# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Electric carmaker Tesla pushed back targets for its new Model 3 car, admitting it's months behind schedule.

Tesla said it would now produce 5,000 of the cars each week by early 2018, instead of December.

The new target emerged as Tesla posted its biggest quarterly loss ever, sending its shares down more than 5% in after-hours trading.

Tesla made net losses of $619m (£468m) in the three months to 30 September, nearly double the previous quarter.

A year earlier, the firm made a profit of $21.9m. The losses were bigger than usual because Tesla has been focused on ramping up production of its Model 3 sedan.

The carmaker is hoping to attract mass market interest in the vehicle which is priced at $35,000, about half the cost of its Model S car.

Tesla said it had produced just 260 of the Model 3 cars in the third quarter, less than a fifth of the 1,500 vehicles it had planned to build.

In a statement the company said it continued "to make significant progress each week in fixing Model 3 bottlenecks".

"The nature of manufacturing challenges during a ramp such as this makes it difficult to predict exactly how long it will take for all bottlenecks to be cleared or when new ones will appear", it said.

Gigafactory delays

Tesla said the main constraint was that progress had slowed at its Gigafactory in Nevada where its battery modules are assembled, and part of the production process has needed to be redesigned.

"I was really depressed about three or four weeks ago," chief executive Elon Musk said, adding that he is now optimistic because it is clear what changes need to be made.

But there could be further problems ahead.

While quarterly revenues rose about 30% from a year ago to nearly $3bn, Tesla continues to burn through cash.

The firm said it expected capital expenditures of $1bn in the fourth quarter, bringing its total investments for the second half of the year to $2bn.

And it could face heavy new demands for cash given the delays with the Model 3 and plans for new vehicles.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Electric carmaker Tesla pushed back targets for its new Model 3 car, admitting it's months behind schedule. Tesla said it would now produce 5,000 of the cars each week by early 2018, instead of December. The new target emerged as Tesla posted its biggest quarterly loss ever, sending its shares down more than 5% in after-hours trading.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Bitcoin is surging to an all-time high following an announcement by CME Group that it plans to launch futures in the currency by the end of the financial year.

The digital cash hit a value of over £4,780 ($6,338) on Tuesday afternoon - an increase of almost 50% since September - with gains of more than 710% since Halloween in 2016.

It followed an announcement by CME, the world's largest futures market operator, saying that it plans to sell the derivative based on the value of Bitcoin in the future.

The Bitcoin futures contract will be settled in cash at an exchange based upon CME's own Bitcoin reference rate, which values the cryptocurrency against the dollar.

Its value has recovered since September when a crackdown in China, prompted by fears of fraud connected to similar technologies, caused it to crash below £2,200 ($3,000).

It has come a long way since 22 July 2010, when Laszlo Hanyecz made the first purchase of physical goods using Bitcoin, spending 10,000 on two pizzas.

The same amount today would cover a Notting Hill mansion valued at £17m - and despite fears of a bubble, the sellers of 4 Stanley Gardens are only accepting bids in the digital cash.

Bitcoin was presented to the world as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system nine years ago when a person or group known as "Satoshi Nakamoto" presented a white paper describing the cash to a cryptography mailing list.

The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is unknown - and although a number of individuals have claimed to have been behind the creation of Bitcoin, their claims have not withstood rigorous analysis.

Fears of a bubble and the difficulties of describing Bitcoin in terms of traditional asset classes have drawn much criticism from onlookers.

Its obvious volatility and popularity with dark web marketplaces offering illicit items has made many investors wary.

Last month the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, described Bitcoin as a "fraud" and told his company's investors it was "worse than tulip bulbs".

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Bitcoin hits new high as CME Group plans a futures market

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Bitcoin is surging to an all-time high following an announcement by CME Group that it plans to launch futures in the currency by the end of the financial year. The digital cash hit a value of over £4,780 ($6,338) on Tuesday afternoon - an increase of almost 50% since September - with gains of more than 710% since Halloween in 2016.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Britain's factories enjoyed better-than-expected growth last month, cementing expectations that the Bank of England will deliver the first interest rate hike in a decade.

Closely-watched figures from the IHS Markit/CIPS manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed the sector enjoyed a brisk start to the fourth quarter.

Firms also saw rising price pressures - further adding to the ammunition for hawks on the Bank's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) as they seek to keep a lid on inflation.

