Scottish Business Briefing - 20 January 2014 Finance firms look for clarity ahead of independence "Best year ever" for Haines Watts team in Glasgow ACCOUNTANCY firm Haines Watts has said its Glasgow corporate finance team had its best ever year in 2013 The group in Scotland's largest city worked on 30 projects in the year, with 15 of them concluding within the 12 months. Among the deals it has worked on recently were the £5.6 million investment by the Business Growth Fund to back the high street expansion of independent Scottish optical chain Duncan & Todd and its manufacturing operations. I&H Brown lifts profits after sale windfall I&H Brown, the family-owned civil engineer and developer, lifted its pre-tax profit from £4.3 million to £5.9m last year and believes its substantial land assets will play into Scotland's housing market recovery. The sale of two farms near ­Kirkcaldy for Diageo's new £46m bonded warehouse complex sparked a £5.4m windfall gain for the company last year.