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Jamie Oliver's restaurant group in administration
Tesco Bank scraps mortgage lending
Nationwide profits falls
WH Smith chief to leave
Image source, Getty ImagesNiki Lauda, who has died aged 70, was a three-time Formula 1 world champion, non-executive chairman of the world champion Mercedes team, and one of the biggest names in motorsport.
He was also a pilot and successful businessman, who set up two airlines and continued to occasionally captain their planes into his late 60s.
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Image source, Getty ImagesShareholders have overwhelmingly voted for a climate change resolution at the BP's AGM.
The resolution, which was proposed by a group of investors called Climate Action 100+, will mean the oil giant must set out a business strategy consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement to keep global warming to well below 2 degrees centigrade.
Stephanie Pfeifer, a member of the global Climate Action 100+ steering committee, said investors "will pay close attention to how it addresses emissions across its full value chain and expect to see clear evidence that any future material capex investment is consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement."
Image source, MacReburThe plastic roads made by MacRebur look just like a traditional surface
A housebuilder has built a road out of plastic waste, in what it claims is a UK first.
Springfield Properties boss Innes Smith said its installation at a site in Elgin in Scotland would help tackle the country's "plastic waste epidemic".
The design reduces the use of bitumen, a form of crude oil used to make roads.
It has also been claimed the plastic surface is stronger than existing ones and could reduce potholes.
The BBC personal finance correspondent tweets from Metro Bank's AGM:
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Image source, Getty ImagesTesco’s withdrawal from the mortgage market this morning comes as something of a shock," reckons David Hollingworth of L&C Mortgages.
He says it shows how competitive the market is at the moment.
"It seems that the pressure on margins reached the point of forcing a major rethink in strategy on what for many would be seen as a core product.
"Although we’ve seen some smaller specialist lenders struggle to achieve the margin they wanted (the withdrawal of Secure Trust Bank for example) this is a bigger, mainstream mortgage brand that has been very competitive on occasion.
It would be bad news for the market and for consumers if this was to be a sign of things to come, as a reduction in lender numbers does not help drive wider choice for borrowers."
Are today's figures from Halfords bad news from the firm? Not really, reckons Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. She said:
Quote MessageHalfords’ saving grace is its position as a specialist, the likes of Amazon and other online competitors can’t compete with the face-to-face service on offer. The fact is, the internet can’t fix your headlights for you, or offer personal recommendations on the right bike for your child. The other piece of good news is costs have been well controlled, meaning even as trading conditions have become more difficult, the core of the business has been able to keep its head above water.
The FTSE 100 has remained in healthy spirits today and is currently up 48.37 at 7359.25.
Coca-Cola is the biggest climber, bubbling up 4% to 2,779.50.
Sage Group has risen 3.11% to 761.70 and Micro Focus is up 3.03% to 1,962.20.
Image source, Getty ImagesUrban Outfitters is launching a clothes rental service in the US, according to the Wall Street Journal, external.
For $88 a month shoppers will be allowed to borrow six items from its chain of stores and its other brands, Free People and Anthropologie, the report said.
Urban Outfitters will be competing with other similar services, including Rent the Runway, which for $69 a month for the first month offers you four items.
Image source, Getty ImagesChina Eastern Airlines has formally requested that Boeing pay compensation for the grounding of the 737 Max aircraft.
China Eastern, which has 14 of the aircraft, has also delayed future deliveries of new Max jets.
The state-run People's Daily newspaper carried this quote from the airline: "The grounding of 737 MAX aircraft since March 11, 2019 has caused relatively big losses to China Eastern.
"With the passing of time, related losses will further expand," the paper said.
Boeing has come up with a fix for the problems that are thought to have caused the crashes of two 737 Max aircraft.
The Federal Aviation Authority is hosting a meeting of regulators around the world on Thursday to review the proposals from Boeing.
Image source, Getty ImagesWhile the US has taken a hard line on Huawei, other countries are not so sure.
On Friday the US made it difficult for American companies to trade with Huawei, blaming national security concerns.
It's a big issue as Huawei is considered the world's leading maker of the kit needed to build the next generation of mobile phone networks, known as 5G.
