Shopping centre owner British Land was the FTSE 100's biggest faller today.
It lost 3.30% to close the day at 556.20 after it slashed £600m from the value of its retail property portfolio.
Investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown was also a big faller, dropping 3.27% to 1,744.
Meanwhile ITV slumped 2.86% to 134.35.
FTSE 100 falls 0.19%
The FTSE 100 closed at 7,351.21, losing 14.23 or 0.19% over the day.
The wider FTSE 250 closed at 20,289.78, down 137.39 or 0.67%.
Barclay Brothers pump £75m towards Shop Direct PPI bill
Shop DirectCopyright: Shop Direct
Littlewoods and Very.co.uk group Shop Direct has secured a £75m equity injection from its owners to help cover its PPI bill.
The group's auditors warned last month Shop Direct could collapse unless it secured an extra £150m in funding to meet soaring costs of payment protection insurance mis-selling claims.
Shop Direct said its owners the Barclay brothers had pledged the full £150m, with £75m set to be pumped in by the end of November.
But it added: "We are continuing to work with our financial advisers to evaluate alternative financing options for the £75m that will initially remain undrawn."
The Barclay brothers are reviewing all of their business empire, including the group that publishes the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph newspapers.
Wall Street recovers
Wall Street has recovered from earlier losses.
The Dow Jones is now at 27,704.83, up 0.048% on the day.
The S&P is up 0.016% at 3,092.35.
The Nasdaq remains in the red, down 0.061% at 8,480.67.
Google in talks to move into banking
GoogleCopyright: Google
Google is talking to US banks about offering current accounts to its customers, according to newspaper reports.
Google’s move could further alarm lawmakers already anxious about the concentration of increasingly intimate personal information within a few big tech companies, the FT says.
Google’s new banking effort, code-named Cache, is the $900bn company’s latest attempt to crack the personal finance industry.
KPMG staff warned about 'disrespectful' toilet behaviour
KPMGCopyright: KPMG
It's not just the FCA that has had to warn staff about "shameful" toilet habits.
Bosses at accountants KPMG were forced to warn staff about a similar problem.
An email to workers at its Reading office seen by the BBC (below) warned: "We have had some incidents recently where the first floor accessible toilet sink is being used as a toilet, not for urinating.
"This is not the behaviour we expect from KPMG staff."
The email was sent to some of the 400 workers at KPMG's Theale, Reading office.
A KPMG spokesperson said: “This was an isolated
incident which occurred in one of our offices well over a year ago and was
clearly totally unacceptable.
"Where there is behaviour that falls short of the
standards we expect we are quick to call it out, as we have done here.”
BBCCopyright: BBC
Cobham buyer plans to float Rubix
CobhamCopyright: Cobham
Advent, the buyout firm trying to secure UK government approval for a £4bn takeover of defence firm Cobham, is preparing another of its British industrial assets for a float, according to Sky News.
Cheshire-based Rubix could be in line for a London float next year valuing it at more than £2.5bn.
The company distributes industrial repair kits.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the Wall Street banks, have been appointed to lead the flotation, City sources told Sky News..
British Gas wins energy price cap case
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
In news of another court case involving a former taxpayer-owned business, British Gas owner Centrica, has won a court battle with energy regulator Ofgem.
The energy supplier took legal action after the regulator announced a surprise change to the methodology used to set the energy price cap.
Centrica said the late change in determining fair energy prices for 11m homes knowingly underestimated the cost of supplying energy last winter, and would lead to an unexpected one-off cost increase of £70m for British Gas.
The case revolved around the way the watchdog calculated wholesale costs under the cap.
Ofgem said it was disappointed by the judgment but its energy price cap would remain fundamentally unchanged.
CWU action 'form of subversion'
In the High Court Mr Justice Swift said in his judgment,
concerning CWU encouraging postal workers to take their voting papers from the
frames in the delivery centre and fill them out at work: “This was an interference that was accurately described
as improper.
