THE DAILY BRIEFING
■ SWEDISH PAL Ken Howery, the co- founder of Paypal, has been named as Donald Trump’s new ambassador to Sweden. The 42-year- old is a close associate of Peter Thiel, another of the firm’s co-founders and a supporter of the President.
■ QUOTA CONCERN Video streaming giant Netflix has criticised EU rules which will force it to produce a certain amount of shows on the Continent.
The US firm said the move could hurt quality. It added: ‘We’d prefer to focus on making our service great for our members, which would include producing local content, rather than on satisfying quotas.’
■ SINGLES’ APPEAL The company that provides diet advice to Manchester United footballers and Team Sky cyclists, Science in Sport, has launched an online shop through Chinese web retailer Alibaba ahead of the country’s Singles’ Day sales bonanza in November.
It will give the firm, which makes sports drink powders and protein bars, access to China’s £550bn sports market. Alibaba raked in £19bn in sales on Singles’ Day last year. Shares rose 3.5pc, or 2.5p, to 74p.
■ POWER MOVE FTSE 250-listed power generator ContourGlobal is in talks with Scottish Power’s Spanish owner Iberdrola to buy a 50megawatt solar power plant in Spain. ContourGlobal shares fell 2.1pc, or 3.7p, to 171.3p.
■ MINE SPUTTERS Mining giant BHP Billiton expects to produce less copper this year following technical problems at a mine in Australia and a fire at a Chilean site.
It has trimmed its copper production forecast by 3pc to between 1.6m and 1.7m tons, despite reporting a 2pc increase in the first quarter.
Strong Chinese demand boosted first-quarter iron ore production by 8pc, it said in an update. Shares fell 1pc, or 16p, to 1572.6p.
■ NORWAY DEAL Southeastern railway owner Go-Ahead has won an eight-year contract to provide rail services in and around Oslo. The deal will begin in December next year and is the first rail contract to be offered by the Scandinavian country.
■ TURNAROUND CHIEF DIY chain Homebase has appointed former HMV boss Ian Topping as chairman as it ploughs ahead with its turnaround plan. HMV is owned by turnaround specialist Hilco, which bought Homebase for £1 in May.