Freezing weather drove retail sales down 1.3 per cent in April as barbecue goods and garden furniture remained stuck on stores’ shelves.

Outgoing Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King was outvoted again in his call for more monetary stimulus this month, it was revealed today.

Japanese electronics giant Sony has trimmed its sales targets for cameras, smartphones and tablet computers and said it would consider a proposal to sell up to a fifth of its films and music division.

State-backed lender Lloyds Banking Group has insisted it will not need additional help to meet regulatory demands for a bigger buffer against future financial shocks.

Soft drinks group Britvic, which is awaiting a Competition Commission ruling on its planned £1.4 billion merger with Irn-Bru maker AG Barr, is to cut hundreds of jobs after reporting a 50 per cent jump in profits.

Utility group SSE has delivered its last set of annual results under the watch of outgoing chief executive Ian Marchant, who leaves next month.

THE Footsie pushed through the 6,800 barrier yesterday to close above its 2000 and 2007 peaks and within 130 points of its all-time high set in December 1999.

Any views emerging from the Land Reform Review Group (LRRG) set up last year by the Scottish Government to take a radical look at land ownership issues were always likely to be controversial, with a history of division and dispute littering the territory.

A WARNING has come over a potential backlash to soaring beef prices as judges selected entries for the McIntosh Donald/Tesco Scotch steak competition at next month’s Royal Highland Show.

Norwegian fish producer Cermaq has failed to win enough shareholder support to buy Peruvian fish feed maker Copeinca, opening the door to a $1.7 billion (£1.1bn) takeover of Cermaq by rival Marine Harvest, the world’s largest fish farmer.

ECONOMISTS believe incoming Bank of England governor Mark Carney will have room to print further money or copy Japan’s more radical “Abenomics” after inflation fell to a seven-month low last month.

JP MORGAN chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon yesterday survived a vote by shareholders to split his role in two.

THE Competition Commission (CC)has ordered Global Radio Group to sell either Capital FM or Real Radio in Scotland following last year’s takeover of Guardian Media Group’s radio operations.

AGR Petroleum Services, the Aberdeen-based operations of Norwegian well management firm AGR, has won an £18 million contract from Genel Energy covering ten wells in north and west Africa.

Acquisitive car dealer Vertu Motors is seeking further deals after agreeing to buy the Co-operative Group’s Land Rover franchise for £31 million in cash.

Nick Buckles, the embattled chief executive of security services group G4S who was hauled before MPs last year over his firm’s handling of its London Olympics contract, is to leave at the end of the month, writes Gareth Mackie.

VOTING among over 500,000 members of Royal London is under way on its £219 million deal to acquire parts of the 
Co-operative Banking Group.

Marks & Spencer has lost a long-running trademark dispute with flower delivery network Interflora.

SO MANY have tried and failed to privatise Royal Mail that even now, with a promise of a flotation in the autumn, the process has to be treated with some caution.

The Competition Commission has confirmed that Global Radio will have to sell its Capital or Real station in central Scotland to address concerns over advertising costs.