The PMI reading - where the 50 mark separates growth from contraction - rose to 56.3 in October, up from 56.0 in September.

Sterling ticked slightly higher on the figures but appeared to have been held back from further gains by traders waiting to see the outcome of Thursday's MPC decision.

The report said manufacturers benefited from strong conditions in the UK market as well as export growth, partly helped by the weakness of sterling - which is still more than 10% lower than before the Brexit vote and has made UK goods cheaper for overseas customers.

The latest figures suggested the sector was continuing to expand at a "solid" quarterly pace of nearly 1%.

Rob Dobson, director at IHS Markit, said: "UK manufacturing made an impressive start to the final quarter of 2017 as increased inflows of new work encouraged firms to ramp up production once again.

"The continued robust health of manufacturing and rising price pressures will help cement expectations of the Bank of England hiking interest rates."

But James Smith, economist at ING Bank, said the overall post-referendum increase in output was still lower than what might have been expected given the boost to exports from the weak pound.

Meanwhile, the dominant services sector continued to struggle, consumers were being squeezed by inflation and Brexit uncertainty was weighing on investment, he added.

Mr Smith said that while none of that was likely to stop a rate hike, the uncertain outlook meant it looked unlikely that this would "evolve into a meaningful tightening cycle" of a series of rate rises.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Manufacturing figures cement rate rise expectations

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Britain's factories enjoyed better-than-expected growth last month, cementing expectations that the Bank of England will deliver the first interest rate hike in a decade. Closely-watched figures from the IHS Markit/CIPS manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed the sector enjoyed a brisk start to the fourth quarter.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Shares in Next have fallen sharply after the high street fashion chain warned trading remained "extremely volatile" and forecast a sales fall over the crucial Christmas period.

The third quarter update also dragged on rivals Marks and Spencer as well as Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF), in a retail sector that faces pressure from a squeeze on household incomes.

Next said full-price sales rose by a lower than expected 1.3% in the 13 weeks to 29 October as mild weather hit demand for warm clothes towards the end of the period - though it was an improvement on the second quarter's 0.7% rise.

"Sales performance has remained extremely volatile and is highly dependent on the seasonality of the weather," the group said.

Shares were more than 9% lower by the close, with M&S down almost 4.5% and ABF sliding 2.1%.

The update came as figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed shop prices continuing to fall, putting particular pressure on sectors such as clothing as the higher cost of imports, thanks to the weak pound, squeezes profit margins.

Next said in its trading update that its retail stores were hit by a sharp 7.7% sales fall but the group was saved by 13.2% growth for Next Directory, its catalogue and online division.

The company said the overall increase in sales was flattered by comparison with a period last year that saw a big fall.

It retained its outlook for full year pre-tax profits for 2017/18 to fall by about 9% and pencilled in a 0.3% fall in sales for the fourth quarter - covering Christmas - following a 0.4% drop last winter.

The performance of retailers over the next couple of months will come into sharp focus.

They will be hoping consumers do not respond too drastically after a sustained period in which wage growth has failed to keep pace with inflation.

Next's shares had climbed 26% higher in recent months on hopes that it was starting to recover after a difficult couple of years.

It has suffered from a shift in spending away from clothing and towards experiences such as holidays and entertainment.

In April, Next reported its first fall in annual pre-tax profits since 2009 and forecast another tough year to come.

George Salmon, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "While the recent investment in digital marketing seems to have helped the Directory division rediscover its mojo, Next's high street stores saw an almighty slump this quarter.

"A particularly weak October means the group enters the all-important Christmas period with less momentum than it would have liked."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Next shares down sharply after 'volatile' trading warning

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Shares in Next have fallen sharply after the high street fashion chain warned trading remained "extremely volatile" and forecast a sales fall over the crucial Christmas period. The third quarter update also dragged on rivals Marks and Spencer as well as Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF), in a retail sector that faces pressure from a squeeze on household incomes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Facebook shares up as ad revenues hit $10bn for first time

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The social network's financial results for the third quarter of the year beat expectations on several fronts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It is hard to think of another Bank of England decision that is simultaneously as momentous and as inconsequential as this one.

The mere fact that the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee is widely expected to raise interest rates this month is a landmark moment all of its own.

It would be the first time rates have been lifted in a decade - a watershed after a period in which borrowing costs dropped to the lowest level on record.

