THE DAILY BRIEFING

■ PROPERTY MOVE

A £ 200m commercial property fund is being listed this month on the London stock exchange by Aviva, in the latest sign of confidence in the UK.

Aviva investors secure income ReiT will mostly back blue chip companies in long-lease buildings.

■ WHISTLE WORRIES

Potential whistleblowers are put off from raising concerns due to fears it would damage their prospects, says a worldwide study by law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

■ SKINNY LAUNCH

Beauty product firm Innova-Derma is powering ahead with its expansion of skinny Tan despite the Advertising standards Authority watchdog ruling it can no longer claim it reduces the appearance of cellulite.

it is launching the brand in France and stocking the range in sam McCauley Chemists in ireland.

■ MIXED PROGRESS

Meat packing firm Hilton Food Group is on track to meet its goals for the year after trading well in the UK and ireland. But business in sweden has suffered and the company says that it faces a ‘challenging’ market in Denmark.

■ SOLAR BOOST

energy finance firm Octopus Investments has upped its funds in solar power to £564m. The London company has boosted its solar panel output by 100 megawatts to 622 megawatts.

■ PENSION DEFICIT

Five million workers in the so-called gig economy are missing out on auto-enrolment in a workplace pension, a study by the Pensions Policy institute for insurer Zurich suggests.

every UK employer must sign members of staff up to a pension scheme by law – but businesses such as the internet takeaway company Deliveroo and taxi firm Uber get around this by taking drivers on as freelancers.

■ LOANS RISE

Buy-to-let lender

OneSavings Bank has unveiled a 17pc jump in its loan book during the year’s first nine months, taking the total to £6.9bn. shares in the bank were up yesterday by 2.9pc, or 11.6p, to 409.1p.

■ FUNDS RECORD

Retail investors pumped a record £5.6bn into City funds in september, says trade body The Investment Association. Global funds were the most popular option.

■ DRESSING UP

Booming demand for midi skirts and dresses helped boost sales for Yoox Net-A-Porter by 17.7pc to £426m in the third quarter. The average customer spent £291.80.

■ DIAMOND PROFIT

Former Barclays boss Bob Diamond’s business Atlas Mara made £15.4m profit in the first nine months of the year.

■ CHANGING FASHIONS

The boss of Dior sidney Toledano, 66, has stepped down after 20 years at the helm, to take on a fashion role at parent company LVMh.