| Casper Sleep seeks lower valuation in IPO than private funding round. The group looks to tap ‘sleep economy’ but faces slowing sales growth and deepening losses. | |
| shares tumble as subprime lender puts itself up for sale. The group has launched a strategic review after the removal of its Chief Executive and Chairman. | |
| UK is set to approve a limited 5G role for Huawei, the Chinese tech group are likely to have its market share restricted under latest plans. | |
| OPEC eyes oil supply cuts to counter virus sell-off Cartel and its allies discuss action to reverse crude’s slide below $60 per barrel. | |
| New Delhi launches fresh attempt to sell Air India. The Indian government sweetens terms as it seeks to offload debt-laden national airline. | |
| China’s top lithium producer struggles under debt load – Tianqi Lithium Corp is under pressure to repay bank loan as prices slump. | |
| Lundin Petroleum pledges to become carbon neutral by 2030. The oil producer plans to change its name to reflect its interest in renewable power. |
| Shares in controversial lender dipped further today, falling by another 40 per cent, after it put itself up for sale and announced a strategic review. The firm, which targets borrowers with a poor credit history, said its owner Richmond Group is looking to offload its 60.6 per cent stake ‘with a view to maximising value for its shareholders’. | |
| Turkish conglomerate Cengiz has confirmed it is ready to swoop on British Steel as rescue talks with Chinese group Jingye have stalled. | |
| Airlines and miners hit hardest by coronavirus fears – British Airways owner and were the biggest fallers on the Footsie on Monday afternoon, with shares down more than 5 per cent. | |
| ’s Openreach is planning to make ultrafast broadband available to 250,000 homes and businesses in more than 200 market towns and villages across the UK. | |
| ’s British Gas has unveiled a new green tariff which it claims is ‘one of the greenest in the market’. It introduced its Green Future Plus July 2022 fixed tariff for dual fuel last week with each customer that takes it out supporting the growth of trees in Britain, according to the firm. | |
| shares have fallen by almost 10 per cent after the company saw first-half revenues slide by 6 per cent. The Africa-focused company was hit by lower prices as the diamond industry continues to tackle weak demand from China amid trade tensions with the US and political unrest in Hong Kong. | |
| P&O Ferries is to launch a new fleet of £220million cross-Channel ‘super ferries’. The first of the new vessels will set sail in 2023 and cut fuel use by 40 per cent. | |
| Former British finance minister Philip Hammond has joined the advisory board of fin-tech company OakNorth, a UK bank for small and medium sized companies that provides business and property loans. | |
| Supermarket chain Planet Organic has announced it will double the number of stores it has in the next few years. The health food company says the increasing popularity of ethical and sustainable products has helped it to overcome problems affecting the high street. |
| Deutsche Bank payments to Saudi royal adviser probed. German prosecutors investigate two former employees for suspected bribery. | |
| Nearly 500,000 UK businesses face ‘significant’ distress | |
| Begbies Traynor survey finds companies outside London are struggling with debt. |
 | Over-50s firm Saga (SAGA) has begun to break itself up after coming under pressure from the aggressive American hedge fund run by billionaire Wall Street financier Paul Singer. City sources said the listed insurance and travel group has decided to try to sell its Titan Travel arm, which carries out escorted tours to 70 countries across the world. |
 | Now Burford Capital (BUR) boss in the US is accused of betrayal as firm continues to battle short-sellers. Burford Capital has been dragged into a legal row in the US in a further blow for the litigation financier as it battles short-sellers. |
 | German beer for £1.49′: Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW)‘s boss Tim Martin on Brexit and tax inequality between pubs and supermarkets. Tim Martin is immensely looking forward to a tipple on Friday, when he will toast Britain’s exit from the EU with a pub crawl of ‘five or six’ of his chain’s Central London pubs. |
 | Tesco (TSCO) is warning parents not to feed the Cow & Gate baby food to their children as it may pose a safety risk. The products affected are 200g jars of seven months plus Cow & Gate baby food, in 15 different flavours which are sold in Tesco stores in the UK. |
 | The world’s longest airliner, the Boeing 777X, has taken off on its maiden flight, bringing hope for Boeing Boeing Co (BOE), the beleaguered plane maker, despite doubts about its future. |
 | Royal Bank of Scotland Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) is considering cutting thousands of jobs at NatWest as its new chief executive prepares to shake up the taxpayer-owned lender. Under Alison Rose — who last November became the first woman to run RBS — bosses are working on “Project Tusk” to slash costs. |
| Cow & Gate and Tesco Tesco (TSCO) are recalling 15 types of baby food jars as a precautionary measure owing to fears that some jars may have been tampered with. The recall involves food for children aged seven months and over that is sold in Tesco stores in the UK. |
 | BP (BP.) looks to charismatic oil man to lead response to climate crisis. Bernard Looney is hailed as a moderniser but made his name at the company pumping crude. |
| Rogue energy brokers ‘con small businesses out of £2bn a year’. Ofgem is told charities, churches and micro firms are being locked into poor-value deals. |
 | BT Group (BT.A) is seeking to challenge the dominance of Huawei over the industry by throwing its weight behind a new “open source” approach to buying essential network gear, the chief executive of Openreach has claimed. |
| Turkish industrial investor Cengiz has confirmed it is ready to swoop in with a bid for British Steel if current negotiations over a £50m sale to China’s Jingye collapse. “British Steel is an important asset and we are watching developments closely and are ready to make a bid for the whole of British Steel,” said Cengiz chief executive Omer Mafa. | |
 | Outsourcing giant Serco Group (SRP) is taking on an international coalition of pension funds for allegedly misleading investors over fraud in its business tagging criminals. The BBC Pension Trust, Shell Pension Trust, British Airways Pension Trustees and the National Pension Service of Korea are among more than 100 funds claiming compensation over the scandal, which emerged in 2013. |