"Strike ballots should be postal ballots. Each voter
should receive a voting paper at home.
What CWU did was a form of subversion of the ballot
process. It was an interference with voting.”
Royal Mail court case victory over strike
Simon Gompertz
BBC personal finance correspondent
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Royal Mail has succeeded in blocking strikes planned by
postal workers, which could have affected postal voting in the election and
mail deliveries in the run up to Christmas.
The company has won an injunction in the High Court
against the strike ballot.
The Communication workers union won overwhelming backing
for industrial action altering balloting more than 100,000 post men and women
and sorting office workers.
But Royal Mail argued that contrary to industrial
relations law some staff didn’t vote in secret - that the union officials
interfered by encouraging them to open their ballot papers at work and filling
them in openly.
The Union was on the verge of announcing strike dates
which were widely expected to target postal voting in the election on 12th
December and pre Christmas deliveries.
Now it’ll have to work out whether it needs to launch a
new ballot of members or whether it can appeal today’s decision.
The company brought legal action against the Communication Workers Union (CWU) after its members voted to back walkouts by 97% on a turnout of 76% last month.
But Royal Mail argued that the ballot had "potential irregularities" and was null and void.
During a hearing on Tuesday, Royal Mail claimed the union orchestrated a "de facto workplace ballot", contrary to rules on industrial action, to maximise the turnout and the "yes" vote.
CWU lawyers argued there was no evidence of interference with the ballot and that "legitimate partisan campaigning" by the union in favour of a "yes" vote did not violate the rules.
Wall Street slips back
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
US stocks have slipped today after Donald Trump threatened to "substantially" raise tariffs if China did not strike a trade deal with the United States and on escalating tensions in Hong Kong.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 69.45 points, or 0.25%, at the open to 27,622.04.
The S&P 500 opened lower by 7.66 points, or 0.25%, at 3,084.18.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 31.07 points, or 0.37%, to 8,455.02 at the opening bell.
BreakingRoyal Mail strikes blocked
Royal Mail has won a High Court injunction against winter strikes planned by postal workers.
More as we get it.
Apple worker texts himself customer's intimate picture
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
An Apple Store employee allegedly texted himself an "extremely personal" photo of a woman from her phone after she took the device to be repaired.
Gloria Fuentes brought her phone to a shop in California last week, after removing some personal data from it.
However, she alleged via Facebook, an employee had found an intimate photo on the device and sent it to himself.
Apple said it had investigated the incident and the worker was no longer associated with the company.
No 'sweetening' of Just Eat bid
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
The latest on that long-running battle for food delivery firm Just Eat.
Takeaway.com boss Jitse Groen said today he would not increase the company's £4.3bn offer, despite yesterday's confirmation of a higher unsolicited bid from larger rival Prosus.
Prosus confirmed its 710p per share cash offer for Just Eat, which values it at £4.9bn, 12% more than Takeaway.com's offer.
Asked whether he would sweeten the bid, Groen told Reuters: “no”.
Tullow shares sink 25% on Guyana disappointment
Tullow oilCopyright: Tullow oil
Shares in Tullow Oil are down 25% today, falling to 155.60, a two-year low.
The reason? The London-listed explorer warned that two 'significant discoveries' in waters off Guyana contained heavy oil, prompting warnings that the projects would be difficult to commercialise.
Analysis into the quality at the Jethro and Joe discoveries off the coast of the South American country revealed the oil was heavy crudes with a high sulphur content, Tullow said.
Analysts at JPMorgan Cazenove said in a note that the oil quality “risks the commerciality of both prospects despite excellent reservoir quality”.
Trump trumpets about Trumpers
The US President has other things on his mind today than the economy, as shown by his latest tweeting...
Live Reporting
By Bill Wilson and Simon Read
All times stated are UK
Good night
That's it for today on Business Live.
