THE DAILY BRIEFING

■ North OIL Sea FUTURE are sufficient Reserves to from help sustain the least oil the and next gas 20 production years, new figures for at indicate. Government A report suggests published that the by overall the and remaining resources recoverable range from reserves 10 to 20bn-plus It said of production oil equivalent. could last beyond the next two decades. platform ■ CASH Crowdcube, BACKING Investment which allows savers up-and- to coming club together companies, to invest has in bagged £8.5m to expand. Londonlisted venture capital firm Draper Esprit led the funding round, while Channel 4’s growth fund and investment firm Balderton Capital also contributed. ■ TECH PARTNERSHIP Just one day after moving thousands of its employees into digital roles, Lloyds

Banking Group has announced a partnership with tech company Thought Machine. Lloyds has invested £11m in the company, which will help the bank improve its online service. ■ DIRECTOR ROLE Premier Inn owner Whitbread has appointed Frank Fiskers as a non- executive director. He is a former chief executive of Scandic Hotels and over 35 years of experience in the hospitality industry. ■ SALES BOOST Restaurant owner Fulham Shore’s sales over the past six months have been trading ahead of expectations. The group owns pizza chain Franco Manca and The Real Greek. ■ REVENUE UP Food ingredients firm Kerry Group posted a 2.2pc rise in revenues for nine months to September 30 compared with a year earlier. It expects full-year profits to be in line with expectations. ■ CONTRACT RENEWAL Outsourcing firm Capita has had a £65m contract with Westminster City Council renewed. It will continue to collect taxes and manage benefits for the council for another seven years, with the option to extend it by three years.

■ DEAL SEALED Broadband provider Hyperoptic is to speed up its rollout of cutting- edge cables in a major deal with the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government. It will spend £500m on deploying fibre optic cables across the UK, aiming to hit 2m homes by 2021 and 5m by 2024 – both a year earlier than previously planned.