A buyer has been selected to take over Glasgow Prestwick Airport, it has been announced.
The Scottish Government has been seeking to sell the terminal after taking it into public hands for £1 in 2013.
On Thursday, Transport Secretary Michael Matheson confirmed he had accepted a recommendation to appoint a preferred bidder for the site.
The airport is operated on a commercial basis and at arm's length from the Scottish Government.
READ MORE: Report catalogues failures in Ferguson’s ferry construction
Mr Matheson said the identity of the bidder cannot be disclosed as yet.
"We made clear in 2013 that the Scottish Government intended to return Glasgow Prestwick Airport to the private sector when the time was right," he said.
"We were pleased that the opportunity to buy the business, set out in the Official Journal of the European Union, attracted considerable interest.
"Following careful consideration of the bids received, I have accepted a recommendation made by TS Prestwick HoldCo to appoint a preferred bidder.
"To protect the integrity of the process I am not able to disclose the identity of the bidder at this time but we remain satisfied that good progress is being made in the interests of the business."
The Transport Secretary added: "I will update Parliament further in due course."
Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Jamie Greene said taxpayers' money given to the airport should be recovered as part of any deal.
"If there is positive news about a potential buyer for Prestwick Airport then that process should be allowed to take course and progress," he said.
Retail sales slowed to their weakest annual growth rate since April 2018 in November as consumers exercised caution amid political uncertainty.
Sales volumes fell by 0.4% in the three months to November when compared with the previous three months - the first decline since April 2018, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
READ MORE: New £650m village near Stirling to welcome first residents 'in 2022'
The quantity bought in November fell by 0.6% compared with the previous month, with only household goods stores reporting growth.
Adjusted for changes in the timing of the Black Friday event this year, year-on-year growth in sales volumes increased by 1% in November - the lowest rate since April 2018 owing to a decline of 1.1% in non-food stores.
The Bank of England has held interest rates at 0.75% but kept the door firmly open to a cut if Brexit uncertainties and global growth fears do not let up.
Minutes of the Bank's latest decision revealed that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 7-2 to keep rates unchanged - with Jonathan Haskel and Michael Saunders repeating their calls for a cut to 0.5%.
READ MORE: Sir David Attenborough set to make climate plea in Edinburgh
The Bank slashed its forecast for growth in the fourth quarter to just 0.1%, having previously expected growth of 0.2%, as Brexit uncertainty continues to hamper activity.
It said that, following Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decisive election victory and expectations that a Brexit deal may now be ratified before the January 31 deadline, "it was possible that household and business sentiment could pick up in the near term".
Global growth was also showing "tentative" signs of stabilising.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article