WORKERS will be able to stay in their jobs into their 70s, 80s and longer under new rules to be announced by the Government.

The City moved swiftly to raise its forecasts of Irn-Bru manufacturer AG Barr’s full-year profits yesterday after the company revealed market-beating sales growth.

Defence contractor BAE Systems, one of the largest private sector employers in Scotland, posted a net profit of £618 million for the six-month period ended on June 30 and said work on warships at its Glasgow-area shipyards is progressing well.

MacTaggart Heritable Holdings, the venerable family business of millionaire Labour MP Fiona Mactaggart, significantly narrowed its losses last year as part of its climb back from the devastation in property values and rental income in London and New York during the economic downturn.

The chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell said he did not expect the fall-out from the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to have a big impact on the firm and emphasised its commitment to the area.

BT does not expect to be hit hard by spending cuts imposed by the new coalition Government, said Ian Livingston, the telecoms provider’s Scottish chief executive, who repeated the group’s full-year outlook and shrugged off recent downbeat remarks from rival Cable & Wireless.

Browns Food Group, the cooked meat producer and delicatessen supplier, has posted a 53% surge in profits on the back of booming sales in the year that followed its acquisition of rival Belcher Food Products.

George Leslie, the civil engineer, recorded a one third fall in profits in the latest year when the recession weighed on building firms.

Evidence of renewed UK housing market weakness continues to build, with figures yesterday showing a sharper-than-expected drop in mortgage approvals and a fall in residential property prices.

The Scottish Tenant Farmers Association (STFA) chairman Angus McCall has called on the Scottish Government to change the law to allow for farm rents to be calculated on the earning capacity of the farm.