IN BRIEF

Budget airline easyJet flew 5.5million passengers last month – 4% more than a year ago. Fellow no-frills flier Norwegian saw passenger numbers grow 11% to 2.3 million over the same period.

Britain’s biggest brick maker benefited from booming demand for homes, with profits up 12% last year. Ibstock, which made £88million in 2017, is building on the trend by opening a new plant in Leicestershire capable of making 100million bricks a year.

Dublin-based Smurfit Kappa, Europe’s biggest cardboard box maker, is fighting a hostile takeover bid by US rival International Paper.