And for many economists, it is only the start of a long road that might take rates back up towards a more normal level (though this will almost certainly be lower than the pre-crisis "normal" of about 5%).

But, on the basis of other measures, an interest rate rise is likely to have little impact. In part that is because, for all the headlines recently about levels of indebtedness, Britons' overall household debt levels have actually dropped a fair bit in recent years.

A decade ago in the summer of 2007, the last time the Bank raised rates, the average UK household had £1.44 of debt for every pound of savings they had in the bank. Today, that ratio has dropped to £1.13 of debt for every pound of savings.

Yes, that number has started to rise recently thanks to an increase in consumer credit lending, but only very slightly - and it is a long way shy of its pre-crisis peak.
:: Interest rate rise looms next month after lift in economic growth

Then there's the question of how many people will feel an instant impact of the Bank's decision - the "transmission mechanism", to use the economic terminology. Here, too, things have changed.

Five years ago, 73% of the population had floating rate mortgages - in other words, loans where rates would instantly go up by 0.25% or near enough as soon as the Bank did likewise.

Today, only 43% of mortgage holders have floating rate loans - the lowest proportion in history. That's the total stock of loans across the UK, many of which will be smaller loans.

The reality for recent homebuyers (the ones with the bigger loans) is even more stark in the most recent quarter. A whopping 94% of mortgages were issued with fixed rates - the highest proportion in history.

Long story short: fewer people than ever before will be affected on day one.

None of this is to say that higher interest rates won't take their toll. It just underlines that the impact will be gradual and subtle, rather than immediate.

But as anyone who has experienced debt problems before will know, that is precisely the way individual debt problems mount.
:: Interest rate rise should not be feared, says Bank of England economist

You face a short-term problem - say your rent going up, your job being lost or hours being cut, and you borrow a little bit to tide you over.

Then things get worse, not better. Your debt costs rack up further and you find yourself mired in debt you can no longer see an escape from.

It is a lonely, miserable experience, and something many families in the country struggle with.

And that is the important point about rising interest rates. The Bank is not worried about a nationwide debt crisis, or an abrupt implosion of demand as it increases the cost of borrowing. However, it is concerned about small pockets of trouble across the country.

In particular, low income households are likely to be most exposed - families who have had to borrow to absorb the cost of rising food and fuel prices, who have seen their real wages slide, and are now facing extra pressure from the benefits squeeze. It is they who will be most affected by rising rates.

Again, this may not happen overnight: indeed, of all the interest rates out there in the market, those on credit cards and payday loans are perhaps least affected by Bank rate itself. But any increase in the cost of borrowing is unlikely to help.

Finally, what about savers? Well, this is where things get interesting.

On the one hand, savers have had a torrid time over the past few years - especially those expecting to live off the interest on their savings.

On the other hand, the vast majority of other asset prices have gone up dramatically in that period: share prices, house prices (although mostly house prices in London), bond prices.

Moreover, savers have benefited from an unusual phenomenon in recent years.

Most of the time, the interest rates you're paid on your savings is below the official Bank rate.

For instance, between 1999 and 2008, the average rate on an instant access savings account was 2.2 percentage points below the official Bank rate - and the rate on a long-term savings account was 0.6% below Bank rate.

Since the crisis, the average instant access savings account has paid 0.24 percentage points above Bank rate while the average long-term account has paid 1.66 percentage points above the official rate.

This is largely down to the fact that Britain's banks have spent this period trying to rebuild their balance sheets by attempting to lure in new customer deposits.

In other words, while it hasn't been a great time to be a saver, it hasn't been quite as bad as the official Bank rate suggests.

Which raises another question: if and when the official rate starts going up, do the savings rates themselves also increase, or do they stay where they are?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Who are the winners and losers if the Bank of England raises interest rates?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It is hard to think of another Bank of England decision that is simultaneously as momentous and as inconsequential as this one. The mere fact that the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee is widely expected to raise interest rates this month is a landmark moment all of its own.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Low-price beach holiday offers helped Easyjet attract record passenger numbers for the summer but it warned of more turbulence ahead as it battles rivals in the cut-throat aviation market.

The budget carrier said it was on course to post headline annual profits of £405-£410m, at the upper end of its previous guidance though lower than last year's £495m.

Chief executive Carolyn McCall said conditions remained "challenging" and it expected more pressure on yields - a key measure of airlines' financial performance - as it battles rivals.

