The Herald

Bae Systems' Prestwick Operation Sold in Gbp80m Deal

MORE than three years of speculation about the future of hundreds of jobs at BAE Systems' aerostructures operation in Ayrshire have come to an end with the news that it will be sold to Spirit AeroSystems, a subsidiary of Canadian industrial conglomerate Onex Corporation. The business - which employs about 830 people at its main plant in Scotland and a smaller site in Samlesbury, Lancashire - is being sold for GBP80m in cash, significantly less than had been speculated. However, the deal was w...

1400 Jobs Go As Film Processor Axes Shops Digital Onslaught Exposes Owner of Klick Photopoint

THE family owner of high street retail group Klick Photopoint has axed more than 200 stores and 1400 staff after the digital photography revolution devastated the group's core business of film processing. Bowie-Castlebank, run by Jonathan Bowie, who is rated among Scotland's best young entrepreneurs, posted a GBP13m loss last year after recording a GBP5m profit just 12 months previously.

Goodbye to Caio As Investors Wipe Gbp300m From C&W Market Value

THE chief executive of Cable & Wireless yesterday said he would quit, as the UK's secondlargest telecom warned of flat profits and investors wiped almost GBP300m off its stock market worth. Adding insult to injury, the company is now likely to fall out of the FTSE-100.

Us Federal Reserve Nudges Up Rates On Greenspan's Last Day

RETIRING Federal Reserve legend Alan Greenspan last night ended his 18-year term at the helm of the US central bank by presiding over another quarter-point rise in interest rates - but left successor Ben Bernanke's options open. In the statement explaining its 14th consecutive quarterpoint rise in the benchmark Fed funds rate to take it to 4.5-per cent, the Federal Open Market Committee said: "The committee judges that some further policy firming may be needed to keep the risks to the attainm...

Welcome for Public Tender Laws

Drugs Firms Want Loophole Closed Industry Calls On Scotland to Tighten Laws On Extremism

SCOTLAND must strengthen its laws against extremism from animal rights activists if it is "serious" about building a world-class economy based on cutting-edge science and technology, key figures in the bioscience sectorwarned yesterday. The call comes in the wake of an attack on Simon Bicknell, director at GlaxoSmithKline, the UK's biggest pharmaceutical company, who had his home defaced by activists at the weekend.

Papermaker Shakes Up Boardroom As Losses Mount

SMITH Anderson, the venerable Fife firm which is one of the country's last surviving papermakers, has unveiled dramatic restructuring moves after suffering a second successive year of heavy losses. The company, which supplies bags and packaging to the likes of BurgerKing, has completed a boardroom shake-up involving the departure of its veteran chief executive and off-loaded its struggling envelope production business to a German rival.

Park's of Hamilton Reports Annual Flat Profits of Gbp4.9m

PARK'S of Hamilton Holdings, the coach hire-to-car dealership business owned and run by Douglas Park, recorded flat profits of nearly GBP5m in the 12 months to March 31 last year in spite of a jump in turnover. Trading performance has been both stable and healthy in recent years, with Park's having put a brief spell in the red firmly behind it.

Sacrifices at Barr As Earnings Tumble

DIRECTORS of Barr Holdings had to accept a big cut in pay in the last financial year as the Scottish football stadium construction specialist was readied for sale. Latest accounts for the group show that the total boardroom pay bill fell by a third, to GBP832,000, in the year ended March 31.

Bcci Liquidator Ordered to Pay Bank's Costs

DELOITTE, liquidator of the disgraced Bank of Credit and Commerce International, was yesterday formally instructed by a High Court judge to pay legal costs to the Bank of England on an indemnity basis - or the highest such award. The Bank has racked up a total legal bill for the 12 years that Deloitte has pursued its claim on behalf of BCCI's creditors of GBP81m - GBP73m in fees plus GBP8m in interest.

Scottish Executive Awards Gbp6m in Grants to Boost Rail Freight Drive

A NEW railhead is to be built in Ayrshire with Scottish Executive cash in a bid to take forestry freight off fragile local roads. Nearly GBP6m was allocated yesterday by Tavish Scott, the transport minister, part of which is to go into the purchase of specially-designed wagons including a crane that can put timber on rail from the south-west Scotland to destinations in Ayr, Troon, Carlisle and Wales. This is thought to be the first time in Britain that such a train has been used to deliver ti...

Kilmartin Property Group Trebles Annual Turnover

KILMARTIN Property Group, the Edinburgh-based trader and investor, has confirmed a leap in profits last year from GBP1.4m to GBP6.4m and says it is on course for GBP7.5m in the current year to the end of April. The group headed by Iain Wotherspoon more than trebled turnover to GBP103m in a year which saw a series of successful development ventures in the retail sector, and acquired what it says are "a number of new strategic assets which will become the key profit generators for the coming tw...

Mpc Dissident Kicks Lawson Ball Game

STEPHEN Nickell, the UK monetary policy committee memberwho voted unsuccessfully to cut base rates in December and January, yesterday challenged former Conservative chancellor Nigel Lawson's view of the importance of growth in such deliberations. Justifying his reasons for voting against the other eight MPC members for a quarter-point cut in base rates to 4.25-per cent at both meetings, Nickell declared: "Looking forward, it seems probable that the growth of demand will approach trend levels ...

Breakeven Warning From Shetland Catch

SHETLAND Catch, one of the islands'most important employers, has reported bumper profits for 2005 but warned that it will struggle to break even this year amid "very aggressive" competition. Europe's biggest processor of mackerel and herring, the Lerwick- based company is owned by Lerwick Port Authority, the Shetland pelagic (open seas) fishing fleet and its own staff.

Executive Puts Fall in Incomes at 8.4-Per Cent Farming

FARM incomes in Scotland are estimated to have fallen by 8.4-per cent last year, according to provisional figures released yesterday by the Scottish Executive. Total income from farming, which measures business profits plus income for those with an entrepreneurial interest, has fallen by GBP39.9m to GBP435.6m, representing a decline when inflation is taken into account.