ECONOMY
Economic fall shatters sales for historic crystal firmTHE historic crystal and glass maker Waterford Wedgwood headed the latest list of companies hit by the economic crisis when it called in the administrators yesterday (
Scotsman). The announcement by the company that owns the Edinburgh Crystal brand means 2,700 jobs across the UK and Ireland were put at risk. The news came as the UK government admitted the recession would probably go on longer than predicted. On another bad day on the high street, the doors closed at 111 branches of the children's wear store Adams, with the loss of another 850 jobs. The remaining 160 Adams stores will stay open while efforts are made to secure a sale. Adams continues to employ 2,350 staff, and PricewaterhouseCooper, the administrator, said it was "hopeful" of being able to sell on some parts of the remaining business. The Manchester-based perfume retailer Passion for Perfume joined the list of casualties in administration after cutting 194 jobs and closing its 45 stores across the UK at locations including Aberdeen, Plymouth, Blackpool and Wigan.
Short-selling ban lifted but FSA warns it could be reintroducedTHE controversial ban on short-selling shares will end next week, the financial services watchdog revealed last night (
Scotsman). A temporary prohibition was introduced on 18 September amid concerns that the practice had plunged a distressed banking sector into a whirlpool of volatility. Last night the Financial Services Authority (FSA) announced that the ban would be lifted on 16 January. However, the FSA warned that if it became aware of disorderly markets in future it was "prepared to reintroduce the ban without consultation if necessary". The regulator also said that it was extending its temporary disclosure regime that makes short-sellers reveal significant net short positions in a company's stock to the market to 30 June.
Read all today's economics news from scotsman.comBANKING & INSURANCEI&H Brown takes £1m hit from Royal Bank investment
A MAJOR private Scottish company has taken a £1.1m hit from a supposedly bedrock investment in Royal Bank of Scotland (
Herald). Landowner and civil engineer I&H Brown lifted its pre-tax profit from £1.76m to £2m in the year to August 31 despite writing down most of the value of its £1.37m of listed shares, of which £1.27m were in Royal Bank and the remainder in HBOS. Scott Brown, chief executive, whose father Hardie and uncle Ian founded the company 45 years ago, said the long-held shares had always been seen as "almost as good as money in a deposit account". But the investment had more than doubled last year as a result of participating in the Royal's rights issue, when the yield had seemed attractive. The sale of a Borders wind farm site to Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) for £3.3m offset a £243,000 operating loss in the year to August 31 for I&H Brown, which lifted its predominantly civil engineering and contracting turnover from £28.1m to £37.5m.
Read all today's banking news from scotsman.comFOOD, DRINK & AGRICULTURECredit crunch immunity may be off the menu for Restaurant GroupFEARS that budget eateries may be feeling the heat from the credit crunch intensified yesterday as the owner of the Frankie & Benny's and Garfunkel's chains reported a sales slowdown (
Scotsman). Restaurant Group, which also owns the Chiquito brand, insisted its "value" offering was helping to insulate the business from the worst of the consumer downturn. But it admitted in a brief stock market update that sales had taken a tumble during the seven weeks to 28 December. That prompted City analysts to downgrade their full-year profit forecasts for the group. Shares fell sharply in early trading but later recovered to close 1.5p higher at 107p. The firm said like-for-like sales for the 52 weeks to 28 December were up 1.5 per cent, compared with growth of 2.5 per cent reported in mid-November. While Restaurant Group did not reveal the extent of the fall in the seven-week period, analysts at investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort estimated the decline could be as high as 5 per cent.
Read all today's food, drink and agriculture news from scotsman.comINDUSTRY
Coal is still the king for FergussonFERGUSSON, one of Britain's largest coal retailers, tripled its profit last year despite a downturn in its property business and the end of a large low-margin contract that resulted in a 5 per cent reduction in turnover (
Scotsman). The Stirling-based company, established in 1926 by the current owners' grandfather, made a pre-tax profit of £2.7 million in the year to 31 March, 2008, up from £833,455 a year earlier, despite turnover dropping 5.5 per cent to £55m. Already one of the leading coal retailers in the UK, Fergusson said yesterday that it had bought another five retailers across Scotland during the year, bringing the total number of coal merchants bought by the company to 60 during the past two decades. Fergusson said it had also continued to invest in its existing assets, spending more than £1m on plant and equipment for its processing plant at the Hunterston deep water terminal in Ayrshire, on which it recently secured on an extended 15-year lease.
Read all today's industry news from scotsman.comRETAILSales fall at Next and Debenhams Two of the UK's biggest High Street names have announced falling like-for-like sales over the Christmas period (
BBC). Clothing retailer Next announced that its sales had dropped 7% in the six months to Christmas Eve. It added there had been a good start to its sale. Meanwhile, Debenhams said its sales in the past 12 weeks had fallen 3.3%. It said this had been a "creditable sales performance, given the extremely difficult and volatile conditions seen across the High Street". The updated trading figures were in line with analysts' expectations. Both chains have been offering up to 70% off items in their seasonal sales.
Read all today's retail news from scotsman.comScotsman Business ClubGet to the heart of the issues affecting Scottish business at www.scotsman.com/businessclub. Features include blogs from The Scotsman's formidable team of business writers - including Bill Jamieson, Martin Flanagan, Peter MacMahon and Scott Reid, a diary of forthcoming company announcements and networking events and video interviews with leading business experts covering a wide range of useful topics."
The full article contains 1113 words and appears in scotsman.com newspaper.
