Scottish Business Briefing – December 10th
FINANCE
Acquisitive Bellpenny buys Glasgow firm
A WEALTH management and independent financial advisory business has acquired Glasgow-based MGW for an undisclosed sum. The swoop by Bellpenny marks the
company’s 13th deal and takes its funds under management to more than £1 billion, just a year after the firm received regulatory approval. MGW had some £141m of funds under its control with the majority of its clients based in the Central Belt.
ENERGY
Green energy plan poised to win cash
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Hide AdTHE north-east will move a major step towards becoming a global leader in a groundbreaking green energy technology within weeks. The UK Government is poised to commit tens of millions of pounds to advanced design work for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant at Peterhead’s gas-fired power station.
Wood Group backs buoys
WOOD Group has underlined its belief in the potential of a scheme to use unmanned buoys to produce oil and gas from the North Sea, which champions believe could result in a host of so-called stranded fields being brought into production. The Scottish oil services giant has taken an option to expand its participation in an initiative launched by Enegi Oil and AB Technology to develop buoys they believe could be used to slash the cost of developing North Sea fields.
Scotsman Conference
The Fracking Question - 11th December – Edinburgh
Join us as we hear how fracking challenges the basic premise of the UK energy story – resources are declining and prices are rising. The conference will look at the current and potential impacts of fracking on a local and global scale. Visit the Scotsman Conferences website for more details.
RETAIL
Duncan & Todd eyes expansion after BGF backing
One of Scotland’s largest chain of opticians is on the look-out for acquisitions after securing a £5.6 million investment that has brought in a high-profile chairman. Duncan & Todd, which has a 23-strong retail estate focused around the North-east, said the backing from the Business Growth Fund (BGF) would also help it expand its in-house manufacturing division, Caledonian Optical.
Cash-strapped shoppers to cut back at Christmas
IT’s one of the most memorable scenes from Seventies sitcom The Good Life – when Surbiton snob Margo announces that Christmas “has been cancelled” because high-class department store Harrods has failed to deliver her usual festive groceries. But for many people this Yuletide, art will imitate life as cash-strapped households are forced to all but cancel their own Christmases, as they dramatically cut back on food and drink.
TRANSPORT & INDUSTRY
Scots firms bid to cash in on English nuclear power station
THE construction of the UK’s first new nuclear power station in a generation will bring positive spin-offs for companies engaged in the supply chain in Scotland. The hope has been expressed by Renfrew-based Doosan Babcock, the power projects and services company that provides “cradle to grave” service for the UK’s fleet of nuclear power stations.