DAILY BRIEFING: Shell to sell its petrol stations and lubricants business
STATIONS SOLD Oil titan Shell is selling its petrol stations and lubricants business in Argentina to Raizen, its joint venture in Brazil with Cosan, for £680million.
John Abbott, Shell’s director for Downstream, said: ‘We plan to continue thriving in Argentina’s downstream market through Raizen.’
OIL FIND AIM-listed SDX Energy has found oil at its Rabul 4 well in Egypt, where is has a 50 per cent interest.
Chief executive Paul Welch said: ‘The development activity in the Rabul area has been both rapid and successful for SDX.’
LUSTRE LOST Russia-focused gold miner Petropavlovsk has announced 112,556 ounces of gold production during the first quarter of the year, a 5 per cent decrease on the previous year.
NEW PLANES Budget airline Ryanair has ordered 25 Boeing 737 aircraft which it hopes will help increase passenger numbers to 200m by 2024.
The Max 200 Gamechanger fleet order, which is worth around £2billion, will also reduce fuel consumption by up to 16 per cent and lower noise emissions by 40 per cent.
HOT STOCK Sales of rosé wine soared by 83 per cent at Waitrose last week as shoppers stocked up for the heatwave.
The warm weather helped sales jump by 7.4 per cent in the week to April 21, with ice cream, burgers and salads also popular.
SLICE UP Jon Hendry Pickup, chief executive of Prezzo, is leaving the pizza and pasta chain following a company voluntary agreement which saw 94 sites shut – almost a third of the business.
SHOPS WOE Around 650 shops and restaurants have disappeared from the High Street so far this year or are at risk of closure, according to BBC analysis.
AUDIT ANGER Beancounter KPMG could be ditched by Wells Fargo and General Electric, two of its oldest US clients, following anger it failed to spot scandals.
FUND FEAR Financial adviser St James’s Place saw its total clients’ funds fall by 0.9 per cent to £89.9billion in the first three months of 2018 after losing cash on investments.
SHARK ATTACK A crackdown on loan sharks has been launched with £5.5million of Treasury funding.
Around 300,000 are in debt to illegal lenders, with many threatened with violence if they miss payments.