Here are the top stories making the local and national business headlines this morning.
Rail strikes will bring trains to a halt again
Most trains in Scotland are likely to grind to a halt this month after more strikes by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union were announced.
ScotRail officials said they were still assessing the impact of strikes by RMT members on Network Rail, but it was likely that services would face the same level of disruption as during a three-day strike last month when 90% of services were cancelled and no trains ran outside the central belt.
The Times says rail workers in the RMT are due to walk out for 24 hours on July 27.
EnerMech lands contracts worth £107million
EnerMech, the Aberdeen-headquartered mechanical and electrical services group, has secured more than $128 million (£107m) in new contract wins in Africa, the Middle East and the Caspian region.
The firm said its success follows a programme of “strategic growth activities” including a multi-million-dollar equipment investment, the signing of a number of in-country joint ventures and partnerships, and a major recruitment drive expanding the team of local hires across the three geographies by a projected 63 per cent in the next 12 months.
In December 2018, the business was acquired by the Carlyle Group, the Nasdaq-listed global asset manager.
Bank warns Germans will have to burn wood to stay warm
Some German households will be forced to heat their homes with wood instead of gas as Russia turns off the taps, according to dire warnings from analysts.
Global shortages of gas worsened by Russia’s war on Ukraine have sent prices soaring, with many consumers cutting usage in response.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank told The Telegraph they expect demand for gas in Germany over the next few months will remain 10pc below the level one year ago, driven by savings by households, industry and the services sectors.
Demand for homes falls for a third month as market cools
The number of would-be buyers contacting estate agents about moving homes fell for the third month in a row in June — the latest sign that the property market is starting to slow.
Of all the agents polled by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) in its latest residential market survey, a net balance of 27% of them reported a fall in the number of buyer inquiries they received last month, according to The Times.
The housing market has been strong over the past two years, although economists had expected it would soon slow after the interest rate rises and amid a cost of living crisis.
Euro falls below dollar for first time in 20 years
The euro has fallen below the dollar for the first time in nearly 20 years as the war in Ukraine pushes the single currency down.
A single euro bought $0.998 on the foreign exchange market at 12:45 GMT, down by 0.4% in the day's trading.
The BBC says that fears Russia may restrict Europe's supplies of energy have increased the chances of recession in the euro area.
UK economy grew in May, despite headwinds
The UK economy defied expectations by rebounding in May as demand for health services and holidays offset a cost-of-living hit to spending in shops, according to official figures.
The Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.5% in May, rebounding from an upwardly revised 0.2% drop in April, against the 0.3% decline in its initial estimate. City forecasts had predicted that the economy would remain flat in May.
The growth came after a bounceback across all three main sectors of the economy — services, manufacturing and construction — with a ramp up in visits to GPs helping to counteract the impact of the government scaling back its Covid test and trace programme.
Newly qualified lawyers now earn £179,000 per year at London firm
Newly qualified solicitors at a London law firm are to receive an annual salary of £179,000 after a 9% pay rise to take account of sterling weakening against the dollar, according to The Times.
Akin Gump, a US corporate practice with a London office, confirmed yesterday that it had boosted the salaries of its newly qualified solicitors by £15,000 from an already record-breaking level after its most recent quarterly review of currency conversion rates. It is expected that others among the group of more than 100 US law firms in the City will follow suit.
The Akin Gump pay rise was revealed when details of an internal memo were published by the website Roll on Friday, which is widely used as a gossip board by young City lawyers.