The airline's fourth quarter trading update also revealed a £100m hit to profits for the year from the fall in the pound since the Brexit vote - an issue that the group had previously flagged.

Shares were nearly 3% lower.

Easyjet said it flew a record 24.1 million passengers in the three months to the end of September with load factor - a measure of how full its planes are - at a record high of 95.6%.

The group said: "Passengers have benefitted from low summer fares across the network, particularly on beach markets from the UK."

This came at a cost to the airline, with revenue per seat down 3.7% - after stripping out currency changes - in the fourth quarter, though this was slightly better than had been expected.

The challenges facing the aviation market were highlighted in the collapse earlier this week of the UK's fifth biggest airline Monarch, Alitalia and Air Berlin have also gone under.

:: Analysis - Why Monarch is the latest airline to go under

Airlines are facing a fierce battle for survival in what is widely acknowledged to be an overcrowded marketplace for flights.

Easyjet said it saw the current market environment as "an opportunity to build and strengthen its network and customer proposition for the long term".

It added: "Whilst revenue momentum continues to improve, we expect continued pressure on yields reflecting ongoing market capacity growth."

Full year results will be published on 21 November.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Easyjet posts record summer passenger numbers but sees turbulence ahead

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Low-price beach holiday offers helped Easyjet attract record passenger numbers for the summer but it warned of more turbulence ahead as it battles rivals in the cut-throat aviation market. The budget carrier said it was on course to post headline annual profits of £405-£410m, at the upper end of its previous guidance though lower than last year's £495m.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The poultry tycoon whose business has been hit by allegations of food safety breaches is in talks about a merger of Fox's Biscuits and the owner of rival brand Jammie Dodgers.

Sky News has learnt that Ranjit Boparan, one of Britain's most powerful food industry executives, is engineering a tie-up between Fox's and Burton's Foods, which also counts Wagon Wheels and Maryland among its brands.

A merger would form part of a complex series of corporate activity that would culminate in an accelerated initial public offering (IPO) of the enlarged biscuit business on the London Stock Exchange, according to City sources.

The market capitalisation of a merged Burton's and Fox's would be in the region of £400m, the sources added.

Clive Sharpe, a former boss of the snacks manufacturer Golden Wonder, has been lined up to become chief executive of the new company, while Cenkos, the investment bank, is leading efforts to float it on the London market.

A deal would create a more powerful number two in the UK sweet biscuits category, which is struggling to demonstrate better-than-anaemic growth figures.

Together, Burton's and Fox's would have a 20% market share, according to analysts.

Turkish-owned United Biscuits, which makes brands such as Jaffa Cakes and McVitie's, is the clear leader in the British market.

Discussions between the shareholders in Burton's and Fox's are said to have been under way for months, pre-dating the emergence in recent days of apparent regulatory breaches at a chicken processing plant owned by Mr Boparan's 2Sisters Food Group.

Burton's has been owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan - the owner of National Lottery operator Camelot Group - since 2013.

A combination of the two biscuit companies would come at a time when increases in commodity prices are prompting food producers to explore consolidation - a factor involved in the demise of Pink Panther wafer-maker Rivington Biscuits late last year.

Burton's and Fox's have explored a merger on several previous occasions, most recently in 2016, but issues including the destiny of Burton's licence to make Cadbury-branded biscuits and their respective pension deficits proved to be obstacles.

in January, Boparan Holdings, the vehicle which owns Fox's, said it had been approached about a takeover of Fox's, but the party involved was understood to be a consortium of bond funds rather than Burton's or another food manufacturer.

Based in Hertfordshire, Burton's traces its roots back to the mid-1800s, when it was founded by George Burton.

According to accounts filed at Companies House for 2016, the sale of Burton's Cadbury licence to Mondelez International generated a one-off gain of almost £200m.

Burton's, which now makes Mars-branded products, employs about 2,000 people around the UK at a number of distribution and manufacturing facilities.

Burton's also produces the Fish 'n' Chips snacks brand and bakes Cathedral City biscuits under licence.

"The company operates mainly in the UK biscuit market, which is valued at approximately £2.8bn, and is forecast to remain broadly stable in the long term," the accounts said.

Fox's is almost exactly the same age as its prospective merger partner, having been founded in 1853.

