BANKING & INSURANCEBarclaycard announce plans to close call centreThere are fears that 900 jobs could be lost in North Lanarkshire after Barclaycard announced plans to close a call centre in Cumbernauld
(The Scotsman). The banking giant has indicated it plans to close the Goldfish complex, having bought out its smaller rival in February. Barclaycard have said they plan to integrate the Cumbernauld's site work with their operations in the north of England. However, enterprise minister Jim Mather has not given hope of convincing the credit card company to reconsider, saying: "Both the First Minister and I have been in contact with the company and we've been actively exploring all possible avenues of assistance to allow Barclaycard to continue in Cumbernauld. We'll continue that work throughout the consultation period and beyond." Mr Mather also added there would be ongoing efforts to find an alternative owner for the complex. The news is another crushing blow for North Lanarkshire as only last month it was announced that 350 jobs were to go at building firm's McAlpine former headquarters in Tannochside, after the building firm has itself been taken over.
Read all today's banking news from scotsman.comThoresen remains focused on AegonThe Edinburgh based insurer Aegon UK has posted flat results for the first quarter, but has avoided being hit badly by stack market volatility.
(The Herald) Chief executive Otto Thoresen has been linked with taking over as chief executive of Standard Life when Sandy Crombie retires, but yesterday remained focused on Aegon. "I am focused on taking this business to the next stage," he said when asked about his own future. Aegon said that its diversification strategy of moving into annuities and protection had provided "resilient" new business flows. New business in annuities rose by 13 per cent to £342 million while protection also rose, by 17 per cent, to £13 million. New business in life and pensions was at £288 million, matching a strong first quarter last year. There was a 22 per cent rise in corporate pensions but individual pensions fell by 5 per cent and offshore bonds by 13 per cent.
ECONOMYScottish based companies consider foreign moveSome of Scotland's biggest companies have said they are considering leaving the United Kingdom, due to this country's levels of corporate taxation
(The Scotsman). Aberdeen Asset Management have already indicated they are contemplating such a move, while fund manager Martin Currie said that although they had no current plans to change their tax domicile this position is under review. The potential moves follows news that Shire, the drugs company, and United Business Media, the publisher, are planning to relocate from London to Dublin. However, Scotland's two largest companies Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS said they had no plans to relocate from their Scottish headquarters, with HBOS saying it was "very proud to be based in Edinburgh." Other major Scottish companies such as FirstGroup, Cairn Energy, and Scottish and Southern Energy also ruled out quitting Scotland, while Standard Life refused to comment.
Manufacturing data adds to interest rates dilemma for MPCFigures released yesterday showed that UK manufacturing output fell at its fastest pace for six months in March, adding to the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee's dilemma over whether to decrease interest rates today.
(The Herald) The Office for National statistics said UK manufacturing output in March fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.5 per cent. Year-on-year growth in industrial production fell from 1.2 per cent in February to 0.2 per cent in March. Along with figures showing a decline in the housing market this recent data has increased calls for the Bank of England to reduce interest rates, for the second consecutive month for the first time since 2001. Chief UK economist at Global Insight Howard Archer said "This is piling pressure on the Bank of England to reduce interest rate from 5 per cent to 4.75 per cent, despite current elevated inflation pressures."
Read all today's economics news from scotsman.comENERGY & UTILITIESNorth Sea important to Britain's energy services continuing successThe North Sea has been described as the key to the continuing success of the United Kingdom's energy services companies in overseas markets, by a leader of the British oil industry
(Aberdeen Press & Journal). Speaking at the OTC oil show in Houston Malcolm Webb, chief executive of industry organisation Oil and Gas UK, said that: "A strong North Sea industry will keep international service companies here, giving an annual boost of billions of pounds to the UK economy for decades to come." Mr Webb noted that energy services firm Wood Group, and Nessco, the telecommunications company, were good examples of Aberdeen based firms who had grasped international opportunities. Around 500,000 people in Britain are employed, either directly or indirectly, by the British oil and gas industry.
Read all today's energy and utilities news from scotsman.comINDUSTRYWeir shareholders discontent at £3.5 million sweetener for SelwayNearly 15 per cent of shareholders in Weir yesterday voted against a plan to pay chief executive Mark Selway an extra £3.5 million to stay.
(The Herald)
The proposed one-off multi million pay-out was planned as an enticement for Selby to stay with the group for another 3 years. 14.65 per cent voted against the plan at yesterday's annual meeting. Weir chairman Sir Robert Smith did inform shareholder that this reward was linked to Weir's financial performance. "The remuneration committee wishes to ensure that the vesting of this award is closely linked to the group's performance," Smith stated in a letter to shareholders. The one-off payment, in shares, will come in addition to Selway's regular remuneration which topped £1 million last year. Meanwhile Selway said that he would "ideally" like to spend up to £140 million on two "bolt-on acquisitions" this year. Referring to recent sales including Weir Pumps, Selway said he was "done with selling things and closing things down."
Read all today's industry news from scotsman.comMEDIA & LEISUREGaming firm defies credit crunchGibraltar based online gaming firm 888 holdings saw net revenue rise 38 per cent to £32.4million for the first quarter of this year, driven by strong growth in its casino and bingo games division
a(Financial Times) The company brushed aside worries about rising mortgage payments and household bills to record a 35 per cent rise in casino gaming and 5 per cent rise from its poker site, Pacific Poker. Chief executive Gigi Levy said: "The slowdown in consumer spending is actually playing to our advantage. When people cut back on holidays or eating out, that means they are spending more time at home. The more time they spend at home, the more time they have to play online." The company had previously lost 55 per cent of its revenues following the US clampdown on internet gaming in 2006.
Read all today's media and leisure news from scotsman.comRETAILGlasgow retailer goes into administrationAlmost 800 jobs are at risk as Glasgow based homeware chain Au Naturale fell into the hands of administrators
(The Scotsman). PricewaterhouseCoopers were called in following months of financial uncertainty, and they will now take control of the company's 59 stores, most of which are based in Scotland. The administrators made 22 redundancies from Au Naturale's headquarters yesterday, but promised there would be no more job losses in the immediate future. PricewaterhouseCoopers said yesterday that Graham Martin, Ian Green and Jeremy Webb had been appointed administrators, and Martin said: "The problems were caused partly by the downturn in the retail markets and partly by internal problems – mainly operational difficulties in the supply of stock from its warehouses to the retail outlets." The company did manage to sell around 30 of its stores to Cheshire based Opus Estates last month, while its sister firm Internacionale, was sold to a foreign retailer in its entirety last week.
Read all today's retail news from scotsman.com
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