THE DAILY BRIEFING

healthcare■ DRUG by FLOP Softbank companyan £820mwas Roivant dealtbet Scienceson a blow announcedafter disease itsits did treatment subsidiarynot work. for axovant alzheimer’s and ■ brought EXPERT Exchangein HELPtech experts CommissionThe US Securitiesto bolster has its week defences,that it afterwas hitit revealedby a serious last cyber attack in 2016. lender■ LENDERZopa plans OPENto start Peer- acceptingto- peer investors’following a cash six-monthagain later pause. this year has■ STAFF threatened THREAT to Swiss move lendera ‘significant’ UBS if no Brexit number transitionof staff out deal of has Britain been agreed by March. ■ RAIL LOAN finance company Legal & General has lent £120m to a consortium buying the high-speed rail line linking London to the Channel Tunnel. ■ BROWNED OFF British beauty firm Innovaderma will launch its Skinny Tan self-tanning product in pharmacies across the Republic of Ireland later this year. ■ PANEL PLACE Troubled construction group Interserve has won a place on a Government panel of builders bidding to develop £8bn worth of housing and mixed-use infrastructure. ■ FLIGHT WIFI Satellite firm Inmarsat has a won a contract with Malaysian airline air asia Group for its in-flight broadband to be used on more than 120 airbus aircraft. ■ BOSS RETIRES Bruce Thompson has announced he will retire as chief executive of technical products conglomerate Diploma before the end of September next year. ■ PHARMA SURGE Drug firm

Circassia Pharmaceuticals, which focuses on respiratory diseases, saw first-half revenues jump 65pc to £18.3m, boosted by strong sales of its niox asthma treatment.

■ BAD CONNECTIONS Tainted auditor KPMG has lost its contract with the South african parliament following a scandal over its links to the country’s wealthy Gupta family, who are accused of wrongly influencing government contracts. ■ BANK BOOST Rating agency Moody’s has upgraded the creditworthiness of Lloyds Bank following its return to the private sector.