Scottish Business Briefing - Friday March 8 2013 - Business - Scotsman.com STANDARD Life investors are to share a £302 million special dividend windfall in a move which has cast further shadows over the performance of its rival Aviva. While the Edinburgh-based group was unveiling the 12.8p a share payout on the back of bumper profits, Aviva shares were tumbling as new chief executive Mark Wilson announced its dividend was being slashed by more than a quarter to build up capital reserves for the turnaround of the business. Read the full article (Scotsman) Distiller toasts bank's help as £450,000 invested in bond One of Scotland's smallest distilleries said yesterday it would invest nearly £500,000 in storage space for its single malt. Kilchoman Distillery, the youngest distillery on the whisky island of Islay, will store up to 9,000 casks in a bonded warehouse being built on land at Conisby, near Bruichladdich. Read the full article (Press & Journal) Coal mining industry on the edge as firm axes 60% of staff COAL mining in Scotland is on the brink of oblivion after Britain's second largest producer said more than half of its workers are to be axed as major financial problems threaten its future. The country's oldest major industry, which at its peak in 1957 employed 87,000 men and after the Second World War had 187 collieries, will be reduced to just 308 workers after Scottish Coal's parent company announced it is to axe 450 of its 758-strong workforce. Read the full article (Herald) Read the full article (Scotsman) Read all today's technology news from scotsman.com