Scottish Business Briefing - Tuesday 10 November, 2009

Published on Tuesday 10 November 2009 08:22

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

300m biomass fund promises nine steps towards green targets

A 300 million fund being launched to build nine biomass heat and power plants across Scotland will help the country reach its ambitious renewable energy targets, it has been claimed (Scotsman). The Scottish Government has set a target of 50 per cent of electricity to be generated from renewable sources, such as wind, wave, hydro, biomass and solar, by 2020. It also wants 11 per cent of heat to come from renewables by that point. Scottish Renewables, a trade body, said biomass was vital to meeting the second target in particular.

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

BANKING & INSURANCE

Barclays profits fall by a fifth

Barclays has seen its profits for the first nine months of the year fall by almost one-fifth after it was hit by 6.2bn of charges to cover bad debts (BBC). The bank's pre-tax profit for the nine months to the end of September totalled 4.542bn, down 19% from last year. Barclays' results come after rival Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) last week reported a pre-tax loss of 2.2bn for the three months to 30 September. HSBC is due to report its third-quarter results later. Unlike RBS, neither Barclays nor HSBC have needed direct government support.

Read all today's banking news from scotsman.com

ECONOMY

House prices 'to keep on rising'

House prices are likely to keep on rising for the time being, says the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) (BBC). Its latest monthly survey shows that sellers are now beginning to return to the property market. But they are still being outweighed by the number of potential buyers registered with estate agents. In October the balance of surveyors reporting price rises rather than falls rose to 34%, up from 20% in September. Rics said this was the strongest survey result in favour of rising prices since December 2006.

Read all today's economics news from scotsman.com

FOOD, DRINK & AGRICULTURE

Devro on course to top forecast as sales and prices sizzle

SAUSAGE skin maker Devro said that demand for edible collagen would put its annual figures "ahead of consensus" (Scotsman). The upbeat announcement means the firm is likely to surpass the 21.8 million profit forecast in August by its house broker Investec after it burst through 100m sales mark in the six months to 30 June. In trading since July, the Moodiesburn- based group, led by Peter Page, said sales volumes were showing good growth, particularly in Latin America and the Asia/Pacific region.

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

INDUSTRY

Macfarlane cuts costs 'to align with

GLASGOW packaging and distribution firm Macfarlane Group yesterday said its trading performance had improved in the second half of the year compared with the first when trading was down 8 per cent due to the recession (Scotsman). In a statement on trading since the end of June, the group said profit margins had edged higher amid lower overheads. The group has brought in a more efficient software system and cut 25 jobs, mainly through natural wastage. The improvement in margin comes despite falls in revenue across its business.

Read all today's industry news from scotsman.com

RETAIL

Retailers hit a seven-year high raising hopes for festive season

BRITAIN'S retailers secured their strongest October sales in seven years, according to figures out today, raising hopes for Christmas trading (Scotsman). The British Retail Consortium (BRC) says sales in October were up 3.8 per cent on the same month last year, when the high street was knocked sideways in the aftermath of the banking crisis. Industry experts say the figures are a sign that consumer confidence is finally staging a comeback, although they warn that the data compares with some of the worst sales numbers in recent history in the final three months of last year.

Read all today's retail 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."