THE DAILY BRIEFING
CHEMICAL DEAL Aberdeenbased engineering firm Amec Foster
Wheeler has won a £462m contract to help build a methanol plant for a Chinese firm in the US.
It has been hired by Yuhuang Chemical to help build its £1.4bn methanol plant in Louisiana.
JOBS BONANZA High Street giant Argos is taking on more than 10,000 temporary workers to cope with the Christmas rush.
Around 9,800 staff will be hired for 800 stores to meet customer demand for toys, electrical goods, video games, jewellery and other gifts. The company is also seeking around 1,000 delivery drivers.
HURRICANE MISSION Devastation last month in Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey is providing new opportunities for City insurance firm Charles Taylor.
The disaster caused an estimated £77bn of damage and killed at least 66 people. The firm’s loss adjusters will be calculating the full extent of the damage, and working out who is owed what.
BOSS QUITS The boss of rural lender Folk2Folk Jane Dumeresque is standing down. A so-called peerto-peer lender, Folk2Folk allows ordinary people to lend money directly to companies.
TOYMAKER DERAILED Shares in Hornby plummeted yesterday after the toymaker, which makes Airfix models and Scalextric cars, admitted its sales had been hurt by soft trading over the summer.
It is now hoping that its performance will pick up in the second half of the year.
COURT REFERRAL The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has asked for a £910m fine handed to Intel for market abuse to be re-examined.
In 2009, the EU fined the chip maker after accusing it of using illegal sales tactics to shut out a smaller rival, AMD. The European Commission claimed Intel broke competition law but the ECJ has sent the case back to a lower court so it can examine more arguments from Intel.
MEXICO STATION Oil major Shell has opened its first service station in Mexico – as it battles international firms who are taking advantage of the country’s newly opened fuels market.
For decades the Central American country’s fuel market was closed to all firms. Shell said it had plans to invest around £800m in the country over the next ten years.