THE DAILY BRIEFING

RECORD HIT

Passengers travelling through Gatwick Airport increased by 2.5pc in March compared with a year earlier as long haul flights soared in popularity – up 23.2pc. The busiest March on record saw 3.5m customers pass through.

ROCK RISE

Indoor climbing centre Rock Up is opening new sites at Intu’s Watford, and Rushden Lakes shopping centre in Northampton. Sales grew 87pc last year. It hopes to reach £2.5m in sales this year.

CHINA RANGE

Troubled department store House of Fraser is to sell upmarket Chinese brands previously unavailable in the UK.

SUN PROJECT

Car maker Bentley Motors has started construction of a solar-powered car port with 10,000 solar panels over its workers’ car park at its HQ in Crewe. The project will take around six months to complete and could help cover 24pc of Bentley’s electricity needs.

ACCOUNTANT SUED

A disgruntled business is suing accountant Grant Thornton over a tax avoidance scheme.

R&M Electrical used a programme developed by the bean-counter to offer its staff a low-tax award scheme that was later attacked by the tax inspectors HMRC. R&M was landed with a £692,364 tax bill as a result and blames the debacle on Grant Thornton’s negligence.

START-UP SLOWDOWN

Investment in ambitious start-ups by venture capital firms slowed sharply in the first three months of 2018. They pumped around £770m into fastgrowing companies in the quarter, according to accountant KPMG, down from £2bn in the previous three months.

BANK BACKING

UK trading tech firm Access Fintech has won a multi-million pound investment from Wall Street bank JP Morgan.

SCANDINAVIA SWITCH

Producers of bitcoin are moving to Norway and Sweden to take advantage of the cheap hydroelectric power and low temperatures, which will mean that they will spend less on cooling their computers.

MIRROR PROBE

The UK’s competition watchdog is investigating Trinity Mirror’s £126.7m deal to buy a string of titles from Richard Desmond’s media empire. The Competition and Markets Authority will weigh up whether Trinity’s purchase of the brands, such as the Daily Express and the Daily Star, will hit competition in the UK media industry.