THE DAILY BRIEFING

TAKEOVER PROBE

The Competition & Markets Authority is to scrutinise JD Sports’ £112.3m takeover of Go Outdoors. The watchdog fears the deal may reduce competition. JD Sports also owns Blacks and Millets.

OIL SALE

Royal Dutch Shell is to sell its 20pc holding in Vivo Energy for £204m to Vitol Africa as it presses ahead with a major divestment programme. Vivo Energy was established in 2011 to distribute and market Shell-branded fuels and lubricants. The move comes after Shell sold off a 51pc stake in its Malaysian oil refining company to Malaysia Hengyuan International.

ONLINE DEMAND

More than half of Habitat’s sales are now online. Internet sales are growing at a rate of 30pc every year and account for 60pc of total revenue. ‘Five years ago there was no website. Shopping has completely revolutionised,’ said managing director Clare Askem.

DEBT BILL

Paying off the Government’s debt of £1.66trillion would cost every Briton £30,000, a report claims. Calculating national per capita debt, the World Economic Forum found the UK had the tenth highest, behind Austria at £31,639. Japan was highest at £69,934, with Ireland in second at £54,798. The US was fifth with £34,686, while the lowest was Liberia, at £22.39.

GM WOE

A General Motors joint venture in China is being fined £24m by Chinese authorities for ‘monopolistic pricing’. The US firm’s partnership with SAIC Motor Corp is accused of setting minimum prices on Cadillac, Chevy and Buick models, state media reported.

CHRISTMAS CRACKER

Festive dinners helped boost profits at frozen meals maker Cook. Its £32 Christmas lunch for two was a factor in the rise in festive sales of 9.1pc last year, according to its latest accounts. Sales rose 14pc to £45m for the Kent company, with pretax profits up 17pc to £2.7m.

STEEL DEAL

Tata Steel has bought Brahmani River Pellets Limited, a maker of iron ore pellets in India’s north-eastern state of Odisha. The £108m deal will help Tata boost capacity at its Kalinganagar steel plant.

METRO CLIMB

Assets at Metro Bank have exceeded £10bn for the first time since its launch in 2010. It also said it had more than 900,000 accounts. Shares rose 0.5pc, or 15p, to 3130p.