THE DAILY BRIEFING

FRENCH DEAL Rothschild & Co, the French arm of the banking dynasty, has agreed to buy Marseillebased wealth management business Compagnie Financiere Martin Maurel for £190m.

The deal creates a private bank with combined assets under management of £27bn. Baron David de Rothschild, chairman of Rothschild & Co, said: ‘Our two companies share an independent family model that is a real strength when compared to our competitors.’

AGENCY FUNDING Online estate agent HouseSimple has raised £13m funding from investors.

The company revealed the multimillion pound boost as it seeks to take on rival internet agency PurpleBricks – which is backed by star investor Neil Woodford.

HouseSimple became the second largest online estate agent in the UK in the last year, and has seen property listings treble.

SPORTECH BATTLE Shares in Sportech fell nearly 7pc, or 5p to 69p, after it warned that its long-running battle with the taxman over its Spot the Ball competition will last until at least the autumn.

The Court of Appeal last month ruled that the Liverpool-based football pools and betting company had wrongly paid VAT on Spot the Ball because it is a game of chance not skill. But HMRC, which was told to pay Sportech £97m, has applied to the Supreme Court for permission to appeal the judgement.

AFRICAN GROWTH Vodafone has announced a partnership with Zambian telecoms company.

The mobile network has teamed up with Afrimax Group to roll out fast internet, known as 4G, in the subSaharan country, and it will also open retail stores and offer WiFi services.

Shares rose 1.44pc, or 3.3p, to 231.7p.

TECH TIE-UP Tech company StatPro Group has signed a deal worth £2.3m in Australia.

The firm, which specialises in software and online subscription services for businesses, signed a three-year contract in the country with a financial institution, which was not named.

Shares rose 2.5pc, or 2p, to 82p.

BOOKINGS BOOST Britain’s biggest holiday park firm has seen bookings rise 11pc after it invested millions on upgrading its sites.

Parkdean Resorts, which owns 72 holiday parks, invested £36m in 2015 and is channelling a further £40m into the business this year. It is bringing in 400 new and upgraded caravans and lodges, offering double glazing and central heating.

It said the trend for taking shorter breaks instead of longer holidays lengthened the holiday season and boosted its performance, with the company selling 492,000 holidays in 2015.