Business news in brief: Ladbrokes | H&M | Rolls-Royce | Harper Macleod | Siemens | Ford

Ladbrokes – The bookmaker is to recruit at least 200 apprentices across Scotland, London and South Yorkshire, providing training in customer service, literacy and numeracy.

• H&M – Like–for–like sales at the fashion retailer fell 3 per cent in February, the fifth consecutive month of year–on–year declines, as it struggled against weak consumer spending across Europe and a strong rise in value of the Swedish krona.

• Rolls-Royce – The aero engine maker opened a £50m service centre at Heathrow. The 95,000sq ft facility has an engine workshop four times larger than its previous Hatton Cross centre.

• Harper Macleod – The law firm retained its contract to provide Forestry Commission Scotland with legal services in relation to property management for at least a further three years.

• Siemens – Next month’s planned flotation of the German engineering giant’s Osram lighting division has been delayed by a legal challenge from a group of investors who claim they had problems hearing proceedings at the firm’s annual meeting.

• Ford – Chief executive Alan Mulally saw his total pay package fall to $21m (£13.9m) in 2012, from $29.5m the previous year, after the US car maker missed its market share targets and lost $1.8bn in Europe. It expects to lose $2bn in the region this year.