The Treasury confirmed it intends to loosen proposed changes to the UK corporate tax regime which many warned would force multi-national companies to relocate their headquarters elsewhere.
TUESDAYAlliance & Leicester saw its s
hare price plummet after it said the deteriorating value of its assets had cost almost £400m in the first four months of the year.
Ardana, the Edinburgh-based pharmaceutical company, revealed its cash pile fell to £4m at the end of March, and that it is in talks with shareholders over a possible bridging finance deal.
WEDNESDAYBradford & Bingley became the latest UK bank to ask its shareholders for extra cash. The bank said it is planning to raise £300m in a rights issue.
Housebuilder Redrow said it expects legal completions to fall 10% in the current year.
Johnston Press, owner of the Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday, launched a heavily discounted rights issue and revealed it plans to sell a 20% stake to the Malaysian investment firm Usaha Tegas.
J Sainsbury reported a 24% hike in annual profits to £488m, but some City analysts raised questions about how it will fare in the tougher retail climate this year.
THURSDAYBarclays took a further £1bn write-down on assets and said profits for the first quarter of 2008 will be lower than the same time last year.
Borders-based drugs firm ProStrakan announced revenues rose 38% in the first four months of the year.
FRIDAYBritish Airways chief executive, Willie Walsh, said he will not draw his annual bonus this year despite the airline posting a 45% jump in annual profits. Walsh said it would be "inappropriate" to cash in the reward after the fiasco surrounding the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5.
Ofwat, the water regulator in England and Wales, said the industry should follow the example of Scotland and open up to competition.
The price of crude oil broke $127 a barrel for the first time in history.
HBOS sold its 13% stake in property website Rightmove for £59.2m.
GOOD WEEK
Sir Bill GammellThe Cairn Energy chief executive was awarded shares worth over £1m last week under an incentive scheme dating back to 2002. He was awarded 39,232 shares, taking his total to 416,732. His holding is now worth over £14m.
BAD WEEK
Sir Tom HunterHunter's legal bid to prevent this week's £150m rights issue vote at Dobbies Garden Centres was rebuffed by the Court of Session. The Court refused to intervene in the row between Hunter, who owns a 29.9% stake in Dobbies, and Tesco, which owns a 65% stake.
It's all very well if you can determine the good, the bad and the ugly of the music world. Nobody wants wine that has matured listening to Rick Astley now do they? Drinks industry blogger Olly Wehring on a survey last week showing music affects the taste of wine. www.just-drinks.com/blogs
I'm an economic optimist. But the news just now does seem pretty awful.
Dr Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute, on the recent slew of poor housing and consumer spending data. www.adamsmith.org/blog
The full article contains 554 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
