Scottish Business Briefing - Wednesday 18 May, 2011

ECONOMY

Petrol and air fares push inflation to 2-year high

SOARING petrol prices, increased air fares and duty taxes imposed on alcohol in the recent Budget sent inflation up to 4.5 per cent in April, raising fears that interest rates could rise from their current rock bottom level

Read all today's economics news from scotsman.com

FOOD, DRINK & AGRICULTURE

Surging costs and supermarket rivalry hit dairy giant Robert Wiseman

DAIRY group Robert Wiseman, the UK's biggest fresh milk supplier, is continuing to suffer from the double whammy of soaring costs and fierce competition between supermarket chains.

Read all today's food, drink and agriculture news from scotsman.com

INDUSTRY

Nautricity to install marine turbine in River Thames

A team of engineers from Glasgow-based Nautricity is going to install one of the company's revolutionary marine turbines in the central London section of the River Thames.

Read all today's industry news from scotsman.com

RETAIL

High street rebound 'is little more than a blip'

A REBOUND on the Scottish high street last month amid record temperatures and royal wedding fever is likely to prove little more than a blip, experts today warned. The latest monthly snapshot from the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) showed total retail sales were up 5.5 per cent on April last year.

Mothercare to close a quarter of UK stores

Mothercare has said it will close more than a quarter of its UK stores over the next two years as part of its plans to reduce its High Street presence. The company also reported a slump in full-year profits as UK sales fell due to bad weather in the run-up to Christmas and increased competition.

Read all today's retail news from scotsman.com

TECHNOLOGY

Selling strategy helps Optos double profits to 2.4m

Profits at Optos have more than doubled to $3.9 million (2.4m) as the Dunfermline-based eye scanner specialist moves from renting out its products to selling them to customers.

Read all today's technology news from scotsman.com