Spokesman for 2Sisters and OTPP declined to comment on Friday.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Biscuit giants Burton's and Fox's in crunch merger and IPO talks

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The poultry tycoon whose business has been hit by allegations of food safety breaches is in talks about a merger of Fox's Biscuits and the owner of rival brand Jammie Dodgers. Sky News has learnt that Ranjit Boparan, one of Britain's most powerful food industry executives, is engineering a tie-up between Fox's and Burton's Foods, which also counts Wagon Wheels and Maryland among its brands.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The retail sector says EU nationals must be allowed to continue working in the UK freely after Brexit, claiming shoppers will face several consequences without such a guarantee.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) sounded the warning after its annual workforce survey highlighted concern among its members over the future of employees from EU nations.

It said 22% of firms had already reported staff returning to the continent amid uncertainty over their future in the UK.

EU nationals make up 6% of the retail sector's workforce. That is 170,000 people.

The main area of worry, the BRC said, is that if they were to go then it would spark shortages in warehouse and distribution work in particular.

This could affect consumers "from the service delivered in a store to next day delivery of an online order, from the latest developments for your mobile phone to the prices of what you buy", the BRC said.

The lobby group argued prices - already higher because of the Brexit-linked fall in the value of the pound - were likely to go up further because companies would have to scramble to replace the staff and their skill sets.
:: Cost of fashion pushes inflation to 2.9%
Uncertainty over the Brexit deal has been a source of frustration for UK industry ever since the Leave win was announced following the referendum of June 2016.

The BRC's wish-list includes greater Government investment in skills and giving the sector access to non-graduate EU labour in a "demand-led" immigration system that does not require employer sponsorship.

Its chief executive, Helen Dickinson, said: "The UK's decision to leave the EU has created uncertainty, not only for business, but for the people from the EU they employ.

"These are real people with families, livelihoods and homes in this country.

"It is not right that 16 months after the referendum these people still don't have the security they need to continue their lives.

"And from our data it is clear that unless we have the right structures in place to support retailers attract, recruit and retain workers, consumers will soon start to see and feel an impact as they shop."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Retail sector warns of Brexit price hikes without EU staff

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The retail sector says EU nationals must be allowed to continue working in the UK freely after Brexit, claiming shoppers will face several consequences without such a guarantee. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) sounded the warning after its annual workforce survey highlighted concern among its members over the future of employees from EU nations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Corporate giants such as Estee Lauder, L'Oreal and Coty have dominated the fragrance market, but could that be about to change?

"Everything smells the same - people are getting bored of the big brands and want something different," says Nick Steward, the London-based founder of a new fragrance brand, Gallivant.

He is convinced that there is a growing appetite for "something more personal that other people don't have".

Mr Steward decided to start his own company after several years as creative director of the trendy Paris house L'Artisan Parfumeur.

"I wanted to do something clever and interesting, avoiding all the froth, focused on the best materials," he says.

He now sells his fragrances online and via specialist retailers in the US, Italy, Germany and as far away as Australia.

The Gallivant range of unisex fragrances are inspired by and named after cities such as Tel Aviv and London.

They are packaged in air-travel-friendly 30ml bottles - smaller than the standard industry sizes.

Mr Steward says that also makes them more affordable, reflecting consumers' desire to have a variety of fragrances to choose from.

Reception from both consumers and retailers has been positive since the launch earlier this year, but he admits the road to profitability will be a challenge: "It's a really tough business to make money in."

He is seeking a slice of the fragrance market - worth about $27bn (£20bn; €22bn) a year globally - but it is dominated by corporate giants such as Estee Lauder, L'Oreal and Coty.

These firms spend tens of millions of dollars a year in a bid to make their fragrances seem impossibly alluring to consumers, using celebrities such as Kristen Stewart, star of the latest Chanel campaign, or Charlize Theron, who features in ads for Dior J'Adore.

Seeing glamorous ads on TV, in the cinema or in magazines means consumers are more likely to try, if not buy, one of the hundreds of perfumes on the market.

Despite the daunting competition, Michael Edwards, publisher of global perfume database Fragrances of the World, says some consumers are favouring niche and artisan fragrance brands like Gallivant because they offer something special that none of their friends will have.

He believes that innovation in the sector is coming from smaller brands because the big players are afraid of taking risks.

The big brands want a new launch to appeal to as wide a range of consumers as possible, meaning they often produce something "bland", he says.

"The future lies in bespoke - younger people want something of their own. While marketing is crucial, word of mouth is even more crucial," says Mr Edwards.

