THE DAILY BRIEFING

■ TWO POSTS New lender Redwood Bank has appointed David Buckley from investment firm CIBC World Markets, as chairman, and former senior hSBC financier Nigel Boothroyd as non-executive director, as it prepares to launch later this year.

■ NEW PLATFORM a former boss of the 140-year- old London Metal exchange has launched a rival trading platform. Martin abbott quit the business in 2013 after it was sold to the Chinese for £1.4bn and has now set up online competitor NFEx Markets.

■ BREXIT INSURANCE More Than motor insurance owner RSA is opening an office in Luxembourg to avoid any possible negative fallout from Brexit. It will have a staff of less than ten and should allow the business to continue serving clients on the Continent, regardless of what deal is eventually struck with the european Union.

■ DEAL BACKED activist investor Gatemore Capital Management has given DX’s merger with the distribution arm of Menzies a seal of approval. The investor, which previously said the deal was like ‘ tying two rocks together to see if they float’ has U-turned on its original stance after the terms were tweaked.

■ CANCER HOPE a novel cancer drug developed by AstraZeneca has been shown to boost the survival prospects of patients suffering from breast cancer. The pharmaceutical giant said it took patients taking Lynparza seven months on average before their cancer became worse, whereas the rate of ‘progression-free survival’ for those on chemotherapy was just over four months.’

■ PASSENGER BOOST hungarian budget airline Wizz Air boasted rising passenger numbers last month. The carrier said passenger numbers increased 22.2pc to 2.4m last month, up from 2m the year before.

■ VETERAN ROLE Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty has appointed industry veteran Michael Lucki as a non-executive director. The 61-yearold is a former chief financial officer at engineering firm Ch2M and a former partner at ernst and Young’s infrastructure division.

■ GOOD GROWTH russian conglomerate Sistema said yesterday that revenue has been stable with profits up 3.2pc over the latest quarter. Chief executive Mikhail Shamolin said growth had been particularly strong in telecom operating, children’s goods retailing, healthcare and real estate.

■ GUINEA SALE West africafocused miner Stellar Diamonds is selling its assets in the republic of Guinea to the country’s main investment bank. The £1.5m sale to BDG Capital includes plants and equipment as well as shares in some subsidiary companies.

■ SYSTEMS DEAL Waste-to-energy company Powerhouse Energy Group has signed a deal with an unnamed ‘large corporate partner’ who will be investing up to £500,000 to help get some of its systems up and running.