Today French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said a decision on 5G would be based on security and performance of networks and said no individual operator would be made unwelcome.
And last week President Macron said France did not intend to block Huawei.
Jamie Oliver has spoken out about the collapse of his restaurant chain. He said:
Quote MessageI am deeply saddened by this outcome and would like to thank all of the staff and our suppliers who have put their hearts and souls into this business for over a decade. I appreciate how difficult this is for everyone affected. I would also like to thank all the customers who have enjoyed and supported us over the last decade, it's been a real pleasure serving you. We launched Jamie's Italian in 2008 with the intention of positively disrupting mid-market dining in the UK high street, with great value and much higher quality ingredients, best-in-class animal welfare standards and an amazing team who shared my passion for great food and service. And we did exactly that.
Image source, Majestic WineMajestic Wine has confirmed that a number of potential buyers are interested in its retail business.
The company kicked off a sale process last month and is rumoured to be on the market for £100m.
The group announced in March that it would rebrand as Naked Wines, the name of its online business, which has grown rapidly since it was acquired by Majestic in 2015.
Shares in the company climbed 4.7% on the news.
Image source, Getty ImagesWatches of Switzerland plans a market capitalisation of up to £660m in its upcoming IPO.
The UK’s largest luxury watch retailer - which accounted for half of all Rolex timepieces sold in the UK in 2018 - intends to sell shares in a range between 250-277p each, which would value the firm at between £610m and £660m.
It plans to raise at least £200m and use the proceeds to reduce leverage to about £120m of net debt, it said.
Image source, Bloomsbury PublishingBloomsbury Publishing full-year results beat market expectations.
Pre-tax profit at the Harry Potter publisher grew 9% to £14.4m, up from £13.2m the year before.
Chief executive Nigel Newton said the group had enjoyed “a very strong year”.
He said: “We had an exceptional result in our Adult division, where profit before tax and highlighted items grew by £1.1m, in a year in which we had many novels, works of narrative non-fiction and cookery titles including Fresh Start by Tom Kerridge, hit the bestseller lists in our core publishing area."
Image source, Getty ImagesJamie Oliver's restaurant chain is on the brink of collapse, putting 1,300 jobs at risk, according to Sky News.
It says KPMG will handle an administration process that is expected to be announced later today, following a sale process for the company's 25 UK sites.
Image source, Getty ImagesTesco has withdrawn from the UK mortgage market. Here's some reaction from Andrew Montlake, from the mortgage broker Coreco.
“With transaction levels painfully low, the mortgage market has never been as competitive as it is right now.
"Margins are being squeezed as rates race to the bottom in a bid for market share and Tesco appear to be saying that the numbers no longer stack up for them.
“Lenders have to maintain a margin but at the same time they also need to maintain a responsible level of underwriting and risk.
"It is difficult for challenger banks to maintain this level of competitiveness and to make inroads into the market."
Image source, PANorthern Ireland's economy was the slowest growing of any UK region in the first quarter of 2019, estimates suggest.
Figures from the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE) put year-on-year growth at 0.7%.
That compares with an average UK growth rate of 1.5% and a growth in London of 2.7%.
ESCoE is a consortium of research institutions that work with the Office for National Statistics.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, external (OECD) has raised its growth forecast for the UK to 1.2% this year, up from 0.8%.
But that would still be the weakest growth in ten years.
It also cut its forecast for world growth to 3.2% this year.
Laurence Boone, chief economist at the OECD, said: "The fragile global economy is being destabilised by trade tensions.
"Growth is stabilising, but the economy is weak and there are very serious risks on the horizon.
"Governments need to work harder together to ensure a return to stronger and more sustainable growth."
Image source, Getty ImagesGold and sliver miner Fresnillo said it expects 2019 to be "a more challenging year" than 2018, with a number of industry variables "potentially working against us".
In a statement ahead of the company's annual shareholder meeting, Fresnillo said "internal conditions in the long-term remain sound".
"We maintain our confidence in Mexico and will keep investing in the projects under exploration.
"As we reported in April, first quarter production was down as expected on the same period last year, though slightly weaker than anticipated," the company said.