By Ian Fraser FT Adviser August 30th, 2006 A North-South divide has opened up in the world of pensions, with Scotland’s life offices widely criticising their southern-based rivals for still selling pensions business on a commission basis. The practice of offering generous commissions – sometimes as high as 30% of the first year’s premiums – […]
By Ian Fraser Financial Times Business Life page August 29th, 2006 Companies adopting viral campaigns need to be more creative than in traditional media – and beware of the many pitfalls, says Ian Fraser Warner Music’s deal last week to promote Paris Hilton’s debut album on YouTube, the fast-growing video-sharing website, may make the socialite’s […]
By Ian Fraser Sunday Herald August 27th, 2006 EU GRANTS: NEW MAP BUSINESSES seeking to take advantage of the Scottish Executive’s most high profile mechanism for promoting economic growth in Scotland have only a few months left in which to apply for the subsidies before rules are tightened up in January 2007. As the European […]
By Ian Fraser Sunday Herald August 27th, 2006 VAN VLISSINGEN: FINAL ACT Billionaire’s Tournaig purchase was ‘philanthropic’ PAUL van Vlissingen, the billionaire owner of the Letterewe Estate, was still actively enlarging his Highland property interests up until his death in his Dutch home, Lunenberg Castle, near Utrecht. Within the last few weeks, van Vlissingen – […]
By Ian Fraser The Sunday Times August 20th, 2006 CHIVAS BROTHERS, the Scotch whisky arm of Paris-based drinks group Pernod Ricard, has signalled its commitment to jobs in Edinburgh with a £2m investment in its Newbridge bottling plant on the capital’s western fringes. Last year there was speculation the plant would close because Pernod’s £5bn […]
By Ian Fraser The Sunday Times August 20th, 2006 GLASGOW-BASED broadcaster SMG is expected to reject a merger approach from its Northern Irish rival UTV, the parent of TalkSport, Talk107 and Ulster Television, early this week. The board of SMG – parent company of STV, Grampian Television, Virgin Radio, Pearl & Dean and Primesight – […]
By Ian Fraser The Sunday Times August 20th, 2006 THE Grampian Country Food Group is closing its headquarters in Leeds and moving back to Scotland. Some redundancies are expected when the company, led by chairman Fred Duncan, closes the Leeds office early next month. An unspecified number of personnel will transfer to a site in […]
By Ian Fraser Scottish Financial Services Yearbook 2006 August 7th, 2006 SCOTLAND’S life insurance sector has had a white-knuckle ride in recent years. Just three years ago, survival was the order of the day as plunging stock markets stretched insurers’ solvency ratios to breaking point. Eager to avoid another Equitable Life-style collapse, the Financial Services […]
By Ian Fraser Scottish Financial Services Yearbook 2006 August 7th, 2006 The bull market in equities, despite a faltering performance in May and June, has ensured that most Scottish based fund-management groups are performing well at the moment. But Anja Balfour, who manages £300 million of Japanese equities for Axa Framlington from a serviced office […]