Scottish Business Briefing - Thursday 7 March, 2013
BANKING
Mervyn King suggest RBS split to end ‘nonsense’
THE governor of the Bank of England Sir Mervyn King has raised the prospect of splitting the Royal Bank of Scotland to end the “nonsense” of its current part-nationalised status. In a direct challenge to the Treasury and Chancellor George Osborne, Sir Mervyn said there was a “good bank, bad bank” within the bailed-out RBS, saying arguments for restructuring it were now “powerful” (Scotsman).
ECONOMICS
Economy can be kick-started by new projects - report
Chancellor George Osborne should unveil a “massive infrastructure investment programme” designed to pump growth back into the economy, one of Scotland’s leading economic think-tanks has said. A report by the Fraser of Allander Institute at Strathclyde University downgraded its growth forecasts for Scotland for the coming two years, blaming the lack of demand in both the UK and abroad (Scotsman).
INDUSTRY
Legal sector hit by Semple Fraser administration
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Hide AdSCOTLAND’S legal sector suffered a major casualty yesterday when Semple Fraser confirmed that it intends to call in administrators. More than 100 jobs are at risk at the commercial property specialists, whose main office is in Glasgow, with other offices in Edinburgh and Manchester, after it said it had “exhausted all options” to save the firm Scotsman)
Law firm to expand workforce
LAW firm Harper Macleod is hoping to take on between 15 and 20 lawyers in the next few months in a move that will see its head count top 300. Chief executive Martin Darroch hopes many of the hires will be at partner and associate level and indicated the firm’s three main offices – Glasgow, Inverness and Edinburgh – will all have new people coming in (Herald).
Fresh debt crisis at Superglass spooks the City
Shares in Stirling-based insulation maker Superglass crumbled yesterday as it considered going cap in hand to the market for the second time in little more than a year to help pay its debts. The company, led by chief executive Alex McLeod, said that scheduled repayments of £8.2 million over the next three and a half years were “unsustainable” given current market conditions (Scotsman).
Divex duo net multi-million pound deal
Two directors of an Aberdeen-based diving equipment supplier have netted a multi-million pound windfall after selling their firm to marine engineering group James Fisher & Sons for up to £33 million. Derek Clarke and Doug Godsman, joint managing directors of Divex, have agreed to remain with the business following the deal, unveiled yesterday (Scotsman).