BANKING & INSURANCEStandard Life axes Saatchi ad contractSTANDARD Life is in talks with a number of advertising agencies after it axed its "substantial" contract with London-based agency Saatchi & Saatchi (
Scotsman). According to the financial services group, it cut ties with Saatchi because of a "client conflict" after the ad firm won a contract with insurance firm Axa earlier this year. It comes just 18 months after Standard Life ended its Standard Life Bank advertising contract with the Leith agency and consolidated all of its operations with Saatchi & Saatchi. The move was a major blow to Leith, famous for its Irn-Bru advertising campaign, which axed a number of jobs shortly afterwards. However, it is understood that Leith is likely to be out of the running having recently clinched a contract with financial services firm Aegon.
Read all today's banking news from scotsman.comENERGY & UTILITIESEDF set to buy British Energy French energy firm EDF is expected to announce a £12.4bn deal to buy British Energy, the firm which operates the UK's eight nuclear power plants (
BBC). In addition, Centrica, which owns British Gas, will take 25% of all power generated by British Energy once it is in French hands, the BBC has learnt. It will also take a 25% stake in all new nuclear plants built by EDF. The deal with EDF is seen by Centrica as vital to reducing its dependence on imported gas. The cost to Centrica of this investment will be around £3bn. EDF's acquisition of British Energy is due to be announced on Wednesday. EDF is understood to have offered 774 pence a share for British Energy, nine pence more than its initial offer.
Read all today's energy and utilities news from scotsman.comFOOD, DRINK & AGRICULTUREScotland loses key place in Barr's salesAG BARR'S Scottish sales now represent less than half of the group total, after strong sales of its new London-based juice company (
Scotsman). The Cumbernauld company, which makes the iconic Irn-Bru brands, revealed yesterday that weekly sales from Scotland now made up 49 per cent of the group total. A total of 49 per cent comes from the rest of the UK, and the remaining 2 per cent comes from its fledgling international businesses. The development follows the acquisition by Barr of Rubicon, a Wembley-based business which sells exotic juice drinks, for about £61 million in August. Almost all of the acquisition's sales come in the south of England, with the drinks popular among the Asian community. Last month, The Scotsman revealed that sales of Irn-Bru would represent less than half of the group's sales next year due to the diluting effect of Rubicon, which is expected to add sales of more than £30m in 2009.
Whyte & Mackay's spirits flyWhyte & Mackay, the alcoholic beverage group, has surged back into the black in the wake of its acquisition 18 months ago by flamboyant billionaire Indian drinks tycoon Vijay Mallya (
Herald). The Glasgow-headquartered Scotch whisky distiller, whose brands also include Vladivar vodka and Glayva liqueur, as well as the eponymous Scotch and Dalmore and Jura malts, posted pre-tax profits of £25.6m for the year-and-a-half to the end of March, on a turnover of £348.1m. The latest figures reveal a dizzying turnaround from the company's previously reported accounts, in which it racked up a second successive period of losses in the year before it was sold to Mallya's United Breweries, as the costs of servicing its huge debts and restructuring weighed on trading. Prior to the sale, the company made a pre-tax loss of £2.2m in the year to the end of September, 2006, on top of the £3.4m it lost in the preceding year.
Read all today's food, drink and agriculture news from scotsman.comMEDIA & LEISURE
Channel 4 to cut 15% of workforceChannel 4 said on Tuesday it was cutting 150 jobs or 15 per cent of its workforce as part of a £50m cost savings programme (
FT). The state owned, but commercially funded UK broadcaster blamed a 5 per cent fall in advertising revenues for the decision. Its annual revenues are about £1bn. It is the first significant outward sign of the financial pressure that the economic downturn has wrought on public-service broadcasters in the UK. Channel 4 said the end result of the cuts would be "more repeats and less origination" in its schedule. Although Channel 4 has said it will protect its most important public-service broadcasting programmes such as Channel 4 News and the Dispatches documentary programme, the axe will fall on other non-commercial output. The channel has been vocal in drawing attention to its financial plight, arguing that it will need £150m a year of public funding by 2012 to avoid trading at a loss. Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, has accepted this argument in principle and in a major announcement on Thursday is expected to say how much it believes
Read all today's media and leisure news from scotsman.comRETAILM&B costs warning jolts pub peersMITCHELLS & Butlers cast a shadow over the pubs sector yesterday as the All Bar One and Harvester owner warned it would need to more than triple its sales growth to battle soaring energy and wage costs(
Scotsman). The group, whose 2,000-strong estate includes some of Scotland's best-known watering holes, said it was facing a £9 million rise in duty on alcohol, £11m in higher employment costs and "highly volatile and unpredictable" commodity and energy input costs. Like-for-like sales grew by 0.9 per cent in the 51 weeks to 20 September, but M&B warned that the pace would need to accelerate to about 3 per cent in the new financial year to maintain profits. Comparable sales were 1.3 per cent ahead in the nine weeks to 20 September. Shares in M&B, which have been under pressure since the start of the year on concerns over the consumer outlook and rising costs, closed 6.2 per cent down at 255.5p after touching a session low of 238.25p.
Read all today's retail news from scotsman.com
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