THE DAILY BRIEFING
TAX PAIN Simply Be owner N Brown is braced for a £9m hit after a dispute with the taxman.
The retailer said its marketing costs will be between £6m and £9m higher from 2020 due to irrecoverable VAT.
N Brown had argued it should be reimbursed £43.8m it paid on marketing costs for the sale of goods.
But HM Revenue & Customs said the VAT paid by NBrown relates to both sale of goods and financial services. VAT cannot be claimed back on financial services. N Brown said it planned to appeal.
LOSING GAME Video game developer Codemasters posted a £10m fall in revenues to £39.7m in the six months to September 30 as it released fewer games than a year earlier. The company plunged to a £3m loss compared with a £6.4m profit in 2017.
STORE SLUMP Sales at John Lewis Partnership tumbled 3.3pc last week as an 8.3pc fall in sales at Waitrose dragged on the group’s performance.
The company blamed Waitrose’s poor sales on the unseasonably mild weather and the fact it was price matching against a competitor during the same week a year earlier.
KAZAKH LISTING Nuclear fuel uranium producer Kazatomprom listed on the London Stock Exchange yesterday. The listing valued the company at £2.3bn.
AMERICAN BOOST A strong performance in oil and gas and posthurricane rentals lifted temporary power equipment supplier Aggreko’s North American revenue by 32pc in the first nine months. This helped boost group revenue by 11pc.
5G START BT’s mobile arm EE will roll out 5G mobile services to 16 cities next year, including London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast.
BRAZIL BLUES Credit data group Experian expects full-year sales to come in at the top end of its forecasts, driven by strong performance in its North American business.
However, the company said profits fell to £363m in the six months to September 30, from £382m last year, partly due to currency costs on the Brazilian real.
ORDER JOY Scientific tools maker Oxford Instruments has increased the half-year dividend from 3.7p to 3.8p after its order book increased. The firm said orders rose 10.3pc to £162.9m for the six months to September 30 – however, profits fell 8.7pc to £11.6m.