THE DAILY BRIEFING

OPEC TANKS Members of the world’s biggest oil cartel have seen their revenues from oil exporting fall by nearly half since 2014, research claims.

the Organisation of the Petroleum exporting Countries earned £285bn last year – when oil prices suffered a rout – a drop of 46pc from £531.3bn in 2014, according to the US energy Information administration.

US BUY-UP Industrial equipment supplier tyman saw its stock soar after it agreed a £50m buy-up of a US company.

the British firm acquired Bilco, a roof vents and hatches company which made a profit of £4m and reported revenues of £38.3m, and will incorporate it into its own US division, called amesbury truth.

tyman shares rose 10.4pc, or 23.5p to 249p.

DRIVE TIME logistics management company Wincanton has secured its distribution contract with Sainsbury’s for another five years.

the contract will mark 25 years of collaboration between the two companies and Wincanton said it would continue to deliver cost savings for Sainsbury’s. Wincanton shares rose 0.5pc, or 1p to 188p.

INVESTOR FLOAT Venture capital investor Draper esprit started trading on the junior stock market yesterday.

the company, which focuses on high-growth tech firms, issued 40.7m shares on AIM at a price of 300p each, giving it a market capitalisation of £120m. It has raised £79m from the float. Shares closed at 307.5p.

NET DEAL Web hosting company Daily Internet is to buy tech firm System Professional in a deal worth up to £5.8m.

the Nottingham-based company, which sells website names, offered £3.9m for the business, with the potential for further sums if it meets performance targets.

Daily Internet shares rose 1.5pc, or 0.02p to 1.7p.

NETWORK BOOST Bt has announced a roll out of its superfast broadband for small and mediumsized businesses which aims to reach 1m firms by 2020.

the telecoms firm will seek to offer speeds of up to one gigabyte per second to businesses in areas not already covered by its network. It came as Virgin Media announced its expansion to reach 7,000 more homes and businesses.

Bt’s shares rose 1pc, or 3.8p to 400.4p.

CASH CHANGEOVER Royal Bank of Scotland is installing new cash machines at around 300 branches across the UK.

the Natwest owner is making the changes at outlets which will become part of new bank Williams & Glyn.