Bank of Scotland bounces back into the top ten

Bank of Scotland moved from 290th to second place. Picture: PABank of Scotland moved from 290th to second place. Picture: PA
Bank of Scotland moved from 290th to second place. Picture: PA
BANK of Scotland has returned to the league table of the top ten performing Scottish corporates after it swung back into the black last year.

The Lloyds subsidiary moved from 290th in Scottish Business Insider’s top 500 rankings to second place after it made a £1.45 billion profit compared to a £1.24bn loss the previous year.

Number one for the third year running was Standard Life whose turnover climbed 18.65 per cent to £22.9bn although its profits fell 15.5 per cent to £915m due to fewer one-off gains such as the sale of properties in Canada in 2012.

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Perth-headquartered energy giant SSE slipped down a place to number three with profits edging up by just 0.7 per cent to £575.3m on the back of an 8.06 per cent increase in turnover to £30.59bn.

Other firms in the top ten include Glasgow-based Aggreko and Weir. Transport giant Stagecoach Group moved up one place to tenth position after seeing a 2.4 per cent rise in profits to £158m.

Excluding the six big loss makers during the year including RBS and fellow bank Clydesdale profits of the Top 500 soared by 40 per cent to £12.4bn and turnover was up by 8 per cent to £171bn.

In terms of ownership of the Top 500 companies, 58 per cent are Scottish, with the US accounting for 11 per cent of companies and the rest of the UK 9 per cent.

France was the fourth biggest owner with 16 companies, the Netherlands was fifth with 12 and Norway sixth with 11, according to the rankings.

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