaders think the UK has reached the bottom of its economic cycle, while 42 per cent are confident about prospects for their firms (Scotsman). While only one in four executives believe their own prospects are poor, down from 37 per cent in the spring, accountants at KPMG, which conducted the survey, warned that confidence was only rebounding from recent record lows. Craig Anderson, head of KPMG in Scotland, said: "While it's encouraging there has been an increase in confidence, this is only an improvement compared to the spring, which revealed the lowest levels of optimism since our survey began in 2004."

Read all today's economics news from scotsman.com

RBS boss set for 9.6m pay deal

Royal Bank of Scotland is this week expected to approve a pay package worth up to 9.6m for its chief executive Stephen Hester (BBC). The remuneration deal was agreed on Friday by RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton and its leading shareholders. One of the groups represented was UK Financial Investments, which manages the 70% stake in RBS held by taxpayers. The package is made up of 1.2m in pay, up to 2m in non-cash bonuses and up to 6.4m in long-term incentives.

Read all today's banking news from scotsman.com

FOOD, DRINK & AGRICULTURE

Henderson's eyes tasty expansion in the capital

VEGETARIAN restaurant Henderson's is looking to expand its business in Edinburgh with the launch of a new shop and caf in the capital (Scotsman). The renowned family-run business currently comprises a salad restaurant, bistro, shop and gallery – all on Hanover Street in the city's New Town. But Peter Henderson, who owns the 47-year-oldcompany along with three of his siblings, said it is now set to open another shop-cum-cafe – either as a stand alone unit, or within a department store. He said: "We want to take the business to another stage. We have recently made a number of improvements to our current business and we want to get that running well, but after that, we are definitely looking to expand."

Read all today's food, drink and agriculture news from scotsman.com

INDUSTRY

Construction trade body voices fears over safety

QUALITY and safety standards in the building industry are at risk as construction firms are forced to cut costs to win competitive tenders, a leading industry body warned today (Scotsman). Projects in Scotland are so few and far between that companies must slash margins earned on the costs of jobs – leading to the possibility of "shoddy work" and "unscrupulous" behaviour by firms desperate to win work, it said. The majority of Scottish building firms are operating on "razor thin" margins of no more than 3 per cent as the economic downturn continues to hit the construction industry hard. The findings come from a new survey of the sector published today by the Scottish Building Federation (SBF), the industry body and employers' federation.

Yarn spinner's sale 'underpins' survival of Scots textile firms

The sale of Scotland's last yarn spinner Todd & Duncan at Kinross to Chinese group Zhongyin has underpinned the rump of the Scottish textile industry and enabled its survival, the company's managing director has said (Herald). James McArdle said the acquisition of 140-year-old T&D from Dawson International had secured the future of the "Rolls-Royce" 228 cashmere yarn vital to Scotland's flagship luxury knitwear industry.

The 228 yarn is highly prized by iconic international fashion brands such as Hermes, Zegna, Akris and Dolce & Gabbana, and the Chinese are committed to its Scottish heritage. The sale of the UK's biggest cashmere spinner, a recognised world leader, in the first-ever deal of its kind with the Chinese also demonstrated how Britain's competitors were taking a more strategic view of manufacturing, he added.

Micro finance initiative for firms in Glasgow

Glasgow City Council has launched a micro-finance initiative for new and existing enterprises (Herald). Companies in Glasgow may be eligible for support from the council through two new schemes running under the Supporting Sustainable New Business Grant. A grant of up to 1500 is available for new firms, with up to 5000 on offer for existing firms. A council spokesman said that a budget of 200,000 had been earmarked for each of these schemes, which were designed to encourage the development of businesses.

Read all today's industry 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."