Here are the business stories making the headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Scottish Water bills to rise by 8.7% from April
Water bills in Scotland will rise by 8.7% in April - an average of £42 a year.
The increase will take the average bill in Scotland to £532, which remains among the lowest of any water company in the UK.
The rise - which works out at an average of about £3.50 extra a month - is in line with limits set by the independent economic regulator, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS).
Trump sues JPMorgan for $5bn over account closure after Capitol riot
President Donald Trump has filed a $5billion (£3.7bn) lawsuit against America's biggest bank JPMorgan Chase, accusing it of illegally closing his accounts for political reasons.
The lawsuit, which also names the bank's chief executive Jamie Dimon, alleges that Trump and his businesses suffered "considerable financial and reputational harm" after the bank abruptly closed their accounts in 2021.
The bank moved to close the accounts after the 6 January, 2021 riot when Trump supporters descended on the US Capitol to disrupt formal ratification of the election results.
Fochabers food giant Baxters fighting ‘continuous treadmill’ of costs says chief executive
The chief executive of Fochabers food giant Baxters said it is battling a “continuous treadmill” of rising costs after another loss-making year.
The newly filed accounts for Baxters Food Group show a pre-tax loss of £7.2million for the year ending March 2025, following a £13.6million deficit in 2024.
Revenue rose slightly to £388m, up from £376m the previous year.
Lululemon forced to pull ‘see-through’ leggings in the US
The last thing anyone wants midway through a downward dog is the suspicion that their leggings are offering unintended transparency. Yet that is the complaint that has dogged Lululemon’s latest product launch, prompting the company to pause online sales of the range.
In recent days customers of the athleisure brand have taken to social media and online forums to complain that the fabric in the new “Get Low” collection became revealing when they moved.
The Vancouver-based company responded by announcing that it had “temporarily paused” online sales of the range in north America to “better understand some initial guest feedback”. However, the £88 leggings are still on sale in the UK.
Paramount extends deadline on $83bn hostile bid for Warner Bros
Paramount Skydance extended the deadline on its hostile tender offer for Warner Bros Discovery on Thursday and said it would ask investors to vote against a proposed sale to the rival bidder Netflix.
The new offer expires on February 20. Paramount has been pursuing a takeover of the Warner Bros company since September. However, Warner Bros announced a deal to sell its studio and HBO Max streaming business to Netflix on December 5. The plans include a spin-off of Discovery Global, Warner’s cable networks business, into a public company.
Paramount then launched a hostile bid for the entire company on December 8 and sued Warner Bros to bring the company to the negotiating table.