We'll be with you at 6am tomorrow morning to bring you all the latest breaking news and analysis from the business world.
CWU voes to fight on against Royal Mail
That row between Royal Mail and the CWU looks set to continue...
British Land the biggest FTSE 100 faller
Shopping centre owner British Land was the FTSE 100's biggest faller today.
It lost 3.30% to close the day at 556.20 after it slashed £600m from the value of its retail property portfolio.
Investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown was also a big faller, dropping 3.27% to 1,744.
Meanwhile ITV slumped 2.86% to 134.35.
FTSE 100 falls 0.19%
The FTSE 100 closed at 7,351.21, losing 14.23 or 0.19% over the day.
The wider FTSE 250 closed at 20,289.78, down 137.39 or 0.67%.
Barclay Brothers pump £75m towards Shop Direct PPI bill
Littlewoods and Very.co.uk group Shop Direct has secured a £75m equity injection from its owners to help cover its PPI bill.
The group's auditors warned last month Shop Direct could collapse unless it secured an extra £150m in funding to meet soaring costs of payment protection insurance mis-selling claims.
Shop Direct said its owners the Barclay brothers had pledged the full £150m, with £75m set to be pumped in by the end of November.
But it added: "We are continuing to work with our financial advisers to evaluate alternative financing options for the £75m that will initially remain undrawn."
The Barclay brothers are reviewing all of their business empire, including the group that publishes the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph newspapers.
Wall Street recovers
Wall Street has recovered from earlier losses.
The Dow Jones is now at 27,704.83, up 0.048% on the day.
The S&P is up 0.016% at 3,092.35.
The Nasdaq remains in the red, down 0.061% at 8,480.67.
Google in talks to move into banking
Google is talking to US banks about offering current accounts to its customers, according to newspaper reports.
Google’s move could further alarm lawmakers already anxious about the concentration of increasingly intimate personal information within a few big tech companies, the FT says.
Google’s new banking effort, code-named Cache, is the $900bn company’s latest attempt to crack the personal finance industry.
It announced Google Wallet in 2011 and launched Google Pay in the UK in 2016.
KPMG staff warned about 'disrespectful' toilet behaviour
It's not just the FCA that has had to warn staff about "shameful" toilet habits.
Bosses at accountants KPMG were forced to warn staff about a similar problem.
An email to workers at its Reading office seen by the BBC (below) warned: "We have had some incidents recently where the first floor accessible toilet sink is being used as a toilet, not for urinating.
"This is not the behaviour we expect from KPMG staff."
The email was sent to some of the 400 workers at KPMG's Theale, Reading office.
A KPMG spokesperson said: “This was an isolated incident which occurred in one of our offices well over a year ago and was clearly totally unacceptable.
"Where there is behaviour that falls short of the standards we expect we are quick to call it out, as we have done here.”
Cobham buyer plans to float Rubix
Advent, the buyout firm trying to secure UK government approval for a £4bn takeover of defence firm Cobham, is preparing another of its British industrial assets for a float, according to Sky News.
Cheshire-based Rubix could be in line for a London float next year valuing it at more than £2.5bn.
The company distributes industrial repair kits.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the Wall Street banks, have been appointed to lead the flotation, City sources told Sky News..
British Gas wins energy price cap case
In news of another court case involving a former taxpayer-owned business, British Gas owner Centrica, has won a court battle with energy regulator Ofgem.
The energy supplier took legal action after the regulator announced a surprise change to the methodology used to set the energy price cap.
Centrica said the late change in determining fair energy prices for 11m homes knowingly underestimated the cost of supplying energy last winter, and would lead to an unexpected one-off cost increase of £70m for British Gas.
The case revolved around the way the watchdog calculated wholesale costs under the cap.
Ofgem said it was disappointed by the judgment but its energy price cap would remain fundamentally unchanged.
CWU action 'form of subversion'
In the High Court Mr Justice Swift said in his judgment, concerning CWU encouraging postal workers to take their voting papers from the frames in the delivery centre and fill them out at work: “This was an interference that was accurately described as improper.
