THE DAILY BRIEFING
CARS DIP A total of 153,224 cars rolled off British production lines in September, down 4.1pc on September 2017, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said.
SALES FALL The Australian owner of DIY chain Homebase saw sales fall 13.8pc to £276m in the first quarter amid a spending slowdown.
BOSSES OFF The bosses of private equity firm Carlyle Group are stepping down. Joint chief executives David Rubenstein and William Conway will become co-chairmen, with their roles filled by insiders Kewsong Lee and Glenn Youngkin.
HSBC MOVE The British consumer and small business arm of
HSBC was struggling to persuade employees to move from London to Birmingham, but has now filled 88pc of vacancies – 1,040 of whom were previously based in the capital.
£7M RAISED A tech start-up – Echo – behind an app that lets people order repeat NHS prescriptions on smartphones has raised £7m.
BUSINESS HELP Business lender Growth Street is set to pump £50m into small and medium firms in the Midlands over the next year.
PICTURE PERFECT New tech at Photo-Me lifted turnover in the first five months by 11.2pc compared with the same period last year, following the expansion of its system to allow customers to upload ID pictures in photo booths.
BOOZE BOOST Brewer Heineken, the world’s second-largest brewer, reported a 2.5pc increase in sales in the July to September period, despite poor weather in Europe.
PELLET DEAL Power firm Drax has sold wood pellet distributor Billington Bioenergy to AIM-listed Aggregated Micro Power Holdings for £400,000 and £1.6m in shares.
VISA GROWTH Payment giant Visa has notched up rising profits, to £1.6bn in the fourth quarter, up from £1.5bn last year.
DIRECTOR DIES Non-executive director at Gem Diamonds, Mike Salamon, has died, aged 62.
SHIPS HIRED Chemicals and oil firm Ineos has hired two ships to support its North Sea operations as part of a £110m investment.
OMAN CASH Oman’s sovereign wealth fund is ploughing £90m into Berkeley Energia, which is building a uranium mine in Spain.