THE DAILY BRIEFING

■ SPIN OFF shipping group AP Moller-Maersk has announced plans to spin off its drilling business into a separate s listed company. it is preparing Maersk Drilling for a listing in Copenhagen in 2019, which has involved securing £1.2bn in n debt financing from international banks. The spin-off is part of plans to focus on its transport and logistics i operations. it expects proceeds from fr the disposals of its oil, tankers and a drilling units to total £4bn.

■ FRENCH WOES inflation in France is higher than in the UK, undermining claims british families are bearing the brunt of rising prices because b of brexit. inflation in France is 2.6pc, compared with 2.5pc in the UK, official figures show. Across A the eurozone it is 2.1pc.

■ CRUISE CONTROL The world’s largest la independent cruise port operator o Global P orts Holding posted a 13.7pc jump in sales to £44.5m during the six months to June 30. Losses in the period narrowed to £2.8m from £5.3m a year earlier.

■ ENERGY BOOST Energy provider Bulb has secured £60m of investment from private equity firms DST Global and Magnetar Capital to use to ramp up expansion.

■ APPLE HACK A 16-year-old boy has pleaded guilty in Australia to hacking into Apple’s computer systems in an attempt to get a job there. The unnamed boy downloaded files and saved them into a folder named ‘hacky hack hack’.

■ CHINA ROW boss of Google sundar Pichai has sought to calm angry staff who have protested against a plan to launch a censored version of its services in China. he told staff: ‘We are not close to launching a search product in China.’

■ VENDING DEAL self-service coffee and convenience food operator Selecta Group has snapped up vending service provider Express Vending for an undisclosed amount.