The UK Government plans a multi-billion-pound redevelopment of His Majesty’s Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde, we revealed this week.
Westminster said that the “Clyde 2070 programme represents one of the most significant and sustained UK Government investments in Scotland over the coming decades”.
Read the full story here
Scottish economy tops the UK table on one key measure
Scotland was the only one of the 12 UK nations and regions to record a rise in private sector employment in May in Royal Bank of Scotland’s growth tracker survey.
The business activity index for Scotland, a seasonally adjusted measure of the month-on-month change in the combined output of the manufacturing and services sectors – rose from 47.4 in April to 50.5 in May on a seasonally adjusted basis to indicate a renewed rise in business activity. This marked the first increase in output on this measure for six months.
With May’s reading of 50.5 only slightly above the no-change mark of 50, Royal Bank of Scotland observed the rate of expansion last month was “marginal and similar to that seen across the UK as a whole”.
Read Ian McConnell’s story here
Famous Scottish retailer appoints ex-Rangers chief as loss reported
Sterling confirmed the appointment as new accounts show the Tillicoultry-based company tumbled to a loss of nearly £4 million for the year ended August 31, following a profit of £43,870 the year prior. Turnover dipped to £50.55m from £83.6m.
The loss coincided with a downturn in the broader UK retail sector, as consumers grappled with high inflation and interest rates, while businesses dealt with increased operating costs.
Mr Robertson, who spent eight years at the Ibrox club, initially joined Sterling as interim chief executive in December, with his arrival following the appointment of Bernard Dunn, a former head of insurance broker TL Dallas in Scotland, as chairman in October.
Read Scott Wright’s story here
AROUND THE GREENS ⛳
‘We can’t get more people into St Andrews to play golf’
Created in 1974 as a way to maintain local public ownership of its golf courses when town councils were being abolished in accordance with Lord Wheatley’s report on local governance in Scotland, St Andrews Links Trust is the charity in charge of the most important parcel of land in all of golf.
Despite being closed on Sundays, the legendary Old Course hosts about 50,000 rounds of golf per year. The other six courses under the custodianship of the Links Trust attract an additional 233,000 rounds annually. More than half of the total are visitors to Scotland.
New research released earlier this week has estimated that visiting golfers to St Andrews generate £317 million annually for the Scottish economy. Links Trust chief executive Neil Coulson explains why that figure is significant and what the charity, armed with this information, now hopes to achieve.