The fact that some of the bigger names in the industry are struggling suggests he may be right.

Even Coty - the New York beauty brand behind famous names such as Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, Gucci, Hugo Boss and Chloe - has faced headwinds this year.

In August, it reported a surprise quarterly loss that was partly blamed on "materially" higher marketing costs for the launch of new fragrances, including Gucci Bloom and Hugo Boss Tonic.

L'Oreal, which sells fragrances under brands including Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren and Diesel, also reported disappointing sales and profits for its most recent quarter.

But Roshida Khanom, an analyst at market research firm Mintel, says the industry giants are not taking the threat from upstart rivals lying down.

Chanel, one of the world's most well known perfume makers, has revamped its range, launching No5 L'Eau in time for the Christmas rush last year.

The new version of Chanel's classic fragrance - aimed squarely at younger generations - helped boost sales of the No5 range by a fifth.

At the same time, the French company also launched its first new fragrance in 15 years last month, Gabrielle, with a big-budget ad campaign.

What do people want from a perfume?

The experience of wearing the fragrance - not the bottle or the packaging - is still the most important thing for consumers, says Michael Edwards, publisher of global perfume database, Fragrances of the World.

Most people want a scent that is "pretty easy to like", he says.

A fragrance has to entice at first sniff with a compelling "top note", and convince the buyer that it will linger sufficiently long on his or her skin.

Above all else, he says: "It must make the wearer feel special."

Retailers will be hoping that the launch will help return the fragrance sector to modest growth in the UK after two years of what Ms Khanom calls "disappointing sales".

Mintel estimates UK sales will be worth about £1.5bn this year, making it the fifth-biggest market globally behind Brazil, the US, Russia and France.

As with other retail sectors, she says one of the problems is savvy consumers who try out products in a physical store but then go online to buy it for less.

Manufacturers are spending more on the bottle and packaging, as well as marketing, in a bid to get consumers to buy their fragrances.

But the power of another popular trick - releasing a fragrance emblazoned with the name of a celebrity, such as Britney Spears, Beyonce or Jennifer Lopez - appears to be waning.

Mintel says that a third of consumers describe this approach as tacky.

"Celebrity fragrances are just not aspirational in the way they used to be," says Ms Khanom.

Of course, for Gallivant's Mr Steward this is good news.

But while some Gallivant buyers want it to remain a tiny brand only they know about for "bragging rights", Mr Steward says that is not sustainable.

"I can't live just selling five bottles a year."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Are big brand perfumes losing their allure?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Corporate giants such as Estee Lauder, L'Oreal and Coty have dominated the fragrance market, but could that be about to change? "Everything smells the same - people are getting bored of the big brands and want something different," says Nick Steward, the London-based founder of a new fragrance brand, Gallivant.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Shares in Topps Tiles fell more than 3% in early Wednesday trading after the retailer warned that its full-year profits would come in at the lower end of market expectations.

Topps chief executive Matthew Williams said tougher market conditions had prevailed as the housing market slowed.

Topps is listed on the FTSE 250 index, which was down 0.23% at 19,990.10.

At the same time, the blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 7,475.61, with Tesco its biggest gainer, up 1.6%.

The supermarket chain announced a big rise in first-half pre-tax profit to £562m as sales rose for the seventh quarter in a row.

On the currency markets, the pound edged up 0.06% against the dollar to $1.3247 and was flat against the euro at €1.1273.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Topps Tiles shares fall 3% on profit fear

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Shares in Topps Tiles fell more than 3% in early Wednesday trading after the retailer warned that its full-year profits would come in at the lower end of market expectations. Topps chief executive Matthew Williams said tougher market conditions had prevailed as the housing market slowed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The European Union has launched a fresh crackdown over taxes paid by tech giants Amazon and Apple.

Amazon has been ordered to repay €250m (£221m; $293m) in back taxes after the European Commission said it had been given an unfair tax deal in Luxembourg.

The Commission also plans to take Ireland to court over its failure to collect €13bn of back taxes from Apple.

Amazon denied it owed any back tax, saying it did "not receive any special treatment from Luxembourg".

"We will study the Commission's ruling and consider our legal options, including an appeal," an Amazon spokesperson said.

