THE DAILY BRIEFING

BLACKPOOLgroup Balfour SALE Beatty Infrastructureis selling its 95pc stake in Blackpool airport – now an air ambulance base – to Blackpool council for £4.3m. explorer

OIL REVENUESoco InternationalOil and said gas it produced an average 29,600 barrels of oil per day during the first half of 2017, with revenues up to £55.8m.

KENT firm PROFITU&I Group Propertyhas made regenerationa £4.9m profit from selling two sites in Kent.

REDEMPTION DATE HammersonProperty investor and developer has announced the early redemption of £250m worth of bonds. The bonds, which were due to mature in 2020 and paid an interest rate of around 6.9pc, will be redeemed on October 20.

JAGUARGKN ALLIANCE Engineering firm is teaming up to help Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s electric car racing team. GKN experts will provide advice and new technology to the team’s Formula E race car. GKN already provides technology to every Jaguar.

DIAMOND BOOM Angola-focused Lucapa Diamond Company said that it has seen a 46pc increase in diamond discoveries over the first six months of this year, to 8,301 carats. However, it made a loss of £828,000 following adjustments and corporate expenses.

TAKING CHANCE AIM- listed Independent Oil and Gas, which has assets in the North Sea, has appointed James Chance as finance chief.

SNOOZE LOSE Losses at mattress firm Eve Sleep widened despite a boom in sales. The firm, which listed on AIM in May, posted a £9.1m loss in the six months to the end of June – more than a loss of £3.2m the year before, due to one-off costs associated with the listing. Sales jumped 126pc to £11.5m from £5.1m the year before.

SQUEEZE WARNING Homeware firm Dunelm warned British consumers were facing a spending squeeze after a drop in full-year sales. The retailer, which unceremoniously dropped chief executive John Browett last month after just two years in the job, said like-forlike sales slumped 2.4pc in the 12 months to June amid a change in customer shopping habits.

HEALTH PLEA Companies should get tax breaks for measures to improve employees’ mental wellbeing, says a former social care minister and Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb. He wants firms to get a two-year discount on local business rates for putting in place measures that are known to work.

LYNCH INVESTS British technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch has backed a company using artificial intelligence to help NHS doctors diagnose cancer more quickly. Invoke Capital, the fund run by the 52-year-old founder of Autonomy, has invested in Sophia Genetics, which is working with nine UK hospitals. The company is doing a £22.6m fundraising round.