Scottish Business Briefing - Tuesday 20 August, 2013
FINANCE
Jobs in store for Sainsbury’s as banking expands
Sainsbury’s Bank is poised to create about 70 jobs by the end of this year as it prepares for life as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the supermarket group. The plans were unveiled as the bank, which was created as a joint venture with Bank of Scotland, signed the lease on a new head office in Edinburgh, offering more than double the space of its existing home in the city (Scotsman).
MANAGEMENT
Concern over E-Spark gagging clause move
CONCERNS over the business practices of the not-for-profit Entrepreneurial Spark business incubator have been raised after it emerged companies had to sign agreements saying they would not criticise the organisation. Separately, financial documents show the social enterprise’s chief executive Jim Duffy now receives an annual salary of £90,000, an increase from the £75,000 he originally received (Herald).
ENERGY
Statoil sale highlights attraction of North Sea
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Hide AdNorwegian oil and gas giant Statoil today struck a $2.75 billion (£1.7bn) deal to sell stakes in assets including fields in the North Sea to Austria’s OMV. The move will free up capital for Statoil to develop a number of other projects but the company stressed that it remained committed to its interests in the North Sea which include the massive Mariner field (Scotsman).
Cairn eyes return to Greenland as losses widen
Edinburgh-based oil and gas explorer Cairn Energy is set to resume its efforts to strike it rich in Greenland next year as part of a 12-month “high-impact” drilling campaign. The firm will kick off its exploration programme next month, targeting two wells off the coast of Morocco towards the end of this year, with further wells off Ireland and Senegal planned for the first half of 2014 (Scotsman).
Oil and gas consultancy ADIL expects dramatic rise in sales
A Scottish oil and gas consultancy is on course to grow turnover 50% this year after capitalising on a big increase in spending on new developments in areas like the North Sea. Aberdeen-based ADIL expects to increase sales to £31 million in 2013, from £20m last year after enjoying strong growth in the first half of the year (Scotsman).
Swinney admits oil jobs data error
SCOTTISH Government officials incorrectly interpreted data and claimed that the oil and gas industry would create 34,000 jobs in Scotland over the next two years, Finance Secretary John Swinney has said. The figure in a document outlining the industry’s prospects in an independent Scotland should have referred to UK-wide jobs and not Scottish jobs, Mr Swinney said (Scotsman).
SCOTSMAN CONFERENCE
The Future of the UK Aerospace Industry, 5 Sept - Prestwick
Full agenda now available. Featuring expert industry speakers including: Scott McLarty of Spirit AeroSystems, Alan Fraser of BAE Systems; Jim Houston of Woodward & Gavin Campbell of Bombardier Aerospace. See The Scotsman Conferences website for more details.
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