Business briefs: Editions Publishing | Exports | EE

RUTH Stewart-Simpson and Caspian Woods have sold Editions Publishing, their Edinburgh-based marketing agency, to London-listed peer Communisis for £7.1 million in cash and shares.

Editions, which employs 31 staff, has carried out more than 2,000 projects for in excess of 30 financial brands over 14 years.

Under the deal, which involves £5.4m of cash and shares worth £1.7m, Stewart-Simpson and Woods have agreed to join Communisis for at least the next two years. Editions posted a profit of £500,000 on revenues of £2.6m.

• Graham Mackay has resumed his duties as chairman of Peroni-owner SABMiller after undergoing brain surgery.

Deputy chairman John Manser took over from Mackay in April after he was granted a “medical leave of absence”.

Mackay said: “The directors are extremely grateful to John Manser for stepping so ably into the breach as acting chairman during my absence, and I personally have relied hugely on his support and wise counsel during what has been a very difficult few months for my family and me.”

• Passenger numbers at Glasgow Prestwick airport continued to rise last month, figures yesterday revealed.

A total of 130,749 travellers passed through the airport, up 3 per cent on August last year, helped by a steady increase in people flying with Ryanair during the busy summer.

Numbers were boosted by busy flights to Mediterranean hotspots Faro, Ibiza and Malaga while Canary Islands favourites Tenerife and Lanzarote were also popular destinations.

• Scotland’s exports rose by 4.1 per cent year-on-year during the 12 months to 30 June to £19.7 billion, according to figures released by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Exports to Europe rose by 2.8 per cent to £7.8bn, while the value of goods and services bought by non-European Union countries climbed by 5 per cent to £11.9bn. Machinery and transport equipment accounted for 31.8 per cent of exports, with beverages accounting for 22.9 per cent. Scotland’s imports also rose, up 4.2 per cent to £14.7bn.

By contrast, exports from the UK as a whole dipped by 0.1 per cent to £297.8bn, while imports fell by 0.2 per cent to £403.2bn.

• Supermarket chain Asda has hung up on Vodafone and chosen rival operator EE to run its mobile phone business from the start of next month.

Asda teamed up with Vodafone to launch its mobile arm in 2007, but the group said it wanted to take advantage of a “bigger and faster network”.

EE, owner of the Orange and T-Mobile brands, will also provide free wi-fi access across Asda’s chain of 568 stores and its head office in Leeds.