Scottish plcs boost value by £11.5bn

SCOTLAND'S listed companies have added more than £11.5 billion to their value in the last five years despite the economic turmoil.

The monumental growth of firms such as temporary power provider Aggreko, engineering firm Weir Group and Cairn Energy has seen Scottish plcs outpace the FTSE All Share Index since March 2006, according to a study by Grayling Scotland.

Scottish plcs increased their market capitalisation by 44.6 per cent between the beginning of March 2006 and the end of February this year while the All Share Index made gains of only 3.6 per cent in that period, Grayling has calculated. However the research notably excludes Royal Bank of Scotland as a "special case".

The biggest climber was Aggreko, which has seen its value soar from 846.6m to just below 4bn over the last five years.

However Jonathan Shillington, managing director of Grayling Investor Relations, warned that Scottish companies will face stiff competition for capital this year.

"While investors are looking more favourably at equities in the current low interest rate environment, equity markets are now at pre-financial crisis highs so Scotland's listed companies need to work harder than ever before to attract and retain investment."