Here are the business stories making the headlines in Scotland and the UK this morning.
Petrofac in the red
International service provider to the energy industry Petrofac said this morning it had fallen into the red in the first half of 2023.
EBIT losses were nearly £81million, compared to profits of £60.6million a year ago.
Tareq Kawash, the Petrofac CEO, said: "Whilst the first half of 2023 reflected the challenges of the legacy contract portfolio, it was also Petrofac's strongest period for new awards in many years.
"Thanks to the efforts of our people around the group, we secured $4.3billion (£3.4billion) of new orders in core markets and in new energies.
"This high-quality backlog, a growing talented team and a diverse pipeline of future opportunities provides Petrofac with a strong base from which to move forward."
Pension costs in spotlight
The number of civil servants with annual pensions of over £100,000 has soared, fuelling calls for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to crack down on Whitehall pay.
The surge in six-figure retirement incomes for mandarins comes after all public sector pensions were hiked by 10% in April to keep pace with inflation.
As a result of the increase, the number of officials in the top bracket has surged from 71 to 141 in the past year and more than tripled since 2015.
Neil Record, chairman of think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, told the Telegraph said that civil servants enjoyed pensions that are "no longer available to ordinary workers".
Meanwhile new analysis reveals the cost of providing old age pension benefits is on course to outstrip spending on education, policing and defence combined within two years.
Costs have surged sharply because of the expensive state pension system, which accounts for almost half of total spending on benefits at £110billion.
it is set to surge to £135billion by 2025, which will be £2billion more than the combined budgets for the Department of Health, the Home Office and the MoD.
Clock ticking on decommissioning technologies
Companies developing ground-breaking technologies for North Sea decommissioning are up against it to deliver their solutions in time.
The decommissioning manager at the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), Alasdair Thomas, says there is a "huge opportunity" for firms to find methods for reducing the cost of removing assets and plugging wells.
But he emphasised that new technologies need to come to market in the next five years if they are going to make a difference, especially on well plugging and abandonment.
In the next decade more than £20billion will be shelled out on decommissioning in the North Sea, according to latest estimates from the NSTA.
Energy Voice says it has been hailed as a "massive opportunity" for UK suppliers, but it will also be a big challenge and the pressure is on industry to reduce the overall bill as far as possible.
Damage at gas pipeline
A section of a gas export pipeline in the waters to the west of Shetland has been displaced - with fishing gear understood to be the suspected cause.
A spokesperson for BP said safe operations continue on the Clair Ridge gas pipeline.
Energy Voice says protective concrete mattresses around the subsea pipeline have been damaged, with one torn into sections.
Italy waters down bank tax plan
Italy has watered down plans to hit its banks with a windfall tax, leading to a rebound in the share prices of the country's lenders.
On Monday night, the government passed a one-off 40% tax on the profits banks earn from higher interest rates, in a shock move that saw shares plummet.
It said proceeds would be used to help mortgage holders and to cut taxes.
But the BBC reports that, late on Tuesday evening, the finance ministry said the tax would be capped at 0.1% of assets.
Sturgeon book
Nicola Sturgeon says she is writing a memoir covering her proudest achievements and regrets from her time in politics.
Scotland's former first minister said she would "reveal the person behind the politics" in the book, which is due to be released in 2025.
The BBC says Pan Macmillan has purchased the rights to the book, which it promised would be "deeply personal and revealing".
Chinese investments
The US plans to require American companies to disclose investments they make in China in high-tech sectors such as artificial intelligence, and to prohibit certain investments outright.
The much anticipated move gives the government new power to screen foreign dealings by private companies.
The US said the measure would be narrowly targeted, but it is poised to further chill economic relations between the two superpowers.
China said it was "very disappointed".
The BBC says the order by US President Biden formally kicks off the push to craft rules to bar American businesses from investing in firms from "countries of concern" that are active in quantum computing, advanced semiconductors and certain areas of artificial intelligence.