Business owners in Scotland bank over £90,000 a year

Business owners in Scotland take an average of £91,100 a year from their firms in salary and dividends, according to a survey.

The survey found Scottish business owners take less in salary and dividends than the UK average. Picture: Contributed

The figure is below the UK average of £95,000 and less than half the average of chief executives of companies on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim).

Accountant Haines Watts, which carried out the survey, said the findings highlighted how Scottish business owners are leaving cash in their businesses in the hope of driving longer term growth at their firms.

But the survey also found that owner managers are taking significant risks by being over-reliant on a single customer, supplier, member of staff or their own availability.

More than half of Scottish company owners said they have a major supplier they could not survive without, and most owners said their main customer contributes a third or more of annual revenues.

• Investors have seen £1 trillion paid out in dividends by UK plc since 2000, according to the latest dividend monitor from Capita Asset Services, writes Scott Reid.

The milestone figure was achieved yesterday with the latest shareholder payout from LSL Property Services. Meanwhile, Capita is predicting that the £2tn threshold will be reached in just ten years’ time.

High street giant Next kicked off the century, as the first payer of the new millennium, with a 7p interim dividend at the beginning of January 2000.

A spokesman for Capita said: “The dividends companies provide to their shareholders help underpin economic prosperity in the UK.”

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