Oil prices could scupper recovery
	High oil prices could "snuff out" any recovery in the UK economy during the coming two years, economists warned today.

Manufacturing exports lighten economic gloom

Manufacturers in Scotland are faring better than those in much of the UK and anticipate escaping the widespread job cutting that is expected across much of the country in the next few months, according to figures published by the Confederation of British Industry today.

All in the family again at Bone Group

Wishaw-based steel company the Bone Group is being run by a member of its founding family again after Chris Bone stepped in to replace departing chief executive David Higgins.

Round-trips to Ireland help Maxi haul in £3m profit

Maxi Group, the Ayrshire haulage-to-construction firm, has almost doubled its pre-tax profits to £3.1m in spite of the adverse impact of soaring fuel costs.

Sarti family sell restaurant chain in £5m management buy-out

Sarti's, the fashionable Glasgow restaurant chain, has been sold by its Italian family founders to a six-strong management buy-out team in a £5m deal.

	Companies urged to adopt green champions
	Scottish Business in the Community (SBC) is urging more companies to adopt their own "green champions" to promote more environmentally- friendly ways of doing business.

Bank’s ‘legacy customers’ will have to pay for their accounts

Royal Bank of Scotland said yesterday that thousands of businesses that will have charges levied on their accounts for the first time were "legacy customers" who will be moved to a competitive account.

Job becomes matter of self preservation

SME Focus: This week, we hear from one man who bounced back from the bitter blow of redundancy by going into business, ultimately in competition with the firm that laid him off. By Mark Williamson

Housebuilders linked in £1.3bn merger talks

Graeme Evans Construction firms Bellway and Redrow were yesterday the subject of speculation about a £1.3bn merger to create one of the UK's biggest housebuilders.

Bid for British Energy could be as low as 600p per share

A bid for British Energy could emerge this week at a price between 600p and 640p a share, according to reports yesterday which suggested that the government has failed in its attempt to pump up the price through an auction of its stake in the nuclear utility.

	Stock market surges on strength of US employment
	The London stock market surged yesterday, as traders welcomed a smaller-than-feared drop in US employment and falling sterling interbank lending rates.

McColl looks for £200m of private equity

Jim McColl, the engineering entrepreneur, is raising money for a £200m private equity fund to provide a new investment platform for his Clyde Blowers business empire.

Collapse of Au Naturale is ‘imminent’

The final collapse of Glasgow-based homeware chain Au Naturale is "imminent", creditors of the stricken company were told at a behind-closed-doors meeting yesterday.

Blowers’ wind of change

Saturday interview: Alex Stewart, the money man who wanted to be an engineer, is helping to green our most polluting industries, finds Simon Bain.

Scottish Mortgage beats odds

James Anderson, whose £2.28bn Scottish Mortgage fund defied an overall fall in world stock markets with investment gains of £159m in the year to March 31, yesterday declared that global turmoil "has created some great opportunities" for him.

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