THE DAILY BRIEFING
FIN CITY edinburgh will be overtaken by Manchester to become the country’s second-largest finance hub if it continues to grow at the current pace, a study by The City
UK has found. Manchester employed 51,945 in finance – just 940 fewer than the Scottish capital.
GOING UP the number of passengers travelling with Easyjet increased 2.3pc to 7.9m last month compared to a year earlier.
TENANT SQUEEZE London rents rose an average 0.1pc in the 12 months to June – the first annual growth since December 2016. the average in the capital is now £1,884 compared to £774 for the rest of Britain. Research by buy-to-let firm
Landbay found, excluding London, rents grew 0.4pc.
MASSES MANAGED Savers pumped an extra £1.9bn into Britishbased funds in May, according to the Investment Association trade group – taking the total managed by the industry to £1.2trillion.
SHARED SPACE Food delivery company Deliveroo has opened a ‘shared kitchen’ in Paris. the kitchens, first launched in London, give restaurants a base to serve surrounding neighbourhoods.
AI KILLER An artificial intelligence program designed by Londonbased Deepmind has beaten humans in a video game competition. It defeated rivals in a game of Quake III, a shooting game released in 1999.
CHINA DEAL the owner of High Street chemist Boots has completed the purchase of a 40pc stake in Chinese pharmacy chain Guo Da Drug Store for £314m. TURKISH VENTURE WPP-owned Groupm has launched a new digital marketing agency with a turkish firm. the venture with Zer, part of Koc Group, will be called Ingage.
PLANE PARTNERS Aeroplane maker Airbus has boosted its research on flight technology with Chinese partners. Its Airbus Beijing engineering Centre has opened a lab with the National Centre for Nanoscience and technology of China. MINE LOAN Lithium miner Bacanora Minerals has secured £113m credit to help develop its Sonora project in Mexico.
STRIKE SET the Unite union has announced strikes on total’s oil and gas rigs in the North Sea in a dispute over wages. Workers at the elgin, Dunbar and Alwyn platforms plan to down tools over five days this month and next.