By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: July 19th, 2009 Is the taxpayer losing out in pre-packaged administrations that leave state-owned banks swallowing debts? Can we call pre-packaged administrations — which allow professional advisers quickly to put a company into administration, wipe out its debts then immediately sell it on — a fair means [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: July 19th, 2009 A company that numbers Tom Cross, chief executive of Dana Petroleum, and Brian Wilson, the former energy minister (pictured left), among its non-executive directors has come under fire for creating “false market” in its own shares after putting misleading information into the market. Ken [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: July 19th, 2009 John Swinney, Scotland’s finance secretary, has accused Lloyds Banking Group, owner of HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland, of abusing their dominant position in the Scottish banking market and of starving small and medium-sized businesses of access to finance. Swinney has written to the [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: July 19th, 2009 Mounting unemployment, recession and the gloomy economic outlook do not appear to be ideal conditions in which to expand a financial-services business. But this has not dented the enthusiasm or prospects of two Scottish-based insurance businesses: Bright Grey and Scottish Provident. Bright Grey, founded [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: July 19th, 2009 Waitrose has unveiled plans to open as many as 25 stores across Scotland within the next five years, after two successful openings in Edinburgh in 2006 and positive reaction to an announcement of its first Glasgow store, which is to open this November. Richard [...]
July 14th, 2009 Did the UK government have to bankrupt our economy by bailing out dysfunctional banks such as Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS? It’s a question which has been intriguing me since prime minister Gordon Brown won plaudits for rescuing the banks in October 2008 and one to which I have yet to [...]
July 13th, 2009 Justin Urquhart-Stewart, director of Seven Investment Management, has described HBOS as having been “pregnant with the spawn of Satan” by the time Lloyds TSB was foolish enough to acquire it last September. I don’t think he’s far wrong. Most of the damage was done in the corporate lending arm, overseen by Peter [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: July 12th, 2009 It does not encourage multinationals to invest in Scotland if they are vilified for making their company more competitive The bitter row over Diageo’s plan to axe up to 900 jobs by closing its Kilmarnock bottling plant and its Port Dundas grain distillery in [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: July 12th, 2009 Is the closure of the Johnnie Walker plant in Kilmarnock the beginning of the end for whisky bottling in Scotland, asks Ian Fraser Until a few years ago Kearny, New Jersey, was known as Little Paisley. In its heyday 21,000 Scottish immigrants lived in [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date July 12th, 2009 Diageo risks long-term harm to its reputation from its decision to axe its Kilmarnock bottling plant and Port Dundas distillery, according one of the UK’s leading whisky analysts. Alan Gray, of Sutherlands Edinburgh, formerly part of stockbroker Charles Stanley, said: “I feel very strongly [...]