Business news in brief 14/05/2012

Happy days return for consultancies

Fee income across the management consulting industry grew by almost 5 per cent last year, the Management Consultancies Association said today.

The trade body said spending on management consultancy is back above the levels seen just before the economic crisis, with manufacturing driving the growth. It said the total number of fee-earning consultants rose by 10 per cent in 2011.

Linc plays host to investment seminar

Business angel group Linc Scotland is hosting what is being billed as Scotland’s first Seed Enterprise investment scheme seminar in response to the interest stimulated by the recently announced tax relief measures.

Wednesday’s event in Edinburgh is supported by a number of bodies, including IoD Scotland, HM Treasury, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Financial Enterprise.

Rich greeks seek haven in London

Worsening financial turmoil in southern Europe caused a surge of interest in London property last month, with buyers from Greece featuring strongly among investors.

The number of Greeks searching for homes costing more than £1.5 million on the website of agency Savills jumped 39 per cent in April compared with the average of the preceding six months, the firm said.

Knight rides out to help energy sector

Angela Knight, the outgoing head of the British Bankers’ Association, has taken on a new role defending another embattled industry.

Having spent five years at the banking group, she will leave in July to become chief executive of Energy UK, which represents 70 companies in the sector.

She said: “I want to see Energy UK help deliver investor confidence in the UK and to work with the industry to improve its reputation.”