THE DAILY BRIEFING

BANK PROBE Investigators hope to complete a corruption probe into Barclays by the end of the year.

The Serious Fraud office is looking into claims undisclosed payments were made to Qatari investors as the bank begged for rescue funds in 2008.

OIL MERGER French oil services giant Technip has agreed to a £9.9bn merger with uS-based FMc Technologies. The deal will see the newly formed TechnipFMc listed in Paris and New York but domiciled in london, allowing the uS group to benefit from the uK’s lower corporate tax rate. The combined group will have an order book of £13.7bn and aims to save £273.5m annually by 2019.

TAKEOVER BID Shares in German drugs giant Bayer slid as investors were unimpressed by news that it has made a takeover bid for uS agricultural group Monsanto, best known for manufacturing GM seeds.

Bayer said there is no assurance the deal will go ahead. Financial terms were not disclosed but it is expected to be worth over £29.4bn.

LONDON LAG Merlin Entertainments, owner of theme parks from chessington World of Adventures to legoland, said market conditions in london remain challenging despite recent favourable foreign exchange rates.

Trading so far this year has been broadly in line with expectations.

MARKET VOLATILITY Euromoney, which owns business titles including Metal Bulletin, said volatility in the commodity markets was behind a fall in revenues and profits.

The publishing and events firm, in which the daily Mail and General Trust holds a majority stake, saw a decline in advertising revenues and subscriptions.

Revenues were down 2pc to £194.2m, while pre-tax profits fell to £23.4m in the first half of the year, from £93.3m over the same period last year.

chief executive Andrew Rashbass said that they were in line with expectations.

It announced an interim dividend of 7p per share, unchanged on last year. Shares fell 1.9pc, or 19p, to 976p.

SUPER SHOW Action films such as captain America and Batman vs Superman pushed up revenues for cineworld. The cinema company reported revenues up 9.8pc in the 19 weeks to mid-May.

Shares rose 0.8pc, or 4.5p, to 545.5p.

MAGICAL PROFITS Publisher Bloomsbury saw profits rise 8pc, boosted by new illustrated editions of the Harry Potter books.

Revenues rose 11pc to £123.7m and pre-tax profits increased to £13m in the year to February 29.

The company launched a new strategy to move into business, educational and digital publishing. Shares dropped 2.7pc, or 4.25p, to 151p.