"Strike ballots should be postal ballots. Each voter should receive a voting paper at home.
What CWU did was a form of subversion of the ballot process. It was an interference with voting.”
Royal Mail court case victory over strike
Simon Gompertz
BBC personal finance correspondent
Royal Mail has succeeded in blocking strikes planned by postal workers, which could have affected postal voting in the election and mail deliveries in the run up to Christmas.
The company has won an injunction in the High Court against the strike ballot.
The Communication workers union won overwhelming backing for industrial action altering balloting more than 100,000 post men and women and sorting office workers.
But Royal Mail argued that contrary to industrial relations law some staff didn’t vote in secret - that the union officials interfered by encouraging them to open their ballot papers at work and filling them in openly.
The Union was on the verge of announcing strike dates which were widely expected to target postal voting in the election on 12th December and pre Christmas deliveries.
Now it’ll have to work out whether it needs to launch a new ballot of members or whether it can appeal today’s decision.
'110,000 workers v the establishment'
The CWU tweets...
No Christmas post strike
More on that Royal Mail High Court victory.
The company brought legal action against the Communication Workers Union (CWU) after its members voted to back walkouts by 97% on a turnout of 76% last month.
But Royal Mail argued that the ballot had "potential irregularities" and was null and void.
During a hearing on Tuesday, Royal Mail claimed the union orchestrated a "de facto workplace ballot", contrary to rules on industrial action, to maximise the turnout and the "yes" vote.
CWU lawyers argued there was no evidence of interference with the ballot and that "legitimate partisan campaigning" by the union in favour of a "yes" vote did not violate the rules.
Wall Street slips back
US stocks have slipped today after Donald Trump threatened to "substantially" raise tariffs if China did not strike a trade deal with the United States and on escalating tensions in Hong Kong.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 69.45 points, or 0.25%, at the open to 27,622.04.
The S&P 500 opened lower by 7.66 points, or 0.25%, at 3,084.18.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 31.07 points, or 0.37%, to 8,455.02 at the opening bell.
BreakingRoyal Mail strikes blocked
Royal Mail has won a High Court injunction against winter strikes planned by postal workers.
More as we get it.
Apple worker texts himself customer's intimate picture
An Apple Store employee allegedly texted himself an "extremely personal" photo of a woman from her phone after she took the device to be repaired.
Gloria Fuentes brought her phone to a shop in California last week, after removing some personal data from it.
However, she alleged via Facebook, an employee had found an intimate photo on the device and sent it to himself.
Apple said it had investigated the incident and the worker was no longer associated with the company.
No 'sweetening' of Just Eat bid
The latest on that long-running battle for food delivery firm Just Eat.
Takeaway.com boss Jitse Groen said today he would not increase the company's £4.3bn offer, despite yesterday's confirmation of a higher unsolicited bid from larger rival Prosus.
Prosus confirmed its 710p per share cash offer for Just Eat, which values it at £4.9bn, 12% more than Takeaway.com's offer.
Asked whether he would sweeten the bid, Groen told Reuters: “no”.
Tullow shares sink 25% on Guyana disappointment
Shares in Tullow Oil are down 25% today, falling to 155.60, a two-year low.
The reason? The London-listed explorer warned that two 'significant discoveries' in waters off Guyana contained heavy oil, prompting warnings that the projects would be difficult to commercialise.
Analysis into the quality at the Jethro and Joe discoveries off the coast of the South American country revealed the oil was heavy crudes with a high sulphur content, Tullow said.
Analysts at JPMorgan Cazenove said in a note that the oil quality “risks the commerciality of both prospects despite excellent reservoir quality”.
Trump trumpets about Trumpers
The US President has other things on his mind today than the economy, as shown by his latest tweeting...
If you're as confused by that as we are, then maybe his next tweet will help...