IN BRIEF

More than one in five households has switched to a small or mediumsized energy supplier, regulator Ofgem said yesterday. The market share of the Big Six – British Gas, SSE, ScottishPower, EDF Energy, npower and E.ON – has fallen to a record low as a result.

The Institute of Directors says firms should be made to reveal if their bosses benefit from any share buy-back blitz they launch.

Sales at sausage roll chain Greggs jumped 7.4% to £960m last year after it opened nearly three new stores a week. But profits dipped to £72m as the firm, with nearly 1,900 outlets, was hit by higher costs and a £7.4m redundancy bill from a shake-up.

Nearly all those now running a new division of Royal Bank of Scotland that is meant to help struggling firms used to work for a toxic unit at the centre of a scandal, it has emerged. The Commons Treasury Select Committee said 30 out of 32 senior managers at RBS Restructuring were previously at the bank’s Global Restructuring Group, branded by MPs as “disgraceful.”

Britain’s second-biggest house builder saw profits surge 25% to £966m last year. Persimmon’s revenues rose 9% to £3.4billion but debts rose to £1.3bn.