Wednesday business round-up: Five key stories of the day

Menzies said its chief executive had resigned for 'personal reasons'

Jeremy Stafford resigned as chief executive of logistics group John Menzies, little more than a year after taking up the post. The Edinburgh-based baggage handler and newspaper distributor said Stafford, the former head of outsourcing group Serco’s UK and Europe arm who took up the role in October 2014, had tendered his resignation “for personal reasons”.

Shares in North Sea driller Independent Oil & Gas (IOG) slumped as it delayed plans to drill an appraisal well at the Skipper discovery and warned it would face an “urgent funding requirement” if it did not secure a £10 million loan.

Energy Assets, the gas meter supplier, said its full-year results should live up to hopes after reporting a surge in revenues. The Livingston-based group, which last month struck a £5m deal to buy Clackmannanshire utility networks company Blyth, said total revenues for the nine months to 31 December jumped 22 per cent to £31.5m.

Supermarket group Sainsbury’s insisted it had “traded well” over the festive quarter, despite revealing a dip in takings. The chain said like-for-like sales in the 15 weeks to 9 January were down 0.8 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier as it faced up to “highly competitive” conditions in the sector.

Clyde Valley Housing Association secured a £30m funding facility to build more than 500 new homes in central Scotland over the next five years. The association, which owns and manages more than 3,000 homes in Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire, agreed the revolving credit facility with lenders Bank of Scotland and Barclays.