THE DAILY BRIEFING
TOP GRADE Quality hallmark firm the British Standards institution has revealed record sales of £401.8m – a rise of 21pc.
The BSi, which helps firms improve day-to-day performance, has 81,000 customers in 181 countries, including almost twothirds of FTSe 100 companies.
Profit rose by 42pc, with new sales orders growing by 17pc.
Howard Kerr, BSi chief executive, said: ‘Success requires adaptation, and we are working with industry to help them unlock the benefits of international trade and a wide range of new technologies.’
FLAT SALES The annual number of million-pound apartment sales in england and Wales has grown nearly threefold since 2006 – from 1,002 to 2,967.
Figures from Lloyds Banking Group show apartments made up 22pc of all £1m property sales in 2016.
more than a third of all £1m property sales were in Greater London, with 731 in the borough of Kensington and chelsea, and 781 in Westminster.
CO-OP CHARITY Thousands of grass-roots charities are sharing from a £9m fund set up by retail giant co-op.
Around 4,000 charities, ranging from Scouts, walking clubs and brass bands to those providing a social service such as helping with bereavement, will benefit from the scheme. The average amount that they each receive is around £2,200.
RENT RAISE One in five homes let this year is owned by a company landlord, the highest proportion since records started in 2010, according to lettings network countrywide.
The company suggested recent tax changes could be behind the increase, as many landlords now find it more taxefficient to own their buy-to-let portfolios through a company rather than hold them as a personal asset.
TEA TIME Luxury brand english Tea Shop is forecasting sales growth of 25pc this year and revealed plans to enter 25 new markets by 2021.
The firm, which sells in stores including Harrods, Selfridges and luxury London hotels such as The Grange and Strand Palace, sources tea and herbs from farms in more than a dozen countries, which are then manufactured at its plant in Sri Lanka.