| Financial markets around the world have been rattled by the coronavirus outbreak, with its centre in Wuhan, a city known as the Chicago of China for its central location and booming car manufacturing industry. Amid growing concern over the spread of the virus, China has put Wuhan and four other cities with a combined population of more than 20 million on lockdown. It has banned travel during the biggest mass annual human migration on the planet for the lunar new year this weekend, when up to 400 million Chinese are expected to travel across the country to celebrate with friends and family. With outbound trains, buses and flights halted, fears are rising that the virus could also dent growth in the world’s second largest economy, in a rerun of the Sars outbreak of 2003. The first major deadly infectious disease of the 21st century infected up to 8,098 people worldwide and killed 774, spreading fear of fatal disease around the world and dragging down Chinese growth. | |
 | Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) is axing 3,000 middle managers as part of an overhaul of its store operations that also involves the recruitment of thousands of shop-floor staff. In the wake of a disappointing Christmas, the Bradford-based supermarket is eliminating higher-paid managerial roles across its near-500 store chain. At the same time, it is creating 7,000 new hourly-paid roles in an effort to improve customer service and reduce the gaps on its shelves. The changes will result in a net increase of 4,000 jobs, with many of the new positions on its Market Street deli counters. David Lepley, Morrisons group retail director, said: “This proposal means more frontline colleagues improving product availability and helping customers.” |
 | Strong Black Friday drives ASOS (ASC) sales growth. Online fashion retailer shows further signs of recovery following difficult year |
 | Hotel Chocolat Group (HOTC) warns costs of global expansion to hit profit growth. Boss Angus Thirlwell talks of ‘heavy pedalling’ as chain moves into US and Japan |
| Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) to cut 3,000 manager roles in staffing overhaul. Shake-up will see supermarket group boost numbers of lower level positions |
 | Countryside Properties (CSP) has seen a surge in interest for new homes, the company revealed. The firm said its forward order book is up 65% to £1.57 billion in the three months to December 31, compared with the same period a year earlier. The reservation rate was also up 29% on the same basis, with strong demand for both private and affordable homes. The sector has faced a tough year, with house prices stalling and the economy weakening following the 2016 Brexit referendum. But businesses have said they feel more stable and confident for the future following the General Election result last month, which returned a decisive majority. |
| The new boss of BP (BP.) is plotting a major shake-up of the energy giant that will see it introduce tough new climate goals. Incoming chief executive Bernard Looney, who takes over from Bob Dudley on February 5, is also mulling a restructuring to cut costs. This could include merging parts of the division that oversees oil and gas production with other activities, such as refining. And it may sell its most carbon-intensive businesses such as oil and gas fields in Canada and Angola. Looney could expand carbon reduction goals to include emissions from the products it sells, as well as emissions from its operations. |
| Record Black Friday sales helped online fashion retailer ASOS (ASC) experience a 20% boost in revenues over the four month period covering Christmas. Sales in all markets, except the UK, rose by around 20%, with the majority of the increase coming from international retail sales, which jumped by £118.8million to £666million. Total group revenue over the period soared above £1billion, with UK retail sales figures experiencing a £61.1million jump to £408.9million, while slightly lower growth of £56.6million was registered in the EU market. The London-based e-tailer says it had managed to ‘rebuild customer momentum,’ especially due to its best Black Friday on record. It did not reveal what proportion of its clothes were sold at a discount, or what sales were on the day. |
| Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) confirmed plans to axe around 3,000 managerial roles across its stores as part of a restructure which will see it create more shop floor jobs. The supermarket said it will have 4,000 more employees as part of plans which will see the creation of 7,000 new hourly-paid roles. Many of the new jobs will be on Morrisons’ Market Street counters – where butchers, bakers, fishmongers and other fresh food specialists serve customers. The chain said jobs would be available for all who wanted to continue working for Morrisons. It added that managers who are retained will ‘concentrate on helping frontline colleagues to do their job and run their stores’. |
| British chocolatier Hotel Chocolat Group (HOTC) achieved an 11% sales lift in the last quarter of 2019 as the firm was boosted by a strong Christmas period. The firm said an ‘encouraging performance’ in its new stores and a boost in the numbers joining the VIP-Me rewards scheme enabled it to expand by 14% in the six months to December 29. Its chief executive Angus Thirlwell said the growing popularity of the company’s ‘Velvetiser’ in-home hot chocolate system also drove revenue growth. The machine is said to create ‘barista-grade’ hot chocolate in your kitchen within a couple of minutes. Fourteen new locations were opened by the company over the six-month period, nine of which were in the UK, three in Japan and two in the USA, which the cocoa grower said contributed around a fifth of the 14 percentage point increase. It added that ‘inefficiencies in the supply chain’ meant the costs of delivering this revenue rise was ‘modestly higher,’ but are focused on tackling them over the coming year. |
 | The £6billion takeover of Just Eat (JE.) could be delayed because of a surprise competition probe by regulators. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last night confirmed it was examining the company’s tie-up with Dutch rival Takeaway.com despite previously indicating it posed no concern. The inquiry is looking at whether Takeaway.com would have re-entered the UK food delivery market were it not for the deal. Takeaway.com said its ‘unsuccessful’ UK business was closed in August 2016 and only had revenues of £76,000, because it was ‘unable to compete’ with rivals. |
 | Avacta Group (AVCT) technology creates antibody-like proteins called Affimers that can be used to target cancer cells. It has a drug that is heading into human trials, and yesterday it told investors that revenues from licensing out its technology were a better-than-expected £5.5million for the 17 months ended last year. Crucially for a company early in its commercial journey it has plenty of cash – £8.7million at the last count. |
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