Perth store owner on the market

THE group that owns Perth department store Beales has put itself up for sale as the firm looks at refinancing options.

Beales occupies much of the building in St John Street that used to be home to Perth’s flagship department store McEwens, which fell into administration in 2016.

Beales opened its Perth outlet – its only branch in Scotland – in November 2017. The firm operates 22 stores in Britain.

It has launched a formal sale process as part of a strategic and financial review being led by KPMG, though a sale remains one option under consideration.

Beales said it “continues to acclimatise to the ever-changing landscape and challenges of the retail market”.

The group is looking for investment to “deliver a sustainable business model for the f uture” including cost-saving measures and a refocus on homewares, small domestic appliances, fashion accessories and shoes.

The demise of McEwens in March 2016 – with the loss of more than 100 jobs – sent shockwaves through the Perth retail landscape.

B e a l e s , w h i c h wa s founded in 1881 by John Elmes Beale, employs about 1,300 staff and another 300 in concessions within its 22 stores.

It was sold in a management buy-out to group chief executive Anthony Brown i n October last year.

ARMY hero Frank Philip has returned to Iraq to lead the fight against deadly landmines.

The 60-year-old, from Perthshire’s Kinloch Rannoch, heads up the de-mining operations for charity The Halo Trust and works in the warravaged Arab state.

Based in Baghdad as Halo’s programme manager since 2017, after serving in Iraq with the Army, he later became a private security contractor.

Now Montrose-born Frank is helping save lives and risking his own to remove improvised

MENTAL heath services in the city are “among the worst i n Scotla nd” according to one patient who feels she is bei ng failed by the system.

Lynsey-Jane Gray, who suffers from borderline personality disorder and depression, has received care for her mental health struggles in other cities across Scotland in the past.

But since moving to Dundee two years ago, the 29-year-old has been left dismayed by the service provided to people – prompting her to speak out about her concerns.

She said: “I have lived in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling and had excellent assistance, but I have never experienced anything like Dundee.

“There is no community psychiatric team and I have only been seen by the current team once or twice since I moved here.

“When you compare to the biweekly treatment I was receiving in Stirling, it’s abysmal.”

Lynsey-Jane said consistency was vital in helping cope with