By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: September 27th, 2009 The stock market rally is a “dash for trash” based on a “fraud” that is likely to be harmful to investors’ wealth, according to one of Scotland’s leading investors. Robin Angus, a director of the £200m Edinburgh-based Personal Assets Trust, said investors had been [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: September 27th, 2009 Savills are unable to sell the estate after former owner granted agricultural tenancy to one of their own directors The estate agent Savills has had to scrap plans to sell the Ury estate near Stonehaven after it emerged the former owner, FM Developments, had [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: September 27th, 2009 Legal battle between the broadcasters hots up over claims about unpaid bills and advertising revenue A legal dispute between STV and ITV will intensify this week, with the Glasgow-based broadcaster expected to seek £40m in compensation from the national group. The move is in [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: September 27th, 2009 Co-founder of MJM International has struck a deal enhancing the presence of her budget lingerie chain in Tesco stores Michelle Mone’s MJM International has struck a deal with Tesco that will enhance the presence of her company’s Diamond Boutique budget lingerie range in the [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: September 27th, 2009 With abundant sources of renewable energy and good communications infrastructure, country must invest in ‘cloud computing’ Scotland ought to be getting into the business of cloud creation — and this has nothing to with Cold War manipulation of the weather, or those fantastical rainbow-painting [...]
September 26th, 2009 In its submission to the Holyrood Parliament’s inquiry into the banking crisis, Scottish Financial Enterprise, the trade organisation for what remains of Scotland’s once proud financial services sector, has come up with one of feeblest and most complacent documents I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading. In answer to the question: “What [...]
September 17th, 2009 Dubai property prices, already the fastest falling in the world post-credit crisis, are poised to collapse by a further 33% before they bottom out in 2011 at the earliest. Long term, they may turn out to be about as resilient as these sandbanks (or “fronds”) built by the troubled developer Nakheel will [...]
September 16th, 2009 This photo of a US sheriff gingerly advancing through the wreckage of somebody’s home with his pistol loaded and ready to fire may look like something out of a war. But it’s just an ordinary scene from the suburbs in post crash America. The photo, taken in March 2008 by Time magazine [...]
September 14th, 2009 The campaign to separate “utility” banks from the “casino” of financial markets has stepped up following an intervention from John Kay (pictured), a leading economist and author of “The Long and the Short of It“. By focusing on their post crash regulatory efforts on building a framework for lumbering financial conglomerates that [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: Sunday Herald Date: September 13th, 2009 Co-operative Financial Services, the mutually-owned banking and insurance group, is looking to ratchet up its presence in Scotland by rolling-out in-store bank branches within Co-operative’s retail outlets north of the border. In an interview with the Sunday Herald Neville Richardson, CFS’s chief executive, said he [...]