Simply Beverages starts Light line
Simply Beverages, a brand of the Coca-Cola Co. based in Sugar Land, has launched the Simply Light brand with four flavors.
The Simply Light line of beverages includes Simply Light Orange Pulp Free, Simply Light Orange with Calcium & Vitamin D, Simply Light Lemonade and Simply Light Lemonade with Raspberry. They have 50 calories or fewer per 8-ounce serving.
The not-from-concentrate products are made without artificial flavors or preservatives, the company says. The Simply Beverages portfolio now includes 22 different flavors and varieties, including its flagship Simply Orange.
Charges against Barclays dismissed
LONDON — A London court has dismissed charges against Barclays tied to the bank’s 2008 efforts to raise a $15 billion lifeline from Qatar and other investors, a legal victory for the British lender as it tries to turn its businesses around.
The decision is a blow to Britain’s regulators, who have pursued the case for years. The charges were the first in the country against a bank for actions during the global financial crisis.
And the news is likely to be well received by Barclays, which has sought to move past scandals. The firm paid $2 billion to settle U.S. charges of fraudulently misrepresenting securities tied to home mortgages, as well as a separate settlement over charges tied to allegations that it manipulated the interest rate known as Libor.
And this month, its American chief executive, James Staley, received a relatively small fine for trying to uncover a whistleblower.
U.K. won’t block Comcast-Sky deal
LONDON — Britain’s government says it does not intend to refer U.S. media conglomerate Comcast’s $30.7 billion takeover offer for London-based Sky to competition authorities, saying the proposed merger doesn’t raise concerns on public interest grounds. Culture Secretary Matt Hancock says he’s “reviewed the relevant evidence” and that he is “minded not to issue” an intervention notice.
Twin Liquors will open in Kingwood
Austin-based Twin Liquors will open in Kingwood Marketplace on Wednesday. The 3,500-square-foot store represents the chain’s fourth location in the Houston area.
The store, announced more than a year ago, joins the H-E-B-anchored center at Kingwood Drive and West Lake Houston Parkway in Kingwood.
“After Hurricane Harvey, we had to pause construction on our Kingwood location,” president David Jabour said.
Twin Liquors has more than 80 neighborhood stores in Central Texas, plus locations in The Woodlands, Conroe and Spring.
France’s Total looks to coast of Cyprus
NICOSIA, Cyprus — French energy company Total says it is looking to expand its search for natural gas off Cyprus’ south coast and seeks to secure another exploratory drilling license, days after warning it could exit Iran over renewed U.S. sanctions there.
Stephane Michel, Total’s Middle East exploration chief, said Monday that the company has applied for a license to search for hydrocarbons in Block 8, an area south of Cyprus where Italian company Eni is already licensed to carry out exploratory drilling.
Total is partners with Eni to search for oil and gas in two other areas off Cyprus.
Cyprus Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis called Total’s move an “important development” that expands the company’s exploration footprint off Cyprus.
Lakkotrypis said what gives the move added weight is the fact that Total’s interest comes three months after Turkish warships blocked a drillship from carrying out exploratory drilling by Eni in Block 3, an area southeast of Cyprus.
Warhol’s magazine shutting down
Almost half a century after it was founded by Andy Warhol, Interview magazine, an arts and culture publication, is folding.
Ezra Marcus, an associate editor at the magazine, said by email that the staff was notified in an all-hands meeting Monday morning that Interview, which was founded in 1969, was closing and filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Phone calls to Brant Publications, which acquired Interview magazine in 1989, two years after Andy Warhol died, went unanswered.
In other news …
Cincinnati-based Fifth
Third Bancorp is buying Chicago’s MB Financial for about $4.7 billion, mostly in stock. The Treasury Department auctioned $48 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.895 percent, up from 1.89 percent last week. Another $42 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 2.08 percent, up from 2.035 percent last week.