By Ian Fraser The Herald January 29th, 2007 ACCOUNTANTS and lawyers have split along professional lines in their response to the UK government’s proposed implementation of a European Union money laundering directive which must enter the statute books by December. Last week solicitors warned that Westminster’s interpretation of the EU’s third money laundering directive, which […]
By Ian Fraser The Herald January 29th, 2007 Within four years, law will be dominated by females – but will it submit to real change? LAW is going to become a female-dominated profession in terms of absolute numbers of practising solicitors within four years, according to figures from the Law Society of Scotland. Currently, 43 […]
By Ian Fraser The Herald January 24th, 2007 SCOTCH whisky companies expect to be able to exert strong pricing pressure on supermarkets and other UK customers over the next few months due to a shortage of supply and the opening of new overseas markets including China and India. Roland van Bommel, chief executive of Bellshill-based […]
By Ian Fraser The Herald January 22nd, 2007 It is no longer enough to be box-tickers and part-time policemen, formal induction is now way forward SOON after starting as a non-executive director at utility company Scottish & Southern Energy, Sir Robert Smith found himself in the company’s Perth-based call centre. The idea was that the […]
By Ian Fraser The Herald January 15th, 2007 Scottish law firms are not immune, says BDO Fifteen per cent of the UK’s 9000 law firms face either having to merge or be forced to the wall over the next couple of years, according to a warning issued by a leading firm of accountants. BDO Stoy […]
By Ian Fraser and John Penman The Sunday Times January 14th, 2007 United Spirits, part of Vijay Mallya’s Bangalore-based United Breweries Group, is poised to wrap up a £500m takeover of the distillers Whyte & Mackay. Advisers from the two companies are due to meet tomorrow to thrash out the details of the transaction, with […]
By Ian Fraser The Herald January 8th, 2007 Ian Fraser reflects upon year of intense activity at Scots law firms A FLURRY of deals towards the end of 2006 capped a particularly busy year for the corporate finance teams at Scotland’s leading commercial law firms. The mergers and acquisitions upon which they advise increasingly have […]
By Ian Fraser The Sunday Times January 7th, 2007 DEVRO, the Moodiesburn sausage-skin maker, is being eyed for takeover by its Spanish rival Viscofan, according to analysts. The Scottish company, which makes 80% of the sausage skins used by UK sausage manufacturers, has recently suffered a series of setbacks, including a profits warning in November […]
By Ian Fraser The Sunday Times January 7th, 2007 FOR someone who is chairman of two FTSE 100 companies, Sir Brian Stewart is a surprisingly unassuming individual. He is no smoothie like Lord Stevenson of HBOS, and does not have the hard-as-nails exterior of Sir Robert Smith, chairman of both Weir Group and Scottish and […]
By Ian Fraser The Herald January 6th, 2007 SATURDAY INTERVIEW – JOHN CHIENE The man who kicked life into Wood Mackenzie and the UK broking industry reminisces with Ian Fraser. JOHN Chiene is a larger-than-life character who can talk for Britain. He also effectively reinvented institutional stockbroking in the UK. Long before the US bulge […]