THE DAILY BRIEFING

PETROL PRICES the price of petrol has surged 20pc in a week in america after Hurricane Harvey ripped through texas, knocking out a fifth of US oil refineries. it means there are fewer places where crude oil can be turned into fuel for cars, pushing prices above $2 a gallon for the first time since July 2015. a flotilla of tankers is headed to america from Europe as traders look to make money by plugging the gap.

CHOCOLATE DEAL Sainsbury’s has signed a contract to stock luxury Godiva chocolates across its stores. the supermarket will become the first British grocer to sell the Belgian chocolates.

BANKS UNITE Six banks are working on an online currency they hope can be used to handle major transactions between finance firms. the group – which includes British lenders HSBc and Barclays – hopes its ‘utility settlement coin’ will be launched at the end of 2018.

MAIDEN RESULTS Shares in investment software company Alfa

Financial climbed 4.6pc, or 20p, to 454p as the city toasted its first results after a £1bn float. it unveiled revenues of £45.1m for the first half of 2017, up 57pc on the same period last year.

REVENUE DIPS Scottish broadcaster STV Group became the latest victim of falling tV advertising revenues as it posted a profit of £7.5m for the six months to the end of June, down from £10.2m for the same period last year.

NEW CHIEF investing website Seedrs has promoted chief operating officer Jeff Kelisky to the role of chief executive. Kelisky previously helped build online map start-up MultiMap, and made £2.3m when it was bought by Microsoft in 2007. He replaces Jeff lynn.

DEBT PROFITS Profits at debt collector Arrow Global rose to £25.8m in the first half of the year, up 35.5pc on the opening six months of 2016. the business also unveiled plans to buy a British and irish mortgage operation from Mars capital for £15.5m.

SWITCHING ROLE Former pensions minister chris Pond has joined a bank account switching committee as a non-executive director. Exlabour MP Pond will help oversee the switching service run by payment group Bacs.

GROCER HIRE online supermarket Ocado has appointed PR firm tulchan communications’ David Shriver as comms director.