THE DAILY BRIEFING
BOARD BATTLE Veteran corporate raider nelson Peltz is lobbying for a seat on the board of ariel owner
Procter & Gamble after accusing the goods giant of weak sales growth. Trian Fund Management, the investment vehicle owned by Peltz, took a £2.3bn stake in P&G in February.
VIRTUAL BACKING science and technology backer Touchstone
Innovations has invested more than £3m in a type of virtual reality software. It has committed £3.1m to WaveOptics, which is developing socalled ‘augmented reality’ technology that allows users to view and interact with a digitally altered version of the world around them.
POSTAL THREAT Bosses from the Communication Workers Union have warned they are on course for a full-blown dispute with Royal Mail over pension changes.
EURO ENERGY British Gas owner Centrica has struck an agreement to combine its european oil and gas exploration and production divisions with Bayerngas norge as part of a joint venture.
BARONESS ROLE real estate investment firm New River has hired Baroness Ford of Cunninghame, who sits on the boards of rival segro and media company sTV Group, as its senior independent non-executive director.
PROFIT SOARS The world’s biggest fund manager BlackRock has reported a 9pc rise in profit as its assets hit £4.35 trillion. net income rose to £656m in the second quarter on revenue of nearly £2.3bn.
TOASTING SUCCESS a series of successful acquisitions helped profits at Conviviality more than double. The Bargain Booze and Wine rack owner said profits jumped 147pc to £22.5m in the year to the end of april. sales increased 85pc to £1.6bn from £841m the year before.
JAPAN DEAL Israeli- based mobile advertising firm Taptica International has bought a controlling stake in Japanese rival adinnovation. It has paid around £4.4m for a 57pc stake in one of the leaders of Japan’s mobile advertising industry as part of plans to build its presence in the asia-Pacific region.
SLINGO SLUMP Mobile gambling game maker Gaming Realms tanked yesterday after unveiling rainbow riches, the latest instalment of slingo, its slot machine and bingo simulator.