OIL platform engineering firm SLP has called in administrators after suffering amid a lengthy contract row over a previous major construction project.

BAILLIE Gifford may have scuppered a £2 billion takeover of an Irish oil company after a rare show of shareholder activism.

LEGENDARY Fidelity fund manager Anthony Bolton is making a shock return to the fray to run a new fund investing in China, the firm revealed yesterday.

MARKETS across Europe tumbled yesterday on fears of a new debt crisis emerging in the Middle East.

DEBT-laden transport group National Express is to be stripped of its East Anglia rail franchise three years early, the UK government revealed yesterday.

THE closure of New York's stock exchange yesterday for the Thanksgiving holiday and the Middle Eastern markets because of a major Islamic feast left Europe at the mercy of

FINANCE secretary John Swinney yesterday retained business rate parity with England and introduced plans to reward local councils that promote economic development.

SIR Tom McKillop, former chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland who left the company in the clear-out of directors last year,

ALTHOUGH there will be no official announcement until next month, Brian Pack, the man conducting a review on the future of farm support in Scotland, has indicated the system i

A LONG-TERM plan to remove a harmful chemical from malting barley is taking a step forward with the arrival of a new generation of varieties that do not contain the carcinogen

THE turf wars being conducted over the proposed increase in levy by Scotland's red meat promotional body, Quality Meat Scotland, continued this week with the National Beef

PUBS group Mitchells & Butlers' full-year profits have tumbled 24 per cent to £134 million as it revealed yesterday that it has been hit by a damaging cocktail of ri

MOTOR giant Vauxhall announced plans yesterday to increase production at its main car factory, easing worries about job losses, though posts are expected to be cut at its van

RETAILERS should prepare for a New Year "bloodbath" in a repeat of last year's clearout of the high street, insolvency practitioners yesterday warned.

RETAIL electricals giant DSG International took the edge off half-time losses yesterday by reporting a pick-up in sales in recent weeks.

REG 67p +1.5pScotsman says BUY

DOMESTIC water charges across Scotland are to be frozen next year and pegged below inflation until 2015.

LLOYDS Banking Group shareholders yesterday voted overwhelmingly in favour of the group's record £13.5 billion cash call, despite angry scenes at a meeting in Birmingham.