THE DAILY BRIEFING
HILTON JUMP Meat packer Hilton Food Group, which supplies supermarkets such as Tesco, has posted a 7.2pc jump in revenues as it branched out into pizzas.
Revenue reached £1.2bn in the year to January 1, while profit rose 18.9pc to £33.2m.
It came as the group launched a UK meat trading company. Shares closed up 3pc, or 19p, to 660p.
AIRLINE MERGER Thomas Cook’s Belgian airline is being absorbed by its partner in the country, Brussels Airlines, with 160 pilots and cabin crew, flights slots and two aircraft transferred.
As part of the deal, three aircraft will be redeployed and 40 ground staff made redundant.
PROFITS DIP Trading firm CMC Markets expects lower profits in its next set of results.
The company said it had submitted evidence to the City watchdog over its planned crackdown on the spread-betting market, which allows punters to bet on the direction of market movements. Shares rose by 0.2pc, or 0.25p, to 123.25p.
CVC DEAL CVC Capital Partners has bought aluminium business Corialis from fellow private equity firm Advent International, in a deal which values it at £860m.
The Belgian manufacturer supplies door, window and conservatory makers across Europe.
ASSETS CLIMB Online wealth manager Scalable Capital has doubled its assets under management to £173m in the past three months as it seeks to shake up the industry.
TATA MOVE Aman Mehta, a nonexecutive director with mining giant Vedanta Resources, has joined Tata Steel as a non- executive director. He took up the post on Wednesday.
IMPERIAL BOOST The world’s fourth-largest tobacco company, Imperial Brands, maker of Winston, Gauloises and other cigarette brands, said that revenue and earnings per share were expected to be up strongly for the six months ending today (March 31), driven by a 13 to 14 percentage point benefit from currency translation.
REVENUE RISE AIM- listed renewable energy company Green and Smart Holdings has announced an increase in revenue from £3m to £8m. The company uses biogas from palm oil waste to generate power in Malaysia, and said net profit over 2016 increased 181pc to £1.8m, from £632,805 in 2015.