A Happy Easter to everyone. The Business hopes you will be able to enjoy the break. In the week when the Labour Government said it wants to press on with developing the oil and gas resources in the North Sea, there is still little sign of peace in the Middle East and the US and Israel’s war with Iran. And, as we write, NASA’s tiny Orion capsule is on its way to visit the dark side of the Moon, and return.
Meanwhile Edinburgh’s office market had an ‘encouraging’ start to the year, rebounding from a subdued 2025 despite the uncertainty caused by geopolitical issues, according to research from Knight Frank.
The independent commercial property consultancy found that there was 128,000sq ft of city centre off take-up in the first quarter, up 39 per cent compared to the 92,000sq ft during the same period last year. That saw the Grade A vacancy rate remain steady below 4 per cent.
There were 37 deals – up 12 per cent compared to 33 last year – with the banking & finance and professional services sectors the most active. Energy occupiers also continued to be buoyant, after several strong years of lease activity.
Recent deals include EY securing more than 36,000sq ft at 3 Haymarket Square, subletting the space from Baillie Gifford, and Apatura taking 5,806sq ft at recently refurbished Rutland Court in the Exchange District.
Toby Withall, office agency partner at Knight Frank Edinburgh, said: “The year started encouragingly and that was sustained into February, with a flurry of deals concluding after a subdued 2025. However, the events of the last few weeks have understandably seen many occupiers pause for thought, as they wait to see how the situation in the Middle East evolves.
“Notwithstanding what is happening at an international level, there are some positives to take from the first quarter in Edinburgh. The energy sector is still buoyant, adding to the banking & finance and professional services sectors that are the bedrock of the city, and the early figures suggest we could see more deal activity in 2026 – albeit from a comparatively low base last year.
John Glover’s Deals of the Week:
The Week in Summary
The moonshot appreciated while the counter-proposal landed. SSE spent £3.5bn rewiring Britain and closed the year ahead of guidance. Ithaca banked $2bn in EBITDAX while Westminster argues about whether the North Sea deserves to exist. Aberdeen got its vowels back and immediately had opinions.
An AI firm from Sheffield came to Ayrshire. And someone built a position in a beaten-down Scottish tech stock the Friday before this window opened, using an instrument that tells you considerably more than the filing does.
The balance sheet still wins. The board that controls the asset controls the argument.
Deal of the Week: The moonshot appreciated while the counter-proposal landed
One appreciates the timing. On 30 March, Saba published its most coherent intervention in two years. Three clean options. A tax efficiency argument with genuine teeth for UK investors carrying embedded gains.
An open letter accusing the board of a “take the ball home” strategy, faced with removal, ensuring as little value as possible remains for anyone else to manage. For two years Saba’s proposals were easy to dismiss. This one required an answer.
On 31 March, Baillie Gifford marked up SpaceX.
Edinburgh Worldwide‘s NAV moved to 227.47p. SpaceX jumped from 16.3% to 20.4% of total assets in a single afternoon. Scottish Mortgage and Baillie Gifford US Growth marked up simultaneously. Routine housekeeping, impeccably scheduled, the morning after Saba’s most substantive filing, eight days before the vote.
Saba got the answer it deserved. Not in words. In numbers.
The board’s position has not changed. Saba’s position has not changed. The asset has. Shareholders who rejected Saba twice, the second time by 93%, will notice that the crown jewel they were asked to sell in March is worth considerably more in April. The deadline has not moved either.
In capital markets, as in other Scottish traditions, the most decisive moves are made without any visible exertion whatsoever. Everyone else should simply enjoy it while the chronology is fresh.
SSE: the grid builder closes its books
SSE‘s 2 April trading update said what three years of strategy have been signalling. Adjusted EPS of 147–152p, networks investment 60% higher year-on-year, five of eleven major transmission projects under construction, twenty-six of thirty-four consents secured. Capital deployed: £3.5bn. On the same day ScottishPower formally started its £12bn T3 grid rewiring programme. Two of Britain’s most consequential infrastructure investments, both headquartered in Scotland, both moving from announcement to construction in the same week. Westminster talks about levelling up. Scotland is putting in the substations.
Ithaca Energy: the most important company nobody discusses at lunch
Full year results landed 18 March but the $200m dividend payable in April lands squarely here. EBITDAX of $2bn, free cash flow of $683m, distribution target raised to 20–35% of post-tax cash flow. The political backdrop has never been more hostile to North Sea producers. Ithaca‘s balance sheet has never been stronger. Those two facts are related.
Aberdeen Group: the vowels are back, and they have opinions
Aberdeen Group PLC, until recently trading as abrdn, a rebrand so mocked in Scottish circles that it quietly restored its vowels in early 2025, is back to looking like its 200-year-old self.
The regulatory filings flowing through the LondonMetric and Schroder REIT consortium bid for Picton Property Income carried the restored name this week, alongside a 2% stake in LondonMetric. The consortium has been shortlisted. No firm offer has been made. But when it is, a boardroom at 1 George Street will have a material say in whether Scottish buildings change hands. The firm’s founders would have found that entirely unremarkable. Under a name with no vowels, it was easy to forget.
Other deals of note
IntelliAM AI acquired RBM Lubrications & Monitoring Solutions of Irvine, Ayrshire on 1 April. Small deal, significant direction, a Sheffield AI platform acquiring its way into Scotland’s industrial central belt. This is the beachhead.
EnQuest formally completed the Cendramas PSC in Peninsular Malaysia: 25% alongside Medco and DIALOG, following a PETRONAS Letter of Award in February.
A company that spent years under serious debt pressure is now being handed licences by one of the world’s most selective national oil companies. Credibility, once rebuilt, compounds.
William Sword, Cumbernauld’s 130-year-old pastry maker, became employee-owned on 2 April. Eighty-five staff now own it. No banker, no press release quoting a private equity partner. Just a family handing something well-built to the people who built it.
City Access Scaffolding completed a management buyout, founders stepping away after eleven years with the apprenticeship programme intact.
Weir Group: revenue up 6%, operating profit up 15%, margins at 20.2%. Scottish engineering, without drama or gratitude from anyone in particular, still works.
Tip of the Week
On 30 March, David and Monique Newlands disclosed a 3.123 per cent stake in Calnex Solutions, the Linlithgow company whose synchronisation equipment validates timing inside every 5G network and data centre that SSE and ScottishPower are currently building out. The stock has drifted below its 2020 IPO price of 48p and is currently sitting at 46p; analyst consensus sits at 109p. The position includes both direct shares and a spread bet. Someone read the same infrastructure story you just did, and acted on the Friday before this window opened. The asset moved. The deadline didn’t. Read the maths before you tender.
John Glover reviews a year of surprises in Deals & Dealmakers in the upcoming Spring issue of The Business magazine, published on Sunday, 12th April 2026 and distributed in The Sunday Times Scotland.