THE DAILY BRIEFING

■ Carlsberg BREWER have FLAT plunged Profits more than at 70pc abuse after in Russia a crackdown took the on fizz alcohol out of beer Cider-maker sales. The Tuborg saw annual and Somersby net profits sink to £155m from £536.1m. group

■ DISNEY Disney LAUNCH has continued Entertainment its push into new on-demand online entertainment version of its with ESPN a sports (£3.60) channel. service will The be $4.99-a-month its first major foray into Netflix-style streaming.

■ POWER SWOOP Infrastructure firm J Murphy and Sons has bought bust builder Carillion’s power framework business for an undisclosed sum. Murphy will take on Carillion’s work refurbishing and replacing parts of National Grid’s electricity network in England and Wales. around 22 employees will be taken on. ■ RECORD SUM a record £8.3bn was pumped into British start-ups in 2017, according to analysts at research firm Beauhurst.

■ LENDING RISE Swedish lender Handelsbanken saw lending to UK customers jump 12pc to £19.2bn last year. Deposits at its 208 British branches rose 27pc to £13.4bn.

■ HOUSING FALL London’s most exclusive houses are selling for an average 10pc less than their asking price as a property slump continues at the top end of the market, says research by Lonres.

■ PLANTS BLOOM Sales of house plants have shot up at Waitrose with 40pc more being spent by customers in the week to February.

■ HEALTH MOVE Support services firm DCC is buying US tablet maker Elite one Source Nutritional Services for £35.9m, entering the US healthcare market for the first time. DCC has spent £670m on acquisitions so far this financial year.

■ PROFITS HIT Specialty chemicals group Johnson Matthey is to take a £50m hit to annual profits after settling a contract dispute lawsuit in the US. Meanwhile it is expecting a £30m immediate boost from changes to tax law in the US. The firm said its outlook for the year was unchanged.

■ ROYALTY ROSE Mining firm Anglo Pacific expects a 90pc increase in royalty income for the year ending December 31, 2017, from £19.7m to £30.7m – a record. The board is recommending a final dividend increase of 1p to 2.5p.