By Ian Fraser The Herald April 25th, 2006 ONE of the UK’s leading independent financial advisers is recommending that Standard Life policyholders sell any windfall shares they receive as soon as the Edinburgh-based insurer floats on the London Stock Exchange later this year. The move comes as a blow to Standard Life as it seeks [...]
By Ian Fraser Financial Times FTfm section April 24th, 2006 Richard Burns tells Ian Fraser that entering the pension fund management market was one of Baillie Gifford’s smartest moves Soon after Richard Burns joined Baillie Gifford & Co in 1973, he made it his private ambition that the investment firm would one day overtake its [...]
By Ian Fraser The Economist April 20th, 2006 Edinburgh: A split threatens the ruling coalition A ROW over nuclear power is widening rifts in the alliance between Labour and Liberal Democrats, who together have ruled Scotland since devolution in 1999. As politicians draft their manifestos for elections to the Scottish Parliament in the spring of [...]
By Ian Fraser Sunday Herald April 16th, 2006 Why? This is probably the most stylish and comfortable hotel in Glasgow city centre, beating the likes of Hilton, Marriott and Thistle, thanks partly to its newness. The room I stayed in was large, had a modern Scandinavian feel to it, came with a selection of berries [...]
By Ian Fraser Sunday Herald April 2nd, 2006 IAN FRASER ON NEW LABOUR SPIN While Tony Blair preaches climate change measures to the rest of the world, his government has deliberately excluded aviation from its greenhouse gases calculations RADIOHEAD singer Thom Yorke recently said that he finds dealing with the New Labour spin-machine on [...]
By Ian Fraser Sunday Herald April 2nd, 2006 FRED Duncan, chairman of Scotland’s largest privately owned company, has hit out at the practices of UK supermarket groups in their push for lower and lower prices from suppliers. He said: “They’ve been so spoilt over the past decade or more, and they’ve only seen prices go [...]
By Ian Fraser Sunday Herald April 2nd, 2006 BOSS OF THE WEEK: RICHARD BURNS ON the massive investment floor of Baillie Gifford & Co’s Edinburgh offices, explosions and screams of agony are rarely, if ever, heard. Silence reigns, as 60 highly-paid investment professionals closely study their screens and choose where to put billions of pounds [...]