THE DAILY BRIEFING

NUISANCE CALLS

BT is cracking down on nuisance phone calls by offering users a service to divert unwanted numbers into a junk voicemail box. The firm said it is ‘declaring war’ on companies that regularly pester customers with calls on subjects such as PPI and personal accident claims, and estimates its BT Call Protect service could divert up to 30m calls a week.

CHINA FEARS

Chinese exports have suffered their biggest decline since the depths of the global financial crisis as weak demand from around the world hit trade. With worries mounting over a trade war with the United States under Donald Trump, figures showed exports from China fell 7.7pc in 2016.

BANK BID

Rocky Italian bank UniCredit has secured permission from shareholders for an £11.5bn fundraising bid and it will seek to raise the cash from the markets. Around £7.1bn will be used to plug a gap caused by toxic loans and the rest will cover staff payouts during 14,000 job cuts.

RAIL PROMOTION

Balfour Beatty’s director of strategic projects, Mark Cutler, has been promoted to managing director of its joint venture with constructor Vinci, bidding for work on the Government’s HS2 high- speed rail project to connect London with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

LOAN RULES

Secure Trust Bank has made it harder to get a personal loan to ward off the impact of a possible economic downturn. The lender said it had also hiked lending standards in the consumer finance market, which supplies credit for buying cars and other high-cost goods.

TOY TIE-UP

Electronic toymaker VTech Holdings’ £59m takeover of rival LeapFrog Enterprises has been given the thumbs up by the competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority.

ENERGY DEAL

The Governmentowned Green Investment Bank (GIB) has bought energy firm Centrica’s 44pc stake in the Lincs Offshore Wind Farm off Skegness, in a £429m deal.

PLANES CONTRACT

Aircraft maker Boeing has landed an £18bn deal to supply 205 planes to Indian airline SpiceJet.