THE DAILY BRIEFING

STRONG DEMAND Business is booming for professional services firms such as accountants, lawyers and marketers, says the CBI.

The lobby group said these companies are growing at the fastest rate since May last year. The firms are now looking at taking on new staff at a pace not seen since 2014.

RETAIL DEALS Brexit is helping drive a fresh wave of UK takeovers in the retail sector, the former boss of Waitrose has said.

Steven Esom, who served as the managing director of Waitrose from 2002 to 2007, said retailers are looking at tie-ups to control costs and maintain market share.

GROWTH STREAK The Japanese are on course to match their second longest period of economic expansion in post-war history.

Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said ‘there’s a strong chance’ Japan will have matched the 57-month long streak of growth of the late 1960s.

JAIL APPEAL The vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics Jay Lee has appealed against the five-year jail term he was given for bribery and other charges.

Billionaire Lee, 49, was detained in February on charges he bribed then-South Korean president Park Geun-hye for business support.

STILL VACANT More than 80pc of BHS’s 160 former stores are still vacant a year after the department store chain closed its doors.

The figure, provided by the Local Data Company, dropped to 60pc if those which had deals exchanged or were awaiting redevelopment were included.

CALL CHARGES Telecoms giant Vodafone has urged the Indian government to resist calls to cut charges paid by mobile operators to call rival networks.

Vodafone said cutting so-called interconnection charges would benefit rivals who had invested less in infrastructure.

MURDOCH DEFEAT US broadcaster CBS Corp has agreed to buy Australia’s struggling Ten Network after beating an offer from Lachlan Murdoch, co-chairman of News Corp.