Here are the business stories making the headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Premier Inn owner Whitbread puts 3,800 jobs at risk in overhaul
Almost 4,000 more hospitality jobs are on the line after Whitbread revealed it would shut the remainder of its restaurants as part of a reset of its five-year strategy.
The Premier Inn owner will become a “pure-play hotel business” after it hives off its 197 remaining restaurants, mainly under the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre brands, which will affect about 3,800 jobs.
Whitbread’s “accelerating growth plan”, initiated by the chief executive Dominic Paul two years ago, is gathering pace and will involve the sale of 110 sites over the next two years.
Read more in The Times.
Rolls-Royce shrugs off war wobbles to keep £4bn profit forecast
Rolls-Royce has shrugged off the effects of the war in Iran and said it still expects to make at least £4 billion of profit this year.
There have been wobbles in the company’s share price in the weeks since Donald Trump launched hostilities in the Middle East, not least because of Rolls-Royce’s dependency on revenues from airlines that need to keep flying.
The company indicated those fears have been overblown and said that in the first four months of the year its engine flying hours have been ahead of forecasts and 15 per cent above where they were before the pandemic.
Get the full story on The Times website.
Apple hails 'extraordinary' iPhone demand as boss Tim Cook heads out
Apple has seen demand for its iPhone reach new heights with sales growth in China outpacing all other regions.
Overall, sales of Apple products grew 17% to $111bn (£81bn) in the first three months of the year, compared to the same quarter a year ago, the company said in financial results released Thursday. Sales in China were up by 28% compared to a year ago.
Tim Cook, Apple's outgoing chief executive, said that recent demand for the iPhone had been "extraordinary", making the iPhone 17 the "most popular launch in [Apple's] history."
Read the full BBC article here.
Rubio downplays reports US could review UK's claim to Falklands
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has downplayed reports that the US could review its position on the UK's sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
A leaked internal Pentagon email, details of which were reported by Reuters last week, suggested the US was considering options to punish Nato allies it saw as having failed to support its war with Iran.
Rubio told the Sun, external and Daily Telegraph, external on Thursday that it was "just an email" and the reaction was "overexcited".
Terror threat level raised to ‘severe’ after Golders Green attack
The terrorism threat level has been raised to “severe” after the Golders Green attack put pressure on the government to ban pro-Palestinian protests in an effort to combat rising antisemitism.
It is the second-highest threat level and means attacks are highly likely in the next six months. The last time it was this high was more than four years ago, after the 2021 bombing outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital and the murder of the Tory MP Sir David Amess.
The decision followed an assessment by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, an arm of MI5, after a spate of antisemitic attacks since the outbreak of the Iran war, including Wednesday’s in north London when two men were stabbed.