Most owners of small businesses in Scotland think life is about to get harder for start-ups, according to research which suggests the picture is bleaker in other parts of the UK.
Sir John Rose, chief executive of Rolls-Royce group, delivered an upbeat trading statement yesterday, saying he expects underlying sales and profits to increase in 2008 and sees all four of its businesses growing during the year.
Aberdeen Asset Management has refused to rule out shifting its official headquarters from its home city until the government clarifies the tax position of foreign earnings.
Growth in the UK’s dominant service sector almost flatlined in April – slowing sharply to its weakest pace since the Iraq invasion month of March 2003 – raising serious questions over the momentum of the economy.
Lloyds TSB said it had no need to join the queue of banks seeking to raise billions of pounds from shareholders after unveiling relatively modest write-downs in respect of the credit crunch.
Bovis Homes issued a profit warning yesterday saying housing market conditions have deteriorated sharply in the last two months, and results for the first half of 2008 will be substantially lower than previously forecast.
British Airways’ passenger numbers dipped last month as the airline dealt with the shambolic opening of Heathrow’s Terminal 5.
BA carried 2.59 million passengers in April 2008 – a 7.9% fall on the April 2007 total.
AstraZeneca said yesterday that a European patent covering the use of its Symbicort medicine as a treatment for a condition commonly known as "smoker's cough" has been revoked.
Scottish law firm HBJ Gateley Wareing has swallowed specialist maritime practice Holmes Hardingham to bolster its position in the lucrative London shipping sector.
The team investigating illegal market practices including insider training has more than doubled in size, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said today.
Power firms Centrica and EDF are in talks about creating a new Anglo-French company to mount an £11 billion bid for British Energy, it was reported today.
The number of business failures north of the border will surge by 20% in 2008 as the effects of the global credit crunch come home to roost, according to the predictions of one of Scotland's leading corporate recovery specialists.
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