Scottish Business Briefing

ECONOMY

Home workers moving into empty sites could be good business all roundScotland's army of home-workers are being deterred from moving into commercial premises by a lack of affordable options. A survey by the Federation of Small Businesses found that 42 per cent of home-based entrepreneurs cited cost as the key reason for not expanding into dedicated premises.

Slump in oil price would put go-it-alone Scotland in red

SCOTLAND'S heavy reliance on North Sea Oil in order to balance its books was illustrated by new figures yesterday showing how the country tumbled into the red as oil revenues crashed during the recession.

Read all today's economics news from scotsman.com

BANKING & INSURANCE

Kwik-Fit cashes in on new products and a crackdown on fraud

Kwik-Fit Insurance managing director June Lynch yesterday hailed the introduction of new products and a crackdown on fraud for helping to boost profits at the Uddingston-based insurance company.

Give public bailed-out banks shares says Nick Clegg

Proposals to give the public shares in part-nationalised banks RBS and Lloyds have been backed by Nick Clegg. The idea is that individual taxpayers would benefit from any long-term gains when shares in the banks are sold.

Read all today's banking news from scotsman.com

ENERGY & UTILITIES

Surging energy costs fuel Superglass warning

Scottish insulation firm Super-glass yesterday warned investors that it was likely to make only a "modest" profit this year due to high energy costs and a volatile take-up of a government-backed scheme.

Read all today's energy and utilities news from scotsman.com

TECHNOLOGY

Sharing ICT 'could save the public sector 1bn'

SCOTLAND'S local councils, universities and other public sector bodies could save up to 1 billion over the next five years by clubbing together to buy their computer systems, according to an independent review published yesterday.

Read all today's technology news from scotsman.com

Scottish Business Briefing – June 23rd 2011