HELLO and welcome to the AM Business Briefing on Monday August 30, as a Scottish construction group and energy giant unveil plans to help tackle climate change, a legal firm posts profits up well over a third, and, in Business Voices, Bob Hair, head of Scotland at Cazenove Capital, looks forward to Scotland’s heyday.
Looking ahead in the City this week, ITV looks set to continue its yo-yo trip in and out of the FTSE 100 next week, while takeover bids for Morrisons and Meggitt will push them back into the index.
FTSE Russell, the arbiter of who gets to stay in the UK's biggest stock market index and who drops out, will announce the latest reshuffle on Wednesday.
The decision will be based on the value of each company at the end of Tuesday.
As it stands now, analysts think that Morrisons and Meggitt are due a promotion into the index. They would pass ITV and Weir Group, which are expected to drop into the FTSE 250.
Energy giant and housebuilder link up in green homes deal
Construction and development company the Cruden Group has expanded its green portfolio and commitment to green energy housebuilding by signing a three-year enhanced green energy supply contract with ScottishPower.
It means that the group will purchase electricity which always comes exclusively from renewable sources, with 100% of green electricity from wind farms with zero CO2 emissions.
In support of Cruden’s commitment to innovation and sustainability, ScottishPower as a Principal Partner COP26, is working closely with the Cruden Group to further develop a range of renewable and other clean, green energy solutions and smart technologies to reduce emissions and drive down homeowner energy bills.
The Cruden Group builds around 1,500 new homes each year and together with ScottishPower, they are working on several market leading initiatives to offer more zero carbon alternatives. These include ground and air source heat pumps, installing infrastructure that will enable electric vehicle charging as standard across many developments, rolling out low carbon heating solutions for both apartment developments and family homes, installing photovoltaic solar panels and energy storage solutions and incorporating Passivhaus Standards to create energy efficient homes using innovative carbon neutral methods of construction.
The Cruden Group’s commitment to green energy also extends to their management offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Cruden’s head office in Cambuslang benefits from electricity from renewable sources via solar panels covering 90% of the roof of the office building.
ScottishPower claims to be the first integrated energy company in the UK to generate 100% green energy and is delivering almost £10 billion investment in clean energy between 2020-2025 to help unlock Net Zero.
Kevin Reid, chief executive of the Cruden Group, said; “We are pleased to continue our strong and successful 14-year partnership with ScottishPower with this new renewable energy agreement. We strive to continuously improve the environment through innovation and this new green deal will help us further reduce carbon emissions, exceed carbon reduction targets and positively contribute towards the global climate change agenda.”
Stuart Angell, of ScottishPower said: “I’m delighted to extend and enhance our relationship with the Cruden Group and for ScottishPower to be associated with a like-minded company that is striving to deliver excellence in the marketplace and prioritises the customer experience.
“As ScottishPower have looked to deliver market leading initiatives, the Cruden Group have helped shape this change with their invaluable feedback and creative ideas. As work towards a carbon neutral future, we will continue to engage with the Cruden Group to understand their challenges and what we can jointly bring to the market to satisfy our goals and customer needs.”
Scottish law firm posts 39% jump in profit
Burness Paull has posted a 39 per cent jump in profit before partner distributions to £33.3 million for the year to July 31, on the back of a 19% rise in income to £72m.
Bob Hair: Entrepreneurs show Scotland’s heyday is not in past
Opinion: You could be forgiven for thinking Scotland is past its heyday. After all, some of our most significant contributions to the world – the steam engine, the telephone, the television and penicillin – are innovations that have come to define 20th century Britain.
If you have been forwarded this article and would like to sign up, or view our new range of newsletters, click below:
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 here