Here are the business stories making the headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Aberdeen Airport targets new routes after profits soar to £17.2m
Aberdeen International Airport is setting its sights on new routes and greater capacity after profits more than doubled to £17.2million in 2024.
Turnover climbed 8.7% to £56.4million, driven by strong passenger demand and operational improvements throughout the year. Passenger numbers grew 1.7% to 2.3 million, with domestic traffic up 1.4% and international passengers rising 2.3%.
Airport director Karan Singh Jandhu said it is now focused on expanding services and growing passenger numbers in 2025.
Jim Ratcliffe’s chemical plant blames net zero for dozens of job cuts
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos has cut a fifth of jobs at its Hull chemical plant, blaming net zero and competition from coal-fuelled Chinese imports.
Some 60 roles are being axed at the Ineos Acetyls factory in Hull, which is Europe’s largest producer of acetic acid, acetic anhydride and ethyl acetate. These are vital raw materials for a multitude of products including food preservatives, medicines, paints and detergents.
Ineos warned that rising energy costs linked to green levies and competition from Chinese companies that face no such taxes were making the plant uneconomic.
Starmer urges students not to protest on 7 October
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has urged students not to join pro-Palestinian protests on Tuesday, the second anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel, warning of "rising antisemitism on our streets".
Sir Keir said it was "un-British" to hold protests on the anniversary which, he said, had been used by some as a "despicable excuse to attack British Jews".
Universities in some parts of the UK are bracing for demonstrations on Tuesday, with students from London colleges planning a joint march in the capital. Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol are among other cities expecting student protests.
Snapchat users share fury at upcoming fees for storing old photos and videos
"Half of my life is on this app and now they expect us to pay for it."
One-star reviews and a sense of injustice have dominated online discussion since the popular messaging app Snapchat became the latest tech firm to put a price tag on a service people previously enjoyed using for free.
The app's parent company Snap announced in September it would start charging people if they have more than five gigabytes worth of previously shared images and videos saved as Memories.
Aston Martin profit warning amid weak demand and Valhalla delays
Aston Martin Lagonda’s warning that 2025 would be another year of loss-making underperformance sent shares in the struggling British carmaker into their latest skid.
The carmaker said annual sales would be down by nearly 10%, losses would be worse than expected and it would not become cashflow positive as promised.
Deliveries of its high-margin, special edition Valhalla luxury hypercar have again been disrupted and delayed, Aston Martin said in an unscheduled trading update following the end of its third quarter last week and before the results that were due to be released at the end of this month.