THE DAILY BRIEFING
■ FLOAT PLAN Troubled German lender Deutsche Bank is plotting to float its asset management arm next month. It will sell around 25pc of its DWS business on the stock market for up to £1.8bn, sources said. ■ BANK SCHEME Car maker Ford is opening a bank in Germany to guard against any disruption from Brexit so it can carry on offering car finance when Britain leaves the eU.
■ START-UP SUCCESS Britain’s 500 most successful start- ups have grown 30pc annually for the past six years, say funding firm Syndicateroom and data business Beauhurst. Firms worth £1.6bn in 2016 are now valued at £10bn – and have given £3.7bn back to shareholders. ■ BRIT APPEAL exporters which focus on their British origins could rake in an extra £3.5bn a year, says
Barclays after it surveyed 8,000 foreign customers who said they would pay more for Britain’s quality.
■ GENDER IMBALANCE The boss of Lloyd’s of London, Inga Bealke has warned that firms which are partnerships are likely to report inaccurate gender pay gap data. ■ MUSIC DEAL Social networking giant Facebook has signed a deal to pay royalties for music used on its services in 160 countries. ■ DIRECTOR OFF Maria Hollins, struggling House of Fraser’s executive director for buying and design, has stepped down from the firm. ■ PROFITS UP Ibis and Sofitel hotel owner Accorhotels saw profits beat forecasts last year, increasing by 10pc to £434.2m. ■ MERGER OPPOSED The planned merger of Tesco and Booker was hit again after investor advisory firm Glass Lewis urged shareholders to vote against the deal next week. ■ NEW BOSS explorer Independent Oil and Gas, which has assets in the North Sea, has appointed Andrew Hockey as chief executive.
■ COMPETITION CONCERN The Competition and Markets Authority has found that agricultural store Mole Valley’s purchase of the retail arm of Countrywide Farmers could push up prices or lower quality in 45 areas. Mole Valley must address the concerns or face a fuller competition inquiry. ■ MINERAL LOSS rare earths mineral producer Rainbow made a loss of £ 718,000 during the six months to the end of 2017.