THE DAILY BRIEFING

VALUE DIPS Meadowhall shopping centre owner British Land swung to a £42m loss in the six months to the end of September as the retail sector struggles. The value of its estate fell 6.3pc to £12.9bn.

DIVI RISES Construction equipment firm Speedy Hire hiked its interim dividend by a fifth to 0.6p per share after group revenue jumped 6pc to £195m in the six months to September 30. BLACK FRIDAY Sales during the Black Friday weekend are forecast to grow 3.1pc to £10.4bn in the UK compared with a year earlier according to Globaldata. Fashion and beauty is expected to be the best performing sector.

OFFICE INVESTMENT office space firm WeWork is to receive £2.3bn from Japan’s Softbank. The deal allows Softbank to buy shares in the US firm it values at £32bn.

CUTS DRIVE Cost- cutting is to be stepped up at Deutsche Bank. The flagging German lender is to trim expenses by around £18bn over the next three years but is looking to save more.

UNION WIN luxury taxi firm Addison Lee has lost a fight over workers’ rights. it said drivers were self- employed contractors, not workers, but the GMB union won a court case and yesterday that decision was upheld at a tribunal. BOSS NAMED South african Cornelius louwrens has been appointed as the new boss of industrialist Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel UK, replacing Jon Bolton. BANK DEAL digital bank Starling has inked a deal to let customers withdraw and deposit cash at 11,500 Post office branches.

HQ SALE The Financial Times newspaper base in london has been sold for £115m to M&G Real estate. advertising giants WPP are set to lease one Southwark Bridge as the FT moves across the city.

PROTEIN SWOOP online nutritionists Science in Sport has bought Phd nutrition, a protein powder maker, for £32m from the investment arm of Boots’ owner Walgreens Boots alliance.

RENTAL BUYOUT Rented housing group Grainger is set to take control of the £696m property portfolio it was managing with dutch pension fund APG. it will pay £396m to buy out APG.