But European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the Luxembourg arrangement meant that Amazon had been allowed to pay "substantially less tax than other businesses", which it said was "illegal under EU state aid rules".
Facebook's UK tax bill rises to £5.1m Why Amazon's UK tax bill has dropped 50% Apple fights back over EU tax ruling
'Selective' benefits

"Luxembourg gave illegal tax benefits to Amazon. As a result, almost three-quarters of Amazon's profits were not taxed," Ms Vestager added.

She said Amazon paid four times less tax than other local companies.

"Member states cannot give selective tax benefits to multinational groups that are not available to others," she added.

Meanwhile, the Commission said it planned to refer Ireland to the European Court of Justice for failing to recover €13bn in back taxes from tech giant Apple.

It concluded last year that the US firm's Irish tax benefits were illegal, enabling the firm to pay a corporate tax rate of no more than 1%.

The Commission said that more than a year on from that decision, Ireland had still not recovered the money.

As a result, it was referring Ireland to the European Court of Justice, it said.

Ireland, which has contested the decision, claiming that EU regulators were interfering with national sovereignty, said the decision was "extremely disappointing".

"Today's decisions are to order Luxembourg to recover unpaid tax from Amazon and refer Ireland to the European Court for failing to recover unpaid tax from Apple. I hope that both decisions are seen as a message that companies must pay their fair share of taxes, as the huge majority of companies do," said Ms Vestager.

Amazon investigation

The decision on Amazon follows a three-year long investigation by the European Commission, which said in 2014 that it had suspicions the arrangement had broken EU rules.

The tax deal between Luxembourg and Amazon was struck in 2003.

The Commission said it had enabled Amazon to shift the "vast majority" of its profits from Amazon EU to Amazon Europe Holding Technologies, which was not subject to tax.

It said this arrangement had "significantly reduced" Amazon's taxable profits.

At the time the deal was struck, Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission's president, was the prime minister of Luxembourg.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Amazon and Apple hit in EU tax crackdown

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The European Union has launched a fresh crackdown over taxes paid by tech giants Amazon and Apple. Amazon has been ordered to repay €250m (£221m; $293m) in back taxes after the European Commission said it had been given an unfair tax deal in Luxembourg.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Tesco first half profits surge but sales growth stutters

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tesco, Britain's biggest supermarket, has reported a sharp rise in first-half profits to £562m but saw sales growth slow.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A business services provider whose clients include LinkedIn and Netflix will unveil plans for a £1bn London listing this week that will provide a boost to the City's lukewarm market for company flotations.

Sky News has learnt that TMF Group, which offers a range of tax, administration and legal services, will announce as early as Thursday that it intends to pursue an initial public offering (IPO) that will raise more than £200m from institutional investors.

The listing will follow talks between TMF's owner - the buyout firm Doughty Hanson - and a number of private equity groups about a sale which have taken place in recent weeks, according to insiders.

TMF employs more than 7,000 people, and has in excess of 50,000 clients, including more than half of the companies in the FTSE-100 and nearly half of those in the Fortune 500.

It helps companies to globalise more seamlessly by providing human resources, payroll, tax compliance, legal administration and corporate governance assistance to companies of all sizes looking to do business across borders.

The company's decision to choose London as its listing venue will be seen as a boost for the City because the company is headquartered in Amsterdam, where it also considered floating.

TMF's will be one of the biggest London IPOs this year, following in the wake of Allied Irish Banks and Charter Court Financial Services.

Bankers say the pipeline for sizeable new listings has begun to dry up amid concerns that equity markets have started to approach their peak.

A person close to TMF said that Brexit could present an opportunity as increased business complexity drives growing demand from multinationals.

They added that the provision of trust services, which has been a source of controversy for rivals caught up in the Panama Papers tax scandal, accounts for only a minority of TMF's revenues.

TMF's float will come at a time when other big outsourcers, such as Capita and Mitie, are struggling to shake off concerns about their accounting and amid profound business challenges.

Insiders point to TMF's diverse client base, with its biggest customer worth less than 1% of the company's annual revenue - as a differentiator to listed peers.

Last year, TMF announced profits of €138m on revenue of €529m.

Goldman Sachs and HSBC are handling the flotation.

A TMF spokesman declined to comment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Business services giant TMF to unveil plan for £1bn London float

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A business services provider whose clients include LinkedIn and Netflix will unveil plans for a £1bn London listing this week that will provide a boost to the City's lukewarm market for company flotations.

# data[].attributes.body
Welcome to the news board! Lets make good use of this!