Plans to transform the former Marks & Spencer store on Sauchiehall Street into student accommodation have moved a “step closer”, its developer has declared.
Fusion Group announced earlier this week that it has completed the acquisition of the landmark building from the high-street giant in a deal worth £150 million.
The deal paves the way for the building to be transformed into a major mixed-use development, including 619 student beds and 9,500 square feet of new commercial space at street level via a new shopping arcade. This will restore a historic pedestrian route from Sauchiehall Street to Renfrew Street, Fusion said.
Read Scott Wright's story here.
Scotch whisky distillery chief 'blindsided' by Budget duty hike
A Scotch whisky company boss has declared the business is in “such shock” it is still trying to work out how to deal with a duty rise in the Budget which “completely blindsided" it.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in Wednesday’s Budget that duty on Scotch would rise in February next year in line with the rate of annual retail prices index inflation.
Read more:
Patricia Dillon, managing director of Speyside Distillery, told The Herald: “The impact for us is that we have to look at how to absorb that increase, and we have risk of reduced turnover due to that.”
Ms Dillon added: “We are still trying to work out the impact. We are in such shock we are still trying to work out how we will deal with it.”
Read Ian McConnell's story here.
Next profits to top £1bn as retailer cashes in on colder weather
Autumn's chill blew in favour of Next as the group upped its profit forecast for the third time in three months, putting it on course to join the elite band of retailers to make more than £1 billion in annual profits.
Full-price sales during the three months to October 26 rose by 7.6%, well ahead of expectations of a 5% increase, thanks to the “early arrival of colder weather this year, versus an unusually warm September and early October last year”.
As a result, the group has increased its full-year pre-tax profit guidance by £10 million to £1.01bn, marking a 9.5% rise on profits in 2023-24. Annual full-price sales are expected to come in at £5.02bn.
Read Kristy Dorsey's story here.
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