Which naughty Fido left a mess at the circus?

Alf Young on Tuesday: The tripartite memorandum of understanding between the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority, governing who should be doing what in pursuit of financial stability, is dripping with warm, reassuring words.

Retire to Glasgow

If you want to boost your retirement income it is a good idea to move to Glasgow. Yesterday insurer Legal & General started using customer postcodes as an additional factor, alongside age and gender, when quoting annuity rates.

Rates cut by MPC seen as unlikely

City pundits expect the Bank of England to keep interest rates steady at 5.75% when it announces its latest policy decision today despite recent turbulence in the financial markets sparked by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, record oil prices and a credit squeeze.

Melrose Resources aims to step up a division

David Thomas, chief executive of Melrose Resources, said the oil and gas independent was poised to step up a division helped by strong organic growth in operations in places like Egypt and the United States.

FirstGroup targets more cost savings from US operation

FirstGroup executives believe the company is insulated from a rising dollar, with any increase in fuel costs offset by rises in the worth of its recently-enlarged North American ventures.

SLI posts record sales of mutual funds

Standard Life Investments (SLI) shrugged off the turmoil affecting financial markets to post record sales of mutual funds to retail investors in the third quarter.

Lyon joins board of Valiant Petroleum

Kevin Lyon, formerly head of private equity giant 3i's operations in Scotland, has added another directorship to his portfolio of non-executive roles.

Reservation numbers increase, but All-Hotels suffers

Losses widened at the All- Hotels internet bookings business, a former leading light of the Scottish technology scene which is now owned by US private equity funds.

Scotland’s aerospace industry flies high with double boost

Scotland's aerospace industry received a double boost yesterday after Rolls-Royce secured a major engines order and Spirit AeroSystems expanded the operations of its Prestwick facility.

Oil and gas companies court servicemen on return to civvy street

More than 400 servicemen, including many who have recently fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, are being courted by oil and gas companies trying to ease the skills shortage in the industry.

	SMG shares bounce after rights issue announced
	SMG chief Rob Woodward yesterday succeeded in convincing panicked shareholders that a proposed £95.1m rights issue that would pay off much of its debt was in their long-term interests.

Oil hits record $97 a barrel on new wave of bombings

The price of black gold marched ever closer to the psychological benchmark of £100 a barrel yesterday as a weak US dollar, tight fuel stocks and geopolitical tensions kept markets on edge.

Latest data reveals evidence of UK economy slowing

More evidence that the economy is slowing emerged yesterday in a report from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research that said UK gross domestic product grew by 0.7% in the three months to end-October.

King: we are not yet back to normal

Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, said yesterday there could be more bad news in store for UK banks and businesses.

Sales give clue to S&N future

Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) will today unveil key third-quarter sales figures for BBH, its joint venture with estranged partner Carlsberg, amid growing market sentiment that its independent days are numbered.

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