THE DAILY BRIEFING

GOING UP Output and employment soared among businesses in England during January, with the West Midlands and the North West leading the way.

The purchasing managers’ index – with anything above 50 signifying growth – read 55.8 in January, although this was down from December’s 18-month high of 57.2.

COSY JOB Former Tesco director Jill Easterbrook is to become chief executive of cosy catalogue fashion brand Boden.

The company sells most of its clothes online but is now opening more shops around the country.

CHECKING IN Thomson owner Tui will update the market on first-quarter trading this week as the City looks for indications that a strong trend in bookings last year has continued into 2017.

The travel giant reported in September that British holidaymakers had shrugged off worries over the Brexit vote and plunging pound with strong demand for trips abroad.

LARGE CHIPS ARM Holdings has posted a 51pc surge in revenue following its £24bn takeover by Japanese tech giant Softbank last summer.

The company, which designs microchips for most of the world’s smartphones, reported fourth-quarter revenue of £402m.

WATER VOTE Workers at Dee Valley Water say they will not appeal a High Court ruling last week that allows the takeover of their company by Severn Trent.

Staff had either bought or were gifted shares so they could vote down the bid over concerns about their jobs, but a judge decided their votes should not count.

THEY’RE OFF William Hill’s biggest shareholder, Parvus Asset Management, which owns 14pc of the stock, is reportedly now pushing for a sale of the bookmaker despite having blocked a takeover by Canadian gambling firm Amaya last year.