Scottish Business Briefing - Monday October 28
ENERGY
SSE director Rice in utilities ‘transparency’ call
LADY Susan Rice, the senior independent director at electricity and gas supplier SSE, has called for energy companies to be more “transparent” about the charges that their customers face. Rice, who is also managing director of Lloyds Banking Group’s Scottish operations, said that greater transparency would help utility companies to regain the public’s trust. (Scotsman)
GMS targets wind energy growth
A MARINE services business is hoping to capitalise on the growing offshore wind energy industry as it opens its first office in Scotland. Green Marine Solutions (GMS), which has been trading for a year and has its headquarters in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has already secured £450,000 of funding from Northstar Ventures, which valued the company at more than £2 million. (Herald)
FOOD, DRINK & AGRICULTURE
Interview: Robert Graham, Graham’s The Family Dairy
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Hide AdROBERT Graham doesn’t get out to inspect his cows as often as he would like, but he still finds that a walk on the family farm puts him in a relaxed frame of mind for the day’s business. Graham’s The Family Dairy today publishes figures showing that sales increased 21 per cent to £68m in the past financial year. Pre-tax profits more than doubled, to just over £1m, although Graham worries that is still not enough to justify his capital expenditure. (Scotsman)
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TRANSPORT & INDUSTRY
Female solicitors’ pay is still lagging behind
WOMEN are still lagging behind men when it comes to pay in the Scottish legal profession, according to figures released today. The Law Society of Scotland’s third “equality profile”, which questioned more than 3,400 solicitors, found that women make up a larger chunk of the £15,000-£45,000 pay bracket, but that men dominate the £65,000-£150,000 salary band. (Scotsman)
MEDIA, TECH & LEISURE
NVT secures six-figure deal for Ryder Cup IT
NVT, the Scottish IT group, has beaten off global competition to land a six-figure contract to run the technology and communications for the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles next year. It is a second high-profile international award, following the Commonwealth Games 2014 contract a year ago, for the Lanarkshire-based business which champions SME opportunities in public procurement. (Herald)
First Scottish-built satellite UKube-1 to launch in 2014
A date has been set for the launch of the first satellite to be built in Scotland. UKube-1 will begin its journey to Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan this week. The satellite will then be launched on 10 February next year aboard a Russian Soyuz-2 rocket. UKube-1 is the UK Space Agency’s first CubeSat mission. It is relatively small satellite but it will pack in several experiments. (BBC)