Word: scottishly
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Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was not born to the royal life. The ninth of 10 children, she passed her childhood in her Scottish ancestral home of Glamis Castle, the gloomy fortress where Shakespeare's Macbeth is said to have murdered Duncan. There she developed a lifelong passion for horses and dogs and a gift for dealing with people. Sometimes she would guide tourists around her stately home, and when the castle was turned into a military hospital during World War I, she helped entertain the troops...
Last month, after endless talk, the Scottish Parliament made hunting of mammals with hounds illegal. And last week the prospect of a similar ban in England and Wales moved closer, with the House of Commons yet again voting overwhelmingly (after five hours of speeches) to criminalize the sport. The upper House of Lords (after eight hours discussion) voted instead for a compromise...
...remit to compete, many of Britain's utilities in the 1990s took the decade's "growth is good" mantra to heart and morphed into conglomerates. Some reached beyond their own sectors for opportunities, expecting to apply their management skills to marginally related businesses. That's how energy company Scottish Power ended up owning a water company, a telecom and 160 electronics shops, as well as hawking financial-services. But the expected "synergies" of such diverse companies never fully developed, and Scottish Power's earnings - as well as its share price - hit a brownout. So the Glasgow utility is selling Southern...
...Scottish Power is a poster boy for the latest trend in European corporate finance: demerging. The '90s were years of stock market-inspired bulking up - in Europe there were $4.7 trillion worth of mergers and acquisitions as capital markets surged. But now that market valuations have retreated, this is a time of slimming down, as companies look to impress investors by shedding unprofitable or unnecessary divisions...
That's what Scottish Power is banking on. But disentangling itself from extraneous ventures won't be enough to revive its fortunes fully. The utility recently acquired extensive operations in the U.S., which have sputtered so far. Chief executive Russell is confident Scottish Power can make those U.S. investments pay off, which means the utility's share price should eventually rebound. Of course, that would give the company the cash to become acquisitive once more. Just don't look for it to buy into water or telecoms again. "We're an energy business," Russell insists